Dallas

Wow, it's really been a while since I posted here. Thank you for the incredibly sweet comments on my last post - you all are so kind.

So, I've mostly been occupied with moving into the new house. We're more or less settled now, and have acquired almost all our furniture - we're just lacking a wardrobe, and half a couch. By that, I mean that we're making our couch out of shipping pallets, and are only halfway there. We treated ourselves to a big Expedia bookshelf from IKEA, which we both really wanted but couldn't justify splashing out on. Then one of my mom's friends gave us some money for Christmas, and we found someone selling an almost-new one at a second-hand price, so decided to go for it, and we love it :)

I'm currently in Dallas for two weeks of meetings. It's nice to meet with my colleagues in person, as we're a distribued team spread out all over the States, England, Scotland, and Thailand, so don't get much face-to-face time together. It's also nice to have traded in the UK's -5°C weather for 23°C and sunshine!

However, A and I don't deal well with being apart for so long. Or rather, I don't deal well with it. I don't realise until I'm away from him how much influence he has on my health. He doesn't really check up on what I'm eating or nag me about it, but somehow knowing that it upsets him when I don't eat makes me more inclined to do it, although I still aim to eat no more than 1,000 a day. But here... the combination of unfamiliar and bewildering foods/brands of which I don't know the fat and calorie content, and being in an unfamiliar place where - even if I don't consciously feel stressed - subconsciously I retreat towards tried-and-true havens of calm, and the absence of A's stabilising influence in my days means that I find myself eating less and less. Also, the dining setup is canteen style, so you basically eat what you're given. From what I hear, the food is really good, but I just can't bring myself to eat it. They provide salad with every meal, so I mostly tank up on that and eat a couple bites of meat.

Sunday morning just before I left the UK I was at my old bugbear, 125. (Argh! This is my least favourite number, just because whenever I stop watching what I'm eating for a second I invariably spring back to this same infuriating weight.) However, I tend to lose weight when I travel, for the aforementioned reasons, so I'm hoping to be significantly lower when I get home on February 1st.

I've missed your blogs, and have been trying to catch up on them this afternoon. It's always good to hear from you all :)

Much love,
Sophie xx