Reward!

This is a total self-indulgent blog post!

The plan for the day -- shopping with my best friend.

I feel like I haven't had a full day of just fun in a LONG time. I've been busy with work and so focused on making sure I get my training in that my social engagements have kinda been pushed to the side. Even when my friend and I were making plans in my head I was wondering - when will I workout? What will I eat if we're out all day?

I had originally planned on going to the gym early and banging out a mega workout -- instead I ended up sleeping for almost 8 hours! After waking up, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get in the workout that I wanted, so I switched it up and did a 45 minute at home - mainly conditioning work (skip rope, plank, crunches, squats plus some shadow boxing) and did my 15 minutes of stretching.

With the workout out of the way, I felt much better. I still wasn't sure what I was going to eat, so I had a banana and some peanut butter before leaving the house and kept my fingers crossed that I'd find something that was Whole Life Challenge friendly.

The other 'concern' I had was about the shopping itself. I LOVE to shop, but I've been so focused on my training that I haven't gone shopping in ages. Part of my resistance is that I feel like I'm still between sizes. I've emptied out  more than half my closet since the end of the last Whole Life Challenge (after which I had dropped 4 dress/pant sizes). I haven't replaced all the clothes. I'm kinda 'wearing out' what I have left and trying to make do until I get to the States for a big shopping spree. However, I am struggling. My trousers and skirts are falling and my tops are looking shapeless ... but still, I'm just at the beginning of the Whole Life Challenge - should I buy clothes already?

I weighed myself before going out and was so happy with what I saw (weight-loss update will have to wait until the end of the month but let's just say I'm enjoying waking up each morning and saying - I'm at my new lowest weight!!) that I thought - I definitely deserve some sort of reward. I'm going to buy myself a handbag. No size issue there :)

It ended up being a mega-successful shopping day. The first thing on my list was to buy some sort of storage/shelving unit for my gym stuff. My home office is beginning to look like a locker room! I found something, but it won't be delivered until March 7th, so I'll have to be patient.

Although clothes weren't really on my list, we decided to check out some stuff in Espirit. I found tons of things that I liked (lots on sale!). I didn't go too crazy (2 dresses, 2 skirts, and 4 tops - that's not too crazy, right?), and love what I bought ... but what I loved most of all was asking 'Could I get this in a smaller size please?' I am not wearing the smallest size that I've worn in forever. During my last shopping trip I was picking up XL's when I was down to L's ... and this time I was picking up the L's when I was fitting into mediums - felt great.

For lunch we went to Carluccio's and I enjoyed an amazing vegetarian antipasti as well as their seafood salad. I asked the waiter a bunch of different questions about how the food was prepared and what was in the dressing. He was great about answering my questions and going back to ask the chef for things he wasn't sure about. What a relief - a good meal, and totally clean!

My final treat was something that I had been wanting for a long time -- a Coach handbag. I've just been holding off because I've never found one that I was totally blown away by. There was always something just a little off. Today, however, I found one that I fell in love with -- and this was my reward.

So, it's been a really rewarding day. I had a great time, I totally stayed on plan. I feel relaxed and content. It's been a good, good day :)