Saturday fun day

D and I had a great day today. We went to brunch with our friends Lauren and John. I have known Lauren for a few years and we have recently started the 'couples' dates and loving them!! They are awesome people and I enjoy their company a lot. After brunch we stopped by there house to see there adorable son, Barrett, and chat some more.

The rest of the day D and I worked out and finally went grocery shopping, we had zero food. The rest of the night consists of being old and boring, aka, relaxing with my hubby and animals. My fave thing to do. I have come to love 'old and boring' very much!

My fat man, the 20 lb cat! Love my outfit?? I just got done doing The Shred.

Bella and her bff, Squirrely.

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Tomorrow I am meeting with my bloggy friend (who is also my blog designer) Danielle. She recently moved to Chicago from L.A. and we have been trying to get together for a month and will finally have lunch and meet for the first time. We are going to one of my fave places Tavern on Rush. They have yummy food. And coincidentally located right down the street from the Tory Burch boutique, I may need to try on those sandals I have been drooling over!! :-)

Happy Weekend!

Dreaming of Spring

I am counting down the days until all this snow is gone, it's warm out, I have a fresh pedicure, and I can wear my long skirts and sandals. It can't come soon enough. My Spring fever has set in bad!

I am drooling over these Tory Burch snake print sandals, love them. I just purchased this OPI color, Do you lilac it, it's a great Spring color. It will be my first pedi color of 2010, hopefully soon!

Check her out!!

I wanted to spread the word about my (real life) friend Lauren's blog. She is a great writer and I LOVE her blog. Her and I have known each other for a few years and do a lot of our growth work together, she is in my woman's group too!

She has recently re-vamped and re-named her blog and it looks amazing!! If you like my blog you will love her.

Check her out and show some love....La La Land

30 Day Shred-Day 30

Last night was work out 30. Woo Hoo...I finished The Shred!

*I would have finished last week if not for being sick, I had to take a few days off.*

I am going to keep going with it. Maybe rename it The 50 Day Shred. I am loving the 20 min workout at home and want to see some lower numbers on the scale so this is not the end of my affair with Jillian.

On day 23 I tried level 3 for the first time. Holy cow it was tough but after I got used to it, it is by far my favorite level. It's a great workout! I am using my 5lbs weights 95% of the time. I occasionally need to switch to the 3lb weights for certain exercises (punches!).

I did 6 days a week, taking Fridays off. (minus my sick week)

Shred day 1: Jan 13th
Shred day 30: Feb 24th
Total loss: 8 lbs

Diet wise I did eat and snack really healthy but I allowed myself some treats now and then. (Skinny Cow ice cream bars....yum!)
I also cut out alcohol, minus a glass of wine now and then. (like 3 total all year so far)

Wishful Wednesday: Novel

'I wish' .... I could play a character's role in a book and it would be __________!

Clare Abshire from The Time Travelers Wife

I LOVED this book. And I loved Rachael McAdams as Clare in the movie. I enjoy the love story with this character and the journey she goes on in the book. Living life out of order sounds so intriguing to me. And though she looses her husband at a young age, while she had him, which was all her child and young adult life, it was a great love.

The romance and struggle of her life makes her interesting to me.

This post definitely makes me want to go and buy the DVD to watch it again.

Bi-Laws

Today I am in need of a bit of a rant! Feeling very frustrated.

We have had our condo listed for rent for 5 months and we FINALLY found a renter. (don't get excited this story does not have a happy ending)

We found out yesterday and were SO excited. Finally we can move and not have an 80 mile a day commute. After work we even looked at a new apartment and loved it!!

When we got home we received info that our condo association would not let us move. What? After arguing, yes they were extremely mature, with our neighbor we were told that we are only allowed one renter in the building at a time and since the guy on the top floor has a renter in his unit we are not allowed a renter until May and they will take legal action. This little fact is in the bi-laws that my husband signed after the association assured us that it wouldn't really affect us and we can go ahead and keep our place up for rent. They decide they have a problem with it now!?!

SO basically we are stuck here until May, if we can find another renter that is. It took us 5 months to find 1 and we have to turn them down. It is so frustrating! Angry at my neighbors (aka the association).


Sorry for the rant, I needed to vent a bit. Not really taking this news well. Searching for the positive in this situation, still looking!

More snow...really??

Spring is so close I can taste it and over the weekend the snow was turning to puddles of melted hopefulness and then BAM more snow. WTF winter?? I am over you!

So now we have another 5" or so of snow that needs to melt asap!!

(My P's backyard this morning. We stayed with them last night because of the snow storm, if you can even call it that!)

