Good morning! We're gearing up for a real heat wave this week--it's supposed to get up into the 40's and possibly even 50 by the end of the week! On another note, we've had 31 straight days of snow!

I had an okay weekend--didn't get a whole lot accomplished.

Pam: Sounds like you got a lot of use from your Saab.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! More later...

Good morning everyone and welcome to a new week.

I weighed in at WW on Saturday morning. The bad news is that I will now be posting my official WW weight for recording purposes on this site. The good news is that I was down .2 from my last weigh-in. This is a miracle ladies; I was sick on Friday and ate horribly...

The other good news is, like Melissa and others have said, going to a meeting should help with accountability. I met with the leader after the meeting and explained how I've been struggling. As she said, I have to figure out what's eating me to resolve some of the over-eating issues I've experienced lately. Strangely, I've had no difficulty staying solidly OP since Saturday.... I am committed to weekly weigh-ins until I hit and can maintain my personal goal.

Otherwise, I had a fabulous weekend...sinus cold aside. I got to the gym on Saturday, took in some wonderful music on Saturday nite thanks to the East Coast Music Awards being held here over the weekend. Coffee date on Saturday was okay but he's not the guy...

Sunday, ran 8 km outside!! Coffee date with guy from last week - good!! I like him!! Then went to the East Coast Music Awards gala and it was fabulous.

Melissa - things have warmed up considerably here too. It's snowing at the moment but since we have no snow at all, I can't really complain. This isn't supposed to amount to much.

Hi to everyone else. What's shaking?

Susan

Hi ladies,

Not much shaking here. It's very cold but starting tomorrow the warmer weather arrives with temps in the 30's and 40's.

Went looking at cars this weekend, looks like it will be the Subaru Forrester, we both really liked it. Going to look at a couple more on Thursday.

Work problems continue...hopefully they will resolve themselves this week. I also found out that a conference I was scheduled to attend in Vegas is the same day as Lauren's prom....so had to back out of the conference. Boss wasn't pleased but understood.

Melissa enjoy your heat wave! Yeah DH certainly got a lot of use out of the Saab.

Susan good advice from your WW leader...think I will ponder that question also.

Have a great Monday!

Good afternoon. It was chilly here this morning--34 degrees. We are expecting mid-70's by Wednesday. That will be a welcome change. DH and I played golf on Friday and froze!! The wind was howling and my hands became so numb, I couldn't feel the golf club. We and our friends laughed! On Saturday had a BOGO coupon to a local nice restaurant that serves nice fish dishes. Then we went to a dance and one of my friends was doing the entertainment, so he called me up and we sang "The Prayer" together. That was fun. On Sunday I had rehearsal for the upcoming oratorio. Other than that, putzed around the house; did some filing and a little packing for my upcoming trip to London and Rome.

Pam, yes your Saab lasted a while. I don't envy you buying a new car--yuck. I'm sorry there have been problems at work. I hope they're not affecting you too much.

Susan, I'm so glad you went to WW; you're on the right track. Ditto to what your leader said. You ran 8K out in the cold--you go! Hmmm, second coffee date sounded good.

lala, you still mad at DP? You are really getting into the 1/2 marathons. I'm proud of you (and Susan who does them). DH would be thrilled if I decided to walk one. I know that I could do it, but no motivation at this time. It sounds like you're eating properly. How have the WI's been?

Melissa, finally some warm temps for your area. You have really been hit hard.

Busy week coming up: being interviewed on Tuesday for an upcoming show I'm in about famous women in history; committee meetings; Ash Wednesday (already??) and then a seminar on Friday and I'm the Master of Ceremonies.

Hi everyone.

Happy Presidents Day here in the US. I am at work for a while. Why? Because I have IT security training to take and a powerpoint to work on and its quiet here.

Lisa - my weigh in this week was a .2 gain, so I'll call it a Maintain. My TOM started the day before I ate a subway with pickles and jalepenos the day before as well. I am going to core this week since I am leaving for Paris on Friday and we have a bunch of food related events.

I love the idea of setting fitness goals and this is really pushing me. The next half is soo hilly and will be cold, so it'll be interesting. I need to start doing hills to train. Only seven weeks and I need to up my weekly mileage.

Sounds like you are very busy this week. Yes, Ash Wednesday and Shrove Tuesday pancakes coming up (tomorrow!).


