Week in Review

Nothing too exciting has happened this week.... lots of personal changes going on, which I'll get to in a moment.

The big exciting news this week was that I felt my first earthquake, at 4:19 am last Monday. Very surreal, the feel of the shaking Earth and rumbling like you've never imagined. I am quite happy I was able to feel one while living here. So cool.

So, as many of you may recall, last October, I went down the road to a hip salon to get my hair cut. When I emerged from the salon (after what I can only imagine was maybe the third or fourth person she had ever given a haircut), I came home with the worst haircut I have ever seen. Now, I will say that most of my life, with the exception of my 4th through 8th grade years of "mullet head", I've lived a pretty charmed life when it comes to haircuts. I've been blessed with a head of thick, naturally red hair that basically does anything I ask it to. However, I came home, called the salon immediately to say how much I hated it, and the stylist told me to come back in the next day and she would fix it. Fine, I thought, maybe I was just using all the wrong words when describing what I wanted. Well, I left again with the majority of my hair thinned out, a "hole" in the back of my hair (what the F??????), and my usually soft locks feeling like straw. I came home and cried. I've never been "one of those women" who comes home and cries after a bad haircut. Like I said, I've been pretty lucky most of my life. Plus, while living in Cincinnati, I had Nikki. And Nikki, my friends? What a goddess. When we visited the Nati at Christmas time, both Rob and I made a pitstop to see her, and poor Nikki did what she could to save my ravaged head of hair. Well, that was 2 1/2 months ago, and the cut Nik gave me was growing out... weirdly. So, I decided, okay, I'm going to go to the same salon. It wasn't a reflection on the salon, just the awful stylist who cut my hair. When I called to make the appointment, the lovely receptionist listened to my story and placed me with Lindsey, who the receptionist said "gave me the best haircut I've ever had". Upon walking into the salon yesterday, I was very nervous. Okay, scared out of my head. But, Lindsey (who has years of experience on the other gal) listened to my wants and needs, explained everything she was doing while she did it, and all I can say is... WOW! This gal knows her shit. It actually looks, and feels, like I have a head of hair again. Lindsey described it as "bombshell". Purrrrrrrr. I hope she is right.

Okay, those personal changes.... no, we aren't having a baby... not just yet. Being here on the North Coast has been a miserable experience due to the weather, the people, etc.. To make ourselves feel better, we eat. We go out to eat, we go to Starbucks, we feed our emotions with going out. Yuck. So, now that we have a light at the end of the tunnel (our departure come July), we've decided to make some changes. In the fall of 2002, Rob and I joined Weight Watchers. In the first two months, I lost 20 pounds, and Rob close to 25. When all was said and done, I had lost 25 and Rob had lost 40! We didn't want to get married to each other feeling, and looking, awful. Ever since, we both have maintained a pretty good weight, but we both yo-yo with that extra 10 or so pounds. To understand how and why we eat, we decided to start Bob Greene's The Best Life Diet. While not really a diet at all, it is more of a way to live your best live through activity, proper nutritious eating, and to conquer the worst reason of weight gain, emotional eating. I myself have never really been an emotional eater. I just used to bury my emotions and ignore them- HA! Well, now that I don't do that anymore, I realize I just love certain foods. Rob, on the other hand, is an emotional eater. I think this plan will be good for him because the BL Diet deals with many different aspects. Bob Greene breaks it down into 3 phases. The first? Just get moving. For four weeks, you ramp up your activity. So, cardio and a little strength training. He asks you to give up nothing when it comes to food, and no calorie counting, in those first four weeks. And, most important, no weighing yourself! All he asks you to do is change your eating habits. Meaning, eat a nutritious breakfast, a snack mid-morning, lunch, a snack mid-afternoon, then dinner. And no eating after 8pm!! Once your body is use to eating this way (changing your metabolism), and ramping up your activity for four weeks, you can move on to phase two, where you begin to "cut calories". But with Bob's plan, it isn't so much eating like on a "diet". You still can eat the things you love, which I like, because it is very much like Weight Watchers. It's all about portion control and replacing those fatty foods you like with more nutritious ones. Once you enter phase two and start eating better and healthier, the weight will just drop off. You've changed your metabolism, changed how you workout, and then you begin eating better... how could the weight not fall off?! After four weeks in phase two, then you move onto phase three, which lasts your entire life. Healthy eating for life, working out and taking care of yourself, will in the end, give you your best life. Sounds good to me! Wish us luck!!!