The Graduate with her sisters

The Graduate and her parents

On Friday night I went out with my friend to a new bistro called “Desserts on the Boulevard.” To my surprise I didn’t have any dessert, just enjoyed the live music with my friends. I just realized that I haven’t given you guys an update on The Gentlemen, the guy I’m dating. We had our 3rd date. He lives about an hour away, so he drove to St. Louis and we spent the day together. We shopped at the farmer’s market and I loaded up on fresh fruits and veggies. Then I gave him a tour of St. Louis. We went downtown near Busch Stadium where the Cardinals play baseball, then we went to Forest Park, drove through the Central West End and lastly we went to the U City Loop. I was supposed to cook dinner, but we were both pretty tired after the tour of the town. He said I didn’t “have” to cook and we went to the Golden Corral restaurant instead. Later, one of my guy friends told me I failed the test, and that the gentleman was just trying to see if I really wanted to cook for him. Well, I flunked with flying colors, if you tell me I don’t have to do something that I really don’t want to do anyway, you should know I’m probably not going to do it.   After the date, we watched TV for a little while and then he went back home. When I asked him what he thought about our day, he said “not bad.” Not bad??!! But the ironic part is that I felt the same way. I was so excited about him because he’s an engineer, with no kids and goals for the future. But we just don’t have much in common beyond that. I was hoping to find that spark while we spent the day together, but while we were at dinner, all I could think about what was, what’s going to happen next in my Hunger Games book. *Sigh* We’ve talked on the phone once since then, and briefly mentioned a 4th date.   My friends said give him time to warm up, I’m definitely not opposed to it, so we will see what’s next….

Anyway, back to my weekend. My niece turned 4, can you believe it? It seems like just the other day, she had us all stressed out and living at the hospital when she was born nearly 4 months early, weighing less than 2 pounds.

But she is a survivor and she loves horses. My sister had a horse and a pony come to the house. All the little kids had a blast.

That evening, my old co-worker friend was in town and we did our favorite past time and went to the movies to see “The Avengers.” It was fun to see all the characters in one movie. Sunday morning I got up and went church. I’m not sure if I told you guys or not, but I feel like I’ve outgrown my family church. Each week, for the past couple of months I’ve visited a new church. It’s so nice to expand my definition of “church.” After service my sister had a graduation dinner party. It was decorated so cute! She had an after-party for her friends, even though I’m “old” I was invited. But, because I’m old, I was exhausted from the party filled weekend and I went home and fell asleep on the couch.

Graduation party with her friend

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Her house was so nice, and she had housekeepers cleaning when we arrived.  I was like geez, friend, you didn’t tell me you were rich!

We went apartment hunting on Friday during the day. My sister thinks she is moving to Texas with my niece (I’m in denial.) On Friday night, I went out with my friend, and my sis went out with a guy she met on Facebook. I told her he could be the Facebook Killer, you know, just like the Craigslist Killer movie on Lifetime? Good thing he wasn’t, he was just a nice normal guy.
On Saturday, my blog friend, Tex NY Queen gave us a whole list of stuff to do in her hometown. We ate at Empire Café, saw the beautiful meditation statues and went shopping.  I ate way too much on Saturday, and topped it all off with a pina colada at a local Mexican restaurant.

 Sunday was my big day. I didn’t come for the apartments, the food or the shopping. I came to go to Lakewood Church, where Joel Osteen is the pastor. Oh my GOD! I was so excited I squealed as we drove past the front. My sister was convinced I would pass out and faint when I saw him, and had the video camera in hand. I was so nervous and excited, that I had to go the bathroom. My mom told me I would probably be a little speck in the stadium seating sanctuary that holds over 16,000 people, so I didn’t expect to be close. I don’t know what my sister told the greeter, but she ushered us right to the front and center. She unhooked the velvet rope, and told us to sit in the middle of the 4th row! The 4th row?! “What did you tell her when I was in the bathroom?!” I asked. She just smiled. I started to feel that faint/tears feeling come over me. But I didn’t. Especially since we were almost an hour early and service hadn’t begun yet. 

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I found this cute little cosmetic dentist’s office. The dental assistants cater to you like Hooter’s girls and walk around in high heels with their scrubs. They have flat screen TV’s at every station and fresh-baked cookies on your way out the door. The dentist is young and kinda hot too…I had to ask myself am I really checking him out? Lol I’m sure I’m paying for all of this extra stuff, but they treat you so good! It’s nothing like the kid’s baseball themed orthodontist office I went to years ago. And, get this, the dentist is part of the 6 month smile program. My braces are clear, and they will be off in 3 or 4 months, not years. When I’m all done he’s installing permanent retainers so I don’t ever have to worry about them spacing out again. I’m so excited! Now for the “Before” pic, See Exhibit B, the scary real deal. (I can’t believe I’m posting this.)



