7/31/2012

miscellanous happenings

I have at least 4 posts in draft that I just haven't gotten time to write and it's not going to get better anytime soon.  I'm not going to have much time the next few days because tomorrow I leave for conference!  Can you believe it's here already?  I feel like it was just yesterday I was debating if I should go!  I promise to keep taking pictures but I'm really sorry that you probably won't hear from me again before Sunday.


I've been taking random pictures of my food and other happenings but there's not enough of anything for a whole post on any one subject.  I'm going to start with what I've been eating, it hasn't all been super healthy, which I'm embarrassed about, but I know that if I hide it from you all I won't ever change.  I really need to get back on track. Today I tried on a ring that I had resized after my weight loss and it's too small.  That's really unacceptable!  I'm bringing gym clothes to conference even though I'm not sure if I'll have enough free time to use them.  I feel like that's a step in the right direction...  Anyway, back to food.  

I made a really tasty dinner on Sunday, Chicken Rollatini with Proscuitto and Cheese with a side of Cheesy Zucchini Rice.  It was REALLY delicious.  Joe raved about it and continued to eat the leftovers for days.

A few days later we went to The Clam Bar with my dad and Judy for dinner.  I normally prefer to go there on Thursdays for the Seafood Stuffed Potato Skins but we couldn't make that work.  I ordered Seafood Au Gratin, yummy, and we shared some corn fritters and smoked salmon dip as appetizers.
We also met my dad out for sushi later in the week.  He trusted us to order for him and I think he enjoyed the maki we chose.  Our friends Chris & Carol ended up coming in while we were there and sent us over some octopus sashimi.  I decided to give it a try after Kat raved about it on our last visit.  Unfortunately I'm not a fan.  It was a little too rubbery for my taste but it looks pretty.
We were invited to my sister's house for the opening ceremony of the Olympics on Friday.  Shana really went all out to decorate their living room for the event with construction paper bunting.  Bill even made an "olympic ring" stromboli.
On the wedding front...  Joe finished painting the wooden L's & J's for our cocktail hour tables.  I think they're going to look so great with the giant martini glasses filled with madri gras beads and mini disco balls!
Nicole has also started design work on Alayna's flower girl outfit.  Jack was kind enough to model for us!
We've been crossing stuff off the list left and right.  We even booked our honeymoon!  We'll be going spending the week immediately following our wedding at the Cocobay Resort in Antigua!  The more I research the place the more excited I am to go!  It's an all inclusive, secluded and apparently a very romantic and relaxing resort.  The reviews are fantastic and the views are breathtaking.  I'm beyond excited to spend my first week as a Mrs lounging there!
 I've also started reaching out to designers for help with our invitations and other paper items.  We are prepared to make these items ourselves if necessary but I think it might be nice to have someone else do the heavy lifting this time.  We've found an invitation suite that we really like the elements of.  But we'd like it to have the same feel as our save the dates.  Basically a less formal/more funky font, different colors and not letterpress.
So, if you know anyone that would be interested in doing some design work and doesn't charge an arm and a leg, we're in the market.  We'll probably end up needing help with water bottle labels, do not disturb signs, a monogram, menus and escort horns as well.

7/27/2012

Atlantic City 1/2 Marathon

Yep, I've lost my mind.  I've always said that I saw no reason to run further then 10 miles but the need to lose weight for a wedding does strange things to a girl.

It all started yesterday when my sister messaged me and asked if I wanted to do the AC 1/2 Marathon with her.  I told her I wasn't sure I was up for it but I'd check with Joe.  I wanted to check with Joe because I figured that if he was interested I'd have someone to train with.  I'd love to train with my sister but our schedules never work out and I know I can't do this on my own.

When I was at the gym yesterday afternoon I mentioned it to Mandy while we were walk/running on the treadmill and she was all about it.  Then when I asked Joe last night he said he would do it too!  I'm figuring between Shana, Mandy & Joe, I should be able to find someone to run with!

