I'm not fat, it's just my awesomeness swelling up inside me

Where to begin?  Do I blog about our trips to Seattle and Utah?  Do I blog about our weight-loss journey?  Do I blog about how freakishly hot our apartment is and therefore we got a window AC unit but have not yet installed it?!? That post would be easy.  It would go something like this:

Our apartment is freakishly hot.  Portland doesn't believe in AC being standard.  So we bought a window AC unit.  But haven't installed it yet.  Don't fear, we bought the plexi glass for the rest of the window area.  But that was today.  Which is why it hasn't been installed yet.  The end.




Man, that was an easy post. 
I feel like part of the problem I'm having with deciding what to write is because A) it's been a while since I posted so there could be a lot I could post about and B) I'm the kind of person that has a hard time sharing my weakness until they're conquered.  For instance, our weight-loss journey.  Have I mentioned dieting on this blog once?!  Ever?? No.  I get afraid to share my faults before I know I've progressed on them because what if I had a post that was entitled, "I'm sorry that I got fat, I will slim down." and then DIDN'T change my lifestyle and DIDN'T lose any weight, and then I failed in front of everyone!?  No, that's not what I do.  I'm too chicken.  The internet is a pretty vulnerable place.  Anybody can read anything you say.  And you can't really take it back.  Even though my blog is private, all anybody needs to do is to copy and paste my words or pictures and then they have them for anyone to see.  (Now don't go gettin' any ideas here!)
So I keep it all to myself until I have good news to share.  Like this post:
Guess what guys, I have lost 22 pounds in the past 2 months!    Which in my book is a pretty big accomplishment.  I still have a long way to go, but we are off to a good start.  (Dustin has lost 30 pounds, what a show-off, eh?)  We decided to try to lose weight because quite frankly, I was sick of how fat my face has been.  Have you noticed my lack of pictures of ME on the blog?  I hate how I look in pictures.  Hate it.  And I want to remember myself in these fun times we're having which meant that I needed to take a step in the right direction and change how I looked.  So to kick us off, we ordered Nutrisystem.  They send you all your meals and then you supplement in fresh foods like produce, dairy, and breads.  We were able to get gift cards from Costco 50% off and then online they always have like 40% off so we were able to get a decent rate (it's pretty expensive and we're still grad students).  The food was... meh... okay.  Dustin liked it way more than I did.  We stuck with pretty much only Nutrisystem foods for about and month and then the past month we've supplemented in our own foods-keeping things low cal, reduced fat, counting calories, and working out at the gym.  I've felt a lot better and am happy to be down 22 pounds.  My face is not-so-fat anymore and I'm okay being in pictures now. But I guess you'll have to wait for another blog post to actually see.  ;)
We still have Nutrisystem food left, but I'm very happy that we're implementing in more normal food.  This has been more a lifestyle change for us than just a diet-- We are all about portion sizes, reading nutrition facts, and staying within a good calorie range.  We should be doing this for the rest of our lives!! Of course that doesn't mean that I'm never eating cookies again.  That would be a sad sad life. In fact, I had Dustin make cookies this afternoon.  And they were delicious.  But it does mean that we have to stop after 1 or 2 cookies, not 5.
I set up some motivational rewards for myself to keep me excited about losing weight.  10 pounds was a new jewelry set (which I didn't buy... instead I got an expensive sewing machine, but that's probably another post), 20 pounds was new shoes, 30 pounds will be a manicure/pedicure, 40 pounds a new outfit, 50 pounds a weekend trip to Seattle (or the beach? Somewhere fun!)  I've needed new shoes for a while and I really wanted to get some from Forever Young Shoes in Utah when we were visiting, so I was very happy to reach my 20 pound goal while in Utah!  8 more pounds and I can get a little pampering.  Good idea? I think so.
I don't think I have an end goal weight in mind at this point.  Anything I can lose makes me happy.  As long as we keep at it, we should be healthy and looking oh-so-good in no time.  Project Looking Good is well on it's way.