These are a few of my favorite things!

I was blog-browsing and found this posted by Lindsay at It's Quite Lovely Being Lindsay. I'd say this is a little sad, but yay for more Sunday night blogging!

a- air conditioning, A Christmas Story, airports

b- Brian, brunch, bananas, boxers (my Lucy girl at home!), baby names, baking, blogging

c- Christmas!, children's books, cooking, clean sheets, candles, cheesecake, Chick-fil-a

d- Daddy!, dark chocolate, December, Dallas Cowboys, Diet Coke, decorating

e- East Coast, Easter, eating

f- football, fall, flats, friends

g- Giuliana and Bill, grapes, good manners

h- hotels, handwritten cards and notes, heels

i- Ireland/the Irish

j- jeans, Jack in the Box

k- kitchen utensils/decorating stuff, Kit-Kats, kittens

l- Longchamp, love

m- Mama!, Mexican food, magazines, mascara, margaritas, mob movies

n- New York City, naps

o- organizing, the ocean,

p- pasta, pedicures, pictures, Paula Deen, publishing, pearls

q- queso

r- rainy days, running, reading, road trips, the Riverwalk, recipes

s- the South, Sandy Bullock, snowy days, snail mail, scarves, sweet tea

t- TEXAS!!, toffee, towels fresh out of the dryer, traveling

u- University of Texas!!

v- Vera Bradley, Valentine's Day

w- white wine, weddings, writing

x- xtra special surprises! X is not easy...

y- Yankee Candles, yogurt (frozen and tart!), youth (on long days, I feel like I'm losin' it, y'all)

z- zest... as in for life! Z was hard, y'all...

Back to the norm.

Hi friends. Long time no talk, right? I know... no excuses really, other than being INSANELY busy with work and having my family in town for the last week and a half, which was in itself a monumental event which I am currently working on documenting. Unfortunately, it's become quite the project, considering I had to upload all of my pictures to Brian's computer (thanks, you stubborn USB ports), which means that I can only complete the blog when he's not using his laptop... which is kinda never.

But, I digress-- I'll get it done asap because it is all kinds of loveliness to see, if I do say so myself.

I have to admit that I spent the majority of Saturday completely bummed out. As fun as it is being around my family, it kills me when they leave. Brian was pretty wonderful though and offered to drive me through Taco Bell on the way home (boy knows the way to his girl's heart, that's for sure), where I picked up their new Cherry Limeade drink (not a Sonic Cherry Limeade by ANY means, but it worked). I then proceeded to come home, curl up in a ball on the couch, and watch approximately four and a half hours of bad TV. What, you may ask, did I build my brain with? True Hollywood Story: Basketball Wives, Kendra, and two hours of the Top 20 Child Killers. A ball of fun, right? If I recall correctly, I pretty much just zoned out and needed the distraction, and it worked.

But because my boy is so wonderful, I washed the tear remnants off, put new makeup on, threw on a summery skirt and accompanied him to dinner. We went to a local chain restaurant called Not Your Average Joes and can I just say that if my waistline loved me enough to allow me to exist on bread and olive oil alone, I would just move into the corner booth we sat in last night and swim in it. It is di-VINE! We headed home after that, split a chocolate pecan praline that I bought in Boston last week, turned on the movie "Everybody's Fine" with Robert DeNiro and Drew Barrymore, and I was out by approximately 9:30. Y'all, I was EXHAUSTED. I think my body was just smooth worn out after all that's been going on with the family coming, the family staying, and the family leaving.

As badly as I wanted to sleep-in this morning, my body that was so exhausted last night woke itself up at 7:23am (I did indeed look at the clock because I couldn't believe it was THAT early and I was awake)... and decided it would stay that way. Ah, well. I planned suppers for the week, made my grocery list, got ready, got Brian up and ready, and off we headed to run errands. It makes me feel so old lady-ish, but I kinda love Sundays like this.

