Sleep is important...

I occasionally participate in the oncall rotation at work and this week has been a whopper. Not fun, I was up for 40 hours without sleep which is definitely, not good. Every time I would get snuggled in for a rest, the pager would go off. I never recognized how important sleep is until an experience like this.

I had a strong weigh in this week. 2.8 pounds down! Nice! I'm getting back into the swing of things. I'm packing my lunch for work and that has been helping. I love those Arnold thins and I put some natural peanut butter on there from Koeze (which is local from Grand Rapids) and some low sugar jam that I found at Big Lots from somewhere in Europe. Then I pack a greek yogurt or Kefir from Costco, and have some fruit. I can eat on the go with no problems or worries about what I am going to eat. As usual the Weight Watcher meetings have been absolutely phenomenal this year. I look forward to going and get a lot out of the meetings. It's a nice reminder why I am doing this and sticking to my weight loss. It's slow but worth it. I love the feeling of putting on jeans that I haven't been able to wear in ages.

I've been struggling to get our garden put in this year. Last year, I was able to put it in around late April but this year it looks like it will go in some time this weekend. Hopefully, we'll be able to put it in today. We bought a ton of plants last weekend and I'm eager to get it going. I'm going to plant less lettuce this year and have more squash. We'll see how it turns out.

Life continues to be nice and smooth. I'm taking off a whole week in a few weeks to just relax and start my summer off nicely. I'm really looking forward to that.

Nice to see...

I only made it until 10 pm last night but it was great to see that Jerry won the at home Biggest Loser contest. He definetly showed America that he could lose the weight at age 64. Good for him! It was an interesting season and I'm looking forward to the next round of contestants. This show never gets old for me...yet.

Doing great here. We're taking a climbing class and it's amazing. I burn about 450 calories a class. Who knew that climbing a wall would burn so many calories!

Thanks!

Thanks for your support. I guess I need to look at my options about this with a clearer head. What it boils down to is that maybe I just need to stick to my boundaries and share some stuff but maybe omit the details of we are joining this group or we are going here....etc. A few of you have been with me ten years, that's a while. Why should I just give up? I guess I need to look at it as if stalker is going to be there, he is there but I can be smarter about it. So I think I am going to be back but just be a little bit more intelligent about it and not share some details. I guess everyone needs to have experience like this to learn an imporant lesson as in share some information but not everything.

It's a good day. I'm wearing a pair of capris that I haven't been able to fit in since 2005. Life is good. Thanks for being there and I have a clearer head. I'm on my way to my goals and nothing is going to stop me now because I am centered.

Goodbye, Farewell!

Dear Stalker

Thanks for making the right decision with my husband. That was very nice of you. I'm tired of your games. First you joined urbanplanet, then meetup, then the YMCA now the sushi group. If you were truly Chris's "friend" you would have respected him more by stopping the stalking of me. If you wanted to know what he was doing, you should have asked him instead of just coming on my site and peering into our life. So it's nice to know that you will be out of his life. A huge thank you to you! The appropriate people know about this and if anything slanderous was to occur, there would be appropriate action taken.


Dear readers

As you have seen, I do have a stalker. It used be a couple who Chris and I were close with but two years ago, I distanced myself from them due to certain behaviors. During the past year or more, the husband has been on my site frequently, in order to ensure that he is no longer taking tabs on my life, I'm done with the site. Thanks for your support. If you are an oldie, you know where to reach me.

Kellie

Everything always works out in the long run...

We were not able to go on the hike this weekend. Bolton got another UTI and we had to cancel because he is on antibotics. Poor kitty! We're going to switch his diet so hopefully that will help. We spent Tuesday night in the vet hospital and that was very interesting. There was one guy who had a beautiful lab that had blockage and he was losing weight because he ate something bad like a tennis ball and the dog was skin and bones because he was not eating. The guy was complaining because he didn't have the money for the procedure. I don't want to know what was going to happen to the dog. There was another couple in their with their cat and they spent about $2K on their cat saving his life because of blockage. Hopefully, we will not have to go that route with Bolton. It's funny that when you know something is going on with your animal. He said to cry again and we're like "oh no" so instead of waiting another day, we just took him in. So no trip. We'll get with them again in the future. There's always another trip.


Drum roll [please]...I'm down to 180 this week! So I'm on a good roll again. I talked with Ryan last week about my ups and downs and he encouraged me to look at my work out again and get that heart rate up. I've been getting on the treadmill the last week at 15 incline walking 2.9. That really gets my heart rate up. Then I did the kettle ball and that is a super workout. Chris noted that he was getting bored with the workouts so he's been following me. Hopefully, he will get out of the funk. I was able to fit into my size 14 shorts which is terrific. I need to get rid of my 16's because they are too big!

We were going to go out to Chris's cousins boat in Holland, off of Lake Michigan but the weather is not looking good today. Chris was going to help Mike put up the sail but with the 40mph wind gusts, they are like no way. I need to find some good support because when I saw our sushi picture on facebook, I thought "oh no I need some new bra's" because I have the tendency to lose weight in my chest first first. I have some gift certificate at Macy's so maybe I will be able to find some there. I really hate Macy's though. I loved Hudson's which turned into Marshall Fields. Macy's tends to be overpriced and carry expensive clothes that don't have the quality that I loved with Hudson's/Marshall Fields. Chris's parents are going to come up and check out the new doors so it will be nice to see them. Then we're off to the Polish Halls because it's halfway to Pulaski Day's...it's a Grand Rapids thing were all the polish halls are open. I love Polish food! We'll take care all-Kellie

PS. You are so funny stalker! Must you join everything that we do? Come on, now, this is really taking the cake on this one. Sushi? Since when did you like sushi? You're a meat and tators guy. Give it up...stop the stalking. Are you planning on hunting down which group we go backpacking with? Maybe you need to chat with someone about that because it's not nice to stalk people. So why are you still talking to Chris, huh? Show my husband a little more respect than just doing this.

So my computer decided to take a dump...

