12/24 - Day 33 - Xmas Eve

It's not often that I get to sleep in until however late I want; normally if I took the day off from either of my jobs it's because we have something going on.  This was the first time in a while I didn't have to get up for anything, know how late I slept...7:30am...I'm such a disappointment...

I was supposed to go for a run with Angela on Friday morning but she hasn't been feeling well so she cancelled on me.  Then I rescheduled the run with Shana in Brigantine, I was supposed to see their new house, run the new neighborhood & grab breakfast with her.  So, at 8am I texted her asking if we were still on for our run...I didn't hear anything back until just before 10...by then I had already gone to eat with Joe & was hanging out with Jack & Nicole before she had to leave for work.  Needless to say, I didn't run on Friday.  I also forgot to take a picture of my food until it was almost gone, I had a ham & swiss omelette with tomato instead of home fries & rye toast.

While chatting with Nicole she mentioned seeing a pretty "kissing ball" at Hallmark & was trying to decide if she should replace her old one with it.  As soon as she left for work I ran over to the store & bought 3, one for her, one for me & one for Shana's new house.  Isn't it cute?  I've been wanting to put some mistletoe up in our house for a while now but hadn't seen anything I liked.

Our house was an absolute disgusting disaster area and I wanted to get it fairly clean before people started coming by to visit & exchange gifts.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but Joe almost bailed on our run this Wednesday night because he couldn't find his headphones...well look what I found when I vacuumed under the bookcase...  

Our xmas eve plans consisted of meeting my family at The Library III for dinner, church with Joe's mom & stopping at the Conover's annual party.  I only have pictures of dinner, and I have to apologize because the lighting is terrible!

 my vodka & club soda

 salad from their awesome salad bar

 filet mignon & baked potato with sour cream & butter

 desserts for the table, blueberry cream cheese pie & peanut butter pie 

 I just love the faces Bill makes in pictures!

We had a delicious dinner & nice time discussing the new house.  We decided on 11am for brunch the next morning at my mom's and parted ways.  Church with Joe's mom was fine, I'm not a religious person so most of it is lost on me but it's good to see his family on xmas eve as wel as minel.  By this time, about 8pm, we were exhausted!  We only stayed at the Conover's party long enough to exchange gifts & say hello before heading home & calling it a night.

Daily wrap up:

1. completed 0 fitness minutes - goal met, at 1435 now

2. 1 servings of fruits/veggies - goal failed

3. 64 ounces of water...check

4. Tracking: 2042 calories burned - 2034 calories eaten = total 8 calories burned...it's a holiday!

5. I had a day/good night, totally worthy of a relaxing title... - goal met

6. No scale for me for a while...

12/23 - Day 32

I'm the worst blogger ever...  I can't believe I haven't written anything since Wednesday!  It's going to be hard to even remember back this far...  

Thursday was a happy day, the last day of work before xmas!  I wasn't hungry when I woke up or I couldn't find anything to eat...either way I skipped breakfast.  I know that's a big no no but I'm not going to force myself to eat if I'm not hungry...  One of my coworkers ran to Jalapeños & Salads for lunch, so I asked her to pick me up a tuna salad.  It was pretty good, I ate a little more then 1/2 and only used the small container of fat free ranch dressing.  Although I didn't love that I was tasting tuna the rest of the afternoon.

 Around 3pm I was starving!  Luckily I had packed extra fruit in case I got hungry for breakfast.  I sliced up a granny smith apple & a banana.  Nice & light..

I was meeting some friends from another department out at Chickie's & Pete's for dinner and drinks after work.  I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to be that crazy girl at the bar taking pictures of the food, plus the pictures never look right when I take them in dark spaces.  I had one vodka & club soda, some crab fries & two slices of pizza.  We hung out for a few hours and had a nice time catching up with people we haven't seen in close to 6 months.   

