Sew Excited!

Okay, so I’m announcing some awesome news!  I’m officially signed up and registered for sewing classes!  I’m super stoked to finally learn to sew.  I have wanted to learn for a really long time and it’ll be great to now actually know what I’m doing.  I don’t start until the end of May and it’s only 3 sessions, but by the end, I will have made my first garment – shorts or a skirt.  I don’t wear shorts really ever, but I will most likely take the shorts option in the class as it will allow me to learn more about sewing a more complicated piece.  A skirt seems fairly easy to sew, so I feel like tackling that on my own after the class will be easier than if I try shorts for the first time.

So that means in the next few weeks, I have to go shopping.  I’m taking my classes through JoAnn’s, so I have supply lists (which make my heart happy – I get to buy “school” supplies) of things I need.  A nice thing is that they give you a 30% off coupon for the store for each class, so I may buy a sewing machine from there.  Depends on prices.  But I’m looking forward to being able to take in my own clothes as my weight goes down, make some nice pieces for myself, and also add more sewing crafts to my to do list.

Another thing I’m excited for – my mom and sister both sew, so it will be a great thing I can do with them.  My baby sister is a fabulous clothing designer and currently in fashion school, so I know once I get the basics down, she can help me improve my skills.

Anyone out there sew? Have some advice for a beginner,  especially on selecting my first machine?

5 Healthy Changes Revealed

A while back, I posted about making 5 healthy changes to my life, an idea inspired by the tv show Ruby.  After talking with my fiance and just doing some thinking, I finally have my list together.

1. Limit eating at restaurants. This is a big one for the man and I.  We tend to go out at least once a week, often twice a week, which wastes money and ends up packing on the lbs.  We are limiting it to 2-3 times a month, a big but easy change.  We have a lot of social events that end up at restaurants, so it would be hard for us to end up eating at home all the time.  But at the beginning of the month, we sat down, looked at the social events and picked our battles. But every month, my goal will be to aim low.

2. Counting is over. Yup, that’s right.  After trying to count points, calories, fat, and a zillion other things, I’m done.  I’ve lost a lot of weight with my nutritionist and it’s just not stressful like calorie counting is. I feel good and I feel like I can stick with this, so I am.  I don’t feel crazy about food like I did when counting.  Instead I’m learning what to eat and how to feed my body.  I’m vowing never to count anything again and journal every meal/morsel that goes into my mouth.  Just make a plan/menu with options at the beginning of every month and work through that.

3. Decrease clutter. I tend to put off house cleaning until the weekends and not do much over the week.  So things start to pile up here and there.  I’m now taking time during the week to pick up little things that start piling up and sticking to my chore calendar better.  This is awesome because when the house is less cluttered, I have room to exercise   The front room of our little town  house can’t be a catch all during the week if I need it to pop in a dvd.  Now to get that stupid multi connector thing replaced so I can actually use the dvd player again…

4. Kim Time. I tend to not make time for myself.  I keep myself busy and never put aside time to just sit and relax.  No more.  I’m going to start making time for myself every day, even if it’s just 30 minutes.  I need the zen.  I also need the creative time.  I recently signed up for sewing lessons (I am overly excited about this!!) and I have so many more things I want to do.  Time to stop dreaming and make them happen.

5. Sleep. 7.5 hours a night or bust!  This is really hard for me, as I tend to stay up way to late and wake up for work way too early.  But I know I can find a balance.  With summer coming, this will be even easier, as there are less tv shows for me to watch on my dvr   I just need to get more sleep so I have the energy to put into doing all that I want to do and all that I need to do.  It means being in bed by 11, so I have to start winding down around 10/10:30.  Oye.

So that’s my list of 5 healthy changes.  Health is a full mind/body/soul thing – not just what you do in the gym or what you eat.  I tried to make sure that within my 5 changes, I hit something for each of those three areas.  I’m going to work these 5 changes until they aren’t changes, but habits.  Then create another 5 things to work on.  The path from being unhealthy and unhappy takes some time and some work and at times it seems overwhelming.  But one thing I’ve learned from reading blogs about how *real people* lose weight and make life changes is that it’s a gradual step process.  Instead of doing my all or nothing thing, I’m going slow, acknowledging where I can make small changes.  Hopefully, this will lead to more meaningful, longer lasting changes.

