Week 1 - Update 1

1. Lose 20 Pounds . . . and Keep it Off for the Year

So far, so good. I went on to Amazon and purchased an electronic bathroom scale and a body measuring tape. Once they arrive (thank you to the Cannavino Amazon Prime Account for the 2-day shipping!) I will post my initial statistics.

I’ve decided that my actual poundage weight is only minimally important to me in comparison to how skinny I can get my arms! For some reason my arms are thing I am most insecure about. I think this has to do with the fact that I live in Arizona and we rarely have them covered. It also has to do with the fact that the law school is located next the residence halls containing approximately 3000 freshman – most of whom are tiny little waiflike girls who only wear tank tops and strut by the law school every day.

Diet day 1 began with throwing away all remaining holiday junk food (cupcakes, potato chips, delicious crackers, full-fat cheese) and printing out my fat and skinny motivation pictures on my fridge.

The skinny pictures range from freshman year of undergrad to when I graduated undergrad, both of which have me looking very happy and very cute. My fat pictures are mostly from the last year when summer associate free lunches and law school stressing ganged up on my body.

2. Pray Everyday
This didn’t go as well the first day. I had planned to pray before I went to bed, but I also went for my first run (more of a slow jog/walk) in many months and so when my head hit the pillow, my prayer consisted of "Dear Heavenly Father, I know that it has been way too long ... forgive ... snooze.”

Fail.

New plan is that I am going old school James-style. (For those not up on their biblical lore, James, the half-brother of Jesus, was called Old-Camel knees because he was so dedicated to prayer that his knees were calloused from time spent in prayer--on his knees). Thus, I am going to try praying on my knees, away from my pillows.

3. Blog at least Once a Week

Done. I’m awesome!

4. Stop Biting My Nails

So far so good. I keep going to do it, but so far I can remember not to. But I am still on vacation from school. This one is going to be a real struggle as I start writing the next version of my journal paper (that starts later today BTW).

5. Stop Cussing

I slipped a few times yesterday, but I remembered after I did it every time that I was meant to say cuss. Or Bobby remembered and would subtly remind me that I screwed it up. One time he definitely tricked me into cussing. What a little cusser! Slowly but surely on this one.

6. Make One Frugal Decision a Week
I went online yesterday and found soooo much cute stuff on cb2.com, the new Crate and Barrel modern, yuppy design website. I added about $125 worth of stuff to my shopping cart. And then I clicked away. The trick is to not go back later this week and buy it all again. Those darn websites always seem to save your cart forever.

7. Go on Dates

Bobby and I have made a plan to go look at the puppies at Petsmart this weekend. Neither of our apartments or lifestyles would suit a puppy, but we both want one very badly. So to indulge our dog cravings we are going to go look (and we promise not to adopt one) at the rescued puppies. I promise to take pictures of how sad Bobby will look when we leave without one.

8. Expand My Pallet
Bobby decided that running outside was my first challenge.

I will freely admit that I did not do well with this. Aside from my general inability to run very far, I was decidedly negative and bitter during the entire experience. First, Bobby made us a run along the canal path. The path is unlit and I found it a little scary and cold. Then, my insecurities about the fact that I suck at running and that Bobby is good at it and likes to go running kicked in. So, I would say that I did not do to well with being open minded about the experience. But I think once I get my fitness level up a bit, I might be willing to try it again.

9. Be More Emotionally Honest

See above. I did talk to Bobby about my insecurity with running. It took me a long walk home to get the courage to talk about it. But I did. And then Bobby made me feel better about it. I am a lucky girl.

10. Be Available to Friends and Family

Umm... no one called me yesterday. So success on that one I think!