Short Little Post

Hey friends. This is just going to be short little post asking any of you who may not have checked out my crafting blog/shop yet to think about doing so now. Even you non-female readers who may be out there should look into it, cause I'm sure you all have women in your life who wouldn't turn down some new jewelry. I'm bringing it up again now because of two reason, I currently have a coupon code available for 25% off anything in my shop that can only be found by reading that blog, and because I've just asked my readers over there a favor, and the more possible people I get responding to it, the better. :) Also, you can now find a convenient little link to them both in the header of this blog.

Also, for those of you wondering if I reached my 5% goal at my Weight Watchers weigh in this this week, the answer is, not quite. I lost 1.8 this past week instead of the 2 I wanted to, so now I'm just .2 away and I expect to lose at least that much by my weigh in next week. Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement as I work to make myself healthier and happier.


P.S. Kaitlin Farmer, the word convenient almost always makes me think of you. :)

Down 10 Pounds!

So, today is Wednesday, which for me means a Weight Watchers meeting complete with my weekly "weigh-in." Of course, I pretty always wish I lost more than I do in a given week, which was the case today, but I was still down 1.6 pounds, which is pretty awesome considering they say you shouldn't lose more than 2 a week anyway. Well, that 1.6 pounds put my total weight loss since my first meeting at exactly 10 pounds! Woohoo! Today was my 7th meeting, meaning I've lost that over a 6 week period, or an average of 1.67 a week. Which actually makes me pretty excited, because it means I'm on the right track to meet my 10% goal by Labor Day. Speaking of goals, this also means that I only have 2 lbs to go before I meet my 5% goal. So, keep your fingers crossed for me and maybe I'll meet that goal next Wednesday! It's definitely great motivation to work really hard this week. And perhaps once of the best parts is, I really don't feel deprived of eating what I enjoy, even though I know I'm making positive changes to my diet. I just eat less of the really unhealthy stuff, and I've learned to really savor it when I let myself have it.

I'm also really enjoying going to our rec center and working out, which isn't really something I think I would have ever said before. But it's true! Jacob and I joke that I am becoming a "gym junkie" because I pretty much want to go every day, whether Jacob wants to come with me or not, I also generally want to stay longer than him when he does come, and sometimes I even want to go two times a day! I'm not saying I haven't been sore or in pain at all, but I actually enjoy knowing that I'm sore because I'm finally trying to exercise regularly. The last few days I've gone I've had a great hour long workout spending 20 minutes each on a treadmill, stationary bike, and treadmill. And I am tired by the time that I get on that last machine, but I just feel so good about it! And the best thing is, even though I don't really look or feel any skinnier yet, I can already tell that I'm healthier just from the two or three weeks I've been going. I am slowly increasing my speed on the treadmill, and my heart rate has been slowly decreasing from where it was hitting the first few days. It's really helped to have my ipod with me, and about a week ago I had the genius idea to take my kindle with me and prop it up on the little stands they have for magazines on each machine. It's been fantastic! And luckily, it will also be a great way to get me to read some classic literature, since I already have a whole bunch of classics on my kindle that didn't cost me a thing.

Also....I've pretty much secretly decided I want to try a 5k towards the end of summer. I know I won't be able to really run it, but even now I can walk an 18 minute mile on the treadmill. I tried upping my power walk to a jog today, and sadly I still weigh too much for the joints, etc in my legs to be able to handle that for very long quite yet, but hopefully that will change soon. And, Jacob and I are thinking we might actually go backpacking in the Windrivers with some of my family this year. A couple of my uncles are taking their oldest kids, so they're doing a shorter 6 mile hike, and I actually am starting to believe I could handle that, even with a 40 pound pack on my back. :)

I guess what this all really comes down to is that I am really enjoying my weight loss journey so far. I think I finally hit that point where I was so disgusted with my weight that it was enough motivation to finally do this for me and to be willing to spend the money to make it happen. I've also had a lot of really great examples in my family lately of people working hard to lose their extra weight, and I owe a lot of you my gratitude for being examples to me. I hope this weight loss update didn't bore any of you, because you can totally expect more.


P.S. Thank you to Aubrey for being the ONLY person who commented on my shop/crafting blog when asked for suggestions of what you guys want to see in my shop. If the rest of you love me at all, you might want to consider proving it by following her example. Here's a convenient link for you --> Lydia's Craft Blog

The Update on everything Lydia post

Hey folks, it's been a while, so here I am to update you on everything important (and maybe not so important) in my life.

