I am thankful because...

Thanksgiving this year has in store for the Wayne’s a visit from Nana and Papa, my husband’s step mom and dad. The boys are looking forward to getting spoiled with lots of hugs and kisses, not that they do not get that now but a Grandma and Grandpa hugs and kisses are special.

Scott has meticulously prepared a menu for the feast. The menu has my stamp of approval and items to be purchased for said menu have been logged into the Grocery app. How can you not love a man that uses a grocery app. I bet he can also provide 10 recommendations for said app that he researched prior to purchasing. LOVE HIM!

Tonight we will put the finishing touches on the house…I’ve got some planting to do and I may have to get my flashlight out in order to finish.

I’ve seen many of things people are thankful for via the social sites I follow and I thought I would jot a few of them down as well.

I am thankful for my husband. He is my love, my hero and the father of my two boys. His nuances are endearing…we are different in so many ways…to the point where either one or both of us have just thrown our hands up out of frustration. Yet that man of mine can still make my knees quiver with just one look.

I am thankful for my two sons. It is amazing to watch them both grow and learn in their boy ways. We have tickle fights in the evenings and there is nothing like a house filled with the laughter of children. Our five year old is maturing more and more every day. He is reading, writing and solving math problems. I am so proud of how hard he works at everything…everyday. Our 17th month old is in awe of his big brother and when he is not trying to beat him up he can be seen as a blonde streak running through the house, with one arm just a pumping, chasing after his big brosef. I’ve said it many of times…I never wanted kids until I had them and I am thankful God had a bigger plan and allowed me to experience and grow as a person and hold the prestigious honor of being a mother.

I am thankful for family and friends. Love and support…from family, extended family to the family I got to choose…my friends, I am thankful for them and their kind hearts.

I am thankful for the health of my family, both physically and as a whole. I am thankful our visits to the doctor’s office are from an occasional fever or checkup. I am thankful we are a cohesive unit and when there is something that needs to be dealt with we rally around each other and see it through.

I am thankful to have a job with outstanding benefits to help pay for those occasional fevers, checkup, unscheduled surgeries and emergency room visits.

I am thankful for our neighbors that have become our friends. Whether it is births, babysitting, a stick or two of butter, gasoline for the generator or a reason to get together to be adults for a night…we can always count on our neighbors.

I am thankful to God. We are truly blessed and I thank Him every day .

Reunion Recap

The hubby and I met up with Mandy and Greg and the high school cafeteria Friday night to begin the La Porte High School class of ’89 festivities. I personally thought it was a great idea to have a homecoming of sorts at the high school. We got a chance to walk the halls and wow…things have changed and I wouldn’t necessarily say for the better…in my opinion of course.

It’s been twenty years and remodeling has been done but everything looks more institutionalized. Zip ties are on the lockers, we surmised that they didn’t use those anymore, adopting the two sets of books philosophy. WHAT??? Isn’t that what half of the experience was about…relationships, sports, social clubs, and lockers, I’ll throw learning in there for good measure.

A name we recognized as we meandered through the hallowed halls was Mrs. Kicklighter. Dang…she was old when I attended that school. She did show up to the dinner, although I didn’t recognize her until later. Picture the old woman from Beetlejuice and when she smoked it would come out of her neck…yep…that’s her. Mr. Nolen was in rare form, as flamboyant as ever. Steve and Kerry Reagan were there, the cool theatre teachers.

The retired Bulldog they used to take to the football games and run it up and down the track when we scored.


After the dinner we decided to ditch the football game and head to Outriggers for the after party. As we were walking to the car La Porte scored and our fight song filled the night air. I couldn’t help but throw an L sign in the air…La Porte Dogs…or Kicks…you know…I never really knew what they said at the end of our fight song.

Outriggers was fun, we were the first group there, had a few drinks and watched as the alum filtered in…we attempted to play a game, the first one who recognized someone had to pick a person to drink. I seemed to have had the advantage facing the door.

