weekends are FUN!

weekends are FUN! and it's not ever because eric and i go do fabulous things that are out of the ordinary or once in a lifetime experiences either. somehow though- we ALWAYS manage to just have the BEST time! maybe it's cause we're best buddies. probably it's cause we love eachother so much. whatever the reason may be though- weekends are my favorite thing in life. true story.

1) this weekend ive spent a lot of time doing little odd/end tasks for this wedding shower im planning. im enjoying this process so much. its fun to plan. makes me remember why i LOVED event planning! and though this little shower doesn't even come close to the events i planned at the key event group- it's been fun and im really looking forward to march 19th. seems like the majority of little things are taken care of (because i rock!) and i only have the last minute things to do like cooking and picking up flowers and stuff like that. yesss.

2) lately we've let bristol stay out of her cage for 3 to 4 hours at a time each day and you'll be happy to know that she does SO WELL! we just need to make sure that there are no shoes in her reach and she does great! i would LOVE to be able to leave her out all day everyday... but that's a bit scary. over all though- im really happy that she's growing and maturing and doing so well. love.

3) on the subject of "dogs" i would like each of you to know that i seriously want a great dane. like in a really bad way! ive done a ton of research and though it's always MOST fun to get a puppy- i think id rather adopt one from dames for danes. it's a dane rescue here in tennessee and they tell such heart breaking stories about the danes they save. plus the puppy years are so ridiculously hard. and i really dont want to deal with that. i will tell you though- that though i want one so so so badly... i will NOT be getting a dane. not right now anyway. it's just a big responsibility. and im really enjoying how life is calming down with b. a new addition would really just cause upheaval and stress for all. but they sure are awesome dogs huh? if you live in the tennessee area though and want a dane- totally check out dames for danes. they kinda rock.

4) right now i am cooking lotsa beans. im really going back full force to my whole weight loss adventure tomorrow and im taking a different approach. as you know- i did the whole 17 day diet thing for 2 weeks... and i was actually considering the p90x diet too. but ultimately ive decided not to. i just feel like people (like me) love to over complicate things and diet is one of them. the truth is that if we watch what goes in and focus on healthy eating and portion control... and if we make it a priority to work out... the weight will come off. it's very simple. so that's the plan. no stress. no over-complicating. no analyzing. no worry. just eating lean lean LEAN meats and beans and a few pieces of fruit each day + water water water- i believe this will yeild much success! that and my new membership to snap fitness. wish me luck.

5) isn't it funny how misunderstandings can be so devastating? someone says something that you either totally and completely misunderstood. or maybe that someone mis-spoke and took a liberty they shouldnt have. either way- misunderstandings can be really hard. if im the one who has ended up misunderstanding i always feel so terrible! then it's hard cause you hafta go back and try to explain and back track and say sorry and ugh- it's just drama. and i hate drama.

6) i have been to tj maxx twice so far this weekend and eric and i are on our way to another one now.

7) larry the cable guy may be funny- but his voice really sorta irritates the living daylights outta me.

8) as some of you may have noticed i tried to change my blog- like the background or whatever. cute right? except let me just say... blogspot irritates me SO MUCH! it's really not very user friendly! i wish that i could change the title of each blog- like the color i mean. how do i do that?!

well- my list of random thoughts for the day is over because ive got to run to tj. wish me luck! im looking for white cloth napkins... :) hope you each are doing well and feeling healthy. say a prayer for me tomorrow! be blessed. and be thankful.

it's been awhile....

