stir crazy

I wasn't really planning on updating until I got back from vacation but here I am! surprise!

This morning I've been feeling like a high school senior right before the last day of school.  I'm in a ridiculously good mood and I'm starting to act weird because of it. Me in good mood = large amounts of weird.  Usually only my husband and very few select friends get to witness my weirdness but today my office is getting a slight taste of it.  Somehow I'm managing to stay professional while still being odd, that deserves a medal.

Speaking of medals, my office is doing an office Summer Olympics and we had our first event yesterday.  Our task was to recreate the Olympic Rings with office supplies and here was my entry.  Not pretty but hey, I have quite a few post-its hanging out at my desk needing a job to do so I helped them out.  The black ring is made of the mini binder clips with the metal claspy things removed (yes claspy things is the technical term).

Now, here is the entry that got gold (yes gold).  Notice that the rings aren't even in the correct order of color (and brown isn't even one of the colors!). The person who judged chose this as first because it was "unique".  I can see it being unique compared with all the other entries (all made with ethernet cables since we're an IT company) but for it to win gold, really? I didn't expect mine to win first but compared with the others it could have at least placed. ugh. anyway.  that's my rant.

Now onto music!!  So since my husband got a Sirius subscription my musical taste has really opened up.  this song in particular has been one of my favorites and really the whole album is awesome.  so I'll just leave this here.. enjoy!

Here's another song I can't get out of my head.. it's country so be prepared.

Time for Change

So anyone reading this blog knows that I lost almost 50lbs with Weight Watchers and have been following it pretty well since then.  I've been at goal for about 2 1/2 years and obviously it's never something I regretted doing.  However, since I started working, I have been slacking on the nutrition/exercise front.  Exercise is just not something I want to do when I get home from work, and going to sleep early so I can get up and do it in the morning is not so fun as well.  While this could all come from not having a gym membership and having somewhere to go with a routine, I know it's because I lost most of my weight from just eating well so I always have that to fall back on.  All that would be perfectly fine if I still ate the way I did when I was losing weight.  Snacking, at work and at night, are killing me (literally) and something needs to change.  I'm already joining Chuze Fitness ($10/month, woot!) in August so that will help with the exercise, but I need something new for the food side of things.

Here's where one of my dear friends comes in.  She told me about "The Skinny Rules" by Bob Harper and how it's helping her to lose weight.  It's been 6 weeks and she's already lost 20lbs.  I purchased the book this morning and I'm already through a majority of it.  The book is basically a series of "rules" that Bob has for eating (he follows the rules as well) and the idea is that if you follow the rules you'll lose weight and be healthier.  A few of the rules will be hard for me like no sweeteners, no carbs after lunch, and cutting back on refined flours and grains.  All of those are staples in my diet right now, but really I'm more curious than anything else to see how it effects me to not have those anymore.  All in all I think it's something I can do and I'm looking at it as a challenge.  Much like learning the points system with WW, learning these "rules" will be a new experience and at the very least it'll help me to eat better which I never learned with WW.

To keep myself accountable with all this, I'm going to use this blog to keep track of it.  Once a week, I will post my weight and I will try to post what I eat.  Keeping a food journal always helped me before so I will be using this blog as a way to scratch that itch.  I am in a wedding in December so this will help keep me the size I need to be.

All this won't be starting for another couple weeks though.  We're going to Menucha (yay!) this year and we leave to drive up to Oregon on Thursday after work.  I could start it now but then I'd be at Menucha where I have no way of knowing how the food was prepared. It'll be easier to wait until we get home and I can cook for myself.  I will be starting a few of the rules right away like drinking a glass of water before every meal and drinking a glass of water within 15 minutes of waking up (oh and the no sweetener policy too).

so there's that.. which is nice.. so I guess I'll see you all when we're back from vacation and I start my healthy new lifestyle.

Naked Face Finale

I know what you're thinking: "Two posts in one day?  say whaaaa?"

It's true, and once again it's because my my old blog is being silly/stupid/special (take your pick).

So for those who are new here, I started doing the Naked Face Project 2 months ago yesterday.  In a nutshell, 2 women decided to go without feminine beauty products for 60 days to see if it would change their perspective on themselves and beauty products in general.  They discovered that some things they were using because they wanted to and some things they were using because they were expected to.

Long story short, I decided to try it out.  I went makeup free for 60 days and stopped doing my hair as much.  I was supposed to stop doing my hair altogether but I still needed to look professional for work so I just used my blow dryer when I washed my hair before work.  Most of the time I would wash my hair at night and either let it air dry or french braid it before I went to bed.  Through that process I found out that I don't need to blow dry my hair, straighten it and curl it to look good.  French braiding my hair gave me the waves I like and tried to get through using my curling wand, and letting it air dry gave it a beachy-natural kind of look that I really like.

As far as makeup goes, I found out I am perfectly happy without it.  It took some getting used to at first because I wasn't used to seeing my face without anything on, but after a couple weeks it felt completely natural.  I realized I do find doing my makeup fun so I will still being using makeup for special occasions but it will definitely not be an every day thing.  I decided my "every day" make up routine will be my tinted moisturizer, eyeliner, mascara and pressed powder during the day for when I get shiny.  Today was my first day wearing my every day stuff and it definitely feels weird.  I catch my face in the mirror and I do a little double take cause I'm not used to having anything on.

I'll end with a funny picture I saw before I started this whole thing and I thought it was hilarious cause for the most part, it's pretty true.  I can't say all girls are like this since not all girls wear makeup, but most girls will understand this.  Before I started Naked Face I absolutely believed this and now I don't.  It's not the end of the world if I go out without makeup on and it's not a big deal.  This is the face God gave me and I'll embrace it :)

(with a little mascara now and then ;) )

Moving time!

Hello friends!  so my previous blog is being silly and won't let me update it anymore so I've decided to start a new one.  If you want to read that blog I've included a link to it under Pages on the right.

Now it's time to start this thing!

So the post I was going to make on my other blog was mostly about future plans and things I'm looking forward to.  Not very exciting, I know, but hey that's how it goes here.

One of my favorite things to talk about is food because I loooove eating, cooking and really just looking at tasty dishes.  As you are all well aware, this Wednesday is Independence Day so we have the day off of work (yay!!) and we are having a few people over for a BBQ.  Here is the menu for what I will be making:

Honey Lime Chicken Skewers I can't get over how good it looks and then if you look at the marinade it just gets better.  Marinaded in honey, lime, cilantro, soy sauce and Siracha. (courtesy of Kitchen Meets Girl)

Alongside this deliciousness will be baked fries which are very simple to make. It's basically just roasted potatoes but they're cut into fry shapes, soaked in water for 30 minutes and covered in delicious seasonings.  

And for dessert, I will be using this lovely little recipe to make Apple Strudel (courtesy of Beyond Kimchee)

Honestly, I am a little nervous about this one but I think it will be fun.  The recipe looks super easy (the crust is just puff pastry) and I am an apple pie expert (self-proclaimed ;) ) so it will be fun to see how it comes out.  

My husband will also be making his famous guacamole which I am very excited about because it is definitely the best guac I've ever had. ever. and I'm not just saying that cause he's my husband.  It is seriously good.  

Hopefully I can remember to take pictures of everything before we eat it so you can see how it compares to the originals.  

Well that's all for now.. have a lovely day and a safe holiday!