Daily wrap up:

1. completed 0 fitness minutes - goal met, at 1435 now

2. 5 servings of fruits/veggies - goal failed

3. 64 ounces of water...check

4. Tracking: 2118 calories burned - 1181 calories eaten = total 937 calories burned...I'm pleasantly surprised, the salad & fruit kept things very low so I could misbehave a little

5. I had a good night, totally worthy of a relaxing title... - goal met

6. No scale for me for a while...

12/22 - Day 31

I'm really excited about my fitness plans for the next 6 months or so, seriously who thought I would ever say that?  I went for a run last night with Joe...it was 32 degrees out...I actually enjoyed myself! 

There are some big things planned for the spring/summer & I'm thinking about taking part.  Apparently a group of AtlantiCare people are talking about doing the Broad Street run in Philly, it's 10 miles.  That seems really far but I think I could maybe get there by May, Kat's thinking about doing it which is good motivation too.  Plus Angela is training for another half marathon, I'm thinking if I work with her that would prep me nicely for 10 miles since it's a shorter distance.  Also, Angela & Rob are planning to do The American Cancer Society's 61 mile bike ride from Philly to Buena in July...I'm checking with my dad to see if he's done it and what his thoughts are, if he gives it a good review maybe I'll do that too.  Who am I and what happened to Lauren??

I may not have made the most healthy food choices on Wednesday but I still feel good about the day overall.  We were having brunch brought in by one of our vendors from Panera Bread so I made sure not to eat breakfast before coming to work.  Instead I had the smallest slice of Lori's pumpkin roll, seriously it's the best thing in the world!

Brunch was delivered around 11 & I had a 4 cheese souffle & some strawberries with granola and yogurt.  Both were extremely delicious!  I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my phone that the 4 cheese option was the souffle lowest in calories. 

After work Joe & I planned to go for a run, we hadn't gone since right after Thanksgiving!  I was planning on making a rule about only running between 40-80 degrees but I may have to change that to 30-80 degrees if I'm going to try training for these long runs.  The run went well overall, we did about 2.5 miles in 27 minutes, I tried to use my new sporty pal app on my phone but it had a hard time locating us at the beginning.  Here I am all suited up...the shirt & headband kept me pretty warm but my fancy fleece lined running tights have gotten too big and I had to hike them up every block or so.  No worries though, I ordered a new smaller pair when we got home :-) 

Nicole & Lou invited us over for a fancy prime rib dinner so we changed out of our running clothes and got over there as soon as we were done.  Don't worry I didn't eat all this food, Lou just kept loading up my plate, it was funny, I'd say "that's plenty thanks" and another scoop would be plopped on my plate.  I ate all the asparagus, 3/4 of the potato & 3/4 of the steak.  My arm was also twisted into half a glass of wine...

 

Nicole made delicious personal sized berry peach cobblers.  They were fantastic!  It worked out nicely too because Joe didn't want the peach & I didn't want the berry so we'd eat what we wanted then switch. 

Daily wrap up:

1. completed 45 fitness minutes - goal met, at 1435 now

2. 4 servings of fruits/veggies - goal failed

3. 64 ounces of water...check

4. Tracking: 2352 calories burned - 1794 calories eaten = total 558 calories burned...not great and I'm concerned today is going to be worse, I'm supposed to go to a holiday party tonight & won't have time to work out...

5. I had a good day/night, but not worthy of a relaxing title... - goal met

6. I got on the scale this morning (Thursday) to see if I held at 149 & I did!  Super excited, just need to keep it up until 12/31...

12/21 - Day 30

I'm feeling really good today!  Everyone has been exchanging presents in the office & the holiday spirit is just shooting out the windows around here!  We're having brunch brought in by one of our vendors from Panera Bread, it's going to be so good!  Although my bouncy holiday happiness may also have something to do with the fact that I haven't eaten anything yet today & I've been drinking coffee all morning...

I started my Tuesday with some cinnamon toast cruch & a banana.  I'm pretty happy with my breakfast lately, they've been mostly healthy & well rounded.

We went to Angelo's for a holiday luncheon before attending an event at Mission Healthcare.  There was so much food; I even brought enough home to feed us dinner! 

