Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween!

It Tuesday, and I have my first weigh in on Thursday - I can't wait! I've done so well! I made a Mexican Chicken Casserole for dinner last night, and it was awesome. :) (It was also a WW recipe!) It's been a while since I made a successful dinner, so I was very happy. (David liked the dinner, too, so that made me feel even better!)

No big news. I don't ever get Trick-or-Treaters so I didn't buy any good candy. I did buy some Finding Nemo gummy fish just in case. I know I won't eat those, so it's safe for me to have them in the house.

Seriously, that's about it. No news at all. Everyone have a fun Halloween!

Monday, October 30, 2006

My Favorite Time Change

I love getting the extra hour over the weekend! Since I am up at 5:30 am and at work early, it's nice to see the sun on my way to work. I know, it does suck that it will be dark so much earlier, though.

It was a good weekend. We did a lot of relaxing, which needed to be done. Saturday morning we met mom and dad and Grampa for breakfast and then visited with all of them for a while. Then David had to run to NorthPark to drop some work-related stuff off, so we walked the entire mall and then had a light lunch at PF Chang's. (Hooray for WW-friendly lettuce wraps and steamed dumplings!) Then we went to the store and went home. It was a great night to grill out, and that's exactly what we did. Sunday we watched some cool FBI crime solving shows on the Discovery Chanel, made breakfast/lunch, and then cleaned the apartment. Went to Chili's for dinner (Hooray for the WW-friendly Guiltless Grill!) and then got home to watch the Cowboys play. I fell asleep on the couch with 9 minutes left in the game and woke up to a stunning Cowboys victory! Go Romo! :)

So anyhow, here it is on Monday, and we're all back to the grind. Christy is getting ready to open her salon space on Thursday, so if you are needing a very good hairstylist email me and I will give you her number. She will be in the North Richland Hills area, and seriously, she does a great job! She is going to lower her prices since she is in business for herself, so more good news for us consumers!

Have a good Monday, everyone!

Friday, October 27, 2006

A Moment To Brag...And Not On Myself!

Can I just say how proud I am of David? He was told today by his boss that he is the #1 rep for his company right now! :)

I am so proud of him! :)

Day One - Success!

I know it was only one day, but I did so well! It's one day at a time, right? And yesterday was a great start! I didn't like what I saw on the scale, but I will never see that number again. When it's all said and done and I am at my goal, I will be more inclined to share that number, but not now.

I made a WW cupcake recipe last night that is very easy and VERY yummy!

1 box cake mix - any kind! I used a Duncan Hines yellow mix
1 can pumpkin
1/2 cup water

Mix together and pour into muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 17-20 minutes.

These are 1 point each (don't know the calorie content...sorry!) and VERY tasty! All the fiber from the pumpkin is what makes it so WW-friendly. David and I each ate two last night. And no guilt! :) Next time I might experiment with a cinnamon cake mix. (But the yellow mix is very very good!)

Tonight we are grilling a lean meat and some veggies. You can bet I'll have a cupcake for dessert! I've brought healthy things to eat today to get me through in case I feel weak. (Yay for sugar free Jell-O, yogurt, and soy chips!)

A big shout-out to Angela who started back on the program last night! We're in this together!

And a very special thank you for my friends (both near and far!) who emailed their support yesterday. Please keep it coming...it really does help! :)

Thursday, October 26, 2006

I Did It!

I went and weighed in. I have to tell you that it was hard to do, and the number on the scale was very, very ugly. I am not happy about that. What I AM happy about is that I will weigh less next week. I am going to take time tonight to make a plan. I'll plan ahead what I am going to eat for the next week and stick to it. I felt so good and so much healthier when I was doing this last year. And I saw results pretty quickly, too. I'm not going to feel sorry for myself, I am going to be strong and dig deep and be disciplined.

So I went and I weighed. And now I can be on my way to success! Next Thursday's blog will be about how many pounds I lost, and I can't wait to share that with you guys! :)

Moving Forward

Today is a very important day for me. They have organized a Weight Watchers at Work group, and I am going. How do I know I am actually going to do it? Because I had to pre-pay for 16 weeks. I am already financially committed and I don't like to waste money. Besides, I can't quit...too many people I know here in the office are going, and if I quit they'll come harass me! So today I am starting fresh and not looking back at all. I ran across my weigh-in booklets from last year and started to look through them...and then I put them away. I want to keep them as a reminder of success but I am not going to look at them for a long time because I start to get upset with myself for stopping. I was doing incredibly well, and then when my Gran passed I used it as an excuse to stop being responsible for my own actions and I just fell off track.