We headed downstairs and meeted and greeted those we recognized and those that recognized us…which was at times rather challenging. Not many people from the class of ’90 came; several I know went to Classic and from what I heard the two groups met up later in the evening.

Mandy, Me, Laura Haley, Sally Boldman


Me and Mandy


All in all, from what I witnessed it was pretty tame, no drama to speak of and it was great to see some old faces and catch up with old friends. High school was such a blip on the map of life, it is laughable how we were consumed by the relationships and drama…how can kids comprehend and understand “life” and just be…get along with each other...work hard…and look forward to the future with endless possibilities. Wow…that was deep.

I made a few more facebook friends and Mandy’s (Amanda to everyone else) shawl was so popular it had its own fan page created.
It was great seeing Mandy and meeting Greg. Mandy and I haven’t hung out like that in many o years. I hope it doesn’t take us 18 more to do it again.

No…I didn’t lose ANY weight for those keeping track…oh well…I have time before my “official” to get high school skinny. On to my next endeavor…

EEEKK!!! Mini Reunion next week!!

My 20 year high school reunion isn’t until next year but the class of ’89 decided to invite back all of the graduating classes from 1980-1990 to take part in their reunion. There is a bevy of activities planned for the weekend. Friday night football, dinner at the cafeteria, catered of course, and an after party at Outriggers. Saturday night is the more formal shindig at Moody Gardens in Galveston.

My oldest and dearest friend is coming in from Dallas for the reunion, she is an ‘89er. And it sounds like her sister is going to come down as well…I believe she may be an ‘84er. It looks like the hubby and I are going to attend the Friday night festivities, minus the football game.

Through the magic of Facebook I have managed to reconnect with most of the people I went to high school with and it still amazes me that most everyone looks the same, plus a few pounds and a lot less hair…both men and women. I haven’t been back to the high school since my sister graduated in ’98. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone. It will be a good dress rehearsal for my official 20 next year.

Now…I just need to lose about 20 lbs in less than two weeks. LOL!

Coming out of the Dark...

I’ve introduced myself to my blog again and it’s like an old friend. No matter how long you have been apart, we catch up and it seems like I never left.

Have you ever had one of those moments where someone says something to you or you read a book and the obvious is stated and for whatever reason that particular time the light bulb comes on and the clouds part and the sunshine just fills you upside? I had that situation occur a couple of times in the last few days. I discovered things about me that I never considered and those things have given me much insight into myself. I know I’m being vague but the specifics do not matter. What matters is that I am succeeding in my quest to better myself on a daily basis.

Wow, organic tastes so much better than, for lack of a better word…,”regular” food. What is the new buzz word? Non-organic, pesticide infused, or contaminated sewage sludge. I’m not a radical so I’ll just go with non-organic. Apparently your utils last longer with organic food.

What is a util you ask? A util is the one thing I learned about in my college economics class that still sticks with me to this day. And my husband is the only other person that has ever known what I’m talking about when I say my utils have ran out without having the statement explained to him…my lobster.

Think of utility. (Here is the definition from Wikipedia - utility is a measure of the relative satisfaction from, or desirability of, consumption of various goods and services. Given this measure, one may speak meaningfully of increasing or decreasing utility, and thereby explain economic behavior in terms of attempts to increase one's utility. For illustrative purposes, changes in utility are sometimes expressed in fictional units called utils. ) In laymen’s terms…when you have that first sip of a Chai Pumpkin Latte your utils are at their all time high…almost euphoric. As you continue to consume the latte the 6th, 7th , or 10th sip, although still good, do not bring you the same satisfaction of the 1st sip. That is because your utils are decreasing. If I ever start a restaurant I am going to name it Utils. This concludes your economic lesson for the day.

I inquired about scheduling a session of family portraits today. My co-worker found this gem of a photographer. I cannot wait! Well...I can…but I can’t.