On Sunday, my computer took a dump. Argh! I had it for about six years and I loved it. It was a HP Media Center computer with a huge hard drive and it had a tv tuner which acted as a DVR. Luckily, we did not lose anything because everything was backed up on the new external HD that we bought around Christmas or I would have really freaked out. Once you lose pictures of family events, it's semi traumatic. When the drive took a dump about 3 years ago, we lost wedding shots so it was awful but we didn't back things up because I never had to until then. It was a good lesson to learn. We browsed the ads and decided to hit Costco, Sams, Best Buy, Office Depot, and Office Max. After some investigation, we found the perfect computer at Sams. It has everything on it and it was $200 cheaper at Sams than Best Buy. So we got it. This morning is the first morning that I get to play with it because I have the day off today :) So far, so good. I got a lot of use out of that old computer so hopefully, this one will last as long. The one thing I hate about buying new electronics from stores is the question, "Do you want a warranty with that?". Even at Sams it was this high pressure pitch about needing a warranty. All I have to say is that if it fails, it fails. Having a cashier pressuring me into a warranty and reminding the money we're spending on the product doesn't help either. Maybe if they had a softer sales pitch I would be more apt to buy it but once the pitch is given, I'm shuttering away. Even if it is a good option. I just don't trust people like that.

Things are going good here. We had a terrific weekend filled with a bunch of activities. Saturday we worked out with Ryan so that is all good. It's amazing how many calories you can burn with a trainer just doing strength work. Then we were off to a 5K at a local brewery benefiting the Special Olympics. We had a great time with a coworker and her crew. Then we were off to Home Depot to buy some paint. We need to paint the foyer so we picked out a new color. We're looking forward to painting that. Then Chris joined a Grand Rapids group on facebook so we met up with them and had a great time. It was great to meet some new people and they were different from our usual type of people we are used to hanging yet we fully enjoyed ourselves. We are looking forward to next months meet up. Then on Sunday we raced around town trying to find a computer. So overall, it was a great weekend. We are differently working on out goal of getting out and meeting other people. We both tend to be a tad shy on warming up to new people but it's always good to put yourself out of your comfort zone.

We have our trip to the North Country Trail coming up so we're looking forward for that. 21 miles of backpacking! Yikes, it's been a while since my pack has been on my back so hopefully I will not be killing myself :) We looking forward to the trip a great deal. I'll be sure to take some pictures of the experience. I hear it's an awesome trail. Chris has been fooling with our new camping stove to see what the water boiling times are to ensure that we have enough gas. We're going to attempt to cook on the trail with some fresh ingredients instead of boring old freeze dried food which is usually higher in price and not as tasty plus it's full of sodium. We checked out some books from the library on cooking for backpacking so hopefully I will find some good recipes.

One feeling I hate no matter what is the feeling of going into a weight watchers meeting knowing that a gain has occurred. I can spin it all want but I gained this week. It is my fault. My accountability continues to be on the poor side with tracking my foods. I've been totally sloppy. It continues to be my laziness that I have not been tracking. I know what I need to do and I need to get back there nutritional wise. My workouts are amazing. It's just been my lack of time with preparing meals ahead of time and not writing things down. I have to stop freaking out about it and do something about it because focusing on what I am not doing well is not going to help the problem, it's jut going to make things much worse. So with that, I am up a pound. Second week in a row. We've all been in this situation and once we come out of it, its amazing but it totally stinks. At least I know what I need to do. Now I just need to get to it. Take care all-Kellie

That was a super fast weekend..

I think we overdid ourselves this past weekend. It was amazing but it was so tiring. Chris wanted to buy some hiking boots for our big trip coming up in a few weeks so we went into East Lansing home of Michigan State University to pick up some boots at one of our favorite stores called Moosejaw. They fit him properly and he was able to pick up some sweet Scarpa boots for 30% off. He definitely needed a pair of boots because the last hike we went on, his big toe was getting smashed. This wouldn't be good if it happened on our trip. Since we were in Lansing, we decided that we were so close to Detroit, we should just hit it again. One of our favorite breweries called the Motor City Brewing Works had a blueberry mead on tap so we wanted to try it out and it was terrific. We also hit Ikea and Trader Joes. As much as I love Trader Joes, I'm sickened by the vast amounts of people that lack the manners in the store. This is the reoccurring theme in the stores. People stumbling over each other, bumping into others, cutting, etc. Argh, it gets me going. Then on Sunday, Chris made the lamb on the grill and we took it down to his folks in Kalamazoo. We spent the day there and came home late last night. We did too much because our sleep last night was rough!

Speaking of our trip, Chris has it planned. We're going to hit Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona. We're going to attempt to climb Longs Peak so that is going to be a huge challenge. In order to get prepared for the trip, we're going to start taking local trips that push the intensity. It's kind of hard when you live amongst the flat land but it's doable. We're also going to take a rockclimbing course at the YMCA to burst my confidence level with climbing so that I will be able to make strategic decisions when I need to. It's something that I've always wanted to do but it's way out of my comfort zone.

Drum roll [please] I gained .6 this time. I was relaxed with journalling so I have to recommit to it. When we were at Chris's folks, I used the iphone so this helped with tracking foods. I just need to get over this slump. My clothes are fitting so much better. I was able to wear a pair of pants yesterday that couldn't get over my thighs six months ago. I'll take that! I just need to strengthen my accountability because I went over some. Yesterday I really did well at controlling myself with the snacks so I'm impressed. I focused on eating a few shrimp cocktails and leaving the yummy bread alone. I will be one with my journal this week :) Take care all-Kellie

The only thing about working out in the morning...

The only thing about working out in the morning is that every morning I am up at 5am! Body, could you at least sleep in once in a while? Today I was up at 5am all ready to start my day. Yikes!

Things are going great here. I spent the whole day organizing my kitchen and bathroom. I thought I would actually get more accomplished yesterday than I did but that's okay. I have 2 completely clean rooms now :) I started to organize the dormer but it got a little overwhelming so I'm going to need Chris's help. I need to get rid of some stuff and I need help taking it down. I've got a ton of old textbooks that need to go and I'm not too sure what I need to do with them. I'm keeping my favorites but what do I do with the rest? I don't want to toss them. I was thinking I could recycle them but I'm not sure if they will take old text books. Clothing is another area that I need to let go. I have that sentimental trait of, "Oh, I wore that when"...I know I need to let it go but man, why do I do this? I think this whole organizational task is definitely going to last more than 1 day. I think it's going to take a whole week to sort through the stuff properly :( it has to get done. Well, I got to hit WW. Take care all-Kellie

New doors!

They are simply amazing!! My 1930s Sears and Roebuck home is singing tonight because it's looking terrific. Now we just have to get the rest of the windows replaced and new siding. It just takes time and money but it's nice to see what a difference the new doors make :)

I love a four day week :)

I'm working four days this week. Two down, two more to go!!! Thank goodness we still get Good Friday off because it always comes at the perfect time of year. I'm going to spend my Friday cleaning out my dormer and getting stuff ready for a garage sale. Now, I'm not sure when I'm going to have the sale and where but it's going to happen. I'll donate the old clothing to the Salvation Army because the clothing never sells and it's not worth the effort. So hopefully, things will be looking nice come Friday :)

No chicken pox yet! Yippy, I have two more days and then I am safe. The only thing good about getting the chicken pox is not having to go hang out with Chris's sister on Sunday. I don't connect with her at all and I can say on my end, I have no desire to "get to know her any better". She doesn't strike me as someone I would like to hang with, we just have different ways of looking at things. She is so different from his mom and dad it makes me wonder how they spawned her. Okay, that was pretty petty but I just find her way to challenging for my taste. Blah!

