Shoes - The Solution for Everything

A lovely lady at my school has begun a Biggest Loser style contest at my school. This is actually the second run of the contest. The first time around, I pretty much just donated my entry fee. This time, I'm taking it seriously. Even if I don't win, I fully intend to be 15 pounds thinner by June 1.

 Week 1 went really well. From Monday to Friday, I lost 3 pounds. I ramped up my activity and started seriously watching my caloric intake. As recommended by a good friend of mine, I've been monitoring my activity using a FitBit.

 The FitBit is a glorified pedometer. However, it not only tracks my daily steps, it also tracks distance, calories burned, stair flights climbed and my sleep. Yes, it even can tell how well I am sleeping.  Armed with this information, I have been able to quickly adjust what I can in order to be at optimal calorie intake/burn levels.

 This week (week 2), I intend to ramp things up. I found a running for beginners program on Pinterest which sounded doable, even to asthmatic me. So, in preparation for my upcoming runs, I bought these babies today:

For the fun of it

I really wanted to volunteer for the dunk tank for the 8th grade picnic.  However, I am a 6th grade teacher with a class full of 6th graders during the planned time for the picnic.  Thankfully, they wanted another volunteer enough that I was able to take my 6th graders, who were absolutely thrilled, to the 8th grade picnic today.

Originally, the kids were told that it would cost $1 for 3 shots at knocking whomever was sitting for the dunk tank into the water.  One of my little darlings (a child who never does anything wrong, is always polite, and puts up with sitting near my biggest headache of 6th period) informed me that he brought $20 to school because he planned to make sure I was dunked.  Flattered and surprised, I countered that I wasn't worried if he thought he needed $20 worth of shots in order to knock me into the water.  To this he responded that he had been practicing throwing and actually just intended to knock me into the water a lot. I have no "after" pictures as of yet.

On a completely different topic, the auction house from where I bought my dress posted pictures they had taken of me trying on dresses.  I figured some of you might enjoy checking these out.  Don't worry, the dress isn't pictured.

(Checking out the bustle of this one.  Wasn't really a fan.  Also too big - trying to hold it on.)

(Didn't like the diagonal cut of the front of this one.  Way too big, too.)

"New" Things

While staying home with the plague, I decided I ought to find a box large enough to ship out my first wedding gown.

About that... I am a confirmed online-shopaholic.  So, when I got engaged, I began scouring the internet for a gown.  This is before I ever tried on a gown and had any idea of what would look good or what I truly wanted.  So, needless to say, I bought a gown I later regretted (not what I was looking for, way too big, etc.).  Fortunately, I was able to list the dress on Once Wed and it sold fairly quickly to someone who will likely appreciate it more than me.  I digress.

In my closet I had a big Disney box large enough in which to ship a wedding gown.  However, in this box was a bunch of clothes I had packed up after I had gained weight.  As of today, I've lost 18 lbs since August 2010.  It's amazing what a massive amount of walking and limiting portion sizes as well as junk food intake will do.  Anywho, I decided to try on everything in the box.  All of it fit!  Half of it was so out of style there was no reason to keep it, so it went into another box to donate.  It was like getting new stuff for free!

While going outside for a moment, I discovered the "Walking Iris" plant had bloomed!  This thing rarely blooms.  Even when it does, it never has more than 2 blooms at once.  This time, there were 4 blooms!