Checking In

This is the first time when changing my life choices that I've not weighed myself weekly, or daily. I used to weigh myself every morning because I just felt I needed to know. It's absolutely the wrong thing to do.  It can be motivating, but can be demoralizing too. The motivating part was, "Oh look! I lost 2 oz." As if that mattered in the grand scheme. 

But that's where I was emotionally.  I needed that number to feel confident that making these food and exercises choices were the right thing to do.  And it was the right thing to do, but I wasn't really looking at it as  "life changing" choices.  I saw it as temporary.

I didn't realize the real chatter in my head was telling me, "Thank god this is temporary. When I loose X number of pounds I can eat whatever I want."

You see what's wrong with that right?

This morning, I pulled my scale out from under my bed and weighed myself.  I've lost 11 lbs.  That's 11 lbs in 8 weeks.  Slower than I want, but slow and steady wins the race I think.  The thing is, this number really doesn't matter to me.

That's weird to me.

The PM in me needs to know what's what at this 2 month milestone. 

The new Jenn, however, knows that in these 2 months a lot has happened.  And sure I would have loved to see the 3 lbs a week they talk about at Positive Changes (the message in the hypnosis is 1 to 3 lbs a week. I suspect the 3 lbs are for young chickens, not almost 46 year old chickens.)

Don't get me wrong, 11 lbs feels great. What I know to be true is this:

11 lbs is 11 less than I was.

11 lbs is 11 lbs closer to being healthier

I've made some great choices with regards to food

I joined a new gym and love it (in fact am dressed right now to go at 10am)

I've only had fast food twice in 8 weeks. Once because there was no other option. And once because I was craving fries. I paid the price for that last one.

I'm very content with my progress emotionally and physically

I'm optimistic about my future.

So there you go.  I'm on the right track. I feel great and I'm ready to see, honestly see, this as an actual life change.  I've realized that I can still have those wonderful foods I love. I just can't have them two times a day. Or every day.

It's all in a days work

So I've completed a full week on the new job.  I'm so very excited to be here, I can barely contain myself.  One of the many things I've grown to love about this place so far is they have a unique and sometimes quirky culture.  From our lunches together as one big team/family, to the (sometimes) over-the-top informality, to the ability to hold each other to really high standards without getting nasty, I think these things about working here are pretty cool. 

On Thursday, this guy stopped by to see how things were going for me. He's only been here for a year and a half. He hit on something that has been in the back of my mind…when is the honeymoon period going to end? He said after a month he was sure it would end, and it didn't. Then two months, then three…and now a year and a half later he still loves this place.  It was exciting to hear that this could be a company that is what it appears. 

I'm trying very hard to be optimistic about that. 

Now, I've just got to hit the very high expectations that have been set in front of me. 

Product Specialists initial expectations:

1. Supervise and distribute intake on all new work orders (easy enough, once you figure out what's what). This company is a company of processes, homemade tools, and really organized.  I love it.
2. Project manage any size product job, from fast turn to massive profiling customization (again, easy enough)
3. Consult with clients on course/curriculum builds (I'm going to start taking some Instructional Design courses to really understand this. And in time I'll become an expert with the product so this shouldn't be too hard. Aside from the crazy clients you may or may not get).
4. Stay current with major trends in security, privacy, and compliance to ensure value add to customers as well as sales and marketing (Interestingly enough, this is very interesting and exciting to me. Who knew Privacy and Security could be interesting?)
5. Master enough of hosting to handle any Level 1 hosting inquiries (Again, I'll need training on this and understanding of the systems. But in time, I feel confident this will not be an issue.)

 

Personal skills that the boss wants to see demonstrated - I love that he listed these out. In fact, in the email he said he reserves the right to add to these.

1. Exceptionally clear and consistent communication of project requirements to all parties (sales, ops, customers); this will require that I understand our product and its production processes like the back of my hand, and it will take time. Though their product is pretty easy to understand at an elementary level. The deep stuff will definitely take time.
2. Ability to make the "right" decisions quickly, where "right" balances customer satisfaction with profitability. At first, we'll  discuss how to make the right call, but he's really looking for someone who I can trust to make this call on their own, eventually.  This also shouldn't be a problem. Once I get the knowledge, and the confidence that I have the knowledge, making these decisions will come naturally to me. I hope.

 

So yah, I've got my work cut out for me, but it's not horrible. I'm game.

