First Birthday as a Hoosier

my friends and family are the best

Coming home from working with Jared today I noticed a package on our door step. It didn't surprise me too much because today is my birthday, but I figured it was from my mom (since sometimes she likes to surprise me with something) or either Jared's mom (she's been known to send packages as well, haha).

I opened it up and, to my surprise, it was 6 gourmet chocolate covered strawberries with sprinkles and icing from my friend Shawna! I would have never guessed!

(I ate the one of the bottom left just after I took this photo, haha)

Well, the first thing I said to myself was "shit, I'm gonna go over my weight watchers points today" haha! Then I called Shawna to thank her and said "don't you know I am on a diet" and she said "well, half of it is healthy". That's my girl Shawna... always thinking about the positive things in life, haha. I'm sure I will have a few, but I will have to share as well so I can stick to my plan to be a skinny-minny! :)

I also received a card and gift certificate from good ole' Marla and Jeremy (aka Fred and Val), a real nice card from my friend Emily, and a card from my parents (with the added bonus of a car pmt.) YIIPPPEEE!!! And, let's not forget, all my tech-savy friends who have wished me a fabulous b-day on MySpace, Facebook and through text messaging, :)

Needless to say, today is turning into one heck of a birthday, besides the fact that I am getting OLD!!! The best part will be this evening when Me, Jared and Hicks have dinner at Ruth's Chris (a real fancy schmancy steak restaurant). Jared even has to wear slacks, hahahaha!!!!!! Anything I can do to get the boy to dress up and I game for!

Not sure what our plans are after dinner. We talked about going bowling or maybe heading to the piano bar. I guess we will see where the night will take us!!!

Thanks for all the b-day wishes everyone! It sure makes my first birthday away from Kansas a great one!!!!

Chunky girl, NO MORE

that's it... i'm back on weight watchers

Let me preface this blog by saying that I am the world's worst dieter. I wouldn't even call it yo-yo dieting, cause I don't really try out the new and trendy diets. I have tried few diets with some success, but it never sticks for long. It is just that I like to eat and I wanna eat what I want, when I want it. Is that too much to ask, really? :)

But, my poor body has suffered over the years because of my "I eat what I wanna eat" attitude. I was elated last year when I managed to lose about 15 lbs. before my wedding. But that was in part to my good friend Dr. Murphy and a Phentermine Rx.

Besides the use of prescription drugs, the other diet I've had success with is the Weight Watchers plan (or as they say it is not a diet, it is a way of life). I have several friends who have been successful on this diet and it is easy to follow - here's how many points you get, don't go over it!

I used Weight Watchers online several years ago and did fairly well. It helps when I have to constantly keep track of what I eat and plan accordingly. The best part? I can STILL eat all the yummy things I like, I just have to work on my portion control, which is my biggest issue!

The two mistakes I made last time were: 1. I didn't exercise and 2. I didn't use the recipes on the Weight Watchers website. I kept eating the same things, mostly because they were easy. I ate sandwiches, soup, and Smart Ones meals, mostly. I got really sick of it. So, I slowly eased into my "I eat what I wanna eat" mentality and before you knew it I had gained back every pound I had lost.

Well, this time (I HOPE) will be different. I have been on the website looking for recipes and I have been exercising. I am looking for a Zumba or Spinning class I can join, but all the ones I have found are REALLY EXPENSIVE. Don't they know poor people need to lose weight too? :)

Hicks and Jared are also looking to lose a few pounds, so I hope they will be supportive and will maybe even enjoy the meals I make from the Weight Watches recipes!

Wish me good luck everyone, I KNOW I will need it!

Exhausted from a long weekend

whew, i need a nap already

Hope everyone had a grand holiday weekend. I know we did.

After our karaoke extravaganza on Thursday, the boys went into work on Friday to make sure all the customers were set for the Fourth. I, however, headed to the apartment pool with Julie for some MUCH NEEDED sun and relaxation. We spent about 3 hours soaking up the sun, chit-chatting, and reading (I started reading Marley and Me and I love it so far).

Then, after a nap, the boys came home and we headed to our favorite restaurant, Texas Land and Cattle Company. YUM YUM. Then we went to the Landing, a bar on the south side of town that has a huge outdoor deck where they have live bands. They had a pretty good classic rock cover band there, so that made us happy. We were able to watch the fireworks, listen to music and have a few drinks in the wonderful evening weather.

Saturday we were on a massive manhunt for a classic Nintendo! We all started talking about it on Friday night and decided, by golly, we were gonna get one! We found a place not far from our apartment that sells used CDs, DVDs, video games and, you guessed it, classic Nintendos. They have several that need to be fixed, but once they are fixed, we are the first on their list of people to call, haha! We already bought a few games in anticipation for this event. I can't wait!!!!!! :)

The rest of the day Saturday was spent relaxing and cleaning the house from top to bottom.