 Yummy fresh bread.

 Fantastic antipasto salad.

 1st round...lemon chicken & mussels.

 2nd round...meatball, stuffed shell & brocoli manicotti (which was not good)

 Dessert...almond cookie & mini cannoli (I had 2)

After lunch we went over to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission for a vigil honoring the homeless men & women who have passed away this year.  December 21 is considered the longest night of the year so they honor everyone on this day, we always bring socks & jackets to donate as well.

The plan was to take Boxx for Tots in Ventnor with Amanda at 6 so it didn't make any sense to drive home.  Shana & Bill were closing on their house around 4 so I went to hang on their couch until they were finished in hopes I'd have time to see the house or have a celebratory drink before class.  No such luck, I played on Facebook for about an hour and a half (freezing to death, I realized the heat was at 55 right before I had to go) before I had to leave & they were still stuck handling the paperwork.  I'm hoping to maybe go see it on Friday or Sunday.

Boxx for Tots was a pretty intense class, they wrap your wrists & we used real boxing gloves.  It's circuit training with some light boxing, I was so sweaty and couldn't do anything about it because of the gloves!  But my biggest problem was that my yoga pants were sliding down & I couldn't pull them up with the gloves on, although it's pretty awesome that my spandex pants are fall down!  The class usually costs $10 but they were offering it for free if you brought a toy for those less fortunate. 

I got home around 7:30 with leftovers from lunch & we dug in, Joe was very impressed with the spread, he had roast pork, chicken & mussels.  Here's the lemon chicken I had with some broccoli.

Ian was eyeing my plate like a vulture so we decided to give him some broccoli.  It was pretty funny, he licked it a few times then picked it up & took a big bite.  I'm guessing it wasn't what he wanted though because we left about half of it laying there.

After dinner I got all my work presents together.  I was filling goodie boxes for our warehouse guys & we had almost a whole bag of Dove candies left over, my plan was to eat these 5 because that's a serving but I stopped after 3, go me! 

Daily wrap up:

1. completed 60 fitness minutes - goal met, at 1390 now

2. 5 servings of fruits/veggies - goal failed

3. 64 ounces of water...check...I even made sure to get it before we left at 12:30 so I wouldn't have to worry the rest of the day!

4. Tracking: 2603 calories burned - 1732 calories eaten = total 871 calories burned.

5. I had a good day/night, but not worthy of a relaxing title... - goal met

6. I got on the scale this morning (Wednesday) to see if I held at 150 and it was 149!  So excited, just need to keep it up until 12/31...

12/20 - Day 29

I'm so excited for this 4 day week!  I can't wait to have 2 whole days off from working to celebrate!  Plus we're having all kinds of luncheons at work this week, it's definitely going to make it hard to get a lot of work done but will be oh so much fun!  People have already started bringing in gifts, I'm going to have to pack my stuff up for tomorrow maybe.

I had some cinnamon toast crunch & a banana for breakfast.  I'm steadily becoming more of a cereal girl, it's just so quick & easy to eat.  My mom never let us have sugary cereal when we were growing up so I just stopped eating it all together. 

I wore one of my gradmother's necklaces to work today & was getting a lot of compliments on it.  I couldn't remember where she got it so I texted my mom & dad to see if they knew.  Apparently it's a Zuni fetish necklace, they're made by the Zuni Indians, all the little animals are hand carved from stone and represent different things like wisdom, long life, etc & they are as my mom put it "worth a small fortune."  Guess I'll have to make sure this one stays safe.

I wasn't really hungry when lunch time rolled around but decided to go anyway, I had my standard yogurt, fruit cup & snack.  We got into a conversation about a new place by the Shore Mall, Jalapenos & Salads, Dee had gone for dinner the other night & really enjoyed it.  I looked over the menu and there are lots of healthy options.  Now I wish I lived back in Heather Croft again, it would be right around the corner.

