Hello from Baltimore, friends! I have made it safely and had an enjoyable day of travel. I started my day off with a very filling breakfast. Oats In A Jar!

The mix included oats, coconut, raisins, and a sliced banana for extra filling power. Something about adding the banana makes oats so filling. I almost had a hard time finishing it. Almost. 😉

I got to the airport with plenty of time to head to my gate. I chilled with some Bible reading before boarding to help pass the time. Somehow my full belly from breakfast didn’t last as long as I hoped, so I pulled out my snacks to munch while waiting to board. What is with the bottomless pit days I have had recently??? I just go with it.  

On the flight, I worked on a bit of blog stuff that didn’t require the internet and tried to nap for a bit. Exciting stuff. The flight went by quickly enough and before I knew it we had landed. Good thing too because my tummy was a-grumbling. I knew I needed to get a filling meal in my belly since I was unsure what time I would be eating again.

After getting off the plan I stopped at a place called Portbelly Sandwiches in the terminal and picked up a salad. It had grilled chicken, cranberries, blue cheese, walnuts, apples, and onion in a vinaigrette dressing.

Once I finally got to the hotel and found my lovely roomie, Katie, and some other friends, Heather and Alicia, we headed out for a quick trip to Whole Foods and some exploring.

Shortly we will head down to the welcome mixer for the evening. So excited! While I entertain myself decorating name tags and making new friends, you can entertain yourselves with this random survey Chelsey and Gabriela recently posted. I’m always a sucker for these kinds of things. 

1. What is your best friend’s Mom’s name? Kathy – Am I the only one who finds this a completely odd question?

2. Where is the weirdest place you have a mole? On the top of my right foot. I also have two birth marks – one on my left leg and one on my lower back. I’m a spotty person.

3. Who was the hottest teacher you ever had? I don’t ever remember having a hot teacher. I do remember the creeper Mr. Volpi who would always rub the girl students’ shoulders though. shudder

4. Have you ever made out in a movie theater? I dated in high school so what do you think? That would be a yes. And now, I officially freak at the thought of M becoming a teenager!

5. What body part do you wash first? My feet. Not really…but does anyone do that?

6. Do you hover over the toilet in public bathrooms? I am totally not a germ worrier and I don’t hover unless the bathroom just seems skeevy and gross.

7. What’s the strangest talent you have? This question makes me sad. I don’t have any talents…unless you count my uncanny ability to eat large amounts of dessert a talent.

8. Do you have an innie or an outtie? An innie.

9. Do you parallel park or drive around the block? Drive around the block. You do NOT want me trying to parallel park near you.

10. Which shoe do you put on first? I think I usually put my right one on first, although I never noticed it until really thinking about it. Interesting.

11. Have you ever been cow-tipping or snipe-hunting? What is snipe hunting? I have shot those clay discs before and that’s about as country hunter chick as I get.

12. If you had to choose to not ever wash your bed sheets again or not wash your bath towel ever again, which would you rather not wash? Bed sheets. You would probably be very bothered at how rarely I wash those anyways.

13. What was your childhood nickname? My dad used to call me Christy, which I hated. In high school I had the nickname Peaches from my good friend. And then was honored with the nickname Tinabell later.

14. When is the last time you played the air guitar? Don’t recall. But I did play an Elmo guitar a few days ago. How many of you can say that? I win all the cool points!

15. Have you ever bitten your toenails? WHY would someone do this?!?!

16. How do you eat your cookie? Slowly nibble around the edges to save the chewier center for last. Now, that just sounds dirty.

17. When working out at the gym, do you wear a belt? Dang it! I left my belt at home. Fitbloggin friends…anyone have a belt I can borrow for the run tomorrow? 😉

18. Name something you do when you’re alone that you wouldn’t do in front of others. Alone? I don’t understand the meaning of this word. What does it mean? I vaguely remember hearing it before children….

