Saturday / Slackerday

Today has been a lazy day fo SHO. Woke up late and made myself a GREEN MONSTER shake! It wasn't exactly the same, due to I didn't have enough spinach. But I did add at least 1/2 cup of greens and you couldn't taste it at all. Delicious! Some of you made some excellent healthier suggestions for tweeking my other smoothie below. Thanks! Definitely going to try it all out. I'm a smoothie-holic right now. Sorry I didn't take a picture of my shake this morning, I totally forgot. Next time!

My kitchen has finally been painted! I was really worried I was gonna get all freaked out about the color, but I really like it. (It used to be red - what can I say I love colors) I am definitely going to need some new counter tops next though. My kitchen is small - someday, in the house of my dreams I will have a BIG kitchen. But for now...















I had lunch late so I decided to have an egg white omelet. I caramelized some onions, poured in the egg whites, chopped tomatoes, greens, SMALL amount of cheese, 1/2 tsp bacon bits (just for flavor) and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Delicious!















Well back to the task at hand (hard work laying by the pool!) =) Hope ya'll are having a great weekend! I leave you with a video of my new current favorite song, below (for you country fans only). Enjoy!

"Living...fast forward..."

Because this is all I've been doing this week, thought I'd post my workout update: (DUM, dum, dum! Cause I KNOW ya'll are on pins and needles every day waiting for it...)

Monday: None :( (But I ate very well)

Tuesday: 20 minutes treadmill, 30 minutes weight machines (was going to do more cardio after that but my Shuffle crapped out on me and I can NOT do cardo without my precious)

Wednesday: 30 minutes treadmill (alternate walking / running), 20 minutes bicycle fast pace

Thursday: Plan on doing 20 minutes of cardio - that's all I have time for tonight, eating dinner at a friend's house

Friday: Plan on doing 30 minutes of some cardio, 30 minutes of weight machines

I know my overall cardio needs to be increased. But I'm working on that. (Jersey, your workouts put me to shame!) I do go up and down stairs all day long at work. And I try to get in extra steps daily as much as possible.

The scale hasn't been as friendly today as usual but without being too TMI, I think it has to do with being a little, uh, stopped up. Let's be honest. A good poop can make all the difference in the world, can I get an Amen? So I've been trying to add back some fiber this week. (aka oatmeal, it's all about the oatmeal.)

On another related note, I am addicted to these smoothies I've been making. I'm estimating the calories around 300 (it makes a LOT though - a huge glass full) Here is what I've been doing:

Ice (however much you like, I use at least 8-10 cubes)
1/2 Cup Fat Free Milk (I use organic, it just tastes so much better to me)
1/2 Cup Fat Free Vanilla Yogurt (I used to use more milk and no yogurt, but it was runnier that way, I like the way the yogurt makes the consistency a little more "shake-like")
1 medium size spoonful (don't ya love my measuring abilities) organic honey
1/2 banana
1/2 cup blueberries
sprinkle or 2 of cinnamon
1/2 spoonful protein powder (I add this only after a work out, because it adds at least 80 calories, but also about 15 grams of protein)

Blend. Serve. Thank me later.

My next experiment with smoothies is going to be Simply Fab's Green Monster. I can't WAIT to try it! (Although my mom said "EW" when I told her about it. Way to be positive mom!) I need more veggies and if I can drink them in a smoothie and not taste it?? Even better.

Not much to update you on Mr. P. We are talking, that is about all. I would like to go into more details on my blog, but ya'll know how that goes. I haven't even told some of my friends all the details yet. I just want to focus on me right now and trying to mend my broken heart.

Last but NOT least, check out my cute shoes I got on sale the other day. (my legs look ORANGE, I promise they are not that orange in person!) No matter what is going on in your life, SHOES always make you feel better!

TGI Almost Friday!

It's all fun and games til one gets run over...

I was going to make this a wordless wednesday post, but let's be honest. I've never been very good at not talking.

On Monday when Mr. P and I went to talk about everything, we ended up going to the capital grounds and feeding the pigeons and squirrels. Man, these guys eat good. It must be like living in the Garden of Eden for them. And they are FAT. One of them was laying in the grass and I could see his stomach bulging out. Even though I've never been a big squirrel fan, I have to admit they made me laugh a little. And it was MUCH needed. (Which is probably why Mr. P took me there.)

Here are a few pics and a video. The video is funny at the end - the little guy comes right up to the camera looking for more.

