Happy Anniversary

I met him a little over 5 years ago, sitting at a bar, drinking a Stella. We chatted and he seemed nice. We exchanged email addresses and I got mail. We met a few nights later. He was the first boy I had got out with in such a long time who just didn’t bug me and who I actually wanted to see again. I hoped he would call and he did. After our second date, I knew he was the one. No question. We told our secrets and exchanged our first I love yous two weeks after sitting in that bar.

Within six months, I had gone from drunk dialing old boyfriends to having a ring on my finger, big enough to show off to my friends. 7 months, later we were married. Hawaii, the beach, sunset with just 7 guests. My dream come true.

We jumped in full board. We are together and we are solid. We are family.

With him, I am me.

Relief and Not Giving Up

So the owner of the building FINALLY came out to look at the water situation, took one look at what the plumber was doing and fired him. The plumber was mixing up the landscaping irrigation lines with the water lines for the building. WTF. The owner did a little fix on the water and it’s now back on. We’re all coffee’d up and empty bladdered.

Thank you all for your suggestions for my Lent question yesterday. The one that made me laugh the most was from Mickey. Give up TV? Seriously? Let me introduce myself. Hi, I’m The Big Girl and I love TV. Survivor, Top Chef, American Idol, Brothers and Sisters, Real Housewives of the OC, and Real Housewives of NYC, Project Runway etc… the thought of giving up TV made me break out into a cold sweat.

I’m still not really clear on exactly what I’m going to do, but I know I am not going to give up anything. I loved all the brilliant suggestions of doing something more rather than take away. Volunteer maybe? Maybe add more exercise into my day? Babysit a friends child once a week so the parents can play?

But in the mean time, here’s something ALL of you can do and please spread this suggestion along. When I get to a grocery store, I look around the parking lot for someone finishing up putting their bags away and then I then ask them if I can take their cart back for them. It’s a small thing, but I tell you I get the BEST reactions. People are so grateful, especially for people with kids, who either have to leave their kids alone in the car or drag them to a cart drop off. This small little gesture is easy, and I promise, it makes a big impact. Go ahead, give it a try.

Giving Up

About 10 years ago, I started working with a man who gave up something for Lent every year. Big things, like smoking, potato chips, bread, pizza and pasta of which he ate copious amounts of all those things. (And he never had a weight problem other than being too thin!) I admired his strength and will power. He never waivered in his conviction to follow the rules of Lent. It astonished me.

He died a handful of years ago and now, in honor of him, I have given up something for Lent every year. One year it was soda, another year cheese but this year, I’m needing suggestions of what to do. I’ve given up soda for good, I’m on a no sugar kick right now so giving up desserts is out, I don’t eat that much meat and I don’t smoke. I was thinking of bread, but to what extent? Would that mean no, pizza, no hamburgers and no veggie or chicken burgers?

I’m taking all suggestions of what you think I should give up for the next 44 days. I’ll take all into consideration so hit me up in the comments my friends.

Bathroom Update

From the person in charge of this little challenge we're having in the office of 3 days without water in the building.

The plumbing issue continues…..I have ordered a porta-potty – should be here soon
Will be located in the back near the dumpster.

Nice.

And Missicat, I think it's a healthcode violation too.

You Can Lead Them to Water, If There Was Any

I’m sorry, but how can an office expect it’s employees to work without water in the buildings for 2 whole freakin’ days? I’m not sure if they know this, but if you drink you usually have to use the restroom. That means, I’ve been surrounded by a bunch of people that haven’t had coffee in two days. It’s not easy folks, thank goodness, I only work part-time.

Got Ideas?

During my days, I always think of really great things to blog about. I find myself in a narrative of, “I totally need to remember that so I can blog about it.” But, when the time comes my mind often come up blank, like right now. Do you keep a mental list of things to write about, do you write them down or do you, like me just start writing when you sit down to post? I’m really trying to find a way that would be easy for me keep my, seemingly great, ideas at hand so I actually have something of substance to tell the world about.

On another note, we don’t have any water in the building today so no drinking water and no going to the bathroom. I think there’s a lot of people that will be taking early lunches today.



And on the wedding front, I got this from The Bride when I asked how things were going:



Omigod.. He's driving me crazy. Fighting about everything.



Why am I not surprised?

The Wheels on the Bus Part 2

Sorry to all of you who had this song stuck in your head yesterday. I guess misery loves company, since I was humming it most of the day as well.

Needless to say, the walking part worked great. It took me a little over an hour to get to The Little Miss’ school and was actually there early to pick her up. She was all fired up to ride the bus home, but when I asked later her if she had fun, her answer was, “I just like to take cars.”

I’ll start prepping her for our next bus adventure since it was great to get a big chunk of time walking. The day was beautiful, cool but sunny and I ended up with nearly 14,000 steps for the day. I'm thinking if I add this into the mix once a week or so, that would be a nice addition.

The Wheels on the Bus

One thing The Little Miss loves to do is take the bus. She loves riding on it and whenever we see one, she says, “I want to ride on the bus.” So today, I’m going to walk from my house to her pre-school to pick her up and we’ll take the bus home.

I mapped out the route on my drive this morning and figured it to be about 4 miles. I’ll leave an hour and change before my normal pick-up and trek on over to meet her. Since we have a break in the rainy weather this week, it will be nice to take advantage of the afternoon sun, get my exercise time in and The Miss will have fun riding the bus home from school. We should be walking in the front door just as it's getting dark, so if this works, I think I'll try and add this into my weekly exercise rotation. Seems like a win win to me.

