John and Jen's Wedding Shower

I went to my first couples wedding shower on Saturday for my cousin John and his bride-to-be Jen. I like that couples showers are becoming more popular because I found it a lot of fun to be there with M and see all the other guys with their girls there. My cousin Laura and her husband Chris hosted at the house they bought in Stillwater this past year. It was also good to see some of my family that I haven't seen since Christmas. It had been a couple of years since I'd seen my cousin Mike and his fiance Tonia since they live in Duluth. We played a couple of games that we were on teams with our significants and ate and drank the afternoon away and eventually watched John and Jen open presents. We captured some pretty good expressions and photos for the day too. Good to see everyone and all the cousins! (cousin Joey too!)

Part of the group

The axe/hatchet they received. They got some camping gear as they are going to camp in Rocky Mountain National Park for their honeymoon.

Love this expression! It was a box full of different heart shaped kitchen items.

What? Haven't you ever seen a 6' 4" guy wearing a pink and red heart apron before?!

My cousin Mike and his fiance Tonia. They're getting married in September!

My cousin Laura and her husband Chris. They're expecting a baby girl in May!

Jen and John are getting married in June. You guys are an adorable couple! Congrats to you!

Me and M. We're not expecting anything or getting married!

Two Weeks in Review

I've been slacking again with my blog. I made it a resolution of mine to post more often but I haven't so in order to get all caught up prior to this weekend, I'm doing a random schmandom-type post for my activities over the last couple weeks.

Friday, March 12:

It was my Mom's birthday so we had a get together at my sister's house in celebration of my Mom. They picked up fish from the VFW weekly fish fry during Lent and ate it back at their house. Because of my diet, I didn't eat any but wanted to! We played Catch Phrase and Apples to Apples afterwards but then my sister went into her living room and realized it was cold in there and saw that the window was broken. Hmmm...I wonder what could have broken it? A 6 year old and an 8 year old who has been told countless times not to play football in the house because they are going to break something? Yep. They were already in bed but because the window was open, that meant her white cat named Bandit HAD to jump out the window and for us to go searching for him. Jamie finally wrangled him up back behind her property in the woods, but not before my Dad lost his glasses. He wasn't sure where he left them but between helping get the window figured out and looking outside for the cat, they were gone. We spent about the next hour looking for his glasses, inside and out. Finally, yours truly found them in the grass in the backyard in the dark JUST before I was about to step on them. So...the night didn't quite go as planned but my Mom insists that it didn't affect her birthday and the time we had over there. It was definitely a Griswold Family sort of evening for us. And I didn't even take a single picture! And I suppose I should tell you that I'm going to be an auntie again. Yep, my sister Jamie and her husband Tom are expecting their 2nd child together. She's due on September 15th and she's really hoping for a girl this time around. I'll keep you posted when she finds out the sex of the baby around early May. They've already got a girl name picked out but I'll share that later.

Saturday, March 13:

M's been talking with his siblings about getting together once a month for a lunch or dinner for quite some time and finally the first one happened. Everyone besides Ray met up at our house and we drove to Pepito's in south Minneapolis. I had been strict on my diet and had not cheated up until that point but I decided that I was going to "cheat" and get the Lupitas, my FAVORITE food there. I skipped the chips and salsa but the chicken lupitas were so good. I've done my best to avoid sugar the past couple of months so it was weird to be able to taste sugar in the baked tortilla! I think everyone really liked the restaurant and a different sibling will pick the restaurant each month and everyone will do their best to make it.

Left to Right: Kelly (friend), Sister Lisa, Brother Ray, Sister Kim, Michael, Me, BIL Greg (Kim's husband)

Sunday, March 14:

The weather was so beautiful so M and I decided to go to Mounds Park in St. Paul and just take a few photos. The Mississippi River was flowing but you could still see some chunks of ice floating downstream.

St. Paul skyline

My shadow-the wind was blowing my jacket open

Tuesday, March 16:

I went to play Bingo with a group of girls from work after our work day. I've been wanting to go play Bingo a lot lately so it was fun to get out and play. We only had one winner in our group, Jenni, who won $99. I'll win one of these day!

Deanna, posing for me while she pretending to spin the wheel. It was her birthday the day before so she got to spin the birthday wheel for a prize, which turned out to be $3.50 towards a purchase at the concession stand. Woo Hoo!

Wednesday, March 17:

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I had no desire to go out and drink but I did wear lots of green. Check out my green eye shadow. The green shadow really brings out my brown eyes.

Thursday, March 18:

I met Heather at Manitou Station in White Bear Lake for dinner for her birthday. Kristi was invited also but she has been working late at night and she was sick so she didn't join us. The weather was so beautiful today. I don't know what the high temperature was but it was at least 63 degrees.

Friday, March 19:

M and I went after work to the Wild Onion for dinner and a drink. We both hadn't been there for years and it was fun to reminisce about some of our old times there when were were in our early 20's. They have a small dance floor there and there wasn't anyone out there except for a girl that would go out by herself and dance every so often but then there was an old Asian man that went out there and was dancing up a storm all by himself having the time of his life. At first it was weird to watch him because honestly we didn't know if there was something wrong with him but then after awhile it was so cute to see him out there just doing his thing. When he got off the dance floor, there was a table of people that gave him a round of applause when exiting.

