A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving

Instead of explaining why Operation Cruise Control has been slacking off, why I most likely will not be meeting my 2nd goal in 2 days (3 pounds to go still...), and therefore why I haven't been providing updates, I will instead share one of my favorite Gilmore Girls scenes with you from the episode entitled "A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving". Does this somehow shed insight on the answers to the questions above? ...absolutely not!

Facebook Conviction

Church today was especially moving. We just started a new sermon series on Titus. We call it "BOOM! Ripple, Ripple. - The gospel and godliness in TITUS". Kyle preached on one verse. Titus 1:1. And wow. He preached it! I got a ton out of the message. (I'll make a point to post a link to the audio of the sermon once it's posted) I know that God will be moving in my life as we go through this series. Kyle made some points that I'm sure will be applied to my life, but what God really stirred in me today was only a by-product of the message. It didn't directly relate. It was related, of course. Because something that was said or addressed caused me to go where I went with God. But it's so cool the way that God can use any words, any lyrics, any melody to get to me.

This morning I was convicted. I was convicted of many things. I was convicted that I am not living my life as a servant - a slave - to Christ. I am not relinquishing control in all areas of my life and therefore not letting God get the glory in all things I do. I am not living as if I'm on mission with God. I'm not allowing Him to do the things He is wanting to do through me. But the real, practical conviction that God brought to me today was about Facebook. I actually don't spend that much time on it, which is why this conviction is unique. I think that God knows I need something concrete - a tangible command - to follow. And this is it. I need to fast from Facebook. I need to spend the time that I would be checking up on people, most of whom are not even a real part of my life, instead learning how to serve my God. If I can spend 20 minutes on Facebook in the morning and turn around and say I don't have time to spend time with God before work then something needs to change. How much better would it be if I spent those 20 minutes getting to know the God of the universe? I need to re-FOCUS on Him. I need to focus on my real relationships instead of my cyber ones. I need to communicate with people in more authentic ways - through phone calls, emails, face-to-face conversations instead of merely "liking" their statuses and commenting on their posts. So that's exactly what I'm going to do - through my Facebook fast.

And please don't misunderstand me. Facebook isn't bad. It can be a wonderful, wonderful tool. But for me, at this time in my life, God has called me to focus on other things. And He's given me this specific task to follow in order to test my obedience and teach me about Himself. Could He have used something else in my life to do this? Sure. But this is what He chose, and I'm choosing to obey.

A Birthday... week?!

As of last Friday when I woke up (24 hours before my first intermediate goal), I only had 1/2 a pound to lose! I thought to myself, "Okay Lesley, this is totally do-able! Just think of those 15 downloads and you can make it!"

Well, when I first made these intermediate goals I forgot one detail... my birthday (goal #1) falls on a Saturday this year. Had it fallen on a Friday, I would have woken up on the morning of my birthday and "weighed in" before all of the celebrations began. Apparently when your birthday falls on a Saturday and you have amazing coworkers and an awesome husband, Friday is the official beginning of the festivities. Not only did my friends at work bring me DELICIOUS mini cupcakes, Brad decided to surprise me after work by taking me on my birthday date that night. We went to the Alamo Drafthouse to see Where the Wild Things Are and then indulged in chocolate fondue at The Melting Pot for dessert. The food coma that inevitably followed caused me to go straight to bed when I got home. It was a wonderful night, but needless to say, I didn't reach my first goal.

The birthday festivities continued through Saturday (dinner at Tokyo Steakhouse with friends), Sunday (lunch at Macaroni Grill with family), and Monday (breakfast pastries from more coworkers). I feel extremely blessed to have so many people in my life that love me and want to spoil me :) Now that I've reverted back to my *normal* eating pattern and put in some extra workouts, I'm finally recovered from the weight gain over the weekend. I'm back to where I was the day before my birthday. I seem to have been set back about 5 days, which, in my opinion is not too bad considering all of the "presents" I ate!

So below you'll see my *revised* graph. Like I said before, each intermediate goal stands on its own. So I have until Thanksgiving (morning - before all the celebration this time!) to lose 5 pounds from where I was on my birthday. The dotted light gray line in the graph is the path that will get me there. The dotted green line was my original path. Hopefully I'll be able to get back on that track soon!

Next goal: Thanksgiving

Next reward: New outfit for the cruise!

November - The Month of Motivation!

Well, after a wonderful weekend at home (New Braunfels) visiting with family and participating in the sausage-filled tradition of Wurstfest, I decided to start November off with a new mind-set. I don't know what inspired my new found motivation - it could have been the awesome weekend, "fall back", the beautiful weather, the message at church on Sunday, or a combination of all of these - but I am proud to say that I am 3 for 3 on days I've exercised in November! AND not to mention that I SURVIVED Wurstfest, Halloween, and Terranova's Fall Festival (not the healthiest combination of events in one weekend) without giving into temptations! I didn't deprive myself completely, of course... I had some chocolate. But not near a "normal" Lesley amount! It's nice to see that this self-control is showing up on the scale! I have 4 days left and 1.2 pounds to lose. It's gonna be tight, but that 15 song reward is keeping me from giving up! Now for another dose of motivation... off to watch The Biggest Loser!