First off, still no jobs. In fact, we're even worse off in that department now because Jacob's boss retires in July, so that job will be gone. Sad day. Obviously that's still really frustrating and discouraging. I did have one interview for a job that I would have loved to get, but then I never heard back from the person I interviewed with. Even after I e-mailed and asked them if the position was still open, etc! It is so rude in my opinion when people won't even both to send you an quick e-mail saying, "sorry, we decided to go with someone else," especially when they have an e-mail from me they can just reply to! Grrr! So yep, that situation is still frustrating and stressful, but I'm trying harder not to let it get to me.

Second....Jacob and I celebrated our two year anniversary by spending a night in the hotel we stayed in the day we got married. Sure, it was just one night, and it's just in Layton (since we did our reception the next day) but it was still fun to just get out for a night. We stopped by City Creek center before heading up north and then spent some time in the Layton Mall as well. We also tried a Thai restaurant in Layton. I can't even remember what it's called, but it's on the corner of Antelope and Hill Field Rd. I think. Well...we weren't really impressed. Their Pad Siew (or however they spelled it) was just okay, and their Massamaun was waaaay to spicy for me(I'm a wimp) even though we ordered it mild. The one thing that was exceptionally good though was their version of wantons, which they called golden bags or something like that. They were DELICIOUS! If I were ever going to let myself make an entire meal of wantons, that is where I would go.

But, I won't be doing that any time soon because I joined Weight Watchers! A lot of you reading this probably already know that, but for those of you who don't, there's the info! I just attended my fifth weekly meeting and so far I've lost a total of 6.4 lbs. My progress has been a little slower than I like, especially last week when I stayed exactly the same weight, but I'm still progressing and haven't gained any weight in those five weeks. Today at our meeting we were all encouraged to make a summer goal, and I decided mine would be to meet my 10% goal. Meaning by Labor day I want to have lost 10 percent of what I weighed on my first day. I've got 17.6 lbs to go, which will require me to lose an average of 1.25lbs a week, but I really think I can do it, especially because I've told all of you, so now I'm extra accountable! So, in the future expect updates on my weight loss progress, and possibly some good workouts or recipes I find as well.

To help me with my weight loss, and Jacob's as well, we recently purchased 3 month memberships to the Rec Center near us. It's a really nice Center, and the passes weren't cheap, so we're determined to make it worth the expense. We went to work out for the first time last night, and I felt so out of shape! I of course wanted to try the pool out first, but I could barely handle 15 minutes of laps before I was ready to get out and check out the cardio room. Pretty sad when you consider that I used to have practice for two hours after school every day when I did Swim Team the first couple years of high school. But, if I just keep doing as much as I'm capable maybe eventually I'll be able to handle two hours again. (though I doubt I'd ever swim for two hours straight these days) However, even though I was shown just how out of shape I am, it was still a great feeling when we walked out knowing that I'm doing something about it. We're planning on heading back tonight to work out some more.

What else.....
My cousin/best friend Brian got married last week! I'm so happy for him and Alisa, they're both great people and I know they'll be happy together. And I couldn't help but approve of Alisa when it became obvious that she knows just how great of a guy she found. :) Also, I've had an eye infection for the last week or so....and I'm really missing wearing my contacts. The doctor put me on some antibiotic eye drops, so it's clearing up and hopefully will be 100% in the next day or two.

Finally, my big announcement! (No I'm not pregnant) I finally followed through on my idea to open up an etsy shop and crafting blog. They are both extremely new, so don't expect much yet, but please check them out!
You can find the blog here and the shop here. And for those of you curious about the name....I didn't really want to use my full name in my shop name, so I started thinking of my nicknames. Well, one of my cousins used to call me Dia, when he was really little and couldn't pronounce my whole name, and it's always kind of been one of my favorite nicknames even though it's hardly been used. Then, I also realized that dia is the Spanish word for day. So, with a double meaning, I couldn't resist using it! So you can adorn yourself for the day with accessories created by me! heehee. I'm so clever. Anyway, most of you reading this are family and friends and are probably willing to support me in this venture anyway, but please, check it out! And even if you don't buy anything, feel free to share ideas and suggestions. I'll happily accept any support you're willing to give. And for sure feel free to tell your family and friends about my shop.

And that's the update on everything Lydia...or at least all the big things. Hope life is treating you all well!