5/29/2012

weekly goals - 5/28-6/3


 Monday - workout - 10,000 5197 steps, after work plans - register @ Macy's (check), dinner - Mediterranean Chicken Red Robin

Tuesday - workout - exercise w/Joe 7543 steps, after work plans/dinner - celebrate Janey's anniversary (check)

Wednesday - workout - 10,000 4569 steps, after work plans - bridesmaid dress shopping (check), dinner - & drinks out with the girls (check)

Thursday - workout - 10,000 steps spin w/Mandy, after work plans - Thirty-One show, dinner - sweet potato perogies & roasted vegetables (check)

Friday - workout - exercise w/Joe (check), dinner - Skinny Italian Turkey Meatballs (check)

Saturday -workout - walk w/Jack 13,695 steps (check), afternoon plans - manicure & shopping w/Edra (check), dinner - Hawaiian Grilled Chicken & Pineapple SURPRISE ENGAGEMENT PARTY!! (post to come when I get pics from my sister)

Sunday - workout - exercise w/Joe (or Angela?) Kat, dinner - Bacon Ranch Crockpot Chicken Engagement party leftovers

Here are my plans for this week:

 Monday
workout - 1+ mile w/Joe
dinner - engagement party leftovers

Tuesday
workout - 1 mile & spin

dinner - engagement party leftovers

Wednesday
workout - 1 mile & cardio kick-n-step

Thursday 
workout - 1 mile & spin

Friday
workout - 1+ mile w/Joe
after work plans - Thirty-One show
dinner - leftovers/take-out

Saturday
workout - 1+ mile w/Joe
afternoon plans - walk through at venue

Sunday
workout - 1+ mile w/Joe

5/25/2012

bridesmaid dress shopping

I haven't had a super clear vision of what I wanted in terms of bridal party attire, mostly I knew what I didn't want.  I've been in 5+ weddings and not once did I feel totally comfortable in my dress.  Now part of that may be that I was 40+ pounds overweight but the other part is that it is close to impossible to find one dress that will work for numerous body types.  I really wanted everyone to be comfortable in their dresses because I feel like you can tell in pictures when people are uncomfortable.  So I started by nixing the idea of matching dresses.

I wanted something classy and chic since our wedding is in the evening on NYE.  And I'm trying to keep color to a minimum.  Whenever people ask what my wedding colors are I say, "black, ivory & glitter."  So you may be thinking, awesome, black dresses.  But I don't want the girls in mismatched black dresses because then they won't stand out in the crowd.  My favorite part of the whole being a bridesmaid thing is that you can tell by looking around the room who the important ladies are, and that wouldn't happen in black.  I debated adding another fun color but it just wasn't working.  Finally it hit me, pewter!  It is sleek and classy plus we could dress it up with fun jewelry and shoes like black!

Now that I knew what I wanted it was time to find some dresses.  My bridal party all happened to be in town for the holiday weekend so I made a couple of appointments.  Five of my seven bridesmaids were able to make it to the first store (Wedding Belles) and we had a bumpy start.  It seemed like no one wanted to pick anything.  I've read about this happening when brides give their girls too much freedom, they just want to be told what to wear.  So, I grabbed a bunch of dresses and asked them to try on whatever they liked.

Nicole and Edra came out in the first two dresses below and looked fantastic!  It was settled, satin was the fabric!  I asked the consultant to take away everything that wasn't satin and the remaining three girls picked from there.  Here, in no particular order are the dresses five of my girls will be wearing...
                              Nicole                             Janey                            Edra
Shana                         Sarah

Unfortunately Lorie and Kat couldn't meet us until we got to the second store (Tesi Bridal) and we didn't have any luck there.  To start with they didn't carry Alfred Angelo dresses so we couldn't pick anything to match the others but I didn't mind starting fresh.  The real issue was that they didn't have much at all, the owner showed us a few catalogs and asked us to mark dresses we wanted to see.  I did and she didn't have anything marked!  It was a huge waste of time!
Therefore, I'll be going back to the first store with Lorie & Kat when they have some free time to pick out their dresses.  I'd like to have them ordered by the end of June so we can be sure they're in with plenty of time to share before the wedding.  

It was a really fun night and I was extremely pleased with how easy it ended up being picking 7 similar yet different dresses.

Lauren's Sweat Shop

Last Sunday night we had our first session at Lauren's sweat shop.  That's what we've named our gatherings to work on DIY projects for the wedding.  Nicole has even created a foursquare check in so that everyone can log their time appropriately.

They (the wedding gods) suggest that save the dates go out 6-8 months before your wedding so I knew we needed to get ours out by the end of May.  I want to be sure our guests have plenty of time to make travel and lodging arrangements since our wedding is on a holiday.  

