Shed to Wed Week 1

So Week 1 of Shed to Wed went okay.  Not great, but not horrible.  I did well in the exercise department, okay in the water department, and fair in the calorie department.  I was over my calorie goal a few days, but thankfully, not TERRIBLY over.(Um, correction, I was terribly over one day, only minorly over the rest.)   I ate some sweets, but I managed to say no thank you to a cookie AND a cupcake.  Sadly, I went a little overboard with dessert on Monday night.  I went to a friend's house for dinner and I brought the dessert.  It was cookie dough fudge (look for it in a future blog) and um, it was good, like really good.  So I "might" have had 3 pieces (oops!) and when I messed up that veggie burger (see yesterday's blog) I "might" have had some more the next night.  Sadly, no weight loss, but no gain either.  Hopefully, Week 2 will go better--there will be no delicious homemade desserts so that might help.  :) 

Confessions of a Fake Vegan Returns: Epic Fail!

So as you know I'm attempting to eat healthier.  I thought as part of that I'd do a vegan week again (you may remember I did that a while back).  I wanted to start sooner rather than later, but looking at the calendar, I don't have a full week without dinner plans any time too soon.  I was invited to a friend's house for dinner last night (I wasn't going to be like so I'm being a vegan for one week, can you please replan your whole menu?).  I got invited to someone's house for dinner one night next week.  The following week I have a work party (bought my ticket, plan to eat and get my money's worth and we are not going to a vegan restaurant).   Going to another friend's house for dinner one week the week after that.  Anyway, I decided, well, I'll just do half a week eating vegan and go for a full week later in the month.  I decided to start today and end Friday night (you guessed it, have plans Friday night and not sure there will be vegan options where we're going).  So I was careful, did my research, had a vegan breakfast, had salad for lunch and didn't even put croutons on it because I wasn't sure those were okay.  Switched from my usual dressing to a vegan friendly one.  And then for dinner I ate a veggie burger.  I was feeling pretty proud of myself UNTIL I found out the veggie burger IS NOT VEGAN.  What the heck?!  After that, I got annoyed and ate something with dairy and I drank some milk.  If I've failed, might as well fail all out.  I mean it's my own fault for not looking, but you'd think a VEGETABLE burger would be vegan.  Who knew!  So I will try again tomorrow and see if I can go Wed, Thurs, and 2/3 of Friday (dinner plans Fri night).  Then later in the month, perhaps I will try a full week again.  I don't know how vegans do it.  I could never really be a vegan.  I think I could MAYBE do vegetarian, though I'd sure miss my seafood.  I make chicken meals, which I enjoy, but I could give them up--I think.  Eggplan parm is just as good to see as chicken parm and I could probably substitute zucchini in my chicken crescent roll casserole, but I'm just not sure I could do without my ocas. sushi or fish and chips.  But I tell ya' I could not go without my dairy.  Love my milk and cheese too much.  And a lot of foods have milk and eggs--including veggie burgers apparently, but ironically, not Oreos (too bad I'm not a huge Oreo fan) so I don't think I'd make it as a vegan.  But for 2  2/3 days maybe just maybe I can do it.  And then maybe I can do it for a full week!  I'm sure you'll be reading about it in a future blog.  :) 

The Annual Winter Rant

So if you know me at all, you know I do not like winter.  The only things in winter I enjoy are Christmas and the surrounding festivities, fun Feb work events,  MLK weekend, the few days I have off in Feb, and those few days when it warms up and you think spring is almost here (of course then Mother Nature slaps you in the face and it's freezing again).  Shoveling, constantly being cold, and of course driving in the snow/ice are things I CANNOT stand.  But I decided to jazz up this year's rant on winter with a new little list about why winter stinks (especially compared to summer, I'll take 90 and humid any day over negative something).

