173.6

8.4 pounds in 3 weeks. not too shabby, if i do say so myself.

and did i tell you we're going to alabama to visit with sg's 'rents over labor day weekend. and we're going to the gulf shore? on one hand, yay! beach! warm water! on the other hand, MORTIFICATION! me, in a bathing suit in front on his parents!? kill. me. now.

the crazy thing is, my entire adult life i've always worn a bikini to the beach or pool because i honestly don't care what other people think. three quarters of the other people are wearing suits unflattering to their bodies anyway and i'd rather have fun than miss out. and being the sunwhore that i am, i want optimum sun exposure. but put me in front of my fiancees parents and all i want is an oversized muumuu.

i know i shouldn't care. they love me to bits. but gah! talk about feeling exposed. vulnerable. i know exactly how his mother feels about her body, so i don't even want to think about the judgements she'd make about mine. not that her genteel southern manners would let her speak them out loud.

in a related manner, there was one weekend patrick and i decided to get away and we stayed at a really pretty historic mansion in san jose. we spent most of the time at the pool and there was one instance where he video chatted with his parents on the laptop. hearing we were at the pool, his mother and father insisted, quite urgently, that i pop onscreen so they could see me in my bathing suit.

!!!!!!!!!!

WTF?!!

how weird is that?!

WEIRD!

sorry, but i'm not parading myself in front of my boyfriend's 70 and 60 year old father and mother in my bikini over video chat. that's. just. weird.

in other news, i think i might have convinced enough family members to join me in a relay team for the CIM in decemeber. i'm super stoaked about this and think it'll be an even greater marathon experience by sharing it with my cousins and brother!