i know i had said every monday i would post a blog update on the 17 day diet status, but yesterday i had all 3 kiddos and kinda forgot. whoops! but... i actually have decided to go in a bit of a different direction. hate saying that cause it feels like im a quitter. but the honest truth is that im not quitting my quest to gain a healthier, more active-conscious, fast-food-free lifestyle. i just think that a big part of success is finding a plan that works for YOU. it's all pretty simple when you think about it really- less in, more out. i tried last week to get out and get my heart rate up, and that was fun. sophie and i really enjoyed the gorgeous weather and it was fun to be out in it. though i thought for sure, that would help get the weight loss going again, it really didn't. not much happened at all actually. i continued to gain a lb, loss a pound, and bounce, bounce, bounce. i wasn't super strict with myself this weekend, because i knew the whole 17 day plan wasn't something i was going to continue, and as a result i gained 2 pounds. not good. BUT! i think ive got another idea id like to try. i am going to continue trying different routines and recommendations until i find something that works for me. weight loss wise, i think it's great that i can look back and say that i am 10lbs thinner from those two weeks of 17 day diet madness. but day-to-day, work with my schedule, and feeling good about the plan? never happened. i was always so hungry. and that made me grumpy. i don't think i was getting enough protein, and part of that was because i can't stomach a lot of the suggested foods on the diet- cottage cheese, eggs, etc. next week im starting a different approach. the approach a friend of mine took, and decided to start 2 days after i did, and surpassed me weight loss wise a long time ago! not only is she having great success weight loss wise, she's feeling great! she's not starving all the time, and her confidence is improving by the day. i understand completely that to lose weight, you're not necessarily going to be comfortable. you're not going to be able to eat all your favorite goodies all the time, and sometimes... you might get hungry. but i was too hungry. and i just think i needed more. in the meantime (because as all weight loss plans go- you hafta take the time to prepare, buy the food, etc) i plan to just make healthy choices. continue eating my fruits, veggies, yogurt, boneless/skinless chicken, and turkey. continue drinking my water, and continue to get outside and move. then on sunday, im going to do ALL of my cooking for next week, and monday the adventure to weight loss success will continue to continue. :)

in other news- spring is just around the corner in nashville, tennessee and this is fun. exciting! we have had some absolutely gorgeous days and i can't wait for sunny, blue skies to become the norm. it's not super nice today, but we're not covered in snow so this will hafta do!

i am in the throws of planning a wedding shower for a friend of mine, and am hoping it all turns out. i feel like there's a lot to do. i want it to be nice, and i want for her to feel special. it's difficult though, especially working full time, and having a laundry list of household chores that never seems to end. it's going to be on march 19th though, so i feel like ive got plenty of time. ive also been doing a lot of scrapbooking lately, which of course makes my heart go "pitter patter." maybe someday ill finally finish kayedin's book- although it's becoming bigger by the day. ive got 3 months worth of pages left to do, and about 500 pictures to sort through and pick from (thanks ashley! lol). i wish i could use them all, but as it is, this one year scrapbook is going to end up being at least 100 pages. and if you know anything- you know that's big!

also, i seem to be more in love with my husband today than ever before. and not because he did something, or said something out of the ordinary either. mostly because i just feel lucky. i want you to know eric adams, that you are an amazing guy! not just a wonderfully loving, supportive, reliable and fun husband, but a good person. i love knowing that you have integrity and care about doing what is right. i love knowing that i found something that other girls only dream of finding! you're smart, and you're funny, and you're terribly good looking (sigh), and you're responsible, and friendly, and hard working, and you have really pretty lips. lol.anyway- i just love him so much guys. we are happy, and i love being his wife.

bristol's skin was acting up again, but thanks to some pretty great meds she is officially "on the mend." thank the sweet baby jesus for that because i don't think i could have dealt with another huge vet bill! :) she's getting sweeter by the day it seems, and i don't think there's ever been a better dog. love her.

eric and i were reminiscing last night about my days spent working for the key event group as an event coordinator. it was fun. i enjoyed it. i would do it again if i could. but it's funny to think about how much i love what i do now. who woulda thought? and though it doesn't have some fancy title, and may not seem important to most,  what i realized ive achieved here is perhaps more important than what others spend lifetimes trying to get- i am happy. i love my little friends so much, and i feel so, so, so lucky to show up to "work" each day and hear all the fabulous things they have to say. to watch the baby explore and grow, and giggle? i couldn't be luckier. and though it's not the glamorous life of an "event coordinator" (LOL, yeah right, right?) it is fullfilling, and it makes me happy. and it IS important- to the people that matter at least. so yeah- that's what i have to say about that.

welp! the baby's waking up so im off for now. hope each of you are having fabulous days and feeling happy to be alive. be blessed friends! and as always- be thankful.