So to my new Tory Burch flats, hold out a little longer. I know it's lonely in the box in the closet. I will be wearing you soon!! (shoes here)

Did I brave the dye??

I sort of did!

My hair appointment was last night with my always amazing stylist, John.

I think it turned out great. I love the color. The back is dark and the front has high lights. It actually looks much lighter in the picture.


I had to take my own pic since the hubby is gone for the weekend, he is usually my photographer! Please excuse my pale-tired look...blame it on being sick!

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Sick Update:

I left work at noon yesterday to head home and rest. Some sleep did me good!! I forced myself to my hair appt and then back home for more sleep.

Today I am feeling much better. I was up early for my woman's group meeting and am heading for my massage/ lunch shortly. Hopefully this energy boost keeps up. I am still feeling congested but overall feeling better. Can only go up from here!!

Single for the weekend!

*Thanks for all the well wishes on getting better yesterday. I am feeling about the same today. I caved and chugged some NyQuil last night, slept great but feel extremely drowsy today. I made it to work and will go as long as I can, most likely will leave early.*

My hubby is heading up north (Wisconsin) with my step dad and grandpa (in from Myrtle Beach) for an annual ice fishing trip with my step dad's family. He left today for a long weekend of fishing, drinking, eating, and male bonding. This means...I'm a single lady for the weekend...figuratively speaking!

I am looking forward to some quiet time in the house and some girl time with my mom and friends but I will definitely miss the hubs, he is a great nurse when I'm sick.

Hopefully I am back to feeling 100% so I'm not plopped on the couch the whole weekend trying to beat this cold/ flu thing.

Tonight I have a hair appointment for a cut and color. I am thinking of going darker but maybe not as dark as the N. Richie picture I posted. I am thinking more low lights to gradually bring me to a darker color.

Tomorrow morning I have my monthly woman's group meet up bright and early. And then off to the spa for a massage and lunch with my mom. I love spa days and I have been looking forward to this all month! Again, hopefully I feel better tomorrow because a massage when I'm all stuffed up may not be so relaxing.

Sunday I plan to relax with the fur babies, do The Shred (if I feel better), get a manicure, maybe rent a movie, and make some yummy dinner. The day is mine to relax! I can't wait!

While the hubby is freezing doing this....

I will be doing this...

And unfortunately a lot of this...

Winter finally caught up to me...

I have gone ALL winter without even feeling sick one bit. Yesterday that all caught up to me and BAM my throat is killing me and I feel like crap, even had a fever towards the end of the day.


I forced myself to work yesterday (and today) and am living on water and Emergen-C, this stuff is amazing. I have been taking like 5 a day and they work really well.


I'm still feeling icky today but I think I can kick this with water, vitamins, hand washing, and some extra sleep. I don't like taking medicine so I hope this works, so far so good. This is putting a cramp on finishing my 30 days of The Shred this week but I'd rather get better first. So next week I will hit day 30!

Old School-Sorority Life

Do you ever think about the old days...back in college? I am not old by any means (27) but college seems SOO long ago. Over 5 years, holy cow!

I do miss certain things about college but for the most part I am so much happier now and rarely look back. Working life stinks sometimes, but being a self sufficient adult with a wonderful husband and thoughts of a family soon is so amazing!! I will always cherish my college days and the friends I made but I must admit being 'old' is pretty great!!

I found some old old pictures and it took me back to the good 'ol sorority days at Southern Illinois University.

Some memories I miss:
(fyi these pics were before I lost 80lbs...yikes!)

I was obsessed with my sorority. Go Sigma Kappa!!

Having tons of free time and goofing off with my girls!
(I'm the one in the red in the middle)

Making paddles, I loved making them. All mine are at my P's house stored in my closet.

Sorority formals. They were so fun!

(This is me, middle, 80lbs heavier)

My partner in crime and old roommate, Stefanie. We were usually up to no good LOL.

Living in my Greek sweatshirt and seeing my love Sarah all the time. We lived together for 2 years and had a blast!! She lives in IN now and we don't get to see each other as much.

What do you miss most about college?

Thank You Mr. Government!

Me, being the (super crazy) planner I am already filed and received my taxes. YAY!! I love H&R block and how easy they are to use online and I love direct deposit!! Taxes filed in 30 min, money deposited in 9 days!

Where is my money going?? Straight to my savings account! So not glamorous or fun but we are committed to save~save~save this year.


My husband filed yesterday! We filed separately this year. Marriage is great but it means less money back, boo!