Know Your Role

Talking to my mom the other day, she asked me a new question and a “who’s on first” type conversation ensued:

Mom – Are you having hostesses?

Me – Who?

Mom – Hostesses?  You know, people to work the wedding.

Me – Oh, the venue has a Day of Coordinator assigned to us and they have employees there to set stuff up.

Mom – No, hostesses.

Me – …..

Mom – Sigh

So then she explained to me that hostesses are the women (usually, but they can be guys) who are close friends to the bride, but not close enough for bridesmaid status, that are asked by the bride to work the wedding.  They usually greet the guests, answer questions, guide them to the next venue, pass out programs, collect gifts for you, ect.  Basically they do the grunt work so the bride doesn’t have to do anything or get asked anything.  My mom said that they are a huge tradition in Black/Southern culture and that people would expect this at the wedding and may be confused without one.

I was shocked at this “mandatory” position and almost laughed.  I’m not having any hostesses and even after this conversation, I am still not having them.  For one, my wedding is long distance for everyone, and the idea of inviting someone to the wedding that only works it (but isn’t paid) seems very rude to me.  I guess it’s not that big a deal because this is a position of honor – but to me it seems rude to do this.  Although after reading about this on the internet, I wouldn’t be offended if someone asked me to do it – I get that it is a honor thing.

But the other thing, the logistics thing, is that our wedding isn’t that complicated.  You can see the reception tent from the ceremony site (it’s oh…maybe 200 feet away?) so nobody should get lost.  Programs will be placed on each seat and we will set up a sign near the guest book (that’s always been the plan).  I had never thought of having anyone working the wedding, so logistically, we found a way to do everything so it was pretty much idiot proof.  I don’t think anyone will be confused and if they are – roll with it, it’s a party.

We also aren’t having ushers, flower girls, or ring bearers.  Our wedding party is pretty small and simple, which apparently is freaking my mom out.  Is anyone else having a wedding party that bucks family/cultural traditions?  If you aren’t having a huge wedding party, how are you satisfying the needs of your guests?

Operation Shoe

I have a confession to make.  I have an addiction to shoes.  A serious problem.  I own more shoes than fit in my closet and I continue to buy new ones.  It’s insane.

So of course I find ***THE*** wedding shoe I must have.  The one that makes me swoon.  And of course, it’s a designer brand that is way out of my league.   But having huge feet (size 11) and looking for shoes that are not boring and plain have equaled a continued search that took me to my precious.

I have choices, I’m not completely powerless to my addiction.  Buy it and cry over the price or leave it and cry over not having them.  Or choice #3 – find the money somewhere that isn’t my bank account.

Okay so I know option 3 sounds stupid – find the money?  Who finds that kind of money somewhere?  Well I mean find it in the things you don’t use in your house.  I have tons of books, dvds, and exercise toys that I’ve been thinking of selling for months.  I’ve piled them up over the time and even done inventory.  But never actually sold them.  No motivation.  Clothes I cleaned out of my closet that I’ve been thinking of donating.  All kinds of wonderful things that now look like dollar signs instead of old junk.  Our small house is what prompted the original thought, my shoe addiction is what will get it done.

So starting this weekend – I’m going online on a campaign to raise at least half the cost of the shoes via sales of old stuff.  I have a big change jar that I’ve had for about 2 years that I have been saving for a rainy day.  That will be funding source #2.  And funding source #3 is my own cash reserves.  The objective goal is to have to pay nothing out of cash reserves.  The threshold is to pay about $100, maybe $150.  That’s how much a decent pair of shoes in the right color would cost anyway for the wedding.  If I don’t reach the threshold, then I’ll figure out how badly I want the shoes at that point.

So Operation Shoe is on.  I’m having a fire sale, everything must go.  I’m going to post some things on CraigsList, some on Ebay, and maybe some on Half.com.  Is there anyplace else you can recommend to sell stuff on the interwebs?