17 day diet: update 1

alright folks- here's the update you've all been waiting for. :)

so the 17 day diet week one has had some definite ups and definite downs. it hasn't been easy, but it hasn't been complete torture either. so far- i have lost 11 pounds! seems awesome, right? yes, except that the majority of the weight came off very early on in the diet- by wednesday of last week i had already lost 10, and was feeling great. since then though, it seems to have plateaued a bit. i knew a couple of things when that weight was initially just falling off: 1) my body was obviously in total shock because of the MUCH lower cal diet i was taking in. 2) my body was shedding a lot of water weight. and 3) while the weight was seeming to just fall off really fast, i knew that it would not continue to fall so rapidly or easily. what i didn't expect however, was to be completing my first week with only ONE additional pound gone since wednesday of last week. im not saying the diet doesn't work, and im not saying this little plateau will last forever. i AM saying though, that it might be time to kick it up a notch and get my ass in gear. i have always and im sure will always HATE working out, so it's quite sad for me to admit that this is obviously my next step to continue my weight loss adventure. this doesn't surprise me, and i want to say that i do not plan to go crazy and push myself further than necessary in the whole work out department. ive done that before and always just end up quitting. so this week my plan is to move more- be more active- and try to burn some more calories. the weather man is calling for a gorgeous week so i don't see why taking brisk evening walks would be a problem.

now- for those of you who have emailed or texted saying that you're totally planning to start this diet, i wanted to enlighten you with a few great finds that have pretty much saved my life this past week... as you read in my blog last monday, i was quite annoyed about having to eat a dressing-less salad. let me be clear- on the diet you ARE allowed to eat fat free dressings, but when i tried them, i nearly gagged and thought they were disgusting. i tried a few and gave up, which is why i sat eating my dressing-less salad in complete misery. to fix this, i started making homemade tazhiki sauce. (the greek cucumber sauce most commonly found on gyros and things of that nature). this sauce has doubled as a great salad dressing, and dip for my fresh veggies while snacking. here's how i made the sauce:

ingredients:
2 cucumbers, peeled, chopped and food processed
the juice from 1/2 lemon
16 oz of low fat plain greek yogurt (i use cabot)
3 gloves of garlic
1 TBSP of chopped fresh dill
a tiny touch of extra virgin olive oil
and salt and pepper to taste

directions:
my food processor is quite small, so i had to alter the method just a bit but really is totally easy. you basically peel and chop the cucumbers into 4th and mix in the processor. from there, you're supposed to add the remaining ingredients to the processor and mix it until smooth. since my processor is so small, i just have the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl/tupperware and add the cucumbers to the mixture. if you're using the bowl because your processor is small too, at this point you just need to mix, mix, mix. stirring a lot will help the yogurt (which is usually pretty clumped) to become more liquid-like and creates the sauce. then you refrigerate for at least one hour and you're done. very simple. and very delicious. and very healthy!

a few other helpful hints ive learned along the way:
1) go to your grocery (and walmart will probably not work- something like kroger or publix) and go to the yogurt section. look for a bottle of lifestyle kebir in that section and get as many as you can. LOL! ive leaned quite heavily on this kebir to get me through many times. i love the strawberry flavor! when making the smoothie all you have to do is this:
mix 1 cup of strawberry kebir, 1 cup of ice, 1 cup of frozen strawberries (or any berry for that matter) and 2-3 truvia's depending on how sweet you like your smoothie. blend well until it's all thick and creamy and delish. this shake kicks ass! not only does it feel like you're really treating yourself to something awesome, it fills you up and holds you over AND it knocks out one of your fruits and probiotics for the day. since i don't typically love yogurt, this is awesome! try it 17 day diet peeps! you wont regret it!

2) it's important to eat things that actually taste good because otherwise ill go nuts! so i came up with this chicken recipe i wanted to share. it is totally delicious and easy easy easy to make!
all you have to do is this:
chop and saute 1 onion in 1 TBSP of EVOO until cooked
add 1 large (or 2 small) cloves of crushed garlic and saute just until you smell the garlic cooking
add sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts
add salt/pepper/basil/juice from 1/2 lemon
continue saute-ing until the chicken is cooked through
add a handful of fresh broccoli and then the juice from the other half of the lemon
stir until the broccoli is softened and coated in the little sauce that's been created
and of course.... enjoy!
this dinner is so delicious and SO healthy!