In no particular order, here are some reasons I do not enjoy winter: 

-I nearly need a walking stick to get to the mailbox (it's so darn icy)
-Potholes ('nuf said)
-There is not enough parking at the gym because when they plow the snow they feel the need to cover an entire row of spots (and let's not even talk about how hard it is to get a decent machine at the gym in Jan, I applaud everyone for working out, but it's annoying when you're used to getting the machines you like)
-Salt+black pants (really?  How do I manage to get salt on my pants every winter?)
-My job only involves being outside for approximately 30 minutes a week, which isn't that bad, except when it's cold then those 30 min feel LONG
-Snowbank Roulette (my street is narrow and though this year is better, there is limited space to put the snow so I have to decide do I want to hit the snowbank behind me, the one to the left or the one to the right when I pull out of my driveway)
-I can't get warm (car takes a long time to warm up--like I'm half way to work before it warms up, house isn't that warm though I sure try to crank that heat, and I swear they turn the heat off at 3:30 at work and I'm often working at the computer next to the drafty window 'til well past 3:30)
-My heating bill is nearly as much as my mortgage
-There are times I literally don't feel like going out because it involves being cold
-My fiancé waking me up at 4:00 in the morning because his car is frozen shut (good thing I love him because I do NOT love 4am)

Mother Nature, can you PLEASE send us warm weather soon, like NOW?  PLEASE.  Thanks!  Stay warm everyone.  If I weren't saving for a wedding, I'd be researching a warm vacation right now. 

Random Wedding Planning Blog

Many aspects of wedding planning have been fun, but some have been stressful.  One thing I'm kind of enjoying right now is honeymoon planning.  Okay so I am not enjoying how much stuff is going to cost because flights are expensive as are hotels, but trying to plan where to stay and what activities to do has been kind of fun.  I love planning trips and I usually try to go on one big trip each year.  This year that trip will of course be the honeymoon.  And given how cold it's been lately, the thought of being warm and sitting on a beach is extremely appealing. 

Pre Shed to Wed Prep Continues

So I'm starting to get in the groove for Shed to Wed.  Today went okay, but I still ate too many calories.  I did, however, manage to say no thank you when someone offered me a cookie today.  Unfortunately, then I ate one at home tonight.  My fiancé had some left from his "last sweets run."  I was able to unload my leftover Chocolate Crunch Bars on my co-workers at lunch time today.  Tomorrow, I will bring them some leftover sea salt chocolate covered caramels--or something like that.  Someone put them in my Christmas stocking and I ate some, but if I'm going to get real with this healthy eating thing, I need to have fewer sweets around.  I absolutely hate wasting food so I can't bring myself to throw these sweets away, hence why I keep bringing them to work.   I am also contemplating doing one vegan week again.  You may remember I did that awhile back (well, I almost did it, I unintentionally ate a few pieces of non-vegan food that week, two things I thought were vegan weren't, I broke down and had a glass of milk, and there was one other thing, which I forget). The problem is trying to figure out when to do it.  I've been invited to a friend's house for dinner early next week and that weekend I signed up to go to this pizza dinner thing.    And I just got invited to another dinner the following Monday.  So it may be February before I give it a go.  Maybe I'll do half a week of vegan eating next week and try for a whole week after my dinner engagements.  We'll see.  I love seafood, but what was hardest for me when I tried going vegan for a week (two years ago) was the dairy.  I eat/drink so many things with dairy.  I'm pretty sure I could never be a real vegan, but once in a while as a cleanse type thing is okay.  I did exercise again today.  I was SO LAZY this past weekend, that I haven't worked out since Friday, but today it was back on track.  Now if I can just drink two more glasses of water and walk 900 steps (both are totally doable) before bed, I'll be off to a good start in the water dept and 10,000 steps daily dept.  Until next time, have a good one all! 