SCORE

My boss walks in after not seeing me for a week and a half (he recently had a baby, I mean his WIFE had a baby but anyhoo) and the first thing he says is "have you lost weight??" Ahhh, I love it. I mean I know it's only about 6 pounds but it feels great to have it noticeable! I am one of those people that loses it in my face and belly first. I wish I could lose it in my thighs. I have thunder thighs, but you know what??? Trying not to hate on my body anymore. Trying to give the ole body some love - for keeping me going everyday. So what if I have thighs like what, what...I can move it all night long! (omg I just channeled Sisqo)

So back to the gym tonight. Back to work out my frustrations. Mr. P and I met yesterday to talk about everything. No, we are not back together. But after 9 months of dating, I agreed to meet face to face. It's been the worst Memorial Day weekend I've ever had. And the sad thing is I really do miss him so much. I don't know if we'll ever work through this, or if it's even possible. But for now, it's just sad.

Oh side note - my mom wants me to go out with this guy her friend knows. (not sure Im' ready to date just yet, but we'll see.) Apparently he's VERY involved in his church. Now, don't get me wrong. I want a man who has God in his life. BUT. I will never go back to the lifestyle that I lived as a child. We were in the church everytime the doors were open. Everything we did was for the church. We eat, lived, breathed, slept the church. I think church is great (I have yet to find one so far that I want to be a part of but I'm still hopeful) But sometimes I think people confuse their relationship with God with their relationship with church itself. Guess what? Churches are made of humans, humans that are flawed. The drama in church can be disapointing. It can really take your mind off of what is truly important. Your relationship with God. It was overwhelming and when I turned 18, I ran away from it so far that I'm amazed I ever came back. But fortunately I'm in a good place now with my spirituality. I have gotten comfortable with prayer again. I read my Bible. We (meaning me and the Big Guy) have a GOOD relationship these days. But I can't help but be anxious about going out with someone who is so involved with the church. I know for those of ya'll that are members of great churches, probably see this as silly or maybe I'm making excuses because I'm not ready to date. All I know is when my mom told me about it, my stomach got a little queasy.

I know, I'm worrying about things that I have no control over. Just putting my thoughts out there today. Does it feel like Monday to ya'll too??

PS I finally joined Twitter, so ya'll follow me (and I'll do the same) so I can feel like I'm not talking to an empty room. LOL!

Thank you all

It's amazing to me during a time like this, how the comments from "strangers" can mean so much. All of your kind comments have been like a warm blanket to me right now when I have felt so cold. My "real life" friends have been awesome too. Calling, emailing texting. I'm so blessed to have so many people care for me.

The one thing that has not changed during the past few days is my desire to continue my work outs and weight loss efforts. Even though I haven't had much of an appetite, I know it will come back with a vengeance eventually. And I'm ready to meet it head on. My runs have been better lately, my legs are getting stronger. I can almost feel the fat burning off. I'm SO glad that I have started weight training again. If you are putting it off, take it from me - it has sped up my metabolism like a freight train. My endurance has increased. I even think it has helped me cope with this break up better. (as crazy as that sounds) I feel stronger, physically and mentally. And even though I have a good chunk of weight still left to shed, I feel good knowing that I will get there eventually.

I wanted to leave ya'll with a link to a blog friend of mine. For those of you that are trying to lose weight (especially those of you that are doing WW), and looking for creative food suggestions, check her out: Trim The Fat. She photo blogs everything she eats and I am blown away by her creativeness and healthy choices!!! I have gotten so many good ideas from her blog. I love the pictures too, I'm such a visual person. Oh and when you have a bad eating day, read this particular post of hers "Today I Suck." So true and such good advice!

Thanks again everyone for the support from the bottom of my heart.

Breaking up is hard to do

Welcome to the blog I never wanted to write. The one where I say that Mr. P and I are over. Well, sadly, the day has arrived.

I wont' go into the specifics of what all went down, but things ended and not on a good note. It has been very very painful.

I know in the long run God has another plan for me. I know eventually someday I will look back and say "Oh! Now I get it..."

But for now, well...I have a broken heart. Life sucks. Love sucks. My heart hurts.

Whoop, there it is!

Right there above this post....in yo face! I mean, in MY face. My weight loss ticker, like I've seen on so many blogs. And that's where it's staying. As a daily reminder of my main priority now, to FINISH THE JOB I STARTED!

For those of you that don't know, I started my weight loss journey about 2 years ago at WW. I diligently went to meetings for over a year and while my weight loss was slow, I lost about 30 pounds total.