Anyway, if you’re wondering about the food and activity side of things, me and my Little Sister danced and sweated with the Kinect last night and I’m down a total of 7.6 pounds just in case you didn’t see my post on my Facebook Page. Man, it feels good to be in control.

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I had an awesome week!  I’ve been going to the gym and eating healthy. (My internet has been down, sorry I haven’t gotten a chance to blog about it.) Friday, I went to lunch with my Big Little Sister at my favorite Mexican restaurant and I did not touch the fresh hot tortilla chips.  I ordered a salad instead of my regular deep fried burrito… After years of my father begging me to read the The South Beach Diet Book, I finally did.  I decided to give the diet an honest try.  If you want to know more about the South Beach Diet, you can check out my Video Book Review.  My Dad has done a good job of maintaing his weight loss and adopting the diet as a lifestyle change.  Someone asked me what’s the status with Weight Watchers?  I still love Weight Watchers, but I wasn’t working the program like I should.  I was simply tired of keeping points.  I learned from my hypnosis CD that’s it’s okay to change diet plans every few months or so.  You don’t have to stick with one plan forever.  This week I’ve eaten delicious omelets, and great snacks like celery dipped in garlic-flavored hummus.  Who knew I would like that? 

I realized that I have 2 choices; I can track my food and eat everything in proportion, or only eat certain food (High protein, low carb, low fat) and not track.  I actually just remembered that Weight Watchers has a “Core” plan that I never thought to try because I thought restricting food was too ridiculous.  But, I’m giving South Beach an honest try to see which I like more.  Once the carb cravings died down after a couple days, it wasn’t so bad.

 I mentioned before that I’m helping my church with a walk-a-thon.  Last week there were six of us at my 7 AM group training session.  However, this week, most of last week’s participants were out of town or unavailable.  But, I dragged myself out of bed, actually hoping it was raining, or that no one would show up.  I despise mornings…I was standing there alone at 7:05, and I was ready to head back to my car, until I saw my sister’s car, speeding toward the History Museum where we planned to meet.  There was no turning back now, because she hates mornings as much as I do.  She said she only had a few hours of sleep, but came anyway to support me.  Then I got a text from one of the girls at the church who was also on her way.  Once she arrived, I told them, I would take them on a scenic walk off the regular path.  Unbeknownst to me, we stumbled upon the 9/11 memorial.  It was so amazing, they had flags representing those that were lost in the tragedy 10 years ago. Each flag had a brief description of a person that lost their life that day.  It was quite a site to see.  We took some pics and shared “Where were you when the plane hit the tower stories.” 

I didn’t have my iPod tracker thingy on, but my guess is that we walked about 2 miles.  After our walk, I came home and made a broccoli cheese omelet with turkey bacon.  It was yummy.  I did some laundry and dozed off and I was almost late for my orientation boot camp class.  I got a Groupon for 10 Classes for $30.  The class started with awkward endurance/flexibility tests, which reminded me of elementary school gym class.  Finally we got to work out, in a quick mini version of the class.  After doing the “Spiderman” on the floor and jumping jacks for the warm up, it was hard to imagine how difficult a real class will be.  Then, we did interval training as we rotated stations doing squats, planks, and pull ups with resistance bands dangling from the wall.   I think it boot camp class will be a big challenge, but I’m ready!  Tonight my old co-worker friend is having a Fight watch party for Mayweather v. Ortiz.  Now that’s what I call a Super Saturday!

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I went to church this morning. My mother and another member of the board asked me to assist with the church walk-a-thon. Of course you know that’s right up my ally. I had about 20 people to sign up after church. I even scheduled two group training sessions before the walk on September 24. That’s not really enough time to train, but I’m working with the date they chose. After church, I went to the gym, but I went pretty late. My 10K training schedule indicated that I should complete 3.5 miles today.   However, I was only able to complete about 2.7 miles on the treadmill before the gym closed.   I was reading The South Beach Diet book as I walked on the treadmill. It’s a very easy read, and I almost read the whole book in one day.   I actually learned a lot, and I’m going to do a video book review soon. I walked until the security guard came and put me out because the gym was closed.   I was going to walk the last mile or so outside the gym, but I got lazy, and there was this weird old guy sort of following me around. He got beside me on the treadmill, and told me to have a happy holiday, at least 3 times in 5 minutes. Is Labor Day even a real holiday? … Then he was following right behind me as I walked outside. I realize now that he might be kind of “special,” but I felt more comfortable just going home.

