Day 1: Conscious Eating Challenge!!

Breakfast:

Morning started off with a 1/2 cup of Very Vanilla Silk Milk and my Vitamins:

Very Vanilla Silk Milk (65 cal.)

Didn't do so good for breakfast. The plan was for me and John to pick up fresh beagles from the Beagle Bagel. But, being a holiday, they were closed. The next closest place was Kroger, where we got muffins for everyone. I did leave about a 1/4 of the muffin behind.

Blueberry Muffin (450 cal.) with coffee (2 cal.) 

w/ creamer (35 cal.)

Snack:

6 Boiled Peanuts (25 cal. maybe)

Lunch:

.

Homemade Stromboli!

Homemade Stromboli take 2!

Pasta w/ homemade tomato sauce and sparkling water

(Before)

I hardly put a dent in it!!! :(  (After)

Salad (there was more but I got halfway done

and realized I forgot to take a picture)

Dessert:

Watermelon!

Dinner:

I was going to pick up a salad from Newk's, but my family offered to bring me left over pizza to the hospital so I accepted. (free dinner) I was good and just had one slice, and didn't eat the crust!

1 Slice of Meal Lovers Pizza from Pizza Hut (490 cal.)

Late night drink:

Cup of Crystal Light!

I really really wanted a glass of wine, especially after the day I had. But talked myself into Crystal Light instead.

No water!

No running!

No gym!

Bad! Bad! Bad!

Memorial Weekend! The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

Friday:

Started off the morning with spin class at 6:00 a.m. - ugly

Got to leave work at 10:00 a.m. to get John from airport - good

My Gramma got put back in the hospital - bad

Saturday:

Mailed off my fees for my 10 year reunion! -good

Joe's Welcome Home Party! Terry got Sonny's BBQ and about 40 people came! It was tons of fun! There was also some mosquito killing, fishing and potato gun shooting! - good

Yum!

John and a fish!

Mosquito killer!

Picture of the smoker!

John's cousin Declan with a catfish - ugly (the catfish, not Declan)

Declan and a catfish!

John and the potato gun!

Me shooting the potato gun!

Gramma still in the hospital - bad

Sunday:

Got an early (8:00 a.m.) call from Teresa, saying that my Mom had gotten a call that my Gramma wasn't responding and she need to come to the hospital right away.

I got up and ready to go to the hospital myself and meet everyone there (I was thinking the worst).  Once I got out of the shower, Teresa called to tell me Gramma was okay. Apparently the nurses tried to shake and pinch Gramma's fingernails, trying to get her to wake up but Gramma wouldn't wake up. Once my Mom got there, she walked in the room, and said "Momma" really loud and she opened her eyes.

I was on my way to the hospital when John found out that his Great Uncle Don (who was in town from California for the party) was taken to the hospital! He had pneumonia, and was put in a room only 4 doors down from my Gramma.

Whole hospital experience - bad

For dinner, we had a crawfish boil! This was John's dad first time to cook crawfish, but he had a friends secret family recipe. It turned out so good! He put potatoes, corn on the cob, mushrooms, and deer sausage in with the crawfish. - good

Crawfish!

While the crawfish were being fixed, a few of them got played with. They tried to get them to duel, it didn't really work. They also taught one of them to wave. - ugly (the crawfish) (this was also pretty funny)

Crawfish!

The taught him to wave "Hi"

Playing with our food, attack of the claw!

(this is Dan, Declan's dad)

Also ugly, the mosquitoes. They were not a problem until we lit the citronella candles. Within 3 minutes, I think I got about 15 bites! I was indoors the rest of the night.- ugly

As we were eating we were throwing the crawfish leftovers into the Rez. This is what we attracted...

Alligator!!!

Monday:

This was a really bad but good morning for my Gramma, they took a chest x-ray,  only to discovered that she had about a quart and a half of fluid in one of her lungs. So a little after midnight, they drained it off.

This was good and bad... bad they had to do the procedure, but good because it made it easier for her to breath. Breathing is good! Another thing that was suggested by the doctors was to start Dialysis. Which my Gramma said no to. The family was divided on this, some were with her, while others are trying to talk her into doing it.

I had lunch at Terry's house and John and his brother's went on a little kayak ride before John had to leave. - good

 

Joe, Dan, and John!

Sad - John flew back to Ok City.

After dropping John off at the airport, I headed back to the hospital. I ended up staying until almost 10:00 p.m. It was a pretty stressful hospital visit. We had some cousins come into town from French Camp, MS to visit with Gramma. -good

After they left; me, Teresa, and my Aunt Betty, had really wanted to talk with her doctor, to see what her options really were. He said Dialysis was basically her last option. He did make is sound better then when my idea of Dialysis was. So my aunt suggested we go into my Gramma's room with the doctor and discuss her options again. It made me a little uncomfortable, it was basically an intervention. In the end she agreed to give it a try for a couple of weeks.

