I think I'll go for a walk outside, the summer suns callin my name.....

This was the best.day.ever.

Sam and I are going to St. Lucia a week from today. Here's what we'll be looking at :

View from out WindJammer resort

Looks so amazing

We are going because my sister is getting married at the Sandels Resort in St. Lucia. We are staying at the WindJammer. Feel free to Google and be jealous of the pictures. The most important thing about the trip is having a passport. We didn't have valid ones. Until today. We know - leaving in one week and don't have passports! My mom was FREAKING out. I didn't even tell my sister. Hehehehe.

We made appointments at the passport office in D.C. at 8:30. We were told to bring our stuff, applications, and $. We were dreading the drive into D.C. at 8:30am. What a traffic nightmare. This is what it normally looks like:

Awful. But not today. Today we sailed into D.C. It was amazing. We parked for $16 in a garage UNDER the passport office! What?! How lucky are we? Our appointment was at 8:30 and by 9:15 we were told to come back at 2:00 to pick up our passports. Yeah!!!!!

We spent the morning walking around D.C. We felt very Metro. We were looking for a bookstore when we came upon Characters Unite. They said we could make a t-shirt and it was free. Sam almost ran to the booth. So, we took a pledge and stated what we wanted to take a stand on. We both picked bullying and made our shirt.

 I am pretty excited to wear this to school on Friday.

We found a GREAT place for lunch. Nando Peri Peri. It was the best chicken I've had in a long time.

Mediterranean Salad with Chicken and a side of mashed peas. Yum!

We walked around some more and headed back near the passport office. They said 2:00, but we got there around 12:45 to use the bathroom - not alot of public bathrooms in DC. The security guy told us to check on the passports, they might be done. By 1:00 we were walking out with passports in hand! Look out - we are international now!

A fun day with my husband, getting things done and relaxing. Doesn't get much better than that.

Two of my addictions

We all have them. Things we think about all the time, can't live without, spend money on when we don't really "need" them. Some are bad for us, some we hide, some are just plain weird.

One of mine falls in the category of "Awesome". It mostly gets delivered to my house, but I also pick them up while I'm out.

 Magazines are my weakness. Food, fashion, celebrity gossip, running, triathlon, biking.....I subscribe to them ALL. I love magazine day in the mail (which was yesterday). I tend to hoard them until the PERFECT time to sit down and pour over them. I read them a certain way too. I go through and look at the pictures, scan what's going on - then I go back through and read them cover to cover. I'm not sure when this addiction started, possibly with my mom. For Christmas we always got a magazine in our stocking. I totally looked forward to it. Lately I've been really into Fashion. Instyle is my bible, I'm loving Glamour too. I do share my addiction though. If you are ever in need of a magazine I will always hook a friend up. I guess I'm a dealer and a user.

My other addiction? Thrifting and super deals online. I have found some amazing thrift deals - wool slacks from Banana Republic for $5, Cashmere sweater for $4, multiple skirts, and -finally- a chambray shirt for $4. Online I find some pretty good deals, like this SA VA dress. It was on clearance for $15! SUPER markdown. I had to call because the website wasn't working right. They were SO nice on the phone. Totally helped me out and shipped the dress that afternoon. I have another dress from that store - which I love - and can't wait to see this one! I'm pretty into sparkle these days and I think this fits the bill.

SA VA Eve dress

Here's the first SA VA I got. I actually won it on Carly's blog.

What are some of your addictions? If anyone knows of a magazine I MUST check out feel free to fuel my addiction.

Day 3 and Medi-Glee

I made it through day 3. The first week of any new way of eating is tough - scary even. Lots of obstacles in the way. My BF called to chat this afternoon and asked "What are you up too?" I replied "Binge eating in the car."

Now, I wasn't REALLY binge eating. Truth be told, had she not called - I might have. I'm so weak! I went to Trader Joe's and they had Chocolate covered Chips in the check out isle. How do you NOT buy those? I ate one. Resealed the bag. That's when my phone rang. Binge averted.

I did a good job of planning my meals, paying attention to the times that I'm eating (every two-three hours), and drinking lots of water. I didn't yell at anyone or even pout today. Pretty good, right?

Sam and I watched Glee on Tivo while he ran 5 miles and I rode on the bike trainer. Glee made me cry (Duh!) but I felt super good from the workout. I love that show. I fought it in the begining, I went kicking and screaming into my first episode. Not really sure why. I got hooked right away. Ah, love that show. Last weeks episode really made me feel like I should learn Crunk. I mean, if they can do it so can I! This weeks show made me hug my kids.

