It's been a while...

So I've been absent for a while. No excuses really, just life stuff.

Yesterday I was thinking that I could use this blog to really keep up to date with that was going on in my life, and right now that's a 20 week long fitness "boot camp" if you will.

Let's start with my goals:

Lose 100 lbs (starting off)
Get rid of my booth anxiety
Feel better about myself

Yesterday started week two so I'm going to talk about week one and then Friday or Saturday maybe I'll update about how week two went.

So week one started out with a fizzle rather than a bang. We were told that the first week we just had to eat what we thought was healthy and keep a food journal. While I was trying to eat correctly, I was apparently not. I was told I had too many carbs (cottage cheese is a carb?) and I needed to eat more protein. I'm sorry, rolling up deli turkey meat is gross. But that's what I did. I am determined to lose this weight and keep it off.

So the work out I can't talk about so much because it is hush hush but let's just say the some days I thought my arms and legs were going to fall off and other days not so much. What I'm getting at is that the first trainer I dealt with didn’t really seem to care what we did. it was strange, sometimes he was attentive and nice and encouraging and other times he was a total jerk. I appreciate both though, if I can really get healthy.

Now with this new change in my life means I can't have many of the things I love. The following is a list of things that have left my life, save for one meal a week if I want them.

Coffee
Oreos
Pancakes
Milkshakes
Rolls
Biscuits
Carrots
Coconut
Pineapple
Potatoes

Those are the ones that really kill me. I miss coffee the most. I quit cold turkey because I thought anything else would just be a disgrace. Now anything that is on that list I can have one meal a week. We get our "cheat meal" if you will, and can have whatever we want. Well since little sister was in town this weekend so I decided to have beer, chips and queso, a milkshake, and two small cookies. Sunday morning I woke up with food hang over. That is to say I felt horrible and sick.

Take this as a note people! If you're having a cheat day, don't go crazy! It's like drinking too much, you feel awful the next day and it's just not worth it. I think my next cheat meal will be breakfast…

Anyway! So the first week of the boot camp was torture and not that bad at all the same time. But it was well worth it because I lost…

10 pounds! Hooray! Even though that's all water weight, I'm still happy with the results. I also know that 10 pounds is probably a fluke but I'm still excited about it. That is my motivation to keep my diet and exercise going.

Crafty Christmas!

So I've had this crafting bug lately. I'm sure it has to do with my mass amount of time spent on crafting websites : p

Any who, I made this wreath (out of a wreath form and garland)

and this wrapping paper (out of stamps, a pencil eraser, a red felt pen, and a brown paper bag)

Amber and I also made Mom an advent calendar. It was kind of annoying to figure out how to fit all the paper on there when we hadn't thought of that when we were cutting and coloring on it : / Oh well it looks great IMO. Oh, the box is for her "go-alongs".

Pretty sweet, huh?

Christmas, Christmas, Time is here...

So It's Christmas time and I could not be happier.

Amber and I have been getting into the Christmas spirit.

We made a Ginger Bread House...that is Amber's side of the roof. Mine was just scary!

And we decorated the apartment.

This is my table setting, I have Christmas and Hanukkah. Love it!

There is lots more stuff I just don't have pictures of it yet! Amber, the amazing planner that she is, has found something awesome and fun to do each weekend. Plus we made Advent calendars for each other so every night holds something awesome.

I love the holidays...

It makes me want to be a craftier person. I've been scouring DIY websites for cute ideas on how to spruce up my house. I have a wreath I'm going to try and make and a few other shh shh projects. For now I'll show you my little pennant banner. I had this sort done before but I found a paper puncher for $1 at Michael's so I couldn't resist making a real one. I love it!

Also, remember how I said that Amber and I went to St. Andrew's UMC and it was so pretty? This is behind the church. How could you not feel closer to God when looking at that? I don't know if you can tell but there is a trail leading to the cross and some benches. I just love this picture.

Look! First lit up Christmas tree : ) I love it!

Weekend Fun times

I had a fantastic weekend. I spent the majority of it with Amber and Matt, dotted with a few other friends here and there. I really enjoyed myself and on Sunday Amber and I went to St. Andrews UMC. I love that church, it is so pretty. It's super close to our house so I think I'm going to start going on a regular basis.

Anyway, Saturday Amber and I got up and went out to my Mom's house for TV watching / Monster loving times. I ended up making pancakes for myself and Pam, but I added a little something special. Cinnamon! Woo hoo! I know that isn't really "exciting" per say but I thought my little addition made me them quite tasty.

Then yesterday I finally checked my mail (I never do this) and I had a package from Dedire! So exciting. Inside was a beautiful hat that she made just for me. See hat below. I'm not looking so hot but the hat it.

This week is going to be fun and busy for sure. Today I have sorting and cleaning to finish up, then tomorrow I go see Allie to help her get ready for the parental invasion, then I have to finish up Christmas shopping! This up coming weekend is going to a trip to see Kathy (we think) so yeah, lot of stuff to do and I love it.

Crafty times

So I've decided to become a craftier person. I'm not sure how that's going to turn out since I have no patience whatsoever but we'll see. For Christmas I decided to use a bunch of bags for sack lunches as my "wrapping paper". I went to a craft fair with my mom and sister about a month ago and found some Stampin Up stamps in a clearance bin for $13 that were all Christmas so I bought them with the idea of using them on the bags.

I tried this last night with some cheap clearance ink I found at Michael's. First thing I learned, only buy acid free ink, as non acid free will stain your stamps. Found this out the hard way. But my tester bag was cute enough so once I get better red and green ink we'll be in business.

I did get gold and silver and they don't really show up. I'm thinking they'll make cute snow flakes though.

Attempting to bake while sick...

I took a sick day yesterday and used that time to sleep, watch amazing daytime TV, and make Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes.





They were a box recipe but I still somehow managed to jack up the icing. I think I added too much milk. It said to add the milk one tablespoon at a time until i was light and fluffy. Well, I'm lazy and I don't like idea so I added it as I wanted too. Thus I ended up with a really thick, heavy icing that wanted to fall off the cupcake. So I refrigerated them. Hooray for good ideas!

Maybe next time I'll follow directions? Maybe not : p I think time I'll try a pie, or a super fun new way to do Mac N Cheese.