I'm all caught up except for yesterday and today so I'll be blogging about that early this coming week. Stay tuned!

Biggest Loser Results

After 8 weeks of competition, the Biggest Loser contest at work is complete. I was in first place for the first week, second place for the rest of the contest, except one week when I slipped to third place while I was on vacation and couldn't weigh in but went back to second place for the duration of the contest...until the final weigh in. We didn't have to weigh in at work on Week 7, which was good because I gained weight that week. After my final 8th week weigh-in, I finished in third place out of the 13 women in the contest. I only had to compete against the women but finished in 6th place out of the remaining 25 contestants. There were two others but one dropped out and the other got fired.

I lost 15 lbs over the course of 8 weeks. There were multiple ways I stayed successful and continued to lose weight and some facts about my 8 weeks:

• I eliminated all processed foods. I used to eat a Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice or Smart Ones for lunch every single day for years. No more. Everything that I eat (with exception of restaurants and some snacks) I now prepare. I have a salad and veggies every day and eat small amounts of protein for every meal or snack.
• I always made sure I was prepared. Whether it was cooking chicken or other protein, I made sure I had enough for the next day at lunch or another variation for the next dinner. It was sometimes time consuming to do this every day but it was worth it and now it's become a habit. I like knowing that I am controlling what I eat.
• I eliminated sugar. Sugar is the devil and will make you fat. I already have slightly elevated levels of triglycerides so this was important to me. I did treat myself to one piece of sugar free candy every night to keep myself from falling off the wagon and also to feed my chocolate addiction. :) I am curious as to how my tri's count will be come my next doctor's appointment in April.
• Overall, I followed a low-carb diet. I cut out the whites...refined foods, white flour, sugar, starchy (potatoes, rice), etc. These are the bad carbs that make you store fat instead of burning it.
• I ate low-carb bars and almonds for snacks. I have always liked almonds but now I've learned to love them. You just can't eat too many at one time. I also like a lot of the low carb bars. I bought Atkins bars mostly but another brand that I can't remember the name of also.
• I exercised but not very consistently. I did great in January but then was in Florida for 11 days, then got a cold and then I was off track. Never really picked it up much in the gym after that. I need to be more consistent with this.
• I lost a total of 12.75 inches off of my body between January 12th and February 28th (my last measurement). I am very glad I decided to measure myself since the scale was depressing some days.
• I'm fitting into clothes that I haven't for a long time. Yay!
• My journey isn't over. I have pledged to lose a certain amount of weight through the Pound for Pound Challenge. I have until June 30th to complete my goal. I have close to 16 more weeks to complete this goal. I will need to lose over 1 lb a week to make my pledged goal.
• Wish me luck!

My Week of Friends

I was feeling a little needy in the friend department after not seeing any of my friends since the middle of January and with going on vacation until almost half way into February, I was ready to spend some time with mis amigos. During the last week of February, I went out three times with friends, which was much needed.

Tuesday, the 23rd:

I met Heather for dinner at the Tavern on France for build your own salads. We hadn't seen each other since the end of August. We sat there for hours just talking and catching up before heading out for the night. Thank you Heather for the fun belated birthday gift!

Thursday the 25th:

It was time for our monthly Alphabet Gang Happy Hour and this time it was at Matt's Bar in South Minneapolis. Matt's is known for their Juicy Lucy Cheeseburger. I had never been to Matt's prior to this day. It's definitely a "cozy" little place. The place was jam packed for burgers and drinks. I ate the burger but not in the traditional way they would anticipate you to since they give you a burger wrapped in paper, no plate. I ended up not eating the bun and just eating it with the plastic fork they gave me, which wasn't so easy. I thought the burger was good but nothing compares to The Nook in St. Paul for a Juicy Lucy. Ok, Blue Door comes close. It was good to see the gang, especially since all of us could make it. We haven't been a complete group since the summer. We had some good and interesting conversation and of course we have our date set for March's get together: the 22nd.

(The one thing I hate about my camera is that the flash is too bright! It was completely dark when this picture was taken and with the flash our faces are washed out.)

February 27th:

To complete the week, M and I went snow tubing with Tanya and Chris. This was part of M's birthday present and part of Tanya's birthday present from me. We picked a great day...sunny and just over 30 degrees. We got there just before 2 pm so we could get our tickets and pick out our tubes before our 2-4 pm session started. There were tons of kids there so after taking a "We're all in our thirties and have never or have not done this since I was younger so let's take it easy on our first run and go down the 'kids' hill to see what we're working with here" venture down the hill, we put some of our inhibitions behind us after one more run and walked over to the Big Hill to test that out. We spent the rest of our day over there. It was very fun and a little scary going down the very first time and also going down the hill the first time on your stomach. It was hard to take pictures with everyone going fast and not knowing who's who sliding down but I think we captured some good ones that showed our fun day. After tubing we went to Angus Meat Market and picked up some filet mignon and went back to our house for dinner. We had filets, steak potato fries (not me) and Tanya and I had salad. We just sat around for hours talking but realized around 9:30 pm that we were all super tired from our day out on the hill so we called it a night.

