Jessica vs. the ActiveLink

This is my ActiveLink.


The ActiveLink is one of my many beloved gadgets.  It is a Weight Watchers gizmo, and it was designed to track your movement throughout the day and convert that movement into Activity Points.  Sounds cool, right?  On a good day, it makes life super easy and it either motivates you to work harder, or makes you realize how hard you're already working - for example, if you plug it into your computer in the afternoon (it has a nice USB plug on the end, making that super easy) and see that you've earned 6 points already, it's a good day!  But if you plug it into your computer in the afternoon and see that you've earned 1 point for the day, it might motivate you to work a bit harder and get in some more movement.

Please note my use of the word "might."

On a good day, the ActiveLink is motivating and inspiring.  But on a day like today, where my appetite and desire to sit on my couch and watch TV greatly outweighed my desire to go to the gym or eat carrots, the ActiveLink can be discouraging.  Frustrating.  Infuriating.

Because when I finished my workout for the day and plugged that sucker in, this is what I saw.


Can't tell what offended me?  Here, let me zoom in for you...


I beg your pardon, ActiveLink?!  One activity point?!  This is after my workout, kids.  Now yes, this is also after me sitting on the couch and then me falling asleep on the couch, but still?!  I thought I was going to punch something.

So, the rest of the day can be seen as one long battle of me vs. the ActiveLink.  I went to Target and walked around (and then bought everything in Target, but that is unimportant).  Jamie and I went to Hollywood Studios and I kept walking.  And finally, I got home and saw this.


A vast improvement.

Photobucket


Three things.

1.  I am not succeeding at my "blog every day in April" goal, I know.  But I am trying!  Already I have blogged more in April than I did in February or March, and I'm getting close to beating January.  So... yay for that!



2.  I just bought myself a new app for my iPad and had to recommend it to anyone still reading this (so... myself) - it's called Sworkit, and it creates a random circuit workout for you.  You input what kind of workout you want to do (cardio, strength, yoga, etc.) and how long you want to do it (I tried 15 minutes to start) and it starts you on a workout!  I was impressed at the variety of moves, and I really enjoyed the format.  You do each move for only 30 seconds, which was especially nice for hateful things like burpees.  It also gives you random 30 second breaks, which is especially nice after hateful things like burpees.  I found that I worked hard because I knew it was only 30 seconds, and I wanted to keep going because I didn't know what was coming up next!  I don't think I would have the patience to do a long workout with it, but for a 15 minute burst of cardio when I felt like I hadn't done enough, it was nice.  Recommended!

3.  I have finally gotten used to my haircut... so here goes.  Photographic evidence.

Completely down.

Half up.

TINY PONYTAIL!


I'm still getting used to it, especially now in Florida humidity where it kind of puffs out.  It is shorter than I expected, but it has grown on me.  And several people have told me that it looks great, so... I'll take it :)

Until tomorrow!
Photobucket

I did something kind of crazy today...

I got my hair cut.  Actually cut.  Not my usual haircut which is essentially just trimming off the last inch of hair and making my bangs into bangs again.  I looked in the mirror, completely frustrated by how long my hair had gotten, and called the salon that I normally go to in Colorado.  The stylist I really like is almost always swamped, so I was assuming that they would tell me to book an appointment for the next time I was in town.  But she had an opening at 12:15, so I took it.  I assumed it was a sign and I was meant to get my hair cut today!

... I'm still deciding if this is true.

I knew what I wanted going into the appointment.  I was a little nervous, of course, because I've had my hair pretty darn long for a while now.  

See example: a picture from pretty early on in this blog's life.  Long-ish hair.

But I'll be honest - for the past couple months, I have not been thrilled with my hair,  It had just gotten way too long, to the point that it didn't have any actual style.  I would blow it dry and straighten it and it would look great for a little while, but it soon fell very flat and looked limp.  Plus, it was hard to do anything with it.  My standard side ponytail was absurdly long, to the point that it interfered with my nametag if I wore it that way for work.  The sock bun, one of my favorite things now, was even getting difficult because between my layers and the length, it was almost impossible to get all the pieces into the bun.  The point is - I was ready for a change.  I was ready to have her chop off a few inches.

