Torture

So everyone goes on and on about losing the "baby weight."  I did, right here on this blog after Bauer was born 2.5yrs ago.  And I did; eating less, moving more I'd shed it all well before his first birthday.
And then... I gained it all back.  I lost small chunks of it before my trips to the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, but I kept gaining it back and then some.  And I was baffled.  I exercise.  A lot.  You might remember how I trained for a half marathon without losing weight.  I eat healthy food.  Green food!  But I was also supplementing my healthy food with embarrassing amounts of sugar.  I like to bake and candy-make!  I like to eat it all even more!  And then live in complete denial of how many unneeded calories I was consuming when I made brownies and cookies and pecan toffee every day (after all, I deserve it!).
And then I stepped on the scale and realized I was mere pounds away from what I weighed right before I gave birth (the fact that more and more of my clothes don't fit wasn't enough; but that number did it for me).
Time to get real.
I started food journaling to keep myself accountable (oh, how I didn't want to be accountable!).  But I now was cutting out healthy stuff in favor of my delectable sweets to keep in the right caloric range.  And binging on them weekends.  I also felt tired and scattered all the time.
Time to get real... er.
I committed to kick this sugar monkey off my back.  Nothing but veggies, beans, nuts and (preferably lean) meat, for two weeks before reintroducing fruits and whole grains in appropriate amounts.  And of course I picked *the best* "time of the month" to do this.  The first day was fine (anyone can do anything for a day).  Then I got headaches, felt incredibly fatigued and beyond irritable.  Pretty sure my family wanted to chain me up out in the garage.
And here's the thing; I wasn't hungry.  I would be stuffed, but I just did. not. feel. satisfied.  I wanted brownies and a grilled cheese sandwich.  Huge slices of sourdough, slathered with butter and so much extra sharp cheddar that it overflowed the sides and browned to a crisp in the pan (can you tell I thought about it a lot!?).
And that lasted for 4 days.  Today and yesterday, the intense cravings are finally gone.  I can think about other things!  I don't need a nap!  I don't feel like it's insane and I'm going to die if keep going for another week to thoroughly kick the habit.  I only lost 2lbs in these 7 days, which is a healthy rate, but feels disappointing considering how tortured I felt those 4 days I struggled to stick with it.  Also, I know I over-ate at a few meals in that time in futile attempts to fill that sucking hole of sugar withdrawal.
I hope the rest of the weight is gone by the time I turn 30.
Congratulations and thank you if you made it this far! :)

Eight of Fifty-Two

{developing the valuable skill of label reading}

{trying to touch EVERYTHING}

The Weekend

This meal at Post & Beam in Los Angeles was probably the highlight of my carb-free weekend (more on that travesty later).

Gallery Two

Fusilli lunghi bucati

My sister tried out Bantu Knots a little while ago, said they were easy and so Emberly and I decided to try them out.

We started with freshly washed hair and two Blended Beauty products; silk shake for detangling and conditioning, curly frizz pudding for its medium hold.  We detangled manageable sections, parted, applied a bit of pudding and twist, twist, twisted, until the hair twisted onto itself.  Made sure the ends were well conditioned and they tucked neatly into the base and stayed in place from the tension.  We had to go back and re-do a couple because it was easy to make painfully tight.

Emberly did not like how she looked with the bantu knots.  I thought she was cute, but I hate having to go places when I don't like my hair, so I didn't make her.  My original plan was for her to wear the knots for 1-2 days before taking them down to wear the curls, so I made neat, precise sections and parts.  If I'd known she would not like it, I would have sectioned her hair off into the knots more organically, so the parts wouldn't be so obvious once we took them down.
When we did take them down, voila, curls that resembled corkscrew pasta (Fusilli lunghi bucati).  On the first day, some sections got pretty frizzy; they were too large.  I read that the longer the hair, the larger the sections, however, that must apply to people with less natural curl (or those that straighten their hair frequently, like maybe me).  I re-did just those that night dividing them into two and we were very pleased with the result.  Below is her second-day hair.

Seven of Fifty-Two

{making meatballs}

{eating snow}

The Weekend

Peachy

Don't be jealous

but one of my valentines is very small and cute :D

picasion.com

six of fifty-two

The Weekend

{birthday parties @ the park}

{post-movie flavored sake}

{making valentines for kindergartners}

Overdue

I don't remember the last uniform post I made (not without cheating and clicking the tag, that is).  Winter layering has been so much fun.  I'm happy that we don't have to adhere to a stricter uniform dress-code because I've loved seeing what we come up with!  This is only half of what I have on the conveyer belt... whether or not I wait 'til next Friday to share the others is the question...  I'm bad at withholding!  Happy Weekend!

{ "modern red" turned out to mean orange :/ }

Five of Fifty-Two

You know what's annoying?  When your photo-storage site changes their editing tools.  Right after you start a year-long project.

1) kindergartners have online homework these days
2) rico sauve takes a bath

Limey

create an animated gif

I did not have luck with my camera this weekend!  We had breakfast at this adorable restaurant in Caesar's Palace, Serendipity, and there were sooo many photo ops and of course I'd somehow left my camera at home.  And then, we went to a friend's home to watch the Super Bowl and I got a picture of Emberly dancing with Beyonce's half-time show... but, I'd left my memory card at home and so the picture  is on my camera's memory and heck if I know where I've put the USB cable for that!
So outfit GIF it is.  Emberly wore this to breakfast, the gym and miscellaneous Saturday errands!

Top, tights: GAP (Christmas gifts! Thanks, Auntie R)
Dress: Old Navy
Boots: Union Bay via DSW

Leather + Lace

Damon and I were invited to a little engagement get-together.  So of course I wore all black like someone had died.

Jacket, pants: Target
Top: Express (VERY old)
Earrings: H&M
Bracelets: NY&Co
Boots: Aldo