Stolen meme!

I stole this from Nicole. I just wanted to do it because I'm in class, and I'm bored, and it's kind of cute.  A few of these don't apply to my boyfriend and I, though.  I don't have any pictures of us on this computer either. But here we go!

1. When is your "engagement" anniversary?

We aren't engaged.

2. When is your "marriage" anniversary?

We aren't married either, haha.

3. How long have you known your spouse?

Well he's not my spouse, but about four years.  

4. How long did you date before you were engaged?

Again, we aren't engaged, but we've been together 3.5 years :)

5. Where did you meet your spouse for the first time?

Psychology class, first semester of my senior year of high school.

6. What is your spouses full name?

Andrew Blah Blah

7. Do you have any children?

No.  Never.  Ew, babies.

8. How many? Boys/Girls

None!  Ever!

9. Do you have any house pets?

I used to have a cat named Patrick, but now he lives with Andrew's parents.

Pet deposits are expensive.  :(

10. Do you own a house or rent?

We rent an apartment together.

11. Do you live in the country/town/city?

We live in a college town.  So, a small city.

12. What is one of your favorite activities to do together?

Watching the TV show Firefly.  Or cooking.  

I like it when we cook together, anyway.  : )

13. Do you have a favorite vacation spot?

I think I'd have to say Puerto Rico.  ;)

14. When did you first kiss?

March 25th, the night we got together.  It was midnight,

so he let me pick what day I wanted our relationship to start on.

15. What church do you attend?

We're atheists.

16. Is this the church you were married in?

N/A!

17. What town is current address at?

The biggest college town in Indiana. 

18. Do you work or stay home?

We both work.  I make sandwiches, and he runs subjects in a psychology lab.

Guess who gets the better pay.

19. Where did you go on your honeymoon?

We're not married, but if we were to take a trip together 

it would be to Amsterdam.

20. What was the funniest gift one of you gave while dating?

He bought me a power toothbrush once for my birthday,

cause I think they're supercool.

21. How long have you been together?

3.5 years and looking forward to more. : )

22. How long did you know each other before you started dating?

About a semester and a half.

23. Who asked who out?

So here's the story.  He would often come over to my house after school to

hang out and watch Firefly.  I drove him home one night and mentioned that

my best friend at the time had asked if we were dating.  I said, "I don't think we are.  Are we?"  He said, "No, we aren't.  Do you want to?"  I said yes, and here we 

are 3.5 years later.  : )

24. How old are each of you?

I'm 21 and he's 20.  

25. Where do each of you go to school?

We both go to Indiana University.

26. Which situation is hardest on you as a couple?

Right now, my impending move to England for grad school. :/

27. Did you go to the same school?

We went to the same high school.  I went to a different university

my first year and a half, but now we're at the same place.

28. Are you from the same town?

Yes and no.  We grew up in the same town, but right before we met

I moved to the next town over, but stayed in the same school.

29. Who is smarter?

I think it depends on the day and activity, hahah.

30. Who is more sensitive?

Neither of us are very "sensitive", I don't think.  We're both pretty 

rational people.

31. Where do you eat out most as a couple?

Probably this Greek restaurant called Trojan Horse.

They have baklava ice cream.  Why would we eat

anywhere else?  Hahah 

32. Where is the farthest you two have traveled as a couple?

Puerto Rico.

33. Who has the craziest exes?

Neither of us have exes.

34. Who has the worse temper?

Depends.  Andrew can get really angry about little things

and then get over it pretty easily,

but when things escalate to the point where I get angry,

it's likely to boil up for days.

35. Who does the cooking?

Mostly me, but I make him chop things.  :)

36. Who is more social?

Definitely Andrew in unfamiliar situations (I'm a classic introvert),

but I'm very social around friends we know well.

37. Who is the neat-freak?

Andrew is, and always will be.  He's been 

glaring at my huge laundry pile for weeks now, haha. 