Knowing that family pictures are looming in the near future and wanting to slip into a sexy little number or two when the hubby and I go out this holiday season and or course for the overall benefit of being healthy, I am on a quest to become a lean, mean fighting machine. In an attempt to not bore myself or anyone else that happens on this blog, I am not going to post food/weight details here; I have a notebook for that. I’ll do recaps of the week/weekend and talk about my endeavors. If you are interested in specifics…email me.

For the next four weeks on the exercise front I will be doing Pilates. I definitely need to strengthen my core before I even think about weights, running, or picking up my 15 month old son. My back is already offered its opinion on my sporadic activity level of intensity and it is not good one. Fear not…my chiropractor has seen me more than ever in the last couple of months…but as much as he helps, seeing him is a reminder that I hurt and I am changing that starting today. (cue uplifting music)

I so need a soundtrack, you know one of those cool ones with the obscure music that delicately adds an emotional undertone to each scene. Hmmmm…

Off to fry it up in the pan…healthy frying of course…

Balance is in progress...

Did you think I was done? Done...done? Nope...just took an extended hiatus.

You know when your life is spinning out of control and in order to gain balance you let certain things go until you can get a handle on them again? That would be me!

I am not committing to be full fledged with daily postings, my life just isn't that interesting and I am not running. Not that that is interesting either.

I just thought I would check in and let those that may wonder where I've been...or not...that I'm still around and I'll be attempting to update my blog more regulary.

Life is going on and as you can see by my tweets sometimes I only need 140 characters or less to define said life!

Running will commence in October. Right now I'm working on...stuuuuffff and about 30 visting vehicle flights, so it is only hree but the challenges make it feel like 30. Oh...and I can't just call them shuttle flights because that would be an incorrect statement.

Balance is in progress...stay tuned.

W2D3, 4, 5

Wednesday I didn’t do a thing, moving right along to Thursday.

Thursday I attempted to run two miles but my knees had other plans. Jodie and I started out and I didn’t even make 300 meters before I had to stop and walk. It was painful; I can’t even describe the pain other than to say…it freakin hurt. I walked for half a mile, attempting many times to get it up to a jog with no luck. Finally, on the second lap I told myself I was doing this…and yeah it hurt, I took it slow and I either began to get used to the pain or it subsided after awhile but I was able to run .5 miles the entire time…with lots o pain.

I had to leave to take the boy to TaeKwondo so that cut my run, walk, waddle short.

My thought is the knee pain if from shredding but my own fault, not that of the workout itself. POOR FORM. I noticed at the end of my workout on Tuesday I was really…really tired and I was just pushing through and I know my form sucked it. And…yes it did and my knees are telling me so.

I am going to take Friday off…also because I think I’m trying to shake off a cold or some kind of ailment, my body was aching last night and this morning.

I’ll get back at the shredding on Saturday morning; I’m also going to move up to level 2. Here’s hopin it all works out.

Have a good weekend, may the wind be at your back.

Out.

W2D2

I shredded last evening, it is getting so much easier, my knees are hurting a bit today though, not sure what that is all about, they are prolly just sore from kicking myself in the butt…a lot. I blame Jullian.

A cold front came through and it is windy and 50 so me no runny today. I know you guys up North are telling me to shut it right now…I get it. Suck it up…right. Nope! I don’t have the gear…and just wait until Summer when it 150% humidity and I’m swimming through my run half naked, I’ve got plenty of gear for that…perhaps too much. It all evens out.

On tap for this evening…after my I get my do done will be more shredding. This will be my last workout on level 1. Sniff…sniff. I graduate to level 2 tomorrow, I hope I am worthy.

Oh…and my youngest better figure out how to sleep through the night EVERYNIGHT cause momma is not wide awake at 2 am as no living human being should be. Learn it…love it…DO IT! For goodness sakes…I’m begging.

That’s all I got. Nothing earthshattering.

Out.