Drum roll [please]...I am down a pound! Even though I wasn't expecting a loss, I got one. I'll take it! Over the last several days, it seems like I need to slow down with the food intake. I've had to take out two different clients for lunch so it's been screwing me up. I've eaten healthy but it's still the principal of eating out, which should be only one time a week, not 3. Chris and I decided that since Easter is this week, we'll forgo our dinner out so hopefully that will balance everything out. I hope!

I'm excited for tomorrow because we get our brand new doors installed. It's been almost two years that we have been in the house and the doors were needing to be replaced because there was a ton of heat loss from them. Chris is staying home tomorrow while they install them. I really excited for the old kitchen door to be replaced because the outside of the door actually has indoor kitchen trim boards on the outside. It will be so nice to have it gone and look right. I love home remodeling!

April seems like it's going to be a busy month. Chris and I have a lot of activities going on, which is awesome. In a few weeks, we're doing a 5K with one of my friends. I don't think we're going to be doing any running but it benefits the Special Olympics and it offers free beer, so why not? At the end of the month, we are going to do a 21 mile overnight hike up north on the North Country Trail with a backpacking group that we hooked up with. I don't know if I am in that kind of shape yet but we're going to try. Plus it will get us ready for our trip out west when we hit Utah and Colorado this summer. It's intimmidating but we can do it! Well, I'm off to see the biggest loser (at this time, I will actually see who will get the boot tonight). Take care all-Kellie

Oh it's Saturday...

Thank Goodness. We're going to have another lazy weekend this weekend. I'm very exhausted this weekend. I was oncall last weekend and it totally whipped me out. It was a very quiet weekend for oncall but I just don't sleep as well when I am on it. Though it was nice to see that extra money in my check last week! I was so tired yesterday that my eye started twitching. Now that is tired. Chris went out last night so I had the whole home to my self to relaxed and I loved every minute of it. It's a wonderful thing to be able to chill out in your own home and not have the desire to do anything but relax. Usually, I would be toying with something but yesterday I just crashed on the couch and didn't move for five hours and then I went to bed. Hopefully my battery will be replenished today :) I've got a Weight Watchers meeting at 8:30, then we're working out with Ryan, our trainer at 9:30 am. Then we might be doing dinner at a place we've been dying to hit for the past few months.

Another reason why I'm taking it easy is that was exposed to the chicken pox virus last week. I pray that I will not be getting it but it's freaking me out a little bit. I will know if I'm going to get it between next Tuesday - Friday. I guess this is one of the downfalls of working with children because you never know what you could get. When I was a kid, I never got the chicken pox. Heck, I never got sick even. When I was 24 I got the shot but after reading things on line, I'm not sure if the shot will protect me. Argh! That's what I get for being an encouraging therapist...send me positive thoughts here about not getting them because for the last week, I've been itching all over. It's amazing how your mind plays tricks on you!

I'm not too sure how weigh in is going to look today. I made good choices but my scale is not showing a loss. That happens! I'll keep heading towards my goal :) Take care all-Kellie

Lazy Sunday...

We are so relaxing today, which is terrific because we are usually on the go during the weekend. It's nice to kick back and relax once in a while. Chris is in heaven today. We picked up Guitar Hero Metallica for the Wii. I don't think I'm going to see him for the rest of the day :) I'm glad he is having fun. We even took a nap earlier today :) which is rare. I usually don't do this unless if I'm at the inlaws. I used to take naps all the time in college. I would get done with an afternoon class and fall asleep until 4:00ish. Now that was living...wait, no, that was laziness (in my case). Yup, pure laziness.

Yesterday we attacked the front and back yard to get the lawn racked and the leaves over to the dump. We had placed a compost mix on my garden area so we racked that area up and got things looking good. I can't wait until I get my garden going. I'm going to start planting in about 4-5 weeks. Can't wait! I'm going to grow some lettuce, onions, snap peas, pickles, and squash this year. I had a ton of lettuce last year so I'm going to cut back on how much I grow this year because I had too much. Gardens are pretty popular right and it's cheaper than buying it at the farmers market. I'll keep you posted about how it's going.

We were able to get with some friends last night to go out and it was fun. We checked out a restaurant that we were looking forward to going to and the food was crap. I hate that when it happens, it's a total let down. We all didn't comment about it because you just don't do that kind of thing when your with others but it was like, darn it. Funny thing is that they high the price doesn't mean it's a good place, it's just expensive. Some of the best restaurants are this tiny little mom and pop places. One of favorite restaurants of all time is a truckstop outside of Morris, IL called R's place. Yes, it's a truck stop but the food is AWESOME. They had a salmon with a raspberry reduction sauce, along with a rice, and some fresh asparagus for $9. Besides IKEA, where can you get salmon for under $10?

Last week, I did okay food wise. I still need to strengthen my accountability when it comes to logging and planning ahead. I tracked everything for 60% of my week. I just need to get it to 100% of the time. It irks me when I don't track. I know what I am doing but the excuses of "Oh, I will remember" is total bull crap. I need to work on this, especially on the weekends. Planning ahead has been a little challenge lately. I just need to have some ideas in my head and make it. Needless to say, this week, Drum Roll [please] I went up .6. That's okay because this is the time that I usually put that water weight on but that also means that the whole month I haven't lost anything. I really don't think I'm at a plateau, I'm just at middle point of contemplation/relapse. I wouldn't go so far to say it's a relapse but I am not doing exactly what I need to so that I can lose this weight. I've got the working out under control, just not the eating accountability. So my mini-goal of the week is to track, track, track.

When ever you get a gain, it's semi-natural to go into a "urgh mode" but instead of being there yesterday, I headed straight to the gym after the meeting. I stopped over at a YMCA near my weight watchers meeting and had a killer workout there. It was amazing how different the YMCA's are in the area. I usually go to the Downtown YMCA that is newer and more modern. This one was smaller, very family friendly, and actually gave it's members free coffee. That would never fly downtown. Though, no matter where you go, there's always a parent that "allows" their child to play with the equipment. Ah, come on folks, can you say accident waiting to happen. Please keep the kiddos off the gym equipment. They could get seriously hurt!

