Five for Friday ~ 12/14/12

1.  You never complain about going to my work functions.

2.  You thanked me for sorting all your socks.

3.  You stayed at a friend's so we could have a bachelorette slumber party.

4.  Only 17 more days until you get to be mean to me.

5.  You try to make me stick to my diet.

February 2011

where has all the willpower gone

Apparently it's gone to the same place that all my spare time has gone...

I was doing so well...  I was down 3 pounds, I was somehow managing to avoid wheat & dairy, I was working out on the regular... Look at all the salads I ate!  Joe made a whole chicken for dinner one night and then cornish hens another night with only vegetables as a side dish.

At my final fitting for my wedding dress, not to toot my own horn but, I looked awesome.  However that's also about when things started to fall apart.  My mother & Dawn suggested we split a gingerbread milkshake three ways when we were out to dinner after that final dress fitting.

Then two days later it was my work holiday party where there was wine and passed hors devours and all kinds of other deliciousness.  Immediately following that was my bachelorette weekend.  It. Was. Awesome.  But, it was also filled to the brim with wheat and dairy and alcohol.  I actually managed to stay within my calories for the majority of the weekend but I was definitely not eating/drinking the right things.

My bachelorette weekend wrapped up with brunch at Seaview.  My favorite meal in the world!  I learned a very valuable lesson at brunch, I prefer mashed potatoes to creme brulee.

Now one would think that a bachelorette weekend is a one time thing.  You just hop back on the horse come Monday morning.  Except that this week began the holiday meals...  

Monday was a luncheon at the Doughty Rd office from The Cheese Board featuring Crazy Susan Cookies.

Tuesday was our family Hanukkah celebration and you better believe I was eating some potato latkes, I only get them once a year!  I did give that crescent roll to Joe though.

Wednesday was dinner at Roman Grill to celebrate my dad's birthday.  There were appetizers, lobster bisque, a wedge salad and kobe meatloaf...oh...and dessert.

Seriously I'm afraid to get on the scale.  My goals are a hot mess.  I should at least be getting my water, but no.

What do I do now.  Honestly I'm not sure.  I know I need to get back on track.  Seriously I'm 18 days away from the most photographed day of my life.  I have a session with my trainer tonight but today is also the big holiday luncheon at the hospital, I'll just have to avoid wheat & dairy I guess.  I'm planning on taking an aerobics class tomorrow night but then there's a bar crawl this weekend...It's like I just can't win but I also refuse to skip all the fun just because I'm dieting...bah!  Luckily next week's schedule, while packed, doesn't involve a lot of eating out.

Do you have any tips or tricks for staying strong during the holidays?  I'd appreciate any help I can get!

Five for Friday ~ 12/7/12

1.  You didn't want me to take my shoes off at our dance lesson.

2.  You were actually interested in seeing Breaking Dawn Part 2.

3.  You came to bed with me at 8:30pm even though you weren't as exhausted as I was.

4.  You stopped to get me dinner before you went out with your friends.

5.  You're building a shed...in the rain...right now...

December 2011

breaking a sweat

Since I haven't been posting daily recaps I've amassed quite a few pictures from my time at the gym.  Like these of the lovely ladies that torture me twice a week for a 1/2 hour.  Sarah & Ali are seriously so much fun!  I almost don't want to kill them when they tell me to do burpees...

I usually start my training days with a warm up on the elliptical, somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes depending on how early I get to the gym.

Ali was so excited to learn about my blog that she offered to take pictures for me during one of our workouts, some serious, some not so much.  We did box jumps and I only slammed my shin into the metal once, hence the thumbs up!  Lots and lots and lots of push ups, some on the ground, some on the bosu, some at an angle.  Mostly I'm just proud I can finally do them up off my knees, it's been a long time coming!

We concentrate primarily on my upper body because that's all that will be seen in my wedding dress, which means lots of tricep dips.  Ali also thinks I should use the yogi picture as my profile shot for this blog but anyone who reads this knows that yoga and I are NOT friends!

Even though the temperatures are finally dropping around here Joe & I are still trying to walk as much as possible.  We hoofed it to his parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner, about 2 miles, and we also continue to walk to ShopRite as much as possible.

(even when buying heavy items like cat food & turkeys)

All this exercise is definitely exhausting.  I like to be in bed by 10pm every night but sometimes I pass out on the couch before I can make it upstairs, luckily I've got a good snuggle buddy.

Also, I'm feeling pretty bad ass because it looks like I definitely lost a toenail during my half marathon!  When I took my polish off a few weeks ago I noticed my 2nd nail looked a little funny but I just ignored it.  Then over the weekend I was trimming my nails and noticed the little nail was barely hanging on, it practically fell off in my hand!  I'm torn between thinking this is totally gross and being very impressed with myself because losing a toenail is like a hard core running thing.