Yesterday we met a customer at the High Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Michigan (about 45 minutes away from us). It was my first time to ever be in Michigan, which was about the only good thing about it. The boys were on a power trip because last week they BOTH managed to net $1,000 from the Blue Chip casino in Michigan City. They THOUGHT they were unstoppable. Well, needless to say... that $1,000 was gone and it was like we hadn't even been to either one of the casinos, haha. At least it was the winnings from the Blue Chip we lost and not our life savings! But, we still managed to have fun and got a free meal off Dan, the customer that met us up there. We had jumbo kings crab legs... YUMM-O (as Rachael Ray would say).

After that long and exciting weekend it is hard to believe that I am staring at my computer screen at work. I'd much rather be sleeping :)

Happy Monday to everyone! Drink up the coffee and pop!

Let the good times roll

and roll, and roll

Have I told you about my new friend Julie? She is a pretty neat gal. I met her about a month ago at a Young Professionals Network luncheon I attended. I thought it would be a great way to meet people my age and I was right. I sat down at a table, not knowing anyone and struck up a conversation with her. It didn't take long for us to find out that we live in the same apartment complex, we both have communication degrees, she has a cat just like me, and she loves to karaoke. :) Needless to say, I was happy to have made a new friend.

We decided to attend the pool party that our apartment complex was having that weekend. I was joking with Jared and Hicks saying that I have a date with my new friend and that I was nervous, haha. In reality, I was a little nervous. Making friends is hard sometimes, especially in a new place. Will we get along? Will we like the same things? What if she is freakin crazy and I don't like her? Well, she is crazy, but in a good way, haha.

So, we went to the pool party and had a blast and we've been hanging out ever since.

Last night she invited me to Karaoke at the Elks Lodge. Well, I can't turn down a good karaoke night, so I went and luckily Jared was able to come as well. We had a great time and met even more people.

Here's a couple of photos from our "Night at the Elks Lodge"

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Independence

what does it mean to me

I recently came across a really neat blog on MySpace. It is called the Group Blogging Experience (GBE) and each week the facilitator of this group post a general word or two and then everyone has until the end of week to blog about that word, your interpretation, whatever it means to them.

It is a pretty cool deal and I have had a lot of fun reading my friend Roxy's GBE blogs. Anyone can join this group and can blog about it as long as they have a public profile so that she can post all the blogs and everyone can read what others have written. But, I am not ABOUT to set my profile to public, so I figured I could write about it anyway and post it on Blogger and Myspace on my own. If you all are interested in doing this as well, just let me know and maybe we could start our own GBE right here on Blogger (Of course we could change the name and come up with our own words if we wanted). :)

So, anyway... the topic this week is Independence (next week will be an off week for the facilitator, so maybe we can come up with our own next week).

So, here's my first shot at a GBE Topic - Independence.

My dad always says, "YOU are the most important. You have to look after, and care for, YOURSELF above anything else. Do what is best for YOU!"

This phrase has been with me ever since the first time my dad said it to me when I went off to college. I have never forgotten this phrase over the years, although I have had to remind myself (or others have had to remind me) of this phrase's importance. To me, that phrase is what independence means, both in the historic-American sense of the word and the personal sense of the word.

Independence is a liberating thing. When I graduated college, when I bought my first home and when I landed my first REAL job, I felt the true feelings of success and independence fill my heart. I was proud of myself. I was proud of myself because I did those things because they were what was BEST for me and I did them, mostly, on my own.

Being married close to a year now, I have learned that the independence I had as an unmarried woman is slightly different now. It went from "what is best for me" to "what is best for us". While it is still a feeling of independence, it is difficult to grasp sometimes. Now, I ask myself, "what will JARED think about this? What should WE do? What if HE doesn't want to do what I want to do? Then, the word independence turns into cooperation, trust and compromise.

Jared and I came together as husband and wife and made a decision to move to Indiana because we felt like it was what was "best for us" at the time. We made a decision to have a fun and easy wedding in Las Vegas because it is what we thought was "best for us". Do we always see eye to eye? Heck no. But we are slowly learning the independence, cooperation and compromise of being married.

This is also true when you look at the independence of our great nation. The Declaration of Independence was written because it is what our ancestors felt was "best for them". They went to war with Great Britain to fight for independence because its what they felt was "best for them", despite the terror and loss of lives involved. They knew they were fighting for more than just a piece of land. They were fighting for respect, they were fighting for dignity, they were fighting freedom of religion and freedom of speech and they were fighting because they knew it was what was right for them.


And because they did fight for what was best for them, we are all here today to blog about it and compromise with our spouses. What a country we live in! :)


Happy Independence Day everyone!

Allergies

i hate them

I HATE allergies and sinus trouble. Absolutely HATE it. Just thought I would tell everyone that.