My first task was to find a training plan.  The race is October 21st so we only have about 12 weeks to train.  After reviewing a couple of different options I settled on the plan below from www.MarathonRookie.com.  I tweaked it a little because the days don't match up with the race, I just shifted everything down a day so that I'm doing long runs on Sunday.
As long as do the runs I should be fine and I'm thinking I'll stick with it because I've never done this distance before.  I slacked off on my 10 mile plan because I'd done it before and wasn't worried about not finishing.  This time I want to not only finish but keep my with my long legged quick running pals.  Training starts 8/14, wish me luck!

Five for Friday ~ 7/27/12

1.  You were great with Jack at the park.

2.  You always try to do the right thing even if it might hurt you in the long run.

3.  You want to fry a turkey for our Christmas in July party.

4.  You didn't hesitate to accept when I asked if you want to run a 1/2 marathon with me in October.

5.  When I complained that the internet was down again you got out of bed to fix it even though it was 6am.
June 2012

7/26/2012

starting over...kinda

There are approximately 22 weeks until our wedding.  I have approximately 21 pounds I'd like to lose before then.  This is totally doable but means I need to get my ass in gear.  I think I've decided on a plan of attack.  


First, I'm going to do C25K again.  I started this whole crazy weight loss journey with that program, it worked really well so I'm going to do it again.  I started W1D1 yesterday and found the difference between last time and this time pretty amusing. Back in September 2010, Angela drug me off my couch kicking and screaming, I jogged super slowly huffing and puffing through every second of those 1 minute long running sections.  Yesterday, I couldn't believe how quickly they were over and even turned the treadmill up to a 6.5 because I didn't feel like I was trying hard enough!  I will admit that my legs are pretty tight today but it's not going to stop me from doing W1D2 tonight!

Second, Mandy and I are probably going to start team training at the gym.  Well, if the price is right we are but I have high hopes because the manager of the gym said he'd put together special pricing for us!  When I mentioned it to Joe last night he said he had already been thinking about my doing something extra to get ready for the wedding and he is on board with spending a little extra money if it helps me be happier with my body.

So, YAY!  All I need is to lose 1 pound per week and if we're being honest I'd be happy to lose 15 pounds.  If I keep my eating under control, remember to ignore late night hunger pangs and keep up with my workouts it should be no problem!

7/23/2012

duh dont duh dont duh dont (Jaws theme, lol)

Happy Monday!  I didn't do a great job of taking pictures this weekend.  I think it's because I'm not sure when exactly I'll be able to blog so I don't bother photographing the mudane anymore, but I need to get back into the habit.  Here's what I put together from my phone.

Friday night we went up to the Mann Center to see the Philadelphia Orchestra play a tribute to John Williams.  I was very proud of Joe for setting up the event with 4 of his best friends from high school and their significant others, it's usually the girls planning to get together!
The show was better then I thought it would be!  They played music from Jaws, Harry Potter, Superman and Star Wars.  I took a video of the Jaws selection for Nicole but it's not uploading for some reason so you'll have to take my word for it or find it on my Facebook page.
Joe had managed yet another weekend day off on Saturday.  We met up with Mark, Kate & Anna for breakfast at Shea's then made our way over to a cute little park where the kids could run off their energy.
 
 
We spent the rest of the afternoon working on wedding crafts.  We're still working out the kinks on our half of the centerpieces, this is what we've put together so far.  I'm concerned that it's not big enough to create a real presence on the table so I shot an email over to our event coordinator to see if I can stop by some time and test it on an actual event table.
We went to dinner at our favorite sushi place, Tokyo Mandarin, with Mark & Kat that night.  It was the first time we'd seen them since they returned from their honeymoon in Europe so we had plenty to catch up on!
We got home late Saturday night so I slept in on Sunday, all the way until 9:30!  After a quick trip to the grocery store, I whipped up some egg salad for the coming week's lunch then headed to the beach.  I spent the majority of the afternoon in the sand in Ocean City with Kat while Mark surfed.  It was a great day, there was a nice breeze and just enough cloud cover to keep us from getting too hot.
As I'm sure you've noticed I didn't mention 1 workout all weekend, I also didn't burn 1000 calories any of those days.  However, I did get my steps 2 out of 3 days and while I didn't burn 1000 calories I did come in over 500 for each day!  Not too shabby.
I've got plans for more workouts this week including a run with Joe after work today.  I've realized that I need to start running more often, it's the one big piece missing when I compare last year to this year.  My basic plan is:

Monday - run w/Joe and dinner at The Clam Bar w/my dad & Judy
Tuesday - boot camp and dinner at home
Wednesday - cardio kick-n-step and dinner at home
Thursday - arc trainer at the gym w/Mandy and dinner w/Sarah
Friday - run w/Joe and dinner at home
Saturday - exercise w/Joe and Christmas in July party at our house
Sunday - exercise w/Joe and dinner at home

7/21/2012

we have a florist!

That's right, we've checked another item off of our to do list!  As you all know we spoke to one florist when we attended the bridal expo at our venue.  Unfortunately that vendor quoted us approximately $8000 for our florals.  I asked him to please send a new quote closer to our budget but have yet to hear anything back.  Luckily, our second consultation ended up being our last.  After meeting with a very popular florist in our area we crossed our fingers that her pricing would be reasonable and were pleasantly surprised when we received her quote for the wedding!
Our contract includes my bridal bouquet in raspberry, ivory, purple and burgundy calla lilies, anemonies, ranuculus, tulips, etc similar to the picture below and matching boutonniere for Joe.
We are planning on making boutonnieres out of noise makers for the groomsmen and bouquets from feather flowers for the bridesmaids, similar to the pictures below.  There will also be mother's corsages and boutonnieres for the fathers and ring bearer, although I haven't figured out what they will look like yet.  Any suggestions?
My ceremony inspiration comes from the photo below.  We found that recreating this look completely would be VERY expensive.  Betina worked with us to come up with a plan that will have the same feel but not cost an arm and a leg.  There will be a background of evergreen trees with a curtain of hanging crystals and rose petals in front plus puffs of baby's breath and tall glass vases with pillar candles.  She also convinced me that an aisle runner will help make the room look less like a conference area and more appropriate for our special event.
We're also planning to make garland like these from water bottles.  I'm not totally sure what we're going to do with them, maybe spray them with glitter paint and drape them down the aisle?
We were considering making the vases below to scatter on various tables (escort card, guest book, etc) but Betina quoted us $24 each for them so we decided to let her do the heavy lifting where they're concerned.
Half of the guest seating tables will have a tall clarinet vase with a full top of all baby's breath.  The other half will have an assortment of fluted vases filled with painted ping pong balls to look like champagne glasses.  We've been diligently working on the them for last few weeks, they're not exactly like the photo below but that's the basic idea.  Our sweetheart table will have small vases with puffs of baby's breath as well as an empty vase for displaying my bouquet.

In addition to the items I've talked about above, Betina is also providing an arrangement of fragrant flowers for the ladies room and a toss away mini bride bouquet free of charge!  We couldn't be happier with what she's put together and the price is great!

7/20/2012

Five for Friday ~ 7/20/12

1.  You were excited to go to Alayna's birthday party.


2.  We ate like crazy on Sunday because "we are really going to be better on Monday."


3.  You got up extra early to have breakfast with me when we hadn't seen each other in 2 days.


4.  You stop at Michael's pretty much every day to take advantage of the 40% off coupon.


5.  You asked if I was excited for my weigh in.
October 2010

7/18/2012

Food & Exercise Update

I think I may have mentioned how crazy my life has been lately.  Before this morning, I hadn't updated my goal spreadsheet since Friday July 6th!  I was a little scared that my chart would be a total disaster but I was pleasantly surprised that things aren't that bad.
Don't get me wrong, they're not exactly great either.  I'm rarely drinking my water, my burn is practically nonexistent on the weekends and you are all painfully aware of my lack of blogging.  But, I'm getting my steps pretty much every weekday and I've tracked my food every day this month! (If you're on myfitnesspal make sure to friend me)
Things are slowly getting back to normal.  I have plans to work out 4+ days this week, I'm hoping to eat dinner at home 5 nights and now that I'm in one office full time I'm drinking my water again.  I have high hopes, mind you I still have 21 pounds to lose for the wedding...  Mandy is pretty gung ho about working out lately so hopefully with my new earlier schedule I'll be getting more workouts in even if it's just running intervals on the treadmill.