I think I'm in love...

So Tuesday was my first day at the new job...and can I say? I'm in love.  I am not even sure where to begin.

Let me first begin by saying that the first day is often full of a lot of reading, not knowing where the bathroom is, not knowing the etiquette of the place etc.  And that adds nothing buy anxiety.  While anxious today, it wasn't because of any of those things.

It started with a meeting with the new boss.  He's "easing" me into it, though he said that with a wink and asked if I have good tennis shoes because I'm going to hit the ground running.  Which I replied that at least it will burn calories.  He gets my humor and for that I'm grateful.

After drinking from that fire hose, new boss took me around the office and introduce me.  Every single person, I kid you not, said "Welcome aboard. We're so glad to have you." It was like a script. Only to find out later that many of these people will be handing projects, or parts of managing projects off to me. Everyone was very welcoming and many stopped by during the day to see how I was doing. Love that.



First they have a new and improved boyfriend. And a wall of coffee options, and fridge FULL for misc creamers (full and non fat).

In the kitchen are two fridges. One is for employee lunches. The other full of (not pop ok some pop) Starbuck Refreshers, flavored water, yogurt, string cheese, all the creamers, etc. ALL for employees.  The freezer is full of frozen meals, for employees. You get where I'm going here?

The counter has a snack basket full of good for you snacks (PopChips, nuts, protein bars, etc), a small basket of not good for you snacks, a HUGE basket of fruit, and a container of beef sticks.  All for the employees. 

Then, in the kitchen is this HUGE table with about 12 chairs around it. People eat lunch together.  The company subsidizes lunches. Three times a week, they order from some restaurant and pay half of the meal, you pick up the rest. Then they all eat in the kitchen together.  Crazy. On the other two days, they all seem to walk over to a couple of food trucks that come by, and then eat together.

I missed the field trip to the trucks, so I sat and drank water and got to know my new family.  Funny group of people who appear to all be foodies.  One guy said to beware of the "MediaPro 15". He said he gained 15 lbs upon joining the company because of the food they offer. This girl ain't gaining that ...

Many people brought their lunches too and there was much discussion about what they were eating.  It wasn't simple soups or salads either.  I'm in trouble. I totally eat soup out of a can. And I said that out loud ... not too surprisingly they all laughed and said I'd fit right in.

The rest of the day was full of reading, reading and more reading. 

As I drove home though, I felt like I had certainly made the right decision.  So many surprises today that really helped me fell confident about this move. I can't wait to see what's in store.

I'm CooCoo for KokoFit

I think I've mentioned that I've not been getting to the gym. And I think I mentioned that I realized I'm bored with my current gym.  So a friend suggested I try this gym in Redmond called KokoFit.  It sounds funky, and it is funky. 

It's a digital gym.  Really there's no other way to explain it.  I went on Monday for a courtesy session to be introduced to the gym and their methodology.  The place was fantastic. Friendly fitness gal to help me, ORANGE is their color - which happens to be my color this year, and clean, inviting atmosphere.

Fitness Gal (FG) gives you what is essentially a jump drive that has all your data.  Once I had that, Fitness Gal (FG) got me started by having me step on this machine. The machine basically, somehow, figured out your BMI. It sets a baseline of your muscle weight and your BMI - the goal being the BMI goes down and the muscle weight goes up.  The machine fascinates me. You basically get on it with bare feet, grab these metal bars and it just miraculously figures out the rest. Fascinating. Ahhh science and technology!

Once you've done that, FG got me a iPod. These iPods are there for the members and they are essentially set up to walk you through your cardio work out.  For me, for today, I was warming up on the treadmill.  We plugged in my jump drive, and turned on the iPod. Mike - the voice on the iPod - literally walked me through a 15 minute cardio warm up.  It was supposed to be a warm up for beginners, but sheesh...I gotta tell ya...I couldn't do it all to the extent he did. And I'm ok with that. Some day I will be able to do it all.

After the treadmill workout is complete, all the data basically downloads into the jump drive. The speed, the incline, my heart rate, the time etc.  This is important for later.

Then FG moved me on to the weight machine. One big mega machine will all the weight workout you'll do. So no moving machines.  Yay.

