Summer Weekend

Matt and I tried to remember this week the last time we actually went out for "date night" on a Friday night. This was a tradition we started when we were first married and every Friday night when neither of us have other plans we go out together. Sometimes we try new restaurants, and sometimes we got without old favorites. Sometimes we go do something else in addition to dinner.

Last night we tried out Ted's Nebraska Grill. A few weeks ago we got a $10 coupon in the mail for Ted's and thought we would try it out. The menu was really extensive (as long as you want meat) and both Matt and I tried the a bison burger - mine with guacamole, green chilis, and pepper jack and Matt's with bacon, cheese, bbq sauce. I really enjoyed mine and did not find the bison to be much different than beef - but the lower fat content keeps it from holding together as well - it was really nice and tender. The nice thing is we got the coupon back to continue using if we want to.

I headed to the gym for a consultation with my new trainer, Josh, this morning. We talked about the nutrition plan I will be following along with my exercise plan. I have my first workout with him on Monday. The nutrition plan and cardio plan are a new thing for me - my previous trainer just worked with me on weights but left cardio and nutrition up to me. I'm now eating 5 small meals a day and watching my protein, fat and carb intake at every meal. Tracking my meals will be a new thing for me and I am excited to see how it works.

We have a couple of errands to run today (Target, Hobby Lobby, etc) and may head to the Countryside Art Festival later.

Resolutions

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to begin blogging more.
I even set a goal for myself that I would blog at least three times per week.
I thought this seemed like a reasonable goal.

Apparently not.

So I decided that before I get halfway through the year without blogging, I should get a start on that resolution.

On the subject of resolutions, I have also decided to get back on the weight loss kick I was on last summer. I have realized that my life is just far too out of control from January through mid-April to be too hard on myself about losing weight. I'll be happy with maintaining through the craziness that is interview days and file review time. Now that it is summer and my work life is much less crazy, I'll be returning to my weekly weigh-ins in Tuesdays because that seemed to work really well last time. I have hired a trainer at the gym Matt and I joined a few months ago, and I am committed to reducing my portion sizes and focusing on more fruits, vegetables, good proteins, and whole grains. I am trying to shed processed foods, and junk from my diet. I will always have weaknesses (salt for me), but I can learn how to control them.

We enjoyed a fun-filled and very busy weekend. I joined my friend and co-worker Mackenzie for some sushi at the Urban Wine Company and then sat in the THIRD ROW for a performance of Wicked! It was phenomenal! Amazing show, incredible cast - I would have watched it twenty times if I could have!

Saturday we enjoyed a nice trip to the farmer's market for tomatoes, salsa, cottage bacon, and ciabatta roles - YUM! I love, love, love the farmer's market. After we walked around, made our purchases, and enjoyed a gorgeous spring/summer morning, we met up with Pell and Bren for a trip to the Urban Wine Festival (hosted by the Urban Wine Company - are you getting the weekend theme, here?). We were able to taste several different wines and enjoyed more of a gorgeous day. Our day of fun did not end there though - we enjoyed a late lunch at M's Pub (yes, I had to have some lavosh!) and then headed to Lincoln for some Ivanna Cone and to watch my friend Michelle compete in a women's rollerderby match. I can honestly say it was my first rollerderby match - and I am very thankful that they included a demonstration of how it all works prior to the start of the match. Those girls are viscious! There was one girl taken off on a stretcher during the match and Michelle told us that two girls on her team are out with broken legs, and one is out with a separated shoulder - all caused by roller derby! Michelle's team did not win, but it was a unique and interesting event to attend.

We hosted a small gathering at our house last night and had a great night celebrating the beginning of summer with friends and family. Matt made some homemade ice cream (vanilla and maple-grapenut) and we grilled hamburgers, chicken, and sausages and everyone brought something to share! Fun times!

My camera is out of commission at the moment so I don't have any photos of our fun weekend to share :(

Wonderful

The wonderful smell of homemade banana bread in the oven is filling my house right now. Matt and I had some bananas that had moved beyond the edible point so I whipped up some banana bread for him while he was at the softball coach's meeting tonight. I'm not a huge fan of banana bread, but the smell filling my house right now is pretty incredible. I'm excited to see how the recipe turns out because it is a new one and I was intrigued because it includes plain yogurt. I guess we will know soon how it turns out.