19. How often do you clean out your ears? Maybe once a week?

20. Do you scrunch or fold your toilet paper? Fold. Scrunching just seems uncomfortable to me for some reason.

21. Do you have any strange phobias? I have this strange gut feeling and fear that I will end up facing a terrible illness or accident someday in my life.

22. If you had to make up a question because it annoys you that the survey was missing question #22, what question would you ask? Mine = Why am I such a nerd that I had to find a question for #22?

23. Do you freak out when you feel a sneeze coming on while you’re driving? No. Kind of ironic considering my big fear. You would think I would spaz over everything. You would also think I’m a meticulous driver. And you would be wrong.

I sincerely hope my new Fitbloggin’ friends don’t refuse to be my friend now after reading this hot mess of randomness. I promise I’m not crazy. Well, not totally anyways.

• Do you ever have randomly super hungry days?
• What is your strangest talent?

So, last night I ran a little errand to pick up some dry cleaning. I had two of my favorite dresses finally cleaned (*cough* because I didn’t wear them 3 or 4 times each over the course of a few years without taking them to be cleaned or anything like that *cough*).

I planned to wear one in particular to the Fitbloggin Harbor Social on Friday night. I pulled the dress out of the packaging and zipped it up. It fit! Then, I turned around and looked in the mirror. Ohhh…no. Not going to work. The nursing boobs have struck again and taken a previously classy but fun clothing item and turned it into an “I’m-working-the-corner-how-much-you-got-for-me” item. Sigh. Okay, I will try the other dress. It’s strapless and shouldn’t have a problem with in-your-face cleavage. Wrong. I don’t understand how cleavage happens in a strapless dress either.

Okay, then. Plan B. I pull out my other dresses I own – all 3 of them. They are all a bit on the “too big” side and left me feeling frumpy. Grrrr. I turn to Peter with puppy dog eyes and he sends me up to the stores to try and find something.

It’s been a “hot minute” as my sister would say (<-- any of you say this apparently popular phrase??) since I have shopped for real clothes. The only options I had were Target, Ross, Kohls, and TJ Maxx. I started at TJ Maxx. It had a few nice dresses, but none were a fit or style really flattering to my body when I tried them on. Okay. I will try Kohls. What the heck is up with their stuff? It was all either way too stiff/serious looking or high-school-trashy attire. On to Target. All their dresses looked like beach cover-ups and were partly see through. On to Ross, which is where I found the redneck dimension of my little town and promptly walked out afraid after seeing the rack of dresses. Oh, the hideousness!

As my night and dress venture wore on, my confidence wore down. I began critiquing my body more and more harshly in the mirror as I tried on the handful of dresses I found. I began feeling negative about my appearance and that I won’t look put together enough for the social. I even started feeling down about having to miss two workouts this week and believing it affected how “in-shape” I look. Things obviously verged on spiraling out of control. I teetered on a slippery slope. And for what? For a dress! Even though I have a jeans/cute top that I feel great in!

So, I sucked it up and told myself to turn it around. I made myself list out reasons to feel confident no matter what I end up wearing tomorrow night.

I Will Be Confident Tomorrow Night Because…

• I believe in my worth and that I’m more than my appearance. People aren’t really going to pay attention to my fashion, but my persona. I think I’m pretty nice and friendly.
• I feel so great physically and know I have made great progress. Those dresses did fit after all! And I think I look pretty good in my jeans.
• I have come so far. Not only physically with my body after baby progress, but more so mentally over years of learning what matters most in who I am.
• I will have kicked butt with some fun workouts earlier in the day and nothing boosts confidence like a fun sweat.

On a whole, I am confident in who I am for way more reasons than those, but for tomorrow night, these work. Plus, if all else fails, I can think of how much these guys love me and that’s all I need.

I’m going to miss those little faces!!!! Time to eat them up one last time before hitting the road! See you all tonight from Baltimore!

• How do you get past those “nothing to wear” confidence challenges?
• How often do you go to the dry cleaners? aka tell me I’m not the only one who puts it off so badly