The Makeover Project, Episode 6: What Do You Say to Taking Chances?

So: Where do you go after you've followed up the worst day of your life with a weekend full of love, laughter, and lots of new friends?

What do you think would happen if I'd taken off for a weekend, dog-tired and disappointed (let's just say that bureaucratic red tape + purse thieves = hell) - and deliberately leaving my cell phone, my diet journal, and all my expectations behind?



Mind you, my food was rationed, too, even if it was all delicious and diet-wrecking. That was nothing compared to breaking out of my shell and getting to know people better. That was nothing compared to people pulling me into group pictures every five minutes.

It was like my birthday all over again, but with more people.

(SPOILER ALERT: More revelations and epiphanies, right after the jump.)

What's Your Fantasy: Guy Who Looks Like My Ex Edition

We interrupt the ongoing Makeover Project with a steaming hot dose of  testosterone.

(Photo credit for screen grab: USA Network.)

Unfortunately, said dose of testosterone bears a slight resemblance to a guy I once dated in college... and not even one I want to remember fondly, since it took me a whole year to realize that He Just Wasn't That Into Me. Yowch.

Anyway... can we talk about Frederick Weller here? We've been getting reruns of In Plain Sight here in the Philippines these last few weeks, and yesterday I hit upon a major jackpot: two different seasons running on two different channels, with both of them showing some unprecedented hotness from US Marshal Marshall Mann himself.

One channel - the earlier season - showed him in a basement, wearing a wifebeater and getting all wet for some reason-or-other. Unfortunately, the room got hot all of a sudden, and I was forced to change the channel back to the one showing the later season.

That's when I stumbled upon this monologue, as he gives a toast to his partner's engagement:

Here's to the best friend I've ever had, could ever hope to have, a girl for whom no man will ever be good enough, I hope you know that... I love you, and I wish for you nothing but a lifetime of happiness.

And this was my reaction: "Dang, that's so... wait, did he just say 'I love you' to Mary Whatsherface?"

Weller just kills that monologue so much that even the way he says "I love you" is just heartbreaking, knowing that she's not going to love him back right away because she's getting married to a much hotter guy. Then the camera goes to Mary McCormack's face, where it looks like she's going to die from all that awkwardness and WTF-ness... and that, my friends, is how you deal with unresolved sexual tension. (Bones and NCIS, are you listening to me?)

And... scene.

Due to a much-needed weekend away from my computer, The Makeover Project will return next week. Stay tuned for more entries about body issues, insane workouts, and all sorts of diet craziness!

The Makeover Project, Episode 5: Now with Monthly Favorites!

I think the slogan for this set speaks for itself.

May Favorites by meimei96 featuring Nine West shoes

This is the Polyvore set that I should put up on my refrigerator, so I can look at it every day and think twice before I get to that hidden stash of peanut butter.

Details, after the jump. 

Please Stand By

Due to some housekeeping issues with FeedBurner, I am forced to disclose my email address for those of you trying to get in touch with me.

You can now contact me through the email provided in my Blogger profile. Thanks! 

The Makeover Project, Episode 4: Hello, Aunt Flo

(Posted using ShareThis)

Here's an excerpt from my latest SparkPeople blog entry:

Usually, whenever Aunt Flo comes over for her monthly visit, I try to indulge her - steaks, red wine, dark chocolate, you name it. Maybe it's the bad diet advice I got in college when I stopped seeing the campus nutritionist, but somehow I managed to justify it all with talk about antioxidants, iron, and B-complex vitamins.

This month, however, my monthly visitor took her sweet yet passive-aggressive time with me.

The full entry - and by "full" I mean "chock-full of menstrual musings and cheesy euphemisms about my period" - can be found here.

The Makeover Project, Episode 3: Where's The Beauty in All of This?

Now we get into the discussion of where the usual Domesticity stuff fits into the scheme of things.

Right now I have a closet full of work clothes, and I need to go to the dressmaker soon to get a formal dress made in time for an event in June. (My dressmaker already has my measurements pre-Makeover Project, so it's too soon for her to re-measure me.) I can't do anything about this wardrobe until I am absolutely sure that I've lost at least 20 pounds, so until that happens, I'll have to stick to alterations at the local tailor.

In the meantime, here are my Domesticity Rewards for my weight loss goals:

• 10 pounds: Manicure and pedicure.
• 15 pounds: New makeup - and by this I actually mean going to Manila and plunking down some cash for some high quality stuff at a department store counter, as opposed to the cheap thrills that I can get at Mercury Drug. A new fragrance would be nice, too.
• 20-25 pounds: Definitely a new pair of shoes. By this time I'll need to buy a new pair of running shoes, since the Reeboks that I bought last year might not age well into the next few years. Also, depending on how my knees are doing, I'll be able to treat myself to some high heels. 
• 30-35 pounds: Start transitioning my wardrobe back to regular women's sizes. (Scribey tells me that Mango tends to be quite figure-friendly, so I'm thinking that a pilgrimage would be in order.) Also - depending on my schedule - a full spa day.
• Target weight: CELEBRATION! And by "celebration" I actually mean "spending the whole day at Alabang Town Center, shopping for a new wardrobe." 

Notice that none of these rewards involve food or alcohol of any sort - I've already accepted the fact that there will be more than a few high-calorie treats coming my way throughout this time, so I'll have to act accordingly. Notice that I've also held off on discussing the maintenance phase - I am making plans for that, too, but right now I'm so focused on keeping the numbers down that the rest will have to come later.

Until then... ten less pounds, here we come!

Next entry: My first cross-post from my new SparkPeople blog!

The Makeover Project, Episode 2: Me and My Yoga

My interest in yoga was stoked when I purchased a Power Yoga workout on VHS, starring Rodney Yee as an instructor. Despite being a sedentary college student at that time, I surprised myself by being able to follow each and every position without a single modification - even managing to hold a tree pose without toppling over. Of course - as Scribey pointed out to me when I brought the tape to her apartment so we could work out together - it also helped that I was being led by a hot Asian man performing gravity-defying exercises in tight and tiny shorts. (Hello!)

That tape has been lost to me now - though Rodney has now found a home in SisMei's DVD stash, thanks to A.M. and P.M. Yoga - but I've discovered a bunch of different yoga routines on video since then. In fact, I now have three yoga DVDs in my current stash, which I have used with a fair amount of regularity.

Coming up right after the jump: reviews of the three yoga DVDs that I've been putting under heavy rotation.