Dinner was steak, salad, and zucchini.  Oh, and WATER. You cannot drink ENOUGH water when changing the way you eat. Makes a huge difference! Fingers crossed for tomorrows weigh in!

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Medi-what?

Yesterday was my first day of my hard-core 30 day Medifast trial. I've been counting calories with my new BFF app MyFitnessPal (which I LOVE). Medifast is something that worked for my husband (Sam) to loose weight and I figured I can't keep complaining about weight gain if I haven't actually tried EVERYTHING.

So, day 1? Not too bad. I did not work out and I had the day off. What's not to love? Here's a cheat sheet of Medi-isms for what you go through on this meal plan. None is really that scary, all are reversible.

1. Medi-gas: lots o fiber = lots o gas. No way around it. It's going to build.
2. Medi-mean: let's face it. you are starving, maybe even to DEATH. You get mean. Period.
3. Medi-sober: no alcohol for a while. See "medi-mean"
4. Medi-tired: Eating less calories is going to equal less energy at first. Remember - reversible
5. Medi-shaky: Gotta eat every two-three hours. The shaky will get you if you forget to set your watch
6. Medi-memory: Let's face it. You got food on the brain. I can only fit in so much.

Today I had a serious case of the Medi-s. It started with my phone alarm at 8am. Not sure what I forgot that was on the calendar I checked it out - smile quickly fades. Jury Duty! In 5 minutes!!!!!! SHIT SHIT SHIT. How did I forget? I went on the website and felt all the blood leaving my face. I'm not sure what happens in jail, but I watched Locked Up, Beyond Scared Straight, and First Week In. I would die in jail. I'm too weak, especially since I have cut back the calories. Although, Medi-mean will kick in soon and that might do me well.

I checked the website, my number was not called! Phew! Jail sentence avoided.

After a long day at work I made it home with both kids, some things you just can't forget. I started planning my lean and green meal when my phone alarm went off again. Crap! What this time? The MELTING POT!? The ladies on my triathlon team were meeting at the melting pot, in 5 minutes, and I TOTALLY FORGOT! How does that happen? I was so excited for it, been on the books, rubbed it in Sam's face! Crap!

So, day 1 was fine, day 2 I avoided jail and the melting pot. I wonder what day 3 will have in store?

The Final Medi - ? Medi-skinny or Medi-Fit. It's a club I hope to join soon. 

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Wu and a training plan

Did you get to Target to see the Jason Wu line? It dropped Sunday (that's my rapper lingo coming out), so if you weren't there odds are you didn't see much. I got there at 7:40 - store opened at 8 - and I was the 4th one in line. It was fun to meet people also there to check out the Wu. I found myself looking at body types and seeing if anyone would be in competition with me for sizes. The doors opened at 8:00 sharp and people took off! They were actually running! This was my first experience with any of this - Black Friday included- so I was not prepared for the elbows, grabbing, and running that ensued. I was 4th in line and was able to score three items to try on. I heard one Target worker say that the shelves were cleared at 8:01. That sounds amazing, but there also was not much to the display. A few dresses, a few shirts, a few skirts. That's it. Here's what I tried on:

The one I really wanted - my Target didn't have this dress

This was really cute and fun

The sleeves on this one were too small, but cute dress

I was home by 8:45 and had the whole day ahead of me to do one training run. I had to do a 5K race - or race like run. I figured "no problem" and put it off until after lunch. I chose to do my run on the treadmill and put on Sixteen Candles. Who doesn't love a Molly Ringwold/John Hughes film?

My run was not fast. It was fast for where I am right now. I am learning that I cannot compare myself to anyone else and I really cannot compare myself to my previous seasons. That's hard to remember, but I'm trying to just look at this season and see what I can do now and where I am now. Easier said than done. The run was good (but now my stupid hip hurts) and I ran it much faster than any other runs this season - making it very race-like.

I'm half way done with my 1/2 marathon training plan. I'm pretty happy about that, I know the longest runs are waiting for me but the beginning is always hard because you are getting back into training in general. I have been headache free for almost a month too! I did get one last night from a super bowl hot dog. At least I think it was the hot dog. Grrrrrrr.

Toying with the idea of getting these. What do you think?