I hope to check-in again soon but don't expect anything before Sunday.  My plan is to write up blog posts on weeknights when Joe's closing the store and on the weekends.  I'll do the best I can to share small updates whenever possible, but I'm not making any promises!

7/17/2012

how've ya been?

Is anyone still out there?  I really feel bad for my lack of posting lately but it feels like my  whole world has been turned on it's head.  I'm still getting up at 5am every morning to be at work by 7am which means I'm going to bed between 9 and 10 each night, that doesn't leave much time for anything other then the basics (laundry, cooking, etc).  I've been trying to get to the gym and my eating has been all over the place but I'll talk about that tomorrow (fingers crossed).  For now I just want to fill you in on my weekend.


I was exhausted by Friday afternoon.  I had cleaned out my office and it really took a lot out of me both physically and emotionally.  Who would have thought a change of department would send me on such a roller coaster?  I texted Mandy when I left work to let her know I wouldn't be coming to boot camp then headed home and directly into a bottle of pinot grigo.
When I was about 2 glasses deep I started feeling better and decided to open up a package that had been delivered.  It was my "comfy" wedding shoes!  I plan to wear royal blue Kate Spade Davies for pictures, the ceremony and as much of the reception as possible.  But I know my feet and there's no way I'll last 8+ hours in a 4" heel with no platform.  I know I'll still need a heel though because my dress will be hemmed for the Kate Spade's and I don't want to destroy the detail at the bottom by tripping over it in flats.  I enlisted my bridesmaids and we looked around online without coming up with anything I really loved.  Finally a week or so ago I came across a pair of pewter sequined wedges by Toms!  I sent them out to my ladies for approval but when I went to purchase them they were sold out, I was devastated!  I searched and searched and finally found a pair in my size on ebay, I snatched them up immediately and it's a good thing because I love them!
On Saturday morning I picked up Jack, then my mom and we headed over to Shea's for breakfast.  I had the most delicious bruschetta omelet, I will definitely be ordering it from now on!  The three of us also shared a cinnamon swirl pancake that while equally as tasty is far too much for one person to eat on their own.
After breakfast we ran a couple of errands, the most exciting of which for Jack was a stop at Petsmart.  You would have thought we'd taken the kid to the zoo.  Nicole commented on my Foursquare check-in that we weren't allowed to bring anything home so we pried Jack off the guinea pig cage and headed out.
Later that afternoon we went to Alayna's 1st birthday party.  There was lots of delicious food and I promise I didn't eat everything loaded on my plate!  I was really interested if the cold mashed potatoes.  It was basically potato salad that had been mashed, super yummy!
Soon it was time for the main event, cake!  I was towards the back on the crowd so I don't really know how it played out but from the pictures I stole from Nicole it looks like Alayna really enjoyed herself.
Joe managed another Sunday off from work and we're definitely trying to make the most of these days off together because they don't happen often.  We started with a bike ride to Fitzpatrick's for breakfast.   
I ordered eggs benedict which is normally a big no no, super high in calories.  But I realized that if I ask for the hollandaise sauce on the side it becomes a half way healthy meal.  I just dip my fork in the sauce before putting the perfect bite together, instead of eating close to a cup of sauce I end up only consuming a couple of tablespoons!
After breakfast we cleaned up around the house then took another bike ride to Joe's parent's house for a quick visit.  It was super hot so we stopped at Linwood Market on the way home for a drink and were surprise to find an in-store pet...can you spot him?
The rest of the evening went by pretty quickly.  Jessica came by to cut Joe's hair and trim my bangs, we went to Charlie's for dinner and stopped at Custard Hut for dessert.  It was a pretty messy day in the food department but we both vowed to get back on track for the new week.  I know that's totally against all of healthy living rules but we were having a fun day, so leave me alone!  LOL