Love

This Tuesday will mark the hubs and I making it to 3 years of marriage (6 years together total). Since Tuesday is pretty much terrible, and my least favorite day of the week we decided to celebrate yesterday. With schedules as packed as ours I could think of no sweeter gift than to spend a day together in town. So, we loaded up in the hub’s SUV and took off to celebrate our fantastic three years together.

Our first stop was for lunch at Isabella’s Italian Trattoria. You may recognize it from my “Twilight Day Out” a few month’s ago with Kristen. Isabella’s has amazing food and I never know what to choose. After some thought I ended up trying the Grilled Chicken Panini which consisted of grilled chicken salad, asiago, fresh spinach & roasted red pepper aioli, grilled on a Bakery de France ciabatta roll. With a small spinach salad dressed in balsamic vinegar and a side of Greek pasta salad this turned out to be one amazing lunch (and dinner since 1/2 of it ended up coming home with me).

I finished up lunch with a perfect (true story) cup of vanilla coffee and some conversation with my most fantastic date! I love that after three years of marriage we still date (each other of course) and have the best time together.

After lunch we decided to head to Barnes and Noble. This might seem like a weird choice for a “date” stop but it has some special meaning to us. When the hubs and I first met 6 years ago I was still in graduate school, not working, and pretty much living the college lifestyle. Since he had not taken big strides in his career at that point we were financially strapped in the beginning as so many couples are.  After a nice breakfast or dinner out, we would often go to Barnes and Noble to hang out, look at books, and talk.  After we both established careers, going to the bookstore became nostalgic for us;  sort of a symbol of having nothing but still being happy because we had each other. So, we went the day after our wedding to buy books for one another and we go now to sort of reflect on the past. It was a lot of fun. We spent some time laughing at all of the new “Vampire” fiction and looking for scary books and movies for Halloween.

Being the gentleman he is the hubs let me pick the movie for our night out. I chose Life As We Know It. You all know I am obsessed with Katherine Heigl as I have mentioned her several times on the blog. I loved the movie and even the hubs enjoyed it. Is there an actor or actress you can’t resist going to see?

After the movie we grabbed a quick dessert (not pictured since I ate it like it was my job) and headed home for left-overs and a night in. I can truly say this was pretty much the perfect way to spend a low key anniversary and I am so thankful to have found my love in this world! Happy Anniversary to the hubs!! *Disclaimer: Normal non-mushy blogging will resume today. 🙂

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One

Besides being a fantastic U2 song it was also kind of the theme of my day.  Yesterday I planned to blog but things got so hectic I completely spaced. The highlight of my day yesterday was certainly my visit to see the hair guru Caleb. I am rocking the Snow White look here. Maybe I should be her in the Princess 1/2 marathon next year!

This morning I was up super early for a Saturday. I had a handful of All Bran crackers because I strongly believe I have been waiting too long to eat in the mornings. I know I have mentioned these guys before but I love these crackers. They have almost a sweet taste. Having them with some milk is my absolute favorite.

I got in some stretching and errands before breakfast. I contemplated a workout but the hubs and I have a pretty major workout planned for tomorrow and I want to be at my best for it. Definitely check in with me tomorrow to see how it goes. After the errands/stretching I made my famous low fat Vanilla French toast.  In order to make this you will need:

• 2 eggs (or 6 egg whites which I prefer)
• 3/4 cup skim milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• Nutmeg (to taste)

It is SO simple. You mix the above ingredients, dunk your whole grain bread, and “fry” with non-stick Pam/Butter Spray. Then drizzle on some fat free syrup, cut up a side of fruit, and add a slice of turkey or soy sausage. Yum! I had mine with a V8 fusion.

After breakfast only one of the twosome that is Bryan and Sara headed up to Roanoke for an event with friends. One of my best friends baby girl is turning one and today was her party. Bryan gets a free pass though because he needed to spend some time with a friend who is going into the military.

For those of us who are not yet to the baby phase of life sometimes these events can be, well, awkward. I knew that was not going to be the case with Kristen’s party for her baby and I was right.  It was gorgeous. Pink and brown decor, fresh cut flowers, a cookout by the pool, cocktails for the grown-ups… I told her minus the babies and it could have been a party I threw for myself. 😉 Speaking of babies, her little one looked adorable and all of the kids/babies were so well behaved and precious. It was a really adorable and fun event.

