Injured.

Not like I'm a legit athlete or anything, but having this ankle injury preventing me from running has really affected me. I haven't tracked hardly any ww points--though I have been eating consciously and healthy--and I'm feeling tired like I used to. I put some pictures on this post to show what it looks like....basically a fat cankle, and I caved and bought a brace for it a few days ago. It's helped so far in my work shoes, but I'm getting really nervous about it not getting better by next week because.........brace yourselves....I got promoted to the airport location at work! It's a big deal and something I've been working toward for a while now, and it's just one step closer to taking my big test in march and getting promoted to management. The downside of the airport is you're on your feet pretty much your entire shift. My shoes are already falling apart, so i was already planning on getting new shoes anyway, but now with my ankle the way it is I'm terrified to buy shoes that are only going to hurt it worse. Btw, it HAS to be from my work shoes, at this point, because I haven't exercised in a week and it's barely improved. That's a safe conclusion, right? Lord I hope so.

Anyway, the airport move should be happening next week so I'm super pped and nervous! The pressure is definitely on.

So, to keep my mind sharp, I'm reading another book. No, it's not a nick sparks book this time. Instead, this book caught my eye at target the other day called No Easy Day. It's a firsthand story of the mission that killed Osama bin laden. I can't put it down. I'm almost done with it and probably won't find a book able to top it when I'm done. So if you have any interest at all in world news and international affairs, read it. I hope it also could open eyes for those people who bash on the military despite all the sacrifices they make.

Anyway, of my soapbox I go. Pray my ankle gets better quick please!!

FINALLY

Yes that's right, when I woke up today I was officially 10.2 pounds lighter than I was when I started Weight Watchers a month ago. Not too shabby. I wish it had come off in a week, you know, like on Biggest Loser, but I keep having to remind myself I'm not locked up on that ranch...with Jillian Michaels. A girl can dream I guess.

The funny part is, I haven't worked out in almost a week because of my ankle (which I have determined is from my work shoes, since I haven't worked out in a week and it's still swollen and hurting), and I haven't exactly eaten like a champ either. I have a confession. The other night after a night out, I was convinced to go to Jack in the Box. Siiiiiiigh. I must say it was one of the best meals I've had in 2013, probably because it was the first fast food meal I've had this year lol. But it was pretty insane how the next day I FELT like I had eaten fast food. I had a tummy ache for a while, and I literally felt like I had the taste of garbage in the back of my mouth all day. Guess that goes to show that fast food literally IS garbage...

So anyhoo, here's some highlights from this week in pictures:

Got my BIC Band in the mail! I wore it for s whole day,
and it didn't reallllly slip...I have a small head though, so
it wasn't PERFECT, but better than any headband I've ever
used. 

CND Shellac Manicure. My fav. I'm addicted.
Tell me my nails don't look fab. I dare you. 

Got to go out with some friends Friday night, despite
the rain and hale. 

Annnnnnnnnnnd a big, fat lowlight....:

Somehow I ran over a 'c-hook.' Bitch made my tire
go completely flat and I had to have it patched, but
the sidewall was too damaged to be put back on as
a regular tire, so I know have my full-sized spare on
instead, which has an uneven tread from the rest of the
tires. Cant wait to deal with that in a few months. 

All in all, it's been a good week. Mainly because of the 10 pound weight loss. I want the next 10 to come off in a month as well. I think I can do it. 

Wish me luck!

Ta ta for now, loves!

Brain dump.

Hey people. No change in the weight yet. I'm sure it'll happen before saturday though. Work has been kicking my ass lately. Between just being busy in general and customers being jerks (I think there's something in the downtown water) and working from 7 am to at least 615 pm every day, I'm pooped. On, and my right ankle is killing me and swollen. I ran on it anyway as I said before, but now I'm thinking I shouldn't have. Of course tonight i will probably run on it again anyway lol. Anyway, I've chalked it up to one of two things:

Possibility #1 is that because of the flares of gout I have had over the last year in my right foot, I walk on the outside of it without even noticing, if that makes sense. If you read up on gout, one of te main areas it occurs is in the joint of the ball of your foot, so to not put pressure on that part of my foot I put the pressure elsewhere. Maybe that led to me straining my ankle when I run?

Possibility #2 is that I need new work shoes. Which would piss me off because i wear aerosols which are like 75 bucks a pair and I was planning on running them into the ground to get my money's worth. But I've been noticing the pain mainly when I'm in my work shoes, in the exact area around my ankle where the top of the shoe is. So maybe that's it.

I'm personally hoping its #2 because that's a lot more fixable than #1.

Anyhoo.

Good news on the friend front. I chucked my pride and reached out to that best friend I had a falling out with, and she wrote back last night and it might just get resolve. Lets face it, both of us are adults and to toss a ten year friendship away without even talking about why we were hurt by the other is really childish, so hopefully we can get through it and move on as friends.

