6/29/2012

frustrated

Well, I'm drowning in greens again.  I picked up our latest farm basket Wednesday afternoon and it had Romaine, Red Leaf Lettuce, Green Leaf Lettuce, Kale, Leeks, Basil, Dill, Blueberries, Cucumbers, Mint, Tomatoes & Corn.  Don't get me wrong, I love having all the lovely veggies in the house but there's only so much you can do with all these greens.  I passed 1/2 of it off to Nicole but my fridge is still exploding with leafy greens!  Which of course meant breakfast on Thursday was a Kale smoothie.  I prefer spinach because it doesn't taste as strong but gotta use what you've got, right?
My pal Anne surprised me with a gift when I got to work!  It's a Disney Princess ring holder shaped like a shoe!  I love it!  Her fiance's aunt got her one for their engagement and she decided I needed one too!  I've been trying to figure out where in the house I want to keep it.  I already have to little elephants in the kitchen and bathroom that keep my ring safe while I do dishes and shower.
I'm telling you, Anne takes good care of me.  Not only did I get a present but she made me lunch!  She is a Pampered Chef consultant and wanted to try a recipe she'd seen at a recent meeting for Watermelon & Prosciutto Salad.  You woulnd't think the ingredients would pair well together but I really enjoyed it!
I got a text from Mandy that she wouldn't be able to meet me at gym again until Wednesday :-(  But I'm proud to say that I still went to the gym for Pump-N-Step, by myself!  It helped that I had plans to meet Joe at the AC Moore across from my gym when he got out of work at 6:30.  I would have been a real loser if I drove all the way home then back out to meet him and skipped the gym!  I hope you like the picture of my locker.  It's actually pretty cool, your membership card slides into the lock and releases the key so you can use any locker without a charge for rental.  I was running out of ideas, the pictures of weights & steps are pretty boring.
After Pump-N-Step I went to meet Joe.  We wandered around AC Moore for a solid 20 minutes looking for stencils, spray paint, wooden letters and other assorted goodies but couldn't find anything.  It pained me to suggest we try Michael's instead.  I've always been an AC Moore girl, they were the only craft store in the area when I was growing up and I refused to dessert them for Michael's when it opened.  But after that disastrous trip yesterday, I may be a Michael's bride.  We found everything we needed there and are prepped to start some wedding projects this weekend!  We're hoping to cross wedding bands and table numbers off the To Do List by Sunday night!
I did a lot of snacking during the day and ended up not getting hungry for a full dinner which was good since we didn't get home until almost 9pm.
All that wandering around craft stores paid off, 10,737 steps!
I was really proud of myself last night and had high hopes for my weigh in Friday morning.  I've been keeping my calories in check (except Wednesday), I've been working out regularly, I felt like I was finally getting a handle on this whole thing again.

Not so much.  I gained 2 pounds.

change of plans

I had big plans for Wednesday.  Joe was scheduled to close the store so I was going to meet Kristina, Megan & Mandy for happy hour at the Bonefish after work then head over to a bridal expo to meet with a florist.  Thus putting us both home between 9-10pm.  So naturally, I was surprised when, on Tuesday night, Joe asked what our plans were for the next evening.  I said, well you're closing & I'm going to happy hour and the bridal expo.  A confused look played across his face...  Apparently they had changed his schedule and he was now opening.  I felt bad to have to leaving him to his own devices since we rarely get evenings off together but I couldn't bail on the girls.

Wednesday morning came, I packed up everything I'd need for my various evening stops, kissed Joe goodbye and said I'd get home as early as I could.  Everything started to fall apart late morning.  Mandy texted me that her fiance's grandfather had passed away and they were spending the evening with family so she wouldn't be able to come out.  Then I got an email from Kristina about happy hour on Thursday... What?!  I wrote back, "uhhh, we're going tonight."  I must have missed an email where things were switched to the following evening...  With my newly open schedule I called Joe and asked if he was interested in happy hour & a floral consultation.
We met up at Bonefish right after work and I was pleasantly surprised with their prices & selection of happy hour treats, everything is $5!  I ordered a watermelon martini (not $5) on Nicole's recommendation and it was delightful.  For dinner we went with 1 of each available dish (minus the Lollipop Rolls because they were out of them).  My favorites were the Fresh Fish Ceviche and the Bang Bang Tacos.  The regular Bang Bang Shrimp are too spicy for me but the tortilla shell, sauce and lettuce/tomato really helped cut the spice.
We also ordered Bang Bang Shrimp and Bang Bang Chicken but decided next time we'd just do the ceviche, 2 tacos and cross our fingers they have the Lollipop Roll.  They should really add a few more options without bang bang...

