On March 17 I posted that I’d reached two of my goals in Weight Watchers: 25 pounds lost and 10% of my starting body weight lost. Yay!
On March 31 my friend Deanna came to visit for nearly a week.
And there went my momentum. I decided to not even attempt to track those two weeks she was here (my week change was in the middle of her visit) because there was a lot of restaurant-going and all. Then I didn’t track the next week all that well. I tracked after that, but just wasn’t “making good food choices”.
As proof of actually going to the meetings, though, I can show you all I got the Find Your Adventure charm! I received this on April 6.
Since then, I’ve gained six pounds (argh!!!) and finally finally yesterday weighed in with a loss of 0.8 pounds. So at least the numbers are going the right way again.
This week I am definitely back to tracking properly, and going to try and track things either the night before or that morning for the day. I’ve been doing this oddball tracking bit that some people find easier: Anything I eat after about 4:30 or 5:00pm tonight will be tracked on tomorrow’s dinner or snacks. Anything that’s listed in my dinner for tonight was eaten for last night’s dinner. Any snacks I’ve tracked under today were eaten from 4:30pm yesterday through about 4:30pm today.
And…. I’m joining in with Elisabeth (Everything & Nothin’) and her friends Brie (Laqing In Creativity) and Japs (MissInformation) to do the Chubby Girl Gets Skinny lifestyle change journey. It’s a super idea – we all join together (that means you, too, if you want!) to trade tips and tricks and anecdotes and praise and keep us all on track! You don’t have to do it to lose weight, just exchange some of your unhealthy habits for healthier ones. Give yourself goals like walking more, or finding time to meditate. Anything that helps you get to an even better you! So go check out their blogs and see what’s up, and follow them, too – they’re great!
Yikes! I got tagged! Does this mean I’m one of the cool kids now? (Because that’d make my week!) The culprit is the wonderful Sarra, blogger at That Geeky Girlfriend – which is one of the best blog titles ever. Shoo – go check out her blog! Now! Seriously, you will love her posts about her venturing into the world of subscription boxes and beauty bits. And while you’re there, click to follow her!
The Rules:
Tag the blogger who nominated you.
Answer the questions you were given.
Nominate 10 bloggers whose blog is about beauty/lifestyle/fashion.
Name 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
Inform the bloggers you chose that you nominated them!
These are the questions Sarra sent out:
Where do you enjoy promoting your blog the most, social media wise?
Right here on WordPress so far. I haven’t figured out how to get hundreds of followers on Twitter or Pinterest or Tumblr, so my tags and all on here are really it.
What’s the worst product you’ve tried? (& what did it do?)
Oooh – for the WORST ones, I get to go back to the 80s.
First was Coppertone QT Self-Tanning Lotion. I don’t know if this was the first appearance of self-tanners, or if I just finally decided I wanted a Southern California beach tan in land-locked Oklahoma. But did I want to look like those gorgeous, perfectly-tanned and perfectly-everything models on M-tv. (Back when they showed videos 24/7.) After enough Duran Duran and David Lee Roth videos at Sonny’s Pizza, my friend Mary and I decided we were going to try out the fake tan. I mean – it’s by Coppertone! Who would know better than Coppertone how to pull this off?
The next day, I slathered this evil-smelling stuff on my ghost-white legs and chicken-pale arms, thrilled as I saw it grow a bit darker. Okay… there were some streaks where I hadn’t applied it evenly, so I looked like I had dirt lines I needed to wash off. But no one would really notice that, right? Just me, because I was looking. Off I went, proudly sporting my new, fabulous tan, down to the mall where I worked at Kay Bee Toys. (Before they had to wear uniforms.) In between selling Garbage Pail Kids trading cards, Monchichis, and Nintendo cartridges, I ran and got everyone Cokes from Pretzel King across the way. Kris, the guy working that day, looked me up and down, and with a grin said: “Wow, you got a tan!” Not catching his sarcasm, I beamed back, thinking he was paying me a compliment. Cool! He was damn hot, too… So, about an hour later, sucking on my Coke straw, some of the condensation from the cup dripped down my bare leg. I ignored in, and rang a lady up. Alan, the manager, came up behind the register and his hands flew to his mouth, trying to hide laughter. “Oh, my gawd, Love! What happened to you?” I look down to where he was pointing – and saw three long, very white streaks down my leg where the water had washed away the tanning lotion. Not only that, but with the white streaks it was now very obvious that the color wasn’t so much a tropical tan as it was a filthy-watering-hole orange! Even with my desperate pleading, Alan wouldn’t let me go home, not even to try and wash the stuff off and come back. As the night went on, I realized that, while the fake tan was easily coming off my arms and legs and just looking like a patchwork hell, the palms of my hands were a consistent burnt orange.
I’ll be honest – I’ve been afraid to try self-tanners ever since.
The second was Pazazz Color Mousse. I wanted so badly to dye my hair! Not all of it, but just parts of it! It was totally rad, and I just had to! No dice, of course – Mom wouldn’t hear of it. Again, Mary and I were sitting in Sonny’s Pizza, watching M-tv on the brand-new big screen. She had just gone to JC Penny’s and got part of her hair bleached to match John Taylor, and I totally envied her. Not having learned from the Coppertone debacle, we decided the best way to go about getting cool colors in my blonde hair was to get some of this color mousse we saw in TG&Y.
