Don't Poke The Bear

I cannot believe it is only March 20. First, it feels like a hundred years have passed since my birthday...which was a week ago. Second, it is more gloriously warm and sunny than it is in June. I am in a horrible mood, but I can't deny how great it is outside.

I'm trying to wear more spring in my outfits without really buying anything new or trendy (you will never catch me in floral ankle pants, in case you were wondering). Since it is so legitimately nice out, all of my sandals from last year are already out and in rotation. So glad I got a good set of them that are still in excellent shape. The orange, the turquoise, the olive -- all are being happily worn. The olive peeptoe booties do a good job of lightening up an otherwise dark black-pants outfit. (The melon cardigan and gold jewelry helps too.)



Then on Friday I took the bears out of hibernation. Shaved 'em and everything!



Wearing nude microfishnet stockings, which are almost the same as wearing no hose at all. A cute dress and a long-lost purple cardigan, some embellished flats and I was good to go!

+++++++

In other news, my co-workers talked me into doing a team challenge to lose weight and exercise more. We weigh in and get measured tomorrow, then it starts for 8 weeks next Monday. The challenge is about scoring points, depending on how much exercise you do and how much weight and body fat you lose over the time period. I was all for it -- I could use a good structured kick in the pants -- but then today when we were going over the rules in detail, I got really panicked and now I am dreading it.

I didn't catch before today that you have to do a minimum of 1440 minutes of exercise -- which is 25 minutes a day, seven days a week (or 36 minutes, 5 days a week). Do you know how much I do right now? NONE.

I know, I know, deep in my gut I know that I need to move more, and I was looking forward to this challenge to get that going. But I was expecting to have to do a half-hour 3-4 days a week. I was thinking I could ease myself into it, and then maybe by the end of the challenge add more than that. I was NOT expecting to have to start right off the bat at a sprint. I can't even really miss a day, or I will fall behind, and skip more days, and fall more behind. And then let all my teammates down (there are some nice monetary prizes for competing and winning, and several of them really want to win.)

I am just so...pissed off about the whole thing. I feel like I am doomed to fail before I even start, and the pressure is pissing me off even more. Everyone else was talking about how they already work out 2 hours already a week, and so adding another hour wouldn't be so hard. I wanted to cry.

It feels impossible to me. I can't even get up the stairs without my knee giving out. Which I know should be even more incentive to exercise, but it's not. All I can think about is even if I just do 30 minutes of walking every day, how much every inch of my body is going to hurt, and how little rest I will have before having to do it again the next day, and how I am working 10-12 hours a day and am stressed beyond belief and am barely hanging onto eating right by my fingertips. When the hell am I supposed to even find the time for this? I was just thinking that I needed to start going into work earlier because so much is piling up. I never leave before 6pm, and I am in bed early too. But no, now I need to find a free hour somewhere every day. And my f***ing running shoes. Which probably don't fit. (Can you hear me cursing? I am cursing a blue streak!)

This doesn't feel like something that is motivating me to keep improving myself; it feels like just one more expectation that I can't meet that is crushing my lungs so I can't breathe.

I have 6 more days to get myself into the right headspace for it. Great. First I have to get over being so pissed. Why didn't I read it more closely before I agreed? Damn.

Sigh.

So that's what I'll be working on this week. My f***ing negative attitude.

Stuff I Wore

So the whole Dress Like a Normal Person challenge has fallen apart; I stopped taking outfit photos and tracking them on my spreadsheet since I got back from Florida. Ooops.

That said, I still have been dressing like a normal person, and I have a small backlog of photos to prove it.

First there are some last shots of Florida. Got a goofy one with my parents the morning I flew back to Chicago.



Doesn't my mom look great? She's been doing WW online, and it's paying off. Go, Mom!!



One of me, with a Florida-appropriate top and Chicago-appropriate shoes. And a butt-ugly fish.



Then we got silly and I bundled up full-on in my Chicago gear. I was sweating by the time they finished taking the pictures! :)



I made Hubby snap this one after work one day so I could show off yet another wearing of this awesome Nordstrom dress. I haven't lost a significant amount of weight yet but I am losing a little bit, and it already shows in this dress. It fits much better now than it did in December. You will just have to trust me since the blurriness doesn't help prove my case. :)




A lazy Saturday. I felt like I was channeling Sheila with her striped graphic top over a long sleeved tee! :) Next time I will wear my short-sleeved black cardigan over this; without some solid blocking the sides, I really look much too wide in this. Oh well, lesson learned!



And this was yesterday. This is a new skirt I got on sale from Nordstrom a few weeks ago in its inaugural wearing. It's a midi-length which is all the rage on YLF. I loved the pattern on the knit, and the fit is just amazing. I actually TUCKED IN my top with it, something I haven't done with any outfit in quite some time.