To be honest, Sunday's aren't my favorite day of the week. Before I moved to Boston, they were always a big family day at my house. My Mama would have a roast going in the oven all day with a pot of beans or green beans and new potatoes on the stove and we'd either be cleaning around the house or in and out running errands, only for everyone to sit down together for supper that night with sweet tea, our prayers, and lots to chat about. Moving up here all by myself and being alone has been HARD (especially during the holidays and football season because HELLO Dallas Cowboys), but it's so nice to have Brian to share it with now. Sunday is our day to sleep in, get brunch or at least coffee together while we're out, do the grocery shoppin' and errand runnin', and for me to come home and cook a good supper for him. Now that I think of it, my Mama taught me well, because she passed right on to me what she did for my brother and me our whole childhood. She made it a point for Sundays to be family days... and I'll always love that.

So as I said-- I love Sundays like this, minus the whole going to sleep and waking up to a Monday thing. That's not my favorite way to wake up, especially after having been off of work for most of the last week. Today, though, was good. Brian requested Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese and y'all, it was pretty darn good. I modified it to be WW friendly-ish and made a big dish of roasted veggies-- squash, zucchini, vidalia onions and portabella mushrooms, which turned out to be sooo good, if I do say so myself.

I'm all curled up in pajama pants with a blanket and three new books that I found today at BJs (Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert/the Eat, Pray, Love author; The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells/the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood author; and a cute little teal colored journal that I felt inclined to purchase because sometimes I just need to write), getting ready to watch the last two episodes of The Pacific on HBO (NOT Band of Brothers by any means, but it's been pretty good), enjoy a bit of ice cream, then head to sleep.

Boring? Perhaps. But it's Sunday night, by gosh, and if I fall asleep at 9:30, then so be it.

Y'all have a good night.

Back in the saddle again...

This weekend hasn't been all that eventful, but it's still been kind of perfect.

Starting off the weekend, I was down 1 pound yesterday and am completely remotivated with this whole WW thing. I've been getting frustrated because the pounds aren't dropping, when I've only had myself to blame. When I don't exercise and sneak in pretzels here and extra bites there, I'm not going to lose weight. It's not a mystery... it's common sense. So I sat down and planned out my menu for the week and *drumroll please*... SIGNED UP FOR MY FIRST 10K!! Yes indeed, I did. It's July 4th morning, and I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't pumped at the fact that running 6.2 miles that morning will mean that I can eat a hot dog guilt-free at a cookout that night. Yes please! I start my training tomorrow and I finally feel excited, not like I'm being forced to run (which is how I felt before). I'm actually working towards a goal, I've paid for it, and I've told people about it... There's no turning back now.

After my meeting I went for "me time" at Target for about an hour. I swear to you, this is my therapy each week, every week. My meeting is at 8am (by choice) and I'm out by 8:45, which means I'm walking through Target's doors by 8:50. My mom and I can wander around Walmart for hours, not needing anything, but just throwing stuff in the cart and chatting, and I really miss that. So... I take my time and wander. Browse the $1 bins, the books, the food aisles, the decorating stuff... and breathe. The store is completely empty, other than the early-morning-mamas with their babies and the store people stocking the shelves. It's blissfully relaxing. The next stop is always Dunkin Donuts, where I pick up breakfast for me and The Boy, then head home to try and get him out of bed asap.

Once I was home yesterday, I wanted to have every single point for the rest of the day planned out. We were going to see How to Train Your Dragon in IMAX and the MOST AMAZING Boy agreed to drive me forty minutes away to Chick-fil-A for lunch, so I set to work. I packed/pointed a snack bag of Cheez-Its and Dots since we were going to the movie (instead of popcorn and the entire box of Dots), and got online to point out Chick-fil-A. There was no way that I wasn't going to indulge in a chicken sandwich, so I went ahead and pointed the NINE POINTS for that baby, but opted for a fruit cup instead of their amazing waffle fries, which were also NINE POINTS. When I compare my food choices and awareness now compared to before, I can't believe how much I used to eat, and how often I ate just out of boredom/want, not excitement and need (which is a whole different post for a whole different day). So, I had my sandwich and a few of Brian's fries and was completely happy. We came home and ordered out Thai for dinner, which I MEASURED IN A MEASURING CUP and red wine, which I also measured. Big stuff, people... big stuff.

So that's pretty much been our weekend so far. Nothing exciting. We're heading to the grocery store this morning, then the gym, then back to the condo to hopefully relax more. Supper will be going in the crockpot shortly (my new favorite weekend trick), and I'm going to do a little bit of straightening.

Ah, yes. I believe that a lazy Sunday is just what the doctor ordered.

