How Did I Get Here?

Running the Race for the Cure: I did it!

Or, as young master Harrison would say "I DIYIT!!" 

In the past 20 months, I have lost 100 pounds.
I'm not joking. 
65 of that was Harrison weight... gained while I was pregnant with the little stinker. 
The other 35 was weight I had hung on to after Connor was born. Hung on to for almost 5 years. Lovely. 

So back when Harrison was born, I decided it was time to start shedding the extra "me"...
Which didn't go too badly, but I wasn't THAT motivated. Then, after returning to work after my maternity leave, someone at least twice my size said to me "us big girls got to stick together"... OH. MY. GOSH.
So I replied "oh no. THIS (gesturing to my whole body) is temporary." And then I decided to actually do something about it. 

I started working out in the morning.
I'd do Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred or I'd jump on my wii fit and do some fitness boxing.
I also used the Lose It! app on my ipod to track my calories and exercise.
I'm convinced that's what did the trick for me. Seeing what I was eating and keeping track of the calories was a great way to hold myself accountable. 

So, long story less long, from September 2008 to November 2009, I lost 100 pounds... with the majority of the losing happening from April to November. 

In February I'd realized once I hit my goal weight, I really didn't have something to work toward, so I decided to set a fitness goal. I would run The Race for the Cure. Which is crazy talk for me, considering I'd never run a day in my life. In March, I started the Couch to 5k program (again, on my ipod - are you sensing a theme here?) and started running. I got sidelined after 3 weeks when my knee started REALLY hurting. So I took some time off to heal. Then I took some more time off because it was cold. Or raining. Or I was tired. Yes, I'm the queen of excuses. 

So The Race for the Cure rolled around. And I had said I would run. 
And despite not running for 6 weeks, I did it. 
I RAN. I ran the farthest I've ever run in my life.
And it felt SO GOOD.

I did the race in 38 minutes.
I had to slow to a fast walk a couple of times, but I never let myself walk for too long.
I am proud of my accomplishment...
but I'm more proud of the women who I ran to honor today.
Heather Pick. 
Aysu's Mom.
Gretchen's Mom.
All of the women who I saw wearing pink survivor shirts today, or in photos on t-shirts of loved ones. 

Below is a little photo of myself, rocking the pink wig for Heather :) with my former boss, Karen, and my former co-worker and darned-near-neighbor, Rochelle. 

Thanks for all of the words of encouragement along the way..
From the weight loss to the running - to the "hey skinny!" greetings I got today -
They lift my spirits and fill my heart. :)

(Photo swiped from my sweet friend, Angela)

 

I Can't Stop!!

I seriously can't stop clicking "buy" in itunes right now..
so I'm going to stop and write a quick music blog post on my "fave songs of the moment" playlist... which is pretty much my standard playlist -- I just keep switching songs out of it depending on my mood. 

Last week, we went to the Paramore concert at the LC, tomorrow night we're headed out to see Barenaked Ladies with the Hogans... so lately Paramore has been ruling the ipod - I predict a shift to BNL after tomorrow night ;)

Anywhoooooooooo
I figured I'd share part of my playlist - going in alphabetical order by song title...
Some old, some new... all good (at least according to me).

Enjoy!
(and if you agree, disagree, or want to share your favorites of the moment - for goodness sake - COMMENT! ;)

Airplanes - B.o.B. (featuring Hayley Williams)  - seriously, Hayley's voice is pretty damn good... and live? WOW. Trust me. (there will be at least one other song on this playlist featuring ms. williams. 

Ali in the Jungle - The Hours - "it's not how you start, it's how you finish" - this song is a staple on my running playlist as well. You probably heard it on the nike commercials that played during the olympics ("everybody gets knocked down... how quick are you gonna get up?")

Animal - Miike Snow - This was featured in an episode of Gossip Girl (the episode when chuck buys the hotel at the end) - it came back to me as I was listening to my Vampire Weekend channel on Pandora a couple of weeks ago. It's now a constant for Connor's ipod, too. 

Animal - Neon Trees - two songs named Animal on one playlist? crazy talk. 

Brick by Boring Brick - Paramore - for serious. I could do the "ba duh ba buh da ba ba da's" all day long. Harrison can too - no joke.. 

Bulletproof - La Roux - "This time, baby, I'll be bulletproof" Catchy. I dare you not to hear it and sing it - over and over and over. 

Count Me Out - Foxy Shazam - Part meatloaf, part queen... all fun. 

Giving up the Gun - Vampire Weekend - come on... any video with a drunk and obnoxious Jake Gyllenhaal is a winner in my book.  

In the Sun - She & Him - why haven't I heard this before now? Happy sunny Zooey... and check out the choreography.

Lisztomania - Phoenix - This came on my boss's ipod in his office today, and it made me like him even more :) And I'm pretty sure workers in a downtown parking garage busted me belting this out with the windows down today too... oh well!

Little Secrets - Passion Pit - another one I may have missed had it not been for Pandora. 

Looking Up - Paramore - "God knows the world doesn't need another band... but what a waste it would have been... I can't believe we almost hung it up... we're just getting started." OK, Paramore opened the night with this song - HOW PERFECT. Ok, I'm done. 

Rocket - Goldfrapp - brings back the van halen-esque synthesizer, with a catchy hook. 

She Got It Good - Plies - damned song got me with the sample of  "if you like pina coladas"....

Whatever You Like - Anya Marina - Skinny folkish white girl does T.I.'s "whatever you like"... sold american.

Easter Flashback

Well seeing as how it's now May...
I figured I should get my Easter photos up.
Shut it. 

Egg Decorating: 

 

Connor's an old pro.
He hopped right up to the table and started dunking.
We confined Harrison to the high chair.
I didn't even want to THINK about him with egg dye. 
But he looked cute!

 

The next day (Easter) the boys and I went to my Mom's for her annual easter egg hunt - Jon had to work. Boo on that. My mom is very methodical and fair about the hunt. Every child gets their own color of egg. So the littles don't get outrun by the bigs. 

We'll go by age here...
Kyra: 

 

David: 

 

Connor: 

 

Caitlin: 

 

Alex: 

 

Nora: 

 

Harrison (and Grandma): 

 

And Baby Will (bay-ee woo, according to Harrison) was a spectator: 

 

You don't see it in the photos, but Harrison was MISERABLE on Easter.
In fact, miserable is an understatement. The child was downright wretched. 
He was fighting a horrible tummy bug that just made him cranky and unhappy with everything.
He's over that now... seeing as how it's May. Shut it.