Random Thoughts

Well there isn't much to report about up here in the District. I have begun working at Starbucks about 20 hours a week and I'm of course still in training. Learning to make some drinks and such during my shifts.
I was able to have a completely free day on Monday. My first labor day off in 3 years, because well Flagler does not believe in that holiday. My roommate and I went to Ikea. It's about 30 minutes away in another town with a huge outlet mall beside it. I bought a bunch of stuff including Ikea meatballs and cream sauce, Yum! School is back up and running. I have all three classes next week, and a paper topic due. I have no idea what I am going to write about. All in time. I'm staying pretty caught up on readings so far, and actually taking notes on the readings. Which mainly has to do with the fact that I have to pay for all of my printing here.
On Tuesday, I left class and took a 1.5 mile walk through D.C., past the White House to the National American History Smithsonian to take a look at their special 9/11 exhibit. 50 items were on display on tables for people to look at. There were objects from the three 9/11 sites (New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa) as well as the TSA. It was really interesting to see what survived out of that horrible day. At the end of the exhibit was a short film, about the day from the news and news anchors perspectives. Then a place where people could reflect and write their thoughts and memory of the day. I thought it was fantastically done, because if someone had a question about an item, they could ask different staff and volunteers at the tables. Also it left the objects up to interpretation. There weren't text panels or anything like that, just labels as to what the object was. I think the video was the most powerful part of the exhibit, because it was right there again in front of someone's face. I'm really glad I braved the rain on Tuesday to see it.
It has been raining like mad here, and I feel wet and damp all of the time. It's gross, and I'm willing it to dry up and the humidity to depart from this place. I want beautiful fall.
Also a new random fact. I am falling in love with yoga. I felt like trying it because I was so stiff. I bought a yoga mat which was also for my dvd cardio/strength style workouts. However, I just decided to try an online streaming yoga video, and I just love it for getting all of the tension out of my body. I have found a Weight Watchers meeting here in town that I am now attending. I have been in a plateau all summer, and I'm trying to get out of it. I lost 1.6 pounds this week, so if I can lose another pound I will be super happy.

Adventures in the Kitchen

What is this three blog posts in the past two weeks. I feel like I'm setting a record for my blogging.
I've got the cooking bug again and I've been experimenting with pizza. My goal has been to create "semi-gourmet" pizzas that are low in weight watchers points.
This time I made a sausage and peppers with mushrooms pizza. I used low fat Italian cheese, tomato paste sauce, and Jennie O Italian Turkey Sausage. It was so good! I have found the trick is to use half a pound of dough per pizza. It is the only way to truly get a thin crust!

I also had an abundence of zucchini that I bought from the framers market. While looking through recipies on the interent. I found a recipie for stuffed zucchini. I hollowed out 2 zucchini's, chopped up the zucchini, tomatoes, onion, asiago cheese, and bread crumbs. I put the rest of the low-fat Italian cheese from the pizza I made on top and baked for 15 minutes. They ended up being around 3 Weight Watchers PointsPlus each!

I'm excited to be cooking again. I feel like since it is now summer, I have wanted to really create good food again, rather than mediocre food. I'm also trying to create really good low points food. I've been working out everyday. I have lost 37 pounds on Weight Watchers, and want to keep a good trend going, and not be held up by my diet. As my good friend and I have discussed, Food is an addiction and it is hard work to break that addiction

Personal Victory

It's only 10:30 on a Monday morning but I already have achieved a personal victory this morning. Since I joined Weight Watchers in July I have lost 30 pounds, and while that is a victory in and of itself this mornings was almost better. I began working out sporadictly when I began Weight Watchers (and I still do not work out as regularly as I should). I decided to check out the work out room at my complex because lets face it, if I'm not going to use it if it's free I'm certainly not going to pay to use equipment. Well I walked in the room and just saw machines. I was not familuar on how to use the machines spart from the treadmill and stationary bikes. The first one I saw was the infamous eliptical. I had never been on one, and it seemed like the most popular machine based on facebook/internet comments about it. Well I got on the machine 6 months ago and about died. I could barely use it for 2 minutes. I moved on to other machines.
Well today after walking on the treadmill, I decided to get on the elliptical and just try it for a few minutes to see if I could do it. To my surprise and delight I could! And I was on there for 12 minutes! It totally has made my day. To me these things and even smaller clothes show me how much better my health is getting in just these few short months with Weight Watchers. It also shows me that of all the weight loss programs on the market Weight Watchers is the only one that works! I need the accountability of a weekly meeting and that is what has helped me to be successful. 

Update

It's been a crazy few weeks. I have been working a lot at my new job as well as volunteering for Flagler working on the civil rights archive that will hopefully launch in a few weeks. I also have been working on a presentation that I will be giving next week on my senior seminar topic for women's history month. I'm slightly terrified! I don't think it will be much of a problem once i get up there and start talking, I just hope everything makes sense and that it is interesting. I also have to tweak my presentation because I don't want it to really be just a paper presentation, but a genuine presentation. I am excited for the opportunity though.

I did receive the best birthday present on Friday! I found out that I got into the musuem studies program at George Washington Unviersity! I really didn't think I would get in, and it's just an amaizng thing to get in! I don't know if I'm going to end up going there because it is so expensive, but it would be awesome if I was able to go.

Finally, I have lost 25 pounds on Weight Watchers since I started in July. I have dropped two dress sizes and kinda love to shop now. I am hoping that I can get refocused a bit and really work to get quite a few more pounds off before I have to leave St. Augustine and my wonderful group here!