Today was essentially a strength test for me, so after I plugged in my jump drive, the touch screen walks you through testing your main muscles.  It told me everything. It told me the exercise to do, the way to position the chair and back rest, the amount of weight (and oh by the way if you put the weight pin in the wrong weight, it tells you), the amount of reps etc.  The cool thing is it has a pace bar that you're supposed to keep up with. Essentially it's determined how fast or slow you should be lifting the weight to get the best results for you.  Then you get a score at the end telling you how well you kept on pace. It's totally like a video game...and I love that I spent more time thinking about keeping pace, than thinking I was working out.

Then if you choose you can do another cardio, or you can choose to be done. It's all up to you.

Once you're done, you take your jump drive and put it into another machine and it downloads all your data.  You get a personal web page that tells you everything you've done and what your next work out will be.  In case you happen to be someone like me that LOVES to know what's coming. And yes, I like to peek at my Christmas presents before Christmas day, why do you ask?

At the end of the day, this is about $15 more expensive to the gym I'm currently a member of. However, I pay for that gym every month and don't use it. So I'm throwing money away.  I'm hoping KokoFit will be the kick start I need to get to the gym.  It's new. It's pretty. It's fun. It's interesting. It's all the things I think I need right now. And after all, medical bills down the road will be way more expensive than this if I don't do something.

Fear

What an interesting word fear is? There are tangible things to be afraid of and intangible things?  There are phobias that are irrational and phobias that are rational.  But the fear that most interests me today is the fear of success.

Yes, you read that correctly...the fear of success. Not failure.

Last week during my coaching session at Positive Changes the coach was trying to get to the bottom of why I'm not going to the gym.What's blocking me? As we chatted I said something to the affect of fear of succeeding. The coach jumped right on that and asked me to put some thought into why I would say such a thing. So that's what I've done.

Why would I be afraid of succeeding? I nibbled on that question for almost a week when it hit me. Like a big old slap on the back of my head. 

If' I'm successful at getting healthy and down to a weight I feel good at, then what on earth would I hold on to as an excuse for why I haven't done some of the things in my life I want to do?

If I'm successful, what would I do with all the thought time I put into getting healthy?

If I'm successful, what would I talk about with some friends?

 If I'm successful....

And the list can go on. I've been overweight for so long of my life that I really wouldn't know any different.  It defines who I am on so many levels and maybe, just maybe, I've allowed it to be a mask to hide behind.

So here's what I've decided to do about it...until a later day when it becomes very obvious that I am going to be THAT successful, I'll take it one day at a time. I'm assuming this is a journey and that along the way I'll shed the fear and the mask. The thing is, I'm aware of it now. And isn't that half the battle?

The fear of bees I'll likely never get over, so we won't ever discuss that.

I Knew the Moment it Hit My Lips

That I would regret the decision I just made.

In case you're not actively following along with my life change, let me fill you in.  I'm now starting the 8th week working with hypnosis.  To date I've lost only 9 lbs.  I'm 100% sure it's because I'm just not getting to the gym. 

For my second personal recording I asked the hypnotist to really drive home the working out idea.  That particular hyptnotist and the recording stunk.  I lost an entire week basically because I requested a new recording. "Waste" being all relative that is. 

I still made good, sound, healthy eating choices, but just wasn't getting to the gym.  Finally the second recording in hand I was sure I'd start getting to the gym. I've had it for 4 days now and haven't gone once.  More on that later.

It's been 7 weeks since I've had fast food. My past life was full of fast food. I had it 4 - 6 times a week, easily.  Now 7 weeks later, none. (Side note: the one exception is having to grab something very quickly before a show I had no other choice but to have a small cheeseburger).

This weekend, I decided to give in. I hadn't done a good job planning for dinner and it was later than normal for me to eat.  I was starving. I decided I wanted a grilled cheese from a local fast food place. I gave in to fries too. 

The moment I started eating I knew that I'd regret this. Not having that much fat in my system for so long - my insides were not going to like it. And I was right.  I'll save you the details, but my stomach rocked and rolled for a couple of days.

What did I learn, or rather prove? That when you take something like that out of your life, it's a good thing. Bringing it back in is not going to be good. My body just wasn't accustomed to that amount of fat now. And THAT is a good thing.  I proved to myself that having it out of my life is the right answer.

I'm back to eating healthy...and am starting a new gym that will hopefully help get me motivated.  We shall see.

