Everything Under the Moon

A Super Easy (and Thrifty) Craft Project

2010-10-04T13:08:00.011-05:00

I remember the excitement surrounding buying my first house about a year and a half ago. I had big plans to paint every room and get the perfect decorations to accessorize and make everything look like a page out of Good Housekeeping. About three weeks later the newness wore off, and the extra money ran out, so all of the little projects I wanted to do naturally faded away.

One of the forgotten projects, though, has become a nuisance that keeps pestering me every day when I walk in my front door. When I moved into my house, my living room wall had a specific area where there were a lot of little white spots where the previous homeowners had spackled in nail holes, but failed to repaint over their spackle. So one day, in a moment of sheer brilliance, I decided to paint the white spots. I had painted my dining room a tan color that, I thought, was identical to the living room color. So I just walked right up to those spots with my paint brush in hand and painted over them.

This was my result:

The moral of this story: You can't match paint by eyeballing it and making your best guess.

I have hated seeing this spot on my wall for over a year now. And I haven't wanted to go to the trouble of painting the entire room just to cover this minimal area. I've been thinking about buying a painting or wall hanging to cover it up. The only problem was, the spot is shaped oddly and it would take a fairly large-sized picture. And we all know that fairly large-sized pictures come with fairly large-sized price tags. So I've been letting it sit. And contemplating my options. For over a year.

Last week, though, I was inspired by another website I saw, and decided to finally do something about this darned spot.

The project I saw on the website was to make a huge grid patterned wall hanging using scrapbooking paper and 12 x 12 picture frames.

I loved this idea, but hated the thought of spending $100 or more on the frames, so I decided to modify it a bit.

Here is what I came up with:

Here's how it happened:

For one, I knew that my local Dollar Store sold picture frames. Granted, they are not typically the greatest quality frames, but they are fine for a project like this, where the frame is not the focal point of the piece. I knew I wanted square frames, so I set out with that in mind. I ended up finding some small red plastic frames that were meant to hold multiple photos (I knew I wouldn't be using the photo mats that came in the frames, so I tried to focus simply on the exteriror frame as I was shopping). My frames were about 8.25" x 8.25" around the outside. (Total Cost: $9.72)

Then I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased some 12" x 12" scrapbooking paper (these retail for $0.59 each, but Hobby Lobby runs a sale on their scrapbooking supplies about once a month...the day I went they weren't on sale, though). I also picked up some bronze acrylic paint for $0.99 and some sponge brushes for about $1. (Total Cost: $7.87)

So instead of over $100, I spent $17.69 (and I would have spent less had I already owned paint and brushes).

This project was so easy, and the end result so beautiful, that I thought I would provide a little step-by-step guide to doing it yourself.

Materials:

You will need:
-9 frames

-9 pieces of scrapbooking paper in coordinating colors (I repeated 2 of the sheets I found because I couldn't find anything else to match)

-1 small bottle of acrylic paint in bronze, silver, brown, or black.

-1 paint brush (or sponge brush)

-Some newspaper (or, cut a large trash bag down the middle and lay it flat to cover your work area)

-A small piece of foil or a paper plate (to put your paint on)

-Something to hang the photos with (I used command strips because my frames were lightweight. If you have heavier frames, you'll have to use nails.

Instructions:

1. I began by removing the backs and mats out of my frames. I reserve the backs and 1 set of papers from the frames (this will help with the grid pattern layout later). I chose to discard the glass that came with the frames because I didn't like the glare it put on the papers. You may choose to keep yours if you wish.

2. My frames had the little leg things that come on the back of tabletop frames to help them stand. Since my frames were going on the wall, they didn't need legs. And the legs would have prevented them from hanging flush against the wall like I wanted, so I removed them.

3. I spread newspaper over my entire work area and began painting my frames the bronze color I had picked up at the store. I learned that it can be quite cumbersome to cover plastic with acrylic paint. It took me about 4 or 5 coats before the frames were covered thoroughly. You should allow at least 30 minutes between coats to allow the paint to dry.

4. Once I was finished completely with painting my frames, I laid them out and allowed them to dry overnight (if you don't want to wait overnight, you should at least wait 2 hours to make sure your frames are completely dry before you start handling them again.).

5. After my frames were dry, I put all of my papers inside of them, and put the backs securely on the frames (you'll need to replace the front glass at this point if you're using it). Then I began to figure out exactly how I wanted my pictures arranged in my grid pattern.

6. Once I had my pattern laid out exactly how I wanted it, I took the inserts that came in the frames (reserved from Step 1), and hung them on my wall with masking tape. I wanted to make sure I had the layout figured out before I started adhering the pictures to my wall. This step was a little time consuming for me because I had originally planned on hanging the pictures with a couple of inches of space in between. But with my painted predicament on my wall, this was not possible with any arrangement I could come up with. I ended up deciding to hang the pictures as one giant square, with no space in between. This also made it easier to hang the pictures because I only had to measure the first picture I hung. The rest of them were hung by simply aligning the edges with the other frames that were already hanging.

And here is my finished project (with no ugly paint spots on the wall!)

Life as a Wife

2010-09-14T12:07:00.002-05:00

Now that I've been married for all of 6 weeks, I feel like I've got a decent handle on being someone's wife.....well, at least better than I did at the beginning.

Adam and I are going through Financial Peace University right now and we're really trying hard to pinch every penny that comes our way. We're making sacrifices and using coupons and searching for sale prices like we never did when we were single. And I kind of like it. I feel triumphant when I get a good deal on something we really needed.

One of the most frustrating domestic duties for me is grocery shopping. I hate it.

If I don't plan out my meals ahead of time and go to the store with a list, I end up spending way more money than I should and then I always end up missing ingredients when I go to plan a meal.

But meal planning is almost worse! I spend hours sifting through cookbooks trying to figure out which meals we want, how we can use the same ingredients in most of our meals for the week, and then trying to create a list that doesn't make me run in circles around the grocery store like a crazy person.

Sort of one of those things that's just a hassle either way.

At least that's what I thought.

I've been an off and on Dave Ramsey listener for years now, and one of his main advertisers is a company called Mealtime Makeover and their product e-Mealz. I had actually forgotten about e-Mealz until Adam sent me a link to their website several months ago.

e-Mealz is a website that looks at current grocery store sales, then formulates a weekly menu AND grocery list for you. It takes out all of the stress and time-consuming chores of meal planning, and takes advantage of all of the special promotions and sales in the stores.

You can select from a variety of grocery stores (Kroger, Publix, Wal-Mart, Aldi, etc.), or you can select special diet menu plans. They have a Weight Watchers Points plan, Low-Carb, or a vegetarian plan. And you can also select a meal plan that feeds up to 5 people, or one that feeds only 2.

Each week you go to the website and download the new menu plan. The first page of the menu plan contains your actual meals, with a recipe giving you specific instructions on how to prepare it. Page two is your detailed grocery list categorized by where you can find everything in the store. The grocery list also lists the prices of everything on the list and gives a total at the bottom of the page.

The plan is incredible. We have been following e-Mealz for over 2 weeks now and we haven't had a meal that we didn't like. The food is simple, easy to prepare, and tastes good.

Before we joined e-Mealz, Adam and I went to the grocery store to buy groceries for what we hoped would be 2 weeks. We spent $150 at Wal-Mart for just the two of us, and the food didn't last us as long as we hoped....except for our produce, some of which spoiled before we got the chance to eat it.

So we decided to try to save some money and start shopping at Aldi. We signed up for the "Aldi for 2" e-Mealz plan. Our grocery bill for 2 weeks this time was $99! AND it actually lasted us longer than 2 weeks because we went out of town in the middle of it.

Our e-Mealz weekly groceries typically cost $30-40 per week. Granted, that's just for dinners and you'll have to purchase additional breakfast, lunch and snack foods. However, we usually have one small portion left over after each meal, which provides lunch for someone.

E-Mealz only costs $5 a month and they do all the leg work for you!..And you get a special discount off your first 3 months if you're a Dave Ramsey listener.

I just wanted to share that with everyone and let you all know how much e-Mealz has helped me. I now look forward to going to the grocery store and finding the items on my list, then getting out of there in 30 minutes or so!

Click on this banner to learn more about e-Mealz and check out sample menus.

Greetings from the Mrs.

2010-08-26T09:27:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone,
We're back.....well, we've actually been back for quite awhile, but I just haven't gotten around to blogging yet. Let me catch you up.

The Wedding
Everything with the wedding was absolutely perfect! We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. And I am so grateful for all of my friends and family who worked so hard to make it special for us. I love the homemade touches our wedding had. From the hairpieces my friend (and bridesmaid) Amanda helped me make, to the centerpieces my mom and I worked on, to the cake my friend (and bridesmaid) Ali made, to the homemade dishes my aunts brought.....everything was so special! Adam and I agree it was the best day of our lives so far. We've been looking through our 2,000+ wedding pictures and just reliving the day and how amazing everything was. And we're so thankful that many of you were there to celebrate with us....And we're looking forward to seeing those of you who weren't at our receptions in a couple weeks.

The Honeymoon
We went on a cruise to the Bahamas, and it was incredible! We would highly recommend cruising to anyone. I was really nervous about being on a cruise ship. I had always said before that I would never go on a cruise because I was afraid of being trapped on a boat in the middle of the ocean.....but it's not like that at all. There is so much to do and the ship is huge. There's no way you could feel trapped. One of my favorite parts about the cruise was the food (naturally). Our dinner meals were nothing less than excellent. And our waiter made it so much fun by chatting with us and showing us magic tricks...and bringing us out more food than we ordered. We went to shows, special events, parties.....there's no way a person could ever get bored.

And we got to see Nassau in the Bahamas. We took a tour of the city in a rickety 15 passenger van with a lady named Ms. Joan. We got to see the Atlantis Hotel (where the most expensive room they have is The Michael Jackson suite, which rents for $25,000 per night with a 4-night minimum!). It was beautiful. And we tried conch fritters, which just tasted like deep fried yumminess.

We also went to a private island owned by Royal Caribbean called Coco Cay. There we did some snorkeling. That was one of my favorite activities on the honeymoon. I scraped up both of my knees on a giant rock and Adam got a sea urchin in his finger, but we still had a blast. We got to see remnants of a shipwreck and a plane wreck. And so many brightly colored fish and coral. It was beautiful.

So the wedding was perfect and the honeymoon was perfect. And I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life. Life is very sweet right now.

And I would like to leave you with a link to this video.....it's a picture of what I hope my marriage looks like in many, many years. And it will make you cry. Even if you're a dude.
http://vimeo.com/12562270

The Best Surprise Ever!

2010-07-30T09:22:00.003-05:00

I've recently come to accept the fact that my life is crazy. And it will continue to be crazy for another week or so.

In the midst of the craziness, though, there have been a few brief moments where I could just sit back and breathe a sigh of relief.

Last night was one of those moments.

I've had my own home for just over a year now, and I love it. The problem is, I'm never there. I mean never. Before Adam was down here, I would typically choose to spend many (most) evenings with friends or at my parents' house simply because I didn't want to spend every evening in my house alone. And because I was there by myself, I didn't mind if things got a little cluttered....I was never there long enough for it to really bother me anyway.

And then Adam came. It has been so wonderful having him here, and adjusting to us spending so much time together. I've never been happier. But Adam brought a lot of stuff with him. Not any more than a regular person, mind you, but stuff nonetheless....

And I had 3 bridal showers, which provided even more stuff.....stuff I love, and stuff I'm grateful for, but again, stuff nonetheless.

And in the busyness and chaos of wedding planning, I still haven't been home much. It seems like lately I haven't gotten home until after midnight usually, and by then, I'm just ready for bed and not in the mood to work on cleaning.

So my poor house has been neglected as we just keep piling more and more stuff in it.

I had double booked myself this weekend....I was somehow going to be in Bloomington on Saturday, Flanagan on Sunday, and still manage to get my house clean and all of the laundry done, AND get myself packed for the honeymoon before Monday rolled around!

Yeah. Right.

I actually had just realized that I would not be able to be in two places at once yesterday while I was at work.

Then Adam texted me and asked me where he should put something at the house. That's when it hit me...I thought he was tidying up a few things around the house to surprise me.

I was so excited, and I asked him if he was. He told me not to get too excited because he wasn't doing that much...he was just picking up a little.

Later that evening I walked in to the house in total shock and amazement! Adam, my mom, and my brother's girlfriend, Katherine had conspired together to get my house absolutely spotless!

The house has never looked better and it is such a relief and a weight off my shoulders to know that the BIGGEST job I had to do this weekend has now been taken care of.

And Katherine is going to bring some pretty potted flowers to my front entryway since everything I had was dead.

What an amazing gift they have all given me! I know it was really, really hard work. And I know they must have really busted it to get done so quickly. But I am so appreciative and I don't even have the words to thank them all enough.

Needless to say, I was an emotional basketcase when I got home, and I still am, just thinking about all of the hard work that went into the day for them.

It was such a special treat. Now instead of feeling like all of the stuff that is lying all over the place is suffocating me, I can feel relaxed and at peace in our home. And that is a precious, priceless gift!

Oy!

2010-07-27T10:31:00.001-05:00

You know you're in for a heckuva day when you realize mid-morning that you've put your underpants on inside out.

That is all.

A Very Merry Un-Birthday To Me!

2010-07-26T10:44:00.002-05:00

Today is my twenty-eighth birthday. It doens't feel like it, though. I'm not complaining...birthdays become increasingly less fun as you get older. And this particular birthday has gotten lost in the shuffle of wedding planning and chaos!

My blog has gotten lost in the shuffle, too. Ten days of absence have made me a blogging failure! And I apologize to anyone who has been checking in periodically. Unfortunately, blogging has not been my priority over the last week and a half, and it's brought me to this realization: daily blogging is really hard!

I really thought I would stand the test of time. I thought I would make it to the finish line of the six month goal I set back in March. I came pretty close, I guess. But not all the way.

You'll notice I didn't put a day number at the front of this blog post....That's because I'm not going to even attempt a blog every single day anymore. I do plan to write on a regular basis. I love writing and I count it one of the things I'm pretty good at.

So I'm going to keep writing. And telling my story. And getting my thoughts on here. But I just don't have it in me at this particular time in my life to stick to a regimen of writing something every single day.

So I hope you'll forgive me (you kind of have to because it's my birthday, you know....).

And keep checking back. I'll post a link of facebook when I've written a new blog post, so it will be easier to check!

I'm very much looking forward to going to D'Arcy's Pint tonight with my family and my future hubby! One more buffalo chicken pony shoe before I start trying to eat healthy again! I don't want to pop a zipper on my wedding gown!

Day 136: And They All Lived Happily Ever After

2010-07-16T15:13:00.002-05:00

It's been a little bit of an adjustment for Adam and I getting used to living in the same town. It's weird to factor in another person when you're making your day-to-day decisions (what to eat, where to go, what to watch on TV, etc.).

Adam and I have sort of had a wake up call this week just realizing that we do things differently. A lot of things. Very differently. And I think both of us are beginning to realize that doing something differently doesn't necessarily mean they're doing it incorrectly.

It's kind of a surreal experience learning all of this. You would think dating someone for almost a year would give you a pretty good indication that you know the person. But I think you really don't know someone until you live with them....which means for us that the learning curve really hasn't even begun yet.

That's scary and exciting at the same time. I'm looking forward to it.

By looking at the loving marriages I see in my life on a regular basis, I would assume that you eventually figure all of that out. But it's just interesting to me that I never thought about how it would be to make decisions with someone else.

I don't know if I'm articulating this well or not, so I think I'll hang it up for the day.

Suffice it to say I'm thrilled that Adam is here and that we get to learn all of this stuff together. I am very excited that in 3 weeks he will be my husband and we have our whole lives to figure it out.

Day 134: Wedding Wednesday

2010-07-14T15:08:00.002-05:00

Whew! I am in the process of printing off 150 programs. It is complicated. I have to stay organized.

I am very pleased with how these programs look, though....I wanted them to be something special. I really think they are. I hope you all do, too, when you finally get to see them!

That's about it for today....I have another paper jam that I need to tend to. Forgive the length of this blog, please.

Day 133: Let the Games Begin!

2010-07-13T15:23:00.003-05:00

You may have noticed that I have been absent from my blog for the past two days. There are three reasons for this:

Partially because blogging has recently taken a back seat to wedding and marriage planning.
Partially because I know this blog started out as a health and fitness blog and has somehow wandered off the beaten path, so I'm not as motivated to write.
And mostly because my life has been a little chaotic and stressful over the last two days.

I'll address the last point first: I spent all day Sunday cleaning and organizing my house. I had a front porch filled with gifts from people, and even more in my car. So I began slowly weeding through all of it and giving each new little treasure a home in my home. I was also the enamored recipient of a 50lb. bag full of dirty clothes from my fiancee that needed tending to. I kid, I really don't mind doing laundry.........I wouldn't say I enjoy it, but let's put it this way, I'd rather do laundry than go for a jog!

And after my Sunday of frantic cleaning, unpacking, organizing and washing, Monday rolled around and I drove my dad's pickup truck to Adam's residence and we moved him to Decatur!! I should note that while Adam's stuff is currently living in the house, he will not be living there until after the wedding. Just so you know....

So last night was a doozy! Thankfully my younger brother has many, many strapping young lads as friends who are blissfully and willingly able to lend a hand at the drop of a hat. They moved everything in to my house so quickly I could not believe it was all done.

Now Adam and I are left with the simple task of finding the proper places for a person's whole life in a house where another person's whole life has already been happening for a year. We're up to the challenge, though.....even if we end up with a basement full of unopened boxes for now. That's what the cold winter weather is for.

I'll address the second point second. My blog has somehow gotten off of its diet. I don't know exactly how or when this happened, but I am doing what I can to try to get it back on track. My blog needs to learn more discipline and perseverance when my blog doesn't see the results it wants to see on the scale...or when my blog drives past a McDonalds and begins drooling at the thought of French Fries.

And I'll address the first point tomorrow.....come back for Wedding Wednesday!

Day 130: Blessed by the Generosity of Others

2010-07-10T22:58:00.002-05:00

Today was a wonderful day.

Before I explain why, you need to know a few things:

1. Adam lives about 90 miles away from me in a very rural area.
2. He goes to a lovely rural church called Salem.
3. Adam and I very rarely spend weekends together because our schedules are opposite.
4. Because of this, I have only attended his church with him one time on a Sunday.

This is why my day was wonderful:

The ladies of Adam's church got together and planned a bridal shower for me. They don't know me. A few of them have met me a few times, but to most of them I am a complete stranger.

They love Adam so much, and they are so filled with generosity and kindness that they decided to give me a bridal shower.

It was beautiful. There were so many people who put a lot of time, effort and money into making the party happen and I am very grateful.

The decorations were magnificent. The food was incredible. And I was given so many things that will be so helpful as we begin our life together.

More than any of that, though, I was blessed with the godliness displayed by these women. They were so friendly and caring. I felt like I was enveloped in God's love while I was sitting in that fellowship hall this afternoon, and it was a wonderful experience.

A very challenging devotion was given by Tracey, a lady I've gotten to know from my visits to the ranch where Adam works. She busted many of the myths we hear about marriage and helped to paint a picture of what 1Corinthians love actually looks like when it's played out in a marriage. I appreciated hearing that, and I think her advice and wisdom will stay with me for a long time. And that's a good thing when you're at the stage in your relationship where it's easy to get caught up in the lovey-dovey of it all and forget that there will be times when you feel like screaming at each other.

I just want to thank the ladies of Salem Church for their generosity and kindness today. It meant so much for them to give me this shower, and I can't express my gratitude enough. I hope there are a few Sundays in the future in which Adam and I will be able to come up and visit with you all again.

Day 129: The Dress that Will Change Your Life!

