Friend Making Monday -- Dear Santa

I have absolutely enjoyed following Kenlie's blog at alltheweigh.com. She is so inspirational and one of my favorite parts is the Friend Making Monday. When I first saw this week's topic and cringed a little. I have been desperately trying to save money and not indulge in things I do not need. However, once I started looking around and knew that I was just window shopping it actually turned out to be kind of fun and I found a few things I didn't even know I wanted!

Dear Santa:  List at least ten things that you may or may not need that you’d love to find under your tree this year!   

1. A new pair of Toms. I've bought a few pairs of Bobs recently, but there is just something about having actual Tom's. They are my favorite shoes and I thought this pair was super cute and, I don't know if you can tell, but there is a mustache on the side!

 2. A trip to Paris with DC. I would love to see the Eiffel Tower at night with him and just embrace city and all of the historical places it has to over. I can't wait to go there again!

3. Scratch number 2 -- I would take a vacation anywhere with DC and be happy! I know he wants to go to New Orleans sometime and I would be happy doing any sort of international travel.

4. I have this Dave Ramsey book, but I guess I want the time and energy to actually read it and follow the information inside. I know that this is definitely to key to us getting out of debt.

5. I absolutely LOVE Harvey's seatbelt bags! They are my favorite and I've had the same one for the last about 7 months. I could definitely use a new one and I can't get enough of this purple!

6. While I'm at it I might as well get a new Ipad case.

7. And a matching Nook case :)

8. I recently stopped my gym membership because I don't go enough to make the money worth it. I would absolutely LOVE a treadmill to have at home so I can work on my fitness goals.

9. I have my Weight Watchers membership and I love it. I guess what I would ask Santa for is the motivation and strength to get through this holiday season and know that I can do this and the long term goal is definitely worth it.

10. I wish for this one so bad! LD and EM would LOVE LOVE LOVE going to Disneyland and I would love to experience it with them. EM is so into Minnie Mouse right now and we were planning on going to Disneyland this Christmas, but it just didn't work at. 

Friend Making Monday -- Thanksgiving Edition

1. Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions?  I have tried to establish family traditions, but nothing has stuck so far. Growing up we always went out for Thanksgiving and we've done that a few times during our married lives, but this year we are going to cook a traditional feast at home.

2. List at least three dishes that are on your family’s table every year. We stay pretty traditional -- olives, stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy.

3. Do you prefer pumpkin pie or pecan pie?  Actually I could do without either of them! I decided instead of buying a buy just because we fill like we have to I am going to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies instead. I mentioned this to my mom and she was less than thrilled. Not because she was looking forward to pie, but because she isn't a big fan of the cookies either. So I told her I would also make some brownies.

4. Will you watch football on Thanksgiving Day? It will probably be on in the background but I won't be watching with too much interest.

5. Do you plan to exercise Thursday?  I would definitely like to get out and do something, even if it is just walking around the neighborhood. I am really interested in the virtual 5K that Kenlie mentioned on her post. I'm going to have to find out more information about that!

6. Do you prefer ham or turkey?  For Thanksgiving I'm all about the turkey. We'll do ham at Christmas.

7. Will you shop on Black Friday?  I'm not sure. I've surfed through the ads online and I haven't found anything I can't live without, but my mom might want to go out so we'll see what happens.

8. Do you take a nap on Thanksgiving? Nope. I'm not a nap person.

9. Share one dish that probably won’t be on anyone else’s table. I have no idea! Do regular people serve olives?

10. What are you thankful for today?  I am thankful for family. I have a wonderful family and I married into a wonderful family. I love my kiddos more than anything in the whole world and I'm lucky that this is a short week of school so I can spend some extra time with them.

Update on LD

After we did the Color Me Rad on Saturday we headed over to what we thought was LD's last football game (hence the colorful outfit!). He did awesome and I am so stinkin' proud of him! He even scored a touchdown toward the end of the game! 

