Weight-loss is something I've always hated talking about. Probably because it was something I always struggled with. But, now I'm down 70lbs! Woohoo! I haven't seen this poundage since I was actively playing volleyball and basketball in school. Even now it's strange to look back at pictures from DC, and to see the transformation.
Here is the progression, as promised:
A trip to Annapolis last spring.
Over Memorial Day.
In August.
Trip to pumpkin patch in October.
Ugly Sweater Party in December.
From trip to San Francisco in January (we were at a military fort).
And there you have it! The progression of weight-loss.
For those of you wanting to know how I've done it, it's all due to Weight Watchers. They have an amazing program that they reinvented the start of 2011, and further revamped it for 2012. I couldn't recommend it more.
I went to karaoke two times in two nights. I may need an intervention.
On the one hand,
I love to sing and it relieves stress.
On the other,
I stay up much too late,
which makes me mighty tired for work the next day.
A different, yet kind of related note (haha), I bought more music this week!
Hoorah! I love new music!
Florence Welch is one of my very favorite artists. Her lyrics are introspective and deep, and really say something. She sings of spirituality, and has a lot of religious imagery in her videos. I recently watched an interview with her, and she said that music is the means that she can fully communicate her true self. And I feel like I understand what she's saying.
I have to admit that some of her videos creep me out a bit--that's the main reason why I don't post more of her music on my blog. This song is one of favorites from her new album, Ceremonials, and it's not creepy.
For the better part of last week and the first part of this one, Mr. Weather had me fooled. Sun? Upper 50s? This is February and Washington State--should that even exist this time of year?
Apparently not.
I was hoodwinked! Good one Mr. Weather. Just as I was putting away my heavy coat and warm layers, we're now back to the typical rain and gray. What was I thinking? It is February and I live in Seattle.
(It's so hard going back to rainy weather appropriate
clothes when one has already vowed not to wear
them again until next winter.
Don't you think?)
At least I wasn't the only one fooled...
These rhodies had the wool pulled over their eyes too!
It could not have come sooner! What a week! Some major ups and downs, but that's life right? Sure keeps things exciting. I know I keep on promising I'll update with the interesting bits of life, and I may actually get to it this weekend. Horray! Aren't you excited?
And today is sunny and beautiful and warm. And it's February. These things rarely coincide.
I have to admit, February is the very best month. One, it's my birthday month. Two, Valentine's Day. Three, Leap Year. There's something incredibly special about Leap Year, don't you think?
Anyway, I digress. I really just wanted to share some music, like I do most Fridays. (Or used to do most Fridays).
I purchased some tunes this week (two albums plus two more songs!), which I don't usually do. I'm normally perfectly satisfied listening to Pandora or to last.fm, but sometimes there's an album or song that I just have to have. And that's how it was with The Civil Wars. I'm in love with their album Barton Hollow. It's been out for a while, but I just recently rediscovered them through one of my roommates.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off was one of my absolute favorite movies growing up. It's one of those movies (along with What About Bob) that my family will forever quote.It was every kids' dream to pull off a day like Ferris. Seriously, how rad was he?
(I was probably more like a Cameron in high school than a Ferris, but that's ok, right?)
Honda came out with a new ad for the Super Bowl and it features Matthew Broderick playing hookie a la Ferris. I laughed. Out loud. At work.
I've been MIA for a bit, but I promise I had a super good excuse. I may or may not have been on a much needed trip. In the land of San Francisco. Who am I kidding--I was definitely there. More on that later.
Hope you all made it through the past week ok. I came back to a Seattle I hardly recognized--tons and tons of snow. It was beautiful, but I'm glad it's gone. My little Volvo could not handle it. I tried driving it on Friday, and got stuck just as I rolled out of my drive-way. Luckily my roommate's boyfriend was able to help me get it out of harms way.
I have some amazing photos of my lovely trip to share, and I can't wait!
It's only 10 am and a third of my liter bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper is gone. Perhaps I should have made "no caffeine consumption" apart of my goals for the year. But I don't know if I could actually do it after a night like last night. It was another testament that I am no longer closer to 20 than I am to 30. Gah, that sounds horrible.
I think I may be addicted to karaoke.
I just can't get it out of my system.
I went again last night with my roommate (who has an AMAZING voice by the way), and stayed much to late. It happens every time. I say to myself, "Tonight, I will leave at 11pm," and then 11pm turns into 12:30am...on a work night. Which is much harder than a school night, let me tell you!
Funny things seem to be happening to me of late at the frequented karaoke bar. Two weeks ago a utterly intoxicated man in his 30s started talking to my friend. I could tell that she was a bit unnerved, so I took one for the team, and engaged him in conversation, so he would leave her alone. He was asking if one of us if we wanted to do a duet with him. My friend did not. Nor did I. But I think this is where my being much too nice comes to bite me in the butt. I agreed to sing with him, thinking he would leave us alone once we appeased his request. We sang. I sat down. Horror of horrors he followed me, and asked for my number. He ended up taking my phone, entered his number, and called his phone. He was too quick for me to give him fake digits. And to top it off, we was wearing something that looked much like a wedding band. I told myself that he would be much too drunk to remember what happened that night, and that he would forget all about in the coming days and weeks. Not so much. Three days later I received a text from him wishing me a Merry Christmas, and asking how to contact me on facebook. Naturally, I ignored the text. (All kinds of ick, huh?).
Last night I had a song dedicated and sung to me. Wasn't quite sure what was going on. Still don't know if it was a joke, or if it was serious. I'm going to pretend that it was a joke.The guy was apart of our group, but I'd only met him once before at karaoke. But how embarrassing!
It's Friday, and you know that I have a great bit of music for you. Je promis that I'm getting to it. And karaoke does relate. Sort of.
It's been really hard of late to pick good songs to sing. I don't listen to the radio, so I don't really know any of the popular songs out at the moment. And my music collection is eclectic. Very eclectic. I'm more of an alternative/indie girl, but I have my fair share of classical and foreign music. That being the case, I haven't really rocked it at karaoke.
Lately, I've been listening to the soundtracks of Amélie and Marie Antoinette on repeat, mixed in with a little Arcade Fire. I love French music. And we all know K-pop holds a special place in my heart. I even have more than half a dozen Czech/Slovak albums.
A couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon this gem on iTunes. Coeur de Pirate has an AMAZING sound, and this song is absolutely beautiful! It's one that touches my soul and almost brings tears to my eyes.
Please enjoy Place de la République by Coeur de Pirate.