W2D1 – Week 1 results

Here are the numbers:

17JAN09
Starting Weight: 167
Waist: 32.5
Hips: 38
Right Thigh: 23
Left Thigh: 24
Right Calf: 14.5
Left Calf: 15
Right Arm: 12.5
Left Arm: 12.5
Neck: 13.5

26JAN09
Starting Weight: - 2.2
Waist: - 1.0
Hips: - 1.0
Right Thigh: 0.0
Left Thigh: - 0.5
Right Calf: + 0.5
Left Calf: 0.0
Right Arm: - 0.5
Left Arm: 0.0
Neck: + 0.5

So there ya go…I love seeing all those negatives.

Yesterday I forgot my running shoes so I went home and Shredded. I think I’m just about ready to move up to level 2. One more workout tonight should do it. I’ve been using 5 lb weights and I’m even thinking I’m ready to move up to 7.5, in some of the exercising that is. The lateral raises are still tough with the 5lbers so I may have to switch back and forth. Who knows…Level 2 may kick my butt so bad I stay with the 5s.

Overall I’m happy with the results so far…I need to keep my eating in check and I just think about how many more numbers will fall off if I did it every day. Still working on that.

This evening I will be shredding late since I didn’t get my ass out of bed this morning. I was teerd and I love sleep. Sleep…sleep…sleep.

I hope all had good results their first week of the challenge. Keep it up…after this week we are all halfway there.

Out.

W1D5 – D7

Still shredding, albeit not as often as I would like but such is life. No…really…life so gets in the way of working out. Seriously…could you just be mindful of my schedule please?

Last week I ran 2 miles on Thursday and attempted 3 on Friday but only made 2. You don’t even know how bad of an attitude I had on Friday. I was struggling from the push of the button on the stop watch. Unfortunately I let my attitude win and stopped at 2. I just wasn’t feeling it and the thought of making two more laps around the 800 meter trail was too much for me to handle, on that day.

I was proud of myself that I didn’t go home and wallow in whatever carboliscous thing I could stuff in my pie hole. I had my EZ pizza, which I’m loving and could eat every night. Come to think about it…I think I have.

I didn’t shred on Friday but I did Saturday morning while the hubby and the boy went to karate. Monkey went down for his morning nap and I got a ton of stuff done, it felt good.

Saturday I managed to stay on track food wise but I got derailed on Sunday. Not crazy or anything I can’t recover from, just a few bad habits I’ve picked up along the way that I fell back into. Such as…getting my lunch from McyD’s, it’s only a hamburger happy meal so at least I’m not talking super size me on anything, it could always be worse but nonetheless it is a bad habit. Did I mention I got a chocolate chip cookie too? No, well, normally I have two; I gave the other to the boy. Also, I had cereal after din, but only about half of what I used to eat.

So I consider it a win that I wasn’t as bad as I could have been but I know I need to oust those habits altogether because none of it is “clean”.

I got my three workouts in for the week, barely. I did run 4 times this week, one more than last week. So I’m content…I did much more exercising than I did the previous week and that my friends is progress.

I’m happy to report my hubby is still shredding too and when he is done I kind find him cussing Jillian for the soreness he feelis throughout his body. It’s cute. I guess he told is business partner how tough it was he went out and got a copy.

I’m still doing level one, I’ve read several reviews that mentioned peeps stayed on each level for 10 days. I guess I better get to shredding more frequently if I want to successfully reach level two by WEDNESDAY. Holy cow! I guess I’ll be shredding Monday and Tuesday fo sho.

Next entry will include the numbers from last week and the beginning of this week. All I can tell you is I have good news!

Sassafrass

This scence took place this morning as I was dropping my boys off at school:

Me: Well monkey is a happy boy this morning...(to Bug) are your a happy boy this morning?

Bug: I'd be alot happier if you weren't asking me all these questions.

I just stood there with my mouth gaping open...this sass from a 4.5 year old. When I eventually caught my snap and picked my chin up off the ground I began to struggle with losing it in anger or laughing it off in admiration.

I chose the latter thinking to myself...good one...impressive.

Not a good sign of what is to come...is it? I also told myself if I blow up he will have even more ammo to use against me when he wants to see if he can spin me up.

