I've almost reached my first mini-goal

I was going to post earlier, but wanted to wait a few days. I just feel weird posting something that puts Laura's post farther down the page. One of the lovely ladies on the boards made a pretty memorial picture of Laura, so maybe I'll go get it and put it in my sidebar. I'm still pretty shocked over the whole thing.

Anyway, back to my changing lifestyle: I'm down 9 pounds! They're "good" pounds, too -- I've been exercising almost every day. Those FIRM videos really are great, and I've been doing Pilates three times a week from the On Demand feature on my cable. I've also been doing some other workouts while waiting for some video/DVDs to come in from Ebay and Overstock.com. Three days a week I exercise for an hour, three days for at least 20 minutes, and the 7th day I rest or will take a little walk in the neighborhood or do the 1-mile Walk Away the Pounds (WATP) video. I have made my exercise schedule for February so that I'm more likely to stick to my program. I figure I can switch days around if I need to, but the workouts I have planned stay together and I still need to do at least 3 days of 60-minute workouts. I'm surprised I like these videos as much as I do, and I can tell they really work. I need to start taking my measurements, as I've already lost quite a bit in my legs and a little in my stomach.

My first mini-goal was losting 10 pounds by Valentine's Day, so as long as I lose one pound this week I'll hit it. I'm pretty sure I can do that :)

I've also been busy stitching. Since this is Finish It February, I finished (finally)Christmas Flourishes over the past weekend. I'd finished the stitches months ago, but finally did the beading this weekend. The beading too less time than I thought it would. That is odd, as usually I completely underestimate beading time. Now I need to get her framed and on the wall next to Christmas Elegance. I don't think they were meant as a pair, but I stitched them both on the same fabric and will get them framed the same way and make them into an artificial pair. Christmas or not, they will both stay up year-round -- too much time has been put into them to only display them for a month.