I stayed home from work today. I woke up at about 4am this morning and felt like I was going to be sick. I never actually got sick, but I still wasn't feeling 100% when my alarm went off at 6am. Stephanie is 38 weeks pregnant and we have an agreement in our office that we will not come to work if we are sick, so I called in. The last thing I want to do is give Stephanie the stomach flu or something like that. The good news is I don't think I have the stomach flu, but I still don't know why my stomach was so upset in the middle of the night.

Matt and I spent Friday night watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We decided to enjoy some Chinese food to keep with the theme of the evening and then spent the evening ohhing and ahhing over the opening ceremonies. I'm a huge sucker for the Olympic Games and I usually enjoy the opening ceremonies even though some people find them boring. Friday night's ceremonies did not disappoint. The Chinese put on a wonderful show for the world and it was fantastic to see all of the athletes together for the Olympics again.

As a Olympic junkie I've been pretty attached to the television for the last couple of days. However, a DVR is an Olympic junkie's best friend - as long as you can keep up with watching. The US women's basketball team played during my workout on Saturday morning (beating China handedly) and I tried to stay caught up until I picked up my mom for some shopping on Saturday afternoon. I was in desperate need of a new work shoes - both winter and summer and I managed to find a pair of each at Yonkers on Saturday and only spent $55! I found several items at Pottery Barn I could have purchased on the spot, but held off for the time being.

After shopping I came home, watched a little more of the Olympics and then Matt and I headed to Becky and Dan's for their annual fiesta. It was a little tamer this year that it has in the past and we had a great time chatting with them, Becky's mom and playing with Josie - their chihuhua who was absolutely thrilled with all the people at her house (insert sarcasm here). Poor Josie. Interestingly enough - it was the tamest fiesta I have been to, but apparently the cops paid them a visit after we left. Isn't that how it always goes?

Yesterday, my family attended Flip's memorial service. Flip's wife Kathleen, his daughter Rachael, and sister Phyllis all traveled up from Kentucky for the service and it was nice to see them. Ron's brother Richard also attended and while I've heard many stories about him, I had never met him before. We got the chance to laugh and share stories about Ron and his life. And, as would be fitting, we ended the evening at Pizza King in CB, which was Ron's absolutely favorite. I don't think he ever returned to the area without visiting Pizza King.

Matt and I are currently wtching the US Mens' Gymnastics Team in the team competition. Holy Cow! They totally rocked it on the high bar! I love when the underdog succeeds!

A distraction from the destruction...

One of the reasons the damage to our house was a little stressful for Matt and I was the fact that we were scheduled to leave Saturday morning for a short trip to Kansas City to see our friends Andrew and Amy and to go the the Cardinals vs. Royals game on Saturday night. After determining that out house was not in any danger of further damage (no ceilings falling in, nothing hanging off the house, etc.) we decided to go ahead and make the trip. We did not get out of town as early as we had planned on Saturday and it took us a little longer to get out of town than we anticipated because there were many traffic lights that were still not working and traffic was backed up. Andrew and Amy were spending the weeknd with Andrew's parents, Charlie and Judy, at their house in Lathrop, MO. We arrived in time for a late lunch at El Guapo, a little, hole-in-the-wall, Mexican restaurant about 10 minutes from their house. We have eaten at El Guapo every time that I have visited Andrew's parents - which is fine with me because the food is really good. After lunch we hung around the house for awhile, Matt and I took a ride in the 1928 Model A Ford that Andrew's dad is restoring, and then headed to KC to the ballpark. We saw a great game - especially since the Cardinals were 0-4 in the series until Saturday night and actually won the game. There is nothing better than an ice cold beer, an order of nachos, a nice evening, and enjoying a great baseball game with good friends. Oh, and seeing Amy almost get into a fight with the really annoying girl who sat two rows in front of us was just the mustard on the hotdog for the evening :)

Here are the four of us enjoying the win!

