Week One

After blogging last week about getting into shape I had a total failure of a week. For some reason I decided to make both a batch of cookies and brownies...and pizza and well, lots of bad food. Oh and also a fail in the workout department too, besides walking the dog every once in awhile. Soooooo needless to say I have no good update in terms of fitness. My husband told me we are going to start working out together starting tomorrow. We will see how it goes.

Getting Fit for our trip to...

JAMAICA!!!!

That's right! We are planning a trip to Jamaica for our 2 year anniversary. I know 2 years isn't a "big" or "milestone" but after much discussion we decided that we should just go for it. After our Honeymoon mishaps, I've been striving to convince my husband that we need to go on a more romantic and relaxing vacation. Why now you ask? Well, since we are currently just renting, we have some extra funds saved up and so before we settle in and buy a house (which comes with ongoing expenses and no time for a big vacay) and possibly start a family (did I say that out loud??) we decided it would be the perfect time. So we are headed to Jamaica for 7 days in May!

That means I have 6 weeks to attempt to get in shape. I think I will start compiling all my fitness pins on Pinterest and put together a fitness plan. This is always so difficult for me, but I really want to try to stick with it. And really its not only because of the trip, I've been wanting to get more fit for awhile now (what a surprise) and I think this might be the perfect motivation as a jump start. I'm writing this blog post as a hope to keep myself accountable for working out and eating healthier. Tomorrow is April 1st. Seems like a perfect day to start. Downfall #1...I made a huge batch of cookies this morning. They're oatmeal, does that make them healthy even though they contain 2 cups of sugar?? lol

Wish me luck! :)

Starting weight: 155 lbs
Goal weight: 145-140 lbs (2-3lbs per week)
Fitness Goal: to work out at least 3 times a week - more than just walking the dog.
follow me on myfitnesspal!

A New Chapter

May 29^th

I never thought I would be moving. I thought for sure I would be stuck in Illinois for the rest of my life, because after living somewhere for almost 20 years you get to know what “home” is. If I didn’t believe that Illinois was my home, I would probably think Colorado was. That’s where I was born, that’s where my family is, that’s my dream place to live. So one would think that maybe this would be where I would relocate. Well we tried, but no. Ed got a new job in Columbus, OH.

Columbus, OH? Ohio was never on my list of places I would consider living. New York, Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, California, Portland…are among some of the other places that had come up that, yes, maybe I would have had on my list where I would like to live and make a life. Never Ohio.

Ed got a job at an up and coming marketing firm where he will be on their creative team. Are you asking yourself, “why would you move for him? Why is this job better than the one he already has?” Well, being married to someone that knows what he wants to do with his life and loves his career and thrives in his career and industry, its hard to say you can’t follow your dreams. I’m someone that still doesn’t know what I want to do with my life and still trying to figure out what my career will be and I have no real “love” in life when it comes to what I want to be when I grow up. So, why hold him back when I don’t know what I’m doing? I can’t. So, the position was better, the money was better, the cost of living is less and it will all and all be a fresh start. But to say I’m excited may not be the correct term. Bittersweet maybe.

In fact I just left him this morning in his new apartment he will be living in until we can sell our house. Anyone looking for a 4 bed 3 bath home? I’m staying back until the house is sold or I stumble upon a job in Columbus prematurely. We’ve never done the long distance thing and honestly it breaks my heart and is straining on my soul; not to get sappy or anything. Its hard to leave my husband of one year to go live somewhere else for a few months when we haven’t been apart for more than a weekend.

June 29th.

I wrote the exert above exactly a moth ago when I was on the plane on my way from Ohio to visit family in Denver. I still feel the same, but its getting more real everyday...this is why.

We accepted an offer on the house. 

The house was on the market for less that a week and a guy made us an offer we couldn't say no to. We could have said no, if I wanted to be "single" longer, but we thought it was a good offer and I will be back with my husband starting a new life hopefully in 31 days. 

31 DAYS!?

Pending the inspection, closing will be on the 31st of July. This is crazy. I thought for sure I would be here until christmas. Stranger things have happened I suppose, but everything seems to be falling into place and I guess when that happens, you know you're doing the right thing. I will miss everyone here, family, friends and coworkers but I am excited to start a new life.

Here are few images from our house. Its not exactly have we lived with it, but its de-cluttered and slightly "staged" for the showings.

MIA

I know. I haven't posted in a loooonng time. Ugh I've been extremely busy and hope to have time in the very near future to fill you all in.

The Past Weekend's Events

This weekend was pretty eventful starting off Thursday and a surprise yesterday...

