Bouquet Toss Update

Since my blog did kick off on this subject, I thought I'd give an update. Here are pics from The Toss at Ashley's wedding. As you may remember from this post, I was drunk off cajun seafood and who knows what else.

I don't know how large or clear this pic will post, but in the pre-toss I am up front staying warm with a black wrap and bourbon and diet. The other girls look ready and I am pretty sure wandered to the front of the crowd because I felt like that was the bridesmaidly thing to do.

Now, I need to preface this action shot and let you readers know what I already knew at the time, THE TOSS WAS THROWN! Obviously it was literally thrown, but also Ashley had promised to bouquet to a damsel that believed this might be that little push she needs to get a ring and have a wedding in time for 2009 tax breaks. I knew I didn't have much to reach for so it looks like I did my best "Oh, it's not coming this way, but where is it gonna go, darn it I wish it had come this way, not really, that was a lie!" Clearly I also took an unconscious reflex step back as I seem to disappear into the crowd and the girl that was behind me is now in clear view.

So there is that. I went to another wedding last weekend and there was no bouquet toss, that or I missed it as the bars were set up in the foyer to the main room.

But, don't you worry I have another wedding this Sunday night. Yes, third wedding of 2009 and it's not even April. What's even more strange is that all three of my 2009 weddings have been Christian/Jewish unions! AND, the only half-official date I've been on this year was with a nice young Jewish boy. What is God, or should I say G-d trying to tell me here?!?

I Guess This Makes Taffy A New Millennium Mom?

When I was about 15 years old I came home with a second hole pierced in my left ear . Once my mom noticed, she told me I looked like I belonged in an African tribe and, for at least two weeks, proceeded to give me looks of utter shame every time I entered the same room as her.

Last week my youngest sis, Kassidy, celebrated her 15th b-day on St. Patrick's day. She had a hair appointment that afternoon and unbeknownst to her, or myself, our mother had set up a little b-day surprise. Kass has talked about coloring her hair for a while. So she was excited and confused when McKenzie, our lovely hair lady, rolled out a coloring tray with a huge Happy Birthday balloon and told Kass, "You get to pick the color!"

Here is the result.



Umm, I know it's been about 13 years but seriously isn't that a lot of progress from the same woman that shunned me for a pin point hole in one ear? As 15 year old Kori would say, WHATeveeeerrrrr!

*Doesn't she look a little stoned? Are her eyes dilated, a little red. Doesn't she look a little too giggly??? I know the smiley face shirt that says "World Peace" makes her a little less hard core, but I'm just sayin'.

Stairway to Heaven???

I swear I will write about other stuff soon, but I am really not all that exciting right now.

Part of my little weight loss journey has been trying to work little workouts into my day. I work on the 7th floor of a 10 story building and for pretty much the whole twelve months I have been here I’ve always thought doing the stairs would be a great little thing to do for myself. But that’s as far as it every got, thinking about it. About a month ago I finally put the thought into action and I have followed through with it about 4 out of 5 work days since then. I'm lying, really about 3 out of 5 work days.

I know what you're thinking, big deal, right? 10 flights, that’s not much I could probably end up doing them twice. HA! That has yet to happen, but is still a goal. These are huge flights of stairs, I work in a building that houses furniture showrooms and has very high ceilings on each floor, I’m pretty sure the 10 flights are more like 15 to 20 normal ones…or at least this is what I tell myself.

I thought I'd share how much of a process this 15 minute work out is for me. It starts at lunch. While I am sitting alone in the kitchen I think about the 1 point soup or 6 point Lean Cuisine I am eating and remind myself of what the scale said that morning. And at some point convince myself that doing the stairs will accelerate the process and I won't have to count points forever.

So around 3pm I fill up my cup with water and turn off the space heater at my desk. These two tricks took me a couple of trial runs, but they make the cool down process much better. My system is that I go down the first 7 flights as the warm up, get my heart rate going stage. Then I climb straight up all 10. This is obviously the hard part and it is usually the 6th floor that I start getting dizzy and can’t breathe right and start convincing myself there is mold in the stairwell and the workout is hazardous to my health. I also think about how embarrassing it would be if someone else used the stairs and saw me wheezing my way up them. Fortunately Houston is lazy and I have never actually seen anyone else in the stairwell.