We've been in the buying mode lately and we got to get ourselves out of it. We're doing fine financially but it's amazing how much money flies out of the windows this time of year for us. Between paying city taxes, pet issues (teeth and UTI but they are worth it), car repairs, new doors for the house, paying off the windows, iphone, trips, etc. We've got to slow down. We were this close to buying a car last weekend because we could have saved cose to $10K but after looking at the month car payment stuff we were like, "Oh, we don't really want a car payment" plus it doesn't make since to have 3 cars because well, it doesn't. Maybe when Chris's Saturn dies will get a new one but hopefully, that is way off because his hitting 200K next month and we have a free oil change package on the car, as long as Saturn is around. At least we have his new car picked out...isn't it sweet? It was hard to say goodbye to it. It was a beauty.

I know this week is going to be stronger than the past month. I just got to get myself back on track, solid track that is. The good thing is that April

It's better to be in the drivers seat..

When you are busy, how do you not feel like things are not going out of control? Chris and I have been super busy the past two weeks and I don't know how we were making heads or tails out of things. I feel better when I'm organized not only emotionally but my home and refrigerator needs to be organized too. The last week was challenging because I feel like I didn't have my healthy foods surrounding me like I usually do. My sleep was off, as well as my workouts. So yesterday we spent part of the day organizing and getting things back into order. We picked up the necessities at Costco and when we got home from running our errands, we picked up the house. I have to say, that I feel so much better today than I have in two weeks. I feel like I'm getting back my priorities. It's funny how when you are totally busy, it feels like you lose sight of your goals.

I broke several rules last week. #1 We ate out twice last week. Last Wednesday night I stopped at Qdoba. Seven months ago, it used to be a weekly thing. In fact, the two workers at Qdoba asked where I have been lately and I told them about working out and not eating out. It's pretty bad when people recognize you at a fast food place (it's nice that they know me but it's bad to think how much we used to go there). #2 Not tracking...yes, my week sucked because I was not writing down what I was putting in my mouth. I thought "Oh, I'll just write that in later..." No, I need to write it in now! #3 I didn't meal plan this week. I just winged it, no planning so I often found myself starving at the end of the night. #4 We didn't get to the gym early enough. We need to get in there earlier.

I wonder if part of the week was off because we went out of town last weekend because I didn't have time to mentally prepare for the week or physically. For work, it was up in the air if I was going to go to a training because I didn't know if I was certified yet for my therapy technique that I learned. I found out Wednesday that I was (which is so awesome because I'm going to training to be a certified coach in the therapy at a state level which is absolutely huge) and then Thursday I had to get up super early to attend the conference in Bay City which is totally on the other side of the state. It doesn't help that I just got inundated with new cases at work so I feel so frazzled. Bolton my cat came down with a UTI so it just felt like the whole darn week was off! So how do I turn things around? I can control some things like my environment, how I react to stress, how I plan, etc. Doing this will set me up for a more successful week next week. I can do it!

Drum roll [please]...I stayed the same. After having such an off week, I'm so happy to report this. I feel like it's my get out of free jail card because I don't feel like I earned it this week. I'm happy but I really need to get my butt in gear this week. Here's to a more successful week all! Take care-Kellie

I need to get back to...

Ahahah! I need to get to a WW meeting today. Thank goodness there is one at 8:30 I can get to because I need a reality check today. I'm being accountable here so my week was horrible. Now, I didn't gorge myself or eat in a wild uncontrollable manner but my nutrition is off, way off. I haven't been eating many fruits or veggies all week. I went out to eat 3 times which is a big yikes because I didn't plan ahead for my lunches at work. After getting back from Chicago, I didn't set my environment up for success because there is no spinach in my fridge or other staples I like to have. So overall, it was not a good week nutrition wise. Concerning working out, we have been getting to the gym about 10 minutes later and I was not available to go one day this week so I feel like I'm behind. I've got to get back into the drivers seat!

St. Patty's Day Weekend Chicago

St. Patty's Day in Chicago was...

Awesome! Chris and I have been dying to go to Chicago for the St. Patty's day celebration for years so in January, we planned the trip. It was my whole "lucking forward to the spring trip". It was just my whole focus on how to get through the winter months here in Michigan. We decided to leave Friday morning and we started towards Benton Harbor. We wanted to stop at a microbrewery called The Livery. We stopped for an hour then we headed towards Chicago. We stopped at China town and got some Dim Sum. That was a pure treat. I got the best Wonton Soup that I ever had. My gosh, it was terrific. I wanted Chris to see Binny's Liquor Depot and he thought it was amazing. We saw a $40K scotch there...amazing, someone would spend that much money on a liquor but when you have that much money, who cares, right? Then we headed out to Schaumburg and met up with Chris's friend Noah who he used to work with until he moved to IL. We hung out with him and his fiancee for the night at an Irish Pub in Arlington Heights. It was neat, the place had character and Irish dancers. We spent the night chatting it up with them we went back to the hotel room and crashed. We grabbed breakfast early that morning and drove back into the city. We attempted to get a metered sport over by the aquarium but they were not available so we headed to The Drake where we were staying to see if they would hold our bags until check in. They would so when I was talking with the doorman, he encouraged me to go back in and see if we could get an early check in and we could so we dropped our bags in the room and headed towards the river dying. I've always heard that they dye the river green for St. Patty's day and they sure do. They dump an orange dye in the river and it turns a bright neon green. We then headed towards the parade and we got there in time to hear the bag pipers and we watched a little of it and decided to walk back towards town. We stopped for lunch at a sushi joint across from the art museum. We then journeyed around the town, stopping into some shops, and enjoyed the sights for the rest of the day. It was perfect people watching. We got back to the hotel around 5pm and crashed in the executive room. We went out around 8pm to see the night time sights and it was crazy! Chicago people must avoid the Rush Street area because it was crawling with drunk people. Overall, we walked about 15 miles according to my pedometer so we got some great exercise in. Overall, it was a fabulous trip. So it's got me aching for our summer vacation. We just need to figure out where we are going. Is it going to be California or Utah/Colorado? We don't know yet but it's got to involve backpacking :)

I ate pretty well for the most part. I forgot my journal so I estimated high on the points. Better off safe than sorry. The only major spurlge I had was a chocolate malt from Ed Debavicks and some of the mochachinos that were free at the lounge (I'm sure the cream killed me on those but they were so good. 10 times better than starbucks). Lets just say, I will be very cautious about what I eat this week :)

Ah, Biggest Loser night....