Thursday we went down to Chicago to see The Tosh Tour Twenty Twelve. It was probably the funniest shows I have ever been to and would highly recommend anyone who likes Daniel Tosh to see him live. Prior to the show we had dinner at Elephant & Castle, a pub style restaurant where we have been before and is close to the Chicago Theater. Afterwards we had some time to kill so we ventured over to a cute little cafe called Toni Patisserie & Cafe near Millennium Park. So cute. Imported French and Belgium ingredients and everything made in house. I partook in a brownie and a giant mug of hot tea, Ed had his go to, a double shot of espresso. I wanted to try everything there, I will definitely have to go back sometime.

Giant Mug

Tiny Espesso

I think I'm going to skip Friday...I got home from work, had dinner and then passed out around 6:30. I'm not embarrassed to say that I slept all through the night until 5 am, then back to bed for another 2 hours after taking care of the dog. Obviously I needed some sleep!

Saturday night Ed and I went out for a nice date night. We headed over to Pinstripes for some appetizers and drinks. Delicious! We had a bottle of wine, spinach artichoke dip, sirloin sliders and some sort of grilled shrimp. We did leave full and a little tipsy, but it was well worth it! 

Sunday was Family day...not picture worthy I guess. It was Ed's brother's 21st birthday party shared with his Dad's birthday as well. Good food and conversation, then off to my Family's house for dinner. Yum. We also went to target for some much needed items including, of course a new toy for Charlie. I think he liked it.

Now... I got home last night to a Husband that had gotten home early. He told me he traded in his car. That story may have to be told another time. So then he says "well I got you something". Why? To soften the blow of you being slightly idiotic? What was it you ask? 2 of the Tiffany Bracelets I had asked for for our anniversary (which is May 14th). He was going to wait for our actual anniversary to give them to me...of course...but he does have an issue with keeping secrets or surprises, so even if he hadn't done something stupid, he probably would have given them to me sooner anyway. He's so thoughtful. I love him so much and wouldn't trade him for the world.

Card Making

I've been dabbling in card making and also dabbling in the idea of making a business out of it. Problem is, I only like doing it when I'm making them for other people. I can't seem to just make some and have them sit as "inventory". I'm trying.

So I'm currently making some Thank You cards for a friend of mine, Kelly, the owner of Empty Canvas Art and Design. Here is my palette.

Now, of course I bought way too many choices, but I just couldn't find the "one" paper I liked so I plan on making a few mock ups. Hopefully she'll love them when they're finished.

Here are a few other cards I have made in the past...

Bridal Shower

Nephew's 3rd Birthday

So, I'm trying to build my inventory. These are all a start, either made for my family or for friends to give to people.

Some Book Reviews...

I started reading "Fifty Shades of Gray". 

Apparently everyone is talking about it (as it shows in the image) so I said , hey why not. I'm actually listening to the audio version, not actually reading it (which is annoying, the narrator sounds like a valley girl). I'm not that far yet, but from the starts of it my initial thought is, "are all love stories this cheesey?" Besides the fact that apparently this is a re-imagined story of Bella and Edward from the Twilight series...with more adult themes.

I have read quite a few "trashy" romance novels and its the same thing, why are they so cheesey? Is this really how girls think and this is definitely not how real men talk, at least I haven't met any and I know, this is probably the point, for women to delve into the fantasy of the "perfect man". Listening to this has somewhat inspired me to write a real life love story...but maybe another day. It kind of makes me laugh, but I hear this book trilogy is pretty good and steamy, so I will continue the story. I'll have a follow up when I finish book one.

Of course, like the rest of the country I recently re-read the Hunger Games Trilogy. 

I also saw the first movie. I love, love, loved the books and have re-read the first book right before the movie, the movie disappointed me, a lot. I wanted more. I felt like it was the book on fast forward. Don't get me wrong, I understand that movies would be 7 hours long if they put in every detail of the movie, but I felt that if I hadn't read the book, I would have been UBER confused. They barely even introduced some of the characters... With that said, it was an overall good movie and I would definitely recommend the books and the movie to everyone over the age of 13.

"The Night Circus" is a book I highly recommend to people who like fantasy, magic, whimsy and twists and turns. Oh and maybe if you like being confused until the end. I loved this book! It fits into the popular fantasy/magic/creature/circus theme that everyone is into right now but its different and very unique. I actually wish they would make a movie, I think it would be interesting to see how they would interpret some things. 

The book is about a dual that needs to happen between 2 "magicians". In the background of the story is the Night Circus and its followers and workers. It's a circus that is only open at night and disappears and reappears without notice. The story is kind of confusing with a lot of characters and a lot of different points of views but in the end it ties it all together for a very rewarding read.

Finally, my brother told me I need to read this book... "Food Rules". 

I guess this will make me only want to eat real food...and by real I mean food where you know what most of the ingredients are on the nutrition information. He told me I needed to read this after I asked him why he wasn't putting Cool Whip on his dessert the other night. "Have you read the ingredients on Cool Whip? Thats not real food". This is when he gave me the book to read. With my recent Weight Watchers and healthy eating venture I say, why not. So I plan on reading this soon...scary.