2010-07-09T13:27:00.006-05:00

My fiance doesn't understand the importance of a dress. A dress can celebrate an occasion. It can give you a little pep in your step. A dress can make a girl float on air. In preparing for our wedding and all the parties that go along with a wedding, I've faced a dilemma: I want to have a different dress for every event I'm attending. Unfortunately, that's not great on my pocketbook...and it stresses out my beloved future husband.

However, I have found a solution to my problem. I found it on Etsy.com (check out my previous post on Etsy HERE) and it's made by The Radical Thread Co. by seller Katesy. It has made all of my dreams come true. Well, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but this dress is seriously something to blog about.

The dress is called "My Wrap Dress" in Katesy's shop. It is a versatile dress that can be worn in at least 100 different ways. And it was custom made just for me.

The dress has a twirly skirt with a stretchy waistband that fits to your body. Attached to the waistband are two very long (probably 10 feet each) straps that hang down.

Here comes the fun part, you can get creative and wrap and twist the straps in whatever ways you want to, and create a look that fits your event or mood.

Want a tube dress? Just wrap the straps around your bust and waistline over and over again and tie at the waist.

How about a halter? Bring the straps up and around the neck and wrap around the waist.

You can do a Marilyn Monroe look, thick straps, thin straps, one shoulder, or even wrap it as a skirt only.

If you don't feel like showing your arms, you can even make sleeves out of the dress! Long, kimono-like sleeves, or little cap sleeves, and probably anything in between.

The dress usually comes in a tea-length, but I requested that mine be a little shorter, about to my knees. By doing this, I can also wear my dress as just a top with jeans or leggings by pulling the waist band up to my bust and tying from there...which doubles the number of looks I get with just one garment!

Kate can make this dress in any color or fabric you want, plus size, patterned, whatever your little heart desires. AND for a little extra she'll make a matching tube top to wear under the dress for modesty and to give you more options and comfort. I highly recommend the tube top....it's worth the little bit extra.

I ordered my dress in a beautiful smoky blue shade and I couldn't be happier. I have had so much fun playing with the different looks and figuring out what the dress can do.

Expensive boutiques make dresses very similar to these, but they're not custom and they're more expensive. However, feel free to steal ideas from the boutiques on exactly how to wrap the dress. Check out the Butter by Nadia collection on You Tube.

I am really wishing I had found out about this dress earlier. They would have made great bridemaid dresses! They're cheaper and they can definitely be worn again (and again). I know my bridesmaids will look beautiful in whatever they have on for my wedding, but these would have been so cool!

If you are interested in getting 100 or more dresses for the price of one, head on over to Kate's shop. Katesy.Etsy.com. And be sure to tell her you heard about the dress on this blog! Mention my name or the blog name.

I know you're going to love this little gem just as much as I do!

Day 128: A New Phone and a New Look

2010-07-08T12:38:00.002-05:00

Don't worry, you're not at the wrong blog...I've decided to do a little mini makeover. I'm not in love with this look yet, so don't be surprised if the appearance continues to change a little over the next couple of weeks.

I just thought it was time for something new and fresh...I don't know about you, but I got sick of looking at that same green background every day.

What do you think of this look? Should I switch to something else? I was hesitant to choose this particular background image because the color scheme is similar to what I had before. I think it's different enough to offer a fresh perspective, though. We'll see.

I got my new iPhone yesterday! I'm not too much of a technology geek, but I can appreiciate a fine piece of workmanship. And the iPhone is just that. The picture quality is astounding! Everything looks so crisp and clean.

And I'm glad to now have a phone that has 3G....my old iPhone was the first generation one that didn't have any G's (Adam likes to make fun of me for saying it like that, but it's how my brain works).

Supposedly the screen resolution on the iPhone 4 is better than the human eye can even perceive. Whether this is true or why this is necessary, I will never know. But I can tell you that the screen is about a million times better than my old phone. And I never thought my old phone had a bad picture or anything.

I was surprised about a few things with the phone:

I couldn't believe how heavy the phone was. To me, it seemed like the new iPhone, even though it is 25% thinner than the old phones, was significantly heavier than the old phones. Adam said this may be due to the fact that the battery is larger. I don't know. It's not painfully heavy or anything; it just feels very different.
Maybe this is an Apple thing, and since I'm just starting to join on the Apple bandwagon, I don't know. But I was a little disappointed that there weren't any new ringtone options on this phone. There also weren't any new signal noises, either. I don't know why they didn't include any. Again, maybe Apple exclusively uses one set of sounds for all of their iPhones. I don't know.
I was also shocked at how easily the phone smudges. I had the phone for approximately one hour before I went to Best Buy to buy a screen protector, and it was completely smudged on the front and back. I'm not sure why Apple would design something that can't stay clean. If we can put a man on the moon, and create a screen that's better than the human eye, surely we can invent a smudge-proof glass to go on the iPhone.

Those are my only complaints so far about the phone. There are many more pros than cons I would say. From the HD camera and video camera, to the front facing camera for video chatting (called Face Time on the iPhone), to the crystal clear screen and the thinner, sleeker look of the phone, to the longer battery life (I've had mine operating for almost 24 hours now...using it A LOT and I'm still over half of my battery life), to the speed of the phone and the ease of the use, it's a great phone to have. There is a new feature on the phone where you can multi task. I haven't explored that option yet. And there is also a way to organize all the apps on your phone into various folders, much like a desktop computer. I haven't experimented with that one, either.

But I am a happy girl with a 3G Smart Phone and I am looking for opportunities to use it. So maybe you should expect a call from me soon!

Day 127: Wedding Wednesday

2010-07-07T12:05:00.003-05:00

Our wedding is exactly one month from today! It seems like the ball is really starting to roll now, and we're getting a ton of stuff done.

Wedding invitations are mailed out! I am so elated with how they turned out....they are stunning. Reception invitations will go out a little later. My cousin Karie made them and they are exquisite! Let me know how much you love them when you receive yours in the mail. Hopefully you'll get it today or tomorrow.

We're working on some decor ideas I've found. They're going to really make the ceremony and reception pretty. I'm very excited about these, but I don't want to give anything away unless you're going to be helping me make them.

I have bridal showers the next two Saturdays and I'm very excited about them. I forgot to mention yesterday that Adam's family threw us a surprise mini shower and brought us some really nice gifts for our home. For me, that's the part that makes it all seem real is that people are giving us things we'll need for our life together.

My mom and I are going to get started on making the favors for the wedding in the next couple of days. It will be a little bit of a daunting task, but if anyone can handle it, my mom can. She keeps me sane sometimes.

I'm hoping to get the programs designed, printed and cut within the next week or so, so that's my next big project.

I can't wait!

Day 126: I'm Baaaaaaaack

2010-07-06T22:45:00.003-05:00

So I've fallen off the wagon when it comes to daily blogging. I am going to chalk it up to being out of town and out of my normal routine. Now I'm back to life and back to my schedule and I should be able to get a post in every day at least until the wedding....hopefully.

After the wedding we'll be out of town, out of the country, and we'll have other items on our agenda, so please don't give up on me if I miss a week or so. I sincerely hope you will understand.

Vacation was wonderful! If you've read my last couple of posts you know that Adam and I traveled to Kentucky to return my cousin to my aunt and uncle. They have a bustling and beautiful house full of love and screaming children. I love being there and spending time with them. They have a brand new baby in the family and she is just as sweet as can be. I had such a great time with my family and I only wish I got to see them more often.

After Kentucky we drove down to Tennessee to spend some time with Adam's family. I am so grateful we were able to go. I had a blast. I really love his family and I'm glad that I've been welcomed with open arms and southern hospitality. I can't wait to see them all again in a few weeks when I officially become one of them! I'm very excited about that.

Monday morning we had engagement pictures done at Centennial Park in Nashville. I really feel like they turned out great. Our photographer is amazing and I can't wait to see the finished product. We'll have them ready in time for everyone to see at the wedding and receptions!

When we were done with our pictures, we went back to Adam's parents' house and I wasn't feeling very well. I got physically ill (broke what was probably at least a three year streak). I think it was from the combination of being out in the heat with a really bad migraine and then taking migraine medicine without having any food in my belly. I took half a pill to help with the nausea, though. That pill ended up knocking me out! I slept for at least half of the car ride home,and I felt terrible for leaving poor Adam to fend for himself on the open roads. I wish I would have been a better travel companion.

Last night when we got home I was still groggy from the medicine...and even today as I was getting my hair done, I was overcome with sleepiness.

I think the stuff has finally worked its way out of my system, though. It was weird. My mom actually thinks the exhaustion has less to do with the medicine I took and more to do with the gigantic spider bite I have on my leg....that could be,too, I suppose.

That's about as concise as I can get in describing my wonderful weekend getaway. Thanks for putting up with me when I missed a few days!

Day 123: Summer Vacation

2010-07-03T16:50:00.002-05:00

I missed yesterday because we were in the car all day, then we didn't have Internet service when we got to the lake. We're staying at Lake Tansi with Adam's family for a long weekend. It has been great so far.

The scenery is beautiful; the water is crystal clear; the mountainous backdrop is breathtaking. I was just told, however, that they're not mountains and I only think they are because I'm from Illinois (there you go, Adam!).

I actually went for my first swim in the lake today. I was a little apprehensive about getting in the water, but Adam graciously helped me out by giving me a little push. I ended up enjoying myself. The water wasn't murky. And it was warm and nice. I had a lot of fun.

We've just had a relaxing day with each other, which has been really nice. We don't often get to spend consecutive days together, so we're enjoying this little taste of what married life will bring. I love spending time with him and I can't wait until we can spend most of our time together.

We have one more day of this nice relaxation until we have to head back home...actually we're going to Hendersonville on Monday to take some engagement pictures....I am SO excited about those! We're going to have them ready by the time the wedding rolls around so everyone can see them. Monday afternoon we're heading back home to get back to the daily grind. Adam has just over one more week of work and then he'll be coming to Decatur for good!

Things are starting to move along quickly now...I can't wait!

Day 121: Kentucky Kids

2010-07-01T15:36:00.002-05:00

Adam and I left Illinois last night to drive to Kentucky and stay with my aunt and uncle for a couple days. They have a new little baby and we wanted to come see her (and I wanted to hold her before anyone else in my family got the chance).

We always have fun here in Dry Ridge. There's a house full of excited, energetic kids waiting for us every time we come and they love to love on us.

It's nice being here and seeing my family that I don't get to see very often.

We had a little glitch in our invitation process....I tried to do a mail merge and printed my labels yesterday for all of my invitations. My plan was to get everything put together in the car and have them ready to go, however we ended up with labels that had no city or state line on them. So today I'm going to have to go through that process all over again. We're getting ready to go to Wal-Mart in a little bit to get some more labels...so we'll see how they turn out.

We're going to see my cousin and his wife tonight, along with their two baby girls, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Gotta run, now things are crazy around here, but in a good way!

Day 120: Wedding Wednesday

2010-06-30T13:42:00.002-05:00

Since my sister's wedding is over, my life has taken a turn for the chaotic. With less than 6 weeks before the wedding we're going on a mini vacation!! Yikes! But I'm sure things will be fine and we'll get everything squared away when we're back in town.

This week I have been working on getting my invitations ready and my programs all typed up.

My cousins are working on our invitations for us, and I'm going to stuff envelopes, stamp, and address them during the 19 hours we'll be spending in the car this weekend...I'm really hoping I can get them mailed out by Monday at the very latest.

And I've been trying to figure out how I want to do the programs for the wedding. I feel like one thing I'm really good at is creating pretty things on the computer, so I really want our programs to look special. I have some fun ideas that will look really nice if we can execute them properly. We shall see.

This week I've realized just how difficult life becomes when you have children. I've been splitting time with my mom watching my six-year-old cousin who is dear to my heart and probably about the cutest kid ever made....but I now know that there is absolutely no way I can ever expect to have a daily blog...or possibly even a daily shower, when children come into the picture. I think it will be worth the trade-off, though, because Joshua has been so much fun to have around.

Day 118: A Gushing Post that Could Likely Make You Puke (Sorry)

2010-06-28T15:44:00.003-05:00

Sometimes you just have to dote on the one you love. It's inevitable. And some people love hearing about it....and some people think you're dithguthting (as my little cousin Joshua would say).

I've learned that love makes you turn into a person you never thought you'd be. In my case, that's a lovey dovey mushy gushy girl with stars in her eyes. It's not that I'm a hypocrite...just that I didn't know myself as well as I thought I did.

I just have to say that Adam is wonderful. I've known this for quite some time, but it was made abundantly clear this weekend amidst all the chaos and stress of my sister's wedding.

He takes such good care of me.

Whether it's the 2 bouquets of flowers he brought me Thursday night when he came to town....that's right...two bouquets!

Or the way he willingly took on the responsibility of parking approximately 90 cars in a space built for 5.

Or the way he stood out in the humidity and heat for at least a good 9 hours total directing traffic and parking cars and making sure operations were running smoothly.

Maybe it's the fact that he voluntarily cleaned my house the day after the wedding, after a bunch of guys had stayed there the previous night. Just so that I could come home from an exhausting weekend to a spotless and stress-free environment.

Or perhaps it's the way he lovingly played with my six year old cousin last night and tolerated being jumped on and climbed on for hours.

Or even the way he allowed me to lean on him and take a little nap on Sunday afternoon, even though he was more tired than I was, and he wasn't in a comfortable position to fall asleep himself.

All I know is that I'm going to be well cared for by my husband for the rest of my life, and I don't need to worry about a thing. He makes me so happy and I am so grateful that he has chosen me. I can't believe I get to marry him and I am so excited for our wedding....SO excited!

Day 117: Nap Time!

2010-06-27T22:36:00.002-05:00

Today I am feeling oh-so exhausted! The wedding was perfect and beautiful and....sweltering.

We were up until about 1:00 in the morning cleaning up and visiting with friends and family. Then we got up and spent a couple more hours in the humidity today cleaning up.

I know that I'm going to sleep like a rock the next few days because I am so tired!

And I really hope I do get some rest because Adam and I are taking a long July 4th weekend and visiting family, so I'm going to need some energy!

Day 116: My Sister's Getting Married!

2010-06-26T07:41:00.003-05:00

Today is the day! Ten months of preparation and planning have gone into making this day happen, and I'm very excited for my little sister.

We had the rehearsal last night and everything is going to be absolutely, breath-takingly beautiful.

I teared up during the rehearsal, so that means I need to be sure to bring some kleenex with me as I walk down the aisle. It's an emotional day, but a wonderful one.

To Rachel and Karsten, I wish you all the happiness in the world. And I'm glad you can finally be together as husband and wife forever.

Day 115: I'm a Failure Because I Haven't Got a Brain

2010-06-25T09:29:00.003-05:00

Fifteen points to anyone who can name what movie script that line is from without Googling!

So, I forgot to blog yesterday. Woopsie! I am not planning on this becoming a growing trend, although I should warn you that I will not be blogging (or using any Internet) from our cruise ship on our honeymoon....so there will probably be a week's worth of no posts on my behalf. But that's still 6 weeks away (YIKES!) and I'm still here....so let's get to it.

This is going to be a chaotic and wonderful weekend. My baby sister is getting married! Today we have bachelorette pampering, followed by the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner and a bunch of girly pajama party time with the bride tonight. It should be a lot of fun...hopefully my sister will enjoy herself.

She needs a little bit of a breather because some of the companies she's working with have not pulled through like anyone would have hoped or expected. But I hope she can take it all in stride and just enjoy the day.

That's about all I have for today, folks...I'm already tired and the real crazy stuff hasn't even started yet!

Day 113: Wedding Wednesday

2010-06-23T11:58:00.002-05:00

The wedding is fast approaching, but we still seem to have gotten most things accomplished (or at least figured out) as far as this wedding goes....Here are some things we've taken care of in the past week or so.

1. Ordered ties for the groom, groomsmen, and ring bearer. I don't want to give anything
away...but I will tell you that they're blue...and they're awesome!
2. Figured out what we're going to do for wedding favors: Did you really think I would tell you?
The wedding and the Illinois reception will have a certain kind of favor and the Tennessee
reception will have something different. They're going to be quite a bit of work, but I know
we can pull it off (thanks, Mom, for your help!). I imagine we'll get started on them next
week.
3. I got my dress for the rehearsal. Adam thinks it's silly to buy dresses for every separate
occasion of the wedding, but he just doesn't understand....he's been gracious, though, even
though it doesn't make sense.
4. Adam is in the process of figuring out how we're going to valet cars at our wedding. He'll get a lot of practice since he's in charge of parking for my sister's wedding this weekend.

And that's what I really want to talk about on this post....a different wedding! My sister is getting married this weekend and I'm so excited for her! Her wedding is going to be beautiful and I can't wait.

I know she and Karsten really make each other happy, and I'm very glad that she gets to spend the rest of her life with the man she loves.

I'm going to miss her, though, because he's taking her to Chicago. But I'm sure they'll be back to visit frequently.

I'm really looking forward to celebrating their marriage this weekend and to welcome a new brother into the family. This is a really special time for her, and she's worked really hard with putting everything together for her wedding and I know it's going to be perfect.

For those of you who are coming, I can't wait to see you Saturday!

Day 112: Tuesday Treasures - Uni-Ball Jetstream Pens

2010-06-22T22:01:00.003-05:00

Today I will reveal something about myself that you may or may not already know: I'm a geek about office supplies, which makes me a nerd in general, I believe. If you want a breakdown on the whole nerd versus geek thing, you'll have to ask my fiance.

I get a thrill out of walking into Staples and perusing the aisles for the latest and greatest innovations for the office. And my favorite time of year is Back to School because you can smell the school supplies from 100 feet away at Target.

A couple years ago I came across a writing utensil that has changed my life....or at least my writing.

See: the Uni-Ball Jetstream pen. This pen writes so smoothly. It's almost as if you're writing with a gel pen, only without the risk of goopiness or smearing that comes with gel ink. The ink writes like a gel pen, but it has the consistency of a ball point.

They are a little on the expensive side when it comes to disposable pens...they're going to cost more than your standard Bic or Papermate, but I contend that it's worth the extra to not have to constantly scratch the pen on paper (or on the bottom of your shoe) to try to get it to work.

These pens last a very long time, too. I would say a person who writes a fairly average amount could make the pen last a good four months or so.

You can occasionally find these pens at Target, but you're more likely to find them at Staples or an office supply store. You can always find them on Staples.com.

I urge you to check out the Uni-Ball Jetstream the next time you are in the market for a new writing utensil. Your life will never be the same.

Day 111: Champion Chow - Arnold Sandwich Thins

2010-06-21T14:56:00.003-05:00

A revolution has happened in the bread world and most of us don't even know it!

Do you love bread, but hate the carbohydrate load they carry? Do you nearly pass out from ecstacy as you make your way through the bakery section at the grocery store? Do you avoid eating breads at all costs to reserve those extra calories for other foods?

If any of those statements applies to you, you are in luck. Your life is about to change.

Enter, Arnold's Sandwich Thins. These sandwich thins are very thinly sliced pieces of bread that offer a wholesome and filling taste with half the fat, calories and carbs of their full-sized counterparts.

When I first picked up a package of the Arnold's Thins, I was a bit skeptical. I didn't think it would be enough bread to satisfy my hungry tummy. But I had heard several Weight Watchers ladies rave about these things so into my cart they went.

To be honest, the Thins don't look like there's anything to them. They're packaged similarly to hamburger buns with the top and bottom stacked on top of one another. And stacked together they're only slightly thicker than a regular pita pocket. I was nervous.

But to my surprise one Sandwich Thin with peanut butter on it was able to fill me up completely until my next meal. I'll blame it on the whole grains.

Arnold's Sandwich Thins come in 5 different flavors:
100% Whole Wheat
Honey Wheat
Whole Grain White
MultiGrain
and Seedless Rye

Now, all of the varieties are going to have different nutritional information, but they all contain roughly:

100 Calories
1g Fat
5g Fiber
4g Protein

Per roll--that means top AND bottom!