I checked the calendar and selected a Sunday then sent an email out to my bridal party & our moms requesting their help in exchange for wine & pizza.  My sister Shana, Nicole, Kat, Lorie, Joe's sister Janey and both moms took me up on it.  Nicole has been the force behind a lot of my wedding "paper" because she is super crafty.  When everyone arrived she assigned them jobs and they all got to work.
Sorry but I'm not going to show you all our save the dates until I know our guests have received them, I don't want to ruin the surprise if any of them are following my blog.  For now you'll just have to take wild guesses as to what everyone is doing around the dining room table.
Bill came over with Shana and helped to entertain Jack while the ladies toiled away.  He also ran a bunch of errands for us when we ran out of glue, needles and most importantly, wine!  He also helped me with the guest list and mail merging my google doc with the pdf wrap around label I found.
I am super grateful to all of these ladies for coming over to help!  I was absolutely exhausted from Kat's bachelorette weekend (and she's seriously a trooper for coming over at all), so there's no way I would have been able to tackle nearly as many as they all finished that night.
The save the dates are still not quite ready to go out yet.  Quality control deemed about 15 unworthy of mailing so Nicole, Joe & I will be working on them at some point this weekend so they can go out by mid next week.

Five for Friday ~ 5/25/12

1. You learned about the sewing machine so you could help with our save the dates.

2. You're going to attempt the Summer Running Streak with me.

3. You sent me a picture of our newest pond resident because you knew I'd think he's cute.

4. You're a good sharer.

5. As we were walking you pulled a rose off a bush and gave it to me because I'm "your pretty lady."

December 2011

5/24/2012

do i look fat?

Sorry for the radio silence yesterday!  I was going to put a whole post together about lack of motivation blah blah blah but then I had that talk with Brittany about doing what you can and letting go of the guilt so it seems inappropriate.  Plus I'm attempting to stay positive and motivated with the whole Summer Running Streak thing.  AND my Thirty-One show cancelled for tonight, which sucks, but it also good because now I can go to spin with Mandy!  Yay for working out!

Anyway, here's a random sampling of what I ate of Tuesday.  Even though we went rogue on the meal plan with dinner at Red Robin on Monday we still made the Mediterranean Chicken and I brought a portion for lunch.  That night we went to Mays Landing Golf Club to celebrate Joe's sister's one year wedding anniversary.  I had a super tasty turkey, brie & apple wrap and a piece of one year old wedding cake.
As we were leaving I asked Joe if I looked fat in my outfit because we had taken some pictures and I had a bad feeling about them.  He's a smart man so of course he said no...  I learned my feelings were spot on when I saw the pictures on Facebook the next morning though.  Blah, I untagged myself immediately and made another resolution to hit the gym.
But then I saw this picture from Kat's bachelorette party and felt much better.
I guess sometimes it is just the angle of the camera/photographer...

challenge accepted

As you all know I've been having some issues in the motivation department lately.  My schedule is just so packed!  I was talking to a friend yesterday who's in a similar situation and she helped me rationalize it all.  I realized that I have to stop feeling guilty about not working out all the time.  


It's not like I'm coming home every day and sitting around eating bon bons.  I'm not working out because there's no time.  Could I get up at 5:30am and go for a quick run?  Sure.  But considering I've been going to bed between 11 and 12pm every day because I'm out of the house all evening at appointments it wouldn't be smart to try functioning on 5-6 hours of sleep a night when I know my body needs 8 hours.  


I'm going to try harder to workout when I can and to make healthy food choices.  I know things will slow down soon and I'll be able to workout like I'd should again!


In an effort to help increase my exercise I've decided to join the Runner's World Summer Running Streak.  The challenge is to run at least 1 mile per day from Memorial Day until Independence Day.  


I read about the streak yesterday on Tina's blog and was intrigued, I asked Joe what he thought and we decided that we can totally do it!  It may mean having to head out after dark some nights or on days when the weather isn't great but even if we can't do 3+ miles we can totally handle a mile.  That's just 1/2 way up the road by our house and back, 11 minutes tops!


Wish me luck!

5/22/2012

SLUMP

Seriously, I'm my own worst enemy.  I knew that this week wasn't going to be great exercise wise but I somehow convinced myself that I would control my eating and even it all out in the end.  Not the case...  I was over by 714 calories yesterday.

What had happened was...  

I was cruising along OK all day, a few more snacks here and there but I chalk that up to poor eating all weekend.  It usually takes me a day or so to get the cravings out of my system.  I had meal planned on eating a Good Earth Mediterranean Chicken dinner before heading out to work on our registry with Joe.  Unfortunately he got stuck in an interview (which is a good thing) so we decided to meet at the mall instead of driving home and then driving back out.  We spent an hour or so adding bedding & towels to our registry then Joe asked where I wanted to go for dinner.  I hemmed and hawed, even suggested we just go home and eat the chicken but in the end it was decided we'd go to Red Robin.