Head Up, Ignore the Food

It's only 9:25am and I've had an up and down kind of morning.

I had my weigh-in this morning, and I went up 1.4. Previously, I would have been devastated and blamed near everyone except myself. However, things have apparently changed. I exercised once this week, I drank beers at trivia night on Wednesday, I snacked every day (going over my points everyday, even though I told myself that "That one extra pretzel stick... okay, four extra pretzel sticks won't count")... but apparently, the pretzels did count. And I feel it today, in my clothes, when I took my rings off... I have a feeling that a certain amount of it is water weight (my sodium intake was higher this week than last) because there's really no way, with what I did eat, that I could have consumed 1.4 pounds of fat. Regardless, I held my head up high, accepted the fate, and came back to plan my week out.

We're having friends over for supper tonight, and I'm ready to face the day-- The Boy is grilling steaks, I'm making a delish parmesan spinach risotto from WW (if it turns out as good as I'm hoping it will, I'll post the results), and some kind of vegetable on the side. I'm determined to keep it healthy. There will for sure be drinks involved, but I am damned and determined to keep track of every single thing that I put in my body. De-ter-mined.

My biggest challenge this week will be what we have lined up. I'll be cooking tomorrow night (pork tenderloin in the crockpot someway) but then Monday The Boy will be out of town (I'm thinking a small little veggie stir-fry for myself), Tuesday night we're going to a Red Sox game, Wednesday night is trivia night (my current enemy), Thursday night is a breather, and Friday night is the night before WI again.

Plan of attack: Tuesday night, I will take my enormous water bottle in with me to the Red Sox game. I will plan on having three beers over the course of the night-- it's the first Red Sox game of the year, and I have to have beer. I am saving most of my points for this night (thank goodness it's early in the week), and will bust my bottom the rest of the week to make up for it. Wednesday night, I will NOT drink at the bar, because there's really no point and I never enjoy it, and I will either eat something beforehand, or eat a chicken salad at the bar. The end.

Meanwhile, I'm watching Julie & Julia (both names which I would so name a future daughter). I just love this movie. It's probably the third time I've seen it and I love it a little bit more every time. Like, laugh out loud kind of love it. Everything about this movie is just fabulous, plus Meryl is one of my favorite leading ladies ever. The end makes me tear up every darn single time.

Brian and I have kind of a big potential opportunity teasing at us right now, so I'm trying to just send big prayers out there that we'll be led to make the right choices and decisions about what's ahead of us. We're good and fine, no big changes there... just kind of a general life choice for the both of us. More to come when things either fall into place or fall apart... again, with the big choice, not with our relationship.

My family will be here for my graduation in less than a month, and I absolutely cannot wait. I'm just ready to see them and spend time with them and show them around. I also cannot believe that I'm going to walk across the stage at The Garden and graduate. It's slightly terrifying... big time.

It's a gross, rainy day here, but I have it all planned out. First it's a haircut for Brian, then I'm treating him to lunch and a movie (I'm thinking Date Night because I heart Tina Fey & Steve Carrell), then grocery shopping for dinner tonight, potentially a stop at Trader Joe's, then home to cook.

I have to get back in the swing of blogging. My posts have tended to be just a rundown of what's going on with me, which is due mainly to the fact that I don't post in forever, so I feel compelled to give a catch-up of what's been going on with me. I'll work on that.

happy sunny sunday!

It's a girls day with me myself and I.

The Masters was on ALLL day yesterday and is on ALLL day today, which is just pretty much my worst nightmare. I am NOT a big fan of golf... like at all. I like the kind of classic preppy-ness of it, but I can't play it (been there, tried that) and I see NO point whatsoever in watching it on TV, and for hours and hours at that. But The Boy loves it to pieces and has been glued to the TV for the last 48 hours, so I'm making the best of it.

We did venture out to breakfast this morning, then I managed to convince him that we could be in and out of the grocery store in about a half hour, so he agreed to do the week's shopping with me as well, which always makes it ten times LESS stressful and makes the time fly by. Pork tenderloin was on sale this week, so I picked one up, came home and stuck that baby in the crockpot. An envelope of onion soup mix, chicken broth, soy sauce, garlic and onion and BAM, put it on low til 7 or 8 tonight.