I've only tried the Honey Wheat so far, but I am convinced that this will become a kitchen staple for me. Bye Bye, Butternut! So long, Sunbeam! Arnold's Thins are taking your place!

Day 110: Happy Father's Day

2010-06-20T22:53:00.002-05:00

This post is dedicated to my dad. I enjoyed celebrating him today,and preparing for this post I enjoyed thinking of all the memories I have of my dad.

Like when he would "make my baby fly" by taking my favorite doll and throwing her so hard on the ground that she would bounce back up.

Or like Rachel playing her favorite game with him "Chinese Capanese" (she made up the name)....where he would sit in the floor on one spot and she would run around him trying not to let him catch her. I would occasionally, very tentatively join in...I'm not much of a wrastlin' kind of gal.

Or the time when my dad had an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen and bent down to let the dog lick it, and then commence eating it as if that wasn't disgusting.

I remember my dad being loving with us, hugs and kisses were abundant in our household. And I also remember stern discipline when it was needed. I'm thankful for both....affection and discipline are necessary components to child-rearing.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to spend hours with my dad every single day since we work together. We do butt heads sometimes, but I'm glad I get to share that closeness and see him every single day.

I know I have a lot more memories to come with my dad and I'm grateful for that. But this Father's Day feels extra sentimental to me. This was our last Father's day as just our family unit...Just Dad, Mom, 2 girls and a boy.

My dad is getting ready to give away both of his daughters in the next seven weeks. I know there will be many more Father's Days to come, but next year there will be husbands and not too long after that there will be grandchildren.

Dad, I hope your Father's Days continue to get better with time and you can draw your family around you to celebrate the Dad you are! I love you!

Day 109: Weekly Weigh-In

2010-06-19T23:12:00.002-05:00

Today was such a great day! I had my first bridal shower and it was so much fun. My bridesmaids did a great job of putting everything together. From the decorations to the lemon-raspberry cupcakes (yummy!) to the fun games...it was perfect! I am so grateful to have family and friends who always shower me with love and support. I'll never stop being thankful for that.

One game we played was terrible, though....fun for everyone else, I suppose. But I had to answer questions about Adam and for every question I answered wrong, I had to chew a piece of bubblegum. I got 9 questions wrong. Really, I only got 7 of them wrong, but one had 3 answers. It was gross. And I don't think I'll be chewing any bubblegum for awhile. I thought I was going to choke.

I had my weigh-in yesterday. I stayed exactly the same. I'm okay with that given the fact that I was bed-ridden for most of the week due to my back problems. I'm not going to be able to get to Weight Watchers for the next couple of weeks, so I'm really going to have to watch it and make sure I don't backslide.

My back is feeling much, much better today. It's bothered me a little bit, but not nearly as debilitating as it was earlier in the week.

I really want to thank everyone for stopping in and reading this. It means a lot.

Day 108: Junk Food Junkie

2010-06-19T01:33:00.002-05:00

I had some really great things happen today and some not so great things. I will share them in list form and you can decipher the good from the bad.....
Got to see Adam
Chinese buffet
lots of water
gardettos
really good premarital counseling session
birth control discussion
skittles
bridge mix
driving in a thunderstorm....both ways

Day 107: Ouchie!

2010-06-17T15:44:00.002-05:00

I have been dealing with some pretty acute back pain over the last couple of days, and I think it's because of sciatica.

The pain is completely concentrated in my low back....until it shoots down my right leg occasionally.

I've been spending the last couple of evenings in bed, just relaxing. The pain subsides when I lie down for a long time.

But sitting in my office chair at work is the worst!

I'm not sure what I did to cause the pain, but I think it happened when I was at my sister's recital, sitting in those old theater seats. I remember first feeling the pain when I left the theater that day.

Does anyone have a remedy for this type of pain, or any exercises I can do to help alleviate my symptoms?

I'm at a loss, and I haven't been able to exercise or do much of anything this week.

Day 106: Wedding Wednesday

2010-06-16T15:22:00.003-05:00

There's not too much new to report this week...but here goes.

We are getting some engagement pictures taken when we're in Tennessee over July 4th weekend. We're trying to figure out what we should wear...does anyone have any suggestions? I don't think we want to go too dressy, but we don't want to be out there in t-shirts and shorts, either. We'll have these pictures back in time for the wedding and the receptions, so we're looking forward to showing them off.

Our beautiful invitations are in the works, so we'll hopefully be ready to mail them in a short time.

Musicians are getting lined up and we're excited about all of that.

I guess that's about it. Things have slowed down considerably on the wedding front, which is nice.

One recommendation I have for anyone who's planning a wedding, don't sign up for the website TheKnot. They litter you with a thousand emails a day. I've already unsubscribed twice and I'm still receiving them. Mainly I get emails from them and their affiliates trying to sell me things.

And I really didn't find their site to be that helpful at all. There's just too much there and they don't cater to your specific needs, unless your specific needs are to have a lavish wedding of the century, in which case, you've probably already hired a planner to take care of all that stuff for you.

Just a word of caution.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

Day 105: Tuesday Treasures - All that Jazz

2010-06-15T22:12:00.004-05:00

I think by now most people in North America have heard of Michael Buble. They may not know his music intimately, but I'm sure most people have at least heard the name.

I just want to take a moment to encourage you to explore his music. He sings with such a charming passion and charisma that you're instantly drawn in and taken back to the olden days.

His latest album is called Crazy Love, and it's beautiful. Clicking the link will take you to Amazon where you can preview this album and purchase it in digital form or a hard copy.

Michael Buble will be at our wedding....if not in person, at least his music will make an appearance.

My other favorite jazz artist is Harry Connick, Jr. Mmmmmmmmmm....if I wasn't a betrothed woman and he wasn't previously committed, I would have a huge crush on him. Okay, maybe I still do.

I. love. Harry Connick, Jr. Always have. His music makes me feel happy. Your Songs is Harry's latest album. Unfortunately I don't have the pleasure of owning it yet, but soon, my friends.

Also, if you haven't seen the movie Hope Floats in awhile (or, God Forbid--ever!), you should probably whip out the old VCR and watch it. That movie warms my heart more than I care to admit.

Next on the list is a more obscure artist named Jamie Cullum. He hasn't gained quite the notoriety of the previous two, but he's still worth checking out. His voice is so unique and soothing. Thanks to my friend Kim for introducing me to Jamie's music so many years ago. Twentysomething is not Jamie's latest offering, but it is incredible!

And finally, a female artist to round out my jazz recommendations for the day. Adele has recently come into the spotlight (by recently I mean over the last two years or so...I'm behind the times a little). Her album 19 is breathtaking. There isn't a track on there that I don't adore. And if you haven't had the pleasure of getting to know Adele's music yet, please do.

It's looking like jazz will be an unintentional, but warmly-welcomed, theme at our wedding. That makes me happy.

I hope everyone takes the opportunity to preview a few of the artists I've mentioned. Give Jazz a chance!

Day 104: Champion Chow - Watermelon

2010-06-15T02:12:00.002-05:00

It's a good thing I was stricken with a bout of insomnia tonight because I completely forgot about my blog today! Woops!

I've been on a bit of a watermelon kick lately. I love the taste and the refreshment a juicy slice brings, but even more so, I think I love the feelings watermelon provides.

It reminds me of summertime. Especially summertime as a child. Where sitting on the front porch and having a slice of watermelon was the perfect way to cool down on a hot day.

Watermelon brings happiness.

Who doesn't love watermelon? The texture, the pretty pink and green, the sweet juicy flavor....I challenge you to find five people who don't like it.

Did you know that one wedge of watermelon (approximately 1/16 of the entire thing) contains only 86 calories and 0.4 grams of fat? It makes a very nutritional breakfast or mid-day pick-me-up.

In addition to its low calorie and fat content, though, watermelon also contains some powerful benefits.

1 cup of watermelon contains about 25% of your total daily Vitamin C need, along with strong portions of Vitamins A, B6, B1, Potassium and Magnesium.
Watermelon contains several powerful antioxidants that help prevent illness and keep you healthy.
Watermelon is a great source of lycopene, a particularly notable cancer-fighting agent.
Studies have shown that eating 3 or more servings of fruit a day can help to reduce your risk for macular degeneration.

One word of caution, though....some people, like my father, have allergies when it comes to various types of melon. When my dad eats melon often times his throat will swell and he coughs and hacks and can't breathe. We think this is due more to the pesticides used on the fruits than the actual melon itself. Perhaps trying an organic melon would help with these symptoms. We have to try that experiment sometime.

Day 103: Pita Pizzas

2010-06-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

Want a yummy and super easy dinnertime treat? Try my Pita Pizzas. You can use whatever toppings you want and calculate calories accordingly. My favorite is to get Carl Buddig deli meat (like ham) and dice a couple of slices, along with some of my favorite veggies.

Ingredients:
1 Whole Wheat Pita (about 120 Calories, 1.7g Fat, 4.7g Fiber)
2 Tbsp. Pizza Sauce (about 10 Calories, 0g Fat, 0g Fiber)
1oz. Part-Skim Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (about 72 Calories, 4.5g Fat, 0g Fiber)
2 Slices Buddig Ham (about 24 Calories, 1.5g Fat, 0g Fiber)
A little bit of diced green pepper
A little bit of diced onion
Seasonings to your taste (like oregano or garlic powder)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Top pita with pizza sauce, then sprinkle with cheese
Place toppings on top of the cheese and season to your liking.
Bake for about 7 minutes, or until cheese is oozy and melted.

Enjoy!

Nutrition Information (approximate, depending on the brands you use):
Calories: 226
Fat: 7.7g
Fiber: 4.7g

Points Value: 4!

Day 102: Weekly Weigh-In

2010-06-12T21:40:00.002-05:00

I think I'm going to prefer having meetings on Friday nights instead of Mondays. It just makes the week go by more smoothly. And today, for example, I was able to eat conservatively throughout the day so I could enjoy pizza for dinner with friends this evening. I don't know why, but it's some kind of mind game with me.

This week: -0.8lbs.
Total: -14.4lbs.

I must say that I feel like this loss isn't completely deserved. I only tracked my food points once this week and I haven't been exercising at all. Again, it's some kind of mind game. I just have to make a decision that I'm going to get disciplined like I was at the beginning of Weight Watchers and I'm going to make myself do it.

This is my week, I tell you! I'm going to get back to tracking the points...my Weight Watchers app on my iPhone is getting an update as I type this.

It's crunch time...8 weeks until my wedding. I don't want to try and do a crash diet for my wedding and then do whatever I want once the wedding is over, though. I want to continue my plan even into my marriage and continue to move toward a healthier body and lifestyle. But one thing that's really important to me is that I want to feel pretty on my wedding day. I don't want to worry about the size of my arms in every picture I'm taking, or wonder what I look like from behind while I'm reciting my vows. None of it is about that....and I want to do what I can right now to make sure I'm not so concerned about all of that.

So my goal for this week is to seriously get back on track. The hem-hawing around is over. Right now.

Day 101: A Surprise Date!

2010-06-11T22:09:00.002-05:00

Shortblog tonight because I'm on my phone.

Date Night is every Friday night and this week we were kind of at a loss as to what to do. We finally settled on putt putt golfing, but neither of us was super excited about the idea.

But Adam called me today and said we had a change in plans and I should wear outside clothes. I kind of thought we would end up at a carnival or something until I hopped in his car and he told me we were going to a Peoria Chiefs baseball game!

I love baseball games....so needless to say I was really excited.

The game was muggy, but a lot of fun. We had a really good time. I'll let you in on a little secret: I act like I hate when he surprises me, but I think deep down I really love it!

Day 100!!

2010-06-10T14:17:00.003-05:00

Well, it's official! My daily blogging life has lasted 100 days! And I've only technically missed 2 of them (according to my count!).

I'll admit sometimes the blogging life can get a little boring. There have been days where I simply didn't know what to write about or how to convey it.

But I pushed through (case in point: Day 95).....some posts weren't as good as others, but that's okay.

I just want to thank everyone for stopping by to read the blog every day...or several days at a time. It means a lot to know that people care that much about what's going on in my life.

This fitness journey has been a series of ups and downs, but I'm glad to say that writing this, I'm lighter and more fit than I was on Day 1 way back in March.

But I feel like over the last 100 days I have gotten a sense of how to eat healthy (I don't always choose to do that), and how to push myself physically when it comes to exercise (I don't always do that, either).

Now comes the tricky part...I know HOW to get where I want to be; I just have to figure out how to discipline myself to actually GO there!

Self-discipline is hard for most people, I think. It's easier to follow rules if someone else makes them and expects you to obey. But establishing rules for yourself is tougher because there's no accountability. If I tell myself that I'm not going to eat junk food for an entire month that's great....but who's going to be there to throw down the consequences when I break that rule?

So maybe the next 100 days can be a journey of self-discipline...and figuring out exactly how to put all of my knowledge about good health into practice.

Thanks again for reading, and I hope you keep stopping by! The daily blog is supposed to go for 6 months, which means I have a little less than 3 months left....

Day 99: Wedding Wednesday

2010-06-09T14:41:00.002-05:00

The count down is on! Only 59 days until I marry a man who is better than I could have ever dreamed....

I am so excited!

Plans are still coming together perfectly.

I have so many people working so hard to help me out with everything:

My friend (and bridesmaid) Amanda and I got together this week and made a bunch of beautiful hair accessories for all the girls to wear.

My sister is putting together a personal shower for me, and dealing with all of the rigamarole associated with that.

My Aunts are planning me a bridal shower that I'm so excited about.

Out of the blue I was informed that some ladies from Adam's church wanted to throw me a shower.

My cousin Karie is custom making the most beautiful wedding invitations I've ever seen.

And I'm just sitting back with my feet perched on the desk, having a good old time.

Well, not really. But I do delight in having so many people help me out with so many different aspects of the wedding. I'm actually able to enjoy the planning and not feel like I'm too stressed.

I've been focusing this week on details and little pretties I can get to make the wedding even more lovely.

So thanks to everyone who is lending their support and help right now...it means the world and I'm so grateful for you all!

Day 98: Tuesday Treasures

2010-06-08T12:55:00.005-05:00

So, normally I do my "Weekly Weigh-In" on Tuesdays because it's the day after my Weight Watchers meeting and it's the time when I can update everyone with my progress.

BUT

My mom and I have decided that Monday night Weight Watcher meetings just aren't working out for us. Even if I have a really good week, if I mess up on the weekends it shows on the scale on Monday. But if we were to go later in the week I'd be able to make up for those weekend slip-ups by working out a little harder during the week.

SO

We decided that we're going to go to Friday afternoon meetings instead. This does not give us a license to eat whatever we please on the weekends (I know I still need to do better and be more disciplined). But it will at least afford us the opportunity of relaxing on the weekends and not spending Sunday nights moping around because we don't want to go to our meeting the next day (I keep saying "we", but I think the real problem is just myself...sorry, Mom.).

So the Weekly Weigh-In post will now be on Saturdays. Which means I have an opening for a topic on Tuesdays.

I've decided that Tuesdays blogs will not be about weight loss or wedding stuff necessarily. I just want to use it to share some little gems I've found...whether it's a new product I found at the store, a new website, or just some new information. And I'll call them Tuesday Treasures.

Our first Tuesday Treasure is a site I've come across while doing some detail planning for the wedding. Etsy.com is a site where artisans can put their handmade crafts on the web and sell them.

You can find everything on there from jewelry to clothing, to wedding supplies and, toys, vintage items, music, and the list goes on and on.

Some of the stuff is terribly over priced...but some of the stuff is VERY inexpensive! I've been considering buying a dress I found for $195, but I was mortified by that price tag. I really didn't want to spend that much. I'm not sure that I've ever spent that much on a dress. So I did some searching on Etsy and found one that's similar, but better, for less than half that price! I'm very excited, and I'm working with the seller right now to figure out colors and everything so she can make the dress CUSTOM for me!

I would highly recommend checking out this site if you like unique, pretty, handmade items. You won't be disappointed.

Day 97: Champion Chow - SOBE!

2010-06-08T11:03:00.002-05:00

I usually try to drink water, rather than sugary juices or teas. But sometimes you just need a little something more. Enter, Sobe Lifewater.
This stuff is a delicious drink that will satisfy your sweet craving and prevent you from grabbing raiding the fridge for a soda. The best part: They have 0 calories and 0 artificial sweeteners!

My Aunt Janine introduced me to these wonderful little morsels several months ago, and I've been hooked ever since. Now, when it comes to fruity drinks, I have a little bit of a picky palate. So there are a few flavors that I'm not too crazy about. But there are several that I absolutely love. My favorite is Fuji Apple Pear, followed closely by Mango Melon and Yumberry Pomegranate (I'm not sure that I've ever come across a Yumberry in real life, but I imagine they're amazing).

Sometimes you can find Sobe Lifewater on sale at Target or Wal-Mart for $1 apiece. I've even seen them at Target before for $1 and if you bought 10 of them, they have you a $5 gift card! If you don't find them on sale, you can expect to pay about $1.50 each for them, which is okay if you're only buying a couple, I guess.

They're definitely worth checking out.

Alternatively, if you want a little more flavor bang for your caloric buck, Sobe does have some options with fuller flavors and only a few calories. The Agave Lemonade is my absolute favorite. It has a refreshing, almost Sprite-like flavor. They also have an Orange-Tangerine that is delicious. These bottles contain about 40 calories per serving and each bottle has about 2 1/2 servings in it. So you're talking 100 Calories for the entire bottle (still only 2 Points). I tried to put a photograph on here of these bottles, but it's not working. The 0 Calorie bottles have white labels, though, and the ones with calories have colored labels. Agave Lemonade is green and Orange Tangerine is orange (obviously).

One tip I learned from Janine: these drinks make great frozen drinks! Just stick the bottle in the freezer (I would say no more than an hour). And your drink turns a little slushy. In my opinion, the 0 calorie drinks don't slush as well as the others. They tend to freeze more into one whole ice cube....but perhaps that could be remedied by freezing it for a shorter amount of time.

However you take 'em, they come highly recommended and they're delicious!

Day 96: Summertime Marinated Veggies

2010-06-08T10:48:00.002-05:00

Sorry this blog is so late being posted....my blog site was experiencing outages in select areas (I guess I was "select") on Sunday and Monday, so it's Tuesday now...today is really Sunday's blog. And don't count it against me as misssing a day because I had it all ready to go...I just wasn't able to post.

My mom always makes marinated vegetables as a side dish in the summertime. It's cool and refreshing and healthy. Here's the super-simple recipe!

Ingredients:

Whatever veggies you want (carrots, cauliflower, bell peppers, onion, cucumber, etc.)...enough to fill a large mixing bowl when chopped.

1/2c. Olive Oil

1/8c. Cider Vinegar

1/8c. Sugar (or Splenda)

Salt and Pepper

Whatever seasonings you like (I used a couple of tablespoons of Italian Seasoning)

Directions:

Slice all the veggies and mix them in the bowl.

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and pour over veggies.

Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours or more.

Serve cold.

You can mix it up with the seasonings...try garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, or ginger, for example. The possibilities are endless.

Day 95: A Fitness Limerick

2010-06-05T23:00:00.001-05:00

There once was a girl with a blog

She spent her week being a hog

Her elliptical she tried

But it squeaked and it cried

She should have just gone for a jog.

Day 94: Survival Strategies.....The MONTHLY!

2010-06-04T11:38:00.002-05:00

Ok, ladies....I have recently become very open and honest on this blog (VERY open and honest)....and I figured we might as well continue with this trend.

I want to know how you incorporate healthy living into your monthly cycle.

For me, it seems like I start getting really, really hungry all the time....for junk food about a week before my period starts. And I continue craving this food all the way through the period. During this time I can eat and eat and never feel satisfied. It seems like that's an awfully long time to be eating so much unhealthy food.

