Introducing my new best friend Dory!

In my family we rotate through each sibling.  This year my older brother had me.  He knows how I have been running.  He gave me a new garmin!  It does amazing things!  

I thought long and hard about her name.  I have settled on Dory from Finding Nemo.   "Just keep swimming (running)" seems like a good motto for me.  Dory was also always lost.  :)

Here is a glimpse at what Dory does for me....

Untitled by megrover6 at Garmin Connect - Details

I need to admit that I didnt run for almost 2 weeks.  I am back on track with it.  I have run 3 times this week so far.  Tonight I ran 5 miles.  The first mile was my fastest ever....11 min mile.  The 2nd mile.....well it sucked!  I had a terrible cramp in my abdomen.  Then miles 3-4 were pretty effortless.  About halfway through mile 5 I was ready to be done.
Murn

where in the world have I been?

I am here!  I promise!  Life is busy I guess is all I can say.  When I got home from Minnesota I had all of my life waiting for me!  One of the things I did was go on a girls trip to Santa Cruz.  I was not there as much as I had hoped but when I was there....it was great.  We had the most spectacular view of the ocean.

 Here we are at family dinner one night.  Amelia is missing from the picture.

I had to go home early because my little Sophie dog was attacked by bigger dog and her leg got broken. Poor thing is already afraid of other dogs and this did not help.  She is doing ok now but was pretty pathetic for a few days.
I have been fluctuating a little bit with my weight loss but mostly staying the same.  This weekend I am going to Vegas and then I am getting serious about losing.  :)

Hope you are having a great winter!
Murn

I'm Home!

I want to start with the topic that this blog is suppose to be about....my weight loss.  I missed last week at weight watchers but I did go today (I am working tomorrow and wont be able to go to my usual Monday meeting.)  I have happy news!  I lost 7.2lbs!!  Yippeee!  I guess I can'd keep hating the new program so badly since its working.  This brings my total weight loss to 82.4lbs and I am finally in the 180s!  At WW there was one of my coworkers who was on her way to walk the Lafayette Reservoir. I jumped on her trip and we went and walked around the VERY hilly upper rim.  Whew!  My thighs are going to be hurting tomorrow!  I spent the afternoon shopping for healthy foods and cooking up some of them for the week.  

I came home on Thurs.  from several weeks in Minnesota!  I need to say that I loved my run on my first day back!  It was SUNNY and 60 degrees and I could run outside!  It was great!  Here is a picture I took one morning of my sister's 5 great kids!  I had a fun time being with them.  Everyone of them has a unique personality that I love.  

 In this picture I think Caroline is sharing some wisdom on how to get more milk with Andrew.  

 I went snow shoeing one day with the boys!  We walked across a frozen lake!!  I have never done that before. 

 Here is my snow shoe on top of the ice!

I had a great trip but it is sure great to be home too!

Murn

National Champs and Babies

Well since I have last posted my Auburn Tigers won the national championship!  WAR EAGLE!!!!  It was a crazy game but we did it!  An Auburn tradition that I love is that when Auburn wins a game...the town all goes to a corner of campus and rolls the big oak tree called Toomers Corner.  It is spectacular!!  People are screaming out Auburn cheers.  Its about being around the rest of the Auburn family!  Should you need a reminder about how I feel about Auburn you can check my post....here!

Well on facebook I found this picture on a friend of a friend of a friend's page.  How awesome is it???  This is Toomers Corner the morning after the game.  I want to give credit where it is due....I stole this off facebook.  Here is the link where you can get your own copy of it (I am going to....I want this framed on my wall!)

Ok...on to the point of this blog.  I finally did it.  Yes, I went to Weight Watchers and am doing the new program.  I am still not happy about it but I recognize its an important part of my program.  I was only 0.2lbs up from where I was in the beginning of Nov.  No loss but no gain over the holidays either so I am ok with that.  Here is all my new loot!

There are many of you that read this that are related to me.  It is you I am making this next section for. Does it get any cuter than this?

 Andrew was cheering on the Auburn Tigers in the outfit his Auntie Vanessa and cousin Peyton gave him. 

 This was Croline's reaction today when she heard that Cam Newton was going pro!  I am sure she was thinking....."Sad to see you go Cam, but we understand"

 Now as cute as the new additions are I felt like I could not leave out the older kids.  They are cute too...esp when they are asking to play games on my phone through the bathroom door when I am trying to have "private" time.  (moms out there....hats off to you!!)

 Elizabeth is fresh out of the shower and I clearly am showing my Auntie inexperience with leaving the bathroom before we brushed out her hair.  Pretend it is all brushed and cute....because it was soon after the picture was taken.  Sometimes Aunties forget things.  

