Here's to Healthy Living!

So, in an effort to loose some weight and improve my overall health and happiness, I have decided to try a tracking program that WebMD provides online.  I put in my current height and weight, etc. and then told it my goal weight and how much I want to loose each week.  I went for the most it would let me (2 pounds a week) since I might as well aim high, but I figure that even a pound a week will be a good thing.  (I'm not into depriving myself of EVERYTHING starchy or sugary; just reducing intake of those things and eating all in moderation.)

And it should only take me 2-4 months to reach my target weight (ie:  the weight I was at BEFORE I started taking those blasted birth control pills that totally messed me up completely)!  Well, that's only if I stay on track and avoid going over 1200 calories/day, burn 724 calories /day, and drink at least 64 ounces of water/day.  I already drink that much water, so that won't be an issue at all.

I'm pretty sure I eat more than 1200 calories/day, but I'd like to say I'm not too far above that.  On a good day  ;o)  (However, I'm gonna have to get better at saying, "NO!!!" to certain yummy foods...)

It's the exercise that's going to be difficult for me.  I don't at all mind exercise.  I used to do it every day and felt WONDERFUL!  My issue is time.  I have tried to exercise after I get home from work, but before dinner.  That just hasn't been able to be a reality most days.  There's just too much going on.  When I did exercise regularly, I woke up early every morning and did it before I went to school/work.  That worked out fabulously for me.

The problem with that now is that we have to leave our house at 6 am every morning in order to beat traffic and get to work on time.  I'm already waking up between 4:45 and 5 every morning.  In order to exercise before work, I'm going to have to wake up at 4 am at least.  Yuck!!!!  If I want 8 hours of sleep, I'm going to have to make 8 pm my bedtime.  That's not gonna fly....

So, now that I've bored you to death, I guess the purpose of this quasi-personal post is that maybe if I tell more people than just Dave and myself, I can feel like I have a little support group or something.  Some extra love and motivation, maybe?

I have a hard time staying motivated with things like this, especially when I'm going to have to be counting calories and tracking what I eat and drink and what I do for exercise.  I hate keeping track!!!  The website seems to be fairly user-friendly, however, so I'm hoping it's not too much of a hassle and that eventually it will become habit and part of my re-kindled healthier lifestyle.  :o)

Addendum

I feel bad that I got so wrapped up in criticizing the "poser" white chocolate Easter eggs that I forgot to mention one important thing.  In Josh Early Candies' defense, they make THE BEST white chocolate alligators I have ever had!!!  Seriously!  It's probably a good thing they are all the way in Pennsylvania or I would be stopping there regularly, which isn't the best thing for a girl's figure :o)

Highly Overdue Easter Post

So, I should've put these pictures up days weeks months ago.  Better late than never, I guess!

I love, love, LOVE Easter!  It's my most favorite holiday!  I love Easter eggs and all the pastel colors A LOT!  Dave picked up on this quickly and gave me an Easter basket he put together on Easter 2010, not long after we were engaged; a very sweet thing to do :o)

This year, he surprised me with another Easter basket and a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
(Sorry...  I didn't realize I forgot to rotate the pic until AFTER I got it uploaded and am too lazy to fix it...  ;o)

A month or so, Dave had gone up to Pennsylvania for his grandmother's funeral.  He and his family stopped at the Josh Early Candy Factory.  He knows that I don't eat brown chocolate, but they had white chocolate and he bought some to put in my Easter basket.  (Thinking ahead!  What a man!)  He bought some white chocolate Easter eggs and a white chocolate alligator (it was pretty cute :o).

I popped one of the eggs in my mouth and instantly almost gagged.  It did NOT taste like white chocolate!  It tasted just like a Hershey's milk chocolate egg.  What the?!?  I was nervous to eat the alligator after that and so Dave tasted a little bit of it.  He said it definitely tasted different than the eggs so I decided to try it.  It was so way WHITE chocolate flavor!

So, what I want to know is why the difference?!  Why would you make white chocolate that tastes like brown chocolate?  Kinda the same idea as milk.  If I wanted chocolate milk flavor, I would drink brown chocolate milk, but when I drink white milk, I expect it to taste like un-contaminated milk!  I mean really!

Ok, enough of that!  It's really not THAT big of a deal...

On the day before Easter, I had been planning to go over to a friend's house to color Easter eggs, which I love, love, love to do!  Plans fell through, so I was slightly disappointed.  Dave doesn't enjoy coloring Easter eggs as much as I do, so after the plans fell through, I accepted the fact that this year I was NOT going to color Easter eggs.  Sad, but not life-altering.

Later that evening, Dave said, "Aren't we coloring eggs tonight?"  I was like, "What?!?"  He said he knew how much it meant to me and he agreed to color eggs with me.  What a husband!  :o)  So, I boiled some eggs and we colored eggs.

