Yes we have a Cleo here, I'll have to go check your new outfit out!

Oh it's cleo.ca .... It's a petit, Ilene and was on sale!

Susan and Mel - both your finds sound gorgeous! You should feel like a million dollars wearing them. Now you've got ME wanting to shop but I've taken a vow to stay out of the stores for the rest of the month. Errands today, buying the tree (though we wouldn't decorate it until DD and DS are home next weekend), major gym time, and house cleaning.

Here's one for how you can plan, plan, plan and things still can go wrong - last night our power went out, right when I was about to make dinner. I was starving (just got home from the gym), had a meal planned, everything ready in the frig, and then lights went out. What to do? No microwave or stove and I didn't want to open the frig because I wasn't sure how long the power would be out and didn't want to let the cold out. I ended up eating a bagel and PB by candlelight since I had a bag of bagels on the counter. Not a great choice but ... unusual circumstances. It's probably been two years since I had a bagel and it was like chewing through a giant hunk of tough bread. Another one of those 'not nearly as good as I thought it would be' moments.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Mel's got graduation; parties anyone?

Hi All,

Just received my new edition of TFL. I lost the old one in one of my moves. I already had one "a-ha" moment just glancing at it.

Meg: So true, power outs don't happen everyday right (this from someone who was traumatized with no power for 10 days back in 1998... thank you Ice Storm)? Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. I know when I was moving this summer, I ended up eating a few of those Pria power bar thingies... It kept me going.

I like Rickis which is owned by the same people as Cleo. I haven't been to one in a while though, but I heard they opened one in the western end of Ottawa so I'll try and check it out soon.

Snow was suppose to start at noon, but there were all these flaky things falling down on my drive in.

I have a doctors appointment Tuesday. I have eye pressure in one of my eyes. I think it's sinuses, but I don't want to take any chances (Type 1 diabetes runs in my family).

Cheers!

Ali

Drive-by posting - I saw the perfect "snake oil sales" sign this morning. The sign read "Easy Diet & Viagra Alternative 1-800-xxx-xxx". Oh boy! Something that is being promoted as a diet aid *and* a Viagra alternative all in one? I wonder if they'll make a million or two million off of that?

My diet buddy and I have both had those "this isn't as good as I thought" experiences, quite often with something we considered a treat and for which we had "saved" points.

I've bought stuff in Ricki's too. My daughter suggested Reitmans for what she calls old lady dress pants

My friend was telling me she goes to a mall near Detroit where they have a 3-5-7 "and stuff for short people" she said. I'd never heard of it. Might have to go shopping in the States in the new year.

Hi guys,

I've been peeking in all week, but it's just been nuts at work as we prepare for the holiday shutdown between Christmas and New Years. I've been enjoying reading about the roses, the geese, the blender saga, and the non-dowdy clothing as a little break now and then. And, Robin, I've been thinking about you and your success with the board meetings, trying to step away from the madness and just take a few minutes to breathe and relax. Looks like I finally get my day off today, after working way too many days straight! I need it too--I tore into one of my co-workers yesterday for a minor deal and then spent the rest of the day apologizing and feeling pretty bad about it.

AND it's been two weeks, and I still haven't eaten any work food! This week I had to pass up homemade cookies, giant muffins, candy, pretzels, and popcorn!

I have a list of stuff to do that's about a mile long, but I've already got the lentil soup cooking, carmelized my onions, carrots & celery and then put the whole mess in the crockpot for a long day of good-smellin' fun.

If all goes well, I go to the DMV today to update my driver's license! Too many people have been giving me the whole 'wow' thing, and it's only a matter of time before somebody doesn't let me on an airplane in this post 9/11 era. I actually find it kind of scary that 95% of the time they only check that the name matches the document, and not that you match the ID.

New lesson last night: I lifted weights after work, and I burned off a lot of stress. But, I was just feeling so aggressive that I way way overdid. I'm thinking it could be a handicapped bathroom kind of sore--love those railings. Could make for an interesting run today. I think I probably ought to stick to cardio when I'm working off stress from now on--less chance for damage.

