hcg week 2 wrap-up

sunday
- breakfast: coffee with stevia
- lunch: corned beef leftovers with pickles
- snack: strawberries
- dinner: beef tips (not great...) and a couple of tomatoes.

monday
- breakfast: coffee and stevia
- lunch: cottage cheese and salsa
- dinner: tuna "salad" with celery

tuesday
- breakfast: coffee and stevia
- lunch: cottage cheese and cucumber
- dinner: italian "soup"

wednesday
- breakfast: coffee and stevia
- lunch: buffalo grilled chicken over a bed of cabbage
- snack: strawberries
- dinner: beef kabobs with onion petals

thursday
- breakfast: coffee and stevia
- lunch: corned beef leftover and tomato
- dinner: tuna and pickles (it was a late night)

friday
- breakfast: coffee with stevia
- lunch: cottage cheese and tomato
- snack: orange
- dinner: "stif-fried" chicken with amino acids, splash of hcg safe chicken broth, hcg safe chili paste, cooked with sliced onions

saturday
- breakfast: coffee with stevia
- lunch: corned beef and cabbage leftovers
- snack: orange
- dinner: buffalo chicken tenders with sliced onions cooked together
- drink: sliced strawberries, vanilla creme stevia, sparkling water

as of sunday morning, 9.8 pounds total loss and 12.5 inches lost

not half bad ;-)


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it's a great day to pick out wedding rings!!

we are headed to the place where anthony bought my ring today
to pick out our wedding bands!

we want simple (read: inexpensive)
yet...nice.

and of course, we have no idea what's in store.  gulp.

after we've ordered whatever we'll order
we'll go our separate ways
he has a guys night
and i'm getting together with my friend natasha for dinner and coffee
(we're both doing hcg)
and *conversation*

yay.

i think my saturday will be full of good things...
hope yours is too.

:-)

and the reason we talked about nuts and dried cherries yeterday...

guess what?
it's wedding related.  :D
(had you already guessed that?)

anthony and i had a tough time trying to figure out how to deal with reception food

first of all, we didn't CARE what we served
secondly, we didn't want to spend a ton of money.  and let's face it...there's a LOT of money wrapped up in food for as many people as we are inviting to this.
thirdly, we still wanted to be creative

this presented more than a few problems.

but one day, after coming to the conclusion that just serving nuts and mints may as well be the way we went since 'spectacular' isn't in our budget
we came up with an idea

what if...
we created a 'make your own trail mix' bar?
and the wheels started turning

right now, what it looks like
is metal scoops
antique-like candy containers
and handwritten cards labeling each one

i have a great group of people who have individually and collectively
offered to help with anything we need
so a couple of them will be responsible for keeping these filled
and others will be doing other things which you'll hear about eventually

this will be the 'favor' too...
but i'll explain how that works later ;-)

thursday's ten: in a trail mix...

there is a POINT to this post, i promise.  i'll let you in on the secret tomorrow ;-)




items i would put in my create-your-own trail mix

1.  granola.  and i have a fantastic recipe for that...i should share it here sometime soon!
2.  dried fruit. cranberries have always been a particular favorite of mine :-)
3.  m&ms.  gotta have a little crunchy chocolate, right?
4.  nuts.  i am a particular fan of cashews.
5.  shaved coconut.  ok, *i* wouldn't put this in, but would you?
6.  dried ginger.  nom, nom.
7.  sunflower or pumpkin seeds.  nice crunch and added flavor
8.  wasabi peas.  mmmm, i LOVE spice
9.  peanut butter, butterscotch or chocolate chips (heavy on the butterscotch...)
10. pretzels (mini)

mmmkay, obviously those all wouldn't go in the same one... ;-)

please play along.  what would YOU put in a trail mix if provided all the ingredients?

hey, it's ok (tuesday)

hey, it's ok
...to be sort of in love with a friends tea collection. nom, nom.
...to be a little tired of reminding a three year old to make good choices. (there IS a life lesson there somewhere, but i am dragging this morning...)
...to be sad that you have pretty much worn out a pair of flip flops. they are my reef flip flops that i bought in santa barbara in 2007...i guess it makes sense that they're pretty much biting the dust. sand?
...to really want to go to california to replace said flip flops instead of taking the easy way out of ordering online ;-)
...to just want to go back to california, period.
...to think that it's hilarious that jon, the three year old, is running around singing "big bad john"
...to gain inspiration for decorating, etc, from clients homes. i get excited when i see good ideas!
(and i also see some not so good ideas)
...to sometimes get a little overwhelmed by how MUCH there is left to do for the wedding!