Once we were sufficiently full it was time to head to Atlantic City, the expo was conveniently being held at our venue!  I believe this was the first year they've held the event and I found it odd that it was on a Wednesday.  There weren't a lot of people in attendance, again probably since it was Wednesday.  We talked with Ken for Accents by Narcissus and I really liked him.  He seemed open to my ideas and willing to work with us to find something that would be beautiful and within our limited floral budget.  I was shocked when I received his estimate on Thursday for $8,000!  Seriously, does that sound like it would fit in a limited budget?!?  I wrote back asking he rework things to under $2,000 and made appointments with a few more florists...perhaps I should have been more specific about the definition of limited...

We also got a sneak peak at what our "good bye" station will look like.  The venue sets up coffee, tea & cookies for guests to take on their way out.  Melissa, our event coordinator, could tell I wasn't thrilled with the set up and immediately asked what was wrong.  First, I asked if the cookies had to be individually wrapped because it looked kind of institutional.  She explained that they do this because guests may not be eating them right away.  Ok, that makes sense.  Next, I asked if we could slap a personalized label on them.  She said absolutely, we can do whatever we want, we can even get the cookies in different shapes, colors, etc.  I was relieved but also not thrilled to add another item to the TO DO list.

On our way back to the car I spotted this woman in a really cute outfit.  Love the peplum and leopard flats!  However upon closer inspection I realized that HER ENTIRE BRA was hanging out.  Terrible!
My calories were not great for the day.  Those happy hour goodies added up fast and without a workout to counteract them I was in trouble!
I didn't get my steps either, only 7,531 for the day.

Five for Friday ~ 6/29/12

1.  You will be a great dad.

2.  You said you don't tell me the bad parts of your day because "your goal is to make my day better."

3.  You happily came to happy hour & a bridal expo with me when everyone else bailed.

4.  You accompanied me to AC Moore & Michael's to look for wedding crafts.

5.  When the scale let me down yet again, you suggested it was broken..

June 2012

6/27/2012

PLAY BALL!

I found this list of "The Skinny Rules" on Pinterest the other day and decided they seemed pretty logical and I could give some a try.  Mind you I have no intentions of adding 20 new healthy eating rules to my diet overnight.  I figured I could work a couple in at a time, starting yesterday.  My plan was to follow Rule 7: No Carbs After Lunch and Rule 13: Get Rid of Fast Foods and Fried Foods.
I started the day with 1/2 a french toast bagel with whipped cream cheese and an iced breakfast blend coffee with York Peppermint Patty creamer (275 calories).  Around 11:30 I got hungry again so I grabbed a peach (38 calories) out of my lunch bag and sliced it up as a snack.
I had planned on hitting the elliptical for a little while between work and our 6:45 softball game.  But Mandy ever so sweetly suggested we take boot camp instead.  I know I've said it before but I totally cave to peer pressure all the time and was like, "sure, sounds great!"  So, we took Bryan's boot camp class and I may or may not have promised him an invite to our wedding dependent on how good I look in September...
I was a little nervous, it being my first game since the 5th grade and all. They put me in as catcher for the first two innings!  Surprisingly I didn't hurt myself and actually managed to catch the ball and throw it back to the pitcher numerous times without any embarrassing moments!
Our team won by a lot and in celebration we went to Chickie's & Pete's.  Mandy, Jen & I discussed sharing a salad but when the waitress told everyone about the $5 pizza and $2 crab fries special that went out the window.
I'm proud to say I only had one drink, 2 wings, 2 small slices of pizza and some fries which kept me around my 1000+ burn for the day!  However, I not only ate carbs after lunch, I ate fried white potato carbs!  Plus I drank some calories!  I really made Bob proud!
I also didn't get my steps, 8,897 for the day.

