Today promises to be slow.

All the managers in my office are out, for one reason or another. Most of them are available via cell phone, but they're at meetings or trade shows or... whatever. They're not here.

So the documents that were due today were rushed out the door yesterday instead, because we can't deliver anything until a manager's signed off on the delivery.

There's a big fat document sitting on my desk, but it's not due out until the end of next week, and it's not all new - it's a revision, and I'm waiting for the author to tell me exactly what sections were revised, so I know what to review. So that probably won't happen until Monday.

Which means I've got the whole day to myself, and nothing to do but work on my own personal projects, really. It's a good thing I knew about this in advance so I could bring stuff in. You'd think it would mean I could spend the whole day writing, but even when I'm really in the groove, I can't actually write all day.

I definitely have to hit the gym tonight. I was craving Chinese food yesterday, so that's what we had for dinner last night... And this morning, the scale rather firmly explained to me why Chinese food is a bad idea.

I really have to be good this weekend and all next week. I'm not trying to lose weight over the holidays, but I didn't want to gain too much back, and I'm already back over the limit I'd set myself. And the moon cookie party is next weekend, so I really need to get myself some wiggle room, for that.

I bought new clothes with my birthday money - clothes that actually fit, and some of them show off my curves in all the right ways. It's amazing what well-fitting clothes can do. People keep telling me how great I look, which feels nice... Except when the scale's creeping back upwards, and I don't feel like I deserve it.

Perseverance, I guess... A full year of dieting is done in two months, and if I don't backslide too horribly over the holidays, I'd guess I'll end it with a 40-pound loss. That's about 60 pounds down from the heaviest I've ever been, which was right about the time I got pregnant. Which, by the way, is the slimmest I've been since before Matt and I married.

I'd like to think that a year from now, I'll be down another 40 pounds, and that'll put me back to just about where I was when I graduated from William and Mary.

But first, I have to get through the holidays. Wish me luck.

--Liz