3) it's so important to plan, plan, plan if you want to have diet success with this! i feel like i spend so much time with my food. :) washing it, chopping the fresh veggies, packing lunches and snacks and planning for dinners can become exhausting, but it's a total must if you're working out of your house and want to succeed.

4) the hardest time of day for me is in the evenings. i work really late and am typically not getting home until at least 6:45 or sometimes 7, and by then im so hungry i could happily eat my right arm off just to get the hunger pains to go away. ive tried spreading my snacks out to hold me over through that late afternoon/early evening hour, but it's difficult. i come home on a total mission to eat, and once thats done i am able to talk to/hear my eric. lol. not a second sooner though. :) SO- my suggestion would be to not let yourself get super hungry if it's at all possible. and if (like me) you know that, that's just the situation, i would say to try and have your dinner all worked out so it's totally easy to throw together once you arrive home.

5) it's easiest for me to drink my 3 cups of green tea in between my meals. so i typically have one mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and after dinner. the green tea can be a drag sometimes, but i think it's good for curbing my appetite and holding me over to the next meal.

now that ive kinda got the hang of this ive pretty much got a little routine down:

-i start my day with my warm glass of lemon water (ugh- this is disgusting!)
-then i have my smoothie (mm)
-about 2-2.5 hours after my smoothie i have a cup of green tea
-about 2 hours after green tea i have my lunch: typically fresh veggies dipped in tazhiki sauce and a pretty plain- pre-cooked piece of boneless/skinless chicken breast. (i boil it in the evenings for 30 minutes (because it's frozen when i start to boil it) with salt/pepper/onion powder to season. then i refrigerate it so it's chilled the following day.) that might sound bland and boring (probably because it is) but on this diet, it's been a saving grace because it's edible and i actually enjoy eating it.
-about 3-3.5 hours after lunch i have a piece of fruit and another cup of green tea
-about an hour or an hour and a half after that snack (i try to push it as long as possible so i can make it home without my stomach eating itself) i have my activia yogurt
-as soon as i get home and can get the food cooked i eat my dinner. last week i tried turkey meatloaf and that pretty much was lame. but the chicken recipe i mentioned above is delish and super easy! i typically eat whatever lean meat im having with a side of fresh salad with tazhiki sauce.
-an hour or two after dinner i have another cup of green tea and that is it! my whole day!
-oh yeah! and in between all of that im chugging water like it's my J.O.B. that in and of itself is exhausting!

SO i hope my first update has helped those of you who are planning to start (and several of you have mentioned it, so message me or something when you do and ill totally help if i can!). say a prayer for me during this next week as i try to get out there more, and work out some. i dont want to get discouraged, and i KNOW that it's the answer to continuing this weight loss adventure. maybe next week at this time, ill be positing that ive lost another 5 pounds!

in other news- its valentines day friends. i hope you feel the love from whoever you've got in your life that's special. be blessed, and as always- be thankful!

10 things...

i want right now:

1) for this god forsaken headache to go the hell away.  and stay the hell away too!
2) springtime. complete with daily sunshine and flowers and green grass and little baby deer running in my back yard.
3) for the walls in my house (yes all of them) to be magically painted without me knowing or having to do it/deal with the mess it creates.
4) to wake up tomorrow and find that maybe ive lost another LB. that'd be pretty great.
5) to take a trip to colorado.
6) to have answers to questions ill never get to ask.
7) a really nice camera.
8) for my kitchen trash to take itself out.
9) a manicure AND a pedicure. yup.
10) and of course- a baby.

im good at making:

1) strawberry shortcake. mm.
2) homemade spaghetti sauce. mm.
3) scrapbooks.
4) white bean chicken chili. mm.
5) regular chili. mm.
6) cookies.
7) cupcakes.
8) whipped cream.
9) my house neat??? (getting desperate here...)
10) a fresh glass of ice water with lemon.

i need to get done:

1) mail my sweet aunt betty her birthday card and gift.
2) give bristol anne a bath.
3) clean my hardwood floors.
4) get a pedicure.
5) pick up a valentine for my valentine.
6) clean out my car. (turns out carting 3 kids all over makes for a hot mess of a car at the end of each week..)
7) return some phone calls.
8) get some new contacts.
9) drink another 1.5 glasses of water before the days end.
10) healthy recipe research. if you've got any- send em my way. im beginning to get desperate!