(Sidenote: I love my crockpot. I have an obscene obsession with it. I just love being able to throw something in before I leave in the morning, then once we're home from work and the gym, all we have to do is shower and, voila, supper is served.)

After washing all of my fruit for the week, separating chicken breasts into freezer bags, cleaned out and organized the fridge and freezer... I was a little pooped. I didn't sleep much last night, so I came in and curled up under a blanket next to The Boy, thinking I'd read/nap for a bit. Apparently my company was too girly because he moved to the living room to call a friend about a phone interview that he has tomorrow. Forty-ish minutes later, I realized he was still hanging out in the other room, so I checked on the tenderloin then sat next to him with my new Food Network magazine, thinking "Aw, we'll have a nice little he'll do his thing, I'll do mine afternoon"... I thought wrong. A couple of minutes later, after no acknowledgment that I was sitting next to him, our conversation went like this:

Me, very sweetly and kindly and understandingly: Would you like me to give you boy time?
Brian: *quick smile and nod* Yep.

Ah, yes. I understand. Off to the bedroom I went, and now I'm settled with 100 calorie popcorn, the laptop, and a marathon of Kirstie Alley's Big Life. I've never seen it before but I might be getting hooked on it. She's just so funny and quirky and goofy... good easy TV, perfect for a Sunday afternoon. Ah, well... just more reality TV for me to DVR and never catch up on.

Weight loss-wise, I am kicking butt and taking names! I weighed-in yesterday morning and lost 3 pounds this week, which puts me at a running total of 19.4 pounds! I would love to lose at least 2 pounds this week, because it would put me at meeting one of my mini goals. I SO needed that loss and was really struggling there for awhile-- for the previous three weeks, I lost .2, .6 and .8... so frustrating when you're doing most of the things you're supposed to. I wised up though and finally figured out that I couldn't beat a foolproof program.

What changed this last week? Three BIG things: No mid-week drinking (trivia night at a bar had been equaling at least 2 lite beers on Wednesday nights which led to nibbles of bar food) and getting in all of my GHGs (Good Health Guidelines). This consists of servings of 3 vegetables per day, 2 fruits, 2 lean proteins, 3 dairy, and 2 oils. I went the extra steps and prepped all of my fruits and veggies the night before and made sure I snacked on them during the day at work, then got in lots of veggies at night. Not always easy, but it obviously works! And I really started pushing myself at the gym. That's my biggest focus right now-- I want to be happy in a bikini by 4th of July weekend. Not a teensy skimpy bikini, but a bikini.

Giggles out there? Well, I most certainly hope not. I've gotten my eating/snacking completely in check, and we've absolutely been going to the gym on our regular schedule. However, it clicked just this last week that to get amazing results, you have to go above and beyond with the effort that you're putting in. I'm going to start P90X this week and am finally going to sign up/COMMIT to a 10k. I think it will just be one really great training step towards beginning to train for my half marathon in October. Something about hitting (almost) 20 pounds lost just really opened my eyes as to how much my body is changing. I haven't weighed what I weigh right now in years. Like probably sophomore year of college. I just checked my BMI (thanks Kirstie!) and... I'm down a bracket! I was obese for awhile. I was OBESE and gross and just... not happy with my body or myself. I am now OVERWEIGHT!! I never thought that I would be pumped to be titled as "overweight" but I am. Basically, I will go down to being a "normal weight" when I lose 30 more pounds. I'm hoping to lose between 15 and 20 more before summer, and I think that that is totally feasible. The good thing is that I LIKE running and I LIKE lifting weights and knowing that I'm toning my body and making it more focused and strong... so let's just hope that I can keep that mindset, even on the hard days.

I think that I'm going to set little goals for myself and reward myself with small things. Like when I hit my 10%, I'm going to get a pedicure, and then just go in 5 pound increments from there. I can so do it-- I'm pumped.

This has basically been one big ole ramble because I haven't posted in forever and a day, so I felt it best to just sum everything up.