Ali: I've been following your Resolution Run preparations. That should be a good race for you, with all the work you're doing!

Elaine: if you like doing workout videos you might try looking at these websites. Video fitness at www.videofitness.com is a non-commercial site that has lots of reviews of various videos, instructors, recommendations, etc. Collage Video www.collagevideo.com is an exercise video company with an excellent website, with detailed ratings and descriptions of videos, video clips you can look at. The amount of information available on each video is incredibly extensive. I've had really good luck with the info, and their service, and highly recommend it. Sometimes you can find the popular stuff cheaper elsewhere, but their selection is second to none, and you will know exactly what you are getting before you buy it--no guessing.

Anne

Anne: I hope so, there just has been such horrible weather this week and I have to do 12Kms tomorrow, but alas, winter running does have some fabulous benefits, it's a great core workout and it forces me to run at about 65% of my maximum heart rate. I might not make my 100KM goal this month, but that's okay, I'll try. I remember getting the "wow, that's you?" comments, but alas all except for my British Passport (I'm a duel British/Canadian citizen) have my updated photos on it (and I am usually always having a bad hair day).

Susan: What is your daughter's definition of "Old lady pants?"? I guess I probably wear some too at the age of 27

Cath: for two weeks I craved cheesecake and then had a bad piece a few years ago... that just bummed me out.

Cheers!

Ali

Meg: Of course you had a bad bagel with no power, those things need to be toasted to avoid the hunk of tough bread texture!

Ali: You have inspired me to sign up for my local resolution run, only a 5km though. I'm finding it tough to get out running lately too with the weather, and more snow is predicted for the weeked. But I consider snow shovelling a combined cardio and weights workout, so all is not lost. (At least, I'm sore enough later on after spending an hour or so at it). And I well remember the week I spent without power after the ice storm. I was in Kingston, but at least my office at the university had power (very near the hospital) so I spent my days there.

Ann, thanks. I'll check those sites out. There are many days when I get home at 7:00 p.m. from work (I have a 2 hour commute) and it's dark and cold and I don't want to walk outside. So I love to pop in a video and go for it. But with only two videos available, I'm getting really bored with them. I need more.

I had my weigh-in last night at Jenny Craig. I am now "officially" down to 117 lbs. (actually got there at the beginning of this week) and had a long discussion with my counselor. We decided that I'm basically done. I do want to get to 115 just because I like even numbers. Isn't it funny what we use to base those decisions on. She thinks that 111 will be too thin for me and too hard to maintain. I'm okay with 115 and so we changed my goal to that. So, 2 lbs to go and I'm at goal and into maintenance. Yippee!

DH joined the gym for us yesterday. It won't be open until mid-January but it's a block from the house. It's going to have a rock wall in addition to a racquetball court and I'm very excited about that. I have wanted to do the rock wall thing for ages now. So I've gotten out of the "dumps" about maintenance and am now energized and excited. It's great to have my positive attitude back.

Mel, I laughed out loud just picturing you standing in the dark eating a tough bagel. I love bagels - but not when they're tough and cold. I could just see you there tearing off that tough bread with your teeth and wishing you had something else. Thankfully, now that our energy crisis is over, we don't get too many power outages here in So. California. But I do remember back in '84 when we were living in Atlanta and an ice storm put the power out for a whole week. Good thing we had a bar-b-que and lots of camping equipment or we would have been eating peanuts the whole week. Hope you have a better day today.

Ali? .....Old lady pants come all the way up to your waist!

I should have listened to Mel .... Salvation Army $2.00. But they were the sixth pair I tried on today. What a waste of time. Anyway .... they're very soft and flowy, not as wide as palazzo's, nicely fit in the waist and hips then straight to the floor. I don't even have to hem them. The size tag was cut out so my fat head stops here

I also bought a black .... thong! I did! With a sparkly thing on the back.

I also bought cedar scent Pledge and floral breezes Mr Clean. I'd better go use some.