Anyways....doesn't my sister have cute kids?  They sure are sweet too.  Elizabeth asked me when I picked her up from school yesterday....."Did the twins miss me today?" then she asked...""Do you think they know my name or think of me as the smallest of the big kids?"  Have to love them!

Tomorrow I am going to go shopping at the Mall of America.  Not sure if I will find anything I cant live without but I am going to try!

Murn

War Eagle!

Last night I went to the store to get stocked up on foods that are easy choices for me.  I have found that scavenging in an unfamiliar kitchen has had a few temptations.  I did really pretty good today when i had my safe foods.  

Funny story: on the way home last night I got pulled over.  I was going about 6 miles over the speed limit (which I didn't think was bad.)  Here is the thing....I not dressed appropriate for the weather.  I was in sweat pants and a T-shirt.  I had gone to the gym but had planned on only walking on the treadmill but could not resist running some so I was sweaty.  I had an out of town license.  The cop then questioned how I was just at the gym if I didn't live locally.  He also mentioned that it was strange I didn't have my coat on in -2 degree weather.  So guess what?  I got to get out of the car for a sobriety test!  I did ask to put my coat on for that!  I am happy to say I had not one drop of booze in me and he let me go with only a warning but that was a first for me!  What a fun Sat night!

My favorite team, Auburn Tigers are going for the National Championship tomorrow.  This is the first time in my lifetime that we have gone to this game.  I am so excited.  In anticipation my niece and I made auburn cupcakes!  We used a yellow cake mix so the actual cake part was dangerously close to green (we are playing the Oregon ducks who are green.)  we had fun making them.  

WAR EAGLE!!!

Murn

Baby, its cold outside!

Well there is not much I can say but its cold in Minnesota.  My first day here I felt cabin fever (not a good sign for the days to come.)  Luckily it was a heat wave and was 22 degrees so I put on my shoes and gear (thank you Laura!) and went for a run.  I only ran 3 miles....but I got out there.  Later in the day I went for a 2 mile walk in the snow with my dad.  Today my sister got me signed up at the gym for my membership so I am all set.  I went there today and got some of my wiggles out.

 Now on to the good stuff.....
My older sister had twins last week.  She has 3 older kids (11,10 and 6) so I am here in minnesota helping out and loving on the kids.
Introducing Caroline Julia.....

 And this little guy is Andrew Jacob.

Dont worry...there will be more pictures!!

All is well here!

Murn!

One Year!

Today marks one year from where I started.  I have offically lost 77lbs in that year.  Today also marks when I am kicking it back into gear to start losing again.  Since Oct I have been mostly ok with just maintaining being under 200.  I am done being in the 190s.  My dear friend said to me today...."2011 is about finishing what we started last year!"  Amen!

So I started out gun-ho about being strict and counting points starting today.  I have not been counting points and have been just eye-balling portions etc.  I was able to maintain but its time to get back to the basics.  My sister had twins last week.  She lives in minnesota.  I flew to minnesota today to come see her and her expanding family(stay tuned for pictures soon!)  Wow...I forgot how hard it is to ear healthy when traveling.  When I am traveling I love to carb load.  I dont know why!  I do it on car trips as well as plane rides.  Here is what I had today:
breakfast: WW 4 point breakfast sandwich
Lunch: ham and turkey sandwich on rye and top off top slice of bread.  (I dont really like rye bread anyways!)  I really wanted chips but I resisted.  (yay!  Small feat!)
Dinner- Roast beef sandwich on the plane.  Not a great sandwich but was bored and hungry so I ate it.
When i got to my sisters I had a small bowl of greek yogurt with a spot of honey on it and an apple.  I am guestimating that I had about 28 points today.  I am aiming for 24 so thats not terrible considering.

I am really resisting switching to the new weight watchers program but I might have to give in and do it. I am still pissy about having to buy all new books etc.  I brought my old slider on the trip and am going to see if I can do it without the web site.  Any of you doing weight watchers?  HOw different are the new points from the old ones?

Wanted to recap a few big deals for me in the last year associated with my weight.
* I can wear most stores XL....no more lane bryant for my clothes!  I can shop where normal people shop
*I didnt have anxiety about the seat belt on the plane fitting me today.  It fit and I even tightened it a bit.  I realize many of you have no idea what I am talking about.
*Being able to run 5+ miles.  Who would of thought I would be training for a 1/2 marathon???  I can say now that I am a runner!

I really think these next 30lbs will make a big difference in how I look and hot clothes look on me.  I am excited!  The first 50 really were hard to see but the last 25 made a difference.  You guys can let me know!  I am going to be doing my official weigh in on mondays still.  I am not sure about my sister's scale (or if she even has one!) so it might be delayed.  My gaol for when I get home is to be 192...we'll see!

Thanks for all the support!
Murn