I was not ready for what happened.

I love my stylist still, and by no means would I say I got a bad haircut.  It's a great haircut, it's just not what I thought I had described.  It seems she and I had a different vision of the kind of change I wanted.  Hers was a bit more extreme.  As in... my standard side ponytail?  Not possible right now.  The sock bun?  I haven't tried it yet, but considering the size of my wee little ponytail, I'm not thinking it will work.  I said goodbye to a lot of hair today, and while I was ready to say goodbye to some, I'm not sure I was ready for everything that was chopped.

As my mom gently reminded me throughout the day - it's just a haircut.  The hair will grow back.  And my hair tends to grow very quickly, so I know it will grow back.  And it is a cute haircut... but I keep going back and forth between liking it and then wanting to cry and go back and get extensions.  If I had to decide right this second, I would go with a slight panic attack, especially since I made the poor choice of Googling "how fast does hair grow" and learned that it could take a year for me to get back all that was cut off.  So right now I am feeling a little overwhelmed.  Let's see how I feel tomorrow.
 
Photobucket

I am an old woman.

It is 8:30 here in Colorado and I am typing this on my phone because I am already in my pajamas and tucked into bed. I could use the excuse that I am still on Florida time and that it feels like 10:30 to me, but let's be honest... Really I am an 80 year old woman and if life allowed me, I would be asleep by 9 pm every night.

This is why I'm super popular and have a buzzing social calendar. Ahem.

Regardless, I am home and in bed and even if I am lame for going to bed this early, it feels fantastic. You all should go to bed right now too, I highly recommend it.

And with that... Sleep. Byeeeee!

Off to a good start!

Expectation:  to blog every day in the month of April.

Reality:  missed April 1st, posted intentions on April 2nd, then missed April 3rd.

Doing super well so far!


So I guess to make up for it, I'll just blog twice today.  That's the same thing, right?

I have plenty of time right now because I'm sitting in the Orlando airport waiting for my flight.  I am taking a last minute trip home for a few days and I am so excited about it, especially because lately I've been absurdly sleep deprived and I know that when I'm home, I will be able to just relax and sleep.  My mom has offered to treat me to a nice pedicure, so obviously that will be happening, and I'm hoping I can talk her into some massages too.  And napping.  Lots and lots of napping.

This is the first card that pops up if you search "nap" on their website.  Perfection.

Buuuuuut I did bring my running shoes, my iPod shuffle, and my Garmin, so I have every intention of exercising while at home as well.  Which is good because I worked out every day last week (yay!) and then decided to take Monday through Wednesday of this week off (oops).  Time to get back into the swing of things.

For now, though... it is Starbucks time.  Next time I blog, it will be from Colorado!  Hooray!


Photobucket

My April challenge... a day late.

Yesterday was April 1st.  Yesterday morning, as I walked to work, I decided that I would blog.  And not just that day, but every day in the month of April.  I knew I had gotten away from blogging, and I knew I missed it, but I have let excuses get in the way - I work a lot, and when I'm done working, I'm tired, so I nap, and when I'm done napping, I just want to eat things and hang out with Jamie.  But those are just excuses.  Plenty of people who work a lot, nap a lot, eat a lot, and spend time with their loved ones still manage to blog.  So I made myself a promise to blog every single day in the month of April.  And then I went to work.  And got off work.  And I was tired, so I napped, and when I was done napping, I ate things and hung out with Jamie.  And surprise!  I did not blog.


But today is a new day.  Today is April 2nd, which means no one is playing any practical jokes today, and everyone might just take me seriously when I say that starting today, I will be blogging every day in April.  Sometimes it might be a long post about running, sometimes it might be a long post about weight loss, and sometimes it might just be this:


Regardless of the content, I will be blogging.  I am back and here to stay.  You're all welcome.



Photobucket