Yeah...I know the game...and I consider myself a formidable player. Watch it son.

Challenge W1D4

Fessing up…I didn’t exercise at all yesterday and I don’t feel that bad about it. I’m trying to learn the best way to get it the Shredding and running all in and I think I’ve got it down.

This morning I got up at 5a (thankfully the monkey has been sleeping through the night) and I shredded. You know I’ve only done it one other time but this time was a bit easier. That’s way exciting. So, even though it sucked getting up early, it really wasn’t that much earlier than when I have to get up with the baby, I felt and feel better for it. So…the hubby and decided to work it out and coordinate our times.

I’m running after work, 2 miles this afternoon, before I meet the boys for Teakwondo. I had the boy’s patches sewn on his jacket, I’m so proud of my bug!! The running should take care of the sushi I had for lunch. There are worse things people AND I didn’t use as much soy as I normally do, so I’m happy I cut back on the sodium. I’ll mention that had the fortune cookies (2)…oops.

I am admitting that I have been weighing myself daily…ok…who am I kidding once in the morning and once at night…and someone has been losing lbs!! I’ll report the official number on Monday.

I hope everyone is sticking with their challenge! Keep it up! It’s 76 and sunny in H-town…a good reminder that bathing suit weather is just around the corner.

Out.

Challenge W1D3

Technically if you are following along I am reporting on Tuesday's activity so it’s really a W1D2 report…it’s all semantics.

Yesterday I busted out a big 3 miles, 3x1 style in 35:33. Not too bad for an out of shape white girl. I was fighting with my ear buds a few times so I know that slowed me down a bit. All in all everything felt good, I can tell my body is remembering what it was like to run miles and it seems happy.

I got out to the track a bit later than I wanted therefore I finished later, stopped for gas and ran by the alterations place so they could sew patches on the boy’s TaeKwondo jacket before Thursday’s class; which equates to not getting home until almost 6:30, frick.

We tagged teamed getting the kids fed, bathed and off to bed and it is 8:30 before I can figure out what I need to get done the rest of the evening, I still haven’t eaten or Shredded and the house needs to be picked up for our house cleaner coming on Wednesday…and yes, I know I am blessed to have this luxury and I would sacrifice many other luxuries in order to hold on to her…she’s awesome. Bottom line I decided to go ahead and eat my EZ pizza and call it a night. My thought was that I would try and Shred in the morning.

No getty uppy this morning so I’ll use my allocated running time to Shred today, yesterday’s rest day will be today then I’ll pick back up Thursday and Friday. I need to get my ASS out of bed; nights are too hectic to expect to get in a run and Shred. I’ll coordinate with the hubster so we can plan a schedule for working out in the mornings.

Gotta have friends…two of them told me today that my waist looked smaller. I can attribute that to two things…a great pair of black pants I found at Target and I’m not bloated from the crap I was eating prior to this week. Three days does make a difference and its reflecting on the scale (yeah…can’t help it…my name is Sandy and I’m a daily scale watcher). Is there a twelve step for that?

That’s all I got for now…I’m out.

Challenge W1D2

Two miles in 23:04 (3X1), my music crapped out with 400 meters to go but I think it definitely helped over all; the time seemed to fly by. I was by myself this time and it wasn’t so bad. AND I finally tried out the new ear buds that Santa brought and what a difference, crisp, clear quality sound. AND they fit in my freakishly small ears without falling out, something I’ve struggled with foreva…on console the earpiece I wear never stays in my ears.

I got home and commenced with the Shred. OH.MY.GOSH…it kicked my butt, in a good way. It wasn’t crazy tough but tough enough. I love Jillian…but she scares me. Even though I know she can’t “see” me I have this feeling she can and I don’t want her to yell at me so I work that much harder. She would so make me cry.

I took my measurements and weighed, decided not to do pix. No one, even I should have to look at that. EVER!

After my workout I knew the hubby was aching to do something so I suggested he try Jillian’s DVD. I think even he was surprised at how well it incorporated the strength, cardio and abs training. I challenged him to do it with me for the next 30 days. We’ll have to come up with our own reward…yeah baby…exactly what you are thinking!