It's Kinda Like it

Most of you know I'm a scrapbooker. And if we're friends on FB you've seen samples of my scrapbooking.  A friend has mentioned to me that I should blog more about my scrapbooking process. I'm not convinced, but since I'm doing the "blog every day" for the month of November, I figured I might as well use this as an opportunity to discuss my process.

I won't go into detail (yet) about how I even get to the point of scrapbooking. The taking of photos, and organization/printing of those photos can easily be an entire new blog entry. Instead, I wanted to talk about how I get ideas.

Cousin Blueberry often asks when she's flipping through my scrapbooks how I come up with doing "xyz". I almost always tell her it's from looking at other people's pages. 

There are a ton of incredibly creative people out there. I discovered long ago that there are times that they have done the hard work for me by coming up with an exceptional design.  Its called "scrap-lifting" when you copy a page that's done by someone else.

I scrap-lift a lot.  I see nothing wrong with it. And the reason I see nothing wrong with it is because my layout rarely ends up exactly like the one from which I'm lifting.

Take this example. I loved this layout the first time I saw it. It really allows for a lot of photos on one page. I have been trying to limit the pages in my scrapbooks by focusing on not scrapbooking ALL the photos.  This type of layout allows for a lot of photos. It also offers a nice example of using the rule of thirds and visual triangles.

My version is similar as you can see, but really quite different. I liked the way the photos were laid out and that it allowed for a lot of photos.  It also allowed me to use some of my most favorite paper and embellishments - Second City by Basic Grey.

Basic Grey - Second City collection

This next example is one that I liked the very easy, simple look.  I knew it'd be a great layout for our Empire State Building photo.  It's rare that I have just one photo I want to use.

My version is way closer to the original layout than most of mine are.  The differences are minimal but significant to me.  I like that I have something to start with and then, with my embellishements, can create something similar and yet different.

Again, Basic Grey - Second City paper and embellishments.

I rarely feel like I'm cheating by lifting someone else's layout. I do find I learn a lot more by doing it. I start to see design rules and understand why some pages are better looking than others.

So there you go...you've likely learned something new today.

I am choosing...

to not participate in the Movemenber challenge.  If you've not heard of this challenge it's the challenge for men to grow out the moustaches through November to bring awareness to prostate cancer.

Instead...I'm going to do the NaBloMo challenge again. It's the challenge to blog every day in November.  Challenge accepted.  I've got some blogs already in draft mode that have been sitting and waiting for their day. Some are deeply personal and may or may not be posted.  Others are just childhood memories that have floated to the top.

So be prepared...more blogs coming your way soon.

Elvis officially left the building yesterday. At about noon I walked the hallway saying my goodbyes to the team members who were there and drove off the Hotel CaliforniaSoft campus.  As I mentioned before it was bitter sweet.  I'm very excited (and anxious) about my new adventure and yet sad to be leaving something I'm very familiar with.  The thing is, I'm sure I'll be back some day.

So stay tuned...more coming soon...or well tomorrow.

The Hardest Thing about Ending is Starting Again…

And so it begins. I’m stepping into yet a new job.  My life as a contractor at Hotel CaliforniaSoft is all but over. I’ll admit, it’s bittersweet. I’ve loved working in the contract capacity and have really up’d my PM game by doing so.  Still, it’s time for me to be a full time employee again and add value to a company I’m hoping I’ll be at for some time. I’m ready to settle in and add value to a small company.

With that being said, my last days at Hotel CaliforniaSoft were a little like having Senior-itis. I had completed everything pending and just really had to show up for last minute questions and what not.  One team member (she’s a vendor) arranged a going away lunch. The day of the lunch everyone but her bailed. So she and I went to lunch. It was great fun…then she realized she forgot her wallet. So my goodbye lunch was not only small, but I paid. I will say she and I laughed and laughed about that.  And today she brought me $$ to cover for the lunch.

The other team members who couldn’t make it, put a goodbye “coffee” date on my calendar. As that time approached people were very apologetic about having other things to do.

Here’s the thing….I’m a vendor. I’m not expecting any big going away anything. I’ve appreciated their attempts, but it really isn’t necessary. I did get a very nice card from them though.

As the new job approaches, I’m starting to feel that new job anxiety. The clean slate. The new opportunity to really shine – no negativity about failure here.  I’ve started many a new jobs in my life and have, over the years, created a list of important questions to ask on the first day.  Because I’m sure you all are going to want to know what they are, I’ve listed them below in no particular order.

