Last week was the week from Hades. My last entry was about Valentine's Day, and it just didn't improve much. My grandmother was in the hospital for several days, and got moved to an assisted living facility earlier this week (yippee!). Last Thursday I fell down the stairs. Anne wigged out on me and complained that she's out of the loop and paranoid that I don't love her, I misinterpreted another friend's email and it nearly became ugly until she told me that she was totally teasing me - and I just completely missed it. My boss behaved like a complete jerk (not the first time) and I realized that I MUST get out of this position. Gordon told me to get some phone calls made, and then griped when he couldn't go to one of the appointments. And my bridesmaids dress order got messed up and took a week to straighten out.

Needless to say, I'm stressed. I've been eating pretty well, but when I'm stressed I reach for chocolate, so there's been a bit too much of that the last few days. I've also had some headaches this past week, which I attribute to stress.

I'm doing better this week since things have calmed down a bit, but I'm still stressed. A nice workout tonight ought to help. I also bought some lamb and other bennies at the grocery store last night and I'll cook that tonight so I have something healthy to eat at work.

We did go out for shabu shabu last night, and it was yummy! It is kind of like fondue - you have your meat or fish or whatever, and you dip in in a pot of, in the case of shabu shabu, boiling water that you can season with garlic and onions and peppery stuff. And at the end you end up with a kind of broth that some places then put miso in and you add noodles to and finish up with soup. Good stuff! And shabu shabu means 'swish swish', which is supposed to be the sound the meat makes as you're swishing it back and forth in the pot to cook it.

I also found out yesterday that my grandmother is in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat - it was fluttering all over the place and she ended up in the emergency room on Sunday. I spoke with her last night and she sounded tired, but fine. So we'll see how this goes and if I have to fly to Dallas on short notice. I really hope she'll be okay, but she is 92, and one never knows.

As for the present that Gordon bought me, it was an iPod. And I did squeal with delight! I've been wanting one for AGES, and probably would not have bought one for a few more years - there are other priorities! After dinner we spent a couple hours loading CDs onto it and playing with it.

In spite of the rice and a dab of ice cream last night, I did pretty well overall for the day yesterday - I'm still down from where I've been the last few weeks, and today is another day.

Today has been quite a day. I left a Valentine's Day card hidden for my sweetie before I left for work, and then on the way to work I rear-ended a Mercedes SL 600. Oops. Not the best start for the day. Fortunately, the guy was REALLY nice, and there was virtually no damage to either car. He wouldn't even take my information so that I could pay to have it buffed out.

As I finished my drive to work, I realized that I hadn't had breakfast before I left the house, and I wondered if that had contributed to my inattention. Grr.

Gordon called me when he found the card, and then delivered a dozen red roses to my office - beautiful roses, and they smell incredible. And since he brought them, I was able to introduce him to my boss and my one friend here in the office.

I've started cutting back on carbs, even BTD okay snacks - I have GOT to get back to my usual weight before the wedding! Just a little more attention and a little less in the way of carbs in the last few days has made a difference, and I've lost a few pounds. I'm still working on making sure I eat enough vegetables and getting enough protein.

We're going out tonight, possibly for shabu shabu - I'm not entirely clear on what this IS, so if we go I'll explain it more later. And I know that Gordon has a present for me that he spent too much money on that he says will make me 'squeal with delight' when I open it. He's VERY thoughtful, so I'm sure I will!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

How is that possible?

I started my new job a couple weeks ago, and it's going fine and keeping me very busy. I'm also trying to work out at least 4 times a week to get back down to a more reasonable weight for me in time for the wedding. Then there is PLANNING the wedding, and the cat that is having surgery this week, and the usual social invitations, errands to be run, the need to sleep, eat, etc.

I have lost about five pounds in the last month, just by cleaning up my diet a bit and working out somewhat more regularly. My back has impeded my workout progress - it has been rather inflamed the last couple of weeks, and it was very unhappy after my trip to the chiropractor last Friday. I didn't work out over the weekend and keep stretching every chance I get to keep it limber.

I got back to working out last night, and did 20 minutes on the elliptical machine and a full round of weights. There's nothing like seeing a picture of yourself in your wedding garb to motivate you to lose weight and get fit! Anne gave me the pictures last Friday, and (to me) I looked like I had no waist. Well, that's where the extra weight is, and it's coming OFF!

Gordon was working all weekend on a show, so I joined him for one performance and met up with a couple of different friends of mine on Sunday to catch up.

The BTD compliance level is probably at about 80% these days. It's been tough to be completely compliant! My new office has a tiny little fridge for a 20+ person office, and it is always packed, so it is tough to put a lunch in there. Plus it is all the way on the other end of the office, and I have to walk through work areas to get to it, which can disturb people as they work. So I end up going out failry often. I'm learning the different restaurants near the office, and figuring out what is good and reasonably healthy around here. But nothing in restaurants ever seems to be completely compliant, even if I think it is.

At any rate, progress is being made on all fronts.