And during the period I usually get moderately painful cramps. Cramps that make me tired and take away any desire to exercise at all.

So basically, if I catch myself on a month when I'm not disciplined (like this month), I'm eating whatever the crap I want to shove into my mouth for 2 weeks straight and not exercising for at least 4 days or so.

That just can't continue if I want to lose weight.

I'm sure that these symptoms are real. I know taht a lot of women deal with PMS and other symptoms leading up to and during their periods. But I think sometimes I like to cling to that excuse as a crutch to eat whatever I want and to do whatever I want.

I've always joked that there are a lot of women who use PMS as an excuse to be cranky to whomever they please. But now I realize that I'm the pot and they're the kettle.....I use PMS as an excuse to eat.

Nobody ever said you have to give in to every craving that enters your brain. I'm not going to die if I don't allow myself to have that King Size Snickers bar that's calling my name in the grocery checkout.

I know from personal experience that exercising and being active helps to minimize or alleviate menstrual cramps....so why can't I make myself do it?

Does anybody else have any ways they conquer their "monthly"?

Day 93: Same Ol' Same Ol'

2010-06-03T14:10:00.002-05:00

Last week was a great exercise week for me. I worked out 4 times in the morning and then did a weights workout on the days when I didn't do a "real" workout. I really liked that system. I was getting out of bed early and taking care of it in the morning, and then feeling great all day.

But this week my exercise has taken a back seat to sleeping, cramping, bloating, and blah. I can tell a difference, too. I don't feel as energetic and lively during the day if I don't get in that exercise.

I have to remember this when the alarm clock goes off and my bed is so comfy and warm. It pays off in the long run to get up and get it done (I resisted using the popular Larry the Cable Guy saying here because, well, I think it's obnoxious).

So wish me luck...hopefully now that the monthly stuff is coming to an end, I'll have some more energy to get up and go in the mornings.

Day 92: Wedding Wednesday

2010-06-02T13:33:00.003-05:00

There haven't been too many developments with the wedding planning in the past week because everything is pretty much together.

I did drive about 20 minutes out of my way to another town to see a guy about chairs, which ended up being about $1 more than I thought they would be for each chair. AND to add insult to injury, I realized he had lured me there hoping to entice a bride into renting a bunch of wedding crap from his wife's fledgling wedding business. That was more than a little frustrating. If I'm there to look at chairs, don't try to sell me table linens, pillars, back drops, hooks, candles, center pieces, lamps, out door lighting, signs, and everything else you can think of that I might possibly need as someone who is planning a wedding. Oy! Needless to say, we went with a different company for our chairs, and they will end up being $100 less or so....plus I don't have to worry about pushy salespeople.

I also bought a bunch of feathers, much to my groom's chagrin.....The wedding has a peacock theme, and how can you do a peacock theme without some peacock feathers? They'll be here soon and we'll start figuring out what we're going to do with them. One bridesmaid and I already have plans for several of them....but I'm not telling.

We made arrangements for our cruise add-ons, too. We bought a soda package (that is ridiculous, in my opinion, that you should have to pay for soda when you're paying that much for the cruise, but we'll enjoy the trip anyway....and you better believe that souvenir cup will not be leaving our side the entire time. We also decided that we're going to give snorkeling a try. I'm really excited about that. I think it will be fun. And as Adam said, the minimum age is 6 for the snorkeling adventure....so if a 6 year old can do it, I'm sure we can, too!

I think that's about all the updates I have this week....everything is coming together beautifully, and I can't wait!

Day 91: Weekly Weigh-In

2010-06-01T14:08:00.002-05:00

My mom and I skipped Weight Watchers last Monday, so we went and weighed in on Friday instead. We have to stop skipping these meetings just because we know what the scale is going to say. It's counterproductive to manipulate the program like that.

We decided we're not skipping anymore meetings until after my wedding.....

But regardless of our delinquency, and in spite of my monthly (as my cousin Katy likes to say),
This week: -0.6lbs.
Total: -13.6lbs.

So, that's good news. I still want to lose another 16.3lbs before my wedding. I think I can do it if I make myself stick with the program a little while longer.

Day 90: Fiddlesticks!

2010-05-31T11:46:00.002-05:00

I feel terrible for missing yesterday's blog. I should have done it in the morning when I was home, but I spent all my time cleaning house. Then I went over to Springfield for a family get together. And then back to my parents' place because Adam is in town visiting. The only problem is, they have used up all of their Internet for the month, so they are operating at a slower than dial-up speed. I don't really understand how their Internet works over there, but if you want to know more about it you can ask my dad; he loves coming up with new analogies to try to explain it.

So today is Memorial Day. We're going to do our traditional family cookout with the Gorbett side, then Adam and I are heading over to Springfield to hang out with the Jeffers side for a while since they haven't spent much time with him. I figure it's important for them to get to know him since he's going to be my husband and all.....

I'm going to try really hard not to overeat today. I don't have to keep eating all day long, but I can focus on enjoying the company rather than having to have a plate of food in front of me at all times.

Sorry for the short blog again today....I'll be back on track tomorrow. I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day.

And I would like to thank you to anyone who has served our country in any way. Your service to our country makes it possible for us to enjoy the luxuries we often take for granted.

Day 88: A Personal Question

2010-05-29T11:47:00.002-05:00

Ladies, as most of you know this wedding planning stuff has been a breeze for me. Everything is flying into place and we've managed to stay organized through the entire process and I'm really not worried about anything wedding-related.

However, one issue has really gotten me stressed, worried, upset, and freaked out.....Birth Control!

I've never practiced any kind of birth control before because, well, I've never had a reason to. And once we're married Adam and I are looking forward to having children...probably a lot of children. But we would both like to get a handle on being husband and wife before we start to throw children in the mix. We also want to be in a better financial place because we would like for me to stay at home once kids come in to the picture. So we want to wait at least a little while before we have a baby.

The problem is we're finding a ton of conflicting information and it's all really overwhelming.

Our convictions are that life begins as soon as an egg is fertilized by a sperm, which would rule out many (if not most) popular forms of birth control. From my understanding, birth control pills typically have 3 mechanisms in which they prevent pregnancy: first, they decrease the possibility of ovulation, so that an egg can't be fertilized by sperm, secondly, they change the cervical fluid so that it is impossible for the sperm to reach the egg, and failing those two mechanisms, the pill prevents an already fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. That's where we have a problem. We do not believe it is okay to destroy an already fertilized egg. So we need another option.

Because of that, I started looking into Natural Family Planning and the Fertility Awareness Method. With these methods, there is no need to take any medications or use any contraceptive devices regularly because you pay attention to your body's signals and determine when it is safe to have unprotected sex. The problem is that this method requires copious attention to detail and charting. We only have 2 months until our wedding and I've never kept track of my cycle before, so I'm nervous about determining the way my cycle works with only two months of charting to use as a sample. I'm not sure that my limited experience in charting would be enough to determine my regularity, and to ensure that I'm observing the signals properly. So that has me super nervous.....I mean, really, super nervous!

So we found a website that is written by Christian people who hold the same convictions as we do. They say that there are in fact some birth control medications that prevent the woman from ovulating at all so that there is no chance of an egg being fertilized. And they provided a list of pills that would be "okay" to take, according to them.

The problem is, you can't believe everything you read on the Internet. And we don't just want to read one article on one website and determine our course of action from there.

So I'm wondering if any of my lady friends have struggled with this issue before. Does anyone practice natural family planning or the fertility method? What's it like? Does anyone take any kind of birth control? What should I expect with that?

We're just kind of at a loss and we're at a point now where we really need to make a decision either way. So I'm really wanting some advice and some information from women who have been there before.

I have an appointment with my doctor to talk about all of this next week, but I still want to hear from some other women about their experience with their method of choice.

Once again, thanks for reading and responding. It means a lot to me!

Day 87: Survival Strategies - Cruise Food!

2010-05-28T13:49:00.003-05:00

So I think most of you know by now that we'll be heading on a cruise to the Bahamas for our honeymoon.

I've heard horror stories about cruise food...how great it tastes, how they have such a variety, how it's available.....ANY TIME YOU WANT IT!

I'm not going to spend every waking hour fretting about how many calories I'm eating, but I also don't want to come back 15 pounds heavier!

Do any of you seasoned cruisers have any advice for me while we're away?

Day 86: The Early Bird Sweats Less

2010-05-27T14:44:00.002-05:00

So I've gotten up twice this week an hour early to workout. I have to say, it feels really good to know that I've started off my day by burning some calories. And it's extra special to me because I can go throughout the day knowing that I've already completed that task and I don't have to fit it into my schedule.

The only problem is I HATE getting out of bed in the mornings. I mean hate it. Almost as much as I hate beans. My bed is so comfortable. And sleep is so good. I just have to absolutely force myself to take off those covers and hop to it.

I think I'm going to stick with my 3 day per week early rising workout schedule for now. Then I want to get in 1 or 2 additional workouts during the weekend.

Actually, I should say that I've done morning time workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I would like to get in a workout with my weights in the evenings. I think this will help me to get a better toned and build some muscle.

When do you guys prefer to exercise? Do you find that it's a better time for you in the mornings when the temperature is a little cooler and you can take care of it first thing? Or do you prefer to wait until later in the day when you've had a chance to wake up and go through an entire day of work so you can come home and use your workout to give you an extra jolt of energy to make it through the evening?

I think I'm starting to kinda like these morningtime workouts. The only part I hate is that first five minutes where I'm trying to convince myself to get my butt out of bed!

Day 85: Wedding Wednesday

2010-05-26T14:34:00.002-05:00

Today I can talk about a topic I'm actually excited about, rather than a topic that's been riddled with guilt and shame....I'm slightly joking...sort of.

But I do get excited about discussing my wedding with everyone. I'm really looking forward to the wedding, but more importantly I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life with Adam!!

Let me tell you what has happened since last week:
I received a contract for my chairs, only find out that the bill was going to be 66% more than the quote I had been given (nobody bothered to tell me about the delivery charge).

So we're going with a different chair company; I'm going to see some chairs tomorrow and the total bill should be much cheaper than that!

I also met with my florist and I'm very excited about my beautiful flowers! I'm getting exactly what I wanted and I think the flowers make me even happier than my dress! What's even better is that we're going to come in at around half the amount we budgeted!!

Right now we're dealing with our guest list which has become a thorn in our sides lately. We originally said we wanted to have a very small wedding with just immediate family and a few close friends. But I keep thinking of people I feel like I should invite and so the list just keeps growing. Finally I just called my mom and she talked me down. She helped me figure out who I really wanted to be there and who would have to wait for the reception. I just hate to hurt anyone's feelings, but we just don't have the space for 300 people in my parents' yard! So we're working it out. I'm sure there will be a few tweaks here and there, but I think we're pretty set on a total of about 130 people or so, and then many, many more at our receptions.

I've also reserved a block of hotel rooms for our out-of-town guests at a hotel that's only about 10 minutes from my parents' house, so that's exciting.

So that's the haps for now. Thanks for checking in!

I'm so grateful that things are coming together so smoothly for us. It almost seems like it's too good to be true, but I love the way things are falling into place.

Day 84: Weeky Weigh-In

2010-05-25T13:32:00.002-05:00

I'm sick of coming on here to make a post and having to confess all of my sins to you guys. I apologize that the blog has been a little bit of a downswing lately.

My mom and I skipped our meeting last night because neither of us had stellar weeks. So we've decided that there's no more crapping around. We are sticking with the program and staying serious about it until at least after Rachel's wedding...hopefully after mine.

I haven't even weighed myself lately, but I'm sure I'm up a pound or two from last week. That's really disappointing and I hate to even have to look at those words as I type them.

But we're getting back on track and staying disciplined with it. I would be so disappointed if my wedding got here and I had gained all of my weight back, or even not lost anymore. Eleven weeks is a long time and there's a lot of weight loss that can happen in that short time. My goal is to have a total of 30 pounds lost by the time my wedding rolls around, which means I have 17 pounds to go from my weight last week.

I'm confident I can do it as long as I get disciplined and make myself behave. It's tough. And it's more fun to eat cheeseburgers and french fries. But my body is going to thank me if I can make healthier choices and become a healthier person.

Day 83: Champion Chow -- Grapefruit

2010-05-24T15:22:00.002-05:00

What's better on a hot day than a cold, juicy grapefruit? That was my breakfast this morning, and that is my blog topic today.

Did you know that grapefruits are so named because when they're growing on trees they hang in clusters, like bunches of grapes?

We've all heard the rumors about so-called Negative Calorie Foods. These foods, including grapefruit, are said to require more calories to burn them than it they are actually worth. This may be true on the surface, but that doesn't mean that eating 14 grapefruits a day along with your normal regimen of deep-fried grease and sugar-filled glazed cream jelly donughts will result in weight loss.

Obviously, grapefruit and other vegetables and fruits are astronomically better for you than a hot fudge sundae. But don't count on eating crap, then compensating for it by eating other foods that will burn more calories because it just doesn't work that way.

This is particularly true if you're like me and you can't resist pourin' some sugar on your grapefruit. Just a teaspoon or so per half, to give it a little sweetness and crunch.

In addition to being super low in calories, grapefruit is also high in vitamins like Vitamin C.

Be careful of grapefruit juices and juice cocktails, though. There's a reason why the grapefruit juice is mysteriously so much sweeter than a grapefruit itself. Fruit juices and especially juice cocktails are loaded with extra sugar that pretty much cancels out any nutrition you'd be getting from the fruit.

If you want more information on the myth of Negative Calorie Foods, click HERE.

Day 82: Shortie

2010-05-23T23:23:00.002-05:00

Well today was yet another crazy chaotic day. And this whole week is already booked up for me! I'll be looking forward to when my life settles down again and I can take a breather.

Once again I have no recipe for you today. All I have is to offer sincere congratulations to my brother and all of his friends who graduated from MacArthur High School today. He has a great group of friends and I'm glad they all got to celebrate together.

Day 81: A Day in the Life

2010-05-22T22:59:00.002-05:00

Today was yet another crazy day! My brother's graduation party, paired with a ton of family to visit with, and another big graduation party to attend this evening.

I didn't stop until 9:00 tonight!

I did take some sage advice and start off my day right by reading my Bible first thing. That was a good way to set the tone for my day. I need to keep up that habit. If not reading the Bible, at least starting the day in prayer, thanking God for everything that's going on in this crazy life of mine, and asking him to help me to keep my priorities straight throughout the day.

The eating and exercise, on the other hand, fell by the wayside once again. One of these days I'll get it straight.

I've been dealing with a little bit of...how shall I say....being stopped up lately, and I'm trying to figure out what to do about it.

I'm thinking I may try a raw diet or something just for a week as a little bit of a cleanse. I never deal with these kind of issues, so I really don't know what to do. Any advice from frequent "irregular bowelers?" This is a strange thing for me as I'm usually on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Obviously, getting my eating back on track will help, but I feel like I need to do something more than that. I'll keep you posted on what I decide to do.

Day 80: Priorities

2010-05-21T15:30:00.003-05:00

Oh boy. This has been a crazy week, and especially a crazy last couple of days. I feel like I'm running around constantly. It's good because I'm getting things accomplished, but it's bad because I've allowed my priorities to fall a little out of whack.

My first priority can't be all wedding all the time. I have to make myself remember that life continues even after my wedding is over, and so I need to continue to adopt the same priorities I should have during my "regular" life. Wedding is an added responsibility, but it shouldn't take away from other responsibilities.

God
Adam
Family
Friends
Health
Work
Etc.

I need a realignment of my priorities.

I think the things that are suffering in my life right now are two of the most vital aspects of my life I should focus on: my spiritual heatlh and my physical health.

I need to get back in the Word. It is a lamp to my feet and light for my path.

And I need to get back on the bandwagon with my exercise and nutrition. They are what gives me energy and the ability to do everything else I need to do.

I have only exercised once this week, and I ate horribly yesterday. And I feel bad for it. I feel like I could be a couple pounds lighter than I am right now, had my priorities been right.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how you balance it all? I'm not usually a high-stress person, so I'm not really used to having to juggle all of these crazy things in my life. I'd love to hear from you about how you maintain your sanity and your priorities when life gets hectic.

Day 79: Short and Sweet

2010-05-20T17:27:00.002-05:00

I'm hanging out with Adam today so I'm not going to take a lot of time to make a post.

We went to Conan last night. It was awesome. My face hurt from laughing so much.

I have done well this week except for today when I overate by a long shot. I'm going to be good over the weekend, though, so I can have a successful meeting on Monday. It seems like I've fallen into a pattern of losing one week then gaining the next, and I want to break that cycle.

That's about all I have for today. Thanks for stopping by. I'll have something better for you tomorrow!

Day 78: Wedding Wednesday

2010-05-19T07:28:00.004-05:00

Well things are still coming together way more easily than I thought they would. At the rate we're going, we're going to have the entire wedding planned and ready to go by the end of next week!

That's a great place to be considering how overwhelmed I felt at the beginning of all of this.

Adam has all the honeymoon arrangements taken care of. He is so good to me! We're going on a cruise to the Bahamas!! And he got a really good price! I'm really excited to spend my honeymoon with my honey, Moon! I've never been on a cruise before, so I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be a lot of fun!

We are also officially ready to announce the dates. We will have a very small, intimate ceremony on August 7th. And we'll have follow-up receptions where we can celebrate with everyone. One in Tennessee on September 4th, and one in Illinois on September 11th!

We are really looking forward to the wedding and enjoying our special day, but even more than that we're just ready to be married and do life together every single day.

Today Adam and I are going to Chicago to see Conan O'Brien! And we've both decided that we're not going to discuss wedding stuff at all!

Day 77: Weekly Weigh-In

2010-05-18T15:02:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure what happened with the scale, but my weight this week was up 3 pounds from my weight last week. This week I weighed in at Weight Watchers and last week I weighed in at home. Plus, I don't remember for sure, but I probably weighed in the morning last week, whereas it was about 4:30 yesterday.

I didn't really track my foods properly and I didn't have many chances to exercise, so that may be a contributing factor, as well.

All I know now is that with my sister's upcoming wedding and my impending nuptuals, it's time to really be serious about getting healthy.

I'll tabulate my results for you this week according to my Weight Watcher's record, which indicates my weight loss from 2 weeks ago, since I skipped last week:
This week: -2.2lbs.
Total: -13.0lbs.

I also reached a milestone in the program, which I can't really tell you about because it will give away my actual weight. Everyone knows that is a closely guarded secret

So, I need to keep on going. I really want to have lost a total of 30 pounds by the time my wedding rolls around. I feel like that's an achievable goal, but I won't achieve it if I keep doing things the way I have been for the last two weeks.

Here's to starting over! And thanks for reading...some days my only motivation is knowing that I have people checking in on me.

Day 76: Champion Chow - Ground Turkey

2010-05-17T15:35:00.003-05:00

Most people think of turkey as primarily a Thanksgiving food, or a light deli meat for sandwiches.

But I have grown to love using turkey as a substitute for other meats.

Turkey is much leaner than ground beef; it has half the fat and 30% fewer calories.

Turkey even comes in sausage and bacon forms so you can still enjoy those breakfast meets we all love, but in a much healthier way.

But I want to talk about ground turkey today. I usually buy the Honeysuckle White brand, which you can find at Wal-Mart for sure, and possibly Kroger and other stores.

Ground turkey has a good flavor. It's light; it has a light flavor. It doesn't taste like the roasted turkey you eat at Thanksgiving. It just has a light, meaty flavor and texture. Because it's so lean, you will want to use some olive oil if you're browning the meat in a skillet because it doesn't have enough fat to keep it from drying out.

I made turkey spaghetti the other night, and you would have never known it was turkey. It tasted just like regular ground beef spaghetti, only it contained much less fat and fewer calories.