flashback friday!

on halloween morning two years ago, eric and i decided a trip to the humane society was in order. we'd done this many, many times... just to volunteer. we always had such fun spending time with the dogs and puppies who would otherwise get no lovins. they let you walk them in the back, fenced in area, and play with them in little rooms. we'd done this probably a dozen times before this day, and never expected to find this:

there she was- all squishy and cute! and when eric walked past her cage she started looking at him and jumping on the cage door as if to say "hey! take me outta here! i wanna play!" he took her out and spent some time snugglin before calling me over and said "look!" my heart nearly melted into a puddle of goo right then and there. we took her in the private room and got to see a bit of her personality- she was fiesty and fun, and we liked that. 45 minutes later, i found myself holding her as eric paid the fee. she was $90, and that included all of her shots AND her spay surgery! she was just 8 weeks old and the employees were saying that she'd come into the place the day before, but had only been "on the floor" (out in her cage where the other dogs are) for 1 hour before we swooped her up. boy did we get lucky!

 i love this picture because of all the extra skin. is it any wonder we scooped this baby up and ran??

we knew she was really something. proud parents. lol.

it took a while to decide on a name- maybe even 2 hours! eric wasn't sure about bristol, but i knew it was rockstar from the get. (lol). my parents HATED that we named her bristol and decided (oddly enough) that she definitely looked more like a "trudy anne" than a "bristol." for the longest time, they would ONLY refer to her as trudy while talking on the phone. the idea of bristol had grown on eric by this point, especially when he had to face the possibiliy of naming her TRUDY! (it was never a real possibiliy actually, i had made up my mind early that bristol was IT!) anyway, in an effort to appease my parents (because although im 28, i DO still seem to care about keeping them happy) we decided "anne" would be her middle name... just as they'd suggested. so there ya have it! bristol anne adams has been an absolute joy since the day she unexpectedly chose us at the humane society!

if you want to get a dog, and you're not sure where to go or what to choose- go to the humane society! there are so many awesome babies out there who have no homes, no mommy and daddy, no "treaties" for podying outside. i had always been a "full blooded" kinda girl, but simply cant imagine my life without bristol! and if youre not in a place where you CAN get a dog, but find yourself with some extra time and want to volunteer- GO! they can ALWAYS use people to love on the dogs, and the dogs eat it up!

hope you enjoyed flashback friday as much as i did. be blessed. be thankful.

another list- because im not collected enough to post a blog on just one subject...

1) not sure if i ever made the announcement, but my little sophie lou WON the photo contest! thanks so much to all of you friends out there who took the time to vote. im pretty sure she won by a landslide, and that's because of YOU! her mom received the prints from the photo session, and omg- she's gorgeous. i love this girl so much! and ps- the canvas she won of that image we all voted on looks uh-maazing with a capital A. so thanks.

2) i had planned on making all kinds of festive valentine goodies but am reconsidering due to my new eating plan. i was planning on making these... (as well as a few adorable others)

aren't they just adorable!!!??? you can find the recipe and instructions on marthastewart.com (of course!). funny though- i typically bake tons of goodies and never actually end up eating any of it. i love to take it to my friends and loved ones- i feel like since it's made with love, there's no better way to say "hey you! i love you! i appreciate you! enjoy a cupcake a made with love." BUT given my new diet plan, i just don't want to put myself in a situation where im tempted and baking delicious goodies might just send me over the edge. we'll see...

3) i didn't ever actually catch the outcome of groundhog day, but didn't the groundhog stay out for a while? and i could be wrong, but doesn't that typically mean winter is coming to an end? that's what i thought, but honestly- i could be totally wrong. here's the reason i ask... it's cold! it's gray! it's gloomy and frigid, and my front steps have ice on them! the weather man is calling for more snow tomorrow. is it me or is this just plain obnoxious? and what was the groundhog thinking staying out and about like that anyway? doesn't he KNOW that my hopes and dreams for an early spring kind of depend on him? id gotten my hopes all up for nothing. thanks mr. groundhog, you suck.