Instead of the orange I had packed for snack I indulged in one of the cookies a vendor had sent over.  It was so good & totally worth the calories.  I've been hoarding the kinds I like in my desk but not eating them so I decided now was as good a time as any. 

After work it was time for group power, I had a nice time with Christina & Amanda, I really wish we got together more when we weren't sweating but everyone's scehdules are just too crazy.  The workout was good, the release we've been doing is a tough one.

Joe was planning to meet some friends at The Library for Monday Night Football and I thought I might go meet them for dinner since I wasn't really feeling the leftover pizza in the fridge.  Unfortunately, Joe wasn't going to be able to get there until close to 8 and I didn't want to hang in my car for the extra hour waiting.  I was talking to Nicole while getting gas about eating something healthy & she mentioned what a bummer it was that Saladworks had closed...then it hit me...I could go to the place we were talking about at lunch!

It really is very similar to Saladworks; it looks pretty much the same inside but also has mexican food available like tacos & burritos.  I got a greek salad with grilled chicken, it was huge!

I was a little disappointed at the amount of tomato in it though.  I have no problem eating tomato but this was just overkill.  Look how many were left when I finished eating! 

While I was finishing up my salad Nicole & Jack came over to borrow my crock pot or at least that was their excuse...I think they just wanted to hang out with me and the cats.  It was a lovely visit; we don't hang out as much as we'd like because by the time I get home from the gym and eat it's almost Jack's bedtime.  Here is Jack being attacked by a hippo, lol.

Daily wrap up:

1. completed 60 fitness minutes - goal met

2. 5+ servings of fruits/veggies - goal failed

3. 64 ounces of water...check

4. Tracking: 2354 calories burned - 1299 calories eaten = total 1055 calories burned.

5. I had a good night, but not worthy of a relaxing title... - goal met

6. I got on the scale this morning (Tuesday) to see the damage from the weekend and it read 150!!!!!!  So excited, just need to keep it steady until 12/31...

Weekend Review...12/18 & 19 - Day 27 & 28

I'm concerned about making it through this week without gaining weight.  I have workouts planned for Monday-Thursday but my food willpower is breaking down, just wait until you see what I ate on Sunday...  It's really getting difficult to say no & eat healthily when everyone is saying "it's the holidays, stop counting calories."  And I really just didn't feel like blogging yesterday so you're getting a whole weekend in review today.

Saturday:

I woke up with a slight headache & an overall miserable mood even though I had a pretty fun day planned (probably had something to do with the 4 glasses of wine the night before).  I took some medicine & had a quick bowl of cereal before heading over to the restaurant.

We were super slow (bad news because it gave me time to eat some home fries) & Mike sent me home around 11:30 giving me plenty of time to shower & get ready for my pedicure appointment with Kat.  I was a little hungry but couldn't figure out what I wanted so I snacked on some carmel popcorn & potato chips, such healthy choices...  I really meant to take pictures while we were at the salon but got wrapped up in conversation and forgot.  Here's a shot of my pedicure after I got home.  You can't really tell but it's a sparkly red, perfect for the holidays!

The nail salon was giving away lotion & nail polish to customers as xmas gifts.  It took us about 10 minutes to decide on what color we wanted and I ended up grabbing this mauve color.

After our pedicures I stopped at 5 Below to get some stocking stuffers for Joe & grabbed a bag of peanut butter M&M's, I had planned on giving them to Joe but I somehow ended up eating the whole bag in about 5 minutes flat. 

After stuffing Joe's stocking (I know I take all the fun out of xmas morning; but I still have a few surprises up my sleeve for him), I painted my nails while watching "It's Complicated" On Demand.  I'm pretty impressed with how they came out, I'm usually terrible at painting my own nails but this one is still going strong 2 days later.  The movie was pretty good, funny & easy to watch without having to pay close attention.