1. To your manager – what are his/her expectations of me in this role?
2. What do you want me to accomplish by end of the first week? Second week? Third week?
3. What is the review process and how should I prepare for that?
4. Where’s the bathroom?
5. Is it ok to eat lunch at my desk?
6. What method of communication do you prefer?
7. Do you have an open door policy or do you have a preferred time for questions to be asked?
8. What keeps you up at night?
9. Who are the main players in the org that I should meet and get to know right away?
10. Do you want weekly status reports? If yes, how do you want them – email, in person etc.

I’ve found over the years, that it’s not about peppering the new manager with all these questions immediately, but as the day/week progresses. The most important question by far is how to communicate with the new manager. Each manager is unique and having that little bit of info is really helpful.  

In other news, last weekend I drove to Bellingham to attend the Harvest dinner hosted by a friend I've known for a really long time. He and his wife host this fabulous dinner every year and he makes the treck to Eastern Washington for the prime rib and then dry ages it for 7 days. Then of course he's an expert cook and did the prime rib justice. 

The other thing about this dinner is everyone brings a great bottle of wine.  So I had a few (8) glasses. Thankfully I was planning on staying the night there.

 

A litte bit of this and a little bit of that...

First let's get the tough part out of the way.

Today is BigBro's birthday - or would be if he was still with us.  I miss that guy with every fiber of my being.  I didn't really understand grief like this. When the DadUnit died, I hurt. I miss him too. But that was "an expected" death. The DadUnit had lived his life, fully and lovingly. Doing all the things he could and wanted.

BigBro got jipped. As did we all. And as I sit here today and think about it being his birthday, it hurts. All the things I won't get to celebrate with him. All the things he won't get to do for his daughters. All the places he and Seattle SIL won't get to experience. It just kills me and breaks my heart.

I do know with great certainty that wherever he is he's totally rolling his eyes over the emotional fuss we all make over him.

So BigBro, wherever you are...I send you a happy birthday and I miss you bro.

In happier news, this past weekend was my annual pumpkin carving party.  It was THE biggest Sunday dinner I've had to date.  Generally speaking 14 is the max my place really allows for comfortably.  And even then, it's tight.  We had 15 this year.

Some attendees didn't follow the rules and didn't bring a pumpkin. Those attendees have been put on warning and depending on my mood (or more likely my memory) may or may not be invited back next year.

You see what I see right? 6 carved pumpkins for 15 people!

This year we had prizes. Sorta. I got ribbons for the top 3 pumpkins. I have some pretty creative friends and so the competition was tight. We did the "hold the pumpkin up and everyone cheer" to determine who won. Turns out my friends suck at that because they cheered for each one with the same energy.

Alas, we had three winners...

 

In first place was...oh no I need a nickname for him....um...for  now we'll call him Mr. D.  He carved a beautiful deer with antlers.  I think he was also the last one done.

In second place we have the crab hat.  Mrs. Braspir did an excellent job carving the crab. And she gets extra credit for carving into her finger too.

In third place we had PhotoGirl with, I think, a skeleton or was it a cat...I can't remember and the photo isn't helping.

At the end of the night we had a great time. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves, as if I'd expect anything else from this crowd.

I'm not afraid that things won't get better, but it feels like this has gone on forever...

How about a little Toad the Wet Sprocket this morning for your "stuck-in-your-noggin" song? No? Well it's stuck in mine.

Specifically that line in the song. See it's been 4 weeks (well I think this is the 5th week) of being hypnotized and I can say with certainty that it's changing something. More on that later.

This last Tuesday I met to have a new personal session recorded.  When I signed up for this I was told that your personal sessions are - wait for it - personalized. Meaning you can provide them things you'd like to work on. So I had myself a list of three things that I wanted added into my monthly session.

In no particular order they were:
1. Amp up the work out message
2. I'd like to stop thinking about food all the time (as in when I'm having breakfast I'm thinking about lunch and whether I'll have anything to eat. Strange fear of no food that has bubbled to the surface for me to work on).
3. Work on the emotional reasons I eat

They seem quite lofty and I was prepared for perhaps one or two to be included.