Did I mention how much I LOVE the pink? Partying in Pink. I like it!!!

Every Last Detail was Gorgeous.

This made me giggle all day. Keeping the big “kids” and the little kids happy is the key to a great party!

My thoughtful pal made sure to have some veggie burgers for me since red meat and I are not really seeing much of each other anymore. I also had one scoop of baked beans and one gigantic scoop of pasta salad.  I was also told I had to mention the one Hershey kiss I ate too.

I love good cookout food. Yum!

We of course took a moment to pose for some pictures…

Kristen and I

Nikki~Me~Kris= The New Charlies Angels. 😉

After the Birthday party I headed back home to meet up with the hubs. We decided we wanted a relaxing night so we ended up at the movies. I love love love Katherine Heigel so we went to see Killers. I see all of her movies. Do you have an actor or actress that you cant resist going to see? I was also excited to see her hair in this movie since the previews are what inspired my current hair cut if you recall. We had a great time. We split one Icee  which is my favorite indulgence at the movies. My stomach may hurt a little from all the sugar but it was really tasty. What is your movie snack of choice?

I am that most excellent kind of tired and am heading to bed. I have ONE big workout to rest up for. Fingers crossed there is no rain!!

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Friday News at 11 (Part 2)

So operation clear the bedroom was a success and we are a go for grown up furniture delivery tomorrow. Thankfully I will not be here for the main event which is fine with me! All of the moving and the people in the house and the furniture placing fries my nerves. I was really excited to discover all of the workout stuff I found buried in my room. I am now the proud owner (and now user) of a bosu, kettle balls, weights, and a rope-less jump rope. SCORE! I think maybe there was a wanna be healthy girl in there all along or I never would have wanted that stuff. I am really excited to start using it.

After the room overhaul I made a soy chicken sammie on a Natures Own sandwich thin with pickles and a side of applesauce. YUM! It was just the comfort food I needed after a very physical morning.

After lunch I gave myself a manicure in “Jade is the new Black” in honor of Wicked tomorrow with the girls! I also got ready and went out shopping. I pieced together a cute outfit that I didn’t have time to try on today but plan to pick up on Sunday. I also went comforter shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond who only had King in what I wanted. Luckily a friend mentioned she had found some cute stuff at Ross today so I went in and found an almost identical set for 1/4 the price. Literally! Ill post pictures later this week in my “big reveal” of the new bedroom.

I went to sit outside for a bit while I waited for Bryan to get home from work. I was inspired by all of the pretty Sping-ness going on outside so I took some pics of our blooming roses, my little Eiffel Tower  (J-Adore all things French!) and our blooming Hydrangea bush.  Weird story- There used to be a banana tree (odd I know and no we did not plant it) there when we moved in. It died of course and we cleared it away and this bush has sprung up in it’s place. YAY for fresh flowers for the house!!

Date night was fantastic. We went to see Iron Man 2 which was great.  I loved it. Then we drove across town for dinner at Neighbors Place Grill. I had my usual ginormous salad although I am really wanting to try the steak and lobster.

One last funny thing to share before I head to bed for the night- We were driving home and saw a random Ferris Wheel in one of those makeshift “fairs” that happens in like the Mall parking lot. You know what Im talking about right? Ok well this one ride happens to be the hubs worst nightmare, add the unfortunate timing of the “S” being burned out on the Shell sign and the perfectly placed No U-Turn sign and you have this:

That made me giggle the entire way home. Off to an early bedtime. I am heading to Durham with the girls in the morning to see Wicked. I know I have seen it twice but its my favorite musical and I am always excited to see it with Wicked “virgins”.  Goodnight and have a Happy and Healthy weekend!

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Do Not Let Where You Have Been Determine Where You Are Going

