Sunday, February 22, 2009

Did I say how much I love the weekend?

I really love the weekend. Its my time to relax and re-energizer and this is what Chris and I did this weekend. There were no major plans, just some errands this weekend. We took his car for the oil change at Saturn. Believe it our not, the place was busy and it was nice to see that. I saw the salespeople working their tails off too. They were calling customers to see how they were liking their new cars or wishing them happy birthday. Now that is service! I hope that Saturn will make it. It's a great car company and Chris's car has been kind to him. He's 3K away from having 200K. Who says American car companies are crap? They get a bad rap, really. I love my Jeep too. I have about 125K and it's been kind to me also. No major repairs at all. I'm just not attracted to foreign autos (well, okay, there is a soft spot for the mini cooper but that's it). There's no upmh with them for me but that's me :) After Saturn we hit Costco and did the usual $100 buying spree. That store is amazing but we really cannot walk out of there spending less than $100. We only got two impulse buys too. Some of my staples from there are the Odwalla Mango Tango, Spinach, nuts (I usually buy pecans but I bought some almonds this week), feta cheese, and stuffed grape leaves. We then travelled all over town looking for cat food then because we got out to our usual place to only find that they went out of business. After calling around to a few places, we found it at Pet Supplies Plus and they were so eager to help, excellent customer service! We then did our usual eating out Saturday and since we were not craving anything we used a gift card that my friend Teresa gave me for my birthday at Olive Garden. We haven't been there in about two years (at least) so we had so expectations (because I usually have low expectations for this place) and was pleasantly surprised that it was good. Every time I go to Olive Garden, I have those bad flashbacks to when I was 21 and dating Sluggy. We went to Olive Garden once and I wanted to buy a glass of wine and the girl looked at my drivers license and looked at my 230 lbs body noting that there was no way that girl in the photo was me. It was and I was so shocked and embarrassed by it, I walked out. That was sad because now looking back, I should have got up and said something to her but at least we didn't sit there and eat. Argh, I don't miss those days or that former life with Sluggy. Not once have I regretted dumping his lazy @ss. Anyways, back to the weekend. Then we came home and relaxed. We've only been out one other time this weekend and it was to work out with Ryan. He did some major work today and Chris burned 998 calories...amazing! I burned 678 calories so I bet I will be sore tomorrow.

The sleep issues are looking like they are in the past! Yippy! We have been sleeping nicely for the past few nights without waking up. It's amazing how sluggish one feels when they haven't gotten the proper amount of sleep. Plus, I was pretty grouchy last week so I'm feeling good again.

Drum roll {please} I stayed the same this week. I'm going to look at this as my TOM is soon approaching but I was also quite sloppy this week with tracking food. I could have done better with the accountablility peice this past week so the meeting was perfect on Saturday for me about what do I need to be successful. I got the working out piece fixed, now I just need to track the food better. For instance, I will grab some nuts here and there, not have my journal near and "forget". I really need to firm this up. There was a couple of days that I even left my journal home so I need to get back on track. Not having it around is making a huge difference. Here's to a good week all-Kellie

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Zzzz...

Chris's sleeping patterns are completly off and they are beginning to impact me. It started two weeks ago. We think it's the matteress but we're not sure because that's when we flipped it last. It's a newer matteress because we bought it when we moved into the house. So tonight we're going to try to flip it back and see if it makes a difference but it's a rough go on 5 hours a sleep a night. He's waking up around 3:15ish and he's rolling around. I've asked him if he is stressing out and he claims he is not but this pattern has to stop, hopefully soon! It's making my head foggy and my concentration during the day is getting bad...which is not good because the majority of my visits with people occur in the afternoon :( I was so tired last night, I feel asleep during the biggest loser and have no idea who got the boot. Man, I need to look that up. Just did, Shannon, wow...I didn't see that coming. I heard she got into some trouble over Christmas because she threw a bag of flour at a roommate. Yeah, that's a little odd.

What's the crock cooking tonight? Nothing but yesterday, I whipped up a spicy black bean soup in the crockpot and it was delicious! The recipe is available @ allrecipes.com. I love it when I can get 3 days out of one dish. Plus it was super cheap to make. Try it out, you won't be disappointed. I paired it with some trader joes corn bread. We hit trader joes on the way back and it was a tad overwhelming because everyone was bumping into me, reaching over, etc. I was actually happy to get out of there because there was no space to browse. That's okay because we're going to Chicago within the month so I'll be able to browse there. I did pick up some new items for me. I got some potstickers, wontons, and an Indian spinach simmer sauce. I also got my favorites such as garlic naan bread, masala sauce, Greek yogurt, and orange chicken (my favorite). Well that's it for me, take care all-Kellie

Sunday, February 15, 2009

I love Detroit!!