Technically today is a rest day on the running schedule but I think I’m going to go ahead and bust out the 3 scheduled for tomorrow. My schedule is catawampus because I take the weekends off, for now. I feel good stepping up to three, especially with yesterday’s accomplishment. I’m trying to figure out the interval training program on my Garmin...whatever I did it wasn’t right because the alarm was going off the entire time. I may just wear my other watch until I get the interval training program figured out.

AND finally, I turned down multiple offers of chocolate covered strawberries from Perry’s Italian. MY FAV! YAY me.

Speaking of food...I read Oxygen magazine and found a supurb quick meal recipe. Quick and very filling but not over done. This is most excellent since I won't be eating until later in the evening. I don't recall the name...I shall call him...EZ Pizza.

I'll edit with the exact ingredient amounts and nutrition data...once I find where I put that silly thing.

EZ Pizza

2 slices of Ezekeil bread
1 chicken or Turkey breast (6oz)
Cottage cheese
Parmasean Cheese
Pinch or Oregano
Pinch of Basil
Pepper
Tomato

Some Assembly required:

Bread
Tomato
Oregano
Basil
Pepper
Chicken (sliced)
Cottage cheese
Parm

Heat in a toaster oven at 400 for 20 minutes.

YUMO-LISCOUS

I’ll attempt to post my measurements in the next couple of days.

Hasta manana!

Challenge W1D1

I’m very excited to begin the "shredding" challenge today. By
shredding I mean working out to Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD. I am already struggling with getting up in the AM to workout; I’m going to have to resign to the fact that it may be 9pm before I can get my workout in. The baby still isn’t sleeping through the night consistantly and momma needs her sleep. As long as it happens…right? I’ll try it on tonight and see how it fits.

I’ll take my measurements tonight, should have done that this morning but the both boys got up early I barely had enough time to get my running bag packed. Should have done it the night before.

As far as the eats goes…I’m going clean and portion control. I’ll factor in what I know, eat a protein at every meal, control portions and NO SWEETS. The carbs I will limit to one or two a day, I’m not going to go through an entire deplete week so in essense I will use the “Crack the Fat Loss Code” as a baseline but I’m not going hardcore on following the program exactly. I’ll report my experience and of course the numbers won’t lie.

Inches will be the name of the game for this challenge as the scale can be deflating (or inflating). I will of course weigh myself but I’m hoping I can keep it down to once a week (who am I kidding). No really…if the inches are melting I don’t care if the scale is fluctuating 5 pounds in either direction. It’s about being lean.

The weather is absolutely beautiful today and I am thinking about taking advantage of it during lunch to get a quick 2 in as the schedule calls for. Heck I may even get ambitious and bump it to three. What schedule you say? Nothing that I’m prepping for specifically, it just helps to have a schedule and if a race or two pops up that suits my fancy I’ll run it by the hubby and sign up, staying ahead of the curve this year. Acting instead of reacting…that one of my many changes for the year.

So…that’s the plan for the next 30 days. Wish me luck. Oh…and I’m keeping tabs on my competition and just so you know…I’m ultra competitive. YOU. HAVE. NO. IDEA! There ya go…the gauntlet has been laid down!

See ya at the finish line.

Weekend recap

What a great Saturday. The boy had a friend join him at Tae Kwon Do and they were so excited. The boy is a natural leader. The instructor had to tell him on more than one occasion to let him direct his friend instead of the boy doing it. TOO CUTE. He got his "V" patch (as in vistor) so I'll take his jacket to get his patches and stars sewn on before Thursday.

The weather was beautiful; stuff got accomplished around the house, well, technically the garage, stuff got thrown away, stored in the attic and hey look…there is that extra 5 feet we had added on to the back, I was wondering where we put that.