Dressing My Ladies

I hope you guys like my little header action.  I figured I’d make a little header for my wedding posts.  Because they are cute and I like being able to organize stuff into proper categories.   It’s one of my things…sue me   On to your wedding post:

From the start, I knew that I didn’t want my girls wearing matching dresses.  I have 4 wonderful ladies that are in my wedding party who I adore – but they are not the same size, shape, or anything else that would be compatible in the same dress.  And a more selfish reason – I really like pictures of weddings where people are wearing multiple designs.  I really like multiple color weddings, but for whatever reason I never really ambitiously went after that one.  So in mid April, my girls and I all got together and went shopping.

I went into the weekend with 4 goals:

1. None of my girls would have to spend over 200 (preferably over $150…but I figured this wouldn’t happen)
2. They would all have a dress that they could wear again (no 27 Dresses style nonsense for my chicas!)
3. Everyone would like their dress…bride and bridesmaid included.
4. The dresses would be different…but have some similarities that tied the girls together.

I originally had the dream of them wearing black and white dresses.  I thought this would look fabulous, sassy, and make the dresses really re-wearable.  Unfortunately, when we started shopping, I quickly realized that this wasn’t going to happen.  Nobody could find dresses at regular dress stores that looked good to them or to me.  So instead of going the completely alternate route, we decided to pack it up and go to the wedding warehouse of doom – I mean David’s Bridal.

Much to my surprise, this turned out to be the best decision we could have made.  After only about an hour (and most of this time was trying on the dresses after about a 15 minute wait), everyone had a dress that they liked AND I liked on them.

I was so happy that in under 3 hours – I had 4 bridesmaid dresses and this part of wedding planning was completed.  How did I do on my goals?  Nobody spent over $200 and only 2 of the dresses were over $150 (barely).  Check!  Everyone had a different dress, even though that took some work.  Check!  Everyone really liked their dress – I have smiling bridesmaids in my pictures! Check!  I don’t know if the girls will wear their dresses again – but each thought they could again, especially if they cut them shorter (they are all formal length).  I’m very happy that I was able to get this done and get this done cheap and FAST.

So what will my ladies sport down the aisle?  Voila!

In black, all from David’s Bridal (pictures and actual dresses).  I love the way they look together, very classy and chic.  I also love how each dress really matches the personality of the woman wearing the dress.  I can’t wait to work on accessorizing them and putting together their bouquets.

the one where i have a revelation

A while ago, I honestly can’t tell you when on a calendar, but I imagine it’s around when my weight re-gain started, I started to be pretty unhappy with myself.  I realized that I had lost something, some kind of spark, that I used to have.   Rewind back to before any of this, and I was a different girl.  I kept my hair done, make-up on, and dressed pretty decently.  I had style and I knew it.  I felt good when I went to work and that translated to everything I did.  Somewhere, I lost that and while I still stayed focused on work and school, I didn’t have that umph I used to.  I found that I was talking to my friends less, I felt I had nothing to say, nothing worthwhile to add to a conversation.

I tried over the months to get it, whatever that was, back, in September/October 2009.   I found blogs and websites that talked about the things I liked.  I found awesome makeup tutorials on The Beholder and I tried to use them.  I found fashion and clothing blogs and looked longingly at the pages.  I joined Gilt Groupe and Ruelala so I could get nice designer items at a ridiculous discount.  I tried to eat healthier.  Nothing really worked to kick the funk I was in, I just maintained this weird status quo of limbo.  The fashion sites made me sad about my size and the makeup usage never lasted more than a day or two.  I still have contacts that I should have used because I just didn’t take the time and effort to use them.

I didn’t give up though.  See, I still knew something was missing.  I figured once I finished graduate school, I would be okay.  I would get back to normal, whatever the hell that was.  That obviously didn’t happen.  I still was foggy.  But I had the time to “fake it until you make it” so that’s what I did.  At least with gym and diet.  And that’s what I did for 3-4ish months.

