weddings and babies - now a best friends job

So there are many weddings and babies on their way for 2011 and 2012.  My brother and his girlfriend, now fiance, are getting married.  Tomorrow is Melissa and Fred's wedding - she is 2 months pregnant, so her trumpet dress that she bought back in September or October will still fit and she will be all kinds of happy!  Molly and Kai will be be married September of 2012 in Colorado Springs and just heard that Brittany, my mom's best friends daughter, will be getting married this year.  Well a few months ago I found out that my best friend from college is pregnant and getting married!!!!!!!

I thought and thought about how I wanted to be at the shower for her - either baby or wedding - but also going to her wedding is a must do.  Then you add in all these other weddings and i was a little panic stricken.  However, i then realized this is one of my best chances at being a great friend and giving Ariel a day to remember!  So I just got off the phone with her and after talking we are going to do a baby shower in August when her sister Ciara is here.  Her sister lives in Turkey right now, and I just feel like she HAS to be here for the baby shower.  She might not be at the wedding and she CAN NOT miss a shower for her sister.  Especially considering she will be in the states for 6 weeks - and in Chicago to be with Ariel for some of it!  So August at some point is a shower in Chicago and it's time to get started.

So it's on like donkey kong - consider this Day 1 of My Favorite Ariel's Baby Shower Planning! :o)  Time to make some lists and call everyone I know for ideas - mostly Momma Rupke for any help ideas she can offer up!

Okay no more writing - must start looking.  Have you ever seen all the invitation options?!?!?!?!  Holy crazy!

beastly legs

Okay so there are plenty of things in this life we can't change and we have to learn to live with and love.  I have some seriously beastly legs.  I mean the calves are perfect hunks of pyramid meat coming off the lower bone on each leg.  Once above the knee the thighs have this mind of their own.  They shoot out around 1.5 to 2 inches from the knee in shear muscle.  Now I have to say I have not always enjoyed them, but it doesn't seem to matter what i do they will not go away.  I played soccer and skied as a young child, then add hours of wall sits while training for basketball and somehow I think my legs think we are a line backer and not a chick in skirts.  So I have decided over the last few months that I must learn to love them and not think I can get rid of them.  These 24 - 25 inches of thigh muscles are here to stay.

This change in mind set has made me fall in love with my legs in the last week and I am now enjoying every time I look down and see these beastly legs of mine.  I am now working on the arms to see if I can learn to love them and see if I can create arms I have always wanted.  You know the chicks you see just standing in line and they are as relaxed as can be, yet they have perfect muscle distinction.  Not so much you think they are flexing, but enough to know if they did you wouldn't start a fight with them :O)

still at 9 lbs, but with two weeks of vacations - i am glad I have maintained so onto the next 5lbs. 

9 lbs and counting

It's been 2.5 weeks since I started tracking every piece of food I put in my mouth, even drinks, and been working out as much as I can.  I have been at the gym from 30 mins to an hour and 30 minutes every night, unless I have been out hiking or playing softball.  On Ash Wednesday I gave up soda for the 40 days (which by the way its actually 46!) for Lent (its a Catholic thing).  The good thing is all I drink otherwise is water and Gatorade.  I am not a tea drinker or really any other treat drinks.  I even stopped drinking hot chocolate because it said the Swiss Miss was 120 calories.  BUT if i want I drink it - i just took it out of the routine.  That took about a week to get it out of the routine.  The soda was cold turkey and it's just the catholic guilt that has gotten me through a solid week so far. 

I had also talked to some people who said they have changed what they eat when.  They eat like a king for breakfast, queen for lunch and servant for dinner.  A few really good things for me is that I LOVE LOVE LOVE lunch.  So I eat what I want for lunch, with the calorie count in mind and as the weeks have passed I make slight adjustment.  A great thing is the combo deals all include a soda, so instead I don't do the combo and end up with just an entree and one side - not two that combos seem to give.  Then I just have water to drink.  I come home from work and work out, which makes it later in the night before I would be ready for dinner anyway, so at that point I eat some fruit, or some veggies and call it a night.  The other best part about this is that if I am eating out dinner I have filled my body over the day with other foods that at dinner I am not starving and I enjoy my food.  The leftovers become lunch the next day.  I go over on the calories some, but I am staying under 1,700 every day and more around the 1,100 to 1,300.  I will say once a week I get to that 1,700, but I do it consciously and enjoy it.  I am still working out and trying to burn 300 - 500 calories 3 days a week and 200 - 300 the rest.

Livestrong.com My Plate has become a great tool for me at this point.  I am down 9 lbs and hope to hit the 11 or 12 sometime next week.  The goal was 2 lbs a week, so I am still at that goal and not going to worry if the 3 lbs a week goes away and it gets to 2.  As long as I am losing that's all that matters at this point.  I am wondering when people will start noticing though - I have wondered about that.  I am betting around the 20lbs mark before anyone says anything.