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Sometimes the gym reminds me of church. Whenever you backslide and don’t show up regularly like you’re supposed to; they are still right there waiting for you with open arms. I have not worked out in days and days and days. It’s been so hot that the heat has drained my energy. But, I decided that I could no longer use the heat as an excuse and made up my mind that I needed to go to the gym. It was much cooler outside today; it was only about 96 degrees. Although, I have been keeping busy reading and writing a lot while hiding out indoors. I even started the reading the Harry Potter Series. I know I’m late, but I had to read the series by a lady that sold 11 Million books in one day. It’s amazing how she links every detail together in her books…I’ve got some of my own great book ideas floating around in my head, so I took a pen and paper with me to the gym. I scribbled down some of my thoughts as they came to me while I leisurely walked on the treadmill.

The sun was still beaming down on me through the wall length glass windows, and even though they had on the air-conditioning it still felt like I was walking outside in the heat. At one point I started to feel like the sun was only shining on me alone as some sort of punishment for missing so many days. I was drenched in sweat by mile two. I was really ready to leave and head home, but I figured the least I could do was walk three full miles. I managed to scribble a few more thoughts onto my paper before I was totally distracted by the man who got on the bike machine next to me. He was singing along with his music headphones so loudly. I know every once in a while we all hum the chorus, but this guy was singing every lyric and missing every note. At one point I was almost thinking I was supposed to be singing along with him. Finally, a lady walked past and asked him who he was talking to. Embarrassed, he explained that he was singing along with his music. She teased him a little bit about his “singing” voice. He must not have realized how loud he was. I was glad that she talked to him, because his off key melodies were now transformed into a quiet hum. I was so distracted by his “singing”, and the weird little muddy water sports competition show on TV that the last mile was over before I knew it. I walked a 5K on the treadmill.  It feels good to stop making excuses and get back to where I belong.

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• How did I get this Picture? : Apple Nike + iPod Sport Kit for iPod nano 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, iPod touch 1G, 2G, 3G

• The Book I talked about:   A Course In Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever

• The Website where I count my calories: www.CalorieCount.com

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Wednesday is usually the day my best friend and I go for a walk in the Park.  Last week we realized that with Autumn quickly approaching, the sun sets pretty early in the evening.  We knew that walking in the dark again was out of the question.  So, we decided to stay in and workout with Bob on the Biggest Loser Cardio Max DVD.  We did level 1, and encouraged each other all the way through until the end.   It was a great workout and we were both really sweating. However, we might have to figure out a better place to put the coffee table, because 2 big girls doing cardio in my living room needed a little more space….My plan was to stick to my running schedule and go to the gym after we finished, but I was too tired, and didn’t go.   

Friday, at work we were allowed to dress up in costumes to celebrate Halloween.  I work at a very conservative law firm and we are never allowed to wear jeans or have casual days.  So, all of us paralegals got together and decided that we would wear jeans, and dress up as “paralegals who work at a law firm with casual Fridays.”  It was kinda funny. The human resources people thought it was creative, and we all knew with the workload they give us, there was no way they were going to send us all of us home….One of the attorneys dressed up as Flo from the Progressive Car Insurance commercials.   Another senior attorney dressed as the Chilean Miner  and 2 associates dressed up too, one dressed as his wife and the other as his girlfriend.  It was sooo funny they had the signs and everything.   It was quite the conversation piece…if you don’t know the story, during a candle light vigil for the trapped miners, one of the wives was shocked to hear another woman chanting her husband’s name.  I guess it’s actually more sad than funny…It was just funny that they chose that as a Halloween costume.…Another guy was actually a little scary dressed as Michael Myers from the Halloween movies….Friday night, I cooked Parmesan crusted tilapia, mixed veggies and rice. It was so good and filling.  I stayed at home and watched a movie because my sinuses are bothering me AGAIN. I’ve never had this many repeat sinus issues in my life. 

Saturday afternoon my little sister and I went to the park. She told me she was “happy to have her sister back” …referring to the fact that Mr. Man and I are no longer dating, and we get to spend more time together…. I ran for just a little bit, and then  couldn’t run anymore.  I don’t know really why…was it this allergy cold sinus thing?  Was I just being lazy? Was it because my ankle was hurting? Do I have a mental block with week 3?  I don’t know; I was disappointed with myself.  I didn’t feel like giving up or anything, we still walked about 2 miles, but I just didn’t run.  I’m so glad that I signed up for the Team in Training.  The kick off is next week-end, and then the sessions with the trainer will start.  I think a change of scene and a new plan will get me motivated again.