I also use ground turkey in my Asian lettuce wraps, tacos, meatloaf or even hamburgers.

You simply season the meat like the same way as you would with ground beef and your meal will be just as delicous as ever.

This is a very simple swap that can help you on your way to great results. Give turkey a chance!

Day 75: A LARGE Victory

2010-05-16T19:54:00.002-05:00

I had a wonderful experience today. I decided it was time to do a little clothes shopping because I'm going to need some casual dresses for upcoming wedding showers and other events.

So I went to Kohl's (it is slowly becoming my favorite store) and I walked straight to the plus size department, where I have shopped for the past several years. I looked around at their meager selection of dresses and found one or two that I didn't hate. I thought to myself, "Well, I guess this will have to work," and decided to go try them on.

On my way to the fitting rooms, though, a couple of "regular sized" gowns caught my eye. I picked up several of them, figuring that they wouldn't work, but I might as well give them a shot.

Well, the plus size dresses were too big for me, and some of the regular ones looked great! I actually ended up buying a really pretty maxi dress in a size....get this.....Large! This is the first time in my adult life that I've bought a clothing item without an "X" in the size! What an incredible feeling!

Now granted, the maxi dresses are stretchy and I probably could have fit into a variety of sizes, but I'm counting this a LARGE victory and it's going to keep me motivated on the way to my goal.

This morning when I weighed myself I was exactly 20 pounds lighter than my starting Weight Watchers weight. I'm not expecting these results tomorrow because I always weigh a few pounds less in the morning than I do later in the day.

But I feel so good to have been able to shop in the departments with the cute clothes and that I was able to fit into a large!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Day 74: Woopsie!

2010-05-15T11:50:00.003-05:00

Guess who forgot to make a blog post yesterday! Aww man, I feel like someone punched me in the gut! I can't believe I missed my first day. I'm sad.

This week has been crazy. There is so much going on and unfortunately my diet and exercise have fallen by the wayside. I'm glad, though, that this hasn't reflected on the scale.

Like my Aunt Cindy said, I may not be doing perfectly with my diet and exercise, but at least I'm not sitting around eating all the time. I have other things to occupy my time.

I just need to learn now to balance everything going on in my life. I need to MAKE time for exercise every day...even if that means I need to get up an hour earlier. And I need to REQUIRE myself to record points values for anything I eat.

It may not be convenient. But I'll be really disappointed if my wedding gets here in 12 weeks and I'm the same weight or more, and 12 weeks of my life will have been wasted.

I know I'm not going to be perfect with Weight Watchers; I never have been. But I need to force myself to be more diligent with my health regimen. That means it needs to be a priority over the wedding stuff. Maybe I'll need to save a couple of phone calls for the next day. Everything will get done (we already have A TON of stuff accomplished so far), and it doesn't all have to get done right now.

Part of my problem is that I'm a very task-oriented person. When I get a roll I don't like to stop until it's all finished. But I just have to overcome that.

My goal for this week is to workout 5 times, and it has to be a GOOD workout! Another goal is to be diligent about my tracking. Starting Monday I want to track every morsel of food that enters into my mouth throughout this next week.

I'm going to do it. No question. Check back with me next week to see!

Day 72: YIKES!

2010-05-13T22:30:00.001-05:00

Ok everyone, it's time to make a confession: my blog and my fitness have taken a back seat to wedding and marriage preparations this week!

I have GOT to get myself back on track. I want to look and feel great for my wedding day, and I need to stay focused on my goal, which will need to be something I continue even after I'm married.

I haven't been following my challenges very well this month. And I've been eating okay, but not tracking my foods.

It's time to get my butt back in gear, people! Here we go!

Day 71: Wedding Wednesdays

2010-05-12T14:29:00.002-05:00

I thought I would change things up a little bit on the blog here, and take one day a week to talk about how the wedding plans are coming along. That way I will be able to stay focused on my health goals, as well as share a little bit of the information about what's going on with the big plans.

We have a date that's almost firm. But we're not officially saying it yet. I will say it's August.

And the location is a little bit of a sticky situation, but it should be worked out pretty soon.

I never knew how much wedding planning consumes of your life! Adam and I talked on the phone last night like we always do, but we didn't realize until 40 minutes into the conversation that we had ONLY talked about wedding stuff. It's a huge wake up call and I'm trying to make sure I focus more on the marriage and the happiness that comes with it, than planning out one day of my life.

We do have a photographer almost set, too, which is really exciting. This photographer is excellent, and she comes with a videographer as well, which is something that's really important to us since not everyone will be able to be at the wedding.

Right now we're working on formulating a bridal party. And I'm almost set on my color motif for the day.

I have a cake mostly squared away, too, which is nice.

So that's where we are with the planning....it's a big job that we have to do in a very short amount of time, but it will all be worth it when I'm married to the man I love.

More announcements to come soon!

Day 70: Weekly Weigh-In

2010-05-11T22:11:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the late post today. My life has suddenly become chaotic!

Somehow I managed to still lose weight this week. I'm down about 5lbs. from last week, which puts me at a total loss of 15.8lbs.!!

I'm really not sure how I was able to lose that much over the past week because with all of the busyness and the stress, I really didn't make exercise and tracking a priority.

I chalk it up to the fact that I was SO busy, and didn't have the time to eat as much junk, while my body was still able to burn off the calories I was consuming.

I know that weeks like this won't always happen, though, so I need to make sure to get myself back on track. I've still had a rough time of it this week. I can't get back into a consistent schedule and I desperately need to make a trip to the grocery store.

So I'm grateful for the loss, but staying mindful of the fact that I need to get my butt back in gear. I have all the more reasons now to get myself looking and feeling better.

Day 69: Champion Chow

2010-05-10T15:19:00.002-05:00

Everyone knows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you're like me, though, breakfast is usually an afterthought that occurs somewhere between realizing you overslept and rushing out the front door with wet hair.

I would say that on about 4 out of every 5 mornings I grab an English muffin and head out the door for work. I always buy the whole wheat variety because they are packed with fiber and much more nutritious than the enriched flour ones.

They're low in calories and fat, and, depending on your topping of choice, they can make a deliciously filling breakfast.

I use reduced fat peanut butter, apple butter, or just good old-fashioned light butter.

The whole-wheat English muffin by itself will cost you about 2 points for most brands. Most regular bagels will set you back 5 or 6 points, and that's without toppings! Even the whole-grain bagels are 4 points.

If you're in need of an occasional bread fix I would highly recommend English muffins. They're quick and easy, they taste great, and they won't bust your gut!

Day 68: Corn Panzanella Salad

2010-05-09T17:25:00.002-05:00

With summertime fast approaching, this Weight Watchers salad will be a delicious and refreshing treat for a cookout or even a light dinner. The sweetness of the corn mixed with the tart dressing lends an interesting flavor to the dish.

You'll have to forgive me for not putting a picture up, but I couldn't find one of the recipe, or anything that looked remotely like it.

Corn Panzanella Salad

Makes 4 (1 cup) servings

Dressing Ingredients:

2 tsp. Olive Oil

1 tsp. White Wine Vinegar

1/4 tsp. Table Salt

1/4 tsp. Black Pepper

1 1/2 Medium Scallions, or 1 Large, Trimmed and Finely Chopped

1/4c. Plain Fat-Free Yogurt, Greek Style

Salad Ingredients:

12 oz. Cherry Tomatoes, Halved

2 Small Bags Frozen Corn, Cooked per Instructions

2 Tbsp. Basil, Fresh, Shredded

1/4 tsp. Slat

1/8 tsp. Black Pepper

3 oz. Cornbread, torn into bite-sized chunks

Instructions:

For the dressing, combine oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and stir well. Add the yogurt and scallions and stir, then set aside.

In a large bowl combine the tomatoes, corn and basil; season with salt and pepper. Add dressing and mix gently but well. Mix in the cornbread pieces and serve.

Points Value: 3 (for a 1 cup serving)

If you don't use the cornbread, it's 2 points for 1 cup.

Day 67: What a Week!

2010-05-09T00:01:00.003-05:00

This post is extremely late I know. Today has been insane.

This was probably the best week of my entire life, and I'm in such a happy place right now. I couldn't imagine anything better.

Today we had a wedding shower for my sister. Things got a little silly (thanks, Janine). But it was a lot of fun.

Immediately after the shower we started preparing for a prom dinner my parents put together for 19 of Mitchell's friends. It was crazy!

Tomorrow we're doing a Mother's Day dinner for a bunch of family members, which will be a nice way to honor the women in the family.

After all the chaos of the day Adam and I finally got the chance to sit down and be together. And I finally made good on a bet I had lost a long time ago. I watched Tommy Boy. It wasn't as torturous as I thought it would be, and in fact, I found myself laughing out loud at a couple of points in the movie. So that was nice.

As far as my weight this week, the scale seems to demonstrate that I've dropped a few pounds, which is wonderful. But unfortunately, with all the craziness of the week I haven't had much of a chance to get in all of my workouts or track my foods. I'm considering it a special blessing for this week, though, and I have to remember that I can't always expect these results with so little effort.

Next week I will get back into the swing of things (along with the addition of a wedding to plan into my daily routine), so hopefully I'll be able to really stay on track with my food and exercise.

Thanks for reading and supporting me in all of my adventures!

Day 66: He Asked Me to Marry Him

2010-05-07T12:07:00.003-05:00

I'm sure all of you know by now about my impending wedded bliss. I thought I would stray off my normal topic a little today and share the story of the magical way in which this came to be.

It all started earlier in the week when Adam requested that we stray from our normal Friday night date night routine and meet on Thursday night instead. He said he wanted us to get together sooner so we didn't have to miss each other as long. I agreed, and didn't really give it much thought.

So Thursday rolled around and Adam said he wanted to eat at Olive Garden, which happens to be the place we went the very first time we met, and the place we went on the night he asked me to be his girlfriend. I thought it was a little strange because we hadn't been there since those two times, but again, I dismissed it and agreed to go.

Adam showed up at the restaurant and presented me with a dozen red roses, which are absolutely beautiful. I thought it was really sweet, but I didn't catch on that it was a special night or anything because he frequently spoils me with flowers and little presents. So I put the flowers in my car and we headed into the restaurant.

After dinner Adam drove around for a little while and we ended up at Miller Park. The very first time we met we spent hours there just sitting on a bench by the water and talking. We drove around Miller Park for awhile, looking at the geese and their babies. There were a ton of people at the park, though, and our bench was being used, so we continued to drive on.

We drove around town for a little while longer, until we ended up at another park. O'Neill Park is where Adam asked me to be his girlfriend. We ended up at the exact pavilion where he asked me before. He had brought along his "new speakers" that he wanted to "try out", so he put his iPod on and started playing music. I didn't catch on until later that he had created a playlist of some of my most favorite romantic songs that we've listened to together. While the music was playing Adam asked me if I would get up and dance with him, even though it might be a little silly. I hesitantly obliged and there we stood in the pavilion dancing to my favorite songs.

While we were dancing Adam talked about how this was so nice and he wanted to have this forever. And how we might look silly, but he wanted us to be silly together for the rest of our lives. And the next thing I knew he was down on one knee asking me to marry him!

What happened next is kind of a blur. My eyes became a fire hydrant, gushing out gallons of tears. And I remember asking him if he was serious, then staring at the ring in disbelief, then kissing him and saying yes, and crying some more. And I think at some point Adam had to tell me to put the ring on because I was so stunned.

Then he surprised me even more by telling me he was coming back to Decatur to spend the weekend with me at my parents' house! He said he had taken the time off from work, and he had even made arrangements for my car to get back to Decatur so we could ride home together.

Adam said he wanted to have our own little celebration before we told anyone the news, and that he wanted to take me to Cold Stone for ice cream. So we hopped in the car and headed in that direction. We walked into Cold Stone and got in line, and then I turned around and saw my family standing there! I couldn't believe my eyes. I instantly started crying again and hugged all of them and showed off my ring. I still have no idea how they all pulled this off without letting me in on the secret. They're good!

So we all ate our ice cream and my sister drove my car back home so I could ride with Adam.

We spent the rest of the night making phone calls and text messages, and then announcing the news on Facebook. It was so great to hear from all of the people we love so much. It means a lot to know just how many people are excited for us during the best time of our lives so far!

It was a perfect proposal with the perfect ring and a perfect night with my perfect fiance. I am so thrilled to spend the rest of our lives together and I know the best is yet to come!

Day 65: 5 Changes

2010-05-06T11:03:00.004-05:00

Last week I wrote a post encouraging everyone to come up with 5 changes they could make in their lives to impact their health.

It's important to look at your life and reflect on what you're doing in contrast with what your goals are.

You can't keep doing the same old things and expect to make changes in your life.

A lot of us get caught up in these habits or addictions that we think we need. But when we challenge ourselves we realize that they really aren't as much of a crutch for us as we thought.

Here are my 5 changes:

Water - I am really focusing on making this change in my life this month. Before I would rarely drink anything throughout the day, and have maybe a glass of water in the evening along with a glass of sweet tea or diet soda. I've never been a person who really drinks a lot of water. I just don't think about it, and I don't feel thirsty. My eyes were opened to the hazards of my lifestyle a couple years ago when I developed an excruciating kidney stone. Dehydration is one of the causes of kidney stones, and I'm fairly certain that not getting enough fluids was definitely a contributing factor in mine. Now I want to drink water, not only to prevent kidney stones, but for my overall health. For this change, I am going to make it a daily goal to drink 64 ounces of water. I bought some 64oz. reusable water bottles to help me achieve this goal. It's been a little difficult at first with my body getting adjusted to taking in so much liquid. The first couple of days of drinking 64 ounces I found myself making ridiculously frequent bathroom trips. But things have calmed down since then, and I can say that I really feel better with this change. I've found that I don't get hungry as quickly when I have a belly full of water.
Fast Food - Before I started this weight loss journey I was eating fast food every single day. It was convenient, cheap and it tasted good. But it was also making me groggy and sluggish and moody. I would find myself grumpy in the middle of the afternoon, and there were many days I would come home from work and require a nap. Obviously, kicking my fast food habit has helped me trememdously. I've lost weight, I'm eating more nutritious foods and I have more energy. I know it's not realistic to expect myself to give up fast food completely. But I am going to make sure that fast food is an occasional thing. Sometimes it's a necessity to run through a drive-thru when you're in a hurry or traveling somewhere. But I'm going to make sure that fast food doesn't become a crutch for me. Fast food will be a rarity in my life instead of the norm.
Sweet Tea - I have a thing for sweet tea. My grandmothers and my mom make the best sweet tea I've ever had. A close runner-up, though is McDonald's. Did you know a large sweet tea from McDonald's has a whopping 5 points? I figure it's time I cut some of the sugar out of my life and focus on getting more nutrition. For this change I will only allow myself sweet tea a couple times a week, and only after I've finished my 64 ounces of water for the day. There's no reason I should require a huge glass of sweet tea every day. And it's a silent calorie bomb because you don't think about the calories and sugar since you're not eating it.
Parking Far Away - This was a challenge I did in April. I parked in the back of the parking lot wherever I went to try to get a little more exercise. I found that parking so far away really didn't inconvenience me too much, and I felt great about the extra steps I was getting in. I want to make this a permanent change in my life. Since April has been over I've actually been slacking a little bit on this one, but it's time to get back into action. I'm going to park at the back of the lot now as a general rule.
Do It Now - I can be a procrastinator at times. It's easier to be lazy and stay where I am than it is to get up and take care of whatever it is that needs attention. I want to make the word "Later" a curse word in my life. I am going to start noticing the areas in which I procrastinate and adopting the attitude of taking care of it now. This will probably be the toughest change for me to to make, but I know it will help me in achieving my health goals.

So what do you think of those changes? What changes are you going to make in your life?

Day 64: Woops!

2010-05-05T21:01:00.000-05:00

Oh. My. Goodness. I almost forgot to write a blog today! If it hadn't been for my incredible, handsome, loving and caring boyfriend, I would never have thought about it! (by the way, check out his very own daily blog, from which I stole the idea....www.AdamGodfrey.com).

I had a crazy day at work today, and that's what I blame for my absent-mindedness. You see, I misplaced a very important folder that contained very important information. I subsequently spent over two hours tearing my office apart looking for it, only to come up empty-handed and nearly in tears. I had just sat down in my office chair and let out a huge sigh when my dad walked in, asked if I still hadn't found the item, proceeded toward the file cabinet, opened a drawer, tinkered around for approximately 27 seconds, and casually said, "Here it is." Jeesh! I hate when stuff like that happens...but I'm glad he found it.

I absolutely did not want to workout today after all the stress. It was actually the last thing I wanted to do. But I forced myself off the couch and dragged my sorry butt to the front of the TV screen and did the full 30 minutes of the Jillian Michels 30 Day Shred. I actually felt better after I did it, but boy, I really had to get over my emotions telling me I didn't feel like it.

It was a small victory, but I'll take it and celebrate just the same.

What do you do during those times when you don't feel like doing the thing that you need to do the most? Maybe it's eating right, exercising, housework...whatever. How do you make yourself do it? Or do you?

Honestly, I can go both ways. Sometimes I lack the will power or the drive to pull through and do something I don't want to do. But other times I force myself and feel great about it. I just have to work at making sure the times I force myself are more frequent than the times I let it slide and opt for laziness.

Day 63: Weeky Weigh-In

2010-05-04T09:37:00.004-05:00

Well, I posted another gain this week. I'm not thrilled about it, but I also take it in stride because I think the gain is due in large part to womanly issues. So hopefully next week I'll be back on track with my loss.

This week: +0.8lbs
Total: -10.8lbs

I didn't do great with staying on my plan and tracking my foods last week. But it wasn't horrible. I didn't get in a lot of exercise either.

I'm not sure what it is, but PMS really affects me when it comes to trying to stay healthy. I crave any kind of junk food I can get my hands on. I want fried things, sweet things, breaded things...you name it. And I just feel tired and my body doesn't want to exercise.

Has anyone heard of ways to combat PMS? How do you get over those crazy emotions and cravings and make yourself stay on track?

I've been saying that my gain this week didn't really count. But I am determined to have a good week this week and to get in my workouts and eat well. Next week I WILL post a loss.

More importantly than any of that, I want to really encourage everyone to pray for Middle Tennessee and the Nashville area. I used to live down there, and I have some friends there. And Adam is from there, so his entire family is there, along with a ton of friends. Tennessee is devastated by this awful flooding. They've never experienced anything like it before and most people don't have flood insurance. Adam has written a couple of posts about this flooding in his hometown and the surrounding areas. Please check it out www.AdamGodfrey.com.

Day 62: Champion Chow -- Frozen Yummies

2010-05-03T11:57:00.003-05:00

I love having a frozen treat in the evenings and I have come across a little gem that will change your life! Well, maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I think you'll find them incredibly enjoyable and satisfying. Most Fudgesicles you find aren't too high in calories and fat, but most other brands are pretty small compared to the Weight Watchers.

These Weight Watchers Giant Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Bars are HUGE! And delicious! And only 1 Point!

They're almost too big....and they will most assuredly satisfy your screaming inner chocoholic.

I have seen these bars at Kroger and Wal-Mart and they're priced pretty reasonably.
The giant ice cream bars also come in other varieties:
Latte (1 Point)

Chocolate Cookies & Cream (2 Points)

Wildberry and Orange Creme Sorbet (2 Points)

I've tried the Wildberry and Orange Creme Bars as well, and they're excellent. I haven't tried the others, but I'm sure I will soon! If you're like me and you crave ice cream occasionally, you don't want to miss out on these great and guilt-free indulgences.

Day 61: The Most Delicious and Easiest Dinner You'll Ever Make

2010-05-02T15:52:00.003-05:00

My Aunt Diane sent me this recipe earlier in the week and I was very impressed with how great it tasted, and how easy it was! It's low in points, high in nutrition, and bursting with flavor.