I put up a good effort at first.  I ordered a turkey burger on a lettuce bun but I couldn't say no to the fries!  And then we had more fries!  And then Joe twisted my arm into getting a salted caramel shake (kid's size).  When all was said and done I'd consumed 1292 calories at dinner!
Then I did what they always tell you not to do.  I threw in the towel on my day.  I decided that I'd already ruined everything at dinner so I might as well have some kettle corn (although not as bad as I thought).  I was sitting on the couch chomping away when I saw the following pictures from this past weekend on Facebook .
I was a little disappointed after seeing the top one but it could just be the angle and the slouchy sweater but when I saw the bottom one I stopped mind chew and put the bag of popcorn away.  I know, it could be the way I'm sitting & the angle that the photo was taken at but ugh!  I don't ever want to see myself looking like that in a bathing suit...
What am I going to do?  Well, I'll tell you, I'm going to take each day as it comes and do the best that I can.  Today (Tuesday) I'm going to try to go for a run after work and if I don't have time I'm going to walk to ShopRite with Joe after dinner and get my steps.  I'm going to order something healthy while we're out celebrating Janey's anniversary and I'm not going to drink alcohol.  Maybe as the temperature gets warmer and I start wearing less clothing I'll get my motivation back.  For today I'm wearing pants that are too small... it's working...

5/21/2012

weekly goals 5/21-27

 Monday - workout - Cardio Blast/Abs (check), dinner - baked chicken & roasted veggies (check)

Tuesday - workout - boot camp (4,232 steps), dinner - hamburger helper with broccoli turkey burgers (at least we used the meat)

Wednesday - workout - Cardio Kick N Step (2,963), excitement - was peer pressured into joining a work softball team, dinner - broccoli casserole  sushi

Thursday - workout - Insanity run w/Mandy, dinner - sweet potato perogies & roasted veggies broccoli casserole

Friday - workout - AM run w/Joe (5,772 steps), excitement - Kat's Bachelorette Weekend (check), dinner - order in w/girls (check)

Saturday - workout - rest day (8,947 steps), excitement - Kat's Bachelorette Weekend (check), dinner -Buddakhan w/girls (check)

Sunday - workout - rest day (10,019 steps) (check), excitement - making Save The Dates (check), dinner - Pizza w/STD helpers (check)

It's pretty obvious my week didn't go as planned.  I only worked out twice and I didn't get my steps on most of the days I didn't work out.  I am pretty disappointed in myself, I managed to do all the fun stuff but not much of the work and other then 2 sick days I was just being lazy.  As you'll see on this week's plan I'm super busy so it probably won't be much better...
 Here are my plans for this week:

 Monday
workout - 10,000 steps
after work plans - register @ Macy's
dinner - Mediterranean Chicken

Tuesday
workout - exercise w/Joe
after work plans/dinner - celebrate Janey's anniversary

Wednesday
workout - 10,000 steps
after work plans - bridesmaid dress shopping
dinner - & drinks out with the girls

Thursday 
workout - 10,000 steps
after work plans - Thirty-One show
dinner - sweet potato perogies & roasted vegetables

Friday
workout - exercise w/Joe

Saturday
workout - walk w/Jack
afternoon plans - manicure & shopping w/Edra

Sunday
workout - exercise w/Joe (or Angela?)

5/18/2012

Wednesday & Thurday

Clever title, right?

I woke up Wednesday feeling totally fine & back to normal.  Of course I'm still taking my antibiotics just to be on the safe side but I've felt totally fine since.  I was excited to get to the gym after work and back on track with my goals!  I headed over after work and into the locker room to change for step class, as I was unloading my stuff I realized I didn't have a sports bra!  I searched the bag to be sure but it wasn't there!  I momentarily considered working out in my regular bra but quickly realized that wasn't an option.  With my workout plans thwarted I remembered a call I'd gotten from my brother-in-law earlier that afternoon, he, my sister & my dad were meeting for sushi nearby.  I made a quick call and learned they had just arrived at the restaurant so I went over to meet them.  We spent 2.5 hours catching up on each others goings on and laughing over Japanese.  It was a nice way to spend an evening but not at all what I had planned for the day.

Thursday was a bit more exciting around though.  It started when I read a "stuff I love" blog post and learned about the addakitty app.  It's possibly my new favorite thing.  It's nothing fancy, it literally just allows you to add a kitty to any picture.  We had some fun with it at work...
My original workout plan was to take Insanity at the gym with Mandy.  However, after a lukewarm response from the trainer when we told her we couldn't commit to her whole program we've been looking for other forms of exercise; we decided to give spin a try instead.  Then I got a text from Mandy in the afternoon saying she wanted to run instead since the weather was so nice.  I told her I was up for anything and it was decided we would meet at my house after work to run.