Instead, I got a woman who's voice grates on my last nerve. Ever known those people who's voice just sets you off? And while we had a conversation for about 15 minutes about how it was going and what I wanted included, NONE of it was included. Instead she literally read a script with this nagging, annoying voice.  And by read it I mean read it in a monotone, not very relaxing voice. In fact, I didn't even go under. Instead I found myself focusing on her voice and I ended up with a headache.

Yet, I decided to give it a try. And now having listened to it 3 times and not going under once, I'm making a call for a new recording.  I paid too much for this to NOT have a month of a useful recording.

In the meantime, I did also purchase an extra "recording" on a topic that I felt was appropriate. It's called "Keys to Speed Up Weight Loss". It has three keys...ready for them. They are mind blowing...

1. Eat healthy
2. Exercise
3. Portion Control

I know!! Your mind is blown!

The first time I listened to it, I did go under, and woke when they said "wake" and then they reiterated the three keys and I just giggled to myself.  Dah!

What I do know is working, however, is that I'm making healthier choices without much thought.  For example, my decision at Tin Lilly's to have grilled chicken and veggies instead of a starch.  I've also offered up to split meals with people - which I never do.

So do I think it's working? Yes.  And I am going to just keep going with it and try my very hardest to not over analyze it.  The fear I had of failure when this whole thing started is slowly being put aside and/or dealt with. 

I'm not afraid that things won't get better, they already have. And yes, this will go on forever, but I intend on it getting easier, not harder.

Lake Chelan, Cruishing grapes and other stuff

This past weekend was the annual hunting wives get away.  You may recall that I don't have a husband and are therefore wondering how I am part of a "hunting wives" adventure. It's really quite simple.  I came as a packaged deal when the MomUnit (who was a hunting wife) invited me to join this illustrious group. And so now, this "hunting wives" are really known more for them being Crabs and I'm a major player in the little band of crabs. Seattle SIL, the MomUnit, Mrs. Braspir and Blueberry make up the rest of the Crabs.

This weekend, however, it was just Mrs. Braspir and Seattle SIL that joined me for our girls weekend get away.  In past years we've gone to San Francisco and San Diego. This year we kept it close to home and headed to Lake Chelan.

The Crabs hit Chelan

Lake Chelan is a small resort town east of the mountains from Seattle. Lake Chelan itself is a narrow, but deep lake (about 1400 feet deep). It's 50.5 miles long and is the longest natural lake in Washington.  It's a beautiful area to me. Not quite the desert, scab lands of Eastern Washington and not quite the evergreen, woody area of Western Washington.

Lake Chelan - I think looking North

View of the lake from our hotel

Our plan for this weekend was wine tasting. It was Crush weekend (as one not so friendly restaurant owner pointed out to us when we inquired about reservations) which meant all the wineries would be open for tasting. And who doesn't like to taste wine?

We tasted at 6 wineries on Saturday. Caideras Winery, Lake Chelan Winery, Winegirl Wines, Four Lakes Winery, Tildio Winery (of which I called Dildo winery), and ending at Tsillan Cellars Winery. Of the wineries, Lake Chelan was my favorite. I bought two bottles of wine there which were fewer than I expected to buy.

Caideras was a nice little shop with a very friendly wine steward there. She chit chatted with us the entire time we tasted. Their wine was good, but nothing I felt I had to own.

Caideras Winery

Abby the Crab wants a taste

At Lake Chelan Winery not only did we have exceptional service but they were crushing grapes out in their vineyard and who doesn't want to crush grapes with their bare feet. So off we went. They were having a grape crushing competition - which I didn't want to participate in - but I did want to stick my feet into a barrel of grapes. So I asked if I could between competitions, and sure enough. I stuck my feet in. Gross is what I'd call it. But I can check this off my bucket list...even though it didn't actually exist on the bucket list.

Lake Chelan Winery - my favorite stop

These grapes were made for stompin'...

 

And that's just what I did...

Their grapes had crabs

After that we stopped at Winegirl Wines. This little place was COVERED in fruit flies.  I do realize that with wine, there's fruit, and with fruit there are fruit flies...but my goodness there were a ton of fruit flies. I mean when the wine pourer gives you a coaster type thing to put over your glass so flies don't get in it...there's a problem.  To top that off, I wasn't a fan of any of their wines. Interesting side note however...the owner used to be a Rat City Roller Derby girl and so the wine labels reflected that.

