I Don't Even Know What Day It Is

But Cole tells me it's Wednesday.

SXSW was great. Educational. Funny. Informative. Controversial at one point. Those of us from Hammock who attended did a bang-up job covering it. Check it out if you want to.

And now that the trips for lattes, BBQ and Tex-Mex are over, I'm ready to get back down to WW business. Stepping on the scale this morning told me exactly what I had done and exactly what I need to do: buckle down and count points.

Back on track, my day in points:

Breakfast: chocolate-bran muffin: 1 point
banana: 2 points

Lunch: cheese quesadilla: 6 points
apple: 1 point

Afternoon snack: granola: 2 points

Dinner: English muffins pizzas: 4 points
Caesar salad: 4 points

TOTAL: 20 points.

SXSW 2008

I'll be fairly quiet on this front for the next several days. But if you're so inclined, you can follow me and the rest of the Hammock gang as we geek our way through SXSW by visiting hammock.com. We'll be blogging, tweeting and photographing every minute of every day. Or at least giving it a good shot. And there is sure to be a trip to the Salt Lick in there too.

If you happen to be there too, say hi. I'll be the redhead toting around the Darth Vader computer bag (thanks, honey!).

100 Pounds and SXSW

If your weekly Weight Watchers meeting is anything like mine, your leader ends the meeting by celebrating. We celebrate every five pounds, bigger milestones like 25 and 50 pounds, goal, etc. Well, yesterday we had a celebration I had never seen before. A nice lady in my regular Saturday morning meeting hit the 100-pound mark. She's lost 100 pounds and she's not finished yet. One hundred pounds. And she did it in 11 months. Just seeing her stand up and tell a bit of her story was a huge boost to me. And it's proof that we all take this journey at our own pace. We all do it for different reasons, and we all have to jump different hurdles along the way.

I'm still battling against -- and beating myself up for -- the six Christmas pounds I'm still carrying around. What is the deal with that?!?! But this lady gave me hope. If she can knock off 100 pounds and keep going, I can certainly keep working to get myself healthier. And these last pounds are sure to disappear along the way.

Oh, and...

The Interactive portion of SXSW starts Friday. Rex and Laura and Patrick come to town for the festivities, and it always means lots of fun, nerdiness, learning and good Austin food. If you happen to be at the Convention Center for SXSW and see me walking around with Cole's Darth Vader computer bag (he's loaning it to me for the occasion), tap me on the shoulder and say hi...

Sunday points:

Breakfast: cereal: 2 points
banana: 2 points
1/2 cup soy milk: 1 point

Lunch: French bread pizza: 6 points
apple: 1 point
snack cakes: 1 point

Afternoon snack: rice cake: 1 point
Laughing Cow wedge: 1 point

Dinner: soup: 2 points
chips and salsa: 3 points

TOTAL: 20 points. Here's hoping for a great week!!!

SXSW Was Yummy

SXSW (at least the Interactive portion) ended today. (Rex and Laura have both posted some great wrap-ups of many of the panels that we attended.) Rex flew out first thing this morning, I dropped Laura at the airport in the pouring rain late this afternoon, and Patrick catches a plane at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

After all the dipped-in-sauce, covered-in-gravy, candy-coated-then-fried food that we consumed, this evening we actually ate in a more healthful way than we had in days. We stole Patrick away from work for a couple of hours to wander around Whole Foods and grab a quick bite. I had a chicken teriyaki bowl, and I think my system went into a little bit of shock when I introduced steamed vegetables into my body for the first time in what seems like ages.

I should have purchased some of these beautiful artichokes from Whole Foods. Cole loves artichokes...

Tomorrow, after a trip to my favorite HEB, the diet begins.

"I Will Probably Salivate"

Once again, my experience at SXSW is being documented in bites and nibbles and crumbs of food. I love being able to take visitors (Rex, his son, Laura and Patrick this time) to Austin-area restaraunts with great atmospheres, interesting histories, oh, and good food. Today for lunch, it was Las Manitas on South Congress. This evening for dinner, it was the Salt Lick out in Driftwood.

But I will offer these few randoms bits from SXSW over the last two days so far. These are only my opinions and observations, and there will be more to come.

• People should bathe, daily. Your pheromones are not going to make your soulmate magically appear at your feet while at SXSW. Practice good hygiene so that the rest of us can comfortably be in your presence.
  
• Women should wear bras.
  
• How hard is it to be on time??? I love the fact that panels at SXSW don't start until 10 a.m., and there is a 30-minute break between them. Seriously, how hard is it to be courteous to your fellow participants and to the panelists themselves by simply being on time?!?!
• I heard someone today refer to the distance from their home to a beach in terms of "how the crow flies." That made me smile.
  

Saturday at SXSW

I'm too tired to say too much. I want to give a quick recap of the panels I attend today at SXSW, but that will just have to wait until tomorrow sometime.

I will just leave you with this picture from Guero's Taco Bar on South Congress though. Great conversation and good food is always the best way to end a busy day. Anything that comes with a side of melted butter has got to be good...

How Many Calories in a SXSW Interactive Panel?

Well, Rex, Laura and Patrick are all coming into town this weekend for the Interactive portion of SXSW. I'm so excited that they are. Cole and I love getting to show a little bit of Austin off to them. (Though this will be Patrick's first visit here if I remember correctly.)

This weekend is in a way like Christmas to me. Doesn't the average American gain about five pounds during Christmas??? Well, I do the same during SXSW... HA!!! We always visit a couple (or four) Austin restaurants while they're here, and this visit will be no different.

I'll share a complete food recap, and hopefully pictures, soon.