31

I was super lazy on Saturday morning.  Joe suggested we get up and go for a run but I just wanted to stay snuggled up in bed, so I did, and Joe went to the gym.  I really should have gone but I've just been really lazy lately.  I swear this week is going to be different!  

Anyway, back to Saturday.  After Joe got home from the gym we went across the street for breakfast.  I ordered an egg white, ham and tomato sandwich on rye toast.  I skipped the cheese hoping to save some calories; I really think if I cut out cheese I'd drop like 20 pounds but I refuse to live that way and I will never order a sandwich this way again.  It was definitely not as good without the cheese!

Joe headed off to work and I walked across the street to get my nails done.  I went with a deep red in hopes of being festive.  Then I spent the majority of the afternoon watching tv and being lazy.  I finally pried my butt up off the couch in the late afternoon because I had to get ready for my girls night.  I started by putting new nail covers on the cats because it was shower day!  A few of my friends are allergic to cats so I always try to bathe them when I know certain people are coming over.  After we were all clean it was time to attack the downstairs.  I spent an hour or two cleaning and vacuuming the kitchen, living room and dining room not only to make it look more presentable but also to remove as much cat hair as I could.  And wouldn't you know, my most allergic friend didn't show up!


This month was a pajama party theme; everyone was coming over in their favorite sweats or pajamas and I had a 31 rep coming over to show her bags & organizational items.  My main purpose in inviting her was to check out all the items because everyone has been telling me I should sell their stuff.  My biggest concern was that the company name "thirty-one" is a reference to proverb 31 and I am not a religious person.  I really didn't want to sign on to a company that was going to preach to me.  But after talking to the girl about her experiences she assured me nothing religious ever comes up at meetings or anything so I think I'm going to go for it!  I haven't signed my life away quite yet but when I close the show this coming Friday I think I'm going to do it, wish me luck!

Nicole provided pizza, a slumber party staple.

Angela brought gorilla bread (monkey bread on steriods).

I made a rice cooker cake, my friend Anne taught me about it.  All it takes is 10 minutes.  I use my Pampered Chef rice cooker; I just added a boxed cake mix, oil, eggs and water (per box instructions) and mixed it up.  Then I took an entire container of store bought frosting and dumped it in, put the lid on and microwaved for 10 minutes.  I was nervous since this was my first time making it but when I dumped it on the plate it was an almost perfect lava cake!

We had a great night drinking wine and catching up on each other's lives.  I know a lot of people think I'm crazy or maybe get annoyed that they're always getting invitations from me for one thing or another but it's so nice to see whichever of my friends can make each month.

1. 1000 fitness minutes - nope = 0 minutes; 528 minutes total

2. 10,000 steps per day - 6096; 10 days total

3. 500 calorie burn - 402 breakfast + 322 lunch + 1437 dinner + 0 snacks = 2161 - 1836 = +325; 10 days total

4. 2 classes per week (or 10 total) at the LifeCenter - nope; 3 classes total

5. Geocache 3x - nope; 2 trips

6. 30 minutes of cleaning a day - YES!  way more then 30 min; 11 days total

7. Dinner & a movie date night 3x - nope; 2 total

8. Try one new food a week (or 4 total) - nope; 2 total

my future's so bright I've gotta wear shades

Wow!  Friday was such a great day!  I'm not going to go into all the details because I don't want to jinx anything but let's just say I'm pretty sure that 2012 is going to be my year!  However, this great day did not start out so well.  My normal morning routine went by without incident; I made protein shakes for breakfast and packed some leftover ham and cabbage for lunch then headed off to work.

I had barely been at work an hour when I got an extremely rude email from someone in another department. I'm obviously not going to go into detail but suffice it to say this individual tried to cut corners and when I made it difficult for them they chose to send a rude email and copy our boss' on said email.  Luckily I have the greatest boss in the entire world and she took care of the situation.  I was still extremely riled up though and I hate losing my cool at work!