Let the record show, Mr. I-Don't-Dye-Easter-Eggs was a much, much, much more creative egg-dyer than I was.  lol  Here's a cute bunny he drew with that amazing magic crayon that comes in all the cool boxes of egg dye; check out the tail!

So, here is a pic of us in the VW bug convertible he was restoring  :o)

And, here is a baby chick hatching out of a beautiful green egg:

Don't forget that you can't see what you're drawing when you draw with the magic crayon on the outside of the egg. Isn't Dave an amazing egg artist?!  I sure think so!  And back off ladies, because he is so way TAKEN!  :o)  lol

I LOVE EASTER!!!  (and the man who makes all my Easter dreams come true!)

The rest of the story.

A good friend reminded me that I still haven't blogged about the "teasers" I mentioned a month or so ago.  It's about time I write about it, huh?!  :o)

I was outside one day with Dave and his parents and some other people helping to move a VW bug into our basement through the back yard.  After being in the back yard for about 10 minutes, I had to go inside.  I was sneezing, had watery, itchy eyes, my throat was getting tight, etc.  (I sneezed for about 3 minutes straight at one point; thought I was gonna die!)  I had taken a Zyrtec and so I don't know what the problem. was.  I had the same symptoms, though greatly muted, for almost a week after that no matter what medications I took.  No fun!  So, I have NO idea what caused all that, but I am no longer allowed in the back yard.  Darn, no mowing the grass/weeds...  ;o)

I am at work, so I will have to post our Easter Egg pictures later.

My parents have been in Illinois for over a month now.  They are mostly unpacked and settled into their new home (I'm so jealous!) and are adjusting to not only life in a new place, but also to being official empty nesters for the 1st time ever!  Crazy!!!  I missed them after they left, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.  Now, a month later, it has hit me and I miss them so way A LOT!!!  It's a good thing I am married to such a wonderful husband who I love and want to be with forever, otherwise I'd be tempted to follow my parents to Illinois or my sister to Utah to be closer to family.

 

So, I know this doesn't cover all of the "teasers" but it will have to do for now!  lol  Gotta get back to work!

These are a few of my favorite things -

I decided to use my lunch break today to actually take a mental break from work.  I came to the conclusion that I need to be more positive today and so I am posting a few of my favorite things.  :o)

(Oh, and the fact that I love, love, love Dave and the rest of my family and good friends is a given ;o)

I love  Reese's Pieces!  They are especially yummy as a topping on homemade vanilla ice cream!

Ever After has been my favorite movie for years and years and years and I think always will be at the top of my list.  I even love the soundtrack and can tell you what's happening just by hearing the music :o)

I LOVE tulips!  Especially big fields of tulips like this one.  Visiting Holland was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!

I not only love homemade bread, I love the smell of it, too.  I mean, who doesn't?!

This is chow mein from Panda Express.  Can we say YUMMY!!!   I love this stuff and would eat it once a week at least if I could!

Happy 1st Anniversary!!!

So, today is our one-year anniversary!  It's super hard to believe we have already been married a year, but I guess the saying is true that time flies when you're having fun :o)

We decided this year to keep things simple and we spent the weekend at home, by ourselves, for the most part.  It was so nice!  I made eggs and bacon and toast for breakfast on Saturday.  I actually haven't cooked much bacon in my lifetime so I was a little nervous, but I decided to try and pan-fry it this time.  It was slightly crispier than either of us totally like, but didn't burn it, so that's good!

We went and saw the new Pirates movie and I actually stayed awake for the entire movie!  That hasn't happened for the last 3-4 movies we have seen in the theater.  (I know, I know, that's horrible!  I have no choice; it's genetic.  Thanks, Mom...  ;o)  This and the first Pirates movie are my favorites, so if you haven't seen the one that just came out, you should!

We (or at least I) had fun reminiscing yesterday and today with Dave about what we would have been doing at that exact moment one year ago.  It was fun to compare details we remembered.  We really should write them down....  We are horrible about that...

After lunch today we dug our frozen top wedding cake tier out of the freezer.  Dave was surprised we still had it.  Of course we still have it!!!  I'm a girl and this is my first (and only wedding) so of course we still have it!!!  I was slightly worried that it would be freezer-burnt, even though I took extra precautions to try and prevent that.  But, I think the saving grace was the fact that I had Tamara make the top tier of our cake out of Twinkies.  Yes, I said Twinkies!

Smart choice!  I will forever recommend that people use Twinkies for their top wedding cake layer.  Twinkies are best anyway when they're frozen and it kept for a year really well.  Even the special marshmallow fondant Tamara made kept very well and still tastes good.  I can't wait to tell Tamara!

I am very grateful to be married to such a wonderful man!  I love him a lot and am enjoying our road to eternity already!  I love him more and more each day, it feels like, which seemed impossible a year ago because I loved him TONS on the day we got married!   Happy Anniversary, my love!