The boy occupied himself by playing in the back yard most, if not all day. We ended the evening roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire pit and we all had dinner out on the back patio, even the baby, while music filtered through the speakers and out into the cool night air. Best of all…the TV was not on ALL. DAY. I love our patio, I can’t wait to get it in “entertaining shape”.

Sunday we stopped by my Granny’s house to open up the last of the Christmas gifts. Both boys were great and Granny and Papa just loved them up. I’ll post pix in the next few days.

Week 2 of 2009

Week 2 went much better than week 1. I RAN! Not once, not twice but THREE times. Jodie kicked my butt with yesterday’s run and we shaved an entire minute off our previous time. I felt it though. That’s what I like about running with someone and especially Jod…I know we will push each other, her usually more than me and I’ll drop dead before I stop. It’s that competitive thing we got going…but not in a bad way.

Next week I begin this challenge. Santa brought me Jillian’s 30 Day Shred for Christmas (because I asked not because he was dropping hints) and I was going to start it hard core on Monday anyways so perfect timing, beginning Monday I will post my progress and list my thoughts of the program daily. I can do this for 30 days but I absolutely HAVE to figure out how to work out in the morning since I’m doing my cardio in the afternoons. I’ll have to think about that this weekend and let you know what the hubby and I figure out. Here’s to shredding…

Weekend plans…the hubby put together my fire pit Santa brought AND he bought some wood so I’m thinking roasted hot dogs and marshmallows tomorrow night. The boy will so love that. I have the greatest Hubby evar! We will also stop by my Granny’s house and do Christmas…I guess I have to finish up the gifts. Slacker I know.

Looks like it will be busy and productive. I’ll be glad to spend time with the fam. During the week the time just seems to get shorter and shorter. Life…I know.

For all those peeps running in the Houston Chevron Marathon and the Aramco Half I’ll be thinking about ya…weather looks to be perfect, may you all PR.

OUT!

Week 1 of 2009

First full week of 2009 in the books.

AND IT SUCKED.

I was sick the entire week. Sick, sick. I’m thinking I had the flu but a mild case since I had gotten a flu shot.

I ended up losing 2lbs, from the non eating instead of the eating right. Needless to say I didn’t get to do any of the excerise I had planned. I will start again this Monday. Weather is going to be nice and cool all week. Looking forward to getting out and enjoying it for a change.

The fam went to Whole Foods this morning. I LOVE…LOVE Whole Foods. I could stay at that store for hours and find the coolest yummiest things that are so healthy. The hubby and I talked about going once a month to get the stuff we absolutely need for “clean eating” meaning the stuff we can’t find at HEB.

I made Moroccan Chicken with wild rice for din the other night. It was pretty good and I’ll make it again but perhaps add a bit more salt.

I’m still following and cheer on all you “crackers” even though I’m going to follow a different plan, it’s not all that different except for the carb deplete. We’re still in this together.

Oh yeah...still working on those resolutions...

It's a New Year...

It’s a New Year…we rang in the New Year with our neighbors. It was pretty low key, didn’t even drink that much. We had fun and I’m glad we went. I love our neighbors.

The New Year brings new goals, both personal and for the family. I’m still working on an “official” list so I can gauge my progress this time next year.

First an foremost the working out and eating thing is fo sho. Starting one and stopping the other. Of course not stopping eating entirely, then I would die but doing it right. Eating CLEAN. I’ve got a plan and I’m sticking to it. On February 5th I will give a full report of what I did and my progress, I’m not doing it now in an effort to prevent making sweeping statements that I’ve made so many times before.

My initial plan is to work out in the morning with weight training and do cardio in the afternoon at work. The cardio will be slow going at first since I’ve done no kind of running, except to the fridge the last six months. I can’t wait to get back out there. I’ve got my lunch made for the week and the hubby and I have already planned dinner for tomorrow. I will pack my bag tonight with my running clothes. That’s right…you heard me…RUNNING clothes.

I’ve got a lot of things swimming in my head that I want to accomplish this year but I would like to give them a bit more thought before I actually put them in print and make them final.

