Bad Blogger

I'm sorry, friends! I'm so behind on reading your blogs and it makes me sad! I'm just swamped at work and at home with the move that I haven't had time at all! I hope you're all doing well and I hope I find the time tonight or tomorrow to play catch up. In the meantime know that we're closing today so my life will slow down eventually - yay! I leave you with a cute blog-related someecard and a promise to catch up soon - happy Tuesday!! :)

Days 206, 207 & 208: Whirlwind Weekend

So Friday at work was CRAZY. Just crazy. I could barely get everything done (and i didn't :( )! I DID get in a fun lunch with Stacy & Mel and after work I walked 4 miles – that’s about it though because then it was off to Enterprise for Megan’s shower! Me, Austin, and Reuben headed out at 8 and didn’t get in town until midnight. Boo. I was EXHAUSTED so we passed out… but Reuben was too excited to sleep… and then the tornado sirens went off so we all had to go in the hallway. Sigh. I didn’t sleep much at all and kind of felt like crap. I ended up at 1,662 calories, 196 carbs and 46 fat grams. So not a GREAT day, but I’m glad I went out and had fun with the girls – and still got in a good walk! Here’s what I ate. Oh - and I weighed 112 - random!

Saturday I still got up knowing I’d go to the gym! I did a little over 3 miles and leg strength training – great workout! And it was fun to go with mom. When we got home we got in the hot tub- AWESOME. I told Austin we need one. He said no and reminded me of all of things we DID need like a vacuum cleaner. Haha I got in the shower and we headed out to the clubhouse to meet the girls and get ready for the party. The party was really fun!! I just so enjoyed spending time with Lindz, Megan and our moms and families and boys of course! It was so nice to get together. It was SUPER windy though, boo, which made the party close down a little early. But we hung out there for a while then took the keg over to Megan’s for more fun, which included making up/learning dances for us to do at the wedding. No, not kidding, it was that kind of night! Haha Love, love loved my short trip home and can’t wait until May when I’m back home for her wedding. I ended up with a high day (of course – blah) at 2,142 calories, 230 carbs and 36 fat grams – the sweets & alcohol killed me! I’m just glad I got in some walking, but do wish I’d had a bit less to eat! I WASN’T hungry – just eating cause it was there and I was tired. It’s amazing how much lack of sleep can make you eat!! Here’s what I ate. Weighed 112 again - good thing because i'm SURE by Monday i'll be up!

Girls & Moms!

Me, Lindz and one of Megan's bridesmaids, Stacy, that we got to know - sweet girl!

Besties

Sunday I woke up (by Reuben again) EXHAUSTED. It was 8:30… 5.5 hours of sleep – but I couldn’t go back to sleep. So I packed, woke Austin and we hit the road by 9:30. I drove the 4 hours back home. We didn’t even stop but for a McDonald’s sweet treat (sundae!) When we got home we unpacked and rested, then raced up to the house to see if a problem that happened Friday was fixed (don’t even get me started) – and it WAS – it was fixed WELL and so we’re super happy. We stopped and got pizza (yes – I ate out a LOT this weekend!) at an old favorite, Pepperoni’s Tavern, and ate, got in bed and I watched the SATC movie…. Twice. Now I’m passing out – but just in case for some reason I eat again I’ll wait and post my stats tomorrow!!

I hope you guys all had amazing weekends! I’m planning to catch up tomorrow night – talk to you all soon!

Day 205: New Recipe, Hardwood Floors Update & Happy Friday!

Yesterday was a much tamer day. Mostly because I didn’t have to deal with anyone’s shit because it was my work from home day. I got SO much done and felt better about the work week. A few things happened though:

• I didn’t work out; instead I used my lunch break to pack! I got lots of packing done that hour – woo!
• Our hardwood installer called concerned about the color. Basically, he wanted permission to buy a box of the wood ($100) so we could see it and confirm it was right. Well I’m all for due diligence, but if it’s wrong we’re out $100. So I called Lowe’s for a free sample (they had it!) and me and Austin made plans to head over after work, and to go by Home Depot Expo’s going out of business sale.
• I made a new recipe for lunch from Aggie’s Kitchen – spicy southwest chicken wraps! I modified a bit based on ingredients I had on hand but I LOVED it. I made Austin some too and he had them after work and was a fan as well. (posted below).
• Long story short: Lowes lied… Home Depot Expo sucked… but the Home Depot out in Doraville had it so we got BOTH for FREE and Austin has them in the car ready to meet Randy at noon today. One looks JUST like it – YAY! (The main floor has 3 areas of hardwood, 1 area of laminate and 2 areas of carpet – we’re having the 3 non-hardwood areas changed to match the hardwood – so finding the EXACT wood as far as size, color, etc. has been a challenge). (pic below!)
• After getting our samples (and being SO happy) we headed to Brandsmart to look at TVs (we need three more flat screen Samsungs - one for the kitchen, one for my scrapbook room and one for the video game room). We had a lot of luck, but of course aren’t buying until we move. Nice to see what’s out there though. We also checked out grills, vacuum cleaners and the kitchen appliances we’ll want upgraded to stainless (but probably not until next year’s stimulus comes rolling in!).
• We got home, had a glass (and a half!) of wine and passed out – GREAT evening. I’m still on a cloud about the samples AND two successful recipes this week – eeee!
• I ended up at 1,563 calories, 210 carbs and 23 fat grams. Here’s what I ate.

We're 99% sure it's the one on the right. It MIGHT be the one on the bottom left though.

We think this is the winner! We'll know for sure at noon!

Spicy Southwest Chicken Wraps

Sorry - not the best picture. Those dang orange plates again!

First, make Chili Rubbed Chicken Breasts. For one serving:

4 oz. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
Salt & pepper

Turn on broiler. Combine all ingredients except chicken. Put chicken in a foil lined pan sprayed with PAM. Run spices over chicken and broil for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, flip it over, add 1 tbsp of water and broil for 3 minutes. While Chicken is cooking, make the Southwest mixture. For one serving:


1.5 tbsp salsa
50 g black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp diced onion
50 g canned whole kernel corn
3-4 chopped pickled jalapeno
ssalt and pepper to taste
15 g fat-free cheddar cheese
2 Mission carb balance tortillas

In large bowl, stir together all ingredients except tortillas. Add the chili rubbed chicken. Divide mix into two and put on two tortillas. Wrap and heat on the George Foreman for 3 minutes. Cut in half and serve!