I got purple.
A few mornings later, I am getting ready for school. The front door is already open because it’s going to be a warm day and Mom is getting a breeze through the house while it’s still cool. I shove the top half of my hair up in a ponytail and proceed to mousse the hell out of the bottom half. Now, I have really long hair at this point – down to my waist. I use two cans of this stuff on my hair, and scrunch it up until it dries into a crackling, semi-curled purple mass. I choose a white jumpsuit to wear, because it looks spacy and looks like something in some Police video I was enamored with at the time. Mary and a couple other friends found me before first period and said they loved the hair. I was elated – hey, if I can’t use permanent dye, these mousses will do the trick!
Well, the heat and humidity in Oklahoma can be nasty. This was mid to late May, and as the day went on, it got hotter and more humid. That means sweat, especially when you go to a high school with no air conditioning in it. (It barely had heat, either, but we won’t go there today!) Around 1pm or so, I reached back under my hair to scratch at an itch on my neck, and stared in horror as I brought my hand back to the desk and saw it streaked in purple. Noooo! I tried to hide my panic for the next ten minutes until the bell, and ran to the nearest bathroom. Sure enough, my neck where my hair had been resting was a deep purple color – and that wasn’t all. The collar of my white jumpsuit, part of the shoulders, and bits of the back where I had sweated a bit (it was HOT) were tinged with purple, too.
I just cut my last class and walked back home, imagining I could feel the mousse dripping off my hair and staining everything I wore and leaving a trail of purple splatters on the sidewalk behind me. That was it for the Pazazz Color Mousse. Actually, I think it was taken off the market not too long after that, possibly due to the fact it got all over everything and stained everything BUT hair.
Pazazz Mousse Ad 1986 by SlantedEnchanted on Flickr
What’s your favorite subscription box, if you subscribe?
I don’t subscribe to many, but of the ones I get, I love Sephora’s Play! box. Always good things in it (at least so far…) and hey – it’s Sephora!
In one word, summarize your focus for 2016.
Happiness.
If you are playing up one feature on your face, what is it, and why?
Either my lips or my eyes, depending on if I am wearing my glasses. Sometimes even with my glasses on, I will go for my eyes. I have a great eye shade, and I love accenting that.
What fashion and beauty trend would you rather avoid?
Words on my ass. It’s big enough already without some brand trying to use it as a billboard. And the thing where you poke out your lips trying to make them look like Kylie Jenner. I actually tried a few times and it just looks silly. I’ll just be me, thanks.
How do you plan out your blogging, or do you at all?
Mainly I’m seat-of-my-pants blogging. I follow a bit of a guide for my Ipsy and Sephora Play posts, but other than that, it’s whatever comes out of my head.
What’s your favorite memory from 2015?
Wellll, 2015 was pretty much a suck year for me. Both my parents died within nine weeks of each other. There were some not-so-nice financial things and employment things. It just wasn’t fun. If I have to choose a favorite memory, though, I’d say it was opening presents with Hims on Christmas morning.
What product type are you willing to splurge on?
Perfume and skin care. Perfume because the higher quality ones smell better and last longer without changing their scents, and skin care should be sort of obvious. 🙂
What beauty/fashion choice do you regret?
Other than using the Pazazz Color Mousse? Allowing myself to believe for years that because I wasn’t a size 4 I shouldn’t wear cute clothes. That I had to wear only jeans and teeshirts. And that I shouldn’t be seen in public in a swim suit until I looked the way everyone “expected” a female to look in a swim suit. Last summer I said hell with that and got a cute two-piece and had an utter blast swimming in the pool.
Do you have any blogs other than the one nominated? If so, what are they about, and how did you start them?
What one beauty product would you hate to be without during the winter?
Are you more apt to wait for awhile before buying a new product and check out reviews first, or are you the one snagging it right as it’s released so you can review it for others?
What’s your favorite nail polish brand?
Glitter polish/ shadow/ etc or no? Or is it a mixture or an “it depends”? Why?
What advice would you give your 12 year old self? This doesn’t have to be specifically about beauty or fashion, either, but sort of about it. 🙂
Do you have a fashion disaster tale to tell? C’mon… I know you do. I want to hear!
What was the very first makeup you ever owned?
Sephora or Ulta, and why?
If you could work for any cosmetics company in any position, what company and what job would you choose?
Please go check out these bloggers! And support Sarra at That Geeky Girlfriend, too! Seriously, you’ll love them all!
Nearly all my clothes are from Torrid, since that’s what I fit into – and I really don’t care for Lane Bryant the past five or so years. Lots and lots of tops. Sweaters and cardigans, and a few jackets. A ton of shoes, which is funny as I usually only wear my tennies anymore. (Another thing with too much weight: not only can it throw your balance off, but heels can really start to hurt.)
Oh, and hats. I loves me some hats. And a lot of purses for some reason.