Good luck and much encouragement to all that have made their goals this year!

Girly Trip - 2008

That’s right…we finally had a girl trip! It was only a day…baby steps…baby steps. Nic, Jod, Mel and I headed out to Austin for the day in search of glass for Nic, saving on shipping costs of course.

We left Houston about 5 am and arrived in Austin shortly after 8, the glass shop we were visiting didn’t open until 10 so we stopped off at Target, Christmas was 75% off and they had 7.5 prelit Christmas trees for $75. SCORE. I’ve been wanting a prelit for the last three years now but we couldn’t really justify spending the money when we had a perfectly good tree now. The hubby said if I get one for under $89. Then I could get one. DONE! Only problem, it wouldn’t fit in my Highlander. Ooops. I almost took it back but we decided to strap to the roof instead. Oh we have pics…

After we got the tree secure we headed to the glass store in Georgetown and we had so much fun. The store had an amazing selection and the ladies were so very nice. I’ll have to get the name of the store so I can post a link here. Anyway after three hours and lunch at Wildfire’s right next door and quite a bit of moolah later we were off to the outlet stores.

My favorite store in the entire world, White House/Black Market had a store in the outlet center and they were having an AMAZING sale. I got three capris and three shirts all for just over $100, the entire purchase would have been almost $400 at regular price. I’m very happy about my purchase.

We stopped by another glass shop in Austin Helios and the owner was fantabulous. He was very helpful and happy to share many of the techniques used to create the pieces we saw throughout his store.

Finally, last stop was dinner at Reals, a scrumptious little Italian restaurant owned by ‘Gino’. If you are ever in Austin…GO.

I was paranoid about the Christmas tree and peeps stealing it…I even sat in the car at one point because I didn’t want to take it off the roof…yet again and two guys were totally eyeing my tree.

We made it home around midnight. It was a long trip but it was totally what I needed to recharge the ole batteries.

Thanks to the hubby and Mema for taking care of the boys.

Christmas 2008

I’ve been dark for almost a month now…no reason in particular except time, there isn’t any. So…I’m here, in the New Year starting anew. I was pretty consumed with pregnancy last year and I didn’t make any “official” resolutions other than to have a healthy, happy baby. Done and done.

The last month has been busy with Christmas and family in town. The hubby’s mom was in town for 10 days in December. She hasn’t seen the boys since June and she was very excited. She couldn’t believe how much the baby had grown.

I worked until the day before Christmas Eve, it wasn’t too bad, it was very quiet and I actually got ahead, I didn’t get totally organized so I’m thinking I’ll do that tomorrow before I jump into work, shouldn’t be too bad.

On a sad note, my office mate and one of my bestest friends EVER has changed positions and will be relocated into another building, sad. Funny story, originally she didn’t want to be my office mate, she even went to management to request that I be moved, which they did, to my other bestest friends office…lol. It backfired because they eventually moved me back into her office about 5 years ago. Anywho our desks face each other and it going to be sad looking up and seeing emptiness there. Thankfully she is an IM or a walk away. I will miss her…just being there.

Christmas was great. Mema was here for the monkey’s first Christmas and the boys had a great time. If you recall I mentioned before we were going to scale WAY back…yeah that didn’t happen, as you can tell in this picture.

Santa was good to me I got my air compressor I wanted. Yes, I’m a girl and wanted an air compressor, mainly to manage the air pressure in my tires. I HATE going to the gas station to do it. For one thing I’m paranoid of the gas station. At any moment someone is going to car jack me, smash my window and steal my purse and heaven forbid the kids are with me…I’m a nervous wreck. So now I have my air compressor and I can air things up in the comfort of my own garage, if they only had a pink one…

Santa also delivered a fire pit. WHOO HOO!! I so wanted one. I have a vision of a seating area out back complete with a fire pit. As a bonus Santa found one that converts into a table during the summer…can’t wait to fire it up!

We had ham for dinner but nothing formal and after a late night, early morning and opening presents pretty much the entire day we all went to bed early.