As far As the heartbreak goes, no good news to tell there. I am surprised though that I've yet to actually cry about it. I'm sure I will though once it really sinks in that its over, and it will be ugly.

But to clear my head when I'm working at the hotel office, I've figured out there are window benches in the room hallways on every floor, so on my break I go sit in one on a random floor and read. Not a bad view, as you can see below. San Diego really is a gorgeous city, and I'm blessed to have grown up here. The picture is a view of Coronado, so if I could just lose enough weight to rock a bikini over there this summer, i will be happy :)

Sorry for the long and boring post. Hope everyone's having a great week! This is my Friday btw, so hellllllllll yeah to my weekend starting in approximately 5 hours!!!!!!!! Yippeeeee!!!

Running through the pain.

The title pretty much says it all. I HURT. My ankles are swollen and achy. All the time. And I'm pretty sure when I'm running I look like I've got something stuck up my ass, because my ankles hurt, my knees hurt, and my hips hurt. BUT...I'm getting less and less short-of-breath with every workout. Today I was able to walk for 5 minutes (.25 miles), jog the .75 I did on Friday, walk .25 miles, jog .25 miles, walk .2 miles, and job the remaining .3 miles. I sweated my ass off, which I like, but boy do I feel like I've done some damage. I really hope I'm not hurting myself more than helping myself, and that this is all part of becoming a runner after a life of being a lazy bum. I guess we'll see in about 5 years if I have to have a knee replacement! 

So this weekend was, like I said, my mom's birthday. We went to Gabardine, a restaurant owned by Brian Malarkey (of Top Chef and now The Taste). He owns a few really well-known restaurants in San Diego, and this was one of the ones that wasn't wayyyyyyyyyy out of my price range. Still, for just my mom and I, the bill was almost a hundred bucks. Of course, we had an appetizer (TRUFFLE FRIES. OH EM GEE.) and drinks. Multiple drinks. And for dinner my mom got Lobster Gnocchi--btw, the fact that a fatty like me resisted ordering LOBSTER GNOCCHI (that's two of my favorite foods in the world, y'all), is an accomplishment. Even with the truffle fries. And the beer. And the Old-Fashioned. I ordered Mahi Mahi. Which was bomb, and WW friendly--like the rest of my meal was. Stupid. 

Then I got an unexpected phone call from my cousin, who I affectionately have always referred to as Tooty. And here's the story behind that, just because. He's my non-biological aunt's biological cousin. Are you following? He's my age, my aunt is my mom's age--hence why I call her my aunt. They're best friends of over 30 years. Tooty was living with their biological grandmother in Juarez, but she was like, 80 years old, and my aunt and uncle adopted him to give him a better life when we were 12. But before that, he had come and visited numerous times and my gringa ass couldn't say Arturo right. Instead I said it art-too-tow. Yeah, I know. That led to my aunt and uncle jokingly calling him Tooty, and it just stuck. 

Anyway, I digress. He called and said he needed cousin time, so I went and picked him up and we drank wine at my house. 

The Redneck Wine Glass is mine, and Tooty's drinking straight from the bottle. Classy. 

So, needless to say, I had a great weekend, but a bad weekend. Oh, and the Superbowl happened. I went to my friend's house and had wings. Lots of homemade wings. And wine. Bad bad bad. But sooooo good. Then we went to Cold Stone. Sue me. 

Side note: fav superbowl commercial was by far the Dodge Ram one. Aka, 'so God made a farmer.' I loved it. Maybe it's because I'm a country bumpkin. Maybe it's because I like trucks. But the biggest reason I loved it is because it showcased the true heart and soul of this country--really, the foundation of this country. Hard-working, self-made folks who aren't ashamed of getting their hands a little dirty to make a buck. And who won't accept not being successful and providing for themselves and their families. Unlike so many people I see every day working in a downtown area who have completely lost any sense of reality and accepted failure and are content to live off other people's dollar. I know this is probably controversial, but I don't really care. Especially because I don't have real readers anyway :) just kidding, the few of you who are out there, love ya!

Good news is I didn't GAIN any weight! I'm crossing my fingers I'll cross the 10 pound line by Wednesday morning!!

Also, just because I need to vent, I have to say that the title of this post stands for the physical pain I felt at the gym, and the emotional. Yes, sad to say I'm going through heartbreak. Isn't it weird how every time you get your heart broken, you look back at the last time and think, 'that was NOT heartbreak.' I hope I'm not the only one. Wtf is with that? You'd think we'd learn. But I don't seem to ever learn anything. Almost 2 years I feel have been wasted. I won't go into all the gory details, but I'm sad. Really, really sad. And the best friend issue I talked about before is still an issue. I'm praying every day that everything going on in my life is leading to a better me--mentally and physically. It's just hard getting there I guess. 