He absolutely LOVES his trophy! It's funny because the other night he asked me if he could get a wipe so he could clean his trophy. This is definitely something special that I hope he treasures forever.

I took EM to the dentist a while ago and she had a great checkup. I was a little concerned about some spaces that were showing up in LD's teeth so I decided to go ahead and have him seen as well. The dentist told me that the space was because he was about to get his first adult tooth. It's been about three weeks and that adult tooth has broken through the gums, but the baby tooth is still there as well. 

I tried calling the dentist on Friday, but they were closed. We worked on it all weekend and it's super wiggly now and ready to come out, but it's still in there at the moment.

Leave it to my children to have something funky like adult teeth coming in behind their baby teeth!

Oh! And I can't just take a picture of LD and leave it at that. Someone else had to have a photo of their mouth as well! I'll give Em a little credit though, I discovered the other day that she is actually getting her two year molars so maybe she was hoping I could snap a picture of those.

Friend Makin' Monday (on Thursday!)

I'm always a day late and a dollar short! Oh well! Better late than never, right? I love I LOVE Kenlie's blog and I have only participated in Friend Makin' Monday once in the past, but I would like to get back on the ball of doing this regularly.

So here goes nothing ...

What’s in Your Fridge?

1. List a few common items that can always be found in your fridge. There is always Milk (both 2% for the kids and Fat Free for DC and I). You can also find some of the Yoplait Greek Yogurt (2 Weight Watchers Points Plus!) and usually some Kool-aid (green or orange). I'm trying to do less Kool-aid and more water or Crystal Lite.

2. What kind of milk do you drink? Yikes! I guess I answered that in the last one. I drink Skim, but it's more that I put it on my cereal than actually drinking it. I do love a tall glass of milk when I'm having pizza, though.

3. Do you prefer fresh or frozen vegetables?  I'm not a huge veggie person, but I actually don't mind the frozen. I really love the the broccoli and carrot mix that I buy in four packs at Wal-Mart. I can't remember the name of it, but it is only 1 Weight Watchers Points Plus and I mix that in with some rice and chicken with a little Mandarin sauce and I'm good to go.

4. What do you currently have to drink in the fridge? Milk (of course), I think there is some orange juice and some apple juice and just a little bit of leftover Kool-aid.

5. How often do you clean out your refrigerator? I try to clean it out every so often, but with the type of fridge we have stuff gets pushed to the back and then it goes bad. I just cleaned it out this past weekend and I'm going to try to keep it looking nice.

6. What’s the healthiest thing in it right now? I would probably have to say all of the fruits down in the bottom. There are apples (both red and green) and oranges. Yum!

7. What’s the most unhealthy thing in it right now? There is some leftover pasta from Bucca last night. I won't be eating that -- probably one of the kids will.

8. What do you wish you had in it that you don’t have now? I wish I could have some cantaloupe in it. It is my absolute favorite food, but they just don't look that good at the stores right now and when I do buy one it sits on my counter and I don't cut it.

9. How often do you shop for groceries? I try to only go on Sundays. I run to the store here and there to pick something up that we discover we need or that we ran out of, but I try to only go once a week.

10. What’s the weirdest thing in your fridge right now? Hmmm ... I'm not sure that there is anything really weird in my fridge. I think I like it that way.

Bonus:  If you could choose one thing to put in the fridge and make it calorie-free what would it be?  I think I would want it to be Kool-aid. I hate drinking my calories away!

Color Me RAD

I was so stinkin' excited for this 5K. I wish I was able to run more of it, but I decided to bring along LD with DC and I and he just couldn't keep up. It was a fun family event, though, and I'm glad that we could be and and active together.

These are my pre-race and post-race photos showing off how pretty and white I was and then how I added a splash of color. It was super windy and chilly so I had on my socks pulled up high, black leggings, some white shorts I had never worn before, but where in my drawer from Old Navy, a white shirt from Target underneath and then the short sleeve jacket is from Old Navy as well. 