38. Who is more stubborn?

That would have to be me.  He's 

alot more flexible than I am.

39. Who hogs the bed?

Me.  Oops.

40. Who wakes up earlier?

Usually me, because I often have to be at work by 7am.

41. Where was your first date?

We never had a "first date", although I remember

the first time we hung out that I really wanted

to hold his hand - we were watching movies in 

his bedroom.  Driving home that night I slid on ice 

and ended up in someone's front yard.

42. Who had more boyfriends/girlfriends?

Neither. We're each other's firsts.  : )

43. Do you get flowers often?

I'm really not a flowers kind of girl.

Books or free dinner, however...

44. How do you spend the holidays?

Driving back and forth between our towns and families.

45. Who is more jealous?

He's more overtly jealous.  I keep my jealousy well-hidden, usually.

But we're really not jealous people.

46. How long did it take to get serious?

He first told me he loved me two weeks after

we got together.  I guess he knew a good

thing when he saw it.  : )

47. Who eats more?

Hahaha, this is a tie, for sure.

48. Who does the laundry?

Me, because he does the dishes after I messily make dinner.

 

49. Who is better with the computer?

He is.  If I didn't have him, my computer

would never run properly.

50. Leave a piece of advice for other couples.

Talk honestly and openly just as much about things

that bother you as things you like. Communication

really is key.

coughcoughcough

As expected, my cold turned into a full-blown illness.  I don't get sick very often, but when I do it really kicks my ass.  I'm pretty sure I have bronchitis now, so I'm going to go to the doctor tomorrow and see what he can do about it.  Although I sound like death, I am actually feeling better than I was earlier this week.  I was out of work and class this past Tuesday and Wednesday, and today is really the first day I've felt well enough to get up, move around, and accomplish things.

As far as eating goes, I haven't been doing very much of it this past week, which is probably why I lost 1.5 pounds and currently weigh 211.  Although I expect an upswing in my appetite as I start to feel better, I am concentrating on a preemptive strike, if you will.  Although I did not journal my food servings last week because I was sick, I would like to give that another shot this week.  I went grocery shopping today, and did not let myself buy anything I knew I would eat excessive amounts of (like ice cream).  Although the reason for my weight loss this week wasn't hard work, that doesn't make the changes I'm already feeling in my body any less motivating.  I can already feel my hips thinning again and I've been imagining what I'll look like after I lose even five more pounds.  Although losing weight is a priority for me, I feel like it's wrapped up in a complicated emotional web that I need to untangle.  I've been thinking about seeing a psychologist (students get two free visits a year at our campus health center) for some lingering issues, and I think my mental health should really be the top priority here.  And I find that if I incorporate health changes slowly, they're easier to stick to.  I'm not making plans or schedules or timetables for my weight loss anymore.  I want to let it happen naturally while I'm enjoying my life, and because embarking on a healthier lifestyle will improve my life, my efforts to be healthier are really making me happy now instead of dragging me down with worry and self-doubt about whether or not I'll ever lose X amount of pounds. 

All that being said, I'm planning on going to Zumba again tomorrow night.  I'm also hoping that another girl in my dance class and I can do a duet at this fall's recital (sorry if I mentioned that before...), so in addition to my normal dance classes I will probably be doing extra practices.  I would love to bring yoga back into my life again, and I think I might try doing twenty minutes of yoga on the mornings I don't have to work this week. 

Of course, this all depends on whether or not my cough starts going away and I really get to feeling better again, but I'm optimistic.  And if it doesn't happen this week, that's okay - as long as I gave it some amount of effort, I know it's okay to let my goals slide to next week.  It's a life change, not a race.  I always hated races anyway.

Bleh.

I'm sick with a bad cold, and it is not fun.