4) the increase in water with this new eating plan im doing has got me pee-ing 86 times a day. i wish i could say that, that's a dramatic representation of the truth, but i can't. cause it's not. i have pee-ed more in the last 24 hours than i do in an average week combined.

5) i think a trip to colorado is in order. i would love the opportunity to go "home" and visit my brother craig and sister-in-law tara. they are such fun. and it'd be fun to try to catch some "old" friends who seem actually to be more concerned with me and my life these days than most.

6) every night (at least three times) bristol anne hops down off of the bed and stretches. im guessing what happens is that she gets too hot and needs to get some air. (she insists on barricading herself beneath our covers and in between eric's legs...) anyway- this is no big deal, right? wrong. and the reason is because when she wants to get back up, for some reason she is totally and completely unwilling to just jump back up as easily as she jumped down. or as any other dog in their right mind would do. instead, she stands on my side of the bed whining, using her front paws to hit me in whatever spot is most convenient for her to reach until i (and here's the kicker) lift all of the covers up for her, providing a perfect entrance right under the covers and invite her up. can someone say spoiled? and yes.... this DOES happen at least 3 times a night.

7) there are a lot of people pregnant right now. this means many things for me at this point in my life. but mostly it means that it's exciting and have got lots to look forward to in meeting like 8 new friends.

8) i think i may have been misunderstood yesterday regarding my christina post on facebook. im not saying it's okay that she messed up the words. im not saying that, that is ideal. what i AM saying and perhaps may not have communicated effectively is this: #1) if you yourself can't do it, than you have NO right to pick apart the person who does. #2) if you yourself haven't been in a situation where you're singing in a stadium like that, than that means you just don't realize how hard it is to hear yourself. the echo is so delayed that it can get tricky. #3) i just feel like it's sad how everyone seems to thrive on other people messing up. she didn't go flat, and she never went sharp- this was no 'roseanne bar' moment, so stop over-reacting. again- im not saying her mistake is ideal, but what i am saying is that if you've never been there you really can't be the judge. and don't choose to ignore all of the good parts she delivered and only focus on her one little mistake. that's all.

9) i keep thinking im getting some sort of a nasty cold, but really im just congested. ill take that. id rather be congested than have my head feel all fuzzy and a sore throat too.

10) i love eric andrew adams... like a minor loves gold. like johnny loved june. and like fat kids love cake.

that's it! there's my list for the day- a plethora of random goodness, floating around in my head 10 minutes ago, but not put out there for all the world to see. be blessed and be thankful.

17 day diet... you're killin me!

okay so ive decided some slimming down is in order.... better late than never, right? my madre has been doing this 17 day diet for about a month now, and has lost 20 pounds! it seems like every time i talk to her, and ask how it's going she says "oh, ive lost another 3 pounds..." so when faced with the decision of what exactly i wanted to do regarding weight loss, i chose this. today is day one. id love to tell you all about how im having the time of my life, and that this is painless and easy. but the truth? the truth is that this sucks! the truth is that im mad at myself for letting it get to this point to begin with- this point where i have NO choice but to sit miserably eating salad with no dressing, and wondering when my stomach will stop it's groaning long enough to just abandon the disgusting dressing-less salad and run. nobody likes a liar, right? so i figured i may as well just keep it real.

anyway- i thought it might be fun to post a weekly blog about my progress and how it's going. ideally i would love to loose about 45 - 50 lbs. not that, that would make me "skinny" but i think id feel more comfortable for sure. so here we go... today, monday, february 7th is day one of the 17 day diet for maryellen adams. maybe ill plan for monday's to be my day to share the status and progress, etc. here's hoping that next monday at this time, ill be blogging about how life feels just fabulous when you're 10 pounds lighter! :) (wouldn't that be lovely?)

so for those of you who aren't familiar with the diet and are kinda interested, here's the gist of it:

-you eat 2 pro-biotics a day (for me this is dannon activia lo-fat yogurt. i typically don't like yogurt, but i tried the vanilla today and it was pretty fab).
-you eat 2 pieces of fruit a day (this can be any kind of berry, as well as apples, oranges, red grapes, plums, and grapefruit).
-you must begin each day by drinking a warm cup of water with lemon juice (i believe this is said to jump start your metabolism).
-you must also drink a cup of warm green tea with each meal (BF/L/D). Sweeten only using truvia sweetener- all natural and totally delish. In fact- use this truvia to sweeten ANY of the items on the menu- as much as you'd like!
-you can only use up to 2TBSP/day of the "good fat" and in my case, this would be EVOO for cooking my meat and stuff like that.
-once you've done those things, you can pretty much do whatever when it comes to lean meats and veggies. you can enjoy unlimited boneless/skinless chicken breasts, fish, and lean turkey. there are some core veggies you also can get carried away with if you find yourself feeling frisky and wanting a snack- broccoli, carrots, asparagus, mushrooms, bell peppers (orange/red/yellow/green) and many, many more!

so! that pretty much sums it up for phase 1 of the 17 day diet. my understanding is that every 17 days you kinda switch things up a little to trick your body. right now i am ridding my body of the built up toxins, getting used to a much lower calorie diet, and burning fat. in phase 2 you add things like beef and oatmeal so that you keep your body guessing. right when it starts getting used to phase 1 and hitting that plateau we've all dealt with, you change it up and the weight loss continues. there are four phases in this diet, but im actually considering doing phase 1, phase 2, phase 1 again, phase 2 again, then phase 3, then 4. just to achieve optimal weight loss and success. we'll see though, right?? at the end of these first 17 days i might opt to slit my wrists and just end the misery all together, right??

anyway! leave me a comment if you have any questions or if you yourself are doing some sort of healthy eating routine. it's all about community when it comes to loosing weight, and i think it'd be great to find some motivated weight loss buddies to share war stories with throughout this dreadful process. :) at this moment i am raising my cup of warm green tea and toasting to a healthier and less hungry tomorrow, and a lifetime of skinny jeans and swim suits. be blessed and as always- be thankful. (be thankful you're not as hungry as me!)

scrap-attack!

the truth is that if you let me i would gladly sit scrap booking for hours and hours and hours on end. i LOVE scrap booking and my only life's wish is that someone would pay me to sit and scrap. lol. one can dream right?? no actually that's not true- my only life's wish is for me to have a little bundle of my OWN to do a scrapbook for... yup! that'd be it.

anyway- i love seeing my friend's scrapbook pages they share on their blogs and so i thought i might do the same. since i have no biological children of my own (sigh) my latest scrapbook endeavor has been for my friends baby- kayedin. this child is gorgeous and ive loved creating this book for her. ive been working on it on and off for about the last year- it probably woulda been done a long time ago but her mom and i are always trying to coordinate getting pictures down here from ohio where she lives. SO- once it's finished i have a pretty good idea of where ill go next. ah hem... let's just say im at no loss for inspiration! :)

anyway- these are just a few of the pages for your viewing pleasure...

kaydin nicole in december 2010. isn't she a dumpling??

i believe this may have been january 2010- isn't she such a little diva??

i love the picture on the right of her cracking herself up. that happens to me too kayedin- a lot.

this might be my favorite page thus far- only because i love the whole 'pieces of me' theme. i love all the chunky little pics.



this is quite a busy page... but cute none the less. :)

sometimes simpler is sweet. this is kayedin and her mommy at the breast cancer walk last may.

so as you can see i prefer to do scrapbooks utilizing the same sort of color scheme throughout the whole book... in this case i went 'all girl' because that's just kayedin. of course for christmas and things like that i had special pages but i totally stuck to the theme. no bright reds/greens or any of that... i love combining multiple sheets with different prints on one scrap book page. you can see in the above picture how i typically just rip the additional (2nd/3rd) printed paper to add an additional element of texture to the page. those white uneven edges seem aesthetically pleasing to me for some reason. i love using ribbons on almost every page- again to add texture and a layered look when possible. plus there are a lot of ribbons out there that have super cute prints and i love that additional burst of color. 3D embellishments are huge for a girl like me. which sometimes stinks cause they can get pricey... but i just think they add so much to an otherwise boring page. i take chances by doing some pages with lots of different things and multiple pictures and i sometimes worry they might get too busy. others are just simpler. it would be impossible to have an entire book with just one picture on each page but sometimes that's nice here and there. both ways i usually end up happy once they're done.

anyway! for those of you who wish to scrap but have never done it ive got a few tid bits to share:

-i use a combination of hot glue and rubber cement. rubber cement rocks because if you mess something up big time (and this has happened to me plenty of times!) you can just take the whole page apart if needed. rubber cement adheres nicely but you don't HAVE to be married to the page if you need to make changes. hot glue is best for the ribbons and things like that.