Chris coming down the little hill

Chris on his way up the scary tow rope

M showing off his 2 right-handed gloves he grabbed by accident. We are way on top of the hill but it's hard to get perspective of it. Look at the houses in the back and the little people down on the ground at the bottom of the hill.

Me taking pics from close to the bottom of the hill

Michael coming down

Chris coming down

And finally, Tanya

My Shiny New Things

I've made a few purchases lately and I thought I would share them with you.

First, when in Florida, I was going to buy a Coach purse. I've never had the luxury of owning a real Coach purse, only knockoffs. My sister on the other hand has at least 5 real Coach purses. I wanted to go to the Coach outlet store and treat myself to one but instead I found another purse that I fell in love with that was much cheaper than a Coach. I mulled it over in the store whether or not to purchase it but ended up doing so and only spending $31. That's a lot less than a Coach! (P.S. I still want a Coach though...someday I'll buy one.)

Here it is! I've had about 20 compliments on it so far. Everyone who has commented on it loves it. Do you?

Thanks to my lovely model, Michael.

My second purchase was a picture. I saw this and had to have it even though I don't really know where I'll hang it. It still even has the cardboard on the corners. Daisies are my favorite flowers. I love the plain white daisies but love the colors of the gerbera daisies. My favorite colors are orange, pink and yellow, just like the picture.

Finally, I bought a new phone...a Droid Eris. I've never had a smartphone before so this is a very fun toy for me. It has a look similar to the iphone with touch screen and there are 20,000 applications I choose to download, most of them being free. The phone came out in November 2009 and there were 6,500 applications and just months later it has tripled. It's a safe assumption that the number of apps will continue to grow close to the same number the iphone offers. I love the phone and its features thus far. Does anyone have this phone or another Droid?

Florida Trip 1/29-2/9 Day 9, 10, 11 and 12

Day 9:

We woke up Saturday with it being the last weekend we'd be spending in Florida for this trip. We ate at Iguana Mia, our favorite Florida Mexican restaurant for lunch. Michael was drinking his water and realized there was a bee in it! We're pretty sure it flew in there and wasn't served that way but our server was very nice about it and brought back a new glass of water and joked that he took the bee out. After lunch, we headed to play a game of mini-golf. We went to a different course than the one we went to as a big group. This course was really fun and actually difficult. M and I made a bet that the high scorer had to buy the next dinner. Well, that was me. M beat me but only by 2.

On Saturday night, we went to downtown Fort Myers to Spirit of Bacchus, a cigar bar. We settled on the comfy leather couch with a beer and glass of wine and relaxed. We sat there for quite some time and when we were ready to go, we were getting tired so we weren't up for much. We did go to another bar, within walking distance that had a band. The band wasn't the best but there were some characters there. There was one guy that reminded me of a nerdy Snoop Dogg that was there with his rainbow suspenders dancing the night away. I only got a picture of his back but I bet you can get the idea. I also saw something I didn't want to see there...boobs! The singer in the band was announcing some drink specials and there was a special for Slippery Nipples when a woman on the dance floor pulled down her shirt and gave us all a show indicating apparently what slippery nipples are. We headed back to M's parents house after the bar after an early night. We're in our 30's and we just can't hang as good as we used to.

Day 10:

Sunday was the Super Bowl. We didn't do much this day except wait for the Super Bowl to start. We watched TV on and off throughout the day and went to Books-A-Million (BAM) to browse for some books. I got 3 books that were $1 each. We had a small Super Bowl party at M's parents, which consisted of us 4 and their neighbor Joe. I wanted the Colts to win but it was the Saints year. The only pictures I took this day were of some one's chickens that run around in M's parents yard. M's dad now feeds them every day.

Day 11:

It's Monday and this was our last full day in Florida. The sun was out, partially but it wasn't very warm. Either way we decided to spend the last day on the beach. We went and ate at Beach Pierside Grill. We sat on the patio waiting for our food and reading our respective books. After lunch we walked down the beach settling on a place in the sand to read. Unfortunately we didn't stay for too long because it was just too cold. We bummed around the area and went shopping for some last minute souvenirs for my nephew.

Instead of driving right back to M's parent's house we drove south down the island to Bonita Springs. We just drove around and saw there was a state park down one of the roads so we took it. The houses on this road were incredible. I don't think I've ever been this close to mansions like this. There are signs that say you cannot stop on the side of the road because gawkers like us would be taking pictures but we still managed to get a few pictures while I was driving. I wonder what these people did/do for a living.

For our final dinner, we went to Fire Pit City Grill. And because I lost the mini-golf bet, I paid for it. It was a good ending to our vacation and I was ready to come home.

Day 12:

Woke up at 5:40 am and was out the door by 6 am to catch our 7:15 am flight. M and I had a great vacation together but there were some variables that could have been better, including the weather. M's mom said that this was the coldest winter they've had in 15 years. I was so happy to see my cats when I came home. I hate being away from them for longer than a few days. I was glad to be back home even with the piles of snow we got when were gone. Minnesota is home!