Still going strong...

Well, where to start?!?! I am in a good space right now, even though this morning I was none too happy.

Today being my weigh in day was not so happy :( Today I gained 0.2 lbs. which puts me at needing to lose 18.6 lbs. I know what you may be thinking, it is only 0.2lbs but it is things like that which can totally make me want to quit. I have been reflecting what I did, and I just came up with the fact that all of my eating out these past 2 plus months has finally caught up with me. So I am being more conscious of what I am eating and my snacking. I will go back to eating serving sizes, and hopefully next week is a better number.

On to some positives, I have accomplished a lot doing this list. I have signed up for an art class. It is from Baker's Hunt school and it is a Gardening Workshop called "Leaf Sand Casting". It is only for 2 hours and $30 which is much cheaper than the $80 I budgeted. It is in August so today I am sending in my registration form. Yeah!! I am so very excited.

I started learning Spanish over the weekend. As a good student I started with the basics, and so I focused on the greetings. I can only say hello, good night, and how are you proficiently. (Well with the American accent). I could move on, but I will stay on lesson 1 until I can say everything else with ease and consistently.

I also put $50 in savings :) That increases my total saved to $208.97 and hopefully I can put some more money in when I get paid next week.

I have already looked into what new meal I am going to cook and super excited for that. If I don't do it this week I have to do it next week. Gotta keep my 2 new dishes quota.

This weekend I traveled to Jungle Jims and bought three bottles of wine, Dr. L my favorite being one. I decided for my wine bar that each wine holder section will be a type of wine. I am thinking that is the best way to do it. At first I was just going to have all Rieslings but I can throw in some reds. So here is the breakdown, I will purchase 3 of each:
Riesling (2)
Merlot (2)
Chardonnay (0)
Pinot Noir (0)
Pinot Grigio (1)
So I need 10 more. I am not looking for really expensive or cheap stuff. I am buying the things I like, but since I am not a big wine drinker if it is not a Riesling, I am taking a big chance and hoping that it is good. Granted I will not be drinking the stuff for a while but I still don't want to buy crappy wine.

I have made slim progress on my reading. Don't get me wrong the mythology book is great, I just am needing more discipline to fit it in. With working and working out I am pulling in long days and the last thing on my mind is reading. I just gotta get better at it because I really want to read one book a month and this month is slipping away.

I am also making slim progress on my doctoral portofolio. Today I read what I need to do to complete it and I printed out some papers but I am doing the bare minimum. I will step it up a notch. I really want to have it complete by the end of Summer so that I can start the disseration phase by Fall. Maybe I need to make a daily schedule and add it in for at least 60 minutes a day. If I can dedicate 4 days a week at 2 hours or more a session to working out, I should be able to tackle this portfolio.

As for my training for the marathon, I am saving the best for last. I have dramatically improved that I am in total shock. But I have ran before so I didn't think it would take me a large amount of time to get back in the flow of things. With having five more months and a week til the race I am feeling very confident. As of yesterday I am able to run nonstop for 18 minutes. My training program said I should be able to run at least 30 minutes so I am more than half way there. Also I also ran a mile non stop. Originally on Friday I ran a mile in 12:30minutes, and yesterday I did it in 11:18minutes-go me. I told myself that the running does not have to be at a steady 5.6 miles per hour which is what hindered me. I want to stay consistent at a 5.6 mph or more, but I also don't want to over do it considering that I am getting back into the swing of things. Anyway, I feel that I can just be happy that I did it, that I am staying focused and getting better the more I train.

Well I guess that is all for today. I continue to write in this blog weekly so I am making progress on that item. Hopefully by next week I will have made additional steps on another item.