No more. I want to be 2 dress sizes smaller when I order my wedding dress next February/March. I can do this!

So this time is different. I'm ready to be successful again. I'm ready to feel proud of my achievements again. And every Thursday at 11am I am ready to be accountable and step on the scale at my meetings...and share the good news (and sometimes not so good news) with you guys. So if you don't see a Thursday weigh-in post? Feel free to ask me what's up. I'm ready to get healthy and feel good! I have bags and boxes of clothes just waiting to be worn again, including a pair of jeans that looked really great on me...my Levis low rise boot cut jeans. I will wear them again. Until they become too big!

So once again, I am joining WW. But this time I am sticking with it and doing it just for me!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Catching Up

It's just been super busy! I'll start with last Friday. I got to have dinner with Christy, and it was great to get caught up. Christy is about to leave the salon she is currently at, and will be leasing her own space elsewhere so as soon as she is up and running I will post her new info here. She's an amazing hairstylist, so if you are looking for a very good one at reasonable prices, let me know!

Saturday was almost a blur! Except that I managed to sleep through the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. I am impaired with the alarm clock, so that's all I can say about that. At least I raised money for breast cancer research! Then I went to the store and did a bunch of shopping, went to David's niece's 3rd birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's (that place is LOUD!), dashed home after staying longer than I planned, got my stuff together, Jen came and got me and took me to her place to get ready for the Halloween party (we were running behind!), and then got to eat drink and be merry for the rest of the evening. David came home and then came on over to Jen and Craig's for the party. We had a few drinks and opted to stay in their guest room, so we came home Sunday morning and vegged. Actually, we wasted most all of Sunday just sleeping and being lazy. It was great!

So last night we took David's parents to dinner to tell them we are getting married. (No, they didn't already know...they travel a LOT and we wanted to sit down with them and tell them over dinner.) It went well, and they seemed very happy. :)

So that's about it. We are having dinner with Grampa tonight, and then tomorrow night we are going to meet with the DJ to get everything finalized with her. It's been a busy week so far!

I hope everyone has a good Wednesday!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

AWOL

Where have I been? Going crazy, that's where! I don't have time to post today but I am going to try and do it tonight. Lots of catching up to do!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Super Awesome Quote of the Day

"We have enough youth. How about a fountain of smart?"

I love this quote! It's so very true!

Hey, Did I Just Pass Myself?

I swear, I feel like I am just coming and going it's been so busy. Work has been insane (doing site testing-ugh!), David is traveling so he's not home this week, the cats were acting like a bunch of crazies last night, and I am a little short on sleep so I'm grumpy.

Fun day, right?

I am going to have coffee with Joseph tonight. I need to unwind! It's just been too busy for my liking. Saturday is going to be my super-uber-crazyday. I have the Race for the Cure, my future niece's 3rd birthday party, and preparations for the Halloween gig at Jen and Craig's place. It's going to be nuts! But it's all good. :)

So that's it. A short post from me to say that I am still alive. I doubt I will have a chance to post again until Monday, but if I have time I will. Or if I have anything interesting to share.

So have a good Thursday!

Monday, October 16, 2006

Dreary Monday

I could have happily stayed in bed all day. It's wonderfully rainy, and I am blah to match. (You know...cramps and mood swings. Fun!) I had a great day off last Friday. Mia and I had fun just running around. I got to see my wedding dress in person, and I can confirm that this one really is "The One"! It's beautiful! My bridesmaids have seen the picture and so have my parents. Everyone else gets to wait until September 29th! It's just beautiful, though!

After looking at dresses, we headed over to Snider Plaza and had lunch and walked around looking at things we can't afford. We found a yummy place called DoughMonkey. It's a bakery, and they make some very tasty treats! From there, we headed over to Preston Plaza to meet up with Kim. We were going to do the dance class, but Mia wasn't feeling good and Kim was developing a headache, so we met at Javalatto and then went to Snuffers. After that I had to head on and go to the store. David got home around 8:45 and we spent a lovely evening sitting on the patio and enjoying wine. Saturday was a lazy day, but I did get up and get my nails done at a very cool place in Colleyville called the Nail Bar with Mom and Angela. They did an amazing job on my nails...they needed some TLC! Then mom and I went on to TJ Maxx and shopped a little bit. Saturday night David took me to Dragonfly for cocktails and appetizers-seriously, YUM! The atmosphere is swanky and fun. It's a great place to peoplewatch! We were going to go to Taco Diner from there for dinner, but it's apparently closed and gone, so we were silly and went to the Hard Rock for dinner. The last time I was at one of those places was in Paris! We had fun and after our late dinner, we went home and called it a night.