6/26/2012

surprise engagement party

Way back on Memorial Day weekend my bridal party through us a Surprise Engagement Party.  Since it's exactly a month later I figured it was about time I told you all about it...

My day was pretty much like any other Saturday.  I got up, picked Jack up from Nicole, we went for a walk, grabbed some breakfast and shopped at Kmart for a little while.  By the time we got home he was ready for a nap so while he slept I got ready for my afternoon of manicures & shopping with Edra.  

I should explain that I had an idea that something was going on.  Way back when we first got engaged, like the next day, Nicole mentioned it would be fun to do an engagement party but with my crazy schedule there weren't a lot of weekends available.  This statement peaked my curiosity so I looked over my calendar.  It looked like the only two weekends open were Memorial Day and June 8-10.  A few weeks later, Nicole asked if I wanted to have a yard sale on June 9th so I made a mental note that if anything was going to happen it would be Memorial Day.  So when Nicole told me she was having a BBQ on Saturday night I made sure to dress a little nicer then usual.  PS - both my out of town bridesmaids happened to be coming to town that weekend...

Anyway, back to Edra, she had asked what I was up to that weekend since she was in town.  I had a standing manicure appointment scheduled after I returned Jack to Nicole so I invited her to join me and then suggested we go shopping because I needed a dress for Kat's wedding.  Joe was getting done work around the time we got to the mall so he met us and helped with the dress selection.  We were all starving by the time we finished so we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays and had some $5 drinks and appetizers, killing time until "Nicole's BBQ."

Meanwhile back at our house, our friends and family were cooking, cleaning and setting up the party.  Had I known they were doing this at my own house I would have cleaned up a little better, I heard stories later about Kat cleaning my toilet!  They did such a great job, Pinterest should be very proud!  There were homemade wine bottle torches, a s'mores station & personalized koozies that say "TO HAVE AND TO HOLD AND TO KEEP YOUR BEER COLD ~ LAUREN <3 JOE"
Once we were full and slightly buzzed it was time to head home for "Nicole's BBQ."  Joe asked if I wanted to ride with him or with Edra?  I didn't want to bail on Edra, so I said I'd meet him at the house.  This put a wrench in the plan because now they couldn't guarantee we'd arrive at the same time.  Apparently Edra was driving as slowly as possible hoping to keep us together but lost sight of Joe almost from the beginning.  As I unlocked the front door the whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion.  I opened the door and just stared at the 25+ people standing in my living room as they yelled surprise!
This is when everyone is asking us where Joe is.  I'm explaining that he should be right behind us, I'm not sure what's taking so long.
Finally Joe gets home, it turns out he stopped at the liquor store on the way home to pick up drinks for "Nicole's BBQ."
Now that we were both there everyone could relax and it was time to party!
This appears to be the only halfway decent picture of Joe & I from the entire night.  The engagement party definitely showed us a little of what the wedding will be like.  There were so many people to talk to that Joe and I barely saw each other.  We talked about it later and are going to make an effort to stay together when we greet everyone at the wedding so we don't end the night feeling like strangers.
Everyone seemed to be having a great time!  It was nice to see our families and friends sitting together and getting to know one another. I actually got an email from my mom the next day telling me what great friends we have and that it's obvious that they really love us.
Bill took over Joe's normal job as event photographer and got nice shots of everyone there (except Joe & me, lol).
As the sun started to set, the candles were all lit and a nice glow took over the yard.
Kat brought out cigars and we fired up the s'mores station that Bill made!
Here I am showing off how to properly roast a marshmallow then Edra & Shana showing how to eat one.
It was a fantastic evening!  We felt so loved by everyone there, they all really went above and beyond to show us a good time!  We even received a couple of gifts from our registry!  We can officially get married now that we have our toasting flutes & cake server!