Finally, the past few weeks, the fog is lifting.  I don’t know what triggered the start of it a few weeks ago.  Maybe it was finally starting to see the results of months of hard work in the gym.  Maybe it was traveling so much and having my routine shaken up, forcing me to be flexible.  Maybe it was just time for it to happen.  I don’t know what it was, but I started feeling good, feeling better about everything.  I found myself wanting to find better clothing instead of the shapeless crap I’ve been sporting on a daily basis.  I wanted to stop wearing sweats on the weekend, prompting my fiance to feel my body was snatched.  I wanted to get out of the house, volunteer, hang out with friends, be the loudmouth.  I wanted to be me again.  I took advice from my new fav fashion blog, the good life for less and started buying items here and there that had some style and made sense for me and what I liked to look at.  Instead of being saddened by clothing designers that don’t make my size, I started trying to find similar items at stores that do.  I became inspired instead of upset.

The funny thing about this whole story is that I didn’t know it, didn’t realize this was the story until last week.  I was at a little girls night at a former coworker’s place.  We were all chatting about when we all first started working and I mentioned how I felt like I stood out among these women who dressed so nicely all the time.  One of my coworkers told me  – well you dressed really nicely too, always fashionable, until you started being cold all the time and started with the sweaters every day.  I laughed about it, we all did – our office is notoriously freezing.  All us women had space heaters in our offices in the winter.  Then I got home and thought about it.  It didn’t make sense that I completely changed my style just b/c of temperature.  I also realized that the timing coincided pretty ironically  with when my weight re-gain really kicked into high gear.

That was my light bulb moment, this past Saturday.  I started thinking about everything about the past few years and how I have wasted so much time unknowingly treating myself like I’m worthless.  And that treatment has spilled over into other areas of life.  Yes, I gained weight but I really let the weight take over and dictate my life.  No wonder I couldn’t lose a single pound over the years of trying.  My mind was completely in the wrong place.

How I had pretty much had my makeup packed away in odd places for years, how my closet was full of pretty things I can’t wear and how the few things I could wear were all picked up on clearance or on sale and didn’t fit right and I didn’t really like them style wise, but they fit so who cares.  I finally decided to do something about it.  I spent a bit of money and a lot of time re-organizing.  I bought a little storage place to put my makeup and accessories and put it in my room in the house where I dress so I can easily access everything.  My perfume came out of a tote in the bathroom (yes, this demonstrates how silly I have been), and onto the top of that storage box along with my contacts, and the vitals (allergy meds).  I reorganized my clothing so all my clothes are in the same room, took out anything that currently does not fit and took inventory.  Then I went shopping.  Picked up some nice clothes that fit and are complementary to my personal style.  Also picked up some new makeup to replace old things or fill in gaps that were missing after I threw out some old stuff.  I spent a lot of cash, but it was worth it.

I’m starting to feel like my old self.  I looked in the mirror this morning and realized that Kim of today is NOT the same Kim of last year.  Well let me rephrase that.  I’m the same Kim, but I’m not hiding behind my big performance fleece.  I really wish I had figured all this out years ago, but I suppose I figured it out when I was supposed to figure it out.  I’m glad I figured it out.  I’ve had a few people tell me I seem happier, chattier, and more upbeat lately.  Like 5 or 6 people.  I guess I didn’t realize that I had become such a different person, but I’m glad I’m back.  And now that I know what that means, I’ll work much harder to stay back.

Craft Like You Mean It

So ladies and gents – It’s about to get real.  Epic.  Serious.

What am I talking about?  Crafts.  I have a zillion on my to do list.  Some for the wedding, some for fun, and some because the holidays dictate it.  I spent a few hours last night making mother’s day cards for the moms (mine and the fiance’s) and the fiance’s sister.  I hope they all like them as much as I enjoyed creating them   I will share them and some of my favorite card making tips in a post later today.  I will also try to post some tutorials of some of the cooler things I make.

The Master Craft List (as of today…it will change, guaranteed, before midnight) is pretty long.  But being a nerdy nerd, I was smart enough to prioritize it.  I have some serious shopping to do (helloooooo table numbers!!) and this weekend I’m going to tackle the invitations and attempt a bouquet.