My predictions for tonight, Sione will get the boot because the kido was not able to lose the 10lbs. I could be wrong but that's the only reason why Filipe got mad at Jillian. I'm still ready for Ron to go home tonight. Let him go home and do well on the plan :) Because losing weight on the ranch isn't realy life. Get him back to the home to see if the changes were made :) I'm also ready for the show to bring back the contestants that got kicked off. I would love to see Carla back on too plus Dane. We'll see! It's good entertainment (at times) even if it's not realistic. This week is flying by and my Friday (which is Thursday) is almost here. I'm so ready for the weekend :) Take care all-Kellie

So I got out early today...

I had training today so I got out of work early today so on my way home, I stopped to run some errands. I had to pick up food for the cats so since I was near the mall, I decided to stop in. Wow, now the prices are completely right with clothing right now but I have to say that I must be in a complete time warp because I hate the clothes right now. Really, I do. I'm a very casual person so I don't really like dressing up. My style is more of the North Face, Patagonia, and Dockers circa 1998 without the Lycra stretch. So when I was in Sears, Eddie Bauer, Macy's, and the Gap I saw NOTHING that caught my eye.


I take that back, I did find some khaki's in Sears from Lands End but their pants always look funny on me but I tried them on for fun and yes, they still looked funny in my torso area so I passed. The clothing now is so bright, like out of this world bright, and the tops look like pregnancy tops. For example, the picture that I took in Boston is cute but it definitely makes me look pregnant so I'm avoiding tops like that. Yes, it's a cute top but it makes me look like I am expecting. That will be cool when I am but I'm not there yet :) I'll stick to my old clothes. Plus, it's like I am finding new clothes because this past weekend I got into my solid size 14 Eddie Bauer jeans and it felt terrific! I have old clothes so why need new ones? It's not like they look bad and they are classic styles so that can be worn anytime. Funny thing is that some of my old favorites are still decent now. I'll keep on telling myself that, maybe one day I will have a stylish wardrobe but until then, I will keep my clothing that had a life before me. I've bought the majority of my clothing at Goodwill/Salvation Army where I am a brand name hound. If it came from a low end store, I don't buy it because when I'm shopping at Goodwill, I'm looking for name brands. That's just me :) I think in the future, I will need to go back into regular stores for clothing because with the recession, I see that the thrift stores are getting shopped out and in years to come, the clothing now will be on the racks and I won't have anything to do with that so I will be stuck. Oh well...at least then we might be out of the recession...there's hope right? Take care all-Kellie

Good meeting...

I have to say the the meetings at Weight Watchers have been absolutely terrific lately. I've been going to meetings off and on since 1994 (when I was a sophomore in college) and the meetings that they are having now are AMAZING. It very well could be my leader but I'm so impressed by the content lately that if you haven't been to a meeting in a while, I would encourage you to go. This week it was on the stages of commitment to losing weight and it is so true. There are 5 stages and it discussed every stage and what they look like. It was pretty helpful because it's so true about commitment. They discussed relapse and how common it is. Losing weight is difficult but it helps identifying the patterns that you are in. In that commitment stage, no one can stop you but in the relapse stage, the self-doubt is strong and recognizing the patterns that get you into that phase is important. I remembered last year how gun ho I was on the program. I was so committed up until my visit to my in-laws where we ate out 3 times that weekend. I won't know if my current journey will be successful but I'm hoping that I am setting myself up for success now. I'm definitely doing it different this time around. I'm very focused on not eating out except one time per week, working out 5-6 times per week, and attending the meetings even if a gain is present. I am also eating like a regular person. If I want a beer (in my case a hard cider), I have one. If I want to eat a piece of desert, I eat it but I'm accountable and I don't do it everyday. To restrict myself now is not going to help me any when I reach my goal weight. I need to eat that food within moderation now. I don't think I will ever eat out as much as I had so the once per week is nice. It gives me something I have to look forward to without worrying about the calories/fat (but I am tracking it). Like today, Chris and I went to one of our favorite spots, this place called The Westsider Cafe. The place is amazing where they specialize in local fare. I got a tortilla with black beans, eggs, with a little chirzo plus fresh salsa. Chris got the Polish Combination plate and we shared a pear custard bar. It was terrific and well worth the points.

Drum roll [please]I gained .4 this week. I had a good strong week. I was within my points and the workouts were terrific so I'm going to stick with what I am doing. A gain is a gain and I look at it as a time for evaluation...like, did I do something wrong? Nope. I counted my points, exercised, at drank all my water. Gains happen :)

They cancelled the class. Unfortunately, not enough people signed up for the class. It looks like we are going to be able to transfer the money from the class to personal training so its all good.

It was a good weekend. We went to the Grand Rapids Home Show and it was great. It was finally good to go to an event that was worth the money. We got a ton of great ideas for the house and it just makes me excited about remodeling the home in the future. We're also going to get a quote on getting stone stairs for the backyard and we're going to get my tub refinished. Eventually, I would like to get some new siding like the Hardy siding or a vinyl product called Cedar Boards but that is a few years down the road. Then we went to a Geocaching event. Those are always entertaining because I love to people watch and there were a ton of things to see. Chris and I are pretty introverted when we go to those things so we just hang out and check things out. If people come up to chat, we talk but we are not the type to seek people out. Then Chris went down to Kalamazoo to help his dad with the garage because it was stuck. His dad a "fight" with the garage door spring and it won. A hospital visit with stitches on the inside of the nose and out plus a cat scan later, he learned that when he needs help he should call Chris. I went to a board meeting and it went good. An awkward event happened though. I had read on the facebook account that my friend had gotten married so I went "Mary, you're married...Congrats!" Well she started shaking her head and kind of shushed me so I'm like what's going on here? I tried to recover by saying "Oh, I just assumed. Sorry about that". I don't know why she didn't want me to say anything in front of the other people but that was totally strange. Humm, I want to know but it's one of those things that I can't ask. Then we totally relaxed today. I'm afraid that I'm not going to get a good nights sleep because of the time change. Take care all-Kellie

Noticing the little things...