I'm Back

I’m back from visiting The Bride and her new name should be, The I-Cannot-Make-Any-Decisions Bride. I’m completely wedding’ed out and I’ll try my hardest not to complain too much about the whole affair, but I’m not making promises because there is a lot to complain about.

It was, however, really nice to see her and spend some time with her, her fiancé and her parents. It was a lovely weekend filled with the typical landmines of homemade comfort foods, read: food I really shouldn’t be eating. I did really well and watched my portions and ate more of the healthier choices. I came home down a pound. Whew!

I’ve set a goal to be in the 160’s by the end of March when we’ll see each other again to celebrate her 40th birthday with a girls weekend. That’s about 8 pounds which I think that might be a little aggressive but there is a chance I can do it.

One Love

Happy Valentines Day.

I'm Still Big

My wardrobe sucks. I basically live in black, white and khaki. I wear mostly solid colors, my clothes are getting old and I generally prefer comfort over fashion. And I’m sick of it all. I want some fun, funky clothes, something bright and sassy. I don’t go clothes shopping very often and since I’ve been losing weight I really haven’t wanted to spend the money on clothes that might not fit me in a few months. But everyday, I get dressed and am depressed by what I see. It’s the same ol’ nasty things. I even still wear some camis from Old Navy Maternity, and I was pregnant 3 years ago.

So yesterday I went shopping. I was ready to plunk down some money for a new little top. I’m off to see The Bride this weekend and just wanted something cute to wear while we endlessly discuss wedding dresses, wedding sites, wedding dates, wedding flowers, wedding everythings. I braved it and went to a “regular” store. I picked up larges and extra larges hoping something would work. I stayed away from the solid black shirts and really tried to find something that I normally wouldn’t wear, but thought was cute. I had high hopes.

Those hopes were crushed. I’m not as small as I was hoping to be or as small as I think I am. I could barely get my arms through some, others were pulling at the bust line and the cute babydoll cut makes me look like I’m knocked up. ARGGGGgggg! I walked out of the store, feeling totally gross, almost in tears, frustrated once again, but refusing to go back to Lane Bryant. I so want to fit into “normal” clothes. I want to be able to walk into a store and fit into something they have. I don’t want to go to the big girl store any more.

Smile Big!

We talk a lot about health, living a healthier lifestyle, eating better, watching our weight and all that, but one area we all need to remember is our dental health. The Husband finally went to the dentist yesterday after putting it off for YEARS and yep, thank goodness we have some dental insurance since they’ll be covering a big part of the over $20,000 worth of dental work. And if you want strippers or a foot massage to go along with that, it'll cost you extra.

He needs to have his wisdom teeth pulled, root canals, crowns, 2 permanent bridges, this’s and that’s and basically a new mouth put in. You would think that his mouth look something like this but in reality this is The Husband.

So please folks, if you don’t already, please go see your dentist since we’ll all be wanting to have big gorgeous smiles to go along with our pretty little bodies.

Someone Lost Some Weight

Someone in my house has lost a lot of weight the past few days, and it isn’t me. The Little Miss has been sick since Wednesday and basically hasn’t eaten squat. She’s lost about 2 pound or about 8% of her body weight.

My life has been filled with hours of The Little Miss on the couch watching copious amount television, being brainwashed by Disney Princesses (There’s a My Dislike for Disney post in me somewhere) and me trying to find something she might want to eat. I keep offering her up all of her favorites, but there’s nothing she’ll have more than a bite of. I know she’ll eat when she’s up to it, but when she’s already on the tiny peanut side, it’s hard to watch her get even skinnier right before my eyes.

To add my I’ve-been-stuck-in-my-house-for-days worse, is it’s been raining off and on and cold here. And when I say cold, I mean cold for us ultra thin-skinned Southern California peeps. Between watching over The Little Miss and the weather situation, I haven’t had a chance to get out to exercise much. It makes me realize how much harder it must be, for those who live in cold weather climates to get out and exercise. You really have an added burden and kudos to you for doing it.

Back in the Game

The scale is finally going in the right direction. I’ve crossed the 180’s threshold and I feel as though I’m securely planted in the 170’s. My no sugar diet and knowing that a wedding is coming up, has gotten my head back in the game. I’m feeling good about my weight and I know this is just the beginning of another go round to lose the last 20 or so pounds I'm wanting to shed. It’s not going to come easily, it’s going to take some work, but with perseverance I’m sure it will happen.

My plan is pretty simple, but it works for me and fits into my lifestyle.

1. Lots of water
2. Portion control – this is KEY! I eat whatever I want just watch how much I consume
3. No sugar
4. Walk, walk, walk

On another note... here's another little thingy I made recently, for a friend, for the holidays.

A Mother's Love

The Little Miss is sick today, cough, slight fever and just not herself. Luckily, she's resting nicely. She wanted to wear her favorite shirt to make her feel better. It's one I made for her for Christmas. Oh, a Mother's love.

Where Are You?

I blog at work. I know I’m not suppose to since I’m being paid to work, but really the blogsphere is just a lot more fun than work. Unfortunately, on days like this, when the emails and phone calls seriously don’t stop, it’s really hard to do the fun stuff. Which leads me to today’s question:

Where do you blog?

As a follow up, there really haven't been a clarification on this so, I guess Whale Puke it is. Gross.

Whale Puke?

I see this car parked in my neighborhood and everytime I walk past it all I get read is Whale Puke. That can't be right, but I just can't get past it... do any of you smartie pants want to help me out and take a guess at what it's really suppose to mean?