so anyway

ugh, so sorry i haven't updated in a while... between work and the wedding, my life has just been crazy... AND eric and i leave for our annual camping trip tomorrow and are PRAYING that the hurricane doesn't cause too much rain/damage (at least i'll have some books, magazines, and my iphone)... i'm looking forward to getting away but am kind of stressed since we haven't picked a reception site yet and will need too rather quickly after we get home next weekend... once that happens, then it will be time to do the invites and get those in the mail as soon as possible - not giving people much time but the day was only confirmed this week... either way, i know everything will work out, it's just rather hectic right now... you can check out my other blog for more details... :)

we've set a date >> saturday, november 21, 2009

so i should be able to blog from the beach next week, if i feel the need too... i find myself using the iphone for lots of stuff and have been enjoying all the free apps - we've tried scrabble and love it! it's been most helpful when responding to emails, etc. and still can't believe i waited this long to get one... what was i thinking?!?!

well, i have a few things to wrap-up here then it's off to dress appt. #3...

have a great weekend and i'll talk to you soon, promise! :)

who know you could get sand there

sorry it's taken me so long to post - i knew my first day back at work would be busy but that's an understatement to say the least... between catching-up on things that happened while i was out, i had several projects in the works plus the annual report is heating up so my day began at 8:00 and ended at 6:30... okay then! BUT i did take an hour and had a nice jog around the lincoln memorial - it was a bit warmer than i was expecting and though i'm feeling VERY slow these days, it was great to have some time to enjoy the sun... like i didn't get enough of that last week but i digress... ;o)

our camping trip was great - we had PERfect weather everyday so who can complain about that... i'll just highlight a few things that happened while we were there (don't want to bore you too much)... after getting there on sunday, we found out the zipper was busted on our screened-in tent... "lets go buy another one," eric said... i just laughed because it was labor day weekend, but wouldn't you know it, we found one at kmart for $50 - yeehaa, problem #1 solved... on monday - eric was having an eye problem and after putting up with the redness and pain for most of the day, we headed to the ER to have someone check it out... after about an hour, the doctor finally came, put some dye in his eye, and there you go - he seemed he had developed an ulcer from wearing contacts... poor guy! after getting his RX filled, eric bought himself a pirate-patch and proceeded to wear that for the next day or so... he also saw an opthamologist twice and once since getting back home - all things are looking much better, thank god, so problem #2 solved... :o)

we seemed to have the most popular campsite too because we had a visitor almost every night (or so it seemed)... a skunk came about 10' from me one night and scared the crap out of me - another one, though much smaller, was trying to get in our trash one morning so they were definitely looking for something to eat... after weds, we didn't see them again so either they found someone else to bother or they moved on... problem #3 solved... :o)

on thursday, the camp hosts were busy driving around the park warning people about the weather and the pending hurricane coming up the east coast... even though we were checking out on saturday anyway, we usually stay for the day and then head home in the evening... well, by friday morning - the weather wasn't looking much better so we packed up everything and spent one more gorgeous day on the beach before heading back a day early... eric was eager to grill ONE MORE TIME though before leaving, so we unpacked the grill, had hotdogs, tortilla chips, and hummus for dinner... and not too soon after hitting the road - it began to rain and didn't stop til early sunday morning... problem #4 solved... :o)

so all in all - it was a great vacation though it always makes me sad when it comes to an end... even though there were some problems in the beginning of the week - we still managed to have a good time, have some great laughs, eat really well, and drink a lot... guess that's what vacations are all about, right? i opted NOT to weigh myself before leaving so i have no idea how much i gained and don't really care... if i didn't go for a jog in the morning, i made sure to take a long walk on the beach everyday (sometimes twice) and we rode our bikes a lot too so i'm hoping things just evened out... now onto some pictures - enjoy! :o)

you'd think we were going for a month...


our lavish campsite (w/the new tent)...


a view of deleware bay...


eric says "arrrrrghhhhh"...


proof that we had overnight "visitors"...


can we look any happier...


who said you can't eat well while on vacation...


this is bob, he came to see us everyday...


the lovely beach grass...


i can't believe how crowded the beach was...


see ya next year, cape henlopen...

5 more days

just a quick post to say hello... not much has been going on so i don't feel the need to post every day... my weekend was good - productive on sunday for sure, getting things ready for our camping trip and doing the usual chores (laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc.)... eric worked on his truck pretty much all day sat AND sunday so it was just me and the kitties pretty much... the transfer of zoe, back to my sister, went well - i haven't heard from her since so i hope the adjustment is going okay... we had lunch at the olive garden (my sisters fav place) and i had salad, 2 breadsticks, soup, and NO desssert... we also stopped at the outlets for a bit - i wanted to run into the Coleman store but they're going-out-of-business o not much was left... i did grab a cute mini-totebag and some new sandals at LL Bean though, and that was it for my shopping adventure... eric and i have much to do this saturday so i've been adding things daily to "the list" as i think of things we'll need... luckily, the campground is only a few miles from town so if we DID need something, we can go get it but it's nice to have as much as we can, packed and ready to go... I'M SO LOOKING FORWARD TO IT... :o)

