Slowly but Surely

Hello, lovelies! Hope you're all doing well. I had a pretty good week food-wise and I did rather well with exercise, too. I even saw the lowest number on the scale since I've been back from vacation. It was a crappy 215.5 which is still higher than my all time low of 208.something, but at least I'm going in the right direction. I'd love to be in Onederland by the time I begin student teaching on August 27th. Totally doable, I think. I just need to keep myself out of trouble. And one awesome new way I've found of doing that is this:



Combining my love of Harry Potter with something as miserable as working out?! It's worth a shot. I haven't tried it yet, but you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to. I'm actually excited about it, too. Awesome. And I know there are a few other Harry Potter fans out there, so I'm super pumped that I found this bad boy on Pinterest.

In other news, I've been doing some student teaching shopping recently and I've purchased 2 size 18 skirts. When I started this whole thing I was in a (tight) 22, probably should have been wearing a 24. I'm still only about half way to goal, but it's nice being able to at least buy smaller things and have them look nice.

If I'm perfectly honest, I'm afraid I've let myself slip with the bandster rules for too long that I'm to far removed to reach my goal. I know I shouldn't think like that, but when I look at some of you ladies, I can't help but feel like a bit of a failure. I just need to keep doing what I've been doing this week and not give in to the summer temptations-corn dogs, ice cream, funnel cakes. Sigh. I'm all stocked up on healthy foods though so there's no excuse. This time next week I want to be down at least another pound. Wish me luck!

Hope you all have a great weekend and Happy Summer to everyone!

xoxo

Obligations

I've kind of been ignoring my obligations lately; obligations to myself and to the blogosphere. I haven't been focusing on my weight loss. The eating part has been a lot better, but I'm still having trouble with exercise. However, I think I'm finally getting back on track with that. I've done two days in a row so far and I'm sure tomorrow I'll be getting some walking in. My brother is making us drive to Cleveland to go to a Pirates game. He doesn't like to pay to park in Pittsburgh, surely he's not going to pay for parking in Cleveland. So I'll probably have a sizable walk to and from the stadium. I'm looking forward to it. My brother has always been in better shape than I am so it's nice to finally be able to keep up with him when we go places. It should be a nice day out.

Even with that to look forward to, I'm feeling pretty down right now. I'm not sure why, but I'm just really in a depressed state. I'm really anxious about posting this because I feel like I've removed myself so far from blogging that I don't even have the right to get back into it. I still haven't gotten caught up on all of your blogs. It's a combination of lack of time, anxiety (it's a really daunting task trying to get caught up on sooo many posts), and the internet being ornery. I want to get caught up so much, but every time I try I let it go for a few days and get behind again. It makes me really sad because I do love reading your stories so much. I'm going to try my hardest to get caught up by the end of next week.

As for other blogging obligations, I know I owe you all some pictures from my vacation. Here they are...

Rocky in the car on the way up, sitting on top of the giant pile of everything.

My car had a canoe hat.

our site

Terribly steep hill that was rocky and dirty and scary to walk up and down. Oh, and we had to walk down it to get to our camp site. Fun times.

This is what we opened our tent to every morning.
Salmon Creek.

Salmon Creek, also where we had to bathe. SO COLD!

Ben, Rocky, and me before our 4 mile hike.

During our hike Ben took this picture. Pretty gorgeous for a place called Buzzard Swamp.

Buzzard Swamp

Post hike. I felt ok. Wasn't huffing and puffing or anything. The real pain was from the $5.00 hiking boots I bought from Walmart. Meh. That smile was so fake.

Rocky loved our 15 mile canoe trip on the Allegheny River

Ben liked it too

I would have liked it better if 1. There was more padding on my butt, 2. It didn't take 8 hours instead of the predicted 5, and 3. If I had taken more than a protein shake to eat. Ugh. I'll take a hike over a canoe trip any day.

And so, that was our vacation. Haven't been up to much since I've been back, just working, gardening, and trying to keep the house clean. I promise I'll try to be better with keeping up with your blogs and commenting. For all of you who read my blog I sincerely appreciate it and for those of you who comment, I really appreciate your support. I love you all and I hope you're doing well.

xoxo