As for last week, I think I did better overall.  I've been weighing myself everyday, and the lowest number I've seen in the morning is 212.5, which at least means I'm losing, albeit slowly.  I'm okay with slowly, though.  I feel like the changes I'm making again (more exercise, less food) are sticking because I'm changing things at a snail's pace.  Being sick is throwing me off a little, and I'm afraid this week might go to hell because of it, but I'm going to try to continue on with healthy eating and as much exercise as I have energy for. 

Last week, I worked out three days - Monday (Zumba), and Tuesday and Thursday (Bellydance).  That gives me three workouts for the week, which is not bad at all.  I ate well Sunday - Wednesday, but Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and his past tSunday were more on the bad side.  I think I only did one new recipe this week instead of three.  My evenings are quickly filling up with homework and, when I can, workouts, but I'm going to try for three healthy dinners made at home this week.  Next week, maybe I can try four.

New this week, I'm also going to start tracking food again, but I won't be tracking calories.  Instead, I'm going to track number of servings because thinking of tracking calories again is honestly exhausting.  Eventually, I would give up on counting calories and then have little idea of how to eat properly, so I'm hoping that tracking number of servings will work better for the long-term.  Cell phone pictures may facilitate this. 

Now, my report on Zumba:

I liked it.  There was definitely a silly factor going on there that I had to get over, but the music is music I like and the class went by super fast - it was 45 minutes and I felt like it was only 20.  I would go again today, but I'm not feeling well and would rather nap and drink orange juice, so I think I'm going to do that instead.  Overall, I think Zumba is definitely worth trying out.  You just have to embrace how ridiculous you look and have fun with it.  : )


No schedule this week because I haven't looked up any new recipes and I'm feeling too bad at the moment to really care, haha.  I do need to go shopping for fruit and start using my lovely Foodsaver more often, I've been tossing out a lot of bad food lately that could have been saved. 

Alas, I must go blow my nose.  Adios for now.  : )

Review of Last Week

Hi friends!

Well, it's Monday again, and I have spent all day so far wishing I could go back to bed.  Opening at 7 am on a Monday morning is really the worst.  The payoff, however, is half-price martini nights on Thursdays with a bunch of friends at a beautiful restaurant.  Mmm, martinis...

So, now that I have internet in my hands again, I wanted to come back and evaluate how well I stuck to last week's schedule.    My grade: D 

I'm giving myself a D and not an F because I did actually try three out of the five recipes I had on the schedule - everything but the Spicy Beef and Friday night's delicious-sounding pork loin thing.  I worked out on Monday, but didn't work out again last week, not even yesterday which is technically in this week.  So a definite F for the exercise, and a C for healthy eating.  I unfortunately chose to eat ridiculous amounts of ice cream last week (three nights of the week), as well as candy bars (Aunt Flo's in town).  I've been shoveling down lots of cheese and donuts at work.  I think I gravitate toward these things at work because they smell/taste awesome and I'm usually feeling very stressed.  I need to find a better way of relieving my work stress than cheese and donuts. 

As far as the exercise goes, I haven't been going because I love to be at home with my boyfriend.  I know it sounds sappy and awful, but I look forward to coming home and being able to spend decent time with him doing whatever we want (usually watching Netflix until we're too tired to stay awake).  Anything that takes away from my time with him in the evenings is something I don't want to do.  He's going to have a busy, bad semester and I want as much of his spare attention as I can get, haha.  Really though, I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and get over it - he's always gonna be there, and so is my fat if I don't leave him for an hour a night to get rid of it. 

I've been thinking lately about reasons why I can't seem to keep on track or on top of my plan, reasons why I can't seem to eat healthy and workout for more than a month before it all goes to shit.  I've been having some moments of depression lately, the kind of depression I haven't had to handle in a long time.  I think it stems mostly from on one level wanting to be healthy and fit while on another level believing that I can't achieve those goals, that those things are meant for other people.  I get depressed because I want to be healthy, but then when I falter in my workouts or my eating, I think "Why am I doing this?  It's pointless".  And then I get more depressed by thinking that I have to resign myself to this overweight, slow, unhealthy body and the depressed mind that goes with it.

