Weigh in Week 25: Just Dreamin....for now

Oh goodness guys. So sorry to have been majorly MIA lately. I'm sure most of you can kind of understand if you read my last post. Life is really stressful right now.

I ended up going to Bastyr University on Friday for a campus tour and to talk with an advisor about the possibility of me enrolling in the fall. The verdict? Not a chance :( I have a couple of more classes I would need to get done as prereq's, and since Bastyr is a cohert program, I wouldn't be able to get them done in time to start in the fall 2010 cohert.

Oh and I won't even mention the cost of this university. It might make you grimace a little (ok, well I did). Anyway, apparently Kellen and I make too much money to get any kind of grant from the government. Apparently you have to be below the poverty line to get help with your education around here (sorry, I am quite a bit bitter at the moment). Either that, or we have to have kids. Yup- having kids will actually give me cheap school...apparently...

All that being said, I'm bummed. As I took the tour I was actually "skipping" (according to Kellen). He described me as looking like I was skipping from excitement like I was on the movie The Wizard of Oz! Hahaha!

I WAS excited. This place is really stinkin cool. I will show you a few pics I

snapped:

This is the front entrance to the school...pretty cool huh?

The courtyard at the school. The school is actually SUPER small- like only 250 students! When I heard this I was AMAZED- there would only be 35 students in the program I would be enrolling in. Talk about getting close and personal?

The "herb" room. Ok- get this- for 2 bucks a month you can come in here and just take anything you want. Think of the possibilities! The girl that gave the tour said she

has had a blast making her own lotions and soaps and such from here. FUN!

This is the kitchen classroom. I guess I should mention that the major I am thinking of doing is Nutrition with an emphasis on Culinary Arts. They have classes like "cooking for wellness"! This was my favorite part of the tour by far!

Now....check out the schools all natural organic garden! SO cool. And another place that you can "help yourself" to what you need.

Some of the plants were even labeled by the part of the body they would help:

Another thing I didn't get a picture of is the vegetarian cafeteria. Over each food there is a label stating exactly what kind of ingredients are in each dish, including which produce is organic. I had a veggie burger and over cooked fries for lunch. Yum!

Needless to say....it has quickly become a dream that I have not given up. I intend to take this next year to catch up on my prereq's, get our finances in order, and hopefully enroll in the Fall of 2011. We will see!

Weigh in News: I gained .5 a lb. I have nothing else to say except that I just didn't have the time, emotional, and physical effort to focus on weight loss this week. That's ok. It's a new week!

Let's Talk

Warning: this post is going to be a bunch of random jabber. If you attempt to read all of it, I applaud and thank you for being such a loyal follower.

Hello all! Today I ran another 3 miles with Chloe. I have a couple of random things to spout about on this subject:

1. I am finding that eating 1 hour before I run is working wonders. I no longer feel nauseous and I also feel it is giving me a bit more energy than I had before.

2. I have been having a major side ache on my right side. I think this may be because I hold Chloe's leash on this side, and she likes to pull on it everytime she sees another dog, person, small animal, etc. I'm hoping this side ache will not pop up for my race on Sunday seeing as she will not be with me.

3. I am REALLY NERVOUS for Sunday (race day), because 3 miles feels like such a struggle for me at this point- and the race is 3.75. I want to be able to say I ran the whole thing- that has been my goal this whole time I've been training. But I am really nervous that I might not make it. :(

Happy thought: I no longer have things in my closet that don't fit. You know how amazing it is to reach into my closet, pull something out, and to just KNOW it won't be too small? It feels so rewarding.

I have now sent in an initial application to a school to become a Registered Dietitian. However, I have almost no science credits so I will have to start looking into taking some more courses through my local community college to get caught up so I can fulfill the program prerequisites.

If you are reading this and know of someone, or you yourself are, involved in the nutrition field and may be willing to talk to me more about it via e-mail, I would love to talk to someone!

I did receive several more formspring questions that I will be answering in the next couple of days. Oddly enough, a lot of them had to do with mine and my hubby's relationship! haha. I think I will be devoting a whole post to this aspect of my life and what his thoughts are on this whole "lifestyle change" I've adopted the last four months.

I will however, target one "non relationship" question I got yesterday:

"how do you deal with the PMS-related cravings? (for me, chocolate, salt, and general sluggishness..."

If I am going to be truthfully and brutally honest hear.... not very well! I am definitely still learning how to cope with these things. For the last four months if my body was craving something, PMS related or not, I've just given it what it wants. The only thing I've changed is trying to find a lower calorie replacement. So instead of eating a bowl of chocolate ice cream, I might have a cup of sugar free hot coco instead.

This technique has definitely helped me "coast through" my first 25 pounds- and will probably be my technique until I reach my first weight goal of 40 pounds lost. However, as I've mentioned in previous posts, I am thinking about adapting and changing some of these things (and probably kicking aspertame to the curb is going to be one of my first orders of business...which means saying goodbye to a lot of my "lower calorie" replacements).

So there ya go. That's been my technique...but we are all forever changing and adapting on this journey, and so will I!

As far as "sluggishness"- I exercise when I feel like it. I know, you are probably thinking when does anyone ever "feel" like it? Basically to me that means if there is nothing drastically wrong with me (i.e. I feel nauseous/crampy, exhausted, or really ill) I just kick my butt out the door.

Oh yeah, and having a Siberian husky helps A LOT! No joke.
You just can't say no to this face.

That's it for today!