I'm about six months into working out at the Y and it appears that just recently, I've been noticing little things. For instance, I'm performing my lunges so much better. When I first started, I didn't even want to attempt them because I was afraid that I would mess up my knee. But Carly noted that a lunge done the right way will never bother the knees so I started doing them slowly. I've been working on my balance with them and the other morning, I did a set perfectly. It felt so terrific! So if you haven't added working out to your program yet, I would recommend it. Before I used to say that we didn't have time to work out but you can always make time :)

I'm ready for the weekend! It's been a tiring week so I can't wait until tomorrow night so I can relax and do nothing :) Chris is going out with lurker (a friend of his that checks my page out which is creepy). So I get to stay home and chill. I love having the house to myself just to relax. It's nice to have that me time :)

Here's my take on the Biggest Loser this week. Too many tears. Man, there are a bunch of criers on there. I think Sione is going to get the boot because that why Filipe is blowing a gasket with Jillian because she spent way to much time toying with Laura this past week. I like Tara but Laura needs to get scooting. I read on a message board that when they were casting for the BL last year, Laura and Tara didn't even need to audition because their agent got them there. Nice, er? Now if everyone had an agent. The one thing I like about the show is the transformation to see what a difference losing the weight makes. It's nor realistic how much weight they are losing but to see how much it changes one's look is amazing. Take care all-Kellie

I know it's Biggest Loser night but...

I was kind of ticked off at Biggest Loser lately with the notion of "I can't make it without the ranch" mentality...is this bothering anyone else? I've been hearing that theme on the show forever but it's been irking me when I've been watching the show. It's like sorry folks, what do you think is going to happen when you leave the ranch? Real life is going to happen and the ranch is a fantasy land. I was especially disappointed when the brown team dad was kept on the show when Dane was given the boot. What was this team thinking? I guess I will find out more tonight.

This week is going by fast and I'm looking forward to the weekend. Not that we have any major plans, just a geocaching event, I have a board meeting, and we're getting together with some friends. We toying with going to a home show but we're not too sure about that. It seems like everytime we go to one of those shows, it's a waste of time and money. The last home show we went to in Kalamazoo was a joke. I've should have known this because the main presenter was the Michigan Paranormal Society...it's like, come on, it's a home show. We just put in our order for our two new doors and I'm exicted to get those. We're getting a new front door and a new kitchen door so we should get them in 5 weeks. Our current doors were put in wrong so it will be good to see them go. We're holding off on the french doors because we're waiting for our escrow money to come back from our crappy mortgage company. I'm just waiting for that bank to fail because they stink. They have about $4K too much in our account and this month, were supposed to be getting it back but you never know. After the doors, then come the rest of the windows in the fall and hopefully within 2 years, we can get new siding :) it all takes time and money! Yeah, I'm old now because I'm excited about house stuff.

The workouts are going great. It'm burning between 500-600 calories a day. We're working out 5 days a week now, waking up nice and early. I love working out in the morning because it's nice to get home at night at a decent time. It looks like we won't have a class because there were not enough people that signed up, which is a total bummer. I guess we'll find out on Friday if it's a go or not. If the class isn't a go, it looks like the Y will transfer the money to the personal training so that's a plus. Well, that's it for me tonight, take care all-Kellie

PS. Anji, did I tell you that you ROCK lately? Thanks for the kitty tips. Bolton was A LOT calmer with the meds your way. No longer is he a traumatized kitty!

It was a beautiful day...

It was a gorgeous day out yesterday. The sun was shining, hardly any clouds, and the temperature was about 24. It was nice to see this so I told Chris when I got home from Weight Watchers, we should do some geocaching. We set out and did some local caches then we headed out towards the Lakeshore and ended up at the PJ Hoffmaster State Park outside of Muskegon. There was some icy spots but the hike was awesome. I wore my HRM and burned about 500 calories in the time we were out there. I was surprised to see how many calories I burned from the hiking. The trail was getting too icy and we needed to go down the hill so I found a clear spot and just went down the side of the hill on my bottom, I've always wanted to do that! It was just a cool day and it was a nice change from the gym.

The past week was totally draining. I think I need a vacation from work because I'm just feeling a little burnt out. I'm closing a lot of cases, starting with new families and that can be draining. Establishing relationships in a therapeutic process takes a lot because you have to establish that trust quickly because usually the family is in crisis. I'm also getting anxious about hearing if I got certification for my therapy skill that I learned. We had to submit tapes and the state is viewing them. I was the second therapist in my cohort to put tapes in but I haven't heard anything yet. It's like, okay, you all can tell me at any time that I've passed or failed because I want to move on and I feel kind of stuck right now. I'm going to be out of the office two days next week so that could be what I'm needing. I'm looking forward to better weather because the commute this week was also a pain. The other morning we had freezing rain and a guy was on my butt for about 15 miles. I hit some black ice and slowed up a bit and I watched him spin out of control and hit a barrier. That was my "Thank you Jesus" moment that I had. It will be nice when the commute goes back to driving 55 without worrying about the slick roads. Oh, it will be nice soon, won't it?

I'm happy today is March 1st. That means spring is around the corner soon. Spring in Michigan is wonderful. Michigan has three great seasons around here and that's why I love living here (despite the poor economy, it's a wonderful state). When I lived in Louisville, I thought the spring and fall were terrific but the summer...oh my, that humidity was horrible. I'll take cold over humidity any day. Though, I do miss Louisville in the spring when all the magnolia trees come out. When I was going to U of L, the campus was laced with a ton of Magnolia trees and I couldn't believe how beautiful they were. Last spring I spotted a magnolia tree at a garden store and was interested in planting one but at $50, I doubted if it would take off. I'm getting excited to prep for my garden this year. I would like to plant some lettuce (not as much as last year though), some onions, radishes, beans, tomatoes, and other various veggies. I didn't have any luck with the corn so I think I will pass on planting that. I would like to plant some proper grass in the front because it looks horrible in the front. The neighbor said when the house was in foreclosure, no one took care of the leaves so it killed our grass. All we have is dirt/weeds up there. I need to do some researching on how to get it going properly. Last year, I just threw down some seed and that didn't work so we'll see.

Thanks for the advice Anji about the cat's teeth. I got Bolton crated the other day (it took me five minutes) and I took him to the vet to get his teeth cleaned and he had two extractions so it was worth it. We've had to give him antibiotics twice a day via oral syringe and that has been an utter pain and he totally hates me now because I'm the one giving it to him. He's one ticked off kitty but at least he has healthy teeth!