Today, I went to church.  My plan was to go to the studio afterwards and create Week 3 for the bridge to 10k, but that’s nearly impossible with my nasal voice.  I sound like a frog and I’m constantly blowing my nose and making gross throat noises.  I don’t actually feel sick, I sound worse than it actually is…..Well that’s about it.  I hope to get back to running tomorrow.

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Today, I got up and went to church.  After church me and my little sister went to Brunch at an upscale little bistro in the Central West End called Scape.  The food was delicious.  She’s a “vegetarian” ….well she describes herself as “not eating meat” because she’s not sure how long she can go without it.  I think it’s just a teenage phase, but we’ll see.  Anyway, she had an apple & brie omelet.  I tasted it and it was surprisingly good.  I would have never thought in a million years to put fruit in an omelet.  I had the spinach & feta cheese omelet with chicken sausage.  I ate half and got full, and brought the rest home.  After doing a little laundry, I turned on Joel Osteen and got on my elliptical machine.  Today, was cold (54 degrees) and rainy, I didn’t feel like leaving the house again.  The elliptical had gathered a little dust from the lack of use, but I assume with the weather starting to turning cold, I will use it more.  Anyway, I multitasked, and instead of sitting and watching Joel for half an hour, I pedaled for half an hour.  I worked up a good sweat. Then, I sat down and wrote this post, and now almost it’s time for Dexter on Showtime.  OMG, Dexter is one of my absolute favorite shows.  It’s so creepy good.  I can’t wait for the season premiere. 

What Did Carli Eat Today?

B- Chocolate Protein Shake

L- ½ Spinach Omelet, half breakfast potatoes and cinnamon raisin toast. 

D- Left over Omelet and breakfast potatoes

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I woke up this morning knowing that I had to go and workout today.  Today was another scorcher, well above 90 degrees.  But, I thought about how many times have I read emails and comments from you guys saying “You kept on going through the rain, through the cold through the whatever, because you could hear my voice in Week 5 saying “Just get to it, No excuses!”  When I got home from work, I said it’s just too hot outside, I’ll go to the gym.  But I didn’t want to feel like a hamster running around the track in circles.  So, I decided that I would drink plenty of water and brave the weather.  My Big Little Sister called and invited me to her neighborhood block party, but I was getting ready to go to the park to run.  Then, I had an ingenious idea.  Why not walk to my Sister’s house?  I jumped on Google maps really quick and saw that it was just a little over 3 and half miles and an estimated 1 hour and 8 minute walk.   I can handle that.  Right?  Maybe?  I was so excited about my adventure, I grabbed my fur baby Nyah, and hit the pavement, and told my sister to look out for us.  I was probably too excited, because I forgot my Cell Phone and had to turn back around after a few minutes to get it.  By the time I walked back to my door, I was already sweating.  This is a good plan right? This will make a good blog post tonight right?  We headed out again, this time armed with my cell phone, a towel to catch my sweat, and my iPod .  I took a self defense class in college that said as a lady you should never run alone with earphones in both ears, so I always have just one in, so I can pay attention to my surroundings while jamming to my podcast.  There was so much to see, The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and then the Best thing.  I told y’all before I live in the hood/ghetto, but all the scary looking people were scared of Nyah, so it worked out perfectly.  About 10 minutes into my walk, I was thinking I’d never make it all the way there; because I’ve never walked to a real destination except my Mom’s house about 7 blocks away.  Then I saw “The GOOD”, this church billboard sign that read “Run Till You Finish” with a scripture.  I appreciated that little boost and knew right then that I would make it all the way. 

 Then came “The BAD.”  I had to walk past like 3 cemeteries.  That stuff creeps me out, and it made me think about dead people.  No fun. 

Then came the “The UGLY.”  There was this horrible collapsed building, or what used to be to be building, it reminded me of the Haiti disaster.  I kept asking myself what happened?   We don’t have earthquakes, or Tsunamis that would do damage like that here in St. Louis.  How does the city allow it to stay like that?  Why won’t they clean it up?  It was just sad really.   When you’re driving past, it’s so easy to over look the details. 

Anyway, Me and Nyah, kept pushing, trying to block out the disturbing broken glass and boarded up ghetto images and focus on the main goal, my sister’s house in a good/safe neighborhood.  When we were just about 10 minutes away there was a monster hill, and another cemetery.  I hadn’t really put steep hills in my brave hood adventure equation.  It killed me and Nyah, I was dragging all 65 pounds of her by the time we finally arrived at the block party.  I looked at my Nike Tracker, it read exactly 1 hour and 8 minutes.  I was so freaking happy!  I did it!   And I did it in the suggested amount of time.  Finally the there was “The BEST”, my cute little niece at the finish line.  Her smiling face and jumbled 2 year old words made it all worthwhile.

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