In addition to having the greatest boss in the world I also have the greatest boyfriend in the world.  It was date night!  He started by picking me up from work, he had dropped me off that morning so he could take my car for an oil change & tire rotation, then driving straight the Bonefish Grille for dinner.  I ordered a raspberry stoli & club soda to wind down after my crazy day and the sea bass in lime tomato garlic for dinner with double vegetables.  The spaghetti squash was delicious and now I'm really excited to cook ours.

While we were at dinner Joe asked what I wanted to do with the rest of the evening and when I told him I wasn't sure he suggested we see Twilight: Breaking Dawn!  I was blown away!  I love Twilight but I would never force Joe to join me in seeing the movie especially on opening day.  Once we finished our meal we headed over to the theater, it was of course packed with people to see the movie so we purchased tickets for a later show then went over to Michael's to look for frames.


Nicole was kind enough to forward me a flyer earlier that day that said all frames were 40% and there was an additional 20% off coupon!  We ended up getting almost all the frames we needed for gifts at less then half their list price!  Now I'm just hoping that I can find 4 more for cheap on black Friday and we'll be all set.

With that errand out of the way we headed back to the movie theater.  There was a line to get into our show but it moved pretty quickly and Joe went for popcorn while I held our spot.

The movie was surprisingly very good.  I think they've been getting better as they progress.  And thank god because that first one was really terrible.  I was happy that they kept with the story line from the book and really didn't change or omit much.  Joe was disappointed that there wasn't more "vampiring" going on, apparently he needed to see a lot of people being slaughtered to deem it a good movie, lol.

1. 1000 fitness minutes - nope = 0 minutes; 528 minutes total

2. 10,000 steps per day - 4687; 10 days total

3. 500 calorie burn - 360 breakfast + 356 lunch + 804 dinner + 140 snacks = 1660 - 1927 = -267; 10 days total

4. 2 classes per week (or 10 total) at the LifeCenter - nope; 3 classes total

5. Geocache 3x - nope; 2 trips

6. 30 minutes of cleaning a day - nope; 10 days total

7. Dinner & a movie date night 3x - YES!; 2 total

8. Try one new food a week (or 4 total) - spaghetti squash; 2 total

it's only $24,000

I'm so far behind again!  I don't know how this keeps happening.  I guess blogging everyday just requires more time then I have.  And I'm a little concerned that life isn't going to slow down anytime soon.  I really just don't know what to do, I need the blogging to keep myself accountable but I just don't seem to have the time.  Ahhhh!  

Anyway, back to Thursday of last week.  I had a bowl of oatmeal with a scoop of peanut butter and a sliced banana for breakfast.  I went into work an hour early because I was spending the majority of my afternoon at the city campus for a managing relationships class with Anne and Kat.  Anne and I headed over a little early and met her boyfriend (a doctor!) for lunch in the cafeteria.  I order the special sandwich they were offering, roast beef with cheddar cheese, the menu listed it with cole slaw but I asked that they substitute it with lettuce and tomato to save some calories.

The class was very interesting, I tested into the red area which mean I'm assertive and I like to get things accomplished, shocker.  I'm excited to take the second class in the series in the new year, it teaches you more about how to handle conflicts.


Kat and I had plans to meet Shana for dinner around 4 but the class was over a little early so we wandered around the pier shops to kill time.  Somehow we ended up at Tiffany.  We are both painfully aware that we cannot afford Tiffany rings (me = engagement, Kat = wedding band) but it couldn't hurt to look around, right?  I quickly located my absolute favorite, the Novo.  And it was only $24000, 9 years of dating warrants a ring that expensive, right?  I also went totally wild and tried on the Soleste yellow diamond ring, only $36000, it was a little too ostentatious anyway...


Before we knew it Shana was there and it was time to eat.  Being that it was barely 4pm we were one of only two tables sat in the restaurant.  We joked about being senior citizens, because we were eating so early, but the earlier you eat the more time to digest, right?

The ambiance was super fun, very modern and we were loving the fireplace in the middle of the room.  It kept us nice and warm on a cold afternoon.  It would appear winter has finally arrived in south jersey.

We each ordered a drink.  I had a Peach Mai Tai (muddled peaches, lime juice, myer's dark rum, bacardi peach, topped with creme de noyeaux), it was delicious but I was bummed when I got home and looked up the calories...  Shana's drink was definitely the most fun, she ordered The Astronaut (peach vodka, triple sec, orange tang rim), it was very sweet.

