So, there are several odd things I use to aid me in my weight loss. In the end they may only help me lose a few lbs… but that’s a few less miles I have to run.

1. Jumbo Water Mug — this beauty goes everywhere with me when I’m at home. It mostly lives on the desk in my office (I work remotely 99.7% percent of the time). This mug holds 32 oz of water and I refill it anywhere between 4-8 times a day. (Also luckily my home office is connected with a bathroom cause I pee a lot!) I got this mug from the hospital when I was in labor (hellloooo ice chips!) and it’s served me well!

2. Sweet Retainer!! — Did you know I had braces? As an adult? As in I just got them off 7 months ago? OK, well if you didn’t know feel free to read the epic tale here.

Anywho, to keep myself from snacking at night I brush my teeth after dinner and pop in my sweet retainer! When I think about going to the pantry I usually decide I’m too lazy to do the brush, floss and retainer routine again so I pass on the snack!

And I’m sure my husband finds it incredibly attractive… And not annoying at all to listen to me slur all evening. And no, I’m not going to share a photo of me sporting my retainer, use your wild imaginations.

3. Blow Pops — It may seem a little backwards to be talking about candy in this list but I’m crazy like that. Blow pops are a great snack deterrent (notice I may have a snacking issue yet?). They keep me occupied, give me a little bit of sweet and then I burn a few calories chewing the awful gum that is the end result. Cherry and Sour Apple are my favs!

4. Pandora — Like many of you I rely on Pandora radio to get me through a work day. I constantly have something playing. This may or may not spark a spontaneous dance session in my office every so often. Every calorie burned counts, right?

5. Facebook — Almost nothing can make me put down a handful of pretzels quicker than seeing a photo of me from college where I look thin (why WHY did I think I was fat back then!?). And nothing can make me drop that hershey kiss faster than a current picture of me looking much worse than I would like to. Photos rarely lie.

Me, back when I thought I was ‘fat’…

So those are 5 random things. Let me know if you have some to share with me!

I’m still here! I took a little blogging hiatus over my 5 day weekend. I thought about sneaking down to my office a few times to blog but honestly I was having too much fun hanging with my husband and playing with my little dude. He’s almost 7 months old and more and more fun every day! As I’ve previously tweeted, babies this age are SO much more fun than newborns. No offense newborn babies, but you are all work and no play! It was such a fun, busy and relaxing weekend all wrapped up into one. We got our Christmas decorations up, some gifts purchased, visited family and friends, and bummed around.

OK, now to what you really want to know… I survived pretty much unscathed (I think!) from the long weekend. Of course I had a few calories more than usual but I didn’t do really any snacking all weekend, didn’t eat late at night, stayed away from diet coke for the most part, got in a few treadmill sessions, some yoga and lots of carrying around a 21 lb+ baby.

Today it’s a treadmill session and tomorrow is yoga! Also, now that I’m starting to get back into my yoga routine I’ve been doing some mini yoga sessions at home when I have 5 minutes here and there. It’s really making a difference in how I feel and keeping me centered… or as centered as you can be with an almost 7 month old baby and a husband who is incapable of shutting the shower curtain after he showers or closet doors. (Just kidding, babe… I love you!)

Back to work… WAY too many emails awaiting me!

This year I am more grateful than ever for my husband and our new son. I’m also thankful for my family and friends, my dogs, my job and a whole list of other things.

I’m very grateful for my new yoga studio. Molly and I attended the FUNdamentals class last night and it was fabulous. It was a small class of only 3 of us so we got lots of help from the instructor which is great for my yoga practice but made me quite sore! I felt awesome when I woke up this morning though.

Today I will plan to get in a run on the treadmill and tomorrow will likely be an off day. We’re traveling for Thanksgiving and despite if I say I have the best intentions I know I won’t find the time to work out. I will, however, try to keep my portions in control tomorrow and skip dessert. I don’t really like pie anyways…

Hope everyone has a great Turkey Day!

Whew, what a fun and tiring weekend! I spent most of the weekend with several of my closest friends embracing our inner geekiness and having our annual Harry Potter party. All day Saturday we ate good food, watched movies, giggled and had a wonderful time. I probably had a few too many calories but more than anything I over-indulged in caffeine. As I’ve prior mentioned I’ve given up drinking pop for the most part. With this I’ve starting drinking a lot less caffeine. I feel like I drank some form of caffeine (tea, chai tea lattes, coffee and even a little diet coke) non-stop since Saturday morning. I could barely fall asleep last night! My head is pounding today. Lots of water on the agenda today!

I also just finished a really good 2 mile run on the treadmill. It was slow, as usual, but I just felt really good the whole time. A nice change!

Now I’m off to take the dogs to get some DESPERATELY needed haircuts and finish up a busy day at work.

It’s here, it’s here! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is in the theaters! For those of you who know me, you know of my intense obsession with the HP books and movies. I am so geeky in fact that my friends and I have a Harry Potter get together each fall and this year it is tomorrow at my home! I am very excited to get together with some of my closest friends and share our nerdy love of this all day and evening. This will likely cause my caloric intake to take an upward tick tomorrow but hey, gotta live a little! Hopefully I’ll be able to get in a good workout in the morning before the festivities start!