The game was also a great win because the final score was 5-1 and the one run the Royals scored was scored during the 7th inning, which meant that we could take our ticket stubs to a Sheridan's Custard for a free sundae.

So, we stopped in Liberty on the way home for some hot fudge sundaes.

We spent most of the day Sunday at Andrew's parents house. We enjoyed a breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast (yum!), played MarioKart for about 2 hours, and spent some time sitting by the pool after we had lunch. We headed back to Omaha about 4 because we had agreed to help my parents move some furniture.

When we arrived at my parents house, my mom showed us what they had discovered the morning when my dad arrived home from his trip (he was in Kentucky for the weekend) that the rest of us had failed to notice:

This is a fairly major support beam on my parent's deck just barely resting on the concrete block on the ground. All of us, including my almost 88-year-old grandmother had walked around on this deck before my dad noticed this.

Wow!

Ruby Rae

A quick congratulations to my cousin Matt, his wife Jill, and big brother Beckett, on the birth of Ruby Rae today!

Hopefully, I'll have the priviledge of meeting Ruby Rae soon!

Confessions...

My husband is out tonight and I have to admit that I am really enjoying it. Not that I don't love spending time with him, but I do enjoy being by myself sometimes. I'm somewhat jealous of him this summer because he is able to spend alot of time home alone since he isn't teaching or working this summer. I like being able to watch what I want to watch on TV - which usually means flipping channels for me as I hate commercials, and being able to have my own schedule. This evening, for example, I ate a small snack when I got home (shredded wheat with milk), ran something over to my parents, and then headed to a Pilates class. After the class I came home, made my lunch for tomorrow and then finally got around to eating dinner at about 9:15pm. I always feel guilting having a schedule like this when Matt is around because I know he likely does not want to wait to eat that late, but we like to have dinner together so their is a conflict. Matt started holding open field nights for the softball team on Monday and Thursday nights this week so I will be able to enjoy a little time alone a couple nights a week now. I'm sure I will get used to it, as Matt will be gone frequently once softball season starts in August.

I titled this blog confessions and you just got my first one. Here is the second - I'm really unhappy with myself right now. Two years ago, in preparation for fitting into a wedding dress in front of a huge group of people, I started working out, hired a trainer, and lost about 15lbs. in about 8 months, while gaining a ton of muscle. I was absolutely in the best shape of my life. Then I got married, moved in with Matt (whom I had lived apart from for over 6 months), and completely ditched working out. Needless to say, I gained all the weight back (and then some) and have been generally pretty unhappy with myself since then. I actually manage to "convince" myself most of the time when I look in the mirror that the way I look isn't that bad, and I also tend to ignore signs I get when I am easily out of breath, or feel uncomfortable in my clothing.

However, I was recently looking at photos of myself and realized that I can no longer ignore the signs. I spent hours upon hours of time working out two years ago, felt great the day I got married, and then reversed the whole process for absolutely no reason other than the fact that I always decided I had something better to do than work out.

So, I have vowed that I will begin working out again and I have also decided that I am going to completely overhaul my diet. My diet really did not change two years ago, which is likely the reason that I only lost 15lbs. I'm also holding myself accountable by making the results public via this blog. I plan to post everthing - from measurements, weight, pictures, the whole works. Last time, it was far too easy for me to forget all of the progress I had made, and this time I want proof!

I pulled out the tape measure tonight and went to town. I'll probably only be doing this monthly and I'll probably adjust to the first of the month from now on.