Nutrition Information: One serving of two wraps is 495 calories, 63 carbs and 8 fat grams. SO filling, especially with 47 grams of protein.

Our Thoughts: Next time I think I’ll make 3 and me and Austin can split the third one, and I’ll serve him black beans or chips/salsa on the side. (he needs more food!). 1.5 wraps instead of 2 wraps would take it down to 371 calories, 46 carbs and 6 fat grams – MUCH better! Also – I think these would be great ‘the next day’ and plan to make them at night and pack them in foil for lunches.

Day 204: Rude People + Nice People + New Recipe + Magazines + Bug Update

Wow… today would have sucked if I hadn’t chosen to be happy. Speaking of – here’s a pic of me and Austin from Mary T’s 26th birthday (have I mentioned that I have 4 friends named Mary? Mary V, Mary T, Mary D and Meri G). Anyway – it makes me happy.


Wonder what we're looking at?! The amazing birthday girl breaking it down! LOL She's awesome!

Here’s today’s bulleted nutshell.

• Work sucked. It just sucked. I dealt with a lot of BS. Boo.
• A girl was SO rude in the parking deck at the gym. Long story short: I was waiting on a space, the guy told me he was up a way so I reversed. While reversing with my signal on a girl flew around the corner and put her signal on. I gestured that it was my space; I’d been waiting. But she kept her signal on. The guy backed out and I started to pull in and she tried to pull in the space and almost hit me!! Then I just looked at her (she knew she was wrong) so she backed out a big then SCREAMED eff you, flicked me off and honked her horn. Psycho.
• I did get in 5.5 miles cardio and strength training (biceps & back).
• Our awesome realtor brought moving boxes over today! So sweet! The office even emailed to let us know (I know, crazy) and offered to put them in our apartment for us. We let them. Very nice (of Amanda… the office must have an ulterior motive…).
• I made a new recipe – Curried Chicken Salad! I’ve been trying to find the credit, and thanks to hyperlinking found it when I pasted it in - woot! Got it at Sweetnicks.com - GREAT website with lots of yummy recipes. We mixed it up a bit and made it for 2 servings. (recipe below)
• We emailed the office and they said they’d send another pest control guy out tomorrow to identify the bugs (after we told them that they’re beetles, they’re nocturnal and pest control can’t get rid of them). So we reminded them that tomorrow they will not be there… they’re nocturnal. We offered to catch some. We quickly filled a ziplock bag with 5 or so. Ew.
• In an effort to pack I’m reading magazines so I don’t have as much to pack. That’s the same thing, right? (and thanks, Pissy, for all of the amazing mags – oodles and oddles of procrastinating fun!)
• I ended up at 1,650 calories, 202 carbs and 46 fat grams – not bad – especially with the mileage factored in!
• Here’s what I ate.

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich
2 servings

· 4 whole black peppercorns
· 2.5 cups water
· 1 bay leaf
· 1 tsp minced garlic
· 2 tsp lemon juice
· 8 oz. chicken tenders; cut into 1” cubes
· 1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
· 1 tbsp honey
· ½ tsp curry powder
· ½ tsp lemon pepper
· Salt

In a large saucepan over high heat, add peppercorns, bay leaf, garlic, lemon and water; cover and bring to a boil. Add chicken and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, 7 to 10 minutes until no longer pink; drain. In a large bowl, combine mustard, honey, curry powder, lemon pepper and salt; stir in chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours. Divide into two servings and serve on low-calorie wheat bread. Nutritional Facts: 245 calories, 3 fat grams, 26 carbs and 32 protein grams.

Our thoughts: We LOVED IT, but next time I will add 2 extra ounces of chicken to bring the total to 10 oz. – which will add 31 calories, .3 fat grams, 0 carbs and 6.6 grams protein, bringing each serving to 276 calories, 3.3 fat grams, 26 carbs and 38.6 protein grams – great sandwich! (this includes bread) Aside from adding the chicken, we also think it should have a few pieces of crunchy romaine lettuce! And down the road, I want to serve it with a small salad with fat free ginger dressing!

Day 203: 10 Happy Things

I’m trying to have a good day. I’m trying to brush off the fact that yesterday I got peed on, got attacked by my headboard causing me to potentially pull something in my back, and discovered a bug infestation that clearly pest control can’t… control. Instead I’m choosing happy! Here are 10 happy things for today.

1. I got in 5.5 miles + abs + shoulders + chest – YES! Great workout.
2. I’m in love with looking at my sitting room inspiration board (pic below!)
3. I planned ahead for the 4-hour meeting today by eating breakfast in the car instead of the eggs/bacon smorgasbord; and eating a turkey/FF mayo wheat sandwich at 11 so I could go straight to the gym! Then I got back to work at 1:30 and had my greek feta chicken – perfect!
4. I RSVPed to attend Hungry Girl’s book signing in Atlanta – yay! It’s at the borders by my house – fab – and it’s on a Friday and I can’t WAIT for her 200 recipes under 200 calories to come out – fun.
5. I weighed 113 again! I’m hoping it’s due to my hard work rather than my stomach bugg… which is gone by the way! I feel great and, aside from some BAD sinus pressure, am good to go.
6. Gossip Girl was awesome! Really – so glad B is still herself. Can’t wait to catch up on One Tree Hill and Castle later tonight!
7. Even though my bedding didn’t NEED to be deep cleaned, I must say it smells amazing and is SUPER fluffy. Last night I quite possibly had the best night of uninterrupted sleep during a weekday without the presence of alcohol I’ve ever had!
8. People are awesome. My sister has already loaned us tons of boxes, my mom offered to get some in town and have them for us this weekend and our amazing realtor reached out offering to give us boxes and bring them to us. So sweet!
9. Today a co-worker told me how “thin” I looked and said I looked “great and healthy.” I love that word –not skinny – thin, and of course healthy is what it’s all about! Very, very nice to hear of course – people are so sweet.
10. I’m super excited about going home this weekend! (Home = Enterprise, Alabama). I haven’t gotten to visit my mom in forever! And I’m co-hosting Megan’s shower so I get to see her again and Lindsey! (no Em though – boo). Either way – I’m looking forward to it and want to make sure I make it a priority and don’t worry about what needs to be done back in Atlanta with the house, etc.

