Cheerleaders

I love facebook. I think it's brilliant. And though it can get a little bit stalkerish at times, I appreciate it for what it is and what it can help me do.

For instance, I use my friends on facebook as my cheerleaders. For the first time in my life I'm losing weight and actually enjoying losing the weight! I've been on a few diets, but this one is really a lifestyle change for me. Other programs advocate their programs as "lifestyle changes", like Weight Watchers, and when I did that a few years ago, I found that their particular brand of lifestyle change wasn't for me. It was just eating the same food in smaller portions. For me, a lifestyle change needed to be more drastic.

So this diet I'm on is exactly the kind of drastic that I needed. At the moment, I can only eat off of a list of about 20 meats and vegetables (as well as a number of spices/seasonings) and I've found that putting the food that I crave completely off limits (instead of just in smaller portions) makes it a lot easier for me to deal with. Sure, I absolutely CRAVE cupcakes and cakes and chocolate and have moments of extreme weakness when I watch those shows on TLC (DC Cupcake and Cake Boss... devastating!) I probably will miss one of my best friend's 21 birthday bash in a few weeks because I can't drink with her (and I have a feeling that I'd cave if I went to her party), I can't eat Kerbey Queso with my friends when they all come back into town, and I'll probably miss every beginning-of-semester party that I'm invited to... but the thought of someday being fit and thin and wearing a bikini next summer and feeling beautiful will be worth all the nights I have to stay in instead of go out.

So when I post my how much weight I've lost on Facebook, I swear I'm not bragging. I'm sharing, because if I kept this to myself, I don't think I could do it. I need my cheerleaders to help me out. Facebook keeps me honest - it keeps me going. I want to post something good at the beginning of the week, and I hate it when I can't.

So here. Have my statistics, blog. They're just for you!

Starting weight: 207

Weight this morning: 186.8

Goal weight: 145

40 more pounds? Bring it on.

Duped

So, the other day I went to my Mom's new place - it's a gorgeous house way out in the country, and it's where I'm temporarily moving all of my stuff to while I'm "homeless" for twelve days. (When one lease is up and the other hasn't started... it's only twelve days.)

While I was there, Mom and Mike had only just moved in and so there were boxes EVERYWHERE. I'm talking EVERYWHERE.

Boxes full of clothes, boxes full of kitchenware, boxes full of boxes... everything. Included in these boxes were boxes full of packing paper.

Mom, being the smart one that she is, knows that I'm moving out of my apartment right now. And after all of the moving she's been up to recently, I am sure she knows and understands better than anyone how important packing paper is to a move.

Mom and I had the following conversation (as I remember it):

Mom: Stef, do you have any packing paper?

Me: No, I don't have any.

Mom: Well, do you want some of ours? We're not using it.

Me: Sure! That's so great, Mom! Thanks a bunch.

We loaded up what I am pretty sure is ALL of the packing paper into the largest suitcase I own (which I am sure I could fit a body inside of it comfortably) and she sent me on my merry way with all of the packing paper I could possibly want.

What I realize now is that she duped me. Here is the same conversation, except what I believe actually happened:

Mom: I need to get rid of this ridiculous stash of packing paper that I have and you're going to be my victim.

Me: What a coincidence, I would love to be your victim.

Mom: That's so great! Here, have all of the packing paper I own and I'll let you deal with it. I hope you have extremely large objects that need packing.

Me: Gee, thanks mom! I'll just take that halfway across Austin for you so you don't have to deal with it.

And as I was driving away, I'm sure that Mom and Mike had this conversation:

Mom: Mike, did you see that? I tricked Steffi into taking all of the spare packing paper!

Mike: Well done, Cara! Imagine if WE'D had to do something with it!

I'm onto you, Mom...

(...And thanks for the packing paper... I'm nearly all finished with it and now I have no idea what to do with the rest!)

Reasons Why Siobhan is the Best Person Ever

So I was half dressed in my closet this morning when I noticed this:

And I was like... How curious? A post-it note pasted on the wall above my doorframe! I certainly didn't put it there... Upon closer inspection, I noticed it said this:

This is an incredibly cool note written by an incredibly cool English person. Why are you looking up here? Carry on getting dressed!

And I thought to myself that that post-it note is probably THE MOST AWESOME note I have ever received from anyone.