On a topic completely unrelated to me and my current relationship situation, a girl that I graduated with is engaged and getting married in November and posted a Facebook link to her wedding webpage... and I'm obsessed. At first I was like "Well blah to her for finding a WEBMASTER or something to create an entire website for her wedding!" but then I realized that she used a general site to build the webpage... and I fell in love. Like I said-- no rush to get there, but I'm kinda pumped that when all of that does happen I get to make a kick-butt page about it! (in case you want to take a peek: http://www.beccaandbrad.com/indx.cfm)

I think I'm off for now. I still have ZERO pictures because my USB ports STILL will not recognize anything that I plug into them, which is just ten kinds of frustrating. Anywho, I'm off to actually nap and maybe order a thing or two from Bath & Body Works.

spring is a-comin'!!

I am in SUCH a good mood this morning!

I woke up at 6:30 and felt like I was ready to get up for the day... so I did. Y'all. I don't know what's going on in my head, cause come Monday morning I'll be kicking myself for not savoring those few extra hours I could have slept, but oh well. I figured that I could go to the early WW meeting at 8 (instead of my regular 9:30), so I got ready, headed out... and ended up being down 2.8 pounds!! So pumped. There was a man weighing in who lost and got a 5 pound sticker... and he was so excited. He turned to the woman next to him and says "Hey! I got a sticker! I lost 5 pounds and got a sticker!" It was pretty cute.

***continued on Sunday because we got busy and left right after I started typing this post yesterday, so I'll just run through yesterday while I finish up the Academy Awards.

This weekend has been SO nice and pretty and semi-warm! It finally really feels like spring is on its way. The sun has been shining, the snow is melting... I love it. I don't think that I realized just how much I was ready for warmer weather and sunny days until I actually got a taste of it these last couple of days. Today we actually reached 60 degrees! I was getting dressed this morning and briefly contemplated flip flops, then realized that might be taking it a bit too far.

I think that tomorrow I'll write a post about what I love most/ what reminds me of spring, just to keep the mood consistent.

I also think I'm going to do my first fashion review for the Oscars. I love watching to see what everyone is wearing and how lovely and put together they look. I'm really anxious to see who wins Best Actress (go Sandy, go!) and Best Picture (The Hurt Locker has our vote, for sure).

Time for bed, thanks to a hefty dose of cough syrup. My cough has been battling me the last few nights and I'm determined to win tonight!

my boy.

I have to dote on my boy for a moment.

I'm on my own for the evening, as he's at a work shin-dig for a coworker who's moving on in the company... to Nebraska. Anywho, tonight was the first night in a LONG TIME that I was on my own-- I cooked for one, made lunches for tomorrow, did a load of laundry, called and chatted with my mama, watched a movie on Lifetime Movie Network... and realized how quiet it is.

The whole idea of personal space kind of dwindled a bit for me after we made the big move in together. Morning, noon and night, we were together. The battles over insignificant issues began: do you NOT see the pile of white clothes that you just piled your black socks on? do you NOT see that convenient hook on the back of the bathroom door for you to hang that wet, soggy towel on? are we lost because that trail of crumbs you just left seem to hint that you're leaving a path from the kitchen... Oh, my friends, it has not been completely easy. We for sure have moments where we both have to hang in different rooms for a breather.

But at the end of the night I know that he's going to be there. After sitting here this evening without him propped up next to me doing his boy stuff... I kinda miss him. Not in that desperate, can't-spend-an-evening-apart kind of way. No, more like... those annoying noises that he makes when he's being a bit off the wall? They're not so bad. The whole monopoly that ESPN and The Discovery Channels have taken over our DVR? I really do look forward to watching the shows with him, despite my protests (I promise the protests are just for show 84% of the time. However, that whole 72-hour NFL Draft Combine fiasco this entire past weekend was an exception).

When it comes down to it, I'm pretty gosh darn lucky. While he may not be the most romantic boy in the world, he's always up and washing dishes as soon as we've finished eating the meals that I've cooked for us. I have a hard time staying awake past 10pm at my ripe old age of 24 and he stays up way later than I do, but I always get a kiss goodnight and an "I love you" (to him-- I hear it/feel it, even when you think I'm asleep. Sometimes I pretend that I'm just a tiny bit more asleep than I am because I heart that little moment so much).

So while the whole sweet-talker kind of guy is the one that I always thought I would end up, it turns out that the honest-to-goodness best thing that you can hear sometimes is "I can stop and pick up Robitussin for you on my way home tonight" after you were up half the night coughing with a cold.

That little offer might have just melted my heart a little bit.

A lucky girl I am, indeed.