Seating Area (click to make larger)


I ended the day at 1,695 calories, 240 carbs and 25 fat grams – squealed right in again very close to my ceiling! K – off to finish reading blogs – ttyt! Here's what I ate! And I forgot – yesterday I ended up at 1,459 calories, 187 carbs and 35 fat grams. Here’s what I ate.

Day 200 Wrap Up & Days 201 & 202: Relaxing Weekend, A tummy bug + real bugs & Attack of a Headboard

Saturday kept roaring for a while – we got a lot packed, we heard from the apartment and we DON’T have to repaint the walls (yesssss) and we got a lot of clutter tossed. Around 8 we could pack no longer and headed over to Scott and Mary’s to visit. Good times! Reuben LOVES it there and I had a great time catching up with Mary! We got back home a little after 1 and passed out. I had a high day (a few drinks and YUMMY cookies Mary T made!) – but it was yummy! I ended up at 2,007 calories, 190 carbs and 55 fat grams. Here’s what I ate.

Sunday was a major blah day. I felt AWFUL – I don’t know if I had a 24-hour bug or not but I pretty much spent the day in bed with a tummy ache or sick. :( Other than being sick, I did get in a lot of SATC. Comcast’s On Demand did a cute thing and divided up the episodes into sections like ‘romance and love,’ ‘one night stands,’ ‘I Love NY,’ etc. I ended up watching like 15 episodes! Crazy. During the show I worked on the area in our new house I’m calling the ‘sitting room’ – basically, it’s a random space between the kitchen and pool table. I worked on an inspiration board and can’t wait to set it up – yay!! I also finished up the recipe book (version 1) and had a lot of quality time with Reuben. I finally started feeling better at 7…. Austin went to the grocery store and we cooked breakfasts for Monday – Thursday and white chicken chili for tomorrow and Wednesday. We also made dinner- baked potatoes and chili – yum! I ended up RIGHT at my ceiling – 1,700 calories, 263 carbs and 24 fat grams – not too bad. Here’s what I ate. Just wish I’d felt up to doing the strength training I had down for today but oh well. There’s always another day, right? :) I hope you all had great weekends. Despite feeling sick, I had a great weekend with Austin and Reuben and loved just being at home and getting things done and CHILLING. Nice. So while watching Brothers & Sisters (awesome) and Desperate Housewives (LOVED IT) – I found these little brownish red bugs by the windows… I freaked out… and planned to call pest control first thing in the morning.

Today has been ROUGH…..I got to work and was just sleepy. I had tons to do. I got most of it done but during my 9 a.m. meeting I mentioned the bugs to the girls and they mentioned bed bugs. I know people who got those in college – HELL NO – I took my lunch to swing by the bank for cash for our housekeeper (forgot to leave it), went by Kroger for medicine and raced home to strip our bed and wash it all in hot water. I didn’t find any bugs in the bedding – yay- but did find some dead ones on the window sill. Ewwww. Long story short – in cleaning the bed I managed to get myself pinned down between the box springs and the Ginormous headboard. You guys – it weighs more than 150 pounds. It was AWFUL. I was thinking I’d have to stay there until Terri got in to clean! Thankfully – I squeezed myself out slowly then barely managed to get the board against a wall (not vertically – horizontally). TOTAL mess. By the time I was done I was a dusty mess and had to change and get back to work! My afternoon was super busy… and in the back of my mind I TOTALLY worried about the house/bugs. I did take an afternoon break and get our gas, power, and trash hooked up, and locked down a time with the movers. After work I picked up Reuben (so freaked out from spending the day at the vet for his exam). When we got home he was shaking (from the mess… Reuben can’t handle things out of place for real) and when I picked him up since he wouldn’t walk to his litter box from shaking and he peed on me. Yes. My SECOND dress is now covered in pee. The bed was still a wreck so I changed over the laundry, had some cereal and took a nap on the couch. Wow. No exercise AND a nap. No good very bad day.

Can’t wait for tomorrow. And after everything… we realized they’re not bed bugs, they’re beetles, specifically foreign grain beetles that feed off of new construction, sawdust, etc. which is why they’re obsessed with my windows…. Yes, Post Properties bites the big one again. The minute we got done cleaning everything, they popped up again out of the baseboard. Blah. I guess I’m going to call Post Stratford and make them send back pest control. I’m sure THAT will happen. Good thing – they don’t bite or really have any interest in us. They just want to eat wood. Lovely. And they’re nocturnal and LOVE light. Ew… watching the shows now trying to pretend there aren’t bugs collecting on a lamp. Ewwwww. Off to sleep now to end this day - "see" you all tomorrow - can't wait to read your blogs & catch up!

Day 199 & 200: New Weight, New Chairs, Free Concert Tickets, Moving Schedule and More – yay!

Friday

• I had 1,680 calories, 205 carbs and 40 fat grams.
• I got in 3.5 miles at lunch and 2 miles + abs + legs – my workout felt GREAT – first time I got in strength training this week and it was awesome!
• Work was crazy like CRAZY. I got a lot done but it was draining.
• I made enchiladas for dinner – still amazing!
• My printer (awesome vendor; I’m their client) called me with an offer for free tickets to upcoming concerts at Chastain Park! She gave me a laundry list of options and me and Austin chose the Bad Company/Doobie Brothers concert on Friday night at Chastain park in June – woot!
• I made our detailed, to-the-day, to-do list for moving. It’s jam-packed, but we feel better being on target and ready to go!
• We watched a few Heroes – we’re on Season 3 now… so good.
• Here’s what I ate.

Moving Schedule (click to get bigger!)

