dina23’s blog

So last week I decided that to get to my fitness and health goals I needed some outside assistance.  So after talking with hubby  (who is so supportive!) I had an intro session with a personal trainer.  We really hit it off.  Her name is Kimberly Linton.  We have similar ideas of what my goals should be and what I need to do to get there and stay there.  So I went through this intro session and she kicked my a$$!!!  Thursday, post-workout I was stiff, Friday and most of Saturday I was in pain, Sunday the Abs were dead, oh and then I rested on Monday (thank goodness!). 

Today was my first real session.  She took my body measurments and BMI and Body Fat %s.  Only gonna get better from here.  Today we did something called 3-2-1: 3min of strength/2min of cardio/1min of abs - with a 1.5-2min break in between then repeat!  Man, not a lot of "time" but man it is all about the intensity!  Feeling great right now, but I'm sure that sneaky soreness will apprear later. 

I have a pretty rigorous training schedule and that means I'm putting myself first and making sure I get in what I need to each day. Pretty proud of myself right now.  Maybe by the end of this journey I'll be able to post my progress pictures and stats, right now, I'm keeping them under wraps. 

In other news, we have a new Scion Xb.  Cute car that will hold 2 dogs in the rear part and eventually a kid or 2 in the middle.  Gets decent gas milage and we can pay it off in a year and put a chunk down on it.  Plus I'm hoping that it is "Murphy Prevention" and makes Little Zippy last a bit longer. 

I'm off to work at our MO office starting Saturday.  The Engineer Regimental Conference is at Fort Leonard Wood, MO and I'll be checking it out and helping at our other office.  Plus it will be nice to have access to the nice gyms and pool on base.  Although it really is in the middle of nowhere! 

Geez, I just now noticed it has been since the Superbowl that I put anything on my blog.  Man, am I behind!

Let's see....

WW: WW is going well still.  I'm over 45lbs lighter and have gone from a 24 dress size, down to a 14.  I need to get into some type of exercise routine, I just haven't found what that is yet!  Must do must do!!!

Work: Work has been crazy.  The DB we finally got after a 2 year delay went bust.  The company collapsed and poof!  So we have a new company working on it and it's been insane.  I'm cleaning up data to make sure our import goes as smoothly as possible.  This however is a slow task, seeing as I have all my regular things to do on top of it.  Also, going out of town for business later in the month.

Family:  My Dad is down visiting with us.  I love having him here, but feel a bit bad that I can't spend more time with him.  The doggers are loving having Pappy around during the day, as that means they aren't in their crates!  Spoiled girls we have.  Dave's birthday is on Sunday.  We are running a 5K that morning and then having a small dinner.  Then next Sunday we are having a great big dinner with some friends to "officially" celebrate.  The theme you ask:  Why Oktoberfest ofcourse, well sans the beer.  Totally in love with my hubby more and more each day!  I'm very lucky!

Life: I just got back from a weekend with my Chatham girls!  It's so awesome to be with them, like we never left the campus!  And they are the type of friends you don't have to be polite around (that one is for you Ju).  We spent a good bit of time just laughing our bums off!  Plus I have to say how fabu we all looked.  Becca is pregnant and glowing, Ju is a lean mean marathoner, and Anya is happy and has short sassy hair!

David and I started learning Farsi, which is WAY WAY hard.  A lot of Baha'is are from Iran so we are trying to cross the cultural barrier.  Right now we are at a funny point.  I can write down things into Persian, but Dave can read it better.  So as long as we are together, we can get by.  Reminds me, I have homework to do. 

Here's an interesting tid bit, we bought Steeler balloons the day before the Superbowl.  They are still flying at our home.  I think that is a testament to the awesomeness of the Steelers and have refused to take them down until they die. 

Ok, I should get back to cleaning up my database.   

Just got in from WI.  I was surprised to see I was down .8.  That means I'm .2lbs away from being 40lbs lighter.  Awesomeness!!!

Also very excited because my brother is coming into town.  Tonight we are terrorizing DC with the other WVU alums (he went there and I basically grew up there).  We are hitting the alum happy hour and then going to the Georgetown/WVU game. 