We'd made plans to meet Vic, Tammy, John & Kristen at Charlies for dinner/drinks around 8:30.  Joe ended up having to stay later at work so they picked me up on their way and he came straight from work as soon as he could.  I really tried to be good but like I said it's getting harder and harder.  I had a BLT with french fries, I asked for a side of ranch dressing (Charlie's makes their own & it's to die for, I'd bathe in it if that wasn't frowned upon) but she brought me sour cream instead so I decided it was a sign & didn't eat it saving the calories.

Tammy will probably murder me if she reads this & sees this picture but it was just too cute how excited she was to be able to eat her wings while they were still hot, apparently having a 2 year old can really cramp your eating out style...

Kristen left early (around 10) because her college graduation was the next day & she needed her beauty rest.  The rest of us stayed about another hour before deciding to head for home.  John came over for a scotch & cigar with Joe but since the girls were all calling it a night I decided to go to bed.

Daily wrap up:

1. completed 30 fitness minutes (I'm counting some walking at work) - this completes my fitness minute goal at 1210 and I still have almost 2 weeks left in the challenge!

2. 2 servings of fruits/veggies - I'll keep trying but this one is a lost cause

3. 64 ounces of water...check - still going strong...

4. Tracking: 2099 calories burned - 1378 calories eaten = total 721 calories burned.

5. I had a good day/night, totally worthy of a relaxing title...this also takes care of 6 relaxing things and I'm sure there will still be at least 3 more before the challenge ends!

6. Not going near a scale after this weekend...

 

Sunday:

I woke up on the right side of the bed this morning & made sure to wear my "Ho Ho Ho" shirt to work.  I got a nice card & extra tip from one of my regulars on Saturday that really upped my holiday spirit and made me want to try a little harder on my Sunday shift.  I threw a yogurt & banana in my purse to eat on my down time.

We were super busy!  It just didn't stop from 8-1, I didn't even have time to eat any home fries, good thing I had the yogurt & banana before anyone came in!  By the time I got home & cleaned up (it's pretty funny, when I come home the cats always come sit with me & their noses go crazy with the smell) it was almost 3 and I still had errands to run.  Facebook was full of comments about the crazy traffic/drivers so I decided if I couldn't get what I needed in Somers Point then I wasn't getting it.  I went to Shop Rite first & came across this little guy while searching for some of the items on my list, he's so soft, I carried him around for a little while & ended up buying him, his name is Coconuts & he now hangs out on my night stand with a penguin named Waddles that Joe got me.  I wasn't very successful at finding anything but stamps at Shop Rite so I went across the street to Kmart.  Luckily I was able to get everything else I needed there and was back home by 4:30.

Oh and I stopped at Wendy's because I was starving...I had a 5 piece nugget & half the container of ranch.  I didn't want to eat too much because Joe was supposed to be home around 7 and I knew he'd want to eat then.

I finished addressing the xmas cards & put them in the mailbox so everyone will (fingers crossed) get them before Saturday.  Then I wrapped the rest of the presents I had hanging around & did some laundry.  Before I knew it Joe was on his way home, he decided to pick up pizza from Mama Mia with a coupon (2 for $18).

We still have a whole pizza left!  I guess I won't need to cook much this week...  I have to say Mike's pizza is much better, I found these to be a little dry but nothing some ranch dressing couldn't fix (I told you this weekend I was very poorly behaved).  After my 3 slices of pizza for dinner I decided I might as well polish off the blueberry cream cheese pie Joe got me earlier in the week.  It was just as delicious as I remember.

The picture totally doesn't do it justice, it's like whipped cheesecake... mmmmmmmmmm...  Joe & I split it 70/30 while we watched some tv then went upstairs to fold the laundry that was taking over the bed.  I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 10.

Daily wrap up:

1. completed 60 fitness minutes (I'm counting the 5 hours of non-stop walking at work) - goal met

2. 3 servings of fruits/veggies - goal failed

3. 64 ounces of water...check

4. Tracking: 2516 calories burned - 1549 calories eaten = total 967 calories burned.

5. I had a good day/night, but not worthy of a relaxing title... - goal met

6. Not going near a scale after this weekend...