Saturday

We got up, had breakfast and had the most successful day. Oh – and I weighted 113!! Austin weighed 169. This is crazy you guys – that’s 23 down for me and 36 down for Austin – 59 pounds! Yesssss first time ever for both of us. And I measured – here is the updated chart (pretty much the same). And I changed my ticker – wanted something different!! Here’s what we did today (so far – it’s only 4 p.m.):

• Used our $75 West Elm coupon for two chairs. They retailed for $300 and $200. They were on sale for $120 and $80 (only ones in the store). We told the guy we'd take them both if he'd do $150. He said sure and we got them both for $87 after our coupon - YAY! $44 a chair!
• Visited Ikea and made a list of things we love and things we thought we loved but don’t like in person.
• Bought 4 Euro Pillows at Target; found two lamps I want…
• Scheduled the movers for April 11.
• Scheduled the pool table movers for April 9.
• Checked our dryer plug - it's 4-prong - YES! (the one at the house is 4-prong so we don't need an adaptor)
• Went banking to prepare for buying our house! And ordered new checks.
• Contacted our apartment complex to see if we need to paint the walls back (they keep thinking they did them but I want it in writing: either we need to paint them or we don't).

Measurement Chart (click to make larger)


New chairs!

That's it for now - off to start packing thanks to my sister for letting me borrow boxes! (Yes, my sister is so organized that she has packing boxes on hand – love it!) Hope you guys are having amazing weekends!!

Day 197 & 198: The Usual in Bullets + Movie Review + Recipe!

Wednesday

• I had 1,530 calories, 206 carbs and 34 fat grams. I weighed 116.5 (again).
• Still felt pooey but appreciated knowing I’m not the only one with awful TOMs. Blah. Now I feel so sorry for all of you!
• Got in 3.5 miles at lunch and 2 miles after work + abs. Nothing else though. Sigh.
• My hip flexors hurt. Thanks to Every Gym’s Nightmare I know to call them that. I was referring to it as the place where my legs connect to my body in front. Boo. I tried the stretch she posted and it helped.
• I watched the rest of The Biggest Loser – this episode was particularly uplifting, although I felt bad for Tara… boo
• We have a closing date/time – Tuesday, March 31, at noon! The keys are ours THAT DAY. We’re hoping to have hardwood installers in Wednesday & Thursday and then paint that weekend (the one room & half bath) and bring over some stuff (light big stuff like blankets and pillows) and stuff that we don’t trust movers with (some lamps/framed pieces). Then the NEXT weekend we’ll move in fo’ real (as in with movers).
• Here’s what I ate.

Thursday

• I still felt bad. How many days IS this now? Blah.
• I had 1,697 calories, 231 carbs and 34 fat grams.
• I decided fairly early on this would be my break-from-cardio day and instead I would devote the day to strength training. So… I did none. What is wrong with me?! Haha I’m going to make up for it this weekend but I feel bad- I LOVE ST and I’m totally neglecting it. :(
• I watched Fool’s Gold with Kate & Matt. Eeeeeeh. Not the best. I mean, I knew that going into it when HBO, who bought the movie for my viewing pleasure, only gave it one star. And, well, I trust HBO – rarely steers me wrong. But it was a dud. If any of you liked it tell me and i'll give it another try. I could have been projecting my bad attitude on it!
• I thought about packing… I called two hard wood installers to follow up and left voicemails and I got a list of utilities for the house from our realtor (thanks, Amanda!) And thanks, Stacy, for telling me to go ahead and get cranking on that!
• I made something new for lunch – Italian Chicken Wrap! (recipe & photo below) Soooo yums.
• I made chicken parmesan for dinner – WOW! Actually I prepped it during lunch (whilst doing laundry and unloading the dishwasher), and Austin cooked it/brought it to me in bed for dinner – love that combo!
• I groomed Reuben! He got his ears cleaned, his coat brushed and we gave him his flea and heartworm medication! Good buddy.
• Here’s what I ate.

That’s all folks! This weekend we’re planning much of nada. Just packing and working out. Depending on how much gets packed we may venture out Saturday night but I’m thinking no. I’m honestly still trying to recoop from the last two weekends. Speaking of, I weighed 114 today. What?! Yay! (yes, I checked three times as per usual when the scale is on my side – I just don’t trust it!) Time for the chicken wrap!

Outside of it - sorry, peeps - not the best photog! The orange plate also offered no favors. And the dagger coming from the back right. Wow, I need to take a class.

Inside - yumstown. Am I the only one who hearted the coincidence that my tbsp matched my meal? hehe

Recipe for Italian Chicken Wraps

4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped into pieces
1 Mission Carb Balance, soft taco size
½ tsp Olive Oil
3 tbsp Muir Glen Organic Sauce, divided
15 grams Fat-Free Feta Cheese
15 grams Fat-Free Mozarella, Grated
Salt, Garlic Salt, Red Pepper Flakes and Italian Seasoning to taste

Defrost chicken, cut into pieces. Set pan to medium and spray PAM and pour olive oil in pan. Drop chicken in and sprinkle with all four seasonings; mostly Italian Seasoning. While it cooks, measure cheeses and turn on George Foreman. Once chicken is cooked, after about 4 minutes, put on plate. Put tortilla in the chicken pan and heat for about 1 minute on each side. Remove from heat and lay flat. Spoon 2 tbsp sauce on tortilla, then chicken, then cheeses. Fold into a wrap and place on the George Foreman for 3 minutes. While it cooks, heat up the other tbsp of sauce. Remove wrap from heat, cut in half and serve with the extra sauce. Serves 1.

Nutritional Facts: 326 calories, 26 carbs, 6 fat grams and 40 grams of protein.

Hope you try and enjoy - HAPPY FRIDAY!

Days 195 & 196: A Total Daze

Yeah…. These last few days have been SUCH a blur! And my TOM has been STARVING for crap. Sad. Here’s the last two days in a nutshell.
Monday

• I had 1,658 calories, 200 carbs and 45 fat grams.
• I walked 5.5 miles (no strength training).
• We sent another counter to the seller for the inspection amendment (who is going to fix what).
• I was tired and didn’t want to cook anything.
• All I wanted to do was eat crap.
• I watched the Secret Life of the American Teenager hehe – cute back story!
• I read lots of Over Her Dead Body – loving it.
• Here’s what I ate.