food/exercise has been okay - i went to spin class on saturday and had a great workout... the class was packed and even though i was there 10 minutes after the gym opened, the list was half-full and all the good bikes were reserved... i still had a good class though - love it when the instructor is fun and plays good music! food-wise i could could be doing a lot better and i can definitely feel it, but i'm not going to worry about it esp. a week before vacation... it's not like i'm eating terrible or anything but there's been some sour cream & onion chips, an ice cream samich, peanut butter cups, etc. that could've been avoided... such is life... i still have yet to read those books that i bought a few weeks back so i'm going to dive into those as soon as i get back (they are NOT appropriate beach-reading)... :o)

happy tuesday...

p.s. don't forget --> how to look good naked is on tonight! ;o)

2 days and counting

i don't know why i do this to myself - i was checking the forecast for next week and it doesn't look pretty... i know, i know - its still vacation but when you're going to the beach AND camping, rain sort of puts a damper on everything... plus, it makes packing even more difficult and i'm bad enough as it is - i tend to pack too much but maybe that's because i'm a girl and i like having options (tank top or tshirt?)... anyway, i started making piles of all my stuff last night like clothes, beach towels, sunscreen, and toiletries and if i forget something, i'll be fine... sometimes roughing it can be fun (like no hairdryer!) but if i really needed something, the local grocery store is only a few miles away... :o)

i'm going to pick more blueberries after work with my mom, so i have them for next week... i'm not sure how much longer they'll be in season around here so i'm going to take advantage as best i can... we also may grab dinner at 5 guys, which is a local hamburger chain that pride themselves on serving homemade burgers, hotdogs, and french fries... yea, not the most healthy of choices but i figured as of 5:00 - i'm officially on vacation and i've only heard good things about this place... :o)

today will be another busy one so it should go by fast... and it will also be my last treadmill workout til i get back so i'll have to make it a good one... on wednesday, i did 40 minutes of flats/hills - talk about challenging! i may try and do 4 miles today so we'll see how that goes - anything above 3.5 is an improvement for me and if i can crank out 5 miles by the end of the summer, maybe i'll try doing an 8K race... either way, i can telling the running is helping my weightloss because these capris i have on today are huge... :o)

time for my weekly top 5 so enjoy... :o)

—do you know how to store salad greens?
—learn how to run less for more results
—read about a woman who lost weight too fast for weight watchers (WTF?!?!)
—feeling a bit down? here are some body image boosters you can try
—don't know what to make on the 4th? check out this list of favorites

i'll try and post something over the weekend but if for some reason i don't - i hope you all have a happy and safe fourth of july... i'll talk to you when i get back...

happy friday...

weigh-in

starting weight (04/18): 167.8
current weight (06/27): 158.6
weight loss to date: 9.2

this was a nice and most welcomed surprise this morning, and quite the treat considering i ALMOST made my goal for vacation (10 pounds)... all i can say is, its nice to be back in the 150s again considering its been since before christmas that i saw this number on the scale... and when i was updating my sidebar, i noticed i'm only 8.6 pounds away from goal (my first one anyway)... that's pretty damn cool, if i do say so myself... i know the next part of my journey will be a long one (being realistic not pessimistic) but i'm looking forward to it anyway because i know i CAN do it... :o)

i never thought that this time around, with weight watchers, i would be this successful but add 5K training and really focusing on my eating into the mix, and the difference is amazing... i have managed to survive parties, happy hours, brunches, occasional weekend splurges, AND still continued to lose weight so i know this way of life is for me... and i know some people may think, "well, you can work out 5-6x a week and don't have a husband, or a house, or kids to take care of"... and yes, that's true but even so - i know that making time for myself is very important and i shouldn't feel guilty for making it a priority... neither should you because its so much easier to take care of others when you're healthy and feeling good about yourself - just 30 minutes a day can do wonders... :o)

okay, i've preached enough so onto other things... eric found this website yesterday where a guy has lost over 401 pounds - be warned, some of the pictures are quite disturbing... he looks amazing though - can you imagine going thru such a personal transformation? talk about awesome! :o)

the packing continues - i picked up a few things at the store last night - stuff like barilla tortellini, rice, couscous, parmalat milk (better for camping), hot dogs (i'm going to try the reduced fat hebrew national), and sunscreen... we'll get most of our fruits/veggies on the day we head to the campground and i'm also hoping we stumble across some farmer stands - i'd much rather buy produce from a local farmer than from a store anyday... the menu so far is: hamburgers, steaks, chicken, hot dogs, and pasta with a healthy breakfast and lunch in between... there will also be lots of beer, margaritas, and possibly some mimosas since we have leftover champagne and OJ from brunch, so i think we're set... i looked up some activities we can do while there as well, including kayaking on the bay and going for a ghost crab walk one night on the beach - how fun does that sound! :o)

4 DAYS AND COUNTING...

happy hump day...