Shredded Mexican Slow Cooker Chicken:
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large jar salsa (mild, medium, or hot, depending on your preference)
1 small bag frozen corn
1/2 c. chopped onion
Seasoning
8 8-inch whole wheat tortillas
Reduced Fat Shredded Cheese
1 can black beans

Directions:
Place chicken breasts in the slow cooker and cover with salsa. Add corn and onion. Cook all day on low.
About an hour before serving, remove chicken breasts and shred them. Taste the mixture and add seasonings like cumin, garlic, salt and pepper.
To serve, scoop shredded chicken onto a tortilla, and add cheese and beans.

Makes 4 2-tortilla servings

Nutrition Info:
About 4 Points per serving, depending on how large your portion is.

May Day Mayday!

2010-05-01T18:51:00.002-05:00

Ok, so the real title of this post should be April 30th Mayday. I ate horribly yesterday! Adam was in town visiting, which means he stayed at my parents' house (the Mecca of junk food), and we had a bunch of my sister's friends here camping, which meant even more junk food was in the house than normal. For some reason all of those factors made me think that it was acceptable to eat any food within eyesight. I'm not sure why I did that to myself, but it was bad.

And then we went out to dinner that evening and I ordered a lot of cheese. My stomach had a knot in it and I was so bloated afterwards. I wondered why I had allowed myself to eat so much food, and why I would sabbotage my weight loss like that.

I guess old habits die hard as they say, and I'm just going to have to remember what it feels like to eat crappy food and be miserable after. Yuck.

Quite honestly, I'm not completely back on track today. I haven't been keeping track of my points, and I'm having a few gummy worms as I type this (don't tell). BUT, I haven't overeaten at all today, and I've made fairly reasonable choices. I also worked out and helped my mom with some gardening.

I'm looking forward to May and all the changes I'm going to see take place due to all of the lifestyle changes I'm making.

Day 59: Survival Strategies for the Office Worker

2010-04-30T12:14:00.002-05:00

If you're like me you sit behind a desk for most of the day and only rarely get up. Having your body in a sedentary position most of the day can have some adverse effects on your health, though. It can make you physically tired. When my body is sitting in a chair all day long and I'm staring at a computer screen, I'm worn out by the end of the day. I need to engage my body more so it can be ready to move and exercise and be active when my desk time is over for the day. You can also become weaker by sitting at your desk, unless you are proactive about making sure you're engaging those muscles. Having a sedentary job can additionally cause you to gain weight. Obviously, if you're consuming more calories than you spend in a day, you're going to pack on the pounds.

Throughout the month of May I'm going to do a little experiment. I'm going to get up and move around for the last 10 minutes of every hour and see how that affects my overall well-being. Here's what I plan to do:

Stretch - Just simply standing up and stretching your neck, shoulders, back, arms, legs and wrists can help to liven you up during a mid-afternoon slump.

Wall Push-Ups - Now, you need to know that my office is surrounded on 3 sides by windows. So EVERYONE will be able to see what I'm doing. I may have to try out these exercises in my office bathroom if I start to feel self-conscious. I found these step-by-step instructions for wall push-ups on eHow.com.

Stand approximately 2 feet away from the wall keeping your feet together. If you stand farther away, you will have to bend and reach too far creating poor posture and the possibility of pulling muscles in your thighs and calves. Standing too close to the wall will not allow you to extend your arms far enough to create a good workout.
Place your hands flat on the wall. You arms should be straight out at shoulder height and slightly more than shoulder width apart from each other.
Lean towards the wall while keeping your elbows tucked in until your nose is almost touching the wall. Hold this position and focus on your posture before finishing the push-up. You should feel a slight stretching in your calf muscles and in your upper chest. Check to ensure that your body is in a straight line all the way from head to toe.
Return to your starting position slowly. Continue practicing wall push-ups until you can comfortably do 20 to 25 of them at one time.
To make a wall push-up more difficult to do, practice moving your hands together until they are touching. This will require more upper arm strength to maintain correct positioning.
Prevent injury doing push-ups by maintaining correct alignment in your body. Injuries can occur in your elbows, neck and lower back if you bend or arch your back while exercising.

Squats - You can either do this exercise at your chair, by simply bending down to sit (but don't sit down all the way) and standing up several times, or you can perform a traditional squat by standing, then bending at the knees, keeping your back straight.

Arms - You don't need dumbbells to get a good arm workout. Just grab something on your desk at a weight that's challenging, but not uncomfortable for you. And do bicep curls, tricep extensions, shoulder lifts, and any other arm exercises you can think of.

Core - I really need to work harder on engaging my core in my workday. So I'm going to focus on having better posture and doing some of the exercises my cousin Brooke told me about. I sit in my chair and hold my legs parallel to the ground for several minutes at a time. And I will also sit in my chair and hold my feet a few inches off the ground for several minutes at a time. This will strengthen my abdominal muscles and help me to better stabilize myself for better posture and abs (I haven't seen them yet, but I know they're hiding in my belly somewhere). I've heard of a lot of people using stability balls in place of their regular office chairs while they're at work. Obviously, you probably wouldn't want to sit on a ball for the entire day. But maybe half an hour at a time or so. I'm unfortunately unable to do this since there are a lot of metal scraps on my office floor. I wouldn't want to be sitting on the ball and have it pop all of a sudden!

Calf Raises - Something I often try to do while I'm climbing stairs or just walking around the office is calf raises. You simply take normal strides and steps, but with each step you raise up on your toes to give your calf muscles a little squeeze. This is a great workout for climbing stairs, but it also works for just walking around on a level surface. You may look a little funny but you'll have the last laugh when your calves are the shapliest ones in the office!

Some other suggestions are to go for a walk during your lunch break, try to exercise instead of hitting the vending machines or the coffee pot on your breaks, and take the stairs instead of the elevator.

What workday workout tips can you share? Do you plan to employ any of these into your normal routine?

Day 58: May Challenges

2010-04-29T12:14:00.003-05:00

You may wonder why I have chosen to put an image on my blog of the person I most irrationally fear: Richard Simmons. Let me explain. I have always been afraid of Richard Simmons, and I think if I ever came across him in person I would be reduced to tears or screams of terror.

However, facing your fears is a part of rising up from the obstacles in which you find yourself, and thus, Richard is a guest here on my blog today....at least, his image is a guest here. It's difficult, and it's not fun, but looking at this photograph is slowly helping me to overcome my fear. And maybe one day if I do meet Richard Simmons somewhere, I'll be able to shake his hand and offer a kind hello. Who knows?

At any rate, April is almost over and the May flowers are starting to appear, so I have a whole new slew of challenges for myself (and anyone who wishes to join me). But first, let's have a recap of some of the April challenges.

Walk to Run Challenge - I abandoned this challenge after the first time I tried to jog....I'm just not there yet. But one day I will be. And I will be thrilled to reinstate the challenge then.

Park and Walk Challenge - For this challenge I parked in the back of the parking lot every time I went somewhere so I could get a little more exercise. I actually loved this challenge so much that I think I'm going to make it into one of my 5 changes! It was nice to not have to drive around forever looking for the best spot in the lot. And I actually enjoyed parking further away and walking into my destination. I felt great knowing I was adding just a few extra steps every day.

100 Miles Challenge - For this challenge I wanted to walk 100 miles (or 200,000 steps) in the month of April. I wore my pedometer every day and I really tried hard to get those steps in. I never realized how sedentary I am at work, so seeing my step count on the pedometer really opened my eyes to that. My results so far this month (with still a day and a half remaining in April) are: (drum roll, please!) 218,646 steps, which loosely translates to 109.32 miles! Yahoo! I feel so great knowing that I walked that distance in April. What an incredible feeling! And, walking that much has improved my fitness so much that I'm actually ready to take my workouts to the next level.

Here are my challenges for the month of May:
WORK Out Challenge - Because I sit so much at my office, I really want to do more to help myself burn some calories during my workday. At the very beginning of my blog my cousin Brooke posted a comment with some of the little techniques she uses to keep moving while she's at work:

For every trip she makes to the bathroom she does 5 back kicks per leg.
While she's sitting in her chair she lifts her feet off the ground for several minutes at a time.
She tightens her butt while she's sitting.
She sits in her chair and holds her legs parallel to the ground for several minutes at a time.

I want to try to incorporate some form of getting up and moving around for 10 minutes out of every hour while I'm at work. I plan to use Brooke's tricks, as well as a few tips I picked up from some articles I read (more on that tomorrow).

Amp it Up Challenge - It's time to take my workouts to the next level. This challenge will last for the month of May and beyond. I plan to exercise 5 days per week, with only 2 of those days being low-impact workouts like walking or Wii fit. The other 3 days will be more intense workouts like my Jillian Michaels Shred DVD or Zumba. I'm honestly a little scared of this challenge, but I'm confident that I can do it. And I know it will only get easier with time. So these workouts may kick my patootey at first, but eventually I'll get so good that I'll need to bring it up even more...

The Kegger Challenge - No, this challenge isn't a fraternity drinking game! Did you know that a standard keg holds 1,984 ounces? And that 1,984 ounces just happens to be the amount of water you would drink in 31 days if you drank 64 ounces per day? That's my challenge for this month. I want to drink an entire keg of water for the month of May. I'm not going to actually go out and buy a keg, though, so I'll just have to pretend with that one. I don't drink nearly the amount of water I should, and so I really want to challenge myself to consume much more water every day. I think this challenge is going to be the one that drives me crazy because I'm really not used to drinking that much liquid at all. I typically have a few sips of water with breakfast and throughout the morning, maybe 4 ounces at lunch, and maybe a little bit when I go to bed. I'm a sweet tea fiend, so I'm going to have to make myself drink my water before I have any sweet tea. I know it's good for me, though, and my skin and body will thank me for getting in all the water I need.

So, those are my challenges this month. Who's with me? What other ways are you challenging yourself?

Day 57: Changes

2010-04-28T14:09:00.003-05:00

Ummm, so I was scrolling back through some of my older posts looking for something I wanted to talk about today (more on that later), and I came across THIS ENTRY, in which I asked everyone to think about 5 changes they could make in their life in order to live healthier, to lose weight, to free up clutter, etc. I said I would think about it for a week, and I would post my 5 changes, and I would follow up with everyone else to see what they came up with as far as their changes.

Well, I failed.

I forgot all about that post and the week came and went and nary a word was said about changes! Woops.

So I want to do this exercise again.

I want us all to spend some real time thinking about 5 changes we could make in our lives to help us to be healthier, have more time, be more organized, or whatever it is that is an area of weakness for you.

Maybe you need to give up something you're addicted to: diet coke, sweet tea, the Internet....
Maybe you need to take more time to sit still and reflect on things.
Maybe you need to clear your life of clutter.

I know in my previous post I was talking about a TV show I watch about a lady named Ruby who started out at 716 pounds and has now lost about 400! A couple of the changes she made were to stop drinking diet soda and to start taking the stairs more instead of the elevator. Little things can make a big difference.

I don't know what it is for you, but really spend some time this week thinking about what changes you can make to positively enhance your life, and come back next Wednesday and tell me about it!

Oh yeah, and my "other topic" I wanted to talk about is going to wait for tomorrow....Hint: It has to do with my cousin Brooke's Gluteus Maximus!

Day 56: Wahoo!

2010-04-27T11:19:00.002-05:00

Somebody got another 5lb. sticker last night! I am so excited that after 5 weeks of dancing around the same number on the scale, I finally managed to get beyond it! I never realized I was dealing with the ups and downs for that long, but when I went back and looked at my weight log, it really was 5 weeks (actually six weeks if you factor in that I was gone and missed one meeting).

I feel so good now....it was like that one number was holding me back from really trying and now that I've gotten past it, I feel like I can conquer the world....or at least my weight.

This week: -4.6lbs.
Total: -11.6lbs.

I attribute my success this week to three things:

I obsessively tracked every single morsel of food that went in my mouth. I knew on any given day how many points I had consumed, and how many I had remaining. I told myself that I wasn't going to use any of my extra weekly points until Friday's date night, and I held to that. And even then, I only used 7 of them. I also tracked my points religiously during the weekend, when I normally slack off. I think holding myself accountable to the foods I was eating really helped me to say no to the things I was just eating out of habit. I remember one instance in particular, where I was in my mom's kitchen and there was a little basket of Easter candy sitting out. I reached in and grabbed a little chocolate and started to unwrap it without really thinking. Then I suddenly realized what I was doing and put the candy down and walked away because I didn't want to have to put that on my points tracker. At the meetings they always talk about how important tracking your food is, and now I can testify that it really does make a huge difference.
I got in 2 really good workouts that I'm sure gave my metabolism a boost. I have always said it takes a lot more effort for me to break a sweat than it does the average person. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but I sweat like a hog during those Zumba workouts...it felt great, too. I'm glad I had such a good loss this week because now I'm really motivated to amp up my workouts so that they become more challenging for me. I'm getting to a new fitness level now where walking everyday just isn't going to give my body the exercise it needs for weight loss. Yes, walking is great exercise, but it's not going to help me take off the pounds anymore.
I think sometimes when we are working at something, it just takes our bodies a little while to respond. My Weight Watchers instructor said something like that last night, and it makes sense. I haven't done horribly on Weight Watchers over the past 6 weeks...there might have been a couple of weeks where I just phoned it in. Or a few workouts here and there where I didn't give it my all, but by and large, I think I tried pretty hard. And especially over the last couple of weeks. And now my body finally responded to what I was wanting it to do. That tells me that I need to be consistent and persevere through the weeks when the scale doesn't show me what I want to see. If I stick with it, and do the right things, eventually it will show on the scale.

I'm very excited about my weight loss this week, and I'm hoping it continues. Obviously, I can't expect to lose 4 and a half pounds every week, but I can at least expect to continue to see my weight decreasing, little by little.

Day 55: Champion Chow -- Couscous!

2010-04-26T12:01:00.002-05:00

You may not be too familiar with this Mediterranean side dish, but I think once you try it, it's bound to become a staple in your pantry.

Couscous is a dish comprised of tiny wheat granules. It almost looks like sand. It's similar in function to a rice or pasta. You can serve it under beef stew or stir fry, or enjoy it as its own side dish.

The whole wheat variety of couscous only contains about 3 points for an entire cup, compared to 4 points for the same amount of brown rice.

I think my favorite feature of the couscous, though, is the texture. Do you ever get bored with eating rice or potatoes with your dinner? Couscous is a nice way to liven things up in your kitchen and add some variety to your routine.

You can find instant whole wheat couscous at Kroger. It's a little more difficult to find the whole wheat stuff at Wal-Mart, in my experience. The box I buy looks similar to this one. I think I almost always get Hodgson Mill brand, not because I'm particularly loyal to it, but that's just what I always see at Kroger. The couscous can be found where you find the instant rice and pasta dishes. Or, in Wal-Mart, it's found with the ethnic foods, typically mixed in with the Arabic or Indian section.

Instant couscous is prepared exactly like you would prepare instant rice. You boil liquid, then add the couscous, remove it from the heat and fluff it with a fork.

The instructions on the box call for you to add the couscous to boiling water, but I prefer to use fat free chicken broth because it adds so much flavor to the dish. I boil my chicken broth and add some seasonings to it. Maybe some garlic or onion powder, curry powder, cumin, or whatever I'm in the mood for that particular evening. Once the seasoned stock is boiling, I pour in my couscous and let it sit for a few minutes. Then it expands and voila! My favorite grainy side dish is ready for me.

I know today isn't the day when I normally share recipes, but I thought I would provide a little bonus. I made this Weight Watchers shrimp dish the other night and topped my couscous with it. It was absolutely delicious. I hope you enjoy it!

Coconut Curry Shrimp (makes 4 servings)
Ingredients:
2 Sprays cooking spray
2 tsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 medium scallops, chopped, green and white parts separated and reserved
1/2c. light coconut milk
1lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 c. cooked couscous (prepared with chicken broth)

Directions:
Coat a skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium. Add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the curry powder and salt, stirring constantly, until the curry powder becomes fragrant. Add the white parts of the scallions and cook about 2 minutes. Blend in coconut milk, and add shrimp. Cook shrimp until slightly pink (4-5 minutes). Sprinkle with green parts of scallions.

Serve 5-6 shrimp with 1-2 Tbsp. of sauce over 3/4 cup of couscous for each person.

Points Value: 6 (the recipe originally called for brown rice and had 7 points, but I made the adjustment to couscous, which dropped the recipe by 1 point).

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Day 54: One Point Apple Muffins

2010-04-25T10:41:00.003-05:00

My friend Marissa gave me a recipe for these delicious and filling One-Point Apple Bran Muffins. They have provided me with most of my breakfasts this week, and I can't believe how filling and tasty they are! I hope you enjoy them. And thanks, Marissa!

Ingredients:

2c. All Bran Fiber cereal (like Fiber One)

1 1/2c. Skim Milk

1 1/4c. Flour

1/4c. Sugar*

4 tsp. Baking Powder

1 1/2tsp. Cinnamon

1/4c. Apple Butter

1/4c. Egg Substitue (or 1 Egg)

1/2c. Raisins (or 1/4c. Walnuts, or I use 1/2c. Peeled & Chopped Apple)

Butter Flavored Spray

Directions:

Combine cereal and skim milk (I ran my Fiber One through a food processor first to get it to a crumb-like consistency). Stir and let sit exactly 15 minutes.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon.

Add apple butter and egg substitute (or egg).

Add cereal mixture.

Stir, fold in raisins (walnuts or apples)

Spray 12-cup muffin tin with butter flavored spray and fill each cup equally

Bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes.

*These muffins aren't super sweet. If you prefer sweeter muffins you can omit the sugar and use 1/2c. of Splenda instead.

Points Value Per Muffin: 1!

Day 53: Great Week!

2010-04-24T16:18:00.002-05:00

Well, according to my scale and my mother's scale I'm down about 6 pounds since Monday! We'll see what the Weight Watchers scale says (and how disciplined I can be this weekend). I'm feeling really good this week, though.

I was able to copiously track every single thing I ate, and I got in some really good workouts.

I was just talking to my mom this afternoon and we both think we feel so much better now that we're not eating a plate full of crap for every meal.

Before I started Weight Watchers I was eating fast food just about every single day. I was always so tired and sluggish after work. I just wanted to lay around on the couch and watch TV.

But now I am just living a more active lifestyle. I still like to watch TV, but now I'm not glued to the couch. I'll get up and move around while I watch my favorite shows, or during the commercial breaks.

My workouts have gotten too easy for me (WHAT?), so now I'm preparing to bump it up and take myself to the next level.

I just hope this all shows up on the scale on Monday. I'm ready for a good weigh-in.

We had another Zumba workout in Rochester today and it was SO much fun. I don't think I ate enough this morning because I was had a hard time keeping up today than I did Thursday night. My ankle and calf started hurting during the warm-up, and I just felt like I was a step or two behind the entire time. But that's okay. I still broke a sweat and I kept moving, and that's good enough for me!

Plus, I already have over 10,000 steps in today and it's only 4:30PM! This may be my best day yet for getting my steps in. Wahoo!

I hope everyone else had as great a week as I did. Let me know in the comments!

Day 52: Be Responsible!

2010-04-23T13:47:00.002-05:00

Last Fall I cleaned out my closets and ended up with about 6 bags of clothes, shoes and purses that I wanted to donate. I drove to the nearest bin I could find and dumped my clothes in, only noticing the sign on the bin AFTER my clothes were safely inside.

The sign read:

"We are a commercial company doing something good for our environment. Together we can reduce waste and conserve. We cooperate with schools, non-profits, city recycling programs and local businesses."

The sign seemed a little strange to me. Why is this commercial company excepting donations? Why are they so vague about what they're doing? And how exactly do they cooperate with these schools, non-profits, city recycling programs and local businesses? So I decided to look into the company that has these drop boxes everywhere around Decatur and other cities.

