Given the random consistency of my blogging lately I figure I might as well pick a random topic to match.  Happy Weights.

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I am sure you have read about your Happy Weight in magazines, on blogs, and on basically every weight loss show ever created.  I have always heard about two happy weights:  the weight that makes you happy and the weight that you can maintain while healthy.  I admit…I sort of always imagined that they were mutually exclusive.

I am not a numbers person–I went to law school for crying out loud, I can’t even do algebra.  (That is a lie, I took AP Calculus in high school).  Spending the last three years in Houston meant that I judged my body by whether or not I could confidently wear my bikini 8 months of the year (generally no).  Spending three years in law school meant that I continually stress ate and sat on my butt for 12 hours a day, thus I was pretty much always hitting the gym and actually putting effort into maintaining my body.

A crazy thing has since happened…I think I found my happy weight.  I haven’t touched my scale since I moved to Colorado (May 25th). In fact it has been sitting in a box of random stuff that I have procrastinated finding a spot for in the apartment.  This morning after I went for a run for the first time since my marathon (in fact, first time I have exercised since October 9th at all) I decided to hop on the scale.  I debated the decision.  Despite my failure at regimented exercise I have been eating well and am generally more physically active in daily life.  And my clothes fit, my good clothes.

The result of the scale weigh-in…I was one pound over that arbitrary number that I believe makes me happy.  You know what I realized…I do not care at all.  I feel great, my clothes fit great, and I think I look great.  Without really any concerted effort my body has gone back to normal, aka before law school stress.

Who cares about happy weight numbers?  Honestly, I could have let the fact that the scale said 1 pound over this number I believe makes my body good ruin the fact that I actually feel and look good.

Try it.  Lose the scale.  Just eat and move and be happy.

As much as I would love to have exciting, positive, life-thrilling events to report…I don’t have any.  But….

I do have a photo of the new KFC Chicken Bacon Bowl.  So all you healthy-living-bloggers who run 50 miles a week and don’t eat carbs–look away!  I enjoyed all 5 million calories of this warm gooey, mashed potato-fried chicken-gravy & cheese covered bowl.  Speaking of, I also have only worked out about 4 times since my marathon, luckily my day job (walking), seems to allow me to continue my 15-year old boy-appetite-antics.

You healthy-living-peeps can look back at the screen now.  I found this little box at Target the other day, Pumpkin Spice Instant Oatmeal!  It isn’t quite as pumpkiny or spicey as I like but it is definitely great now that I don’t have a dishwasher.  (Aka I try to only use one plate per meal).

And finally, my boys have been helping to keep me sane and preventing daily emotional breakdowns while job searching.  (Please ignore all the mess, my desk zone is always a disaster).

That being said, I also want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has commented, emailed, tweeted me about job hunting and repaying student loans.  Your words of encouragement and support help more than you can imagine.  Being in a new city practically alone makes it hard to develop a support system, but having a blog system is amazing!

I have seen those words multiple times a day in all the lovely job rejection emails I receive.  Sallie Mae has also sent me a letter to inform me that “they are pleased to have been selected by U.S. Department of Education to service my loans.”  Yeah…me too…next time just sent me a letter that says “I own you.  You will now be homeless.”  It will save the government paper and money.

Anyway, enough of that, I did not really do anything for Halloween but we had a Breakfast Club for the Denver Alumni watch party.  Unfortunately the Denver Alumni Club is the lamest excuse I have ever seen for an organization and the 4 of us were the only ones who actually dressed up.  My husband and I went as William & Kate.

What were/are you going to be for Halloween?

On Monday afternoon I took my oath and was sworn into the Colorado Bar.  It has been a lifetime in the making and has left me overwhelmed that such a big chapter of my life is over.

I guess I am just at a loss of what to do with myself.  I am unemployed, not in school, and not even exactly sure what I want to do for the rest of my life.  I have seen enough to know that I want a job that I can be happy with, not just one that pays.

Anyway, enough of my quarter-life crisis….

On Sunday I got called off from work and thus I got to enjoy breakfast with my husband.

And…I enjoyed a Halloween sprinkle doughnut for breakfast!  I have not had a doughnut in a really long time but I just couldn’t resist sprinkles or Halloween themes.

What is everyone going to be for Halloween??

 Landed in Chicago with Fall going full force.  Flying into the airport you could see endless trees of red, yellow, and orange.  We had forgotten how absolutely beautiful a Midwestern Fall can be.

View of Chicago from Chinatown stop on the Red Line

 We did some toursity things for the family and kids like Navy Pier

Race morning I got ready and was able to wear the sign my mom made because I had just passed the Bar!!!!!

We all headed over to the start of the race…which was a massive mad house.

This was before we got to the corrals…thus before I realized they had closed down all the corrals and I got stuck in the 5:45:00 pace…grrrr!!!!

Here is what the entire race looked like…packed.  I am honestly astonished that my family was able to spot me at all.