Okay, I love Detroit. It's an absolutely wonderful city. Really, it is. As a child, growing up in "Fashionable Ferndale" I learned to fear the city. The city was somewhere you didn't go because it wasn't safe. I can only recall a few times as a child, making a trip into the city. We went to Joe Louis arena for a Sesame Street show, Cobo Arena for the auto show and a winter festival, and went to Belle Isle a few times but that was it. I remember on our trips to my grandmothers house in West Virginia stopping by a gas station in Detroit to fill up and I was petrified that my dad was going to be killed. Yup, I had a wild imagination. So I never thought too much of the city. About four years ago, I went to a conference in Detroit with a few coworkers and one of them took us downtown and I was impressed. Maybe the city wasn't so bad? It was gorgeous but there were still a lot of building vacant. I've been battling with cabin fever the past few weeks so I thought we needed to get out of town but to where? Detroit! I thought we could go get some good Thai food and then come home. I did some researching and found that Detroit had a ton of microbreweries so that was the plan. After thinking about it, I decided maybe we should do an overnighter so when Chris got home on Friday, I got him to find us a place to stay in Detroit. He was hestiant at first but I'm like if you pick a fourstar in Detroit, it will be safe, really! He put a bid in for a fourstar hotel in Detroit and it gave us a reservation at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel. I was excited because I heard awesome things about this hotel from my sister. She talked about it having this huge ballroom so I knew we were in for a treat. We get there and the place is absolutely gorgeorus. The inside was completely redone and modern. They remodeled the ballrooms and all I can say is wow! I was impressed. We spent the rest of the night peeping around and chilling out in the Motown Bar at the hotel.

We got up the next morning and I was dying to go to the Eastern Market. It's a farmers market and they sell everything. In the winter they don't have so much but the summer, the place is packed. Chris bought two of the largest pommengrates that I have ever seen. We got breakfast at a deli across from the market and it was super. Local, organic food with homemade breads and meats. Detroit can really cook. I got an omelet with homemade italian sausage, basil, red bell peppers, and asiago cheese. Chris got a ruben. It was terrific and the total bill was $15. Unbelieveable! because we would be paying more for organic, local, homemade food if it was in Grand Rapids. We then went to Belle Isle because I haven't been there since I was eight. On our drive into the park there were so many beautiful homes that were abandoned and boarded up. It was a sad sight to see. These once majestic homes now sitting vacant was heartbreaking. We get over to the island and it was pretty desolate. I had heard that they closed the acqurium and zoo so the only thing that was left open was the conservatory. It's over 105 years old. I had such vivid memories of the place as a child with all the plants so I was excited to see it. We pull up to the building and no one is in the parking lot. I sent Chris out to see if it was open and it was so we went into the building. We were told to sign in by a grumpy woman. I got in there and was overwhelmed. It just hit me that one of my favorite memories as a child was reduced to this. Belle Isle was awesome, what had happened to this place? Why was everything closed? It was sad. I don't know why I got so emotional about it but I did. I walked through the conservatory enjoying the trees but when I got out, I just started bawling. Chris just looked at me wondering what the heck? It's just one of those things that when you see something that was so grand in your mind and see the realties of it now is semi-shocking. I know, it's strange. We drove around the island and it was beautiful but what a waste to see all the vacant buildings at the zoo. Really, this island was amazing at one time. It was just sad to see. It was getting close to 11:00 so we headed off to Traffic Jam and Snug. They were closed so we went across the street to Motor City Brewing Works. I was the DD today no drinking for me today. He got a sampler. It was a cool building and the interior was awesome. Very rugged by artsy. We stayed there for an hour then we headed back over to the Traffic Jam and Snug. This place was cool. Chris got some more samplers and we bought some homemade bread there. Apparently, they use the wheat products from the beer to make the bread and it's amazing. We bought some spinach parmesan bread and some cheese bread. From there we headed out to the Detroit Beer Company. I was getting hungry so we got some soup and it was amazing! Chris sampled some more beers and then we hit Atwater Block Brewery. It was a cool brewery that was huge. We ran into some fellow microbrewery lovers and chatted for an hour. I loved this because I forgot how friendly Detroiters were. They really are. Every place (except the chick at Belle Isle) was so friendly. It was nice to see because you don't get this type of reaction in most places. Our last brewery stop was the Dragonmead Microbrewery. This was a pretty neat place and they had fresh made soda's so you could bring the kids there. I opted for a Lemondade Soday and it was terrific. So that was our brewery hop. I had a ton of fun and Chris enjoyed himself.