Better than flowers

Like any girl, for the most part, I love flowers. But more than flowers, I love bamboo!! Flowers are beautiful but they die and my cat eats them. Bamboo will keep growing forever as long as you give it a new pot to live in every so often. Bamboo has proven to be the only plant I can't kill since I have the farthest thing from a green thumb...LOL.

My wonderful husband sent me a bamboo plant to my work today for Valentine's Day. Now I have an office plant to enjoy every day! Thanks babe!

Love Swap-Couple's Retreat Update

I participated in Katie @ Loves of Life Love Swap for Valentine's Day.

My swap partner was Kelly @ Guilty of Gossip!

I received the best box of goodies last week from Kelly, along with a really sweet little note! It had all my favorite things and a new fave nail polish color (OPI Hawaiian Orchid).

(Dove with caramel, Laffy Taffy, OPI nail polish, headbands, VS body spray, black and white scarf)

Thanks again Kelly!

PS the hubs has been attacking my candy stash so I must hide it...LOL.

****
D and I spent the whole weekend Fri night-Sun afternoon doing a couples retreat and it was SO amazing.

We learned so many things that will help us grow together and solve conflict more efficiently. It was the best Valentine's Gift we could have given each other!

After the retreat we stopped at my parents to have brunch with them. It was a great Valentine's Day and a great weekend!!

Happy Love Day

Healthy Pasta Salad

I stumbled across this pasta recipe last week on Danielle's blog and decided to make a modified version of it. I made a huge bowl and took it to work for lunch all week, it's super yummy!!

Healthy Pasta Salad:

1 box wheat pasta
Cherry tomatoes-sliced in half
Fresh mozzarella balls-cherry size cut in quarters
Baby spinach
Italian dressing-about 1 cup

Cook pasta and rinse in cold water. Add other ingredients, more or less depending on your likes. Add dressing and let marinate for a few hours.


In other health news:
I tried level 3 of The Shred on Wednesday and holy hell it was hard!! I did it last night too, even harder. I will definitely be a few days before I get into the swing of it but yay for moving up to level 3!!

Have a great weekend...D and I are headed to our couple's retreat after work today!!

Valentine's Weekend Retreat

Derek and I are spending the 'love' weekend a little differently this year. We are going to be taking a couples growth workshop through the place we do our life coaching. It's Fri night-Sun afternoon and we will be with other couples and leaders doing growth work, learning new things, and spending time working on us as a couple. (My friend Lauren and her hubby will be there too)

I think being a newlywed it's important to build a good solid foundation for our marriage. This is a fun weekend we wanted to give each other as our Valentine's gift. We will be with couples of all ages, about 14 couples. We will be staying at a retreat center (old college dorm) with all meals provided.

I have done the workshop weekends before (a woman's weekend) but never as a couple. I am looking forward to a fun and challenging weekend!! I am also scared, these weekends bring a lot of stuff up and it's scary to look at it sometimes but I know we will feel so good come Sunday.

Have a fantastic Valentine's weekend!!

Bring on the couple's work!! LOL!

Should I go dark?

I wanted to get some opinions on changing my hair color. I have ALWAYS been some color of blonde but have always wanted dark hair. I am such a chicken when it comes to changing it up. Last year I went from really long hair to really short and decided to hold off on anymore drastic changes at the time. I am getting the itch to try it now.

I really want to brave the dye but I am scared I will hate it. Getting a good blonde color is really hard to do. If I go dark and decide I want blonde back it will be a long process to get the color I have now back.

I LOVE Nicole Richie and she goes from blonde to dark and back and it looks great on her.


So I need an opinion: Should I go darker??

I like the color Nicole has in her dark hair picture, a rich brown with some caramel(ish) highlights. My stylist said it would look good. My appt is the 19th!

Has anyone made this drastic change? Any insight?

World's laziest dog!

We really do have the laziest dog ever. We are so lucky she is not one of those 'spaz dogs' but sometimes I think she has narcolepsy. She has her spurts of play mode where she sprints around the house playing chase with the cat and then passes out. And when she's out, she totally out!! Her fave way to sleep is on her back, she looks human. It cracks me up all the time.

I was cleaning out my iPhone pics and found a ton of her sleeping. I thought I'd post them to prove just how lazy she is.

She loves her D!
I think she has doubled in length since this pic, she looks so tiny to me.

Showing her belly!

She loves a comfy blanket. Look closely her tongue is sticking out!

This one is just hilarious. Passed out cold! This can't be normal?!?

I really do love her mellow personality. She is such a sweetheart and makes us laugh daily. I'm so glad she is our fur-baby!

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The snow is coming down hard today. Up to 14" expected. We packed a bag and are crashing at my P's tonight. Commute to the city today...no thank you!