Pre Shed to Wed

This past weekend I went away for the weekend with some good friends to celebrate a friend's birthday.  The weekend primarily involves:  eating, drinking, relaxing, eating, playing board games, movies, reading, playing games on phones or other electronic devices, hanging out, talking/laughing with friends, and did I mention eating?  Pretty much every couple of hours someone is preparing breakfast or lunch or dinner or some snack or other.  It's a great weekend to relax, spend time with friends, and escape the real world, but a bad weekend for a diet.  My fiancé and I wanted to start getting in better shape for our upcoming wedding.  We contemplated doing what everyone else does and start a New Year's diet.  But then we figured there was NO way we'd eat healthy this weekend so we decided to wait until after this weekend is over to attempt what I am calling Shed to Wed.  Well, let me tell you I lived it up this weekend with cookie cake, Oreo balls, Chocolate Crunch Bars, chips, Tostitos, dips--basically all kinds of (delicious) junk food.  My fiancé made one last sweets run when we got home today.  He bought cookies for himself and a cookie cup for me.  After unpacking, cleaning, etc. I began cleaning out the kitchen cabinets.  I put all of the sweets in a pile on the counter.  I plan to bring some of them to work tomorrow.  Some of my co-workers and I have this habit of unloading leftover junk food (and healthy food too from time to time) on each other.  I have a small candy bowl on the coffee table that I usually don't eat from often, but my friends' kids tend to like it so I may keep that there for them or I may bring that to work too.  So basically this week's goals are to try to get rid of the sweets (don't make me give up sweets AND salt at the same time--one thing at a time people) and drink eight glasses of water a day (I seem to be stalling out at 6 or 7 each day--they say you should drink 8 if you want to lose weight).  I'm doing well with exercising--this weekend excluded, but exercise has not really been a problem, I just get in ruts where I do the same exercises instead of mixing it up, so I want to keep that up and make sure I walk 10,000 steps a day (I have a pedometer).  I figure if I put all this in my blog, I'll have some accountability.  So wish me good luck.  I have my first dress fitting in a little over a month--thankfully that is just for a hem so I don't have to panic quite yet.  In the mean time, unless you are inviting me over for dinner and want me to bring a dessert, I am not baking again until my annual St. Patrick's Day party.  Here's to getting healthier.      

Dress Shopping, Screws, and Beowulf

In early December, I went shopping with five of my six bridesmaids (one lives kind of far away) and Mom for bridesmaids dresses.  I was expecting just a fun, carefree shopping trip, but boy can dress shopping be stressful.  I had NO idea what I wanted the girls to wear except that the dresses should be dark purple.  The salesgirl wanted to know if I wanted long or short?  I don't know.  Does it matter?  Satin?  Chiffon?  Something else?  I have no idea what chiffon is.  I also don't know what empire waist, organza, A Line, etc. mean.  Actually, I think I know what A Line means, I think I have dresses like that.  And the only reason I know taffeta is because my wedding dress has taffeta in it.  How do people know all of this stuff?  I mean I do go clothes shopping.  There were periods in my life when I REALLY liked to shop.  But I simply tried clothes on and if I liked them, they didn't make me look fat, and I could afford them I bought them and if not, no thanks.  But I never paid attention to stuff like the aforementioned things.  It's not like the tag says this is an empire waist dress.  Maybe I need to read fashion magazines.  I'd like to think it's not because I'm stupid--maybe I am, but I did go to college and grad school and I got good grades in both places.  It's kind of like Saturday when my fiancé's dad came over to fix my kitchen heater.  He needed a certain type of screw so I found some, but none of them would work not just because of their size (I was like ooh this is the size you need) but because that one is for sheet rock, that one is for metal, that one is for--you get the point, at least I hope you do because I forget what the others were for, but I didn't have one for drywall.  How does he know this?  Why don't I know any of these things?  They should make you take classes about clothing, construction, home ownership stuff, affording weddings, etc. in college.  Those would be a lot more useful than that class I took on pre-1800 literature (No offense intended, but let's face it, I can't remember a thing I read about Beowulf--I don't even think I spelled it correctly, but I will tell you, I did not enjoy discussing that book at 8am on Tuesdays and Thursdays).    Oh, and for the record, we did eventually find dresses (that same day) that everyone agreed would be okay.  I don't know if they love them, but none of them complained and I don't think anyone wanted to deal with me and dress shopping again since I was on the borderline of having a dress induced breakdown.  Sadly, the dress didn't come in the shade of purple I wanted, but I learned a new word, lapis.  It's apparently a shade of purple.   

Dress Shopping Continued

Picking up from yesterday's blog...
When I got home that night, I had my maid of honor send a pic of me in my dress to my matron of honor.  She approved of the dress.  The next day I showed two people at work that I am close with and they thought I looked good in the dress.  So that night Mom and I went back to the store, I tried on the dress again and since that one fit pretty well, I could buy it off the rack and it was 50% off!  I got myself a good deal.  Now I will need some alterations (there is no way I'm wearing 4 inch heels so I need a hem and the straps need to be tightened) so that will raise the cost a bit, but the owner of the store (she was waiting on me) told me even if I ordered one I would still need a hem so I'd have to pay for that either way.  I like that she didn't pressure me to buy a more expensive dress.  :-)  Maybe I'll finally lose some weight again and can have the dress taken in, but we'll see on that one.  I'd LIKE to lose weight, but the way I've been eating lately, ugh! 