I liked the addition of the thin patent belt too; it made the outfit under the sweater almost look like a dress instead of a LOFT tee and skirt. I could have gone with a dressier jacket or even a more structured sweater, but I was at my desk all day and I don't like to overdress when I am not going to meetings. It makes people in my office nervous, like I have a secret interview. With all the turnover and change in the team these days, I don't want to do that to people. We're already stressed out enough.

And that's a quick peek at some of the outfits I have been wearing lately! Now I am off to figure out what to wear since we did not do laundry last weekend and I have completely run out of pants and skirts to wear. Uh oh...

In lieu of Sunday Cooking

I am not home this weekend so no Sunday Cooking post. Instead here is a catchup on my outfits of last week. The last two days of the workweek started to see some favorite cardigans making a reappearance.



I bought the animal-stripe sleeveless top at Macys last spring while we were downtown for the weekend, and I have not worn it since. I have no idea why; it's very cute. On Wednesday, I dug it out of the bottom of my shirt drawer and paired it with the pewter BR lariat necklace and Bobeau teal drape sweater.



The outfit finished off with some Gap Real Skinnies and my Vince Camuto brogue cowboy boots. The skinnies are really too short for anything but being tucked into boots, alas.



Thursday was a return of the new Sejour drawstring purple sweater from Nordstrom. It is so perfect for this mild winter, and I just like it against white. I paired it with my navy pinstripe bootcut pants; my brown BOC clogs weren't my first choice of shoes, but the pants are too long for anything but a 4-inch heel and those were all I had. Gotta get those pants to the tailor!




Friday was all about bundling up; we had flurries all day. Luckily it only ended up being less than an inch of snow on the ground, but it was COLD.



This is an old H&M long grey sweater, so cozy on the coldest days. I paired it with a dark green LOFT layering top, black Gap bootcut pants, black Naturalizer booties, and an Old Navy necklace made of green/teal ombre beads. This one is the definition of "Dress Like a Normal Person"; I've owned most of this for two years, minimum, and have worn them all countless times.

Lastly, I also often "eat like a normal person". Here is how I packed my lunch on Friday.



See? It isn't always cute lunch boxes and Bentos. But it's still pretty much the same foods.



Squash soup (in the blue container), the last of the quiche, navel orange, crackers and cheese wedge. It was tasty!

Dressing like a Normal Person: weekend edition

Wow, you guys. Wow.

I did not expect such an outpouring of comments from my last post about the anonymous comment. To be very clear to my anonymous reader, I was not even slightly offended by your comment. I really appreciate you expressing your opinion because you inspired me to think about the content of what I have been posting, and you got me interested in what I am wearing again. I owe you a debt of gratitude. I also owe the same to everyone who chimed in; thank you for your encouragement, support, and some ideas of your own.

Anyway, I made a promise, and I am keeping it. Welcome to the Dress Like a Normal Person challenge. Not sure how long it will run, but since I haven't repeated an item yet, I suspect it will be a while longer. :)

Friday was Wear Red Day, as part of the Go Red for Women campaign, to promote awareness for women's cardiac health issues. Since I work in healthcare, of course my entire office was in red. Solidarity, sister!



This was my an INC ponte skirt from Macys, new this winter, with a much-loved LOFT short-sleeved black cardigan; it is brutally hot in my new office so I've been wearing lots of short-sleeved or light sweaters. The red came from my Gap layering long-sleeved tee, so I had to wear my leopard print infinity scarf since it goes so well with red. (I did wear my red trench too; it has been warm enough this winter to get away with it.) This is the last time you will see these grey patterned tights; I put a giant hole through the thigh about halfway through the day, so in the trash they went. But the Vince Camuto boots are an old favorite. How many other boots can you say have brogue detailing but are shaped like cowboy boots? Not many.

I fretted for quite some time trying to figure out the best way to button the sweater: just one, none at all, with a belt, no belt, etc. I rarely go all-buttons (and it bugged me that you could see all my lumps this way), but ultimately I liked the sleek look of it enough to get over the bumps. I just kept tugging it down most of the day so others couldn't see them. :)



Saturday I busted out a brand-new sweater I got on sale at Nordstrom this week. Love the sparkly thread in the purple, and I love the drape and feel of it. I wore my Gap Long and Lean jeans and my green suede Clark heeled booties. Another bonus of this mild winter: my suede shoes have gotten tons of wear!





Please excuse the wet hair; I have to confess I didn't get a picture done on Saturday so I got redressed in the same outfit on Sunday morning and recreated it. The things I do to keep my promises to you guys! LOL.

My real Sunday outfit was below. A re-wear of the Gap Long and Leans, this time with a Loft black layering tee and my gold Bobeau cascading cardigan and my black Pikilino heeled shoes. The necklace was a Christmas gift from my SIL and niece; it's a Betsey Johnson so it's a little gaudy, but it's grown on me. Now that I have figured out it looks best with gold and black outfits, even Hubby is starting to like it.






Hubby did laundry so I am ready for the week. As long as we don't have snow, I can keep taking photos outside. I cannot believe it is February!