Susan: Ah those... I stay away from those.... I like pants which are below my belly button Actually the one pair of pants I own from Reitmans come below my bellow button and are bootcut... not too old lady I don't think

Only me: Yup, snow shovelling is a cardio/lifting combo if I've ever seen on. Good for you on doing the run. This will be my first 10K race, I am excited!


Cheers!

Ali

Clothes: My major motivation for keeping the weight I lost off are the snazzy new clothes in my closet. I found that I love nice clothes, and never want to say good-bye to these duds. I particularly like my James Jeans and a really sharp BCBG tweed suit with bracelet length sleeves, a flounce skirt, and the unfinished edging a la Chanel. The fact that I did pay a pretty penny for these outfits is motivational too!

Cold: I am always cold, and I know it is the weight loss. It is by far the biggest downside to losing weight. I can usually deal with the planning, the awkward moments when someone asks me about my "diet," and the uncomfortableness of sitting for long periods on my newly lean backside But, sometimes I just want to cry from being so cold. I'm even questioning whether to wear the lovely sleeveless art-deco style dress to a party I'm attending this weekend, because I know that I will be freezing. I may have to add a cashmere shrug!

I was out of town most of the week and did pretty well. I hit the gym every morning before my meetings. I ordered egg beaters omelets for breakfast and had the hotel replace the toast and fried potatoes with plain oatmeal. I added some chopped up fruit to the oatmeal that I snagged in the gym. Lunch was salad greens topped with the insides of some deli sandwiches and a piece of fruit I brought with me. A couple of times, I hit some challenging situations -- like the Indian Vegetarian restaurant. I LOVE Indian food, but paneer is way too fatty of a protein for me now. I ended up ordering an Indian "pizza" made from fermented rice and lentils and topped with grilled onions and tomatoes and a salad containing lots of vegetable and apples. At a sushi lunch, I ordered the small sashimi (yum!) and a warm bean sprout, cabbage, and tofu salad.

One of the guys from another office remarked that I did not eat like a typical Southerner. Well, I don't look like one either

By the way, I love to cook, but I'm not doing any holiday baking. I cannot resist cookie dough or my own homemade cookies and always end up with that sick feeling brought on by butter and sugar. I am going to make tins of dog biscuits for my friends with dogs! I have the cutest dog-bone shaped cookie cutter, and my mother-in-law really appreciates treats for her best friend!

My parents are coming this weekend for an overnight visit. I hope they will be happy with the healthy crustless quiche and fruit salad I'm making for breakfast!

By the way, I tried to buy Thin for Life from Amazon marketplace (used booksellers). I checked and was sure I was buying the 2003 edition. But I got the book in yesterday, and it's 1994 What a letdown. You guys tried to warn me! Now, I guess I'll have to buy it new!

I know that we can all stay on plan and happy this weekend! Thanks for all the encouraging words!

Hi all, Last night I went to a large party. I did mid-range good. I had visualized what the party was like last year, how I would act this year, but things were different and there were some unexpected timing problems. To sum it up, I got way too hungry and ate more than I wanted and some 'wrong' things. But then, it was a party, and what did I expect - I had to eat something. I did pass on dessert and the roll and butter and didnt drink too much. Better than nothing. I was up a pound this morning but it could have been worse. Probably the salty food. I am still down a half pound for the week, and today has been excellent thus far. Good food, and exercise. This morning I played very good tennis so I didnt mess myself up too much - that's always a pretty good indicator for me. And I spent the afternoon planting roses in a new bed. I am putting in about 45 of them, all of which I started from cuttings the past couple of years.

And, I am now able to wear some of the thrift store clothes that did not fit when I purchased them. That is good news. One of them is in fact a darling clio blouse. Not sure if its the same as the 'cleo' brand you all mentioned, but its cute, well-made, I like it, and it now fits!

Jan

We have our first 'family' Christmas dinner today. It's a well over an hour drive and it's dumping down snow right now! If only worrying used calories.

Hey Ilene? ... Did I hear the Cornwall has had a record snowfall the last couple of days?

Jan? ... I'm so happy your 'think ahead' clothes fit. It's great to wear something that used to be too small, yes?

Have a good Sunday everyone.