I love having a goal and this is a great one!  More later!

Livestrong - tracking

So when I woke up a few weeks ago and was a weight I never wanted to be in my life I went straight to the gym and worked out for a solid hour.  I came home and decided it was time to track everything I eat to be honest with myself and figure out what needed to go and what could stay.  I found the livestrong.com My Plate application that is free and started instantly to figure out what to do.  I gave the goal of 2lbs a week, figuring I would at least be able to get a pound a week and go from there.  Well it's been a week and 3 days and I have lost 6 pounds.  Of course I lost that 4 days in, but I have been holding steady and working hard.  I am no longer taking a day off from working out - I work out at least 3 times a week for a solid hour or more, and the other 4 days are 30 minutes or more.  I work at a pace that gives me slight pain, and keep that consistency up.  The good news I am find is that I do not eat much sodium or foods with very much cholesterol.  I get plenty of protein, but need to work on the fat grams.  It's not too high, but being that I do not enjoy fish, chicken is my major source of protein.  I am going to cook up some tofu this weekend and see how that goes.  Maybe tofu tacos will be my new addiction - like turkey tacos are right now :o)


I'll keep you updated and give my little hints as I take a few more weeks to get this all figured out.  I will say I am getting obsessive about this - good thing I use my addictive personality for good haha!


O and tomorrow I will be fingerprinted so that I can teach the financial ed classes to some kids from the Kyrene School District.  Nice to know that they do a detailed background check on the people allowed to be around the kids on school property :O)  Here's hoping I pass - I don't remember any nights in the clink.  Here's hoping that wasn't a weird night I never remembered haha!

RODEO!

Started the day off with a 2 hour hike up into one of the preserves.  Then came home and started some cleaning - talked to the parents and have been enjoying the fabulous air breezing through the house.  I have just noticed the clock and realized I still need to shower and change to get over to Michelle and Dan's house so we can head to the rodeo.  Should be a blast!  More later.

getting better - met a boy, it was fun if nothing else

Saturday day was not super exciting, but to jump start the weight issue I went to the gym for a 400 calorie burn.  Came home and got ready to go out for the night with friends.  It was ladies night out and Michelle and I decided that 4:15 pm was a great time to start.  Really we were all meeting around 5, but when Michelle got out of work early I was there like a good friend to meet for some drinks.  We ate, we drank and we met some new people.  Some guys came in around the 4:30 mark and we unfortunately became a reason they weren't getting served very often.  Michelle and I were feeding off each other and giving our cute server a hard time.  Turns out that would get him all flustered and he'd take off without checking on the table behind us.  Well around 6 pm the other 4 girls joined us, so they had a little catching up to do.  While they got some drinks and food - we had already ate - Michell and I decided the bag game was in order.  We had terrible aim and when I finally got one in the hole we pretty much called it a night on the game.

Well announcing the the world I won - or table of three guys and demanding the Duke basketball game be put on a TV I could see got their attention and over they came.  I mean who can resist 6 chicks drinking, laughing and having a ball?  Well I met Eric, in his 30s, has 6 siblings, parents still married, lived here most his life, but has seen other places and lived there.  The attraction was there, the girls could tell.  I wasn't entirely convinced, but when we left for the Coyote Ugly type bar, the boys said they would not be coming.  Turns out an hour later they showed up at the bar for a good hour of more fun and dancing.  O and Eric can dance :)  That's about all I have because really it was just fun.  Made me feel good that after a horrible day I could still attract a decent guy and have a great night.  The 4 margaritas and 3 shots helped along, but what a blast of a Saturday.

He has my number after we asked him to also join our softball team.  So if he calls or texts great - if not we will contact him next season for softball.  All in all it was a great weekend and much needed girls night out  :o).

Now back to the grind and worked 9.5 hours today.  Probably to be followed by another 8.5 to 9 tomorrow.  If I can get my butt out of bed in time to get to work early to start on all the month end reporting.  Here is hoping everything balances - if I hear anyone say "o oops this went to OREO this month".  I might chuck something at their head - just saying.  Let's hope for some easy balancing and some great data manipulation in the first day :O)  Then I have to get all the invoice reports together for the other boss man by afternoon.  Well until we meet again - happy last day of February!  How did it get to be March 2011 already?

today oi

Today I woke up at a weight I have never wanted to be. So on a mission to change this - I do lots of things that would lead to me lose weight, but instead I gain it.  It's really rather ridiculous when I consider the situation, but I know my gene pool and as much as I cant fight a lot of it I have needed a new goal for a while.  This is it - no more.  There has to be a way to do this even if I have to spend an hour a day during the week in the gym and 2 hours a day on the weekends.  I have lots of other things I could be doing, but I think this has to be the most important right now so I don't hate the way I look anymore.  Game on.  The scale is going in the closet and coming out once a week.  I'll just be on the biggest loser weigh in schedule and see if I can figure out a way to beat this weight gain and actually lose some :)  until later!