Drum roll {please} I am down 2.2 pounds!!! So I'm 179.8 now!! I'm done with the 180s, so good riddance to them! I had to stare at my book several times to believe the loss. In the two months of being at WW, I'm down 8 :) that's terrific! I'm not a fast loser and my losses are in consistent. I gain some weeks, lose the next but I'm going down and that's all that matters. So everyone, don't get down on yourself if you don't lose/gain, it will all work out in the long run, really! Don't give up! I really journalled hard this week. I wrote everything down so it did pay off. The meeting was about journaling/tracking. A new interesting fact about journalling is that people tend to slack off with doing it around week 6. Wow, they hit the nail on the head with knowing that. The workouts are going terrific and training with Ryan is making a huge difference. Chris and I are looking forward to the class again in a few weeks. That accountability is nice. I'm also challenging myself on the exercises. There's a couple that he's taught me that I can't do yet but I'm almost there...thank Goodness to modifications. I must be a hoot to look at when I'm at the gym but I'm getting it done and improving! My core exercising is doing better and I can actually balance myself on a balance ball for a minute...when I started doing this two months ago, I couldn't even hold myself up for four seconds, now I'm up to a minute :) That's success in my book. Take care all! Kellie

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nice Saturday...

It's been nice to relax today. We haven't been able to do that in about two weeks. I ended up going to my weight watchers meeting this morning and then came home and just chilled for a bit. I then got some motivation to clean the kitchen up, mop the floors, and wipe off the woodwork with some murphy's oil soap. It looks terrific. We then went out and ran our errands. We managed to walk out of Costco only spending $30, went to Big Lots armed with a 20% coupon and bought a few things, headed out to dinner at the Thai restaurant, and then hit Meijer Outlet again because I had to return a crockpot that I bought (Amazon rated it a 1 star so I didn't want to fool with it and we got the cats a remote controlled mouse that didn't work). While I was there, I spotted a body fat analayzer for $5! I looked it up on Amazon and it usually goes for $32. Awesome!

My current body fat is 28%. My weight drum roll {please} is 182.2 this week so I lost two pounds! I knew that last week was a temporary gain :) those things happen but I definetly didn't let it discourage me. I'm not going to let a gain mess me up. The WW meeting was interesting today. Several members discussed their frustration with adding in excercise and gaining. It happens, really! Just expect that when you work out, it's not like the biggest loser where you will lose a ton the first week. My reality was that it stalled the scale going down but the inches were coming off. So if you're in that boat, be sure to measure.

We went to our weekly dinner out and hit a Thai restaurant. It's fairly good and their Tom Yum soup is super. Their chicken pad thai is good but it needed some more spice so I asked for some more chili sauce to spice it up. I was really craving some Indian food but to tell you the truth, I'm afraid to go there because everything is so unhealthy (but it's so yummy). Making healthy choices there would be difficult. The Tikka Masala usually runs in the 20+ grams of fat per serving and I just don't want to do that. I've just got to make some at home because I have some Trader Joes Masala sauce.

We're going out tonight to celebrate a co-workers birthday. We're going to hit a bar that I haven't been to. It's Billy's Lounge. It looks awesome and I'm looking forward to hanging out with her and her clan. It's always a good time. Chris will be happen since the place offers some microbrews from some of his favorite Michigan breweries. I will probably drink off of his or have a drink. I prefer craft brews to mixed drinks but I usually don't drink. I just like to eat the calories :) nor am I light beer lover so those brews usually have a lot of points. Enjoy your Saturday all and have fun! Kellie

Darn that Meijer Outlet!

I am a weak human being when I walk into Meijer Outlet. Meijer is a chain of grocery stores in the Midwest and they happen to be headquartered in Grand Rapids. They have one outlet store where they side their overstocks and clearanced merchandise. It's an amazing store. Items usually range from 40-90% off. I got out of work today at 4:00 so I decided to stop by. There in front of my eyes was a Keurig Coffee maker. That shopping impulsivity kicked in and I wanted it. My in-laws have one of these things and I love it. So I grabbed the box and headed straight to a manager and attempted to ask for a discount. I tried but nope, they declined and showed me how much the item retailed for well, I was okay then I called Chris and after discussing the pros/cons of getting it. Well, I bought it. Darn me...I've got to stop this impulsive shopping. Yes, I will use it but did I need it? Well, not exactly but it will be nice to have when we go to the gym and have a nice cup of joe in our mugs! I'm just shaking my head right now. It was a great deal but urgh...take care all-Kellie

Is this week over with?

OMG, is this week over with? I swear this is the longest week ever! It's been a strange week and I'm ready for Friday! Thank God it's Friday eve :)

I've had a utterly busy day starting from 5:15 am until 8:00 pm. I was in the go go go mode. I knew it was going to be a rough day...or maybe, I just set myself up for a rough day by my attitude. I forgot to set the alarm this morning so luckily, I woke up at 5:15. We scramble to the gym and I was not feeling it today. My Ipod was dead, my legs were not wanting to move, and I was tired. I make it to work, race into a 8:30 meeting and then it's non-stop sessions for the morning. A co-worker drove me to one meeting and my mind was a blur from the non-stop meetings I had earlier. Then after the meeting, we had to grab lunch because I forgot mine at home. We ended up going through the Arby's drive through and I asked for a grilled chicken sandwich without mayo. They gave me a crispy...argh. Luckily, I said no mayo but it was still 9 points. Then none stop sessions until 5:15 pm. Then the commute home was awful. I almost got into an accident because some jerk decided to pass and missed me by inches. I was quite shaken. Sucks. So I'm using visualization tonight. This is what makes me happy: It made me smile. That's my baby. I got my flip video from Big Lots and it is awesome. I can't wait until I have some more stuff to post.

I think listening to NPR has also made me depressed a little bit. It's hard times out there right now and it seems like there is nothing too positive in the news right now. People are losing jobs left and right. It's so unsettling. I was less than thrilled to know that my 401K lost about $32K this year...and I'm sure it's continuing to shrink in size. It took me almost 8 years to get where I was, now I have the same amount of money as I had in 2005. I only have a 401 type of savings at my current job. We don't pay into the social security system. I know it will rebound but home much more can I lose? Ah, retirement is another 30 years out if I make it but I highly doubt if I will have the money in the account like they predicted. Oh, well...it's just money. I got my health, my husband, and a good job which is totally priceless! I will be in a better mood tomorrow, I promise! Take care all-Kellie

Wow I'm browsing from the wii

I'm actually making this post from the wii. Since getting it, I haven't used it so much but now I will. We went to Chris'x folks this past weekend and he set up the wireless system for them and they wanted to try the net on the wii and we got hooked so we downloaded it when we got home. Chris played with it all night so I didn't get a chance to until now. All I need is that wireless keyboard...here I go shopping again!
Things are going good here...drum roll please...gained 1.6 pounds. Now I wish I had a better answer to why this happened but I don't except it was that time so I'm sure next week will be awesome. The only tweaking that I'm going to do is go back to my homemade soup/spinach salad lunch. This week I'm having butternut squash soup with roasted pecans. My salad is baby spinach with feta and balsamic dresxing by Wishbone plus a Gnu bar. That's my kind of lunch!
The early workouts are going great but I'm actually falling asleep @ 9:30 pm. That's not so good but it is nice getting home so early! Well that's it for me today, take care all-Kellie

Yeah, out at 11:00!!!