Here are some of the professional race photos:  (I never, ever buy these but the race had too many people for you to even be able to take photos of the runners)

My Thoughts on the Chicago Marathon 2011

• Way too many people!  Running with 50,000 people is an experience…but it is somewhat of a nuisance
• Way too hot!  It was over 85 degrees.  I was severely dehydrated and my husband was about to take me to hospital afterwards because apparently I was delirious.  I don’t even remember anything after the race until we walked back.
• Incredible.  Incredible that so many people train for and run this marathon.
• Chicago is amazing!  Great city.  The entire city supports the marathon.  I didn’t listen to any music the whole race because every single neighborhood and street had music, entertainment, offering water, spraying us with their garden hoses because of the heat…it was just such a community!
• It was an experience and I feel very lucky to have been a part of something this special!

Day 15: Describe the highs and lows of the last month

I am finally completing the 15 Day Blog Challenge, finally.  Sorry for the breaks in posting, this whole bill-paying-adult-working life takes up a whole lot of time and energy.  Who would have thought, right?

Highs

I actually have a lot of highs this past month…which is good because this summer had more than its fair share of lows.

• PASSED THE BAR!!!!!!!

• Ran the Chicago Marathon!!!!!
• Got to see friends and family in Chicago
• Denver has had beautiful weather, unbelievably sunny

Lows

• Getting closer and closer to having loans due
• A lot of employment rejection letters (actually emails, apparently I am not even worth the paper)
• Serious anxiety over finding a job that pays enough and that won’t make me want to poke my eyeballs out

Honestly this past month has just been really, really busy!!!!

Day 14: What did you want to be when you grew up?  What are you now?

Well, as you can all tell, I failed the 15 Day Blog Challenge because I haven’t posted all weekend!  I sort of already did the Day 14 challenge back on Day 6.

I promise to do a Chicago Marathon recap soon!!!!  Promise, promise, promise!  I have been picking up a lot of dog walking shifts (i.e. I was worked 6am-3ish all weekend) and have a couple more doubles this week plus the in-laws coming into town.  I really love this blog and really wish I had more time to share…but my first loan repayment is due December 17th….and well as of now I cannot even make the first payment without draining my savings account.  So unless someone out there wants to give me a job or pay me to blog things will be sketchy around here.

I do have some food photos for you finally!!!  Woo hoo!!!!

Found this little Moscato Wine Spritzer at World Market…AMAZING!  I had never bought a wine spritzer before so I was very pleasantly surprised.

The cupcake shop, Lovely Confections, on Colfax was finally open when we walked by!!!!  In fact, they were closing but the lady found two red velvet cupcakes and frosted them right there on the counter for us!

Two big, red velvet cupcakes to go after we used a Living Social deal at Mezcal.

Really, really great frosting!!!  I should have ordered the frosting shot while I was in the store (yes, you can order a shot of frosting!).  The red velvet cake was a bit dry for my taste, but I was also there at closing so I cannot give it a fair review.  I can say that I will definitely be stopping in again!

I have a few minutes and need to do some job searching so Happy Monday!!!

Day 13: If you could go back and tell your 15 year old self something what would you say?

Honestly, I would probably slap my 15 year old self across the face and tell her to grow up.  It is hard for me to look back to that time in my life.  I am such a different person now, a better person I hope.

I would tell myself to let it go. Let go of the anger, resentment, and frustration I had against my family/homelife situation. I held so much anger and in the end the only person it was hurting was me.

I would tell myself to face the facts.  You can exhaust yourself until there is nothing left and at some point you must realize that you cannot help everyone.  You cannot save everyone.  Some people just do not want to do the right thing.

I would also tell myself that everything is going to be okay…seriously.  The teen years are full of so much worry and anxiety.  Looking back now it all seems so silly.  I would tell myself to just be me, know that you are making the best decisions, and that your life will turn out better than you ever imagined.

I would also tell my 15 year old self that you can swear up and down all day long that you will never get married but jokes on you girly, you end up meeting the guy that changes it all and get married years before all of your friends.  Ha!

Day 12:  Bullet Your Whole Day

Well this will not be very interesting right now but what the heck!  I will be doing a Chicago Marathon Recap after the 15 Day Blog Challenge ends but I will give you a few highlights real quick:

• Holy Too Many People!  There were around 50,000 runners.  I got stuck in the 5:45 open corral and I mean stuck.  There were so many people you could not pass anyone.
• I finished in 4:35…I am really disappointed in that time but it was my own fault for not registering for the seeded corrals on time.
• It was 85 degrees.  Way too hot!  I ran out of liquid before Mile 10.
• I finished!

Day 11:  What is your favorite movie and why?

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There are a lot of reasons why I love this movie:

• Denzel.  That is reason enough.
• It is about football and I love football.
• I love a good Disney sports movie…I get so into them, cheering, hoping, etc, etc.
• The soundtrack is amazing.
• It is also has important social issues.
• Hayden Panettiere plays the coolest kid ever.