Now I remind you, I have not run at all since 4/29 and before that 4/1, I was expecting a nice little 2 or 3 miles to ease back in.  When I asked Mandy what she had in mind she said "how bout we go for an hour and see what happens."  An hour!?!  That's like 5 miles!  But not one to show my fear I said, "sure sounds great, we'll go for a half hour then turn around and head back."
Our run went well.  We did about 5 miles in an hour which I was impressed with because that's about my normal pace and I had requested a few walk breaks.  It was pretty much, run a mile then walk a quarter repeated.  I'm excited to have a new running buddy & with her super long legs and quick pace I may even improve!

I needed to run to ShopRite for some bachelorette party supplies but the gnats were terrible towards the end of our run so I put off walking over until after the sun went down.  I made dinner and watched a little tv to kill time until dark.  We had a lot of broccoli that was on it's way out and I knew it wouldn't get used this weekend since I won't be home so I whipped up a casserole.
After dinner Nicole accompanied me to ShopRite where I picked up some juice and cupcake supplies.  I added 2 bananas & some PB2 to a regular chocolate box mix then frosted them with cream cheese icing and added a special bachelorette garnish.  Hope everyone likes them!
It was a long night, while the cupcakes were baking I put together a gift for Kat and packed my bags for the weekend.  I'm planning on taking boot camp after work in a feeble attempt to stay ahead of my calorie burn for the weekend.  So I won't have a lot of time to dilly dally if I want to get to the party at a decent hour.  It's going to be a long, but super fun weekend and it starts soon!

Five for Friday ~ 5/18/12

1. You really wanted sushi.

2. You didn't complain about having to entertain yourself for most of the gala.

3. You didn't complain too much that our Ikea stop made us 30 minutes late for the Phillies game.

4. You made a special trip to the store for cranberry juice.

5.  When I was stressed about getting everything together for the weekend you offered to go to the store for me.
March 2012

5/16/2012

more gala photos

I don't really have anything else to say about the gala but I thought you all might like to see some more photos of my favorite peeps :-)  All photos by Nicholas & Partners Photography

Mondays are easy, Tuesday not so much

I'm always so well behaved on Mondays, I eat right, go to the gym, stick to my meal plan for dinner.  This week was no different, I enjoyed a step class with Mandy then came home to find Joe putting together our new coffee tables.

 
We made a pit stop at Ikea in Philadelphia on our way to the Phillies game Sunday.  It was a busy day but I didn't take any pictures hence the lack of recap post.  We had breakfast with Joe's mom, then the baseball game, then dinner with my mom.  Anyway, we wandered the isles and when we didn't find any traditional coffee tables to our liking we started thinking outside the box.  We purchased a cabinet with a drawer and legs to use as one table and a bookcase turned on it's side as the other for under $300.

 

While Joe worked in the living room I started on dinner.  My plan was to make baked chicken with roasted vegetable and that I did.  It didn't take very long to cook and wasn't very exciting but edible nonetheless.  We spent the rest of the evening relaxing on the couch and admiring our interior design skills.
Tuesday didn't go nearly as well...I started the day with an appointment at my new doctor.  My insurance requires a physical each year so I called over in March and they didn't have any first thing in the morning appointments available until May.
It took about an hour and a half to get checked out so I got into the office a little later then usual but I hadn't missed anything exciting.  I had to take a picture of my lunch for Angela because she always teases me about my "snack" lunches and this one was extra snack-like.
Unfortunately my day just got worse after lunch.  I'm sure this is an over-share but I've already told you guys about that rash last summer so why stop now.  Anyway, I noticed that I had to pee a lot a lot more then usual all afternoon (which is a lot considering the amount of water I drink) and it felt a little funny when I finished, like hot...I googled the issues I was having and my guess was confirmed, UTI.  Luckily, we have a family friends that's a nurse practitioner so when I let her know what was going on she called a prescription in for me.  I also googled "working out with a UTI" and found that it was not a great idea.  Plus I could just imagine having to run to the bathroom every 20 minutes throughout boot camp, Bryan would have loved that!  I texted Mandy and let her know I was bailing then headed straight to CVS.  I took one pill immediately and spent the rest of the night on the couch.  Joe made me dinner, turkey burgers since we were out of Hamburger Helper (I should really check the pantry before meal planning) and got me some low calorie cranberry juice to drink.  While last night was definitely annoying, I think I went to the bathroom 6+ times in 5 hours, the meds definitely worked and I'm feeling much better today!