Tuesday

• I had 1,539 calories, 263 carbs and 32 fat grams.
• I walked 3.5 miles (no strength training).
• I watched Gossip Girls (oooh so good!), One Tree Hill (awful as usual – love it!), Castle (are you watching this new show? I love it!) and some of the Biggest Loser.
• I tried a new recipe – Crab & Blackbean burritos from Hungry Girl…. Austin loved them… I didn’t…. I think I’m just not a crab eater. So he ate both of ours and I had cereal and my TOM had crap.
• I found two new websites with TONS of great recipes – WOOT! I’m going to try a few next week.
• One of my good friends found out she was pregnant – YAY! I'm so very happy for her!!!
• One of my good friends found out she was laid off – BOO! I just don't know what to say - so awful. :( Sucks so bad you guys.
• As off 11 p.m. we are officially signed off and under contract – no more due diligence, no more inspection stuff….the house is good as ours!
• Here’s what I ate.

Talk about an up-and-down last couple of days. Let me tell you - my stomach has been in knots, I haven't slept well, my TOM has me feeling like crap and if it weren't for Stacy I wouldn't have worked out during lunch either day - thanks, Stacy!!! I hope you guys had great Mondays & Tuesdays!! Off to read your bloggies now!

P.S. Monday and Tuesday I weighed 116.5 - eek! I haven't weighed that in a while... I should totally blame TOM, right? LOL I'm sure the back-to-back BP's didn't help either - eek! I'll burn lots of calories packing this weekend - no doubt!

P.S.S. Thinspired brought this up a while back and I thought it was smart. When you comment would you rather I commented back on YOUR blog or commented back on HERE? Let me know what would be easiest/best/most convenient/preferred by you!! :)

Days 191 – 194: Big Weekend, Book Review, New Clothes & Reuben’s Parents

So Thursday I did eat more – I had a bowl of honey nut cheerios and milk – eek! That pushed me over to 1,879 calories, 240 carbs and 46 fat grams. Here’s what I ate.

Friday was busy, busy, busy! I was still feeling sleep deprived but was wired! I had a super busy day at work but did squeeze in 3 miles at lunch and 2.5 after work, and did abs – yay! I ate pretty good. Lunch was even catered but I just didn’t eat all the bread and took off the cheese (it didn’t look that good anyway – blah). Oh – I also meant to share these with you – the breeder I got Reuben from finally posted pictures of his parents – Haley and Hiho! Haha I think it’s hilarious!!! Anyway, after the gym I headed home and Megan/Emily were almost there already! Me and Austin ate fabulous mustard chicken and they he packed up for Devie’s. I cooked the girls pita pizzas and they got here just in time! It was SO good to see them again!! We hung out, drank wine and then Lindz got here!!! We quickly realized that we must go get more alcohol! We went by Kroger and then drank, hung out, did Megan’s lingerie shower and played a game to see how well Megan and Clint know each other (he had answered a bunch of questions in advance – so cute!). It was a blast. But before we knew it it was LATE – time for bed! I ended up at 2,283 calories, 311 carbs and 42 fat grams. Wow drinks and snacks add up! Here’s what I ate.

Saturday I woke up EXHAUSTED, but I couldn’t sleep. I was just so excited to have everyone there, but so nervous about the house stuff (waiting to hear back on our maintenance requests) that I was just a ball of exhausted energy. I didn’t want to wake anyone so I read… and read…. And finished Kate White’s Lethally Blond. OMG SO GOOD. Another great who-done-it – this one kept me guessing even more than the last – so many twists and I thought the dialogue was even funnier- more punchy. I just love, love loved it! Within a couple minutes of finishing everyone was up so I had yogurt and made everyone the FF cheese, FF turkey bacon and egg muffins! They loved them – YAY! By now it was noon and still NASTY outside, but we had our hearts set on shopping so we got ready, I ate Greek feta chicken and we headed out – first to Alpharetta. I showed them the house (yay!) and we hit up Macy’s, Forever 21, Baker’s and H&M at Northpoint Mall. SUCH LUCK! Everyone got the cutest stuff!! Then we headed to Perimeter mall and hit up Forever 21, Macy’s and J. Crew. The malls were packed!! I snacked a bit – cheez its in route and fat free fro-yo (from Yoforia!) at the mall – YUM!! I ended up being the proud owner of 4 new dresses, 1 new skirt and a pair of jeans. Best thing? I only spent $50 at Macy’s on 2 dresses! The other stuff was at Forever 21 and I had a store credit and gift cards!! Here's the stuff I got!!

It was getting late so we raced home, freshened up, dressed up Megan and drove over to Eclipse de Luna for dinner – tapas – YUMMMM! I had eaten my cashew curry chicken and rice before we left, but I had some of Em’s hummus and some of Megan’s empanada! I also had a beer (no more since I was driving). Everyone was SO nice to Megan – I love when people are friendly and play along and don’t stare at you like crazy people! After dinner I called the cab to meet us at my place and we raced there, went in for a sec and made drinks and met the cabbie. YUM, my first SF Red Bull + vodka for the night! We went straight to cosmo lava and started checking it out! It was super fun TONS of rooms and levels and dance/chill areas. Megan had a blast dancing and meeting people and basically being the life of the party! After a while it was no or never –leave or stay! So we left and raced over to Flip Flops for more drinking and debauchery.

Megan had SO much fun dancing up there and met some really sweet girls and of course the awesome staff there. Before we knew it – closing time – into the cab we go back to our place, where we preceded to somehow spend the next 2 hours on the floor in my guest bathroom (I have no idea) talking and crying and talking. LOL So us. I was STARVING (hello 4 a.m.) so I made a smart ones lasagna bolognese and we shared it (I ate the most!) I ended up at 2,576 calories, 292 carbs and 25 fat grams – WHOA! Great night though so of course – worth it! Here’s what I ate.