So once I have run through all of this in my head I usually suddenly find myself on the 8th floor and I think about the girls on the Weight Watchers message boards that have stats in the 200's and figure I can go ahead and do the final two flights. At this point my gross motor skills seem to fail me, I keep having to turn right to go up and my legs are in a groove but every now and then when the dizziness gets to me I kind of miss a step or hover my foot above the step to make sure it's there. Seriously, how out of shape can I be...mentally and physically?? I blame it on the repetitive-ness of watching the little green skid strips passing me by with each step I climb.

Once I'm on the 10th floor, I slide back down to 7 and make it back to my desk with wobbly legs. I chug my water, fan myself down the front and back of my shirt and hope I don't have to answer the phone before my panting subsides.

I do actually like this routine, and today I am going to try to do it twice, once in the AM and once in the PM...but if you have any ideas on any other mini workouts I'd love to hear them!!

Four More Pounds and Misc.

I have been procrastinating on this post because in my head the next post was going to be my end of the month weight loss progress. And that is still what this post is, I was just trying to edge out a little extra time for the results.

So in Feb I lost 4 lbs, which I’m ok with because I changed my routine quite a bit. In January I had kind of holed up and really focused on getting the whole thing going which did result in a bigger drop, but I couldn't live like that forever! In Feb I added adult bevs back into my routine, I worked out on more of a set schedule and I didn’t eat the same things over and over. So for that to balance out to 4 lbs is fine by me. Plus I mean Feb is SUCH a short month. That means my total is 12 lbs, which averages 6 per month which I am totally good with. This also leaves me 6lbs from my goal. Which is exciting!

The downside is that this is generally where my 20 year old metabolism resurrects itself and tells me I can get rid of it in 2 weeks so it’s ok to cheat a little until right before that wedding at the end of the month. So I am doing my best to look at it through the eyes of my 28 yr old metabolism and say Look how close you are, you go girl, stick to it! Totally not as fun. Also, when I do hit this goal that is seemingly so close, there is of course a follow up goal. But, there is not a follow up to the follow up, you follow?

Other than that the last week or so has been fairly low key. Oh, except for a couple of interviews, a night out and almost getting laid off. The run down on those events are:

Interviews: I forgot to mention in my last post that I had an interview that Friday, it was all very last minute and in the end was a bust because yesterday I got an email that they filled the position. It is def for the better, bc while I didn’t have any major drawbacks to the position, I also didn’t have any major pluses about the position either. It was just..a job.

I have also had 2 phone interviews this week with a new opportunity and tomorrow morning will go in for a face to face interview. If I pass that round there will be yet another interview and then a decision made. So there will be nothing major on that front for at least another week. As with a first date, there is no point in giving details on the jobs unless something comes of them.

Night Out: Last weekend was pretty nice because I didn’t have any mandatory major events to attend, host, dodge, etc. I usually have grand plans for weekends like that. Doing all kinds of things for myself, but then they all turn out the same. I go out Friday night and I’m a little too excited about the 48 hours of nothing, I have a little too much “garlic” and I’m down for the count the rest of the weekend.

So this weekend was no different. Friday I has sushi at Blue Fish with a couple of peeps, drinks at Zimm’s and then ended the night at, where else, Kay’s. Saturday I had a hangover lunch with a friend, and that night I watched Nick & Norah’s Infinate Playlist with my mom and Glamma Pat (formerly known as Granni Pat). Sunday I don’t remember, must have just hung out doing nothing telling myself not to get so rowdy the first night of an open ended weekend.

Almost getting laid off: Well, I thought Friday, 2/27 was my last day, then around 2pm I was told that they had worked some things out to keep me around. And, well that's really it on that story.

I have yet another weekend on the horizon and I am looking forward to it. Tonight (I think) I am meeting up with a friend that just moved to Houston. Tomorrow night the plan is to keep it low key, but I depending on how the interview goes I may need to go out. Well, really either way it goes it will be a solid argument to go out. See how quickly low key gets thrown out the window?? Saturday night I am celebrating my friend's bday. There are 4 of us all trying to organize it and we can’t get it together. Last I heard it was El Pueblito and Karaoke, but that is the 4th version of plans, there is easily time for 2 more revisions to be made by Saturday. Sunday, well Sunday I don't know. I just checked the weather and it may be rainy, which is ok, actually it's good. I know that Sunday patio sitting weather is coming and this will hold that off one more week. Not, that I don’t like the patio sitting, it’s just that every Coors Light is 2 points and that is not easy for my new mature metabolism!