Pam - whaaaaaaaaaaa on the car. I see you are getting the vermont state car though. Hah! I love that car. I would probably not want to miss my daughter's prom night as well.

Sorry about work stress. As you well know, I hate it and live it.

Melissa - Sometimes it is nice just to have a weekend to veg. Do you have today as a holiday? Am I the only one that does?

Susan -- Who did you see? I love Canadian music and I guess I'll google it. Sounds like coffee dates are going pretty well - much safer than a bar and typically quieter. Also interesting to see what gets put in the coffee - too much sugar, artificial sweeteners, half and half v. milk or extra sweet uncoffee drinks (you gotta wonder what a guy is doing ordering a extra hot venti green tea latte with three splendas and then tells the barista its not done right -- I would run screaming!)

Men who drink black coffee, they are the safest.

Good for getting out and running too and for talking to the leader. Sometimes it just takes committing yourself to talking to someone who doesn't know your past history to make things clearer to you.

Okay, I've written a tome.

Hi Karynlee! Are you on mid-winter break? We are here. The gym was super quiet this morning....

I'm off to Paris at the end of the week - feel sorry for me (not). I've been reading david lebovitz's blog (www.davidlebovitz.com) to get a few restaurant suggestions and maybe a few chocolate suggestions.

I know that we're going to Taillevent on Monday lunch for my birthday (er, reasonable at 100 bucks per person for a michelin 3 star restaurant) and la coupole for lunch on Sunday. I'm still trying to wangle a room at a really nice hotel that I have points for but no one seems to be releasing rooms for moi!

Argh.

Oh, and all that work I have to do between now and then, I better get cracking.

lala

lala:

Saw Tim Chiasson, Fugato and Nathan Wiley on Saturday nite (all from PEI).

Awards show featured Joel Plaskett and Emergency, In-Flight Safety, Jill Barber, Classified, Ron Hynes, Rex Goudie, George Belliveau, the Divorcees, soprano Measha Bruerggergosman (amazing) and others.

There was a moving tribute to local artists whom we've lost over the past year (Dennis Doherty from the Mamas and Papas), John Allan Cameron and Dutch Mason). Amazing performances by folks like Gordie Sampson, Fiona MacGillivary of the Cottars, JP Cormier, Ashley MacIsaac, the Barra MacNeils, Shaye.

The list goes on and on. The awards show was hosted by the Trailer Park Boys. Hilarious, as usual.

Recognize any of these names?? I knew many going in, and now have some new favourites...

Susan

Susan: I'm glad that thing went well at WW and congrats on being down from the last time you went! That's great! I really believe that accountability is key for me; I didn't make it to a meeting last week and am worried about what this week holds for me. There was a segment on 20/20 this past Thursday on LA Weightloss which was very interesting. The name was "Promises, Promises" and they talked about how they lure you in and then charge a lot of $$ and encourage you to buy their products. I don't know if it's available online at abc.com but it's interesting to watch.

Lisa: 34 is really cold for you...the temp here has climbed to 28 and the sun is shining! We may have a mixed bag later this evening--I'm hoping it misses us! Sounds like you had a busy weekend and the week looks just as busy for you!

Lala: No holiday here for me...I'm coordinating a wellness program here called "Bands on the Run" that you can do at your convenience. I'm planning on participating as well so that I can do some resistance/strength exercises. I'm planning on making paczki (Polish doughnuts) tonight. I haven't made them in a LONG time and DS #2 asked about them so I bought the ingredients to make them up.

I have a semi-busy week here; I'm working at WW on Tues/Thurs/Fri and then on Saturday I have a baby shower in the morning and a wedding in the evening. The students go on break Friday so campus will be really quiet next week (=boring for me).

Susan,

I have never heard of any of those performers, but I'll look for them.

You know I love going to the vancouver folk music festival and love the canadians I hear there - wailing jennys, feist and po girl come to mind. I'm also going to the calgary folk festival this year. I can't stand most other music, so this is what moves me.

You Canadians do music and independent music right.

Melissa - I love the name.

Funny thing too, Lori Avocato, writes mysteries and her character is called a little paczki by her father. Funny books, check them out. Sort of like stephanie plum.

Oy, I had way too much ice tea at lunch today.

lala

lala, I had not heard of Lori Avocato, but if the character's like Stephanie Plum, I know I'll love it.