We split three items for dinner.  The Rad Na Thai Chicken (rice noodles over crisp romaine & chopped peanuts), Shanghai Vegetable Dumplings (sweet ponzu, chili oil & sesame) and a Continental Salad (chopped vegetables, feta & herb vinaigrette).  Everything was delicious but the vegetable dumplings were by far the best, they had whole pieces of corn and other veggies inside.

The salad was huge; we each had at least 2 servings and there was still enough left over for Shana to bring home for lunch the next day.

I wasn't a huge fan of the bed of lettuce that the thai chicken came over, warm lettuce is like my least favorite thing ever.  But it was Shana's first time trying Thai and she enjoyed it so that's a win.

After dinner Shana went to pick up Shaggy at home and then they came to my house.  Jessica was coming over to give us each a hair cut.  I needed my bangs trimmed and the rest of my hair texturized (thinned) and Shana hadn't had a hair cut in months.  We had a fun night hanging around my kitchen gossiping while Shaggy hid from my cats.  It was too funny, they're like half his size but their hissing scared the crap out of him!

1. 1000 fitness minutes - nope = 0 minutes; 528 minutes total

2. 10,000 steps per day - 6549; 10 days total

3. 500 calorie burn - 340 breakfast + 473 lunch + 841 dinner + 0 snacks = 1654 - 2018 = -364; 10 days total

4. 2 classes per week (or 10 total) at the LifeCenter - nope; 3 classes total

5. Geocache 3x - nope; 2 trips

6. 30 minutes of cleaning a day - I cleaned the kitchen & living room; 10 days total

7. Dinner & a movie date night 3x - nope; 1 total

8. Try one new food a week (or 4 total) - not today; 1 total

COME ON DOWN!

Wednesday was a big day, well maybe not big, but long.  I was joining a bunch of my coworkers for dinner and a show in Atlantic City after work so I made sure to wear a fun yet work appropriate outfit so I wouldn't need to worrying about changing clothes (I still haven't mastered that whole change your bag, shoes and jewelry to make an outfit do double duty thing).  I had an asiago bagel with reduced fat cream cheese (so much better then fat free) for breakfast and packed a mango greek yogurt, a banana, an apple and some mini pretzels for lunch.  I've been loving dipping my pretzels into my yogurt...it's the little things.

As soon as the clock struck five the bunch of us still left in the office packed up and headed out to the city.  The hospital shares a parking garage with one of the casinos so we employees get free parking if we remember to bring our badges.  There's a great little mexican restaurant called Los Amigos right outside of the parking garage and hospital by the outlets so we met there by 5:30.  There were chips and salsa waiting for us at the table which we dug into immediately and then ordered drinks, I split a pitcher of margaritas with two other ladies.

For my entree I order the crab and shrimp enchilada (lump crab, shrimp, mushrooms, garlic, chiles and green onions wrapped in a flour tortilla, served with mornay sauce, sour cream  and pico de gallo).  It was extremely tasty and I ate it all!

It wasn't just any show we were going to see, it was The Price Is Right Live!  They come to town a couple of times each year at one casino or another and it's always a good time.  We rushed in at the last minute and almost missed registration because we'd been having too much fun at dinner.  Luckily they pushed us through the line and soon we were all name tagged up and ready to go.

The show operates just like regular tv show.  They call audience members down and they guess the price of the item to win a chance to play games and win bigger prizes.  The only difference is that they call new people down for each game so if you don't win the first one you're out of luck.

Punch Board and Cliff Hanger

Hole in One (or Two) and the big wheel

Shell Game and Plinko

We thought it would have been so great if any of us were called because we're all purchasing agents, so we spend our days pricing out and buying different items.  Unfortunately none of our names were called so we just yelled our guesses from the audience.  The show ended around 8:30 and we were all home by 9.  I hung on the couch with Joe for a little while but it was a really exhausting day and soon I couldn't keep my eyes open so I headed up to bed.