The company is called USAgain (formerly known as U'SAgain--their use of an unnecessary apostrophe does not help their case any). They operate under the guise of an "environmentally-friendly" company that does its best to keep our landfills free of recyclable trash. That seemed like a pretty worthwhile cause to me, that is until I continued my research on this company.

I found THIS ARTICLE from a news station's investigation of the company. Basically the USAgain company collects clothing and shoes in these bins and SELLS them (they don't donate) to third world countries, schools and other non-profits. They also work with a non-profit called PlanetAid, which has been under investigation for corruption in recent years. Both of these companies have alleged ties to a European cult called The Teachers Group (click HERE to read more about those allegations.). The Teachers Group has been accused of tax evasion and financial crimes. To learn more about this cult, CLICK HERE. Both co-CEO's of USAgain are members of The Teachers Group. And USAgain works closely with PlanetAid, which is a non-profit organization that has strong ties to the cult. I smell something fishy.

The problem is that USAgain disguises its drop boxes so that they look like charity donation bins. I never would have given my used clothing to them if I would have known it would be sold for their profit.

This quotation is from a news article from Quincy, Illinois:

Here's the way the U'SAgain company works. You drop off your clothing and shoes into a drop off bin. Once a week, the contents of the bin are picked up and taken to St. Louis. Then U'SAgain sells the clothes by the pound and ships them to third world countries.

So not only was my donation used for someone else's profit, but the company that received the profit was not even in my local community! In addition to this, my donation was diverted from getting into the hands of the local people in my community who are in need of it.

So you may wonder why there are so many of these collection bins in the area, and how USAgain gets local businesses to agree to put collection bins in their parking lots. Well, I'm convinced that there are two guilty parties here: 1. USAgain has fancy wording that makes their company seem like a charitable organization. And 2. The business owners who put these bins in their lots probably don't do a great deal of research.

The kind-hearted business owners are duped into thinking they're helping out a charity by placing a red donation bin in their parking lot. A representative from U'SAgain comes into their business with a great proposition: allow us to put our bin here, and you will look great to the community because you're helping a charity. And you'll get more traffic in and out of your parking lot every day without lifting a finger.

USAgain's website says this:

At USAgain, we work for three things:
people, planet and profit.
We want to be clear that USAgain is a for-profit corporation. Running a sustainable business that contributes to the local economy through job creation, buying local products and services and paying taxes is important to USAgain. We also use some of the revenue we generate to give back to the community. A percentage of each sale of the collected clothes benefits the "host" of the collection bins - the school, church, or office park where a bin is stationed. We donate a portion of our earnings to charities and nonprofits here in the US and abroad.

The first article I linked in this blog, however, says that in a phone conversation with the CEO of USAgain, he was unable to name any local organization that had benefited from his company's collections in the area.

The bottom line is that we as consumers need to be more responsible and aware of what we're doing with our unwanted items. I hate that I allowed this terrible company to make a profit off of me. And I want to start a personal crusade to make sure everyone knows about this fraudulent company and its dishonest and horrible business practices.

If you don't want to donate your clothing to a legitimate resale shop like Goodwill or Salvation Army, do some research and find out if there are shelters in your area that need clothing items. I know of several here in my community and I'm going to make sure from now on that my donations end up in the hands of a person who really needs them.

I know today's blog was an off-topic one, but thanks for reading and thanks for helping to get the word out about this crooked company.

Day 51: I'm Gonna Pump.....You Up!

2010-04-22T13:05:00.002-05:00

I'm starting to feel the need to "pump up" my workouts a little. I think my body has gotten adjusted to walking, so it's really not challenging me as much as it should.

I'm trying to map out what I want to do fitness-wise for next month, so I'm open to suggestions if anybody has any.

I think I'm going to set a goal of working out 5 times per week, and only allowing myself to use 2 of those workout times for walking. The others will need to be something a little more high-impact.

I have a Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout that has absolutely kicked my butt when I've tried it before. The DVD has three different levels of intensity, depending on your personal fitness. I've only ever been able to do level 1, so I think one goal I want to set for myself is to get to the point where I am able to do level 2. You can check out this DVD HERE.

In addition to that, I also have a few Biggest Loser workout DVDs. The Power Sculpt is a really good weights workout, and it, too, is divided into 3 segments according to your fitness level. The Biggest Loser Cardio Max is a little more challenging. I honestly haven't done it that many times because in the past I've felt like it was too difficult for me. I'll be interested to see how well I can keep up with it now that I've been working out consistently for awhile. I also have a Biggest Loser Boot Camp video that has, sadly, never been taken out of the shrink wrap! Wow. I suck. I bought that video at Target probably 8 or 9 months ago and never got around to giving it a try.

I have two So You Think You Can Dance DVDs as well, but they're not really as difficult.

I have some Wii workout video games, as well. My sister got me EA Sports Active for Christmas. It has some pretty good workouts, and even a program to build up your endurance and strength in 6 weeks. And I have a Gold's Gym Cardio Kickboxing game that is pretty fun. It's made cheaply, and there may be something better on the market now, but I really enjoy kickboxing so I bought the game.

I have Wii Fit Plus and Wii Fit, but to be honest, I really don't feel like they're a great workout. I think if I played Wii Fit Plus for a good 2 hours, I still wouldn't get the same calorie burn as doing the Jillian Michaels DVD for half an hour. The Wii Fit Plus is a good way to stay active and, obviously, it's better than sitting on the couch eating bon bons. But for someone with lofty fitness goals, the Wii Fit Plus probably isn't going to do much for me in terms of helping me to get where I'm wanting to go.

I own a rickety old elliptical machine that I bought about 6 years ago. It's squeaky and cheap, though, and I feel like it's going to break when I use it. Maybe I should dust the old thing off and give it another shot. That's a great way to get some exercise while I'm watching TV at night.

I'm doing one of my absolute favorite exercise things tonight, though. My sister and I are going to Zumba!! I've done Zumba a few times, and whew! It's exhausting, but it is SO much fun. For anyone who's not familiar with Zumba, it's a workout class that's infused with Latin and Hip Hop dance. The class is led by a certified instructor who leads you in the dances and makes it fun. Actually, I have the opportunity to attend these classes twice a week, but the only problem is that they're about 45 minutes away. I'm not sure if I want to drive all that way each time, but I'd love to incorporate more Zumba into my life. I've looked for classes around here, but it seems like most of them meet at times when I'm not able to go, like during the day when I'm working.

Does anyone else have suggestions of thins I can incorporate into my fitness routine that would have more of an impact than walking?

Day 50: Celebration!

2010-04-21T14:52:00.002-05:00

Wahoo!! I am so excited to have made it 50 days into writing this blog.

I'm not sure I've ever kept any discipline for 50 days straight.

This weight loss journey has been a battle for me. Sometimes I've felt like I was going uphill, both ways, barefoot in 6 feet of snow.

But I'm determined to keep pressing on. This season of The Biggest Loser has been particularly inspirational to me. I have always been a fan of the show, but sometimes the contestants make the show less inspirational and more like Survivor.

But this season I have fallen in love with the Yellow team of O'Neal and Sunshine. They are just so inspirational. They work so hard and they carry a positive attitude into any situation. To me, they are the picture of the perfect Biggest Loser contestant. They are competitive, but not obnoxious. They work hard without whining. And they appear to be in it for the right reasons. Last night's episode was such a tear-jerker as O'Neal suffered a medical setback and also found out his older brother back home had passed away. Just seeing how moved all of the other competitors were was a demonstration of what a positive force this yellow team is. So today I want to find out what inspires you? It could be a TV show, a person in your life, a quote you heard....what makes you get up and step into action? What helps you stay on track? What allows you to resist that chocolate chip cookie?

Answer below in the comments section. Maybe we can all draw from each other's sources of motivation.

And, today isn't just a celebration for me, it's also a celebration for all of my readers who have managed to stick with me so far. Even though some posts have been boring or mundane. I just wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciate having this support system around me who will encourage me and walk along with me on this journey.

Have a wonderful day!

Day 49: Weekly Weigh-In

2010-04-20T15:03:00.003-05:00

Does it ever seem like you keep pushing, but never really go anywhere?

That's how I'm feeling this week.

I gained this week, and I really can't offer a good explanation as to why. That's the problem.

I think I have started to slack a little without even noticing it. I'm really good at tracking my foods for breakfast and lunch, but then at dinnertime (and whatever snacks I decide to have in the evening), I don't count my points.

I honestly figured I had done enough exercise this week, and I was good enough with my eating to have a loss. So I was more than a little disappointed when I weighed in last night.

This week: +1.6lbs.
Total: -7lbs.

For the last three weeks I have been flirting around the same number, and I just can't seem to stay on the other side of it. It's frustrating, and it makes me crabby.

To be perfectly truthful with you, this number got me way down last night. I was pouty. And depressed. And it made me feel like garbage. I had a whole list of things I had planned on getting finished that evening, and all I wanted to do was to go home and crawl in bed.

And I did that for a good hour or so, until I realized that it was stupid to just be upset about the number and not do anything about it.

So I begrudgingly got my sorry self up and did a light Wii Workout, and finished the housework I was wanting to do.

I decided that instead of letting this weight gain be a discouragement to me, I was going to use it as a motivation to change the behaviors that caused the gain.

This week my goal is to track absolutely every morsel of food that finds its way into my mouth. If I follow through with this, I will see if my tracking habits are the culprit of my weight gain this week.

I am also trying to think of some new fitness ideas for next month. I think my body is getting used to just walking every day, so I want to incorporate something that will challenge my entire body in a bigger way. I may start adding smaller extra workouts into my daily routine to see if that helps me at all.

The gain could also be due to womanly issues...we are all too familiar with those.

I may not know precisely what caused my gain this week, but I can sure as helicopter (thank you, Ruby) do my best to ensure I make it to the other side of that stupid number on the scale next week!

How's everyone else doing?

Day 48: Champion Chow - The Magic Bullet

2010-04-19T15:15:00.003-05:00

Okay, so today's Champion Chow isn't exactly a food item, BUT it is the most useful kitchen tool ever created!

I have had a Magic Bullet ever since I started cooking for myself (about 4 years ago, maybe?), and my kitchen would not be happy without it.

This little tool comes in handy for chopping onions and hot peppers, so your eyes don't get irritated; it blends a wonderful salsa or guacamole; it makes delicious smoothies.

There's nothing it can't do! We've all seen the infomercial about The Magic Bullet about a thousand times, so I won't go into too much detail here. I will say, though, that it doesn't exactly chop things with just three little presses. It usually takes a little more pressure and time than they would like for you to think. But it's still a million times faster than chopping everything by hand.

The good thing is that Wal-Mart and Target now carry this handy little food processor, so you don't have to order it on TV.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite healthy recipes I make with my Magic Bullet on a regular basis.

Breakfast (or Dessert) Smoothie
1 8oz. container Yoplait Light Yogurt (vanilla or some other flavor)
1/2c. frozen fruit blend (tropical fruits are my favorite, but berries are also delicious)
1c. orange juice

Put fruit into Magic Bullet large cup, spoon in yogurt. Pour orange juice on top and gently stir. Mix in Magic Bullet (using 4-pronged chopper blade) to uniform consistency. Enjoy!

Points Value: Approximately 5 points, depending on which frozen fruit you use.

You can also add a few ice cubes to the ingredients before you mix them, but being a person who is prone to brain-freeze, I leave this step out!

Day 47: Fiber One Fabulosity!

2010-04-18T09:29:00.003-05:00

For a healthy diet, you need to consume anywhere from 20 to 35 grams of Fiber each day. So why not have a little fun with it?

These two recipes, both from Hungry Girl, are absolutely fantastic and fiber packed. I think you'll really enjoy them.

Note: It's important not to overdo it when you're eating fiber-filled foods. Eating too much fiber can result in a yucky tummy.

Fiber One Mozzarella Sticks

Makes 1 Serving

Ingredients:

2 pcs. light mozzarella string cheese

1/4c. Fiber One bran cereal (original)

2 Tbsp. fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters)

Salt, black pepper, and Italian seasonings, to taste

Optional: low-fat marinara sauce (Great Value brand tastes fantastic)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

In a food processor, grind Fiber One to a crumbly consistency (like breadcrumbs). Place crumbs in a Ziploc baggie or Tupperware container. Add your seasonings to the Fiber One crumbs. Set the crumb mixture aside.

Cut both pieces of string cheese in half, giving you 4 sticks. Pour the Egg Beaters into a small bowl and dip the cheese sticks in. Remove cheese sticks from the egg and shake them to remove any excess egg substitute. Transfer sticks to the crumb mixture and seal the bag. Shake the bag to coat sticks in the seasoned crumbs.

Remove the cheese sticks from the crumbs and return them to the egg substitute to coat again. Then place them back in the baggie and cover with crumbs.

Place the sticks on a baking sheet covered with nonstick spray. Spritz the tops of the cheese sticks with the nonstick spray as well.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the first sign of cheese oozing out. Serve with marinara sauce.

Nutritional Info (for entire recipe):

155 Calories

5.5g Fat

500mg Sodium

13.5g Carbs

7g Fiber

0g Sugars

19g Protein

Points Value: 3!

Faux-Fried Zucchini

Makes 3 Servings

Ingredients:

2 large zucchini, ends removed

3/4c. Fiber One bran cereal (original)

1/4c. fat-free liquid egg substitute

1 Tbsp. dry ranch dressing/dip mix

1/4 tsp. plus 1 dash garlic powder

1/4 tsp. plus 1 dash onion powder

1/4 tsp. plus 1 dash oregano

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Place Fiber One in a blender along with ranch mix and 1/4 tsp. each of garlic powder, onion powder and oregano. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Grind to a breadcrumb-like consistency. Transfer to a medium bowl.

In another medium bowl, combine egg substitute with a dash each of garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and salt and pepper. Stir thoroughly.

Cut zucchini into 1/2-inch wide circles. Blot away any excess moisture with a paper towel.

Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray. Toss zucchini in egg substitute until evenly covered. Remove them one by one, shaking off excess egg substitute. Coat the zucchini with the breadcrumbs and lay them on the baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Carefully flip the zucchini slices over. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the outsides are crispy and zucchini is cooked through.

Nutritional Info (per 1/3 of recipe):

Calories: 78

Fat: 0.5g

Sodium: 578mg

Carbs: 20g

Fiber: 9g

Sugars: 4g

Protein: 5g

Points Value: 1!!

Day 46: Ball Park Survival Strategies

2010-04-17T15:48:00.003-05:00

Summer is just aroung the corner and that spells trouble for dieters who also happen to love going to sporting events.

Adam and I went to a Cubs game yesterday and I couldn't help but think of a few ways to prevent myself from getting out of control and stick with my plan for a healthier me.

I'm not saying I followed ALL of these pointers yesterday (more on that later), but I am saying that the next time I attend a sporting event, I hope I will follow them to help myself to be successful and still have a good time.

Allow yourself a little treat. You want to enjoy your time at the game, right? You should go in to the day planning to stray a little from your healthy eating regimen. If your'e like me, trying to completely restrict yourself from eating anything unhealthy while you're in that kind of atmosphere will just make you miserable. Eat a little lighter the day leading up to your event. Have a healthy breakfast. If you're doing Weight Watchers, save your weekly points allowance for the day. And give in to those favorite ball park foods of yours. It wouldn't be a ball game if you didn't get something from the conscession stand, right?

Don't buy from the walking vendors. Get up and make yourself take the steps to get to the conscession stand. Doing this will serve two purposes: you'll get good exercise by climbing the steps, and you're less likely to overeat if you actually have to physically walk a distance to get to the food.

Don't break the bank. Bring a limited amount of cash with you so you can't go overboard with the food. Or, set a spending limit for yourself for food items at the stadium. For instance, tell yourself that you'll only spend $15 on food at the ballgame. Yesterday at Wrigley one hot dog was $4.50, so $15 really couldn't buy too much.

Limit yourself. Do you really need peanuts AND Cracker Jacks? In strategy 1, I told you to expect to enjoy the food a little bit and don't limit yourself so much that you don't enjoy anything. But it is important to set some kind of a limit. It's hard to do when you get the stadium and everyone around you is eating some deliciously aromatic food. But figure out a couple of items that are your favorites, and get those. Save the others for another time.

Sharing is nice. Plan to share your food with the people you're with. You don't need an entire bag of peanuts or a whole large soda. Share it with the people who are with you to prevent yourself from hogging out and feeling guilty later.

Keep score. Do something to keep your attention on the game, and to take your mind off of all the food options available to you. Take a score sheet with you and write down what's happening in the game. Focus on what you're there to see and enjoy the actual ball game.

That's what I came up with. I hope these pointers come in handy the next time you go to a sporting event. Hopefully they'll help me.

Like I said yesterday, I feel like I did pretty well with my food at Wrigley yesterday. I had a plain hot dog and shared a Coke with Adam. And we also shared a bag of peanuts (I'm not sure he was planning on sharing them when he bought them)....I may have had a few more than him, though. I laughed when I looked down and saw all the shells on the ground at my feet. And just for clarification, the garbage you see at the top of the picture does not belong to me!

Day 45: Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

2010-04-16T22:14:00.002-05:00

This is going to be an extremely short post today. Adam and I spent the day in Chicago and now, after 10:00 at night, we're just heading back to the ranch. We both got to experience Wrigley Field and The Cubs for the first time, and it was a great game...very exciting, AND John Cusak sang the 7th Inning Stretch. AND The Cubs won!

I managed to make fairly healthy decisions today, although I will admit that I didn't track my foods at all.

I may have gone a little overboard with the peanuts, though...Check out my facebook page for the picture. I can't post it on here from my phone, so come back tomorrow for that, as well as some sporting event survival strategies!

Day 44: from Decatur to Bloomington

2010-04-15T13:14:00.002-05:00

I am loving this walking challenge we're doing, folks! So far in the month of April I've walked 102,604 steps, which loosely translates into about 51.3 miles! I have walked the length of Decatur to Bloomington!

This is a great accomplishment for me as I thought getting in 10,000 steps a day would be quite a feat. As it turns out, getting those steps in can be difficult, and there are some days where I haven't made it there, but it hasn't been quite as cumbersome as I thought it would be. I've enjoyed it more than I normally enjoy exercising, and I think it's due to the fact that I have a goal in mind that I'm working toward. Plus this weather has been so nice, and all the foliage is springing up, and it just makes you feel like life is perfect....

Is anyone else interested in training for a 5K walk, along with my mom and I? Remember, a 5K is 3.1 miles. At Weight Watchers this week they distributed information as to how to train yourself to walk a 5K. Even if you haven't been doing any walking at all, this training program is pretty simple. With the plan, you don't focus so much on distance as you do time endurance. You want to walk at a brisk pace for the amount of time indicated for each day.

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7
Week 1	10 min	10 min	rest	12 min	12 min	rest	15 min
Week 2	15 min	18 min	rest	18 min	20 min	rest	20 min
Week 3	22 min	22 min	rest	24 min	24 min	rest	26 min
Week 4	26 min	28 min	rest	28 min	30 min	rest	30 min
Week 5	35 min	35 min	rest	35 min	40 min	rest	40 min
Week 6	40 min	45 min	rest	45 min	45 min	rest	5K

Of course you can switch your rest days if you need to, and if you're already at a point where you are able to walk for longer than 10 minutes at a time, feel free to skip ahead to the middle part of the plan.

I found a walking loop in my neighborhood that is 3.72 miles (half a mile LONGER than a 5K). I would love to invite anyone who wants to come out and walk this path with me sometime in late May. I haven't decided on a date just yet, but I figure that will give everyone enough time to train to be able to walk that distance. We'll meet at my house, do our walk, and then come back to my place for a healthy lunch. The walk will probably take an hour or so, so I figure if we meet at my house around 10:30 we'll be back at the perfect time for lunch. If you're interested, please let me know so I can know how many people to expect.