We then opted for some Thai food and we got take out. I got a Pad Pak with medium spice and it was terrific. Chris got a seafood combo hot and all I can say is that we didn't have enough milk in the house to calm down the taste buds. We stopped at Trader Joes on the way home and I think I got sensory overload there. With it being Valentines day, you would not have known it. The place was packed beyond belief. People bumping into you, reaching over you, etc. We got what we needed and left. It's usually a great buying experience but it was too much for me!

Needless to say, I didn't go to WW this week. According to my scale, I might be the same. Yeah! I'm debeating if I'm going to hit a Sunday meeting for ww. I might just wait until next week. We'll see. The workouts were good this week. Waking up early is good but I find myself turning in around 9:15 pm. They sent out an email for the graduate class so it looks like they are going to try to have a 5am class. Now that is going to be hard but we'll see! Take care all-Kellie

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Humm?

Humm, the female body is a puzzling one. I admit to weighing myself everyday but the last two days it's like, huh? Now, I wish I could totally admit to over eating but I haven't but the weight is up plus I feel totally bloated for no reason. I got three more days until weigh in so I'll see how it goes.

Today Chris and I were blessed with two different work compliments. Chris got acknowledgement from his work on having superior customer service. I know the transition from being a pilot to the insurance has been bumpy at times but it was nice to see how happy he was tonight. An acknowledgment can go a long ways. It was quite the honor because this customer personally called Chris's boss to tell him what a good person he was. Isn't that super? How many times do people acknowledge the hard work of someone else? I was also given a kudos from a family. They wrote in to let how much they appreciate me as their worker. I've almost worked there for 9 years and never had that happen so it was like "wow...that is nice". It's nice to see that someone appreciates the work that I do because it is a tough profession.

Biggest Loser is on tonight. I'm gearing up for it. Lets see who will go tonight. I hope the teams will break up soon because they need that variable. I've never watched when they did it as individuals so I wonder how different that was to see with the dynamics on the show.

Chris got an Iphone this past weekend and it is totally awesome. His Ipod took a dump and his cell phone was six years old so he thought it was time to upgrade. And upgrade he did. I'm totally digging on the live strong application on there. I don't need an Iphone but man, I love all the gadgets on it. They even have an application for dining out where it pulls all the nutrition info from the major restaurants. If you go out, you won't be wondering about the calories. Well, Biggest Loser is on, I've got to go!...take care all-Kellie

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Great Date Night!

We couldn't figure out where we wanted to go last night for dinner so we asked our trainer Ryan what we should do. It's always good to get someone elses opinion of where to go becase taste's vary. Ryan asked if whe have ever been to Ichiban Grill and we had not so it was a go. We didn't eat lunch so we were ravernous. We thought that we could hit lunch stil when we got there at 3:30 but they didn't open until 4:30. We ran some errands and then came back around 4:45. They asked us if we wanted Chinese Food/Sushi or the Japanese Hibachi, we wanted the Hibachi and they indicated that we had to have reservations. Okay, so we were like do we stay or should we go because we didn't have reservations. After looking at the Chinese menu, I was like, "We're not here for the Chinese" to Chris. He then clarified that we could make a reservation there and we were suited for a 5pm spot. Awesome! So it was very entertaining and good. It was a five course meal for under $50. I took a video on my flip with him cooking so enjoy!

Ryan did kick our bottoms yeterday. Chris and are both sore today. It was a great workout. He's been focusing on our core, legs, and arms. He did quite a few new excercises with us using free weights. We did lunges with weights, used the balance ball with some arm movement, and some other free weight excercises that I will add into my routine in the morning. I've noticed that my arm are looking better too. I'm getting more definition with them so I will be ready for summer.

Here I thought my body fat % was 29, well, it's not. It's worse than that. I'm sitting on a 37.5% body fat rate. I miss read my bmi instead of % of fat so I'm looking at improving this. It's going down slowly though. When I first started the class I was around 40% which is not good. I'm going to keep track of this information because it's really important to have. It's nice to see that percentage go down some but seeing how high it is not good. I'm just happy that I am doing something about it. Today is going to be cleaning day. I'm going to do my general cleaning then attack the upstairs for some organization. It's a pit hole up here so something needs to be done! Have a terrific Sunday all-Kellie

Saturday, February 07, 2009

On a scale of 1 - 10, I'm a 2...

On a scale of 1-10 of how much energy I have, I'm at a 2 right now. Usually I'm a 8 or a 9. Chris says that when we meet up with our trainer today, it will get higher so I'm looking forward to that.

We were going to get out of town today because I have bad cabin fever but after talking about it, we're going to delay that. I was he-hawing about going out of town all week. I want to but I don't think it's good because we have a mini-trip next month planned and we should be watching the pocketbook. Thank goodness we are not going anywhere because I think I would have been too drained to enjoy it. We're just going to stay home and do things around the house. Chris really needs to pick up the Christmas decorations today because the high is going to be 48 degrees. So we'll see if that will happen.