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monday's memory: the one with the baby shower

about 2 years ago, we gathered to celebrate the upcoming birth

of a little boy

friends of ours were expecting their first, and we gathered for a shower

one of the take-homes for the couple was a photo album with pictures of the shower guests

anthony and i were in charge of the camera

and we got a bit bored of normal poses

so this is what our picture for the book ended up being :-)

what wonderful craziness life brings

that baby was finn

the child i took care of all last school year

what a blessing to have been there from the beginning :-)

he still gets excited when he sees me

(i'm hoping that never ends)

and i love the friendship that anthony and i share with his parents

full circle sometimes happens quicker than you expect

my time nannying for finn has ended

(although they've asked if i will please be a regular babysitter.

i had no problem saying yes!)

and i now work with other families as well as other jobs

(which i will tell you about soon)

but relationship

that continues

and i am so blessed

to be surrounded by SO MANY

great people

God has given us community

spread over several states,

a few churches

and many different walks of life

but i wouldn't trade this set of quality folks in my life

for anything!

hcg week one wrap-up

just so i can keep track...sorry to bore you all with the details!

also, i apologize for putting word verification back on my comments BUT when you have over 300 spam comments in the space of a week, it's time to pull a little more security.

day 1 (sunday)
- lunch: chicken with chipotle chili pepper seasoning, 1 cucumber seasoned lightly with salt and pepper
- snack: orange and grissini
- dinner: steak with amino acid, raw cabbage leaves, melba toast
- snack/fun drink: "mojito" made with strawberries, mint leaves, stevia and sparkling water (yummy!)

day 2 (monday)
- breakfast: coffee with english toffee stevia
- lunch: chicken with german mustard and seasonings, cucumber with salt and pepper
- 'fun' drink of the day: coffee, ice, 1 tbsp milk and english toffee stevia mixed in blender
- snack: apple, grissini breadstick
- dinner: lean ground beef, seasoned with cayenne pepper, garlic, etc, salsa poured over (yummy!)
- snack: 4 strawberries

day 3 (tuesday)
- breakfast: coffee with stevia
- lunch: greek burger, grilled onions, melba toast

- snack: strawberries, stevia and 1 tablespoon milk
- dinner: 'steak' seasoned with amino acids, onion powder and ginger.  cabbage sauteed in apple cider vinegar, amino acids, garlic, celery seed, onion powder, cayenne pepper, ginger, etc... (i was determined to make a cabbage as close to kimchee as i could!)
- snack: orange

day 4 (wednesday)
- breakfast: coffee and stevia
- lunch: fat-free cottage cheese, melba toast, cucumber and orange
- dinner: 'soup' made with italian-seasoned ground beef and diced tomatoes with garlic, basil and oregano as well as other italian seasonings. garlic melba toast.  it was FABULOUS and i couldn't eat it all!  definitely remember this one.
- fun drink: 'cappacino' made with ice cubes, coffee, english toffee stevia and 1 tbsp milk in the blender
- snack: strawberries

day 5 (thursday)
- breakfast: coffee with stevia
- lunch: chicken with mustard and spices (eh, it wasn't fantastic), cucumber, 1/2 an apple baked with cinnamon and stevia
- dinner: the rest of last night's soup with garlic melba toast
- fun drink: fake mojito