After about a year and a half, I got bored at my WW meetings. I knew so freaking much about the program, I could have been the Leader. Even though I still got some motivation from seeing others losing weight, I was bored. (WW are you listening?? You need a plan for old timers) I stopped going to meetings, and decided I could do this on my own. (Which, let's be honest, you CAN as long as you keep working the program.) But those weekly weigh-ins were a huge motivation for me to lose weight.

The good news? For the most part, I've kept most the weight off and really just the past 8 months did I start to gain. (new boyfriend, new job - both good things but...) I actually consider myself a Professional Maintainer. They say when you get to the maintaining phase, that's the hardest part. Laugh! That's what I'm good at. It's the LOSING part that ain't so easy.

I have really struggled to get back mentally to where I was before in my weight loss progress. Those of you that are trying to lose weight also know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. It's all mental.

I will win this battle. I know I can do this. My battle is not near as daunting as others of my weight loss warrier friends. But we can all do this no matter how many or few pounds we want to lose!

To be continued... :)

Product Review: Soft curls

I first read about the Remington Emi Airwave on Simply Fabulous' blog. She blogged about this awesome hair dryer that gave you wavy, beachy, soft curls. I was skeptical that it would work that well on my hair (read: frizzy, fine, thick) so I googled it. After reading tons of good reviews, I marched my booty to Tar-jay today and purchased it for $22.99.

Basically, you stick sections of your hair down into the cylinder of the hair dryer, and it blows the hair around and around, causing it to curl tightly resulting in dread-lock type hair. (Excuse the picture quality. All I had was my cell phone camera tonight.)

Afterwards, you gently separate the "dreadlocks" (I put a small amount of styling cream on my hair first to prevent tangles) and wah-lah! Smooth, soft curls! Mine was a tiny bit "messier" than some of the "after" pics I've seen. But I did a really fast job just to see if it really would work. Also, I think letting it air dry a little bit first helps.

Not bad, huh? Let me know what you think if you have it, and/or buy it and try it!

ETA: This is a before of my hair:

ETA Day 2: Still going strong!

Life doesn't always have happy endings

Please say a special prayer for my friend tonight.

About 2 months ago, her husband found out that his father was dying of cancer. About 2 weeks ago, they buried him. The very day they were driving home from the funeral she got a call that her mom was being taken to the hospital. Last night, her mom lost her battle - lung cancer, that had spread to her kidneys.

Did I mention she's 8 months pregnant?

My heart breaks for her and her husband. They barely had time to grieve her father-in-law's death and now she's lost her mom, at a time when she needs her the most. And to make matters worse, her 3 year old keeps asking her where her "Meme" has gone. She said "How do I explain this to her?? How do I explain this to me??" Heart.Wrenching. She also told me the other day on the phone "I know they always say that God will never give you more than you can handle, but I don't know if I believe that anymore..."

Please pray that God will send some comfort to her and her family. And hug your loved ones close tonight. I know I will.

For you ahem, of a certain age...

Does anyone out there remember getting milk delivered early in the morning to your front door in milk boxes when you were younger? I do. Mr. P called me out and said "that I probably thought I remembered but I had probably only seen pictures of such" and "they didn't have that service anymore when I was little..."

Well, not only is he wrong but I have the proof. I went to my mom and dad's and we dug up our old milk box from under the house where it had been sitting for 30 + years. We cleaned it out and now it sits proudly on my back porch:

When will men learn not to argue with women?

Weekend Ramble: Progress

Just checking in with my weightloss fitness warriors. How's the weekend going?

I have to say, I have been proud of myself this week, and well, it's been a while since I could say that. The days that I was able to, I excercised. The days I could not, I ate very well. I went out to eat Wednesday night, and ordered a salad with all veggies, light dressing, one glass of wine and a small slice of bread. And water. Friday was a challenge. We had a retirement party at our office and that's when I usually get out of control - finger foods that are so easy to pop into your mouth when no one is looking. However, I was the camera nazi, and kept my hands busy taking pictures. I did eat 2 petite fours, which wasn't great. But considering, not too bad. Today, I went for a walk / run through my neighborhood. There is a HUGE hill in my neighborhood and it's brutal. I tried to jog up it, but about halfway through I had to stop, LOL. It's SO steep. The kind of steep that if you put your hands down just a little bit you'd almost touch the ground. My heart was pounding out of my chest. Tomorrow I plan on going to the gym and doing the full cardio and weights circuit. Usually takes about an hour and 15 to do all I want to do.

Last night me and Mr. P went and ate sushi at a local joint. It was SO delicious. I probably ate too many rolls, but I could not help myself. That was some of the best sushi I have had in years. And I've had a lot of sushi over the years, lol.