From there we had lunch. We figured we'd better get something in our stomachs before we were blotto! We ate at a delicious restaurant called Blueberry Hills (click that link for a virtual tour of the restaurant). The food was fantastic and the portions HUGE. Soooo glad I shared a French Dip Sammy with Mrs. Braspir. I swear they used an entire loaf of French bread for this sammy.

Stuffed and happy we headed up to Four Lakes Winery. The son of a friend of BigBro's owns this winery.  So naturally we had to stop by. I wasn't impressed with their wines either. And since all of the wines were sold out I didn't have an opportunity to buy any.

View from Four Lakes winery

Back down the hill into Chelan we stopped at Tsildio winery...which I kept calling Dildo winery...I'm sure they would not have been impressed with my name. I couldn't help it. For some reason their name reminded me of that. Their wines were good and I was tempted to purchase a bottle of one of them until I realized it was $34. Well over my price per bottle level.

Our last winery was Tsillan Cellars. Beautiful, big Italian style villa. Packed with wine tasters and thus made getting our next taste challenging.  They had some good wine though. Mrs. Braspir bought a bottle there I believe. And I almost did. But I opted to not and just stay with the two bottles I had already purchased.

All in all we had a blast tasting wine. But by the time we were at Tsillan Cellars we were done. We dined on Mexican food that night and I might add it was delicious!

The trip was a great one and while we missed having the other two crabs there (the MomUnit and Blueberry) we managed to have a good time on our own. We created some great "you had to be there" moments that made us laugh and laugh and laugh.  I do love these women and find myself thankful to have them in my life.

Looks like those apples have worms...

On a "change in my lifestyle" note - I was proud of myself the first night we were in town. We stopped to have dinner at a place called Tin Lily's - delicious food. And the type of place I'd normally make a bad food choice.  This time, however, I had a chicken breast (grilled) with a side of grilled veggies. Swapped our the starch they offered for more grilled veggies.  Seattle SIL just stared at me and kept saying, "Who are you?" I'm hoping that soon no one recognizes me.  Other food choices throughout the weekend I was proud of - not great choices, but still I shared most my meals with someone whereas I might have normally eaten (ate) the whole thing.

Quantum Fusion

A scientist I am not. In fact, science in school was one of my least favorite subjects. And yet, science fascinates me. Interest in something is very different than being good at something. I leave the "being good at" to the scientists of the world.

Yesterday was my weekly appointment at PC for my weekly acceleration classes. Essentially two hypnosis sessions - 30 minutes each, and a video of some useful piece of information. Yesterday's hypnosis session - at least one of them - focused on the "embarrassment of being overweight" and how to no be anymore.  An interesting topic that triggered some thoughts in my mind that I'm still mulling over and they may, or may not, end up on this blog.

The video and second hypnosis session are the one's I want to discuss today.

Have I mentioned that this reprogramming of my mind fascinates me? Hypnosis is quite interesting, and it seems to be working since I'm down 9  lbs.

Yesterday's topic was on Quantum Fusion Technique. I've experienced this already in my daily AM recording they have you listen to for the first month (in addition to the personal recording) but didn't really understand what it is.

What it boils down to is this: The Quantum Fusion Technique is for the person who says, "I really want to change, but there is a part of me that just won't allow it to happen." Basically this technique let's you acknowledge this part that seems to be holding on to your past behaviors and attitudes. Once you acknowledge that, it can then be fused with the part that strongly wants the change to occur.

So it's your future self telling your past self that "right I hear ya but we aren't working that way anymore. Let's try this new way." The idea being the two have to coexist together eventually.  Both parts are positive, or at least have positive intentions. When they are brought together, they are more powerful than standing alone.

That sounds like a lot of ju-ju to me. Yet at the same time it makes sense.  I mean think of the 12-step programs you've heard of. They always say you have to admit you have a problem before you can move on. Your past self has played a significant role in who you currently are. I can't imagine abandoning that.  I need to remember my past self so I can make sure my future self (and present self) are as strong as they can be.

Other strange things that are happening:

In my previous life this was the conversation I'd have with myself.

Me: I think I might be hungry.
My subconscious: "There are pretzels in the drawer...you'd better eat them now or they'll go away and you'll be hungry."
Me: You're right. I'd better eat them now in case I get hungry later.

Versus this conversation I seem to now be having:

Me: I know there are pretzels in the drawer.
My subconscious: "yah, so? There are pretzels in the drawer. They'll be there when/if you're hungry."
Me: good point