Mini-Motivators

Dear Fog,
I'm not a science wizard, but I believe that you are to be comprised of water vapor, not in fact, Silly Putty.  Educate yourself.
Love,
Sluggish but Triumphant on W4D2 Remix


Since sluggish is no way to start a Hump Day, a little ruminating on motivation:

I'm a firm believer that my journey can only be successful if I'm doing it for myself.  I do the work, I make the choices, I'm the reason that I'm doing what I'm doing.  Doing this for someone else will never be enough for me to make a permanent change.  That being said, I know myself & as a mom my kids can be a powerful motivator.  Not a REASON, but a motivator.  I want my kids to grow up with healthy habits established through modeling so they can live long, healthy lives.  I can't say it enough that I am thankful that I found my life changes when my kids were so young.  They really don't know anything else.  In the past week, my kids treated me to two examples of ways that changing my life has shaped theirs:

• While talking about the dad of a friend that was going to do a race, Link piped up: "And her mom is going to race, too--right?"  Thrill of all thrills!  Link's assumption is that everyone races, everyone runs, everyone exercises.  He's even talking about running & racing with us & I think next year's race season is going to see the debut of future Olympian, Linkovitch Chimovski.  Side benefit: if we can get Link hooked on running maybe he'll want to be in Cross Country & spare his poor mother the scares of Football!

• After picking our biggest single day haul out of the garden, my kids mobbed me & insisted that we eat our garden tomatoes right there on the deck.  I thought they were going to riot when I made them stop stealing out of the basket long enough to rinse them off with the garden hose.  I guess a little bird poop never killed anyone...right???  At any rate, it didn't kill them & they were thrilled to have tomatoes for "dessert."  Be still my heart.

Then & Now

On the last weekend of each month I take a progress picture in front of my fridge.  Initially I chose the fridge because it would provide scale where a blank wall wouldn't & also because I'm still infatuated with my "new" (now three-year-old) fridge.  Someone once commented that they liked the pics because I was holding the fridge shut.  It wasn't intentional, but if anyone asks...sure, I planned it that way. 

Yesterday, I realized that I had almost missed picture day.  So, I did what any girl would do & I took off my painting clothes, put on make-up in the middle of the day, & put on a dress to be worn for exactly 37 seconds of picture taking.  But what a magical 37 seconds they were.  Not because the picture is that stellar (I actually liked last month's pic better), but because I inadvertently illustrated some great NSVs that sent me to the moon.  Along with wearing my first SMALL item of clothing in my whole-wide-life, I was treated to these discoveries...

1. Look at my necklace.  It's the same necklace in both pics...hanging down at least 1.5" lower in the current picture.
2. Look at my watch (fridge hand).  It's the same watch in both pics...sliding down at least 2" lower on my arm on the right.  Also of note in the watch department, I can now slide it off & on comfortably without opening the clasp.
3. Look at my shoes.  Ok, not the same shoes, BUT--the shoes on the right are my favorite kitten heel pumps.  I was able to comfortably wear them at my heaviest & still feel sexy.  They're magic shoes.  When I put them on yesterday, I had to notch the straps two holes smaller than the worn hole that I usually wore.  The clasp of one of them promptly broke in protest, but I'm getting these puppies fixed, they're too magical to get rid of!

 Just a reminder that it's not all about the scale, it's not all about the tummy, hips & thighs.  Sometimes it can be about the neck, wrist & ankle.  Meee-ow.

W4D1: Remix

Dear Neighborhood Vultures (no, not THAT kind, the feathered kind),

You are a valuable part of the circle of life.  As such, I would like to cordially invite you to a special luncheon in your honor at Chez Skunk Carcass on 72nd Street--I hear it's to die for.

Yours truly,
Sick of Week Old Roadkill Rotting on My Running Route


I'm posting this in the hopes that vultures are active in the blogosphere.  They certainly don't read my FB statuses because I already made this request once.  Maybe they get spotty coverage whilst circling the area & NOT doing their jobs.  Either way, that carcass is ALMOST enough to make my lazy self find a new running route...almost, but not quite.  It's been there so long that it doesn't even stink anymore.  Sad stuff.

What's not sad is how absolutely awesome I felt on my run today.  Everything just felt right.  I was moving & breathing exactly as I planned...which has never happened to me in my life.  Needless to say, by the time I got home, I was feeling like the king of the world.

Mercifully, I was spared the horror of an overinflated ego by the grace of my running shorts--my inside out running shorts to be more specific.  As I sat down on my front step to stretch my legs & bask in the glory of a beautiful day & a perfect run, I realized that my shorts were inside out.  For reals.  Maybe I should try some sports voodoo & wear them inside out tomorrow & see if that's the key to a good run.  More than likely it's just the key to getting odd looks.

And speaking of things looking odd, do you see what I see?

That's the tag off of my new (ridiculously clearanced) black dress that I wore today.  Yup, that's an S.  In the interest of full disclosure, there is no way that I can wear a small in MOST items, but this boxy dress fits perfectly & gets the award for my first item of small clothing ev-ah.  I might have to frame it...the tag, the dress, the whole enchilada.  Here's the dress: 

This picture pointed out a whole herd of NSV's that I'm excited to day dream about more tomorrow, but first I must night-dream tonight.