Sunday bloody Sunday. I woke up feeling well rested – pretty well rested – and not bad at all! Yesssss…. Lindz was already in the shower and me and Em and Meags were slowly stirring. Lindz had the longest drive and her husband came to pick her up. Boo. Then I made breakfast (egg/potato tacos) and Megan got on the road. Boo. Then me and Em showered and she packed and in the blah Atlanta weather I took her to the airport. Boo. Then I was alone and missed them so much already. I drove up to West Elm at Atlantic Station to pick up some pillows I’d found online that were perfect for our bedroom. They weren’t ANYTHING like the ones online though. Crazy. So I left empty-handed to Banana Republic for pants. None fit. And it was raining harder. So I left to go home – BLAH! I did feel cute though – wearing my new skirt with these brown/ivory striped tights and boots and a long sleeved fitted tee! But other than that, I was tired/lonely and wanted to see Austin! I raced home and Austin was home! I quickly put together an oversized bowl of red curry! (i.e. I used an entire cup of white rice, ¼ cup of coconut milk, ¼ cup of TJ’s curry simmer sauce and 4 oz. of chicken). It was amazing. I settled into TV catch up – Ugly Betty (so cute!), Grey’s Anatomy (wow…. so good) and then me and Austin watched a movie and fell in and out of sleep in the nasty weather. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything but laundry (2 loads) and cooking breakfast for Monday and Wednesday (potato/egg/sausage burritos). I didn’t work out, I didn’t turn on my laptop (I know!) and I didn’t clean or do “house stuff.” I just started the Over Her Dead Body book and went to bed. I ate weird stuff – I was hungry for everything so I’d have a few pretzels, then a few kettle chips, then cereal, then later a makeshift taco out of Austin’s leftover Spanish rice/steak from lunch and chips/salsa. Totally random! I ended up at 1,667 calories, 247 carbs and 37 fat grams. WAY too many carbs (hello entire cup of rice!) but oh well. Here’s what I ate.

So, like last weekend, I definitely overindulged, but like last weekend – it was worth it. How many girl weekends with amazing friends do you really have?? I just wish mine hadn’t been back to back during our due diligence period but what are you going to do? I’m feeling a little stressed… which is making me sad…I am just ready for things to go back to normal!!

Catching Up, Great BP, Interesting Calorie-Counting News Piece

Yeah. Rainy Mondays. Blah. I'm in no way going to catch up until tonight (sad!) but I do want to share a pic from the weekend AND a little tidbit I came across this morning in my Hungry Girl e-newsletter (which I love).


(from l-r: Lindsey, Megan, Me and Emily)
We had a GREAT time at Megan's mini BP - wow! Despite the weather (cold and rainy) it was great to be back together!! I'll post more pics and more about the weekend tonight!! And I finished Lethally Blond Saturday morning (couldn't sleep) so I'll tell ya about it (hint: loved it!). I'm now reading yet another Kate White book (from earlier in the series) Over Her Dead Body. AND I bought some cutie cute new clothes! GREAT weekend. Oh and the girls got to see the house - loved it - yay! And quick house update: our due diligence period was extended to Tuesday (still trying to negotiate who will fix what) but we ARE submitting our 30-day notice to our awful apartment complex today. I'm not going to lie.... I have MAJOR butterflies about all of this and am probably going to have to be sedated in a couple of weeks... I just can't believe it's happening. It's the 16th and we could be moving in like less than 20 days. OMG so much to do.... okay.... enough about that! Here is the interesting tidbit from Hungry Girl, and i'll write more later and can't wait to catch up on your blogs!!

Calorie-Counters Got It Goin' On!

We've been saying this for a bazillion years (okay, since May of 2004), but there's no magic bullet that can change the simple facts of weight loss. The formula is pretty simple, chewers: It's calories in vs. calories burned. And a recent study (the largest of its kind) has confirmed this. Participants followed various diet plans (low-carb, high-protein, etc.), but each plan cut the same amount of calories from the participant's normal intake. Turns out that it really didn't matter what they ate, just how many calories they consumed -- every diet group lost about the same amount of weight. We say, if you're trying to shed lbs., it's up to YOU to figure out what helps you achieve a lower calorie lifestyle. We're all about eating, so we tend to stick with stuff we can eat large portions of without taking in a huge number of calories. More protein, less starchy carbs, less fat, more fiber -- all great ways to get more bang for your calorie buck. The takeaway here is that cutting calories, along with finding the stuff that keeps you satisfied, is the way to go for weight loss. And, while we're on the subject of calorie-counting, here's a friendly reminder that our new book, Hungry Girl 200 Under 200, (out 4/14/09) features 200 recipes, each under 200 calories per serving. To meet your calorie needs while chewing LOTS of delicious food, mix and match 'em 'til the cows come home!

Day 189 & 190: Countdown to Friday

I know we’re supposed to live each day to the fullest and blah blah blah – but sometimes I just live each day in anticipation for a better day (read: Friday). I just have been unable to focus. Spring Fever? Fun weekend coming up? Still hazy from last weekend? House excitement? All 4 put together making me a ginormous waste of space? Likely. Anywho, Wednesday was pretty uneventful. I was able to get in 3.5 miles at lunch with Stacy, 2 miles + abs after work, read lots of Lethally Blond, find some new recipes to try (so exciting!) and gather all of my gift cards (I randomly have a lot and started worrying expirations were coming up – my worries were not without merit – I HAVE to shop this month. Hehe Austin will love that I sincerely have to shop – I will LOSE MONEY if I don’t spend money. Haha As far as eats, Wednesday was a hungry day! I had a potato/egg/sausage burrito for breakfast, sweet & sour for lunch and tin foil chicken for dinner – YUM! However, I had LOTS of snacks – RF Cheez its, chips ahoy thin crisps, a dove chocolate promise and a cookie (work). I ended up at 1,700 calories, 268 carbs and 30 fat grams – WAY too high on the carbs – wowza – and just too many snacks, really, even with the 5.5 miles adjusted in (83 minutes so 280 calories). Here’s what I ate. By the way – I haven’t weighed more than 115 this month… VERY exciting. I think my higher calories/walking/etc. is working!