Susan, I also have not heard of any of those groups.

Melissa, is it already time for Spring Break?? I can't believe it!

Eating has been so-so. I'm doing good and then I walk in someone's office who has a candy dish with CHOCOLATE! It's so hard to resist.

lala: Not surprised you don't recognize the names. Some are rising stars, others are very popular in this part of the country and are beginning to make a break-through elsewhere. All are wonderful entertainers. I think the East Coast has more than its share of talent; must be the longish, cold winters...nothing else to do but sing and practice your musical instrument of choice. Halifax is a great town in which to be a young and talented musician (perhaps much like Seattle?) There is live entertainment every weekend in at least half of the 200 bars throughout the city...

Lisa: Sorry you're struggling, but I look at how well you did in the challenge. Nine pounds! You rock girl. Now step away from the chocolate.

Melissa: I so admire people who have the patience to bake. Does your son know how lucky he is to have a mom like you? Hope so.

Pam: Hope things are getting worked out at the office. I continue to take my WW leader's words seriously and am still doing really well staying within points. I have to get more water in though; that's the goal for the rest of the week.

Hi to Karynlee.

It's cold again this morning but supposed to warm up to around freezing tomorrow, which will be welcome. My car is encrusted in salt but I don't want to wash it in these temps. Afraid the doors will freeze...

Susan

Good morning! It's a beautiful 43 degrees here and the sun is shining! Hopefully it'll start melting some of the snow we've gotten. We already experienced one problem with the thaw--the excess water caused a power grid to go out this morning so we were without power here at work for a little over and hour and a half...then the computers weren't up and running because the server was still down. It's amazing how much we rely on electricity!

Susan: Yes, my son does realize how lucky he is--I got numerous hugs last night.

Lala: I'm going to have to check out Lori's books--I'm always looking for a good book!

Lisa: Our spring break is usually earlier than most of the colleges around here. It'll be really quiet next week.

On a good note I put the recipe for the paczki in the WW recipe builder and they came out to 1 point each. I make them smaller than they are usually made because I'm happy with a smaller portion rather than a large one and I don't feel obligated to "eat the whole thing" if it's large. I used canola oil to cook them in and they didn't soak up hardly any of the oil.

Hi to Karynlee!! Did your house guests get moved into their new place?

Susan, thanks for the warning. I'm afraid my penguin will be going backwards this week. Good for you for staying OP. I've never had much trouble drinking my water--love it.

Melissa, hooray for warmer weather. We're having a beautiful day here. It will be in the low 70's.

Had my TV interview today for the upcoming show I'm in about women in history. It went really well.

Good morning, girls!

Melissa, what/where is the WW recipe builder? That sounds interesting. Yep, the house guests are all moved into their new home. Then, we had another relative visiting last week. Feels like life finally gets back to normal today. I always love getting back to my routine. Hey, do you enjoy working for WW?

Susan, the music awards you went to sound like so much fun! Good luck with coffee guy! Hope the meetings are helpful - It sounds like you've turned a corner and that you're well on your way to smoothing out the bumps. Feel like that's where I am right now, too. Crossing my fingers, at least.

Hi Lala! Nope, no mid-winter break here. Don't get one! But, spring break for my husband and boys is at the end of March (of course, not during the same weeks - grr). I think it's awesome that you set fitness goals. Congrats on the maintain.

Lisa, hope today goes well. What kind of show are you being interviewed for?

Pam, sorry to hear about the car and work troubles. I'm glad your boss was understanding about the conference. There's no way I'd want to miss my boys' proms!

Things are much better around here now that I've re-committed to the weekly weigh-in. I do so much better when I have accountability built into my plan.

Haven't been too consistent with my workouts, though. That's the goal for this week - 4x or more!

Have a great day!

I was interviewed about a show I'm in called "We Are." It's a program with about 7 women dressed up as women in history who made significant contributions to society. I will present a story about the woman I am portraying: Esther Morris. She was the first woman to hold public office in the U.S. and she helped get the right for women to vote in the first U.S. state or territory (Wyoming). I've learned a lot just preparing to do this.

Meant to ask you ladies if you'd like to set another goal for Mar. 17th. That's a little less than 4 weeks away. I didn't do so well on the Feb. 14th one but I think I'll do better with weighing in every week - officially that is.

I will go out on a limb and say 4 lbs. Anyone else?

Susan