Woot woot!

Our first anniversary is this weekend!! I can't believe it's been a year already! I got C the coolest gift and can't wait to give it to him...except it won't be ready until next week. Boo. I can't say what it is yet in case he figures out how to read this blog, but I'll report back after he opens it! I'm happy right now...it's been awhile since I've really felt happy. I don't know what the difference is, but I hope it lasts! One thing that is great is C is joining the gym and we've both been working out more which is great, also because he's off work for the summer he's been cooking and really just helping out and it's been very nice for me. We're going to have a busy weekend seeing Wilco-our favorite band in concert (C is going all 3 days!) I'll meet him in Berkeley on Saturday and we'll see them at the Greek theater, then on Sunday we'll drive up to South Lake Tahoe and see them there on our anniversary. We're spending 2 days in Tahoe and we're bringing the dogs! Yay! Plus the cabin we rented has a hot tub (nice!) I can't wait to get away and just be with each other and the dogs away from work, away from the chores and the monotony of daily life. We just get to celebrate our marriage!

Well that's good for the diet...

Losing 6lbs in one day thanks to a GNARLY stomach flu is helpful for weigh in week right? I knew I was going to have to work out hard this week so I didn't make too poor a showing on the BFC weigh in Saturday. Monday I went to the gym and worked out pretty hard-I combined what I learned from the BFC with my own cardio, and felt really good when I got home. Until that is when I ate dinner-I felt really full and my stomach started to hurt. By 10p.m. I went to bed feeling really sick, and was up for the rest of the night...I should have set up a bed in the bathroom, it would have been more convenient. In the morning C got it too-This was gift from his parents and family after his niece's 1st birthday party-His niece and nephew got it last week, his brother got it a few days after that, and his parents missed their granddaughter's party because they had it. This bug apparently knows how to party because it hit everyone hard! A total of 6 people got it after the party. I had to call in sick yesterday, and luckily I has today off already so I can at least rest. My body hurts so badly still though. I feel like I got hit by a truck. Hopefully this is my last sickness for the Summer and even the year. We have our 1st anniversary this month, and then I have 2 trips to Texas to visit my family and celebrate my other niece's first birthday...Need to be in top shape for those trips!!

Cranky party of one...

I'm cranky. There isn't another way to say it. I've been in a bad mood pretty much all week. And poor C...he's taken the grunt of it. Here's some stuff I would like to catch you up on though: The Body Fit Challenge (BFC). I worked my ass off, and I'm happy it's done! I really am having good luck on Weight Watchers and know this is what works for me. I am however motivated to work out harder because the trainer has been sort of a bitch to me. She has pretty much told me I'm going to fail if I don't work out with her-Um, I gained weight working with you. I'm not nearly as dedicated as you-I'm not willing to slip egg whites into my oatmeal to get more protein in my breakfast, and on the holiday weekends I'm not going to say that I ate badly because I had a sandwich. Yes people, this is what she has said. She's a little judgy and that doesn't motivate me. Seeing results in my clothes, scale, and attitude are what motivates me. Plus, I have finally convinced C that he needs to work out with me-He could stand to lose some weight, and if he went with me it would be a HUGE motivation for me.

So now that I've talked about weight loss I'd like to talk to you a little about food...Smooth segue was it not?? We've tried out 2 of the freezer meals I made over Memorial day weekend. The recipes I picked were the ones that were the lowest in fat, or were at least easiest to count the WW points for.

We had the "Bruschetta chicken" recipe first... It was really good-I didn't have to add any salt or other seasonings (besides the dry basil) and it was really flavorful. The only thing I will do differently next time is split it into 2 smaller containers-There are only 2 of us and we ate about 1/2 of it and had 1/2 for leftovers-Once it was cooked it didn't reheat well. I liked it better from the freezer (thawed) to the oven. Plus it's one more meal if we split it!

The other one we had was "Destitute Chicken." I picked this recipe mainly because I had all the ingredients! Plus, the string cheese is low in fat and one piece of bacon is easy to calculate points for. Our only complaint with this one is that we probably wouldn't cook it for an hour-It was a little on the dry side, but not too bad. C made mashed potatoes for it that really rounded the meal out quite nicely!!

Tonight we technically had another freezer meal, but it's a recipe I've been using for awhile-My turkey meatloaf-It's a Campbell's soup recipe, and I've adjusted it to use ground turkey-I had to figure out my oven on how long to cook it so it didn't dry out so I do it about 15 minutes under what the recipe calls for. I use the Frosted Meatloaf recipe, but this site has all the different recipes using Campbell's soup.

If anyone tries the recipes I'd love to know how it turns out! Hopefully I'll be trying more recipes and posting the results-I think freezer cooking or Once a Month cooking (OAMC) is going to be helpful to me and a lot of other people!

It's been a while...