When I started this blog I promised that it would look at the good, the bad, the ups, and downs of trying to lose weight, get healthy, and be happy. Today’s post will hit on all of the above. Saturday got off to a less than grand start. I decided against getting up at 5:00 am to make it to Charlottesville for the 5K. I needed the rest, no doubt, but it put a little damper on my morning not to be there. I went to the gym instead and did a workout that I know I am better than. Last week blogger Andrea talked about giving a workout her “all”. This post really had me thinking, What has my deal been the last couple of weeks that I havent been doing this? I think for me it comes down to fear. Losing weight before meant getting to a tough spot and backing down. This is the first time I havent backed down and it is a little scary for me. A couple of weeks ago I posted about how this is normally the time I part ways with a diet plan but this time it is not really a diet plan. It’s my life. There is not the option to just stop this time. I truly cant place why I get so crippled with the fear to keep going. Maybe its being scared of failing. Maybe its being scared of not knowing what is supposed to happen next. I have been feeling uneasy lately.  My hubs said today that the first  step in getting past that is to admit it. So I admit to you that I am overwhelmed. The changes I am making are huge. A 30lb lost in 7 weeks is big but I still have so far to go. Sometimes I feel like I havent even gotten started. My first hill goal this week is One week of full on, the best I can be, giving all I have and then some workouts. I am going to push running aside this week (as I have tended to get very down on myself when I don’t see improvement as quickly as I want it.) This week will be all about me and gym.  No distractions of intervals, time, etc. Just basic good old fashioned sweating.

Saturday steadily improved as the hubs and I traveled to Roanoke to celebrate pal Kristen’s Birthday. I was so excited to give her the cute flip-flops and OPI polish I got her. It was in my newest favorite shade “Jade is the New Black”. I decided to sport a new dress that I had bought during my errand running earlier in the day. I am loving the more structured clothes. Good riddance to the stretchy materials of last summer!

She had her birthday dinner at Macado’s where I had a couple fruity adult beverages..

This one was called Killer Kool-Aid 😉

…and a turkey sandwich on pumpernickel. I have to admit the best thing about this sandwich is the super dark bread. Pumpernickel is one of those weird breads that I love but rarely see on menus. Also, kudos to Kristen’s wonderful family and pals for not making fun of my taking pictures of the food. 🙂 Speaking of bread, blogger Melissa has recently posted some pictures of some awesome looking bread. It is almost enough to make me want to learn to bake!! But back to my dinner, somewhat caloric for what it was but yummy nonetheless.

The night was a lot of fun and to top it off Kris had gotten Bubblecake cupcakes for dessert. The good friend she is, she remembered a to-go box for me so I could take mine home and cut it in 1/2 to have later in the week. Strawberry lemonade cupcakes-YUM!

Even the cake part was pink. YAY!

My Sunday morning again, did not start as planned. The first weird thing is that I was craving junk food. I wanted a chicken biscut which is strange. I have not really craved fast food since I started this journey.  Instead I made my own version- a meatless “chicken” patty by Morningstar on a Natures Own sandwich thin. It was pretty good.

I was all geared up to hike The Peaks of Otter and my husband asks if we can wait until next Sunday since he is super sore from two rounds of disc golf yesterday. Instead we decide to have a date.  I went out sporting another Spring outfit that I heart.

Our first stop was lunch where I had some vegetarian black bean soup and 1/2 a turkey/spinach/artichoke panini with onions and tomatos. YUM!

Next stop was the movies where we saw “Date Night”. I loved it and we both laughed a lot. Also, we went pretty early so we had the place to ourselves all rock-star style. 😉

Bryan also stopped on the way out at the little kiddie coin machines. Carebears were my favorite as a kid and he decided to score me one of the little plastic bears to sit on my computer at work.

Pretty cute huh?

After the movie we went furniture shopping for a new bedroom suite. Do we have a winner here?

After our date I went back out to run errands. During this outing I was feeling hungry so I am ashamed to say I went through the drive-through and ate a happy meal. Yes, it was gross. Yes, my stomach is killing me now from the grease and yes, I had a terrible emotional reaction to it. I think that there was something more going on today (first with the craving this morning and then this happy meal incident). This brings me to my second hill goal for the week: Commit 10 minutes every night to journal writing before bed. I need to figure out what is going on with me.  My final hill goal for this week: No negative self-talk. I think that is really important to any diet or exercise program.  This is the part where I need to get a handle on my thoughts/feelings about the weight loss before I sabotage myself. What do you do when you start to feel frustrated with the process? What helps you through those feelings?

Carrie and Harlow don’t love me any less for making a mistake today. I should do my best to feel the same way. 🙂

I thought a lot today about where I was only a few months ago. What I did today with the happy meal would have been nothing back then. I thought a lot about all of the failed attempts in my past to get fit. Here is what I have come up with: All of the failures in the world can be in your past, but it only takes once to get it right. I am getting it right this time. I wont let where I have been determine where I am going. Tomorrow is another day and my Green Monster ingredients await!!

Have a Happy and Healthy Sunday Friends~

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