Thursday was more of the same, except I worked at home so that was nice. I walked 4 miles during lunch, and after work I walked another 2 miles and did chest, bicep and tricep exercises. Then I cleaned and did laundry in preparation for my friends coming – YAY! While cleaning and doing ST I watched one of my alltime favorite movies from my childhood: Troop Beverly Hills. OMG I still remembered 87.5% of the dialogue. Amazing. Tell me you’ve seen it and loved it! Oh, and because I’m a freak for that movie, I looked it up on imbd and found out one of the girls from the troop, Chica Barnfell, is famous now!!

She (real name: Carla Gugino) has been in tons of movies (including the mom on Spy Kids hehe) and played E’s agent after Ari on Entourage!! Love it! (oh and Kellie Martin is in it too!) For eats, I had bacon/egg/cheese muffin and yogurt, then ½ white bean chicken chili + turkey/swiss sandwich (grilled on Foreman), then pepperoni pita pizzas for dinner! For snacks I had a WW giant fudge bar, RF Triscuits/turkey pepperonis and kettle chips – yum! Then me and Austin cooked a bunch of stuff because he’s off to housesit for my sister while she and her husband are in Mexico for Radiohead! I’m sending him off with food for the weekend and his Xbox – he’ll be FINE! Hehe And then we gave Reuben a bath – he needs to look his best for the ladies! I would post my final #’s for today, but it’s only 9 p.m. – there’s a good chance I’m just going to read and hang out with the family, but I may eat again! Hehe So for now, happy Thursday! I’ll be visiting your blogs soon, and I plan to post tomorrow before the girls get in town!!

Day 187 & 188: Book Review, Weekend Plans and a Back Story

Hi Friends! Sorry I’m kind of ‘out of’ the blog. I’m still catching up – OMG. So Monday was an okay day. Kind of blah. I did not go to work, but stayed busy working all morning and just feeling bad. Austin went to the inspection at 1:30 and met all of the hardwood peeps and Amanda’s dad – he said everything went great! The inspection came back very minimal which is great. I mean, there are some things we’ll need to ask the seller to fix, but nothing major at all and the inspector said this is a good house – awesome!!! As far as eats, I had an eggsadilla for breakfast (om om om), and Austin got Subway for lunch. I got a chicken breast sandwich on wheat with American, Fat free honey mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, salt and pepper. SO good. I got the $5 footlong (that song is already in my head now) and ate part at noon… then part at like 4 p.m. Then later for dinner (late dinner) I made mustard chicken. Heaven. The only ‘outside of meals’ snack I had was some goldfish – not bad at all! I ended up at 1,675 calories, 217 carbs and 43 fat grams – not too bad at all. Still can’t believe I managed to eat that whole foot long though – SO good!! Haha In the end, I didn’t work out but (randomly) I also didn’t eat any sweets! (shocking) Here’s what I ate. Oh – we also cooked a bunch of stuff for the week that night (breakfasts/lunches/etc.).

So I TOTALLY forgot – Friday I finished 13 Reasons Why!! I thought it was awesome. I literally couldn’t put it down because I HAD to know what was up. Basically…. It takes place in high school after a girl commits suicide. No one knows why she did it, but instead of going away forgotten she makes a batch of 13 cassette tapes for 13 people, telling them why she did it an how they were partially responsible… It’s really good – and I LOVE how the chapters were like Chapter 2: Tape 3 Side A or whatever and in between people listening to the tapes and talking to other characters it used pause/play button icons! Awesome… quick, great read. Sad… but good. I can see myself reading it again because there were lots of characters to keep up with!

On to Tuesday! I woke up feeling SO much better. A bit cranky, but better. I got to work and stayed busy playing catch up. At lunch I dragged myself to the gym with Stacy and cranked out 3.5 miles while reading the new book – Lethally Blond (another Kate White murder mystery dubbed ‘Sex and the City meets Nancy Drew’). After work I was DYING to go home – straight home – no gym. So I did, vowing to do upper body strength training which, in the sprit of honesty, simply didn’t happen. I’m a slacker at heart, peeps! Instead I got in bed and read some of my book, and cleaned up some, and cooked some, and watched 4 episodes of Heroes Season 2, and made a list of things we need to buy as home owners (seriously this sucks – we have to buy stuff like a lawn mower, blower, vacuum cleaner, etc.). As far as food, I ended up at 1,685 calories, 215 carbs and 44 fat grams. Here’s what I ate.


2005 in Atlanta... (l-r: Lindz, Em, Meags, & Me) yes, Em is in a bridesmaid's dress...

BIG NEWS: Yesterday me and my besties also started planning Megan’s Bachelorette party Part 1 this weekend!! Backstory: Me, Megan, Emily and Lindsey have been friends for a long time ! (I’ve known Megan since kindergarten people, and all of us were on dance line together in high school). At Auburn, I lived with Megan through all of undergrad, and Em lived with us for two years. After college we all split up – me to Atlanta, Megan to Enterprise, Alabama, (our hometown), Lindsey to Brunswick/St. Simons, Gerogia, and Emily to D.C. However, because we’re so fabulous we manage to all stay in touch (and thanks to texting and facebook, too). Lindsey was married first at the Jekyll Island club in Georgia in fall 2007, and we were all in her wedding. I came next at Vestavia Country Club in Alabama in winter 2008, and they were all in my wedding. Megan is getting married this Spring 2009 and, you guessed it, we all get to be her bridesmaids!! So Megan is having a big bachelorette party blow-out at the beach, but it’s a far drive for Lindsey and an expensive flight for Emily and me/lindz/Em don’t know Meags’ other bridesmaids that well so Emily offered up the idea of a girl weekend with the four of us in Atlanta – so, long story short, they’re all going to be at my place by 8 p.m. this Friday for a bachelorette party weekend!! I’m super excited and can’t wait to see them all!! I’ve seen all of them, off and on, of course, but we haven’t ALL been together since my wedding! (eek!) Can’t freaking wait!


2007 at Lindz's Rehearsal Dinner (l-r: me, Em, Lindz, & Meags)

2007 at Lindsey's Wedding (l-r: Em, Meags, Lindz, & Me)



2008 at My Wedding (l-r: Meags, Me, Em, & Lindz)


2008 at my bachelorette party (l-r: Meags, Lindz, Em & Me)

K – off to be busy some more!! I plan to read all of your wonderful blogs tonight – can’t wait!