I've been so busy since my vacay I haven't posted in a while! We had a great time in MD, VA and DC-I'll try to post some pics too. I'm still doing the Body Fit Challenge at the gym and I can't believe how much hard working out I've been doing We're talking like nausea, soreness, stiffness all of it. And what do I have to show for the fruits of my labor? I've gained 4lbs. No it's not muscle. I don't have a clue what's going on, but it sucks and I'm pissed. I know I could be eating better, but I'm certainly not bad, and I know I could work out more/harder when I'm on the off days, but the fact that I can hardly move usually hinders that. I've decided to finish out the challenge and I've decided to go back on Weight Watchers. This has been the only way I was successful-I just got lazy. It's only been 3 days and I've already seen an improvement on the scale.
I also made 6 meals on Monday that I put in the freezer so we don't have to think too hard on the nights I'm at the gym. After I finished those I cooked 3 breasts of chicken and cut them up for pasta, salads etc-They're in the fridge now, but will eventually go in the freezer too. Then I made dinner for us for Monday, so all in all I made 8 "meals" in one day. I will probably try to do this every other week from now on-It will be such a time saver if it's good! Once we actually try out the recipes I'll start posting them.
I had today off work and got my hair done, went to the dentist, went to the doctor, cleaned the house, and then I'll leave for the gym in a little over a hour. Only 2 more classes of getting my ass kicked! Plus, hubby doesn't even have to think about dinner since meal #1 is thawed in the fridge with the cooking directions for him. All in all it was a good day!

I love Vacation week!

Ok, so it's Monday and that sucks, but I had a great weekend! Chelsea Handler on Friday night for my best friend's birthday-Damn that girl is funny! See some quotes from her fansite here: http://tinyurl.com/4r2hrs
On Saturday we ended up at our friend's neighbor's Cinco de Mayo party instead of dinner at our friends house like we were supposed to but we ended up having a great time. C is QUITE the Beer Pong ringer! Then we went back to our friend's house and played Pictionary-I haven't played that game in probably 20years and I've definitely never played with C, but holy crap we're an AMAZING team. He drew a line and 2 houses and I guessed neighborhood right after that! I think even we were surprised at how good we were. We may have to hustle some more people!
Sunday we took my Mom and 93 y/o Grandma out for brunch as an early Mother's Day present. Any day with Gma is an adventure for sure...she's full of crazy stories! We're going to be gone on the actual day so we wanted to celebrate early-we went to Lake Forest Cafe and I had super yummy crepes w/turkey and herb cheese. If you're ever in the Folsom area I highly recommend this place but it's very tiny and due to their hours I would recommend getting there early or getting reservations-they take them for parties of 5 or more. http://www.lakeforestcafe.com/
And this week will fly by I'm sure because at 6:00a.m. we'll be on a plane to Baltimore, MD for a wedding that's on Saturday in Chesapeake Bay-It's at the Hyatt there and tell me how beautiful this place looks!? http://chesapeakebay.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp C is actually in the wedding-I just get to enjoy! We're heading to DC for one night too-C grew up near there so he'll show me around since I was 8 the last time I went! I can't wait to have 4 days off work. Oh man I love a vacation!

I love a day off!

I don't have much to say today except that I love a day off! I did go to the Doctor for a regular exam and talked to her about the discomfort I've been having in my lower abdomen which hasn't been too bad lately...until she poked around at it. It took about a 1/2 hour before it started to actually hurt, but it's gone now for the most part. She just wants me to pay attention to it over the next few weeks. It's probably nothing and by next week I will have forgotten about it. I have a short term memory. The other good news of the day is when I went grocery shopping, handed the cashier $60 in cash towards my much higher than that balance and she counted it as $80! I didn't even catch it-C and I noticed it when he was trying to figure out how I could have possibly spent so much money. What can I say-healthy food is expensive. Boo. I'm elated to only have 2 more days of the work week left! Woot Woot!

Monday...Funday?

Monday is here and I'm waving it goodbye! I'm actually going to make a valiant attempt to get in bed before 9:30...24 minutes to make it! Wow. I'm sort of pathetic that I'm so desperate to go to bed that early, but we had a long weekend-Poker on Saturday night-C took first and I took second, so it was worth it to stay up until 2:00 and then wake up at 7:00. I think. But, the early wake up call so we could go watch the Oakland A's beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Let's Go Oakland!! C's whole family was there so it was a lot of fun...we haven't seen our niece and nephew in a few months so it was fun. Exhausting, but fun. Today went by pretty fast which is always nice. The only hangup I'm having right now is figuring when we can squeeze a vacation to Texas to see my family in between our other vacations. It's a tough life, but we'll manage! I did try the free grilled chicken from KFC-not bad actually. Of course when you have to buy side dishes it's not free anymore but who cares it's the premise right? The rest of the week should go by fast with my day on on Wednesday so that's always exciting. All in all it wasn't a bad Monday!