I've always been put in the "big-boned" category and had incredibly visual reminders of my place - I am 5' 8", currently 214 pounds, with blonde hair, big eyes, big boobs, big hips, big everything.  My sister is just about 5 foot even, weighs 100 pounds when she's been eating too much McDonald's, and if I were to make a circle with my hands her thigh would easily fit inside of it.  I take after my father's side of the family - tall, large, blonde.  My sister takes after my mom's side - short, thin, bone-y.  I didn't grow up with my dad's side of the family.  Actually, I've never met most of my relatives on his side.  I grew up with my mom's side, the side that doesn't look like me at all.  I think that feeling of being out of place, of not belonging, follows me around just about everywhere, but especially in the gym or on the scale.  As long as I ignore that feeling I can be successful with this - I don't struggle as hard to achieve a healthier diet or regular workouts.  But as soon as I slip up, the second I eat a donut or skip a dance class, I feel like I'm an idiot for working so hard to achieve what was never meant to be mine - a strong, fit body and a healthy diet. And then I get depressed.  And then I start weighing 214. 

I think instead of ignoring that feeling, I need to confront and eradicate it so it doesn't come back.  Maybe I should treat it like cancer - identify it, construct a treatment plan, and then vigorously attack it until it gets the hint and goes the hell away.  I have always wanted and fought for complete control of myself, my life, and my time.  Nothing means more to me than that control, and I've been thinking for a long time that my health problems were outside my control, that they were something I'd have to accept and let someone else tell me how to handle them.  But my weight and my diet are under my control.  They're probably the most basic things I can control, so why am I not controlling them?  I have to tell myself that I can, and I will.  And once I reclaim power over my weight from childhood feelings, depression, and adult uncertainty, I think I will be able to do this.  I think I deserve it, after all.

This week, I'm going to use the same schedule (with this week's dinners added). 

Bellydance classes start again this week and I am seriously excited.  I love bellydance - I honestly think I'd be even more depressed if I didn't have such a wonderful activity to look forward to.  I'm good at it, it makes me feel beautiful and sexy, and the other girls in class are pretty awesome too.  I even found a good bellydance instructor in Newcastle, where I'm hoping to go for grad school!  Bellydance is definitely something to smile about.  : )

Well, I should probably go to class.  Adios for now.  : )

Getting back on track

Holaaaaaaaa!

So school has started, and my classes should be interesting.  I'm taking a Bioanth lab (which is gonna be haaaaard), another Maya class, The Latin American Experience pt. I, Intro to Museum Studies, and Survey of Hip Hop.  I'm definitely not going to be as busy this semester as I was last semester, which makes me happy like a fool.  I actually have time to work out now!  Woo!

Speaking of working out, since I had nothing better to do last night, I drew up a workout schedule and planned out dinners for this week.  I went grocery shopping at like 10pm last night, but my boyfriend is uberlucky, I picked out some great stuff.  I left a couple nights open for us to eat up our leftovers or go out together, and gave myself the option of resting on Sundays from exercise. Here's my schedule:

I'm hoping that was inserted right.  Anyway.  Dance classes don't actually start until next week, but I'm planning to use this schedule for the rest of the month.  I lost two pounds last month and earned two dollars.  This month, I'm hoping to lose four pounds so I can earn five dollars for grad school.  My gym at school offers Zumba classes, which I've never tried but have a feeling I'd love, so I went ahead and wrote those down for the week.  I'm gonna try it out tonight, and I'll let you know how it goes. Any Zumba-experienced readers out there that wanna share their Zumba love/hate with me?  Well, now that I have internet again because I bought a shiny new netbook, I'm sure you'll see pictures of this week's recipes (which all sounds fantastic, I've never been so excited to cook, haha).

My apologies for a rambly post - gotta get to class.  Adios!