1. 1000 fitness minutes - nope = 0 minutes; 528 minutes total

2. 10,000 steps per day - 6600; 10 days total

3. 500 calorie burn - 362 breakfast + 435 lunch + 913 dinner + 0 snacks = 1710 - 2047 = -337; 10 days total

4. 2 classes per week (or 10 total) at the LifeCenter - nope; 3 classes total

5. Geocache 3x - nope; 2 trips

6. 30 minutes of cleaning a day - wasn't home long enough; 9 days total

7. Dinner & a movie date night 3x - nope; 1 total

8. Try one new food a week (or 4 total) - not today; 1 total

Outfits of the Week ~ 11/14-18

Well, I didn't lose any weight again last week.  I only worked out on Monday and Tuesday so I shouldn't be surprised.  I don't really have much else to say about it.  I'm pretty down on myself about it, I did well with my goals at the beginning of the week but then went downhill fast.  This time of the year is so hard because there was so many events but I really need to make the time to hit the gym.  Let's hope next week is better.

I'm not even going to bother telling you about my weekend plans because they're already over and I'll be posting them soon enough...

~ Monday ~

necklace - etsy

green sweater - Ann Taylor Loft

charcoal pants - The Gap

animal print heels - Boscov's

~ Tuesday ~

blue cardigan - Ann Taylor Loft

blue rank - TJ Maxx

tan pants - The Limited

brown wedges - Boscov's

~ Wednesday ~

tan cardigan & patterned top - Ann Taylor Loft

grey pants - The Gap

camel boots - Zappos

~ Thursday ~

necklace, black caridgan & ruffled tank - New York & Company

gray pants - The Limited

gray & black oxfords - Naturalizer

~ Friday ~

infinity scarf & black sweater - Old Navy

gray pants - The Gap

black boots - Boscov's

Five for Friday ~ 11/18/11

1. You suggested we go to Philly and look at rings.

2. You're getting me off my butt and working out whenever you can.

3. You didn't mind that I wanted to stay upstairs when you got home.

4. You made a delicious crock pot dinner even though it was my night for dinner cooking.

5. You set your alarm for 6am on your day off in case we wanted to go for a run.

Halloween 2011

great run

Wow, am I really so far behind on blogging that I'm writing about Tuesday?  This week has been out of control busy!  I'll do this one quick and dirty since nothing terribly exciting happened.  I started off my Tuesday with that french toast bagel I brought home from work on Monday and some fat free cream cheese.  It was pretty good but not as delicious as the super fresh one I had last time.  I packed up a pineapple greek yogurt, an apple, a banana and some mini pretzels for lunch and went off to work I went.

Joe had the day off from work and was ready to run as soon as I walked in the door at 5:30; it helped that we were also having super warm weather, I think I ran in capri pants!  I've really been trying to get more exercise so I didn't complain or drag my feet, just ran upstairs and threw on my gear.  We headed out to do 3 miles and decided to change up our route a little, the same up and back can be so tiring. I had a really fantastic run!  Don't get me wrong, I didn't break any records or anything but I just felt great jogging around the neighborhood!  I'm excited to get back out there again on Saturday morning.

The crock pot king was at it again and had prepared some cabbage rolls for dinner.  They were pretty tasty and super simple!  Just brown rice, onion, and kielbasa wrapped up in a cabbage leaf and simmered in tomato soup.

Even with our run I still hadn't gotten all of my steps so we headed over to ShopRite to wrap them up.  It's been so long that now I don't even remember what we got, lol!

1. 1000 fitness minutes - 3 mile run = 34 minutes; 528 minutes total

2. 10,000 steps per day - 10678; 10 days total

3. 500 calorie burn - 404 breakfast + 435 lunch + 315 dinner + 190 snacks = 1344 - 2272 = -928; 10 days total

4. 2 classes per week (or 10 total) at the LifeCenter - nope; 3 classes total

5. Geocache 3x - nope; 2 trips

6. 30 minutes of cleaning a day - more laundry & dishes; 9 days total

7. Dinner & a movie date night 3x - nope; 1 total

8. Try one new food a week (or 4 total) - not today; 1 total