Stick around, this will get interesting.  There will be blood (I’m a klutz and between paper and sharp things, I’ll end up hurt).  And there will be lots of lovely things.

Copycat

I read Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel about a year ago.  It was a really awesome book, as in all my attempts to diet, I never though about trying to *think* like someone who is thin.  That whole philosophy was foreign to me, as I’ve never been a thin person.  Trying to think like a thin person seemed impossible.

This week, I’ve been traveling with some tiny people.  But tiny people who ENJOY good food.   They ate great food, but really watched portions. Ate slowly, savoring the good food instead of woofing down a plate.  They ate dessert but shared it with everyone and didn’t eat the whole thing.  They just stopped eating.  Never ate everything on their plate.  It was amazing to me, that’s so different than my norm.  But it’s something I need to learn to do, especially on travel when I can’t have 100% control over my food like I do at home.

So that’s what I did.  I ate like the tiny people.  And it wasn’t half bad.  I wasn’t stuffed, I felt good every night/meal, and I ate dessert w/o feeling bad.  It really was easy.  Granted, I am not sure how my weight went since I have no scale on travel – but I am thinking I did okay.  I guess I’ll find out tomorrow when I get home!

In other diet/exercise plans – I got my new exercise program today!  With my new diet program (the one I haven’t started b/c of the plague) also in place, I’m ready to kick some major booty in May.  I finally am down a size in dress pants, so maybe this is the start of some major weight falling off

Why Traveling Rocks

Can you believe that I’m traveling for work, yet I get to look at this view from my hotel room balcony?  Considering my current state of health, I feel like a old school debutante that was sent to the ocean side to recover from illness.  Seriously, this view makes my feel much much better very very fast.

And prior after relaxing in front of that view, working, and getting lost we ended up making some new friends.

Yup, I’m clearly not in the big city right now, am I?    I’m 100% a city girl, in the country I’m lost, confused, and touristy.  But I can appreciate the beauty a completely different part of the country can afford.   It’s why I do love that I get to travel for work.  Left to my own devices, I would likely never ever travel to at least 50% of the destinations I have been to in the last 2 years (and none of the ones this year) and I most definitely would not end up at an alpaca farm.

I only wish I was a better photographer so I could capture these images better.  My iphone isn’t exactly a wonder camera, but it does alright in the daytime.  Tomorrow, I will remember to bring my actual digital camera on our adventures.

For now, I’m going to sit back and catch some z’s.  I’m not fully recovered and I keep reading all these online articles about how people that sleep at least 7.5 hours a night are happier and skinnier.  I could get on that bandwagon.  I only stayed up long enough to see if my Red Wings won.  I couldn’t watch the game – I’m that kind of crazy fan who realized that they had lost every game I watched, so instead of watching a dramatic game 7, I read a book and checked the score on twitter, lol.

Sidenote:  NBA D League Finals?  Really?  This is why I should go to bed.  Now.  Night.

5 Changes

As part of my recovery, I’m catching up on my DVR, finally!  I’m pretty behind on about every show I watch.  One of the shows I watch is Ruby, a show about a woman working to lose a lot of weight and lead a healthy life.  One of the old episodes I’m watching, Ruby’s therapist has her make 5 changes in her life to shake up the weight loss and get off her plateau.  After working these changes, she busted through her plateau with a 10 lb weight loss!

Granted, I don’t think I will be losing 10 lbs in a week, but this inspired me to think of 5 changes I could make in my life to keep working towards my goals and to maybe get rid of some things that are holding me back.

So all day I’ve been thinking of things to change, because the whole situation really feels like something I could benefit from.  I have some ideas, but I’m going to think more about it this week since I’m heading BACK out of town, all the way up the eastern US coast to Maine.  So really, I can’t start making any changes right away, but next weekend, I’d like to get started.

So what say you – what 5 healthy changes can you make?  Not just changes in diet/exercise, but changes in your home, work, mental, or other situations?