Right Arm: 11.75

Left Arm: 11.25

Upper Chest: 37

Chest: 41.5

Lower Chest: 34.5

Waist: 36

Hips: 42.5

Right Leg: 26.75

Left Leg: 26

Weight: 175.9

I'll probably take pictures later this week and post them. I actually find it very relaxing to pack my lunch for work and take it. I've never really done this before as I ate at the Union most of the time at Truman, I ate in downtown Lincoln most of the time when I was at UNL, and at the Student Center or out prior to now at Creighton. For the last week I have been planning out my lunch and taking every day and it is such a relief to not have to worry everyday about where I will eat lunch and what will be available. I also find I actually get to spend more time "at lunch" rather than getting lunch. All in all - a win-win situation :)

Tonight when I got ready to leave the gym after my class (a great class, btw) the car that parked to my left was parked so close to my car that I could not open the door more than a couple of inches. The parking lot at the gym is often very crowded and people tend to park everywhere, and not necessarily in the lines. However, I know the particular spot was empty when I parked and I know that the spot was plenty big enough for a car the park within the lines. I walked back inside and asked the guy at the desk to page the owner and ask them to move their car, and after waiting about 10 minutes realized that no one was going to move the car. So, I went out and climbed over the passenger seat of the car into the driver's seat - which is no easy task considering my car is a small, manual shift. I thought about leaving a note telling them to be more considerate when parking, but I didn't. I should have, because the whole situation was completely rediculous, but I didn't.

First Post of 2008!

Happy New Year!

Matt and I just returned for a wonderful, story-filled weekend in Missouri. We departed early Saturday morning after a quick stop-off at Starbucks for an Eggnog Latte for me (I never know when they are going to stop carrying Eggnog!). We arrived in Shelbina during the middle of the afternoon, spent a little time with Matt's parents and Eric and then headed back into town to visit Jason, Sara, Samuel, and their parents for the evening. We enjoyed pizza, football and good conversation. Samuel entertained us all.

Sunday brought a little bit of sleeping in, visiting Matt's grandma, and celebrating Christmas with the Caldwell's. The entire family was able to make it and we had a great time. The kids ripped into their gifts and had a blast playing with them and we had a great time enjoying the time together - it doesn't happen often. We were able to meet Rebecca and Kade (the woman that Mike is dating and her son) and spend a little bit of time with them. It will be nice to get to know them better sometime when things are a little less hectic.

On Monday Matt and I took off for Bren's parent's house outside of Maryville. The wind was really beginning to blow by the time we arrived and some of the snow that had fallen was blowing back onto the roads. I was glad to be out of the car for the evening. It was great to see Pell, Bren, Andrew and Amy. The six of us used to spend so much time together and it is hard now that we are so spread out. It sound like Pell and Bren will be putting their house up for sale soon in anticipation of a possible move back to the midwest - or at least closer than they are now! It would be great to have them closer so we could get together for fun more often.

Pell made a huge batch of pizza dough and we all helped getting ingredients together for pizza. It was the best homeade pizza I have ever had and we enjoying being about to have six different combinations of toppings. Bren and her mom also made a gorgeous salad ( I don't know where they find such fresh ingredients in the middle of winter) and we sat around the table and enjoyed our time together. After dinner everyone else joined in a ping-pong tournament, but I was taking it easy because my back started hurting the moment I got out of the car. By the time the tournament was over I couldn't stand, sit, or do anything comfortably. Luckily, Pell has some experience with manipulation and massage and was able to eliminate a huge knot that had wedged itself between my spine and my hip bone and was also able to relieve some pain I was feeling in other parts of my right side because of the spot on my back that was sending me out-of-whack. Thankfully, after a couple of days of recovery by back is finally back to normal, and I am thankful for a friend who is so talented :)

On New Year's Eve we also played Apples to Apples before toasting in the New Year
(with champagne!) and then played Catchphrase before heading to bed. Pell proved himself as an excellent cook again the next morning by making fantastic pancakes that we enjoyed with cinnamon rolls and coffee. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon playing more ping-pong and working on a puzzle that Bren's family had started. It was great to be able to be together before we returned to Omaha and Andrew and Amy returned to KC.

I returned to work yesterday (a little late because I couldn't sleep on Tuesday night because my back was really stiff and painful) and am very grateful that this is a short week. We are swamped at work and I'm looking forward to being able to use the weekend to catch up a little and get some things done at home before a full work-week.