-at target i always am able to find small packs of paper (with maybe 10 sheets a pack) for only 99 cents. i love going this route because the paper can get pricey! especially if you want to pick and choose from michaels or something like that! i think some are even 50 cents a page. YIKES!

-don't ever buy the 3D embellishments unless they're on sale! joanne fabrics has the BEST sales EVER! and they have them often too! plus if you sign up to get their coupons they'll send you 40% off coupons like once a month! love.

-i never EVER use an entire pack of embellishments on one page- a little goes a long way! and since these things are so expensive you'll find it works nicely to just use a couple here and there. combining from different packs also is a cute idea that's worked for me!

-don't ever glue your background onto the white page that comes in the scrapbook itself. ive made this mistake many times and realized later ive done it out of order or something- that's kind of a bummer.

aNyWaY.... i hope that if you aren't a scrap booker some of these little tips/pics have helped inspire you to give it a try. it's super easy and creates a lasting gift for your child to enjoy as they grow up and get married and have kids of their own. plus! it's fun.

hope you all are enjoying your saturday! be blessed friends and as always- be thankful.

flashback friday

i saw a friend do 'flashback friday' and i thought it was a cute idea. so here we go!

this is the very first picture ever taken of eric and i. it was within the first week of meeting, and it's funny to look back and see how young we look here. i think that you can totally see how happy we were, even from the very start.  what do you think??

  

funny cause my friends at the time always joked with me saying i was dating a backstreet boy. he always dressed so cute- jeans with pumas, button down shirts and sport coats. and always, always, always this adorable little khaki page boy hat. he seriously swept me off my feet in just a matter of days, and i fell fast and hard. i think i still am falling actually... falling a little bit more in love with this man every day. 

it's hard to believe now, but LOTS of people were not supportive of our relationship early on. everyone had their reasons i guess- reasons that they thought were important enough to say mean things, or write me/us off all together. it seemed that judgement was coming from every single angle, always from people who didn't really know what it was that we shared. but we never wavered. we both knew very early on that "this was it" and so we moved on as a "we" and as an "us" and left the nay-sayers behind. good thing too because it sure panned out!

i recently discovered a song written by taylor swift that is (of course) amazing. i love all of her songs really, but THIS one felt like it was written FOR eric and i. it felt like she had sneaked a peak into my journal from four years ago, and wrote a song about us. the song is called 'ours' and i totally think all of you should go and get it. here are the lyrics:

elevator buttons in morning air

strangers silence makes me wanna take the stairs

if you were here we'd laugh about their vacant stares

but right now, my time is theirs

seems like there's always someone who disapproves

they'll judge it like they know about me and you

and the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do

the juries out, but my choice is you

so don't you worry your pretty little mind

people throw rocks at things that shine

and life makes love look hard

the stakes are high

the waters rough

but this love is ours

the stares that i received from friends, the emails and phone calls i received from family, the ultimatums given... all of these things could've swayed me from making the most important and BEST decision in my life. thank god i followed my heart on this one! the chorus is so, so true as well.  in our relationship, ive learned that life is really what makes loving look so hard- financial burdens and stress, job loses, unhappiness at work, family drama, miscarriages, other people getting in the way... these are the things that i look back on now and say to myself "gosh, that was hard." but loving him? that was the easy part, and the ONLY part of my life that has come naturally to me since march 28, 2007.

so! with this i say to you- if you've found "the one" don't let life make love hard. protect what you've got! nurture it, and feed it so that it can grow as beautifully as ours did. even in the face of harsh criticism and drama- always, always, always- follow. your. heart. to the friends who are still waiting- my life changed in a matter of moments. i woke up one day, never expecting to meet "the one" and yet there he was. when i met him? i knew. and when you meet yours... you'll know. trust your heart, and don't wonder where yours is- it'll find you when you least expect it!

hope you enjoyed 'flashback friday' as much as i have. be blessed friends, and as always- be thankful.