We have a Menu!

We had an appointment with the WestLake Club tonight to do some more planning. Right when we got there, Jennifer (the wedding coordinator) asked if I wanted a glass of wine because she had something to tell me. Can't be good, right? Well it turns out, she is leaving the club and her last day is next Tuesday. Luckily, Christine (her assistant) is taking over. I'm comfortable with this. She was actually the first one I talked to and she prepared the first quote for us. No worries! I thought it was going to be something bad like the club was closing or the price skyrocketed. She kept commented on how easy going we were. We're not so concerned with all the "stuff" that goes into a wedding, but rather the experience. We want to have a good time and make it a night to remember. Many years from now, I want to have memories of our wedding day. Pretty sure its not gonna matter then what kind of centerpieces we had. So we still have lots of little details to take care of but I know it will all fall into place. The main thing we accomplished tonight was making the menu for our dinner: Green salad/Ceasar Salad, Vegetable tray, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Chicken Piccata, Ribeye Steaks, Green Beans Almondine, Cilantro Mashed Potatoes, and Rolls. Here's a confession: we were super hungry when we left and nothing was taken out for dinner so we went to Pappy's and didn't eat healthy at all. But that's what Weight Watchers flex points were made for. :)

Insanity!

My friend April at school asked me if I wanted to join her to do the INSANITY DVDs. It's this series of DVDs that have workouts which are crazy pylometrics. Lots of jumps and quick movements in short amounts of time. Doesn't look hard until you try to do it. Our plan was to do them together afterschool, but we've yet to find a day when we're both available. So we're doing them at home. I did the pre-test the other night and was so out of breath. Tonight I did the first DVD and struggled through it. But I'm hooked and want to continue. And they make me feel kind of BadAss!

5 lbs and a Whole lot of Squash

Tonight I went to Weight Watchers to weigh. I'm down 5lbs from last week. The meetings I go to are almost entertaining. People sitting around cracking jokes and thinking they're funny. But I guess, at least they're having fun while trying to lose weight. My favorite comment of the night was when this really annoying girl told the leader, "I don't mind being unhealthy as long as I'm skinny." I think she needs to take her money elsewhere because that's definetely not the WW philosophy. Maybe its because I'm not that far over my goal weight (like 10lbs or so), but the plan is really easy to follow. Especially now since fruit is 0 points as well as most vegetables. Which leads me to the squash. I've been wanting to try Spaghetti Squash for a while. We bought one last weekend. I was surprised that the thing was $7.00 but oh well. Seemed a little high to me but what do I know about squash. Tonight was the night to try it. With a little help from Vanessa, I figured out how to cook the thing. It took longer to cook than expected and I had to leave it in the oven with Neal while I went to WW. True to form, dinner was ready for me when I got home. Everything nicely in the microwave waiting to be heated up. Thank God one of us can cook; however I'm pretty sure I couldn't have screwed the squash up. With a little chicken and spaghetti sauce, I thought it was pretty tasty. Neal just thought it was ok. Since it makes a ton, I'll be having it for lunch tomorrow and possibly the next day. Now, time to watch the Biggest Loser. No matter how many seasons they do, I keep watching and the people get bigger and bigger. I think its the most "real" reality TV show on right now. I mean, its hard to fake losing 100+ pounds. I get into and love to hear their stories and how this show changes their life. And to also remind me to continue being healthy. Peace.

Life in the Fast Lane

So we're officially in wedding mode. Well me more than Neal I guess. He gives me his opinion when I ask him. I got a lot accomplished over the weekend. Ordered shoes, invitations, and made a guest book. My mind is constantly "on" these days. Today was a busy one. I worked all day at school, then worked at VTXW, and then went to the gym to run. I was starving when I got home! Too tired to write much more. Last night was one of those "perfect" nights. It was cold outside so had a fire going in the fireplace. Neal was watching football and I was curled up under a blanket reading on my Kindle with Mack curled up on my feet. Life is as it should be!

Just Another Saturday

Boy, was today a busy day! Neal left early to go on a 40 mile bike ride with his triathalon club. I took Mack out for a little run this morning. Since I am way out of the running game, I'm doing the Couch 2 10K program in hopes of being able to run 6 miles again soon. I'm getting there. After the run, I came home and got busy. Ate breakfast, started some laundry, folded the previous 2 loads of clothes, cleaned the kitchen, swept the floors, finished The Girl Who Played with Fire, all before noon! I had a nice little egg white sandwich for lunch and then we went out to finish our wedding registry. We started at Target and spent over an hour there. All that time and only had 18 items on our list. Then the little scanner thing was acting up and they weren't sure if our list would be saved or not but sent us on our way. We then went back to Bed Bath & Beyond to finish there. When I got home, I logged on to Target.com to check our registry. It was there, but there were some duplicates and the website wasn't working with me. I then decided that BB&B had all the 18 items we put on our Target list. The BB&B website is super user friendly and I was able to easily add everything we wished for. I got tickled because it shows that 2 gifts have already been bought and I haven't really told anyone that we registered. My favorite memory of this experience was Neal at Target trying to scan the 52" inch TV to put on our registry. One can dream, right? True to form with the Target registry, it wouldn't scan the barcode.

Tonight we ate at Spaghetti Western. After that, I came home and ordered some wedding shoes online and also ordered our invitations. It feels good to mark things off the list, even if the list keeps growing. Whenever I start getting stressed with all the details, I just remember what this is really all about and it puts me at peace.

Here we Go

2011 has started out pretty good. No complaints from the first week. We arrived back into Galveston on Monday around 8 and I was at work by 10:30. No rest for the weary. With all the days I'm taking for the wedding, I really didn't want to take that day unless I had too.

Since we're less than 3 months away from the wedding and I was in the 160s coming back from the cruise, I decided to go visit my old friend Weight Watchers on Tuesday. They have a new program which includes free fruits. Although I'm not supposed to weigh until next Tuesday, I've cheated and jumped on the scale a few times. As predicted, its working like a charm.

Yesterday afternoon, VTXW invited the staff to go see The King's Speech. The movie is about King George VI who stammered and his speech therapist who helped him. I was the only one that went with Bill & Judy, but I didn't mind since Neal is not a movie person and I jumped at this chance to go. The movie was awesome and made me really proud to be a SLP. Although I think my days in the school setting might be numbered, I really do love the profession and am very thankful that God sent me down that road.

Happy 2011

We spent New Years 2011 on a cruise. Two years ago, we were in New Orleans and last year we were bums and stayed home. I guess this was our year to go all out. We went with 7 other couples and had such a good time with them. The wind was blowing 50mph or so most of the trip which made for a rocky ride. I didn't get too sick but I definetely watched what I ate and drank as to not make it worse. It was really neat to ring in the new year on top of the ship out in the middle of the gulf. We were in Cozumel for New Years Day. The group rented a few jeeps and we drove around the island, stopping every so often at a bar or restaurant. I loved spending new years day sitting on the beach with a cold beer.