day 6 (friday)
- breakfast: coffee and stevia (2 cups)
` lunch: burger with tony's seasoning and fresh minced, tomato
- dinner: corned beef and cabbage at my favorite pub.  this was my first attempt at eating out, and it was...kind of successful?  the beef was fine, but the cabbage was definitely cooked in oil and butter -- and i could TASTE it.  it was odd.  i ended up transferring it from the bowl to my plate and shaking off most of the sauce, so it wasn't bad at all once i did that.  oh, and i had a small shot of whiskey.  yummy.  but no more alcohol during this phase -- my head was liiiiight!)
* i skipped both fruit servings and one serving of bread to make up for the extra calories.  hopefully that wasn't a bad thing!*

day 7 (saturday)
- breakfast: coffee, cinnamon and stevia
- lunch: cottage cheese and 2 tomatoes (one from MY garden!!!)
- snack: orange.  and i had starbucks! iced coffee and i added cinnamon and a tbsp of nonfat milk as well as a packet of stevia
- dinner: burger and grilled onion at the in-laws...another (kind of) successful attempt at eating somewhere else but my house or bringing my own food.  unfortunately, i didn't get to weigh my meat before it was cooked (which is a big no-no) but we tried to figure out how much to take off and i figure it's close enough.  and i only sort of coveted the cheese and onion rings on the table...


as of this morning i am down 6.1 pounds and 6 inches.  for a week...not too bad?  and i haven't been (too) bored with my food and choices...

best of all?  i feel GREAT.  seriously.  i have more energy (on WAY less calories, thank you drops) and i just feel...good.  the 'cleanse' bit is definitely working, and i'm considering extending it another week and just dealing with a bit of a gain/stall when we go to indiana and i have to eat cake at our shower...

it's a great day to wrap up some wedding stuff

today involves me going with anthony to help get the tux details down
us collecting all the emails possible for sending out our save the dates (yeah, we know.  we're a little late...)
and hopefully a little relaxation as well.

at some point i need to run to a grocery store
and pick up a few needed items for emi and for my diet

oh yeah, and unload the dishwasher
ugh.

but i've definitely enjoyed this morning to be totally and completely lazy before our busy afternoon and evening!

hope you all have a wonderful weekend...diet update coming at you tomorrow!

thursday's ten: stuff i HAVE done for the wedding...

it's easy to get a bit overwhelmed at this stage
thinking of all that we have left to do
all the money we still don't have
(yikes)

so today's ten is all about what is DONE for the wedding.

1.  i have a DRESS.  hey, that's a big one :-)
2.  bridesmaid dress is also chosen, and everyone has ordered.  truth be told, i assumed we would have several dresses in the same material...but the SAME dress looked fantastic on everyone.  so i got my secret wish of having a matching bridal party!  it's the little things :)

what, you want a picture?  ok.

i was fortunate enough that all my nashville girls, including the flower girl, were able to come to the shop the night i made my final decision.  and anthony's mom & aunts, and my cell group girls.  it was a BIG party :D

here we all are:

ok...NOT.  that's actually from awkwardfamilyphotos.com
i can't show you MY dress.  my fiance does read this blog and doesn't want to have any idea.
but i can show you a couple of my girls :)

(mandy, hailey and kat)

 (laura, flower girl israel and natasha)

(ok, flower girl izzy by herself.  her dress will be red as well, by the way)

3.  reserved venues for the ceremony and reception
4.  secured our minister for the day, one of the most Godly men we know
5.  chose our photographer
6.  decided what to do about reception food.  this was especially hard.  wanting to step up slightly from nuts and mints and yet not break the bank was a challenge!
7.  created the wording for our invitation...now to order them ;)
8.  created a save the date.  we're collecting all the email addresses now for them.  yeah, we're a bit behind on the invitation and save the date bit.  eh.
9.  booked our engagement photo session
10.  at least have a cake PERSON...now to choose the cake!

oh, there is SO much more to do.  but at least i can breathe a bit easier knowing what's DONE! :-D

choice

earlier today, this hand



got stuck in this toy



and OH the tears.
oh the frustration when she realized the situation she had put herself into.
after all, it was HER choice
no one forced her into that position, no one said "glenda, try this"
and yet she found herself in a predicament that she didn't forsee
all from one simple choice.