Day 43: Restaurant Round Table

2010-04-14T09:25:00.003-05:00

Eating out is a normal part of life for most people. And with restaurant portions continually expanding along with our ever-growing waistlines, how do we avoid meals like this picture, and instead opt for healthier alternatives from the menu. Or perhaps even healthier alternatives that aren't on the menu.

I experienced this the other night when I was at Red Lobster. I thought I was ordering a reasonably healthy meal when I told the waitress I wanted blackened tilapia with New Orleans style cajun shrimp with a side of Asparagus and a house salad. After I ordered I felt pretty proud of myself for not getting my typical fried shrimp platter, and I gave myself a little pat on the back.

But when my food came the entire plate was swimming in butter! And my "New Orleans Style" shrimp was covered in a creamy sauce. I'm starting to learn that I'm going to have to specify exactly how I want my food prepared if I'm wanting to eat healthy at restaurants. I should have ordered my asparagus steamed, and emphasized that I did not want it prepared with butter. And I should have found out exactly what was meant by the term "New Orleans Style." Then I would have known to order it without the sauce.

So I wanted to start a discussion today about this topic. Please answer any or all of the following questions in the comments section below:

- How do you make healthier choices at restaurants?
- Do you find it difficult to eat healthy when you have a smorgasbord of fried, fatty foods that are so tempting?
- What are some of your favorite healthy hot spots when it comes to dining out?

I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say! If you want to receive follow-up comments on this post, go down to the comment box and below it you will find a link that says "Subscribe by Email" If you click that link, any contributions to this discussion will be sent directly to your email so you don't have to keep checking back.

Day 42: Weekly Weigh-In

2010-04-13T11:48:00.002-05:00

I had a pretty successful week with Weight Watchers last week, and I attribute a lot of my success to my recent purchase of a scale.

I've always gone back and forth as to whether I actually want to own a scale and have it in my home. On the one hand, it can help to keep me accountable on a daily basis as to what I'm doing to my body. But on the other hand, it can be a great source of discouragement and disappointment when it doesn't read like I want it to.

But so far this $8 scale I bought last week has proven a useful tool in my journey. Since purchasing the scale, I have checked on my weight every morning. It even helped me this weekend to resist some of the junk food I would have normally given in to had I not been anticipating seeing the number drop when I stepped on the scale.

This week: -2.2lbs (this is actually over the past two weeks since I didn't go to last week's meeting)
Total: -8.6lbs.

I'm feeling pretty good about the changes I've made in my lifestyle, and I'm looking forward to reaching that 10lb. landmark. Not only will I get another sticker at my Weight Watchers meeting (yippee!), but it will also be a major accomplishment for myself that I can celebrate!

How's everyone else doing?

Day 41: Champion Chow

2010-04-12T15:10:00.002-05:00

A lot of people have a negative reaction to the idea of fiber. They think it tastes like cardboard or dirt....or it's a supplement that old people have to take.

But fiber is a necessary and beneficial component to any healthy eating plan, my friends. So let's talk about it.

Everyone knows that fiber makes you poop. There, I said it. Fiber absorbs water in your bowels and can help to soften your stools and keep you more regular. More pooping means the food is working its way through your system more quickly and you're getting the nutrients you need while getting rid of the stuff you don't. Fiber helps to prevent constipation so all that waste isn't getting stuck and causing a back-up inside of you. It's gross. But it's important.

Did you know that fiber can also lower your cholesterol, control your blood sugar, aid in weight loss, and possibly even help to prevent certain types of cancer?

If you want more information on the benefits of fiber, check out THIS LINK from the Mayo Clinic. It has literally oodles* of information on fiber!

My preferred source of fiber is Fiber One cereal. I love this stuff. I'm not much of a cereal eater at all, so I can't comment on how wonderful a start to your day it is to grab a bowlful of Fiber One with some skim milk.

But I will tell you that Fiber One has a lot of non-cereal uses. Fiber One helps to make you fuller faster, but it doesn't have a gross, grainy taste you might think. Fiber One is actually sweet, but not overpoweringly so. It has a very mild flavor in my opinion, which makes it versatile to use in many different ways.

I love putting this stuff on top of a salad as a healthier alternative to fatty croutons. It adds just enough crunch to enhance your salad experience.

I will also regularly add a few sprinkles of Fiber One to my yogurt. It adds a little bit of a sweet crunch when you're in a yogurt funk and you're bored of eating the same old thing every day.

Believe it or not, Fiber One also makes a great breading to put on meat or other items for a wonderful faux-fried taste without all the grease and fat. Check back Sunday for a couple of my favorite Fiber One recipes.

If you're STILL not convinced of the wonder of Fiber One cereal, at least entertain the idea of picking up some other Fiber One products. Their muffins (found in the bakery section), for one, are delicious and so filling. And they also make a variety of granola bars, yogurt, baking mixes, toaster pastries (like Pop-Tarts), breads, cottage cheese, and even shakes.

I've only tried the cereal, muffins, and bars, so I'd love to hear what you all think of their other products.

Yes, their television commercials are horrifyingly stupid....but their products are worth a shot.

If you want a coupon for Fiber One products, head over to their website www.FiberOne.com.

*An oodle is a term of measurement equivalent to a gob, a bunch, a ton, or a crapload.

Day 40: Chunky, Nutty Frozen Peanut Butter Cups

2010-04-11T10:33:00.003-05:00

This is another recipe straight from the amazing Hungry Girl. I've said it a thousand times, but I would highly recommend any of her cookbooks as they provide guilt-free indulgences that satisfy whatever craving you may be facing.

These Peanut Butter cups can be found in the book Hungry Girl 200 Under 200. It's a cookbook featuring 200 recipes under 200 calories. She has appetizers, desserts, and even some entrees, along with some frozen drinks and smoothie options as well. With this cookbook I've never made a recipe that tasted bad. Well, except for that one time when I botched the ingredients and my brownies came out like rubber. That was weird. But I blame myself, not Hungry Girl.

You can check out a few of her recipes and articles at http://www.hungry-girl.com/. And follow the link above to check out this cookbook on Amazon.

These little ice cream-like cups make a wonderful evening snack and they help to satiate your appetite for fatty peanut butter and ice cream....trust me.

Ingredients:
1 small (4-serving) pkg. sugar-free, fat-free chocolate instant pudding mix
1 8oz. container Cool Whip Free, thawed
2 oz. (about 1/2c.) dry-roasted soy nuts (I've used peanuts when I've made them)
1 Tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. reduced-fat peanut butter, room temperature

Directions:
Place pudding mix in a medium bowl. Add 3oz. (1/4c plus 2 Tbsp.) warm water. Stir until smooth and thickened, about 2 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine 1 Tbsp. Cool Whip with peanut butter until mixed well. Stir into the pudding mixture.

Stir in half of the nuts and all of the chocolate chips. Fold in remaining Cool Whip. Stir a little.

Line a 12-cup muffin pan with baking cups and spray with nonstick spray. Evenly distribute pudding mixture among the cups. Sprinkle the tops of the cups with remaining nuts.

Freeze until solid, about 1 hr. Stor in the freezer until ready to serve.
Makes 12 servings

Nutritional Info (per 1 PB Cup)
78 Calories, 2g Fat, 123mg Sodium, 11.5g Carbs, 0.5g Fiber, 2.5g Sugars, 2g Protein

Points Value: 2

Day 39: Week in Review

2010-04-10T11:38:00.003-05:00

I feel like I had a pretty good week this week. I weighed myself this morning and I was down about 2.6lbs from my last Weight Watchers weigh-in, but at Weight Watchers I have to weigh with clothes on, so I'm assuming I'm probably pretty close to the same.

Over the next couple of days I would like to lose a little bit of weight so I can boast a loss at my Monday weigh-in. We'll see, though. I said I would be satisfied if I managed to stay the same over vacation, but I'm not convinced of that now.

Staying on track over the weekend has always proven challenging for me, but I hope this will be added motivation for me to really work hard at it.

I've done pretty well with exercising. I've worked out 4 days so far, and I already have my workouts scheduled in for today and tomorrow.

Last night I didn't do too well with my food as it was date night and I just really didn't want to worry about it. But I did have my extra points available to me, so I still don't think I went off my plan or anything.

Overall it was a pretty good week considering the travel and all that. So hopefully I'll gain some momentum and keep going with this. We have already been working at this for about 6 weeks believe it or not!

Day 38: Survival Strategies...Vacation Vexation

2010-04-09T13:47:00.003-05:00

So you're going on a trip. You want to enjoy your time away, have some fun in the sun, relax and take a break. But you're afraid of being away from your routine and eating a week's worth of junk food, fried food, and any kind of food that isn't good for you.

Vacation should be a time where your worries go away, but if you're a dieter, you know that trying to stay on plan during vacation can be a cumbersome task, and one that causes a great deal of stress and can potentially ruin what is supposed to be a wonderful experience.

After coming home from a successful vacation getaway, here are some of the strategies I employed to help me make it through:

Ease up a little. Be realistic in your expectations. Chances are you are not going to be able to eat as healthy or be as active as you are in your everyday life. Go into your vacation knowing that you're going to try your best, but you are not going to be your own drill sergeant. You're going to have a crumby vacation if you make yourself miserable about every little thing you do.
Follow the One-Treat-A-Day Rule. In the spirit of easing up on the diet plan, go into each day knowing that you will allow yourself one special treat. Maybe you want a doughnut for breakfast. That's fine. Enjoy that doughnut, but then try to be reasonable in your food choices for the rest of the day. Or if you know you're going to a fish fry for dinner, eat light for breakfast and lunch and then really allow yourself to enjoy your special treat for that day. If you allow yourself a little extra, you will be able to enjoy yourself without giving up on your goal entirely and then paying for it on the scale.
Don't impose on others. Maybe your travel companion doesn't care if that cheeseburger he just ordered has 17,000 calories. It makes a vacation miserable for everyone involved if you're constantly scrutinizing everything that everyone is eating. Stick to your own foods and activities and let everyone else enjoy their food. This also goes for choosing restaurants. Don't make it a requirement to eat at a health-food place every time you go out. You can find something reasonable on any restaurant menu. Your travel buddies want to enjoy their vacation, too. And you'll start to feel guilty if you're constantly making everyone heed to you and your diet rules.
Remember portion control. No matter what you've been told in the past, vacation calories still count. If you don't believe me, your scale will be honest with you when you return. Portion control is particularly important when you're loosening up the diet reins and allowing yourself to eat things you wouldn't normally have. Remember that restaurant portions are usually more than double what you need. So don't strive for the Clean Plate Award. Try to slow down, enjoy each bite, and eat only a small amount of each item you order.
Get back on track ASAP! It's easy to continue with the vacation laziness when you get back to the daily grind. Remember that it's important to reestablish your routine so you can get back on track with your eating and exercise. Don't allow yourself to get caught up in the lethargy of returning home and going back to work. Get up and go! You've had your vacation, and now it's time to invite that drill sergeant back into your life.

Those are a few of the tips I picked up while I was away last week. What strategies do you use when you're away from home?

Day 37: Walk-It Challenge

2010-04-08T10:23:00.004-05:00

If you remember, my goal for this month is to walk 200,000 steps. My total so far is 41,808, as of yesterday. That means I need to kick it into high gear if I want to achieve my goal. April started while I was on vacation, so I wasn't as active as I normally would be. I know I can push myself and reach my goal, though.

I've actually been doing pretty well with my challenges. Yesterday I exercised for over an hour's worth of TV watching.

And I went grocery shopping and parked in the very last spot of the Wal-Mart parking lot. I assumed I would get a lot of steps walking in to the store, then back out of the store with my cart and groceries, and then even more steps when I had to take the cart back to the cart return. But as I was unloading the cart full of groceries into my car, a Wal-Mart employee walked all the way out to me and offered to take the cart for me. So I got cheated out of about 100 steps or so, in my estimation. Go figure the one time Wal-Mart decides to employ their customer service is the time when I don't need them to. I'm still grateful to the cart guy, though. It was a nice gesture, and if I had really wanted those 100 steps, I could have walked to the cart return and back without the cart. All together my grocery shopping experience bought me about 2,000 steps, which is really pretty good.

I ended up weighing myself last night, too, and it turns out that I lost 1.6 lbs. from my last weigh-in (if my scale is synchronized with the Weight Watchers scale, that is). So I'm feeling pretty good about that.

My mom and I have decided to abandon our jogging plan. We just aren't ready for it yet, and we need to build up some more endurance before we're ready to actually jog. I was a little disappointed about this at first, knowing that I had failed at one of my challenges. But then I realized that this is just a part of my journey and one day I will be able to run. Right now I have to build up to that, and I'm working hard.

So overall I'm happy to report that I'm on track this week with my fitness. Wouldn't you know that on the day I'm blogging about my walking I forgot my stinking pedometer!

How's everyone else doing with their fitness goals?

Weight Watchers launched a new Walk-It Challenge that I'm hoping to get some information on when I go to my meeting on Monday. It's a challenge to walk a 5k (about 3.1 miles) sometime in early June. I would love to join in this challenge and push myself to be able to walk 3.1 miles by the time June rolls around. I figure I don't have to participate in an official 5k...I can just do my own some place. Who wants to join me and we'll all get together in June and walk our own 5k?!

Day 36: Confession

2010-04-07T14:34:00.002-05:00

Now that I'm back to the daily grind, I need to be straight with you. It's not something I like talking about, and I feel like a horrible example when I bring this up, but.......

I ate like a hog yesterday.

There, I said it. Yesterday was a travel day, and Adam and I spent 6 hours in the car (he spent more than that since he had another hour and a half to drive after he dropped me off). I actually did okay with the travel part. We did eat fast food for lunch, which didn't concern me too much since I didn't blow my entire points allowance on one meal. But I did really well with resisting one of my vices along the journey: Gas station snacks. I don't know what it is, but there's something about walking into a convenience store and choosing a couple of shiny packaged delicacies that makes traveling just a little more tolerable. I love pringles and candy bars and chips and those little mini donuts....all of it. But yesterday I was able to avoid them like the plague....even during my potty break stop when the Gardettos were screaming my name.

So that's a small victory.

But then we got home. Adam dropped me off at my parents' house and the plan was for us to eat dinner there and then Adam would leave and head back to the ranch. Well, the dinner that had been prepared was a broccoli dish and I hate broccoli. It smells like rotten feet to me. I tried to be good, I really did. I tried to pick around the broccoli and just enjoy the rest of the dish, but it was impossible. So I made myself a bowl of cereal....which wouldn't have been that bad if the cereal I chose hadn't been Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch. As a chaser after my cereal I had a bowl of various kinds of potato chips, which I followed up with a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich and some various Easter candies.

It's all a blur to me now and I can't remember if I ate anything other than those items or not, but I didn't not feel well after my binge. It was almost instantaneous that I became groggy and sluggish. I just wanted to go to sleep.

But, alas, today is a new day. I'm back in the swing of things and I'm starting over. I've been tracking my points today and I'm planning on going grocery shopping and getting in some exercise, so it will be a good day.

I'm learning that it's okay to have those occasional slip-ups as long as I pick myself back up and get right back on track. Obviously I could have and should have stopped myself from eating so munch junk yesterday, but I didn't. If I spend my time focusing on my mistakes I'm never going to have enough energy left to work toward my goals.

Day 35: In a Hurry!

2010-04-06T09:57:00.003-05:00

We're getting ready to leave Tennessee right now so this is going to be a short post. Obviously I didn't make it to my Weight Watchers meeting this week, so I don't have a Weekly Weigh-In to report.

I feel like I've done alright with my eating while I've been on vacation. I wish I would have concerned myself a little more with my exercise, but I'm not going to stress out about it.

Like I said a couple days ago, I'll be happy if I've maintained my weight without gaining while I've been away. If I've lost that will be an extra bonus.

I'm hoping to get in a good number of steps today if we stop in Metropolis for all of the Superman sights. If we don't stop I'm going to be in trouble with the step count. But what can you do when you're in a car for 6 hours of the day?

That's about it....we'll be home sometime this evening and the blogs will be back to normal beginning tomorrow.

Day 34: Whew! What a Day!

2010-04-05T23:03:00.002-05:00

Today is typically the day where I talk about great foods I've found that make their way into my kitchen. But I really just want to give a brief little review of the day today and get back on track tomorrow or Wednesday with my schedule. Things have been a little chaotic for me today and I really haven't had time to think through what I would like to write for my Champion Chow day...so that will have to wait until next week.

Our time in Tennessee has just about come to a close and we wanted to make the most of our last full day here. So Adam and I loaded up the car and took his niece to the Nashville Zoo. My friend Misti had given us two free tickets, so we only had to buy a $9 child's ticket. That made it the perfect day to go.

We had such a good time. Isabelle had fun talking to the animals. She would make the animal sounds at the animals and wait for them to make the sounds back at her. She loved it. It was so sunny, though. And for some reason in my 27 years of life I've never been able to get it in my head that I'm a fair-skinned person and I need to wear sunscreen.

My arms and neck and back are all sunburned, and we had to make a special trip to Walgreens for some Aloe Vera tonight. But it's okay. I never blister, and hopefully the burn will fade into a tan over the next couple of days. And maybe, just maybe, the pain from the sunburn will help me to remember the importance of sunscreen the next time I find myself outside.

I brought my pedometer along with me to the zoo, and I was shocked to find out that we did an astonishing 9,000 steps while we were there! That's 4.5 miles! I was tired, but I felt great when I saw how far I had walked, and even better when I thought about the fact that I pushed the stroller with Isabelle in it the entire time we were there, which adds some extra oomph to my workout!

I had just enough time to get home and shower before I met up with one of my best friends Misti for dinner and a movie. We had Mexican food for dinner, and it was delicious! I had chicken fajitas which were about 12 points, and so satisfying.

What a wonderful end to our time in Tennessee! Today was the first day I was able to log over 10,000 steps and I feel so proud of myself for what I was able to do.

Tomorrow we're going to Metropolis to explore the Superman sights for awhile, so hopefully I'll be able to get in a good number of steps despite the 6 hour car ride.

I hope everyone had a great Easter....and I hope you're all getting out to enjoy the gorgeous weather we're having. Just remember the Coppertone!

Day 33: Light and Fruity Angel Food Cake

2010-04-04T00:22:00.002-05:00

I found this recipe a long time ago and I'm not quite sure of the measurements because I memorized it and just kind of make it as I go typically. But the cake is delicious and a satisfying sweet treat that's not too bad for you. I know that today is Easter and a lot of us will probably be gathering with family and not necessarily worrying too much about what we're eating. So I thought this recipe might be a nice way to start out the week next week as you begin to readjust to your normal routine.

Note: This is Kraft's official picture of the cake, but mine always looks slightly different since I add more strawberries and cover the entire cake with frosting.

Ingredients:

1 pre-made angel food cake from the bakery section of the grocery store

1 cored pineapple, juice reserved, chopped into tiny cubes

10 medium strawberries, sliced thin

1 8oz. tub of light Cool-Whip (store brand works fine)

Directions:

Remove angel food cake from container and, using a large bread knife, slice it into 3 layers that stack on top of one another.

Mix pineapple and reserved juice in with cool whip and stir well.

Using a rubber spatula, spread the cool whip and pineapple mixture on the bottom layer of the cake, then top with some of the sliced strawberries.

Place the second layer on top of the bottom layer, top with Cool Whip mixture, and place strawberries on top.

Place the top layer on top of the cake and repeat.

Use the rubber spatula to spread the remaining Cool Whip mixture over the outer surface of the cake until the entire outside of the cake is covered with the Cool Whip frosting.

Place in the refrigerator to set for at least 1 hour.

The cake should make 8-10 slices at least and a small slice has approximately 5 points.