And now back to Wedding Talk

With the 30 pictures in 30 days, you've been spared from wedding news.  So here's a quick update on the dress situation.  I told you I went shopping at the end of August, but did not buy one.  I went again in early October.  This time I went with Mom, my maid of honor, and another bridesmaid (not the same one from last time because she was out of town).  We all went through and pulled out dresses and I began trying them on.  By the end I wasn't sure who picked which dress or whether I had tried on this one or that one yet or not, there were so many (I even found one that I sort of liked, but it turned out my bridesmaid had worn it to her wedding--oops!  needless to say I did not try that on).  The salespeople were very nice and very patient, no pressure.  Of course some I liked were out of my price range.  I tried on a whole range of styles, some were strange.  I did everything from mermaid, to lace, to high high neck, to tulle to things that looked more like mother of the bride (or in one case grandmother--no offense to grandmothers, it was just a style from that generation) to stuff that looked more like nightgowns to who knows what.  I finally (amazingly!) narrowed it down to two dresses.  One I really liked but it was about double what I wanted to spend on a dress.  The other one I liked too and I liked the price better.  I didn't want to be cheap, but I didn't want to be broke.  So I tried them both on again and the less expensive one actually looked a little better.  I wasn't sure if I was trying to convince myself of that because of the price or what, but my friends and Mom assured me it looked good so I decided to sleep on it and come back on Monday (it was a Saturday) if I wanted the dress.  And I'm going to end on a cliffhanger to make you come back and read my blog tomorrow to see what I decided.  :-)   

Picture 30

And the last picture of my 30 Pictures in 30 Days is three of my dear friends and me.  Every year we (and now we along with our significant others) get together for a little Christmas celebration.  Thanks for joining me for 30 Pictures in 30 Days. 

Picture 29 Blah

My plan for the day of picture 29 was to go to the gym (did that), bake (did that), clean (nope), relax (not really), and then go to the neighborhood Christmas party (briefly).  Unfortunately, my body had other ideas.  I felt kind of blah when I woke up that morning.  I figured it was probably from eating too much at the work Christmas party the day before I'd be fine later.  Went to Zumba, but I was not my usual self.  I was definitely not giving it my all.  Got home from Zumba to finish making a dessert for the evening's Christmas party (cookies were made, but not decorated).  A contractor came by to fix a frozen hose, which is what today's picture is from since I did not take any pictures as after he left, I went to bed and stayed there for most of the day--aside from a few trips to the bathroom--I'll spare you.  I made a brief appearance at the party to drop off the dessert and an appetizer I'd made, then went home and went back to bed, where I slept for 12 hours.  I don't know if I had a bug or it was something I ate, but that was NOT how I wanted to start my holiday vacation.  I was very glad to be feeling better the next day.   This is the new hose since the old one had a LOT of ice in it.  I'll have to write a better blog about that later in the month.

  

Picture 28

I received several Christmas gifts at work today; it was a struggle to decide which one to put on here for picture 28, but this one is so darn cute that I couldn't resist.  :-) 

Poinsettia (aka Picture27)

I usually buy a poinsettia every Christmas.  Somehow this Christmas I forgot to do so.  I was at the grocery store the other day and saw one and thought about buying one, but they were kind of pricey so I decided to wait and I'd maybe check another store in a few days.  Well, I completely forgot to go to that other store, but it turned out all right because on Day 27 someone gave me a poinsettia.  I was so excited.  :-) 

Christmas Tree Cake

Sorry I'm not more creative with my titles.  I made this cake for one of my colleagues who happens to love cake.  It was my Christmas present to her, which I gave to her "today" (as in day 26 of the picture blog not today as in today if that makes any sense).  :-) 

Picture 25 Mistle Toes

I got my last Secret Santa present this week (not this week as in now, but this week as in when this picture was from).  The tag said something for my Mistle-Toes and it was a jar with socks and purple nail polish in it.  Unfortunately, my Secret Santa did NOT sign the tag so I had to wait 'til Friday for her to tell me who it was from.  :-)  She left me a little poem to reveal who it was, very cute, I might add.  Anyway, here are the socks.