And Sunday was just as it should be...spent snuggled up on the couch watching movies. With the rain and cold, it was a perfect day to spend indoors. :)

So that's it. We had a great weekend. David has to leave again tomorrow and he's gone until next Sunday. :( I'm going to miss him so very much! But after this week he is home for a week and a half, so that will be very nice for me. And for him too!

Everyone have a good Monday! Be careful out on those wet roads!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

A Humbling Experience

Yesterday was Community Day at work. During the afternoon I went with my team and worked at the North Texas Food Bank, and let me tell you that was no walk in the park. We lifted, packed and stacked boxes of food to go to families and senior citizens in need. We worked our butts of for about 3-4 hours and when we were done, we had packed and readied enough food to feed needy families for 2 weeks. My body is so sore today, but every time I feel an ache or pain, I am reminded of how fortunate I am. I have food, a home, and a steady income. I am a very blessed woman. But there are a lot of people who are not as fortunate as I am. I was moved when I heard that one of the programs that specifically assists senior citizens is in danger of losing it's funding from the federal government. What will those people do when there isn't that box of food coming in to their homes? It's scary. And the food bank needs more volunteers to help get boxes ready to go out. They are open one Saturday a month for volunteers that can't come during the week, so I think I am going to try and go in November. Anyone care to join? Email me and I'll get you the details.

I was worn out when I got home last night. I was in bed by about 8:30. I talked with Jen and with David, and then I called it a night. I am looking forward to Friday...I am taking the day off, along with Mia and Jen, and we're just going to have fun!

Everyone have a good rest of the day!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Doing My Good Deed Today

Today is Community Day at work, and after noon today I will be working int he warehouse at the Food Bank. Every year my office does this, and everyone is assigned a team and goes and does community work. Afterwards, we all gather back here in the office and have a catered dinner to celebrate how giving we are. It's nice to get out of the office, but it's so rainy today that I would rather have stayed home and slept...which doesn't really offer much to the community.

David is on his way to the airport this morning. He's heading out to Amarillo/Lubbock. He stayed home one extra night to be with me, and it was so nice! :) I can't wait until he comes home Friday! He comes in later, like around 7:30-ish, and I am planning to go to the gym with Kim and Mia to sweat out some calories. Actually, Mia and I are taking the day off and my cousin Jen is coming over and we're going to just have a relaxing day of fun. :) We ALL need it! There are a couple of bridal shops I want to look at so I can see my dress in person. Yes, the latest "The One" dress. This one is seriously it. (I think.) I am getting VERY good feedback from everyone who has seen it. This is a good sign!

So anyhow, that's about it. I'm loving the cooler weather and the rain...wish I could be home in front of a fire in the fireplace and be snuggle up with the kitties! (And David, too!)

Have a good day, everyone! Stay warm and dry!

Monday, October 09, 2006

I'm Never Excited About Mondays

I would like for the weekend to have been a little longer. Friday night at Paper Planet was fun! Mom and I had a great time and I bought some pretty paper, as well as the topper for our wedding cake (which, thankfully, David really loves!) I had breakfast with Mom and Dad Saturday morning, and then Mom and I went on to look at the latest "The Dress", which may seriously be the one. We found a small boutique in Hurst that carries couture wedding dresses, and they are ordering a sample in my size for me to try on. I can't wait!

I got to spend my Saturday afternoon with Angela, and it was wonderful. I haven't gotten to hang out with her in so long...we had lunch at Chipotle, did a little shopping, and found a fun place to get manicures so we have appointments next weekend. :)

Saturday night I picked up David and we had dinner at one of our favorite Chinese places. Then we went home and enjoyed a bottle of wine on the patio. Sunday was wonderfully lazy! We watched some TV, watched the Cowboys lose (does Bledsoe play for us or Philly? Ugh!), and then enjoyed our favorite Sunday shows while enjoying pizza. It was a good evening. David is trying to push his flight back to tomorrow so we have another night together, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. This weekend in our date, and he has something very special planned. :) He's taking me to Dragonfly at Hotel Zaza! (Very nice!!) I am excited that he has put so much thought into planning our date. :) It makes me feel very special.