One last pic of me on my Myrtle Beach trip acting like a fool. Who knew there were bears in Myrtle Beach???

Jersey, this is a lazy river:



















You just lay your tush in your float and the pool's jets move you around and around...so fun. Unless like someone said, there are 5,000 people in the lazy river and then - not so fun.

I'm going to start cooking some recipes from my Biggest Loser cookbook. I'll let you know how they turn out and of course will post some pics!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

"I'm Sorry, So Sorry"

Does anyone have a bad blogger award they can give me?? I'm sorry I have been so bad at blogging lately as well as commenting on others blogs. I've just been so unmotivated lately. It seems like with summer's pending arrival, so has my laid back summer attitude. Every time I sit down to attempt a blog, I just don't have the desire. Not that my blogs are so inspiring, haha. But still, I guess sometimes everyone just needs to take a break. Hopefully I'll get my blo-jo (blog mojo) back very soon.

A few updates while I'm here....

Last week my co-worker and I got a mini training session at the gym. He showed us how to work the weights circuit, and how many reps I should be doing and how often. I told him my goal was to start running and he said I need to focus on endurance. Lighter weights, more reps. Also, I have started doing interval cardio work, varying between the treadmill, bicycle and the rowing machine. (Which surprisingly burns a good many calories plus the trainer said that is a good full body workout which I thought it just worked my arms.) I think this method might work for me, because this way I won't get burnt out and bored which I think is part of the reason I start out strong and just end up giving up.

Also, now that the conference is over and I've gotten my self of control back I'm trying to channel myself to eat better as well. Summer fruits and veggies are coming! I have been dying to get my hands on some fresh summer tomatoes. Aint' nothin better than a fresh "mater sammich" with a dolup of Duke's mayonaise (I just refuse to go fat free on mayonaise so I just try to not use as much) and some salt and pepper. Mmmm mmm goooood.

My trip to the beach was fun and I had a great time with my mom and aunt. We didn't do too much "sunnin" because we had rain one day. But we did get in some good shopping, and I think we hit just about every "junk" store on the strip. I also bought a bathing suit, but egads. If I could just lose 10 pounds it would look so much better. Have ya'll ever swam in a lazy river?? Omg they are so much fun!!! We spent an entire afternoon in the lazy river. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get my mom and aunt out of it.

We also spent an afternoon at Broadway at the Beach. Tourists delight! Everything overpriced but heck. It was so fun.

Margaritaville: (Yes I ate a Cheeseburger In Paradise. Every.Last.Bite.)














My mom, aunt and I in front of the huge blender. (Excuse how I look. It was muggy and I didn't realize how much my "Skort" had shrunk. Not cute.)

Sunset from the West

Lifeguard Chair in front of our hotel (Since when did all the MB lifeguards turn into women?? I want a cute, blonde tan college boy with ripped abs as my lifeguard! Just sayin.)

I love a good storm over the beach, don't ya'll?? (unless it's interfering with my sunning time)

That's all for now....happy HUMP day!

Happy Mothers Day...

...to my mom and all of you mother's out there! Hope your day is full of joy.

Shady's back!

I'm back from Hilton Head Island and I survived my conference. It went great! Better than I could have ever imagined. Only blip was the first day we arrived. Our exhibitor hall got all messed up - and it through me completely out of whack. I like everything to be neat and organized and they just mixed it all up. I almost had a meltdown but it worked out though. Everyone found their place and all was happy. Phew. The attendees had a great time and I had several comments about how everything ran very smoothly. My boss even called me yesterday to thank me and tell me how great everything went. SO YAY!! Thank the LORD. I worked hard on this baby.

Here is me and my co-worker "navigating" the golf course during our tournament. (According to my boss, I look like the guy from Chips with those sunglasses.)




















This is J Edwards rocking out for us at one of our social events. So fun! He is so talented, check him out if you can. He's a local boy for you Columbia peeps. (Notice the spanish moss in the background - it was all over the place. Gorgeous.)

Next week....vacation time! I'm off to Fertile Myrtle Beach! (Look out Soxy!) My Aunt is coming to town and that's where she wanted to go. My mom is going also, and I pretty much invited myself. I haven't been to Myrtle in YEARS. Mr. P was a Myrtle Beach lifeguard years ago, and has told me some yummy places to eat. Looking forward to some down time.

Last night I did a photo shoot of my friend's new baby because I'm doing her birth announcement for her. Here are some of my favorite shots.






















































































I love baby toes. Sigh.