Sunday and the weekend draws to a close....

First, I want to thank everyone for their well wishes. Sharing my journey to the event has been an exercise in humility. I have put myself through the most amazing transformation possible and I must say that I am in love with the results. Now, I must admit that running isn't for everyone and should not be the end all be all of an exercise regimen; however, it has let a part of me out that I have missed.

I digress for one brief moment. I was a track runner in high school. I ran the 44o, which thanks to the metric system was replaced in 1980. I hold my high school's fastest recorded time and the fifth fastest time in the state for that year. Do not be impressed. I mention those factoids just to let you know that at one point in my life I lived and breathed running. Over the years, life found a way of getting me sucked into a different vortex. I have "escaped" that vortex and I have a newly rediscovered love of the run. It releases endorphins that I haven't experienced in a long time. Not as good as the ones released by a rewarding sex life, but pretty damn close.

Today, I slept in and lounged about. All the while letting my body tell me what parts of the run they were not satisfied with. My thighs are still sore and tight. My calves have a little lactic acid built up but I got some bananas from the store. I have soaked in a hot tub filled with lavender sea salts twice. Tomorrow I will be wearing flats so that my calves will not fail me. But overall, I am remarkably rested and at peace with myself. I will resume an exercise regimen on Tuesday morning, but rest assured it will not be as vigorous as the trainer was hell bent on holding me on track with maintaining.

Yesterday, I eluded to a date. I was treated to an evening at the Cheesecake Factory in Sugar Land. S.F. chose this location due to the fact that the location closer to my apartment is small and very hard to get seated for dinner. The one in Sugar Land is larger and can seat many more guests. Special bonus, it is only about 20 minutes from her place, should we ever get to that point. We started off dinner with Chicken Pot Stickers. She had a Blue Moon and I had a glass of Chianti. I had been drinking water and All Sport Blue Raz, so I "allowed" myself a libation. I still had three glasses of water with lemon with dinner so, I remained hydrated. We ordered our meal when the appetizer was served. S.F had a Grilled Turkey Burger with steamed broccoli in place of the fries. She is very disciplined. I had the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich served with fries and slaw.

Now, for the record, I ate all of the sandwich but only had about three fries and a taste of the slaw. The slaw had too much mayo for my liking and was not sweet. The fries tasted like frozen ones, so they sucked. The sandwich was divine! I was full but S.F. insisted on dessert. In order to be able to even consider it, I needed strong coffee and I got just that. She ordered the Godiva ®Chocolate Cheesecake and I ordered the Lemoncello Cream Torte. I had what remained of both of them for breakfast this morning. I though t I was going to burst after all of that food.

We walked around the Mall for about thirty minutes. We ended up at Barnes and Noble and listened to music together on the headphones. Why is it that something so silly can be so much fun? And why did L and I never have that much fun with simple stuff like music? Rhetorical question, and does not need any response. From the Mall we headed back to the concert venue. We went to see Patrice Pike and her entire band. The show was AMAZING! She is one of the first artists that S.F. took me to see and she is one of our favorites. Her song Rufus is our favorite. Here are the lyrics. The show started at 9:30 PM and ended at around midnight. It was emotionally charged and was wonderful.

She is an amazing woman and you should check out her official website. We make it a point to get to as many of her shows as possible and she never disappoints her audience. Her next appearance will be on March 11th and you can bet we will be there for the show, as her next visit to Houston will not be until May.

Today has been a restful day. I was treated to a small beauty day (hair color and a pedicure) and I knitted a lot. No pictures of anything yet, but be patient. The Lady Vols beat Vandy tonight! Go Pat Summitt!

Now, as promised Joe, here is what I am using as my motivation for HAWT.

H = How
A = Awesome
W =Was
T = Transformation

Later this week I will post more about what Project HAWT means to Joe and I. In the interim, just keep in mind that I am in a size 12 (after being so close to an 18 in June 2008) and my two goals for this year: be in a two piece and by December I want to be solidly in a size 10. Realistic? You bet and Project HAWT will make certain that I keep myself honest!

Okay kids, off to bed....Rodeo is in full swing and I have one week until mid-terms and then Spring Break!