They decided they would start tomorrow. Putting in the port in first thing tomorrow morning and then starting her first treatment. We'll  see how it goes.

2 Week Conscious Eating Challenge!

I was looking at Tara Stiles You Tube Channel and saw where in January she did a 7 day conscious eating challenge. She did a video blog of the things she ate for one week, and encouraged others to do the same, or take pictures, or simple write it down. I was thinking that this would be a great idea. I've been trying to make better decisions with my food choices, but still have really really bad days. I'm not trying to lose any weight, just eat better. So Can and I are going to try it, but we decided to do it for 2 weeks, hoping to make it a habit.

Here is the Day 1 video, this is the video that sparked my interest in doing it myself:

I also really enjoyed this girls video blog for her challenge, hers seems a little more realistic:

I won't post these video every day, but they are in You Tube land and easy to find! We start tomorrow, so wish us luck!!!

Another Movie Night

This movie stared Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, and Tobey Maguire. It's about a soldier (Tobey Maguire) going on his second tour in Afghanistan, while there his helicopter is shot down and he presumed dead. At home, his brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) tries to take care of his family. Later, you discover that, although his helicopter did go down, he didn't die. I won't tell you how it ends...

This was a pretty good movie, but you have to be in a very serious mood to watch it. A little violent at times, but still good.

Two Thumbs Down

I got this movie in my Netflix tonight. It looked like a cute movie from the preview and I like just about anything with Alexis Bledel, but it turned out to be not so great. It did have some cute moments, but for the most part was very predictable. I was glad I didn't go see this one in the theater, and let it be a rental.

Busy Busy Weekend!

Friday!

Friday was such a nice day, I decided to sit by the pool, relax, and read a book... I only lasted about 20 minutes before I got eaten alive by mosquitoes!! So I decided to head inside, relax, and watch a movie!

This movie stars Ellen Page who plays Bliss Cavendar. It's about a small town girl who is forced to participate in beauty pageants by her mother (a former pageant winner). During a shopping trip to Austin, Texas where she picks up a flyer for a Roller Derby event. Her and her best friend sneak to Austin to attend the show, and Bliss finds her turn calling. She end up trying out and succeeds in making it on the team.

The movie was really cute, a defiant chick flick, but just an overall feel good movie.

Saturday!

My plan was to get up early and go to the gym for spin class, but ended up sleeping in.  Which turns out was a good thing, once I got to the gym I saw where spin was cancelled. But I made it there and managed to get on the treadmill for 45 minutes, which I was happy about!

Later that night I went to Biaggi's with some friends before heading to Electric Cowboy! A girl I graduated with is in a band, Hip Kitty. They were going to be in town tonight and my friend's, Jenny and Kevin had a babysitter, so we decided to go!

We ended up having lots of fun! The band when on around 10:30 p.m. for their first set. They did all cover music, nothing from their CD but it was really great!

Here are a few picks from the night:

Hip Kitty!

Jen!

Me and Jenny!

 Sunday!

Really Early:

Hip Kitty's second set didn't start until about 12:00 a.m. and lasted until about 1:30 a.m. Then we stayed until they closed the bar at 2:30 a.m. 

I got home at around 3:00 a.m. This was the earliest I had been out in a long time and was so exhausted, but had a really great time!!

Early:

I got up around 9:00 a.m. to great ready to go out and have breakfast with my Mom and Teresa. I saw in the JFP about a new restaurant call Zydeco, it's a Cajun restaurant and I had a coupon to get a free order of beignets! When we walked in, we sat down and they offed us each 2 free mimosas! We also ordered two other entrees and had a mini buffet between the three of us.

Here are a few pictures:

Zydeco!

Mimosa!!

Beignet!! (more like a hush puppies, but still good)

Afternoon:

Spin class. My friend from work, Lacey, is a spin instructor at the Courthouse. She was able to get me into her class because it doesn't get full on Sundays. It was the best spin class I've been to! It explained so much more then the classes at the Y. After being to a real spin class it makes me sad that work cut a deal with the Y instead of the Courthouse :( But now I'll know how to get more out of my spin classes at the Y :)

Later Afternoon:

When I got out of spin, Teresa was already at my apt. starting on our "fish biscuits" for the Lost party at the Byrd's!

Making "fish biscuits"

Finished cookie!

Teresa's Mr Cluck's Chicken!

Lost:

The Lost Party was tons of fun. Both Teresa and Karen brought Mr. Cluck's, so there plenty of chicken. And the cookies seemed to be a big hit! My thoughts on Lost are still mixed. I was pretty angry when it was all said and done but the wth moment has passed, so I guess I'm okay with how the series ended.

