My new weight loss arsenal

Two exciting things in the weight loss front for me. For one, the swimming pool is officially back open on base. So today I rushed off to the pool to swim a few laps. Man am I out of shape. It probably didn't help that the person I go with actually use to swim competitively. Which I just learned today as she quickly swam laps around me (forgive me, but I had to use that pun). Luckily she's understanding and helps push me.

The second exciting tidbit is that as of today I am using...


Yep, I am all signed up thanks to a wonderful and very understanding husband!

For once in my life I can actually say that I am ready and driven to do this. I want this and I am not going to give up this time. I'm happy with my husband, I am happy with where we live and damnit it's time for me to be happy with how I look and feel! Plus I am so ready to be able to wear high heels for longer than 30 minutes again (thanks 50lbs of extra weight for killing my desire to wear heels).

I'm excited to be able to add swimming back into my weight loss arsenal, and I am definitely excited (and slightly scared) to use Weight Watchers. I hope it will allow me to keep enjoying food while at the same time help food no longer rule my world.

Now to see what happens!

IKEA my love

I may or may not be in love with all things IKEA. Seriously, we've only been there twice and we always seem to come home with stuff! On our last trip we grabbed two chairs for the office, some curtains, my beloved light fixture and yet another bookcase from the EXPEDIT line.

This time we got the bookcase to use in our kitchen. We had this odd space between where our cabinets ended and where our back door is. The other issue we were having is the fact that the wall is one of the many things you can see when you first come into our house. For awhile we were just going to hang stuff on the wall and call it good, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted more storage. Thus why we came home with another EXPEDIT system.

We had to jerry rig the bookcase to the wall. Thanks old house with odd walls and floors. But once that was done we were good to load it up!


I really love how it turned out, because it gives us more storage, but at the same time we can show off some of our pretty items. It's also great, because it keeps some of our most used cookbooks close at hand.

My next project is working on getting the other EXPEDIT organized and set up. Once that gets done I'll post about that too. Until then, I hope everyone's week started off well and continues to be great!

Beaded vintage beauty

I'm back...with vintage! Hopefully I'm not boring you all with the vintage yet.

Today's 1950's dress is one that I found at a local vintage/costume shop while living in Albuquerque. It was a dress I tried to try on and even if I had been skinnier, it still would have been a pain to get on. I love it though. Probably because it is totally beaded. As in, other than the organza mermaid skirt at the bottom, it is fully covered in sequins. Not only is it fully covered in sequins and beads, but the bead work is done in shapes of flowers and butterflies! Then there is the crazy fact that the shell is 100% wool. I can't say I have ever seen a beaded dress that was wool, so this dress has so major weight to it.

*Swoon*

I kept eying it. Then the price dropped. There were some spots that were missing some beads, the color beads had faded slightly and the skirt could use a good cleaning, but damnit I loved the thing. So home it went with me. This dress is the truest form of wiggle dress. You do not talk long strides in it when you walk. In fact perhaps you just stand and let people come to you!


That's right, take all of that in! Go back and look at the pictures again, you know you want to.

While this dress may be one I never get into, I love it. Though I will keep trying to get into it. I would love to know how the original owner got into it. Perhaps she had a lot of help.

Where the heck have I been!?

Who knew that I'd really love where we moved to? Because of that, I have been spending a lot of time in the city exploring and loving all of the festivals and pick-your-own farms. When I am not doing that, I am decorating and organizing. A never ending process if you ask me. On top of that I'm actually working out again! Loving where I am living is really giving me the motivation to get back into working out and getting healthy.

The working out thing is huge. A few months back I did a post about not being happy with my weight. Well I'm still not happy. I'm actually a little heavier then I was. A lot of that is because of the move. I quit working out, because I was packing/moving boxes all day and I thought that was enough. Then there was the food. Oh the food. Lets just say eating out became a habit. It wasn't easy to eat the best when you were sitting in a car for 7+ hours as your drove across the country. Then it wasn't easy to eat healthy because the house wasn't unpacked. Then it just became laziness for us.

I fell back into my rut.

All of that changed a few days ago when I found a friend I could work out with. Not only is that a huge help, but one of the two base gyms is very close to our house. Because of that, both last week and this week I have worked out. I'm sticking to the elliptical for now, until I feel more confident in my knees. I am also hoping to add swimming into my workout. Which was actually what I wanted to do to begin with, but the indoor base pool is run by some rather "special" people and it is still closed.

My goal is to go at least 3 times a week. From there I may move onto Monday/Wednesday/Friday swimming and Tuesday/Thursday elliptical and maybe weight machines. Right now I am trying to take it slowly as to not overwhelm myself, because if i do that I won't workout. I'm also back to eating smaller portions and cooking meals at home. We do go out once a week for a trivia night, but I making a habit of eating much less. As in I'll only eat 1/3 to 1/2 of the meal and take home the rest. While it might not be the right choice for some, it's the right one for me. I love food too much to cut out all of the bad stuff, but I am much more aware of what I put in my body. Plus this place has more fresh veggies/fruits then you can shake a stick at.

It's awesome being here because we can actually go to a farm and pick our own fresh off the tree/plant/bush produce! So far we have been to pick apples, berries, tomatoes, peaches and okra. All of this fresh stuff is really helping with my drive to lose weight!

I couldn't leave you without some pictures. This time I leave you will all of the fresh stuff we have gotten to pick!

A very merry birthday to me!

My birthday was over a week ago and I still haven't done the gift post. Can anyone say unusually busy? Seriously, I've had more to do here than for the past three years combined. And I am loving every minute of it!

Now onto my birthday...

While I don't always have a busy or sometimes even good birthday, Nate always does an amazing job with finding the perfect gift. Last year he got me an awesome telescope so we can look at the stars. It was a great gift (even if it was a gift for both of us), but this year he really outdid himself!

Lets let the pictures do the talking...

Still here...still alive. Just a year older!

I had a busy week with a birthday and many other things that I can't wait to share with all of you.

To tease you...here is a picture of a birthday gift I received from my wonderful husband.



No worries...I'll post about that, the meaning behind it and everything I got for my birthday!

Birthday wishlist

It might be the night before my birthday, but I figured I could still post my birthday wish list. Hey...who knows maybe someone likes me enough to get me one of these goodies. I don't mind belated gifts.

*Hint*Hint*

A quick trip to Target...

...last night left me with two plates from the new John Derian for Target collection.

Dining room preview and something to look forward to!

The dining room...

...yeah.

It was one of the first rooms we worked on when we got here. As in we painted it. And not just one paint color, but two in the form of stripes.

Yep I did stripes again, even after I swore that I would never do stripes again. I'm a glutton for punishment.

Now even though this is the first room to be started, it will also be the last to come together. Mostly because the dining room table has become the holding place for all of the glass/decor items that don't currently have homes.

So much like we are constantly being teased with the thoughts of what the room will look like when it's finished...I am going to tease you with just a few pictures, but not the finished project. You're going to have to check back in to see it all done!


So there is your tease.

Keep an eye out for the finished product. So far I am in love with it! I can't wait till it comes all together.

Also...this is my birthday month! Squeeee! As in next week I'll be 27.

*Sigh*

How am I almost 30!? Where has time gone!?