Oh yeah… and about 1/4 of the closet belongs to Hims. *laffs*
I really, really try not to do regrets. There’s nothing I can do to fix what’s already been done or not, so it’s a bit of a waste to spend time regretting what can’t be changed.
If I had to choose something, it would be one: not saving tons of money throughout my life so far. Though with that, I know it would have all been spent while I was trying desperately to remain in California. So I would still be in the same financial boat as I am now. Or two: putting off calling my friend Debbie. I had wanted to call her and check up on her, but kept getting distracted by other little things. Then when I’d think about it, it would be too late at night, and I’d tell myself I’d call her the next morning. She’d called and left a little message on my voice mail the week before, just saying hi, and I wanted to call her back and say hi right back at her. Only then I got a call the day before my birthday – Debbie, who was a year and a half cancer-free, had suddenly died at two in the afternoon while in a CAT scan. All I could think was I should have called her.
Please don’t let yourself have the chance to have that type of regret, y’all. When you feel like calling or texting or writing or knocking on a door, do it. Even if you feel a little silly doing it. Just go for it.
He has to be approved by my cat, Alanis! No, seriously. For years my cat has been a good indicator of whether or not the guy is a good guy. But until Hims and I got together, I’d never seen her come up and be really friendly with a guy. She actually put her paws on his knee and let him feed her some turkey from his sandwich the third time she met him!
Other than that, he must have a good sense of humor. Have intelligence. Be goofy. Not be appalled when I am goofy myself. (Yes, I’ve had guys think I needed to be Miss Perfect Girlfriend 24/7, and that’s just not me.) He has to be my friend as well as my boyfriend/romantic partner/etc. Be self-assured enough to not have to “mark his territory” if I’m talking to another guy. (That was mainly for when I was all slender and pretty!) Know better than to drink too much, and please don’t use drugs. Been there, done that, never want to go back. I love eyes and hands and smiles. I love a good, honest laugh.
It’s just a whole big package, things that work with other things, and that make me smile and feel comfortable around him.
First thing’s first – pay off all bills and debts. Not that there are so many of them (pretty lucky with that), but just to get them all out of the way. Second – I would buy a car. Because no, I don’t have one, and haven’t had one in years. Believe me, it drives me nuts! Third – we’d get Hims a new car if he’d like, or take his car in to have anything done to it that might need to be done – though he does take very good care of vehicles, thank goodness.
After that, I’d definitely find someone trustworthy to help manage the money. A LOT of it would go straight into different savings accounts. No way am I going to be one of those people who finds themselves five years down the road with nothing left to show for all those millions. I also wouldn’t tell anyone about winning, because as much as I would love to meet distant relatives, I don’t want them coming out of the woodwork only because they think they can get something out of me. The same goes for people who suddenly feel tremendous friendship for me. Does this sound terribly cynical? It does, but unfortunately you hear about things like that. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t help people out… I would just be really careful about things like that.
Would I give some to charity? Of course. I’d also love to donate some money to the Museum of the United States Air Force (love that place!) and find out where to donate money for the saving and restoration of some old buildings in downtown Oklahoma City.
But the very best thing of all for me? I would finally be able to just sit back and relax. Actually relax. How wonderful is that?
Seeing as how I completely spaced on writing this yesterday (even though I had it up and set up to write!), I would say procrastination is one of my worst habits? *laughs*
Forgetting things. Eating when I’m not hungry. Overthinking things. Worrying too much. Grinding my teeth (no, no one can hear anything – I hate that!). Spending too much time reading junk on Facebook. Being afraid of things.
A lot of these I can stop, I know. And I need to. But then… procrastination! And an “oooh, shiny!” on Facebook, don’tchaknow.
Hurt animals. Drizzly cold days. Not being able to make someone feel better. Feeling like I wasted the day. Lost time. Lost friendships. Watching people shred each other to pieces on Facebook over politics. Feeling like I have to censor what I write for fear of offending someone. A missed shot on my camera. Winter. That groggy feeling after I’ve napped too long in the afternoon. Loneliness.
What a depressing subject! Everyone go watch something funny on YouTube now! Cheer up! 🙂
Sunshine. Kitties. Stepping on the scale and seeing a lower number! Hims, definitely. Discovering cool things. Ice cream with hot fudge. Checking out historical places. Taking photos. Cross stitch and crochet. Music. Good books. Good movies. Binge-watching things like Rome, JAG, Stargate (both SG1 and Atlantis), Mad Men, and Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. Long walks in the forest when there’s no one else around. Coffee. Trips to Sephora and Von Maur. Wandering around a city like Los Angeles or Manhattan. Winning money in the lottery or at the casino – even if it’s just a few dollars, it’s fun! Oatmeal. French toast at The Golden Nugget, because it is the best. Accomplishing something in my writing. Springtime and seeing the daffodils blooming finally. A mild winter. Christmas. Cooking something that Hims thinks is totally yummy. Blogging. Playing in World of Warcraft and Second Life.
Just lots of stuff. 🙂
LOL – and don’t forget to add the fact that you guys read my blog! THAT totally makes me happy! Thank you!!!
Me, Take Three 