We got our taxes back already. It's too bad that we can't use it for fun so we are being responsible adults and paying off our windows early, paying for our property taxes, property association fees, and our Grand Rapids city tax because we live here. My company will not take out taxes for the city like Chris's will so it's a little aggravating to pay it at the end of the year so we're just going to pay it ahead of the time so we will have less hassle next year. Our next big project is to replace all the outside doors and windows in the house because there are some major heatloss issues right now. Our side door lets a whole bunch of air in, the former owner lined/wrapped the door with indoor trim so it looks horrible plus there's a high potential of it rotting so the door has got to go. In the morning the kitchen has been running around a 60 degree temperature so hopefully a properly installed new door will help. I'm hoping to have this done by April. We'll see!

Drum roll [please]...I lost .2 pounds this week! Yeah! I'm at 182 right now. I'm happy with my loss. I really could have made better choices this past week. I did the stupid thing of bringing reduced fat Cape Cod chips and dip in my house. I know better. My weakness is salty/crunchy foods so needless to say, I made some poor choices with that. I just cannot stop myself when it comes to potato chips, I totally lack control in this area. The best thing for me to do is to not keep them around the home. Last Saturday, I had a 48 point day so that didn't help either. I had an awesome time but I found a hard apple cider name Scrumpy's from here in Michigan (that was organic!) and I was hooked. It's Chris's turn to pick out the eating out. I'm secretly hoping that he will choose some sushi so I can get some sashmi :) I love it, especially the clam. My favorite place to get it at is at a small sushi restaurant downtown. They give you free miso soup and a nice salad. Plus it's low in points and healthy...I'm sending Chris sushi thoughts right now.

Getting up at 5:15 is working. It's nice to come home at night and just crash. I didn't hit a brick wall this week so that was nice. I think the major challenge is to get enough sleep. I've been trying to get Chris into bed by 9:45 and that's a little tricky. I feel like I've been nagging him a ton. I know there is a better way to do this but I haven't found it yet. I'm sure my "Chris, it's 9:40, we better get settled in" is growing old. I'll work on that! Have a terrific Saturday all-kellie

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

I should have known it was not a good idea...

So today was the day to get Bolton's teeth cleaned at the vet and what a fiasco it was. IT started out at 7:30 when I got home from the gym, the cat treats that are usually in a basket were opened in the middle of the floor. I have no idea how it got there but I'm suspecting that it was baby girl. I then started to think, "oh this isn't going to happen" because Bolton could not have any food after 9pm. I tried to call the vet but there was no answer. I decided to take him anyways so i put a collar and leash on him just in case if he was going to jump out of my arms, I would still have control or so I thought. I carry him out and I'm getting into my jeep and he freaks out because he hears a bus that was passing by. He starts scratching me and I lost my grip. I grab the leash and it busts. He bolted out of there and I start freaking out yelling his name. He's gone so I start running. Luckily, he went to the back of the house and I was able to pick him up. So I put him in the back seat and start to drive towards the vet. If you are wondering why I don't crate him, well he doesn't do well in a crate and he usually has diarhea. Halfway to the vet, I smell poop. He @hit in the back seat of my jeep...urgh! I get to the vet and find that they can't do the procedure anyways because of him eating so they let me use one of their crates and I was able to get him in there. They even cleaned up the poop and sprayed my car with some good smelling stuff. I'm second guessing this teeth cleaning thing. I don't know if I can go through this again in 3 weeks. Maybe Bolton is going to have to have tarter build up. Has anyone out there ever heard of a cat getting its teeth cleaned anyways? Heck, I love my cat but stressing him out isn't going to extend his life either. If anyone out there has an opinion, please let me know.

I no longer regret my Keirug purchase. That coffee rocks. We bought some k-cups online and they got here today. That was super fast! I had my first taste of creme brulee and it was marvelous. I'm not a fan of brewing a pot so I'm digging this single cup portions. I just wished they would make it more recycling friendly. Having a cup of joe really makes it better in the morning when you are waking up at 5:15 am.

The workouts are going good. I feel good but of course, I would like more sleep. Last Thursday I felt like I hit a brick wall so hopefully this will not be the case tomorrow. My form is improving on the workouts and the results are good. My arms are really showing some shape. I caught the Biggest Loser last night and I was so disappointed in Joelle. Man, that girl has issues. Carla's heart was so into doing better with her weight. It was too bad that Joelle was not there. Joelle was an interesting gal...for some reason, she reminded me of a preacher. I wonder what she does for a living. The sad thing is that she really talked the talk but she didn't walk the walk. It will be interesting to see them at the grand finale. I hope Carla can comeback somehow. We'll see how that goes. Well, that's it for me tonight, take care all-Kellie