I was done with jury duty at 11 am! Chris was nice and offered to drop me off at the courthouse so I left my car down at the YMCA where I work out. We get there and the court woman talked for 20 minutes straight about procedures. Then we listened to the judge telling us how important it was to be on a jury, etc. After that, they picked 50 randow jurors and took them upstairs for the selection. We waited another hour then they pulled another 50 people for selection. At 11 am, the woman came back down and told us that we are relieved from our duties all week so that was jury duty for me. I planned on taking the bus back to my car but after thinking about the 10 minute wait for it, I walked back from the court house to the Y. It was good to get in some exercise. The old me would have waited in the cold for the bus. Instead of going back to work, I decided to take the rest of the day off. I had not appointments anyways so it worked out nicely. I've done absolutely nothing today except watch the inauguration. Which was awesome to see.

We're on day two for the morning work outs and so far so good. It's an awesome feeling at night to get into my car for my hour long to commute to just come home. We were getting home so late especially in the last month, that I appreciate the extra time that we have. The mornings are definitely more interesting that the night. There are some hard core athletes there so that's inspiring to see. There's also your typical strange folks. I still question if people look at what they are wearing prior to working out. I've seen several women poured into tight sports bras and spandex (bare bellies showing). Yikes, how about a T-shirt to cover up a bit? Skin is not in...really, even if you have a rock hard body, honey, cover up. The wife beater t-shirts that the men wear also irk me. Humm, same thing, how about a shirt. I don't need to see your pits sweating all over. Cover up please.

The body bugg is interesting. I'm not too sure about it yet. I've found their website to be lacking but I like to see the calories that I have burned and the steps. Today, I'm at 10000 steps already and I've burned 1900 calories so far. During a typical day I burn about 2600. I'm not inputting my food because their website is lacking a lot of the foods and then you have to manually put it in and that's a total pain. I also don't like the fact that it will not allow you to input calories from working out when you are not wearing the bugg. For instance, I went swimming on Sunday and I couldn't even put my calories in. I knew that I burned about 400 because I wore my heart rate monitor but I just can't log it into the site.

I picked out a new weightloss outfit. Sorry for the crappy pics. I love our digital SLR camera but sometimes it's too advanced! The jeans were a good idea but I actually can wear them now. So I decided to pour my butt into the below outfit. They are a sized 12 pair of shorts made by Royal Robins (usually this company runs a little big so it might be closer to a 14). Right now, it's not a pretty sight but come summer, it's going to look better. So for your amusement, here they are!


P.S. I've added my Blog Followers so feel free to add if you want to stop being a lurker.

Jury Duty...

Chris is so excited that I have jury duty tomorrow. They actually pulled me in for the pool! I'm less than thrilled because the way that the county has it set up. I have to park just outside of the downtown area to ride a bus to the court house. The last time I road a city bus was in the 1980s when my parents took me down to Detroit for an event on the plaza when the people mover made it's debut (there was a whole event celebrating that). I think I would be okay if I could park right across the street but nope, that's not an option.

We switched from working out at nights to the mornings now. Wow, it actually takes a lot of prepwork but we did it. We packed all of stuff last night and rolled out of the house about 5:40 am. The kitties looked at us as if they said "WTF mom and dad, why are you up so early?" I'm so proud of Chris getting up so early. He's not a morning person (typically he doesn't even turn on a light in the morning until he has to). We got in a whole workout and settled in to having breakfast with each other at the Y. Now hopefully, it will flow that smoothly in the future. It feels great to come home after work because typically we were pulling into the drive at 7:30/8:00. Now lets see if this becomes a habit.

PS...Anji- I'll shoot you an email about Canada...would love to see you! We're about 3-4 hours from Sue Sault Marie (I think) so we definitely could do that or more. It sucks that they are making us get passports into Canada. We were thinking about getting a passport anyways because Chris is talking about wanting to go to Europe this summer instead of Colorado.

The weekend is flying by...

This weekend has really flown by quickly! Thank goodness we get to relax today. Originally, Chris's parents were going to come up for his mom's birthday (their idea because we would go down usually) but the weather is challenging so we're going to hook up with them next weekend. Nice because I don't have to scurry to clean the house until later!

Yesterday we hooked up with Ryan and in typical trainer fashion, he challenged us greatly. The exercises were pretty challenging because I have minimal core strength and he's targeting those areas. Another challenge with myself is balance and switching over like when doing backward lunges...switching from the left leg to the right leg is a semi-challenge for me. That right/left switch is something with me. Another thing that I have noticed about my learning style is that when explains the exercise that we are going to do, I have to have the weights in my hand and actually feel it. I just can't pick up on most of the movements when he is just explaining it/demonstrating it. I don't know if I can chalk this up to my lack of experience in the gym or simply my learning style. We're going to hook up with him again in about two to three weeks so that will be good. Chris and I now have a wide variety of things to add into our workouts.

Drum roll {please}...I am down 1.8 pounds! Wow, what a week. I was pleasantly surprised to see this number because I haven't lost this much weight during a weeks time in so long. I had to ask the receptionist twice if that was correct. She laughed and noted that it was. I explained how generally, I lose about .5 pounds a week and she noted that today is my week! I opted out of not celebrating my success in the group with getting that 5lb book marker or what ever you get when you reach a 5 pound loss. In the past, I've contributed to the class by sharing my thoughts on what they were talking about but this time around, I'm not doing that. I'm keeping the mouth shut. Partly because the majority of the class is at a different stage that I am at. For example, a woman shared that she just lost 20lbs but she is not eating any of her flex points nor activity points. One thing that I have learned is that you have to eat to lose and move to lose. I can't imagine going back to eating only 1200 calories a day. I would be starving and extremely irritable and probably killing my metabolism. It's like I wanted to shout out, "Girl, eat those points" because when she starts to add those points in, what's going to happen? Nothing but frustration because you get the "I'm not losing spiel". I also heard 5 people grumbling about adding activity to their plan and all of them thought that they were going to get these huge losses but guess what? They didn't. It's almost like Weight Watchers needs to print somewhere in that exercise book that "Don't expect a huge loss when you add intense activities to your life because it's not going to happen for a few weeks". Stick with the activity and you will be pleasantly surprised in a few weeks. We also discussed