So I mention that I found it to Siobhan tonight when we're chatting on facebook. Her response was that there were MORE of them!

So, let the treasure hunt begin!

I scoured the room and have found two more, one in my calendar:

I think you should turn back to July. That was easily the best month of the year.

And one in my printer/scanner:


You just scanned an incredibly cool note by an incredibly cool English person. Or photocopies. But scanning is cooler, I think.

Thanks, Siobhan. You totally made my day! You are the BEST.

(And, um... are there any more?)

The Fun Times Roll On

I imagine the questions that y'all are all thinking are along these lines: Where have you been, Stefanie? What have you been doing with Siobhan? Why haven't you blogged in WEEKS, Stefanie?

The answer is ALL OVER THE PLACE! Like, literally. We went to Houston, San Antonio AND Dallas, as well as just hanging out around Austin during the in-between times...

(Siobhan had never seen an ATM that you drive up to!)

We went to San Antonio,


where we hung out with Ally and Karynna, walked along the Riverwalk, ate at the Rainforest Cafe, and went to the Alamo. We also went bowling!

We celebrated Duncan's birthday with some pretty rockin' ribs and pavlova at Dad's in the afternoon, after having breakfast with the rest of the family .

We went to Houston and visited NASA



and spent the night in Galveston. We all stood with our feet in the water for what felt like hours - the gulf is so warm! Ally and Siobhan even dove in and swam around for a while.

We went to Inner Space Caverns and explored the caves that are north of Austin off of I35.



And we bought matching rings there! (They sell jewelry in their little gift shop... so we figured why not?)


We tried to watch the bats fly out from under the Congress bridge, but...


So we just sat with our feet in the water and took pretty pictures of the lake and the sunset!

We went to Dallas...


and saw Lady Gaga (no pictures of that, as they weren't allowed!) and had lunch with another woman named Kristen who writes Lord of the Rings fanfiction. (Her penname is Raider K, and she was just delightful to talk to. We sat in this little Tea House restaurant for hours just swapping ideas and opinions and generally being dorks. I can't wait to do it again!)


Siobhan loves Dallas. Or she loves windows... who really knows?

On the way back, it rained a little...

We bought Siobhan her very own pair of cowboy boots!

We sat in Barnes and Noble, Starbucks and Borders and wrote, wrote, wrote.


(I was a little frustrated with the pen. It's not my favorite.)


(I finished a story!)


(Starbucks can't spell either of our names correctly!)


We sat at my kitchen table and wrote. We wrote while we were on the road (well, Siobhan wrote. I drove the car!) We got a lot done with our stories, and when we weren't writing, we talked about everything, and we grew closer as friends.

I had the BEST time with Siobhan out here, and I can't wait for her to come back! At the moment, I'm sitting in my room, which for the last three weeks has had a whole other body living it... and now it's empty. Because I am moving out soon, I'm starting to deconstruct my room and move away from this fabulous apartment, and the empty space feels even more empty without one of my best friends to fill it.

It's the first time she visited Texas, but if I have anything to say about it, it won't be her last! I can't wait to see you again, Siobhan. Next time you visit, we'll keep the fun times rolling.

-----

To see the whole collection of photos, I've uploaded them onto photobucket, since not ALL of you have facebook!

First Few Days

So, Siobhan and I have been having some fun times so far. You know, just a LITTLE bit of fun.


Siobhan has had her first taste of Tex Mex at Chuy's, and her first burger in America at Chile's, and we even went to Amy's Ice Cream last night. Today, I am going to take her to Barnes and Nobles, so we can do some fooling around and general geeking about in there. It should be fun!

Yesterday, we went to the Bob Bullock museum and the capital building, and had a great time walking around inside and around the grounds.

There was a great deal of picture taking going on.

Even, a lot of pictures of people taking pictures of people.

Some general tomfoolery from Brandlyn and her little brother Eddie (12).

And that's just the beginning! I'll be uploading all of my photos onto facebook on a daily basis, so if you're friends with me you'll be able to see the whole collection.

More as it happens!

Let the good times begin

Siobhan arrived this evening in Austin! I immediately whisked her over to Rudy's BBQ for some good southern eats, which she loved.

Tomorrow I take my French final, but after that I am free to have as much summer fun as I like! We have lots of plans and I can't wait to get going!

I will post more as things happen. :)