All the bonnie birds have wheeled away....

One of the albums of my youth is Babes in the Wood by Mary Black.

I LOVE Mary Black.  When I was still in college she played at a concert hall in Akron, Ohio on St. Patrick's day evening.  I got up at the a$$ crack of dawn, did kegs and eggs, slept it off for a while and then drove to Akron to go to the show with my dad.  It was totally worth the 7 cups of coffee the me at the time choked down (what was I, crazy?  How did I survive college without coffee??) to see her perform live.

And really, the point of this entire thing, is that I LOVE her version of Richard Thompson's Dimming of the Day.  It's honestly one of my favorite songs ever.  And I share this with you, because the version on Alison Krauss & Union Station's new album Paper Airplane??  SO.  GOOD.  OMG.

And this should not be surprising to me, really - because Mary Black and Alison Krauss are two of my favorite female voices ever, so.  But.  Yes.  If you haven't checked out Paper Airplane then suck up the $1.29 or whatever and buy Dimming of the Day from iTunes.  You won't regret it.

New clothes!

As I recently txted a friend, I really think that the best part of losing weight (Y'know, aside from being healthier and having more energy, blah blah) is being able to go to multiple types of shopping places - AND the sheer *quantity of clothing* your money gets you!  Yesterday afternoon I went on my second hunt for a pair of khakis and ended up with 2 shirts, a shrug, 2 camis and a pair of khaki crops (close, but not quite exactly what I was looking for) for $38.

$38!!!!  That's around the price of 1 item at some of the "big girl" stores I've been shopping at for the past 10+ years.  Blows my mind, seriously!

Five months and going strong...

This past week was my 5 month anniversary with Weight Watchers.

I'm not going to say it's EASY, because it's not.  It's not even Easy.  (OMG - cheese.  bread.  I miss you! Love, me) But what I will say is that for me it's been easier than I ever thought it would be.  What I really love about WW (and I'm 99.99% sure this is an opinion shared by everyone I know who's in the program) is the part where it's not really a diet.  It really is changing your entire way of thinking about food.

And it's NOT about not eating anything delicious ever again!!  This weekend I went to Columbus to see my girls from college and I had, in order: Greek Salad with bonus!chicken, sushi (OMG, so good!) and Chipotle.  I also had 2 Starbucks iced "skinny" Latte's for 2 pts each (mmmm - coffee.  Let me just say:  Any "diet" that will not allow you a latte is not going to work.  At least, not long term. ;)

I also spent $75 at Old Navy, bought a dress and a pair of pants in a size that I haven't worn, if I'm being honest, since at least the 9th grade, if not earlier.  The picture below is the pair of jeans I wore to my first WW weigh in on 4 Nov, 2010.  The brown pair are the ones I bought this morning at Macy's.

And the thing is?  I really do look in the mirror and see a fat girl.  And, technically, I'm still in plus sized clothing.  But I've come a really long way - I know that, mentally.  I'm wondering how many people go through this?  I'm guessing it's probably a lot more common than I'm thinking.  The phenomenon where you KNOW a thing is true but have a difficult time believing it.

I know it's true because when I sat on the chair on my parent's deck tonight my thighs were not touching the arm rests.

I know it's true because when I put on pants from pre-WW the other day they literally slid down my thighs.

But it's still difficult to really know it.

Case in point:  This weekend - when I was trying on the brown pants from the photo - I actually tried on three pairs.  The two I took into the changing room, and the pair above that friend!L was like, "no, really.  Hang on, let me go get you the next size down to try."   And I was like, "But.  No - this pair (the middle size) feels snug!  Aren't they snug?" and she sort of looked at me, walked over and grabbed a fist full of fabric on the sides. 

I know I'm not "skinny" by magazine and television standards, but I'm SO CLOSE to having a 1 as the first digit of my weight it's almost unbelievable to me.  I just need to keep reminding myself that I've lost 75 lbs since August - 60 since joining WW in November - and I'm doing great. 

One day, probably soon, the reflection in the mirror will look that way to me, I'm sure.  Or maybe, friend!A is right - and one day I'll look at a picture of the "new me" and be like, "Holy $hit - look what I did!!"

But for now - holy cow, look at my new pants! :)

First post

This is the blog I will be using to post whatever random silliness pops into my head on an ongoing basis.  Tonight I have nothing terribly profound to share, so instead I'm just going to share the current list of things I've got swimming around in my head:

• WHY is it only Tuesday?
• Turkery burgers: my new favorite thing
• The fact that Discovery is doing a Deadliest Catch marathon bodes well - new season must be upon us!
• I wish there was a way I could listen to my iPod 24/7
• I really, really need to get my last batch of Postcrossing cards in the mail - I've had some of these addressses sitting here for over a month!! :(
• Tonight at my WW meeting I was only down .8 - but I was down 4.2 last week.  I try to remember that a loss is a loss, but .8?  Bah.
• Looking forward to this weekend - getting to see some of my girls will be a good time!

Really - like I said.  Nothing terribly profound to share, just kind of learning how this guy works and having a good time with it, I guess.  ;)  And now I don't have to comment on StinkyAngels as an anonymous user ;)