I am a little concerned about my wedding pedicure though...my shoes are peep toe...

new technology

While I was busy trying not to die on Thanksgiving morning, Joe was setting up a special surprise for me!  He didn't have much trouble keeping me in the dark considering I could barely lift my head off the pillow.  When I started to feel a little better I asked him where my phone had gotten to and he tossed me this:

A fancy new iPhone5!  I love the bigger screen, how fast it is (YAY LTE) and especially how much lighter it is then my 4S.  I'm so spoiled...  And Shana made out in the deal as well, she inherited my 4S when we went shopping on Black Friday.  I've never seen anyone so excited to be part of group texts and to send Emojis.

I think Joe may have been feeling generous because I approved the purchase of his fancy new toy, the Parrot AR Drone.  He swears it's going to help his sales as work but I really think he just wants to play with it.

The drone is actually pretty cool.  It's basically a fancy toy helicopter with a camera attached that is controlled via the iPad.  When Bill found out Joe had one he & Shana invited themselves over for dinner and playtime.  Some families gather out front on a cold December night to check out holiday lights, we watch the drone fly up to the roof and check out the gutters.

It was a little hard to see the drone well in our front yard since it's not well lit so the crew wandered across the street to the ShopRite parking lot where Shana took this great picture of Joe and his new little friend.

I will admit his purchase is paying off.  He brings the drone to work with him every day and flies it around the store in his free time, they've sold a few in the last week after people see it whizz by and think it's super cool.

This last one isn't technology but I still had to share.  I picked up this ridiculous peacock ring at the Cupcakes & Cocktails event for $10 and I love it!  I think I'm going to rock it at my bachelorette party this weekend :-)

i heart holidays

I know I'm not the only person to love the holidays but I swear my mood lifts the Monday before Thanksgiving and stays up there until January 2nd.  This year I got super excited as soon as I saw this little guy at ShopRite!  If he wasn't $24 he would have been mine!

Now you'd think that planning a wedding for New Years Eve would only make the holidays more exciting but I'm finding it's the opposite.  Our holidays are a little less exciting because the wedding is coming.  For instance we're not sending holiday cards out this year.  We normally do photo cards with the cats but it's just too much with everything else this year...

We also had to get a baby tree this year because a full size evergreen just won't fit in our almost full to capacity house.

Though I must admit I'm really loving our tiny tree, it was super easy to decorate!  We've also learned that no matter how big or small the tree the cats will always find a way to sleep under it...

I was super excited to hear that Stephanie likes to decorate the office for the holidays!  Between the two of us we've managed this little set up!

I found this adorbale little fascinator at the Cupcakes & Cocktails event last week.  I love that it's subtly Christmas-y and that it has a little veil attached!  Normally I'd want my hair to be a little bit shorter to rock something like this but I think I'll make an exception this year!

when push comes to shove

Did you hear?  I lost 2.5 pounds last week!  For some reason I find this absolutely hilarious!  I've been "trying" to lose weight for the last 6 months and haven't made any real dent in the number on the scale...I use the term "trying" loosely because we all know I wasn't putting my heart into it.  Then we hit the one month from the wedding mark and I no longer find it difficult to go to the gym, I went to a kickboxing class BY MYSELF on Friday!  I had no issue keeping my calories in control over the weekend!  I even went to see Twilight with friends on Sunday (which was SO good) and brought my own microwave popcorn!

What I'm not proud to admit is, I quit Angela's challenge.  I just couldn't keep up with all the different requirements on top of everything else I have going on now.  I mean seriously, take a look at my calendar.  Purple is me, green is exercise, blue is Joe, pink is wedding...  

After my loss this week I'm pumped to keep it going for the rest of the month but I just don't know how realistic that is.  For instance, my bachelorette party is this coming weekend and I'm really stressing about how I'm going to keep my calories low (avoid dairy & grains), drink alcohol, have fun with my friends and try to squeeze in some kind of exercise.  I need to stop thinking so negatively though, I can do this!

I didn't do so hot on my November goals though.  

Meals Out = 33, I aimed for 20...

Water = 16 of 30...

Calorie Goal = 22 of 30...

Fitness Minutes = 775 of 1125...

Steps = 232,707 or 250,000...

I've decided to keep the same goals for December.

Meals Out = 20...

Water = 31 days...

Calorie Goal = 31 days...

Fitness Minutes = 900...

Steps = 260,000...

While I kept the goals the same I did adjust them slightly.  For instance I looked at my calendar and saw that realistically I would only have time for about 810 minutes of exercise this month with the holidays and wedding stuff then I bumped it up to 900 just for fun.  And since I was lowering my fitness minutes I bumped up my steps, just because I can't get to the gym doesn't mean I can't do another lap before I commit to a location at holiday parties (10 points to anyone that gets that).