So that's it. I'm at work and having some allergy trouble, but otherwise all is good. Hope everyone else is having a good day!

Friday, October 06, 2006

Damn You, Maggie Sottero!

I shouldn't even look at dresses right now, but I have found yet ANOTHER wedding dress website chock full of dresses I am in love with. Ugh! Maggie Sottero is a designer, and her dresses are stunning! I found one that might be my newest "dress crush". Thank goodness for my ladies I can bounce ideas off of!

I'd post pictures here, but obviously I can't in case David pops in to read the blog. I may have to start a separate wedding dress blog just to get some feedback. If I do that, I'll send the link out, fear not!

Tonight I am going to Paper Planet with Mom to look at stuff to make escort cards for the wedding reception. They are also serving snacks and giving massages...we are SO there!

David comes home again tomorrow. His sister, Lea Ann, called to tell him there is a house for sale in their neighborhood that we should look at. I am thinking this is not the time to buy a house, but David and I need to talk more about that when he comes home. I'd like to wait a little longer...like until after the wedding. I don't think I am ready to be a homeowner. (I think he has the fever since most everyone we know has a house or just bought one!) We'll talk more, but I just don't see this being the right time.

So anyhow, that's it for today. Everyone have a good weekend!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

To My Friends

I am dedicating todays post to my friends. No wedding talk, no dating talk, just wanting to give a shout out to all those people who have always been there when I needed them. I am one of the luckiest people ever to have such a good group of friends. You guys are awesome!

Seriously, just about every one of my friends is dealing with some sort of unpleasantness right now, both major and not-so-major. So my message to each of you is that I am here for you. I got your back! You need me? Just call me!

And a very special shout-out to my blog-friend, The Blonde. She was in a TERRIBLE car accident and has broken or crunched up many bones and even managed to tear a kidney. So seriously, send happy thoughts out her way as well. She is in need of well wishes. She is also very bored in ICU, so perhaps fate will send hottie doctors her way. :)

So to all of you that I love dearly, big hugs today! I don't always get to tell you how much you all mean to me. You guys mean the world!!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Coming Home

David is coming home today! (For one night, but it's better than nothing!) We're going to grill some fish and veggies and have a relaxing evening. I'm going to try and have everything all nice and tidy when David gets home...the place isn't looking it's best, for sure! I sure wish the kitties would lend a paw!

It's been busy here at work. I'm also searching for a wedding photographer, and have been playing phone tag with several people. I was reminded today that we have a woman here in the office that does beautiful work (I've seen some of it!) so I am sending her an email to get a quote from her as well. I hope she's in my price range! I like her a lot and I think she would do a lovely job.

So no other real news. Kim reminded me today that a full moon is approaching. It seems that everyone I know has some kind of speed bump or problem that they're dealing with right now...maybe it's the full moon? Anyhow, to all my friends with yucky stuff going on in their lives, I LOVE YOU! :)

Everyone have a great Wednesday!

Monday, October 02, 2006

One Year Milestone

Today is my one year anniversary with David! :) Sadly, he has to head out of town today so I don't get to have a special dinner or celebration tonight. (He made a yummy dinner last night, though!) It's been a wonderful year with him, and I look forward to a lifetime more! We are actually celebrating our anniversary on the 14th. With his travel schedule, it's pretty much the only time in October we get to celebrate, so we've had this on the calendar for a while now. :) It seems that everyone we know has something going on the 14th that we've been invited to, but we've turned everyone down because our time together is a little limited right now, and our "date night" is important.

Had dinner with Kim and Mia Friday night and as usual, a good time was had. Bahama Breezes has such tasty food! After dinner I went to the store and got everything to make a roast and came home and put it all in the crock pot. Talked to David for a while and then went to bed. Saturday, Mom and I looked at some more wedding dresses and saw some pretty ones. I'm so glad I have plenty of time! David came home Saturday night and we ate the pot roast and called it a night, as he got in close to 7:30-8pm. (He brought me a new MAC lipgloss!!) Sunday was a wonderfully lazy day, and we watched a bunch of our favorite TV shows that I recorded on the DVR for us. He heads out today at 4pm for San Antonio, and I will miss him terribly, but he'll be back Wednesday night. Of course, he has to leave on Thursday, but I get him for a little bit!

Tonight, I am having dinner with Grampa, and Craig and Jen are coming too. It's going to be a lovely evening!