Weekend Update

Friday Night:
D and I had our long over due date night at Coast, best sushi ever!! It was nice to get out of the house and have a nice din with my hubby!

Saturday:
We headed up to Wisconsin (about 1.5 hours away) to visit my friend Kelly and her new baby Blake, born 1-28-10. My friend Brenda came with us. The 3 of us girls (plus our friend Lauren who lives in KY and couldn't make it) were inseparable in High School. We had such a blast together. We all lost touch for a few years and then last year re-united and have grown closer since.

Kelly (new momma), Brenda, and I (with super long hair holy cow).
May 2009.

The new little man. Such a doll!!

Sunday:
D and I, like an old boring married couple, watched the Superbowl at home in our pj's with the fur-babies. We weren't really feeling going to a party this year and since we get up so early during the week staying out late isn't as appealing anymore. I know, old and boring, LOL! Plus I only like the commercials! If the Bears were in it though (when pigs fly) I would be all about it!

I loved all the Doritos commercials and the Betty White one. Overall though the commercials were pretty blah!

I did make the hubs some chili though. I promised him a treat since we were staying in for the game. I even used real ground beef, I usually buy ground turkey. It was yummy, a bit spicy due to my attack of the Tabasco sauce, but still very good.

*Thank you for the sweet comments on yesterday's post about my grandma*

In Memory of Grandma

One year ago today my grandmother lost her battle with cancer.

She came to IL (from Cali) to live with my parents when she was diagnosed six months prior. It was so great to have her around all the time, we were able to get really close in that time. She even helped me with all my early wedding planning.

She gave a great fight with chemo but the disease had progressed too far for the chemo to work. She got really sick one day and a few days later she was gone.


This picture was taken when D and I did our engagement pics at my parent's house(1-31-09). She gathered the strength to takes some pictures with us and we are so glad she did. We got some great shots. She passed exactly one week later.

We had the funeral on Valentine's Day in California.

We love you and miss you!
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Happy Superbowl Sunday!!
We are routing for the Colts today since Indiana is one of our border states and Mr. Manning is just awesome!!

Date night with the hubby!

Tonight D and I are heading to our FAVE sushi restaurant, Coast. We wanted to do some Valentine's celebrating early (we are out of town next weekend). I picked up my favorite bottle of Riesling (it's byob) and am ready for a long over due date night with the hubby.

Happy Friday!

30 Day Shred-Day 19

Last night was workout 19 on The Shred. Still on level 2 and just about ready to bump it up to level 3. I am using my 3lb and 5lb weights during the workout, mixing it up and trying to build up muscle.

I feel great. My clothes are fitting better and I can visibly see a difference, especially in my stomach and arms. That Jillian is evil but she knows her stuff, that's for sure.

I have been eating pretty well. It has been tough but I am pushing through the temptations. Even when I feel like I deserve a little cheat I have been saying no. Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches are an awesome low cal treat. Loving them!

My mom has since jumped on The Shred bandwagon. Go mom!

Last week I didn't see much weight loss, I think I am building more muscle and toning up from using the 5lb weights more. I'm not discouraged by the 'number' because I know it's making a difference. I'll take muscle lbs over fat lbs any day!!

Total loss 4.5 lbs

My Fave Things-Polyvore Style

It's no secret I love playing on Polyvore. I couldn't resist putting together this cute little collage of all my favorite things!!

It's FINALLY back

My ALL TIME favorite show returns tonight for the final season!

Sad that this is the end but what a great season it is going to be. I have been hooked on this show since season 2 when a college friend and I sat and watched the complete 1st season on DVD in 2 days to get caught up.

I watched the last couple episodes of season 5 last week (on my tivo still) to get refreshed. SO excited!

Anyone else share LOST obsession??

With death comes life

My parents recently had their cat, Louie, put to sleep. He was an old man and it was his time to move on. He was 15 years old and was such a great cat, very friendly. After Louie passed their other cat, Spice, was very sad and mopey. She is 18 and has seen 3 pets come and pass. Her whole life there has been another animal around in the house (2 cats and a dog).

My parents decided to bring some new life into the house. Partly on the advice that this will bring Spice out of her loneliness and partly because they love cats and wanted to get a new one. My mom loves Persians (Louie was an orange Persian and Spice is a Himalayan). She did some research and found a guy that was selling them. Once they got there they saw these 2 little girls and decided they just couldn't split the sisters up so they got them both.

Aren't they precious?? They come home to them Feb 9 (they are traveling this week). They are 13 weeks old. I can't wait to play with them.

Lucy and Ethel

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This is Louie and I two years ago napping at my parents house. We will miss you bud!