Alright enough of me. Hopefully next time you hear from me, I'll have lost 10 pounds officially. 

Blehhhh

Work kicked my ass today. Like, hardcore. I was busy almost the entire time I was there--which never happens--and everyone was a douche. Well, not everyone, but literally the majority of them. And my sales sucked.

Oh well.

Tonight I'm taking my mom to this awesome restaurant called Gabardine for her birthday--Happy Birthday Momma! Pics tomorrow for sure. And then I'm going out. Even though I have to work in the morning. I need a social life.

Oh, btw, I woke up this morning and weighed myself...I'm not going to tell you the number but it's soooooooooo close to a 10 lb weight loss it pisses me off!!!! I have a feeling I'll hit the mark by Wednesday. Because tomorrow's the Superbowl and I'm not working out. So Monday-Wednesday I'll be pretty hardcore.

Also, you should all take a look at this gem I took of my sweet puppy last night:

That's her favorite sleeping position, dead. That's the first time I've ever caught her with her mouth open though. It didn't last long. My mom's dog (the crazy little effer in the background) bugged her about 2 minutes later to play, and she almost bit his head off. Then she went under the coffee table and went back to sleep. Isn't she just the cutest? I don't know what I'd do without her.

And now I'll leave you with some words of wisdom from Uncle Si. God bless him.

11 MINUTES!

THAT'S HOW LONG I RAN WITHOUT STOPPING AT THE GYM! OK OK, I know, that's not a very long time for a lot of people, but it is for me!

Actually, I take that back. Do you know how many people are extremely obese in this country? A shit ton. So that probably IS a long time for a lot of people. So there. In that 11 minutes, I went about 3/4 of a mile, so again, my pace isn't that fast, but it's faster than it was 4 weeks ago, and my stamina is much better than it was 4 weeks ago, so I'm very proud of myself. Especially considering my legs were a little stiff from the running back and forth up a hill in a stripmall I did earlier today in numerous pairs of shoes. Basically, I started jogging at .25 miles (that's what I did in my warmup). I told myself 'get to .40 before you stop,' then when i got to .4, I knew I could keep going. So I set my goal to get to .5, then .6, then by the time I hit .75 I couldn't believe what I'd already done and was sure I wouldn't make it to a mile, but I just kept going. And when I got to .9 I told myself it would be stupid to stop now and I surely wouldn't DIE in that tenth of a mile, so I just kept going. Then I smiled a lot to myself the rest of the time I was on the treadmill. I'm sure I looked like a loony-toon. Then after that I did some leg presses, chest presses, and crunches, and now I'm home, debating on giving the dogs a bath. It's always a bit of a fiasco.

Anyway, I know this is the 2nd post in a matter of hours, but I'm just so happy with myself I had to share with my nonexistent followers :)

Also, this is funny/motivating:

Word. 

Omigod, shoez.

I hope you get that reference. Anyhoo, I got my running shoes today!!!!! I went to a store called Movin' Shoes in La Mesa, a suggestion from my best friend's sister's boyfriend (complicated, I know). I was talking to him about going to RoadRunner Sports, and he said Movin' Shoes was great to him. It's a little mom-and-pop local chain--I think there are 3 locations in San Diego County--and it was wonderful being the only customer there while I was trying on the shoes. Basically, I told the guy (who was pretty cute, I must say) that I was just starting to run to get in shape, and felt like I was doing a lot of damage to my body by running in Wal Mart shoes. I tried on at least 10 different pairs, and ran back and forth--uphill--up the sidewalk of the strip mall in each pair. I'm sure it wasn't fun watching my fat ass run back and forth each time, but he was a champ. I had it narrowed down to some obnoxious bright orange Mizunos, which I originally said "that color isn't going to work for me. I went to the University of Memphis and I hate UT Orange." But then I loved them. And then I tried on some shoes they called "the beasts" because they were HUGE. They obviously had more support that the Mizunos, but I felt like I was running with weights on my feet. Not necessarily a bad thing, given my situation, but the last thing I want to feel when I'm running is more weighed down than I already am. So............I went with..............

The Mizuno WaveInspire!!!! I rationalized the color as camo orange (or redneck orange, whatever you prefer). I am, after all, kind of a redneck. Proven by my eBay purchase of this Pink Realtree Camo Otterbox (scored it for half price, baby!):

See? Redneck.

After getting my shoes (and a pack of running socks), I went to the mall and grabbed an all-fruit Jamba Juice for lunch and bought Nicholas Sparks' Safe Haven. This is another one I didn't immediately feel interested in reading, but now that it's coming out as a movie, I feel like I should read it. BTW, I HATED THE END OF MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE! WTF!? This one better not end like that.

Anyway, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my day off lounging around with the puppies, and later I will go to the gym and get a real run in (although I'm pretty sure I got a decent workout in already at the shoe store...).

That's all for now!