day 27...

I'm finding that blogging isnt exactly what i thought it'd be and so i'm finding amazing inspiration in others blogs. i think someday i'll get the hang of this... until then youre stuck with this! ha!

things have been going well. we have missed a few gym days due to busy schedules, family functions and a recent family friend passing. otherwise: its amazing how rejuvinated you feel after a half hour on the treadmill. Evan cracks me up at the gym. For some reason him running next to me with his vans and his trucker hat and beard is just comical. He's always good for putting a smile on my face.

i've been doing well on the not drinking soda thing. i've rediscovered unsweetened ice tea in its place. and putting away 64 ounces or more of water a day is getting more and more bearable!

i'm making it a point to avoid the scales. i want to just try i want to see where i land in months. i want to put on my skinny jeans and have them look baggy. then i'll know i've accomplished something!

tomorrow we leave for Daytona bike week. i always lose weight in Daytona. i spend my time there not eating, having some cocktails, sure. but i am on my feet in the heat. kick starting my bike - and its sort of the awakening from the winter. i always come home ready to tackle spring and prep for the fun summer ahead.

My bike is pretty special to me. I built it with the help of my best friends and my dad. My Dad and i pulled many hours in the barn behind our little house with poor lighting and no heat. we built it from boxes of parts and i loved it. i rode it all by myself to the Smokeout west - all the way in Arizona. it was a big accomplishment for me. it was 50% there... almost what i wanted. Then I took it to Evan and he helped me accomplish the other 50%. He taught me about grinding, chopping and welding. we remade the motorcycle and i determined that during all of the building of this bike - the one person who supported me but never got to see it was my Grandpa Bob. He died suddenly the week after i returned from the Smokeout because of an accidental medicine reaction in the hospital. He was an amazing person. full of Faith and talent. Always smiling, always loving, always making jokes and little fun noises. He was my Papa. and his favorite thing was to paint airplaines. and one of his favorite airplanes was the F6F Hellcat. Two years ago i had the Hellcat tattooed on my arm for him. He loved it and he'd kiss my arm when he saw me. Even after he lost his leg, he was so chipper and loved when i'd visit... So my bike was thusly titled in honor of my Papa.



its fun. it took me a long while to learn how to kick start it. and how to ride it. i admit: i crashed it the first year i rode. it was scary. there's nothing quite as surreal as sliding down the side of the road, while your bike is a foot from you, sliding, and watching the sparks fly and the grass near your face. i'm so lucky that my accident was mild. but it still haunts me and has taught me about being a better rider. since then i've come a long way. i'm far more confident on two wheels. i'm told it happens at least once to every rider. lets hope i got my once out of the way!

well... time to hop in the truck tomorrow and hit the open road... such is the life of a carnie *wink*

Day 14...

This weekend I thought would be the hardest because I was in Cincinnati at the VTwin Expo. Pretty much all of the motorcycle manufacturing and distribution companies gather there to show off their newest innovations in the vtwin market. My job is to make sure that my company looks its very best there. so the stress level before hand is at its highest. I butted heads with my boss, worked many all-nighters, and got far too dirty and sore by loading and unloading the trailer (we take our show display down in a 40 foot gooseneck trailer) and we set up a 20'x20' indoor show display complete with ten foot tall and 20 foot wide metal trusswork. it looks cool but its a lot of work.

needless to say that everyone is working hard before Cinci and so when everyone gets there its like one giant sigh of relief. then we all eat, drink and make merry all weekend.

i thought that this merry-making would infringe on my healthy eating.

it only did in the sense that i missed a few meals: but later replaced those calories with cocktails. :)

and though i missed two gym days: i did get much excersize in prepping the display, walking in and out of the convention hall, all over the city for meetings and dinner functions, etc.

but tomorrow night: its back to my routine at the gym. i hope to up things from where they were last week. i'd like to do more than 5 miles on the treadmill, and more than 5 on the bike. and i picked up a card from a trainer. perhaps they can help me with my target areas.

here's to a positive foot forward for the rest of the year!

Day 5...

Starting this new plan right before the weekend was difficult! But I'm congratulating myself on a job well done, amidst much temptation this weekend!

The gym has proven to be a fun idea and a work regimine has been planned out. We were given a 30 minute session with a trainer with our sign up, so I'm most definitely going to take advantage of that!

Friday night I went to my tattoo studio to work on a client. I spent several hours with him while Evan was at the bar. I went to retrieve Evan from the bar, and wound up staying until close. But I was happy because instead of my usual late night bar food and bad drink choices, I ordered a single piece of veggie pizza and had a vodka redbull... not the best choice: but better than the 5 or so beers or whiskey and cokes i usually put down! We almost stayed but instead chose to drive home at 3am. I was happy for my own bed instead of Lauren's couch.

Saturday was a busy day spent tattooing Dustin. We finished a long tattoo, had a smart lunch (though I did succumb to a coke at lunch, I did the good thing and poured it into a small paper cup, drank only that and made sure to still get my three 32 oz bottles of water in for the day).

We went home and cleaned the house, cooked a healthy dinner and watched television. I needed a night from chaos!

Sunday was a very good day. Got some gym shoes and new yoga pants (as well as a cute black button down sweater). had a nice lunch with the parents - and i was smart! i had a half salad and a cup of soup. go me!

for dinner Evan and i experimented with fish. Being vegetarian is hard. we are lacking a lot of protein and vitamins in our diet so it was suggested that we supplement with fish now and then. we tried tilapia and over seasoned it. it was so lemony! but the side dish of plain rice and sweet peas was yummy.

This morning i substituted my overly sweet coffee with hot tea for the drive to work. good caffiene boost without the sugar and cream!

i've stayed on my vitamins thus far, and though i have a stressful weekend ahead for work: i look forward to the coming months!

tonight: the gym again. i'm actually excited!!!!