Days 183 - 186: Wonderful Weekend to Crashing

So WOW let’s backtrack. Thursday was weird! I was just in a funky mood all day and kind of felt sick and just BLAH. I worked….and that’s about it. I didn’t work out, I didn’t cook dinner, it was just a wash of a day. I went to bed early to rest up for the weekend hoping I felt better the next day! I ended up at 1,560 calories, 49 fat grams and 204 carbs. Here’s what I ate.

Friday was much better! I woke up still kind of feeling bad, but I headed to work and had a super productive day and even got in 5.5 miles! (no strength training though) My mom was coming over to spend the weekend with Reuben so I got to see her and go to the grocery store and TJ’s! (knew I wouldn’t want to Sunday so it all worked out). I made black bean chicken tacos for dinner then headed over to Monica’s for her BP weekend! Friday night was wine night with TONS of fabulous snacks that I completely gorged on all night – eek! It was, as usual, totally worth it though for a super fun night with friends. I ended up at 2,596 calories, 300 carbs and 72 fat grams. I know, WOW! Little snacks add up QUICK, especially when it’s chocolate/peanut butter covered pretzel balls. Little pieces of heaven! Here’s what I ate.

Saturday I woke up pretty tired (9 girls in a 2-bedroom apartment and I didn’t get enough sleep? Shocking!). I had a Jimmy Dean d-light and yogurt and bummed around getting ready, showering, etc. It was fun getting ready with all the girls and everyone was super excited for the lingerie shower! I made my own lunch/dinner (worried about getting sick and not being able to go back home!), so I had sweet & sour chicken before we headed out around 12:30 or 1 to a really cool Mexican restaurant in midtown, Zocalo. It was like indoor but out – like eating lunch under a covered patio. We did the lingerie shower there and it was hilarious because Monica was SO embarrassed!! We were like oh come on – everyone here besides us is homosexual and could care less about your new cutie cute thong! Hehe So funny. After the shower we went to check into hotels in midtown and rested a bit before more drinking! Haha Around 7 I took my red curry chicken out of the cooler and found a microwave down in the employee lounge- lovely- but my dinner was GOOD and it was already time to get in the cab and head to Two Urban Licks. The place was amazing –loved the décor, mood, etc. – very swanky! We got a great u-shaped table with plush leather and pillows! And I loved how, because it was in a warehouse, had the garage doors up (i.e. loading dock) and you could completely see the downtown skyline. Very cool!! The place was fun and the staff was SO nice. They took care of Monica’s cake and were so great about everything (and QUICK!) During dinner we gave out Lauren’s fun toys – a big light-up ring for Monica, sashes, shot glass necklaces, penis straws, etc. After dinner we hopped in a cab and headed to Opera! They weren’t open yet so we walked across to flipflops where this super nice dude bought us all shots and we danced around for a bit until heading to Opera.

Opera was PACKED – nothing like it was when we had my bachelorette party there. It was like crazy packed and hard to get around. We tried our best and danced and danced, but decided to go back to flipflops where the people were nicer!! We closed tabs and walked across the street! Then things started getting sloppy… hehe. A few of the single girls hooked up with guys, one who ended up being a co-owner of the bar so…. Long story short.. the bar closed at 2 but we were invited to stay after hours which turned into drunk dancing/singing until 5 a.m. with the staff (yes, some were probably annoyed – especially when we were dancing with the mops as they cleaned). No, we didn’t pay for drinks after hours and yes, there were 9 of us! Everyone was so nice but yes, SLOPPY.

I was total upper though (hello four or five SF redbulls/vodka starting at dinner). I did fall – once. Really I tripped on someone and went down HARD on my left elbow and knee…. And my hip a little. BLAH. It was a blast – but oh my did it get early quick and we had to get up and drive to the burbs for a breakfast with Monica’s mother. Oh my – can we do this?! At the end of our fabulously crazy Saturday I ended up at 2,714 calories, 287 carbs and 36 fat grams. WHOA – that’s a lot! Maybe the drunk dancing burned a few calories? Hehe Here’s what I ate… and drank!

So Sunday. Wow. Seriously – I got up and just got in gear – turned on music on my iPhone and just packed quickly and brushed my teeth furiously before driving Monica, Liz and Laura to gas stations (for fluids), Mon’s apartment (for Laura’s bags) and then up to Mon’s moms. We had a FABULOUS breakfast – wow – she really thought of everything and her breakfast casserole was insane. My stomach was seriously about to murder me so I stayed busy and cleaned! We headed out (with pastries in hand – Mon’s mom is so cute!) and I dropped off the girls and went HOME. My mom/sis were there so we all hung out before they went out to shop. I HATED losing the hour. Blah. But basically spent the day on and off sleeping and watching 8 episodes of Big Love on demand.

I love that show SO MUCH. Austin rolled in from New Orleans at 6 in worse shape than me. He passed out on the couch from 6:30 – 9:30. WOW. I will say I never threw up – there’s always that – BUT my sore throat/sinus infection was back BIG TIME and I felt AWFUL. Around 8 I emailed in sick saying I’d come in after lunch, but they told me not to worry about it and just take the day. So last night I just took medicine and passed out. I ended up at 1,576 calories, 167 carbs and 45 fat grams. Here’s what I ate. WOW – those weekends just take it out of me!!! And I have another BP next weekend – eek! Better KILL the gym this week… it’s not looking good so far. Still in bed feeling like crap. :( Today we have the inspection and a bunch of contractors coming to the house. Should be a productive (house) day!! Austin is handling it all (thank gawd!) so I don’t think I’ll be doing much but heading to the clinic for some antibiotics.

So what did you guys do?! Great weekends?! I’m going to read later this afternoon – I’m going down for another nap now. Boo.

P.S. I have HUGE bruises on my elbow and knee - boo. I also have a big bruise on my butt - I don't even know where it came from? I must have bumped a sharp corner - hard. Sigh.