One Purse Love Abandoned for Another

Remember how I labored long and hard to find my Lime Namastate Laguna bag? It took me weeks and weeks of desperate searching as other Laguna Bag seekers were clawing to get them in a heated buying frenzy?

Well, I've loved my Lime Laguna bag and used it pretty consistently. But then, unexpectedly, a couple of weeks ago, this new bag arrived quite unexpectedly in the mail. It seems that my dear friend Phyllis decided to gift me with a brand new Namastate Cali Malibu Bag in the classy color of Saddle. I love, love, LOVE it. And everyone else does too. I've received many compliments about this bag and people DO stop me on the street and inquire about it. No one believes it's not real leather. It's soft as butter.

Idiot Proof Diet Report. Now, speaking of Phyllis, she and I have partnered up on experiencing this diet together. I talked about the book which inspired our diet plan in an earlier entry.

Well, we've been on the diet for 3 weeks as of tomorrow. All I can say is I feel so much better, more energetic, more healthy. Best of all, I'm not craving everything that isn't nailed down. I feel satisfied and not wishing I could eat my old favorites of chocolate, potatoes and pasta. I see people eating that stuff around me, and I am able to resist. Over the last 3 weeks, I've been in movie theaters with my family and refused popcorn. We've eaten at Mexican restaurants and I've sat there ignoring my old favorite of chips with salsa. I've been freed of my late night snacking. I've actually been grossed out by my coworkers having a "food day" where they devour enormous amounts of snack foods and deserts and then feel sluggish and tired all afternoon. Yep, I've avoided all those things and am so happy with this diet thus far. I have lost at a healthy rate of about 2 lbs per week. So I think altogether I have lost 6-7 pounds. I don't know yet because I weigh myself tomorrow morning, but I don't think I've lost this week due to a hormonal thing.

But all in all, I think both Phyllis and I are very happy with this plan. We both are losing at a healthy rate. We are supporting one another via email and Sunday check-in conference calls. During that call, we discuss our strategy for the week to come.

I think we'd both say that the diet was HARD the first week, especially the first 5 or 6 days. Weaning our bodies off all that caffeine and carbs was damn HARD. If we hadn't been in this together, I don't think we'd have succeeded as well.

We're at the halfway point. We both committed to sticking to this lifestyle for 6 weeks which ends in mid-August. We're halfway there and think we like the change.

On the coffee front, we are allowing ourselves ONE cup of coffee per day, but I'm finding I'm not going crazy for it like I used to. Once those initial days of starting the diet, and having bad caffeine withdrawal headaches, I'm no longer getting those at all. Also, on this diet, you drink NO soda or carbonated beverages. I've found that to be a big improvement. I drink decaf tea instead and mainly water, water, water.

Have a fun weekend everyone.