as i gently went to help her out, she struggled against me
not realizing that i actually knew the best way to fix the problem--that i could see the whole situation and knew the best plan of escape

once i finally got her removed, i pulled her onto my lap and hugged her, soothing words whispered gently into her ear. and for a moment, she relaxed and let herself be held, but then she struggled against me and wriggled off my lap, shooting a look over her shoulder at me through the tears she was still crying.

for several moments she sniffled, cried, and seemingly recounted the story several times. not caring that i was only a few steps away ready to give consolation and comfort.

on the one hand, this was amusing to watch. on the other...i recognized myself. after all, if you start reading after the word "toy" you could easily substitute any person on this planet in a situation their choices got them into...a God who rescues them...and their inability to fully receive that love.

not quite as amusing when i look at it through those lenses.

be blessed today...and remember that there is a God who wants nothing more than for you to receive and embrace His extravagant love!


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hey, it's ok (tuesday)

hey, it's ok
...to not have blogged for like two weeks. oops. sorry about that
...to learn a lot from interactions with 3 year olds. motivations and actions are really not that different from adults.
...to be excited about the diet you find yourself on. i know...it's sick to be excited about that. but truly, this is how i am reclaiming myself--the healthy, happy, BEST me.
...to sometimes want to throw all toys that make noise right out the window.
...to be excited about a 10 hour/week job where i have to look a bit more professional--no jeggings or yoga pants in the office!
...on that note, to have picked up a 4th part time job. story to come, soon, cause it's a good one!
...to still melt at your fiancé's words to you at times.
...to still love and look forward to naptime.


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it's a great day to finish our registry

we have a registry set up at bed bath and beyond, and another at williams sonoma.  today we'll wrap up by creating one at target.  now that we know where we'll be living (if everything pans out -- we were accepted on wednesday!) it'll be easier to register for stuff for our new home in mind.

(meep!)

anyway...today we do that, tonight i'll cook us vodka pasta, the next day i'll head off to camp with our youth group and i'll be off the grid for pretty much a week...and when i come back i'll be on a *crazy* cleansing diet.  so most likely there will be no recipes of the week for about a month since i seriously doubt y'all will be remotely interested in what i'll be able to eat!

i'm going to try to have a few posts scheduled for while i'm away, but you never know.  oh, and please forgive me if i'm slow getting to your blogs...i keep my google reader caught up normally, but being off the internet for a week or so will lend itself to triple digits and that's a bit intimidating!

much love -- have a wonderful weekend and week!

hey it's ok (tuesday)

hey, it's ok
...to be all proud of yourself for getting a days head start on this post only to realize that it's actually tuesday and you aren't ahead at all
...to be a bit over the "referee" portion of your job. most of the time the kids play really well together but today seems to be a big giant exception
...to prefer watching live fireworks to watching them on tv, and therefore to have skipped out on all the fireworks broadcasts last night
...to be just a wee bit impatient for your garden to ripen
...to begin this at 7.30 am and wrap up around midnight because thats just how the day went.


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it's a great day to SEE U2!!

mmmkay, so i'm a little excited...
because u2 is in nashville tonight!
and we.are.there

in pretty awesome seats, i must add
we splurged a bit
i mean, it is my favorite band
anthony never thought he would have a chance to see them live
when it was announced they were coming
we joined the u2 website to buy our tickets before they went on sale to the general public
a good move, since it sold out extremely quickly!

so...i'm doing boring things like laundry and cleaning
but in a couple of hours
i'll be headed to his parents house
to hang out, have ribs cooked by his dad (mmm!)
and then walk over to the stadium
(yep, walking distance from their place.  yay!)

i talked to a friend this morning who said 'you going tonight?'
and it's pretty common to say when talking about weekend plans
that you're going to 'the concert'
and everyone knows what you're referring to
nashville is kind of buzzing

and for very.good.reason

:-)

have a lovely weekend!