Matt and I shopped for furniture today. I have had my eye on a side table and bookshelf at Target for awhile and my sister and her roommate bought the bookshelf a couple of weeks ago and we got to see it last weekend when we were at their apartment. I liked it even more after I saw it and convinced Matt to go to Target today to see if they had it. We have needed a side table in our family room for awhile so it made sense for us to get the one that matches the bookshelf. Luckily we had the giftcard we received from Angie and Andrew as a wedding gift to use so we were able to purchase both. We had a little bit of an adventure with the "easy" instructions included with the bookcase and table, but eventually got both put together and they look great in our living room. I will post pictures soon!!

As it is Memorial Day, I thought I would take a little bit of time and give credit to the men and women who have and will continue to sacrifice their lives for my freedom. One of my favorite quotations is, "I disagree profoundly what you say, but I would defend with my life your right to say it," which is attributed to Voltaire. To me, this is the essence of what the men and women in the armed forces are out putting their lives on the line for everyday. When a soldier joins the military they are polled to find out what their views are on particular subject, but instead they vow to defend our country regardless of the rhyme or the reason. And today we have an entire day set aside to pay tribute and be thankful for those who have served and are currently serving our country.

After our "date" tonight (every Friday is datenight for Matt and I) I spent some time on homerealestate.com looking at houses for sale. I'm ready to own a house. I'm ready to paint rooms, landscape (not just plant flowers in planters for our tiny deck), and get "settled in" someplace for the long term. I've never lived anywhere independently where I actually didn't have the thought that I would be moving sooner rather than later. I'm also ready to bring a dog into our lives. I think we are both ready for that one. I want a dog I can take on a walk, who will greet me at the door when I arrive home at night and who will curl up on the couch next to me. So, we are working on that one. Matt and I both love our apartment and it is perfect for us right now so I'm content to wait until we can save the money we need to not only purchase a house, but also purchase the items we need to put in the house. But it is fun to look and see what is out there. There is so much growth in Lincoln and between Lincoln and Omaha - there are new houses popping up all over the place. I've also found some really cool vintage houses that just need some TLC and Matt has been ready have things to do around the house for a long time.

I'm so ready for this 3-day weekend. Minus one vacation day that I took and one unexpected snow day, I haven't had a day off since mid-January. It was definitely time for a long weekend and a couple of days of rest and relaxation. Matt and I have zero "set" plans - just some things we would like to get done.

• We are going to visit Alltel to discuss our cell phone plans because it has been ages since either of us changed ours and we are fairly certain we can get a better deal that what we are paying for now.
• My co-worker gave me some grape tomato plants that I need to find a planter for and get planted.
• We want to clean our apartment from top to bottom.
• We plan to watch the movies we rented: In Pursuit of Happyness, The Holiday, and The Illusionist. However, Matt was very clear that The Holiday is my movie and he will not be joining my chick-flick fest :)
• If the weatherman is incorrect, we may be making a trip to the Farmer's Market tomorrow morning for some fresh fruits and veggies and other fun things.

An ice cream themed post....

I enjoyed a delicious double scoop of Honey Cornbread Ice Cream from Ivanna Cone today. Sounds strange, but it was truly wonderful. Ivanna Cone is a local place that makes their own ice cream in house - all sorts of creative flavors and combinations. Today we could choose from, amongst other things: Mango Chili Sorbet, Lychee Mandarin, Raspberry Creme Fraiche ( I think that is how it is spelled), German Chocolate Cake, Cinnamon, Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, Pink Lemonade Sherbet, Pistachio, etc. I ate mine in a homemade waffle cone - they were making the cones when we were there and the smell was fantastic! Matt enjoyed a scoop of the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake and a scoop of the Cinnamon. We sat outside in the Haymarket and enjoyed our ice cream and watched everyone go by. The Haymarket was full of people tonight - lots of families getting ice cream, couples walking around after dinner, people walking their dogs, all on a beautiful evening in Lincoln.
We are headed to Omaha tomorrow. Matt is playing golf with my dad while my mom, Sarah and I are going to a fundraiser luncheon with my grandma. On Sunday we plan to cook dinner for my mom for Mother's Day and we are going to test our own skills at making homemade ice cream. Matt and I received an ice cream maker as a wedding gift and we have been wanting to try it out. Wish us luck!!