They are not as white anymore, but they will probably be used again in a future color event!

I love this photo of DC and LD. LD was kind of a pain in the butt during the race, but I think he had fun and I'm glad that I decided to bring him.

At one point my friend took LD with her kiddo and DC and I had a minute along to grab a couple of photos. It was a beautiful view and it definitely looks warmer than it really was!

                                               

 And here is our family after shot. They really got us with the pink at the end of the race. And I think it's funny how the green on DC looks kind of like a bottle with liquid coming out of it.

Despite the cold and a somewhat annoying child I would say this is one of the funnest things we've done in a while! I can't wait for Color Me Rad to come back again next year.

I have a layout in mind for these photos so watch for one coming soon :)

What I Wore Wednesday

Evidently I need to buy some new clothes. Anyone want to win the lottery and share some moolah with me so I can go on a shopping spree. 

I don't really notice too much of a difference in my body, but I've had two people tell me today that I am going to have to start buying some new clothes because the one's I'm currently wearing are falling off of me. It's a nice compliment and I'm feeling pretty good about myself.

My outfit from top to bottom:

My shirt, I think, is from Wal-Mart. I actually bought it from a yard sale site on Facebook and I kinda like how it feels on me. 

Underneath is a Modbe cap sleeve shirt. I like it because it is long and it doesn't ride up on me.

My jeans are from Maurices. I've asked for a Maurices giftcard for Christmas so I can buy a smaller size.

My shoes are from Dillards and are pretty old. They are Born brand and I absolutely LOVE them. They are super comfortable and are fun to wear because they are not my typical black -- they are actually green.

My bracelet is actually a rosary bracelet that I bought at the Vatican and had blessed. It is my absolute favorite bracelet to wear.

So Lucky

I know this is hard to believe, but I actually did a scrapbook layout! 

I had planned to do one over the weekend, but it was just crazy busy and I always feel guilty scrapbooking when I feel like there are things that need to be cleaned. 

Anyway, DC took the kids to the gym last night and I stayed home to do a layout that I had been meaning to do since June! 

I actually bought the paper when we went to Las Vegas for EM's 2nd birthday. I thought I was going to do something cute about being in sin city for a two year old's birthday, but I just never captured the right moment with the camera.

Instead I did this where I just feel luck to have her in our lives. She is a bundle of joy and just the best thing ever! I love the little playing cards and I had fun laying everything out. 

The paper is all from Scrappin' Time in Vegas as well as the little playing cards and the alphabet stickers. They have some great Sin City themed papers and supplies. The couple of brads on top are from my stash. It's probably hard to tell, but they are fun and glittery. The three candy dots on the bottom left were also from my stash, but I know that that are from Pebbles in my Pocket. They are also glittery!

I'm hoping to get a few more layouts done this week. I have some ideas rolling around inside my head and I want to make sure they get done!

Adios you stupid good for nothing 10 pounds

I did it! I finally lost 10 pounds!

I have done Weight Watchers a few times and I get to this point and I kind of give up. 

Losing weight is hard and it is previously something that I try to keep to myself because frankly it is embarrassing. I've let myself go too much and I have a negative relationship with food. That has to change and I am bound and determined that this time will be different.

I posted this picture on my Facebook page and received so much love from my friends and family. It definitely motivated me to keep going.

What I wore Halloween Edition

I have never been one to go all out on Halloween costumes for myself so I'm not sure why I thought this year would be any different. 

It wasn't.

I initially bought a superwoman shirt that had a cape attached to it, but I ended up returning it so we would have enough money to buy some groceries. Then on Tuesday night I had to run to the store to buy a couple of things and I couldn't pass up getting into the holiday spirit.

I ended up buying these super cute footie pajamas!

I put my hair in pig tails, wore my footed pajamas and carried a baby and blankie all day. It was super comforable and a cute costume!