I was a little upset for saying up and watching Jimmy Kimmel. It was a waste of my time. I was excited because there was supposed to be 3 alternate endings, which turned out to be a joke. And the interviews with the cast, which turned out to be a joke too. They didn't really say all that much, I was expecting more.

But overall, it was a fun night. And now I have leftover cookies to take to work, which will make some people happy!

My Coffee Maker :(

Walmart Recalls General Electric Coffee Makers Due to Fire Hazard  -Link

This morning I overslept a little bit, causing me to run a little late for work. While I was getting ready I watching the today show, where they showed a coffee pot that is being recalled. Turns out it's the same one coffee maker that I got for Christmas.

So back to Wal-Mart it goes :(

Movie Night!

Tonight I watched Crazy Heart, starring Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhall. Jeff Bridges (Bad Blake) is a washed up alcoholic country music singer who is on the road singing his old songs. The movie focuses on Jeff Bridges character, him dealing with having a relationship and dealing with his alcoholism.

This movie is definitely a man flick, but I thought it was really good! A little sad, but good none the less. Defiantly a movie I would recommend to any of my friends!

House Plants!

A couple of months ago, I saved a few plants from the college planning department at work. They were just going to throw them away, so I decided to take a few of them home.

One of the plants was particularly sorry looking. I decided to take it because even if the plant died, the pot was nice. I was getting worried that it really was dead and that I needed to get rid of it. Well, the other day, it started sprouting leaves (well, one of the stalks is sprouting!) I was excited that I had brought it back to life!

Here are a few pictures:

My Plant!

Leaves!

Marathon Schedule!

In November, I'm planning on going to Pennsylvania to run my 1st full marathon!! Here is my tentative schedule...

Unexpected Busy Weekend!

Earlier in the week, my weekend plans included going to eat burger's at Karen's and then maybe go see a movie with Teresa on Saturday, but as the weekend got going I did so much more!

Friday Night:

Burgers at the Berger's!

Teresa and I were invited to go to Karen and Collin's for their Faithful Fridays meeting. It's with their church group. It was lots of fun and I was excited about getting to see their house with all their stuff in it.

While we were eating, Jessica B. told us she was planning on going to Pickin' and Paddelin' at Mayes Lake on Saturday and Jessica H. was going to be her partner but had to back out, so I volunteered to take her place. I wasnt' sure what I was thinking, I haven't been canoeing since I was in the 7th grade! But I figured it would be fun!

Saturday:

The canoe races turned out to be lots of fun! At one point we were afraid that we wouldn't be racing at all. About 10 minutes before it was time for our race at 1:45 p.m., it started pouring down rain, and once it finally stopped, it was thundering and lightening, so they postponed it again. It finally stopped and we were finally able to race around 2:30 p.m. We came in last, but we still had lots of fun!

Here are a few pictures that Teresa took:

Jessica and me with our t-shirts!

Our Canoe!

Finishing the race!

Paddlin' back to shore!

Finished!

Later that afternoon, Teresa and I went to the Malco to see Letters to Juliet! This movie was so cute! A great chick flick, with a happy ending!

For dinner, Teresa and I decided on Chile's. We mainly went for the 2 for 1 margaritas! It was a great way to end the day!

Sunday:

I woke up semi-early to get some shopping done. I hadn't been to Wal-Mart in months and was out of just about everything. I also when to Kroger, most of my coupons where for Kroger use only.

That afternoon, I went to Clinton for my cousin Philip's bridal shower. (Well the shower was for Kenna, his fiance, but I only knew him and his family.) My mom and sister would have gone, but Teresa had to work and my mom was getting my Gramma out of the hospital. So it was left up to me to go to the shower and represent the family. The shower was really nice, and it was great to spend some time with family I hadn't seen in a while!!!

Once I got home, I did as little as possible, I was so tired from the weekend, but glad it was filled with lots of fun!

5 years!

Today marks 5 year that I've been at ESF.  I can't believe it's been that long. Although my work doesn't recognize you on your anniversary, I do move up to a new bracket of many vacation hours I get each month! Yea!

So anyway, Happy Anniversary to me!

Car in the shop again!

About 4 days after I got my car back, my air went out again!  I really really needed my car so I decided to wait to take it back in. Well, it's starting to get hot outside and I got to have the air fixed. So back in the shop it goes... Hopefully it won't take that long.

::UPDATE::

I got my car back last night! I was sort of expecting to be without it for a night, but they managed to find out what was wrong and get it done. Turns out, because I had not used my air in so long it got a clog. So they just had to drain all the freon out, clean out the tubes, and put the freon back in. Yea for air!!!

Happy Mother's Day!