Tomorrow will be site seeing.  Not sure what.  The Building museum seems to be a common recommendation as is the American History Museum.  We've already seen most of the monuments and Smithsonian museums on a previous trip.  Also trying to cook up something at Mt. Vernon, because I love that place. 

Ok, off to go get ready to cheer on the 'EERS!!!!

Haven't really posted in a while, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to reflect. 

2008
-The move to VA was really good for us.
-Dave and I are both very blessed to have good jobs and bosses.
-I've lost over 35lbs this year and have completely changed my lifestyle for the better.
-Completed 2 triathlons....and didn't die!
-Hubby and I both became Baha'i.  It is really nice to share a faith together and grow together in faith.
-We are still rockin' the Dave Ramsey plan.  We paid off over $21,000 this year and over $56,000 in 3 years. 
-I've made some wonderful friends here in the DC area.

2009
-I will get below 200lbs (I'm nearly there).
-commit to a regular exercise routine and complete at least 2 more triathlons.
-Get my house organized even more.
-re-commit to eating more organic and local foods.
-Spend more time at home
-learn that it is ok to take time just for me and put myself first sometimes (man, this one is so hard for me)
-get my hairstyle to that cute asymetrical bob that I want.
-Kick Sallie Mae to the curb and make a huge dent on our student loan debt. 
-Teach financial peace university this year
-Be a more loving and patient wife
-Keep in touch better with friends who live farther away (I'm really sorry this has slacked)
-Grow in faith and teach others
-have a bunch of fun
-laugh more

Ok, now perhaps I should get back to work so I can keep my nice job.

I haven't posted in a while, as I don't really think I have anything interesting to say. 

WW is still going well.  I'm down over 36lbs this year.  That pretty much rocks.  I will be interested to see if people that haven't seen me in a while can tell.  This week the hubby and I signed up to run a 5K on his birthday and I'll be hopefully getting a new bike and doing more triathlons starting this spring. 

I'm still feeling a little out of sorts about my Mom being gone.  I hate random crying, now of which I am the queen.  Stupid things make me cry: wrapping paper, opera, recipes, etc.  Grief sucks big time.  I am reading some grief books which I have found helpful, but they have the most awful names, one in particular: Motherless Daughters.....geez.  My Dad seems to be doing just fine too.  Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for our family.  I'm still having a hard time feeling Christmasy. 

My laptop should be back up in working order soon.  One of the fellows I met at the conference we ran at Ft. Bragg does that kinda thing and he is basically fixing it for me at cost.  Woot!!!  It's been killing me to have a fairly decent laptop out of commision this long (display is getting replaced - can't remember all the technical bits, sorry techy friends).  Hubby's computer also got wiped and is running much better.  Need to get some anti-evil software on it to keep it running smooth.  Somehow in the process of re-intalling XP, his sound card went caplooie, so that will need to be fixed, but that can probably happen for cheap as well. 

Rubi and Elka are doing fine.  We need to get Elka her own pillow, as she is trying to crowd us out of our own king size bed or run Rubi off of the dog bed. 

Hope this was somewhat interesting to you all. 

A few more hours and I'll be outside FedEx Field partying it up, then inside to hopefully see the Steelers whoop up on the 'Skins!!  Hope the Steelers offense came to play today. 

Oh yeah, I feel like the kid in the Disney World commercial, "I'm too excited to sleep!!!!"

Here we go.......

So, I did lose 3lbs at WI last week.  Pretty good.  In the past, I would have turned to food for comfort and done myself in.  Guess I am learning something in all this WW stuff. 

Dave made it to Guam safely.  More updates to follow.

Dad came down with me and is staying with me for a while.  I'm so happy he's here with me.  I am such a "Daddy's girl".  Plus the granddogs are super happy Pappy is there with them during the day. 

Oh, did I mention I have tickets to the Monday Night game: Steelers vs Redskins??  How awesome is my boss and job!!!! 

Today, I biked to work.  I'm so darn proud.  Even loaded down with laptop, change of clothes.  Now I wasn't setting any world records, but I did have a good per mile time and there were hills involved. Not too bad for a big girl :)

Now, I really need to sell my bike and get a new, hot, light, speedy bike for races.  This one is so darn heavy and slow (ok, some of that is me and some of it is the bike I realize). 

After biking home, my walking buddy is coming over and we'll do our evening walk.  I'll have gotten in over 8 miles today of exercise!!  Go me!!

We've had a busy few weeks.  Went to the mountains on Labor Day weekend.  It was fantastic.  Surrounded by good company, mountains, and even saw a black bear.  Well to be honest, I only saw it's but, because I was hiking ahead of the group with my head down and by the time it had crossed in front of me (about 25feet in front of me) they finally got my attention to stop.  Close Encounters eh??

Back to doing WW full force.  This summer I practiced maintainence.  I'm proud to say that the 30lb, give or take a few, stayed off.  This week at WI, I was down another 4.6lbs!!  WoooHoooo!!! 

Hubby is going TDY again, so I will be carless for about 3 weeks.  Need to run a few more errands to get a few things.  If anyone wants to keep me company, please do so. 

Also got the results of my sleep study.  I do not go through my sleep cycles correctly.  As in they don't start or stop on time.  Sometimes they overlap or don't turn off.  This is leading to my night terrors and daytime sleepiness.  So I'm trying out a new med and it seems to be working great (ie I was up and at work by 7am today-that is a WAY big deal).  I'm really hopeful for this.  It will probably take a few weeks to get me on schedule and rested, but I really feel like help is here. 

Last weekend we went to Wilmington, NC to visit a friend.  Much fun and relaxing was had.  I even got to play in the ocean, it was sooo warm, not the typical freezing cold atlantic I remembered from my youth.  One of the best things about Carolina Beach is that there is this place called Britt's Donuts.  The ONLY serve HOT donuts!!  They are the perfect combination of hot and crispy and glazed on the outside and soft and warm on the inside!  MMmmmm!!  Just for the record, I would like to say that I still lost 4.6lbs despite having 5 donuts during the visit (that's called being an awesome WW and planning for them!!)

Sunday the DC Ducks are having an outing to the Eastern Market in DC.  This is somewhere I have been really wanting to go.  Can't wait.  Also exercise intake will increase if the bus strike is still on next week as I will either be biking or walking to work. 

So, I thought I should do some sort of an update, apologies if this is kinda rambling. 

Life is still going well in VA.  Hubby's job situation hasn't quite figured itself out yet, but we are reasonably confident that we'll be here another year, unless we move to Europe.  Also we have talked to the landlord's rep and we are good to go if we want to extend our lease.  My job is still going well.  I so love just working part-time for a really laid back boss.  I've been fairly busy this week trying to get ready for our new database.  I have a seminar in DC in Sept and then a conference at Ft. Bragg in Dec. 

We have also been very active in the Baha'i community, since we are both now declared Baha'is (sorry to those of you who I haven't gotten around to telling, but really it's a personal decision and I'm not really one for discussing religion much).  We've been going to a devotional weekly and I'm trying to get a bi-weekly devotional going at our house. 

The triathlon was ok.  My swimming has greatly improved (yay for lessons!).  I did discover that the bike I currently have is too slow and heavy for any sort of racing, or in my case, attempts at racing.  So I have it on Craig's list, but haven't gotten any offers yet.  If you know anyone who wants a good comfort bike, let me know.  We will be up in Pgh in Sept, so I could even deliver it up there if there is an interested party. 

WW-wise, I've been on a summer plateau.  I'm trying to see the bright side: I've been in maintenence after a 30lb loss.  That's pretty good.  Now I'm back on track and hoping that the late summer and fall gets me going again.  I am really trying to get back on track with an exercise routine as well.  Started doing weight training again and really enjoyed it.  Swimming has also continued and I'll be looking at getting back into lessons at the rec center for the new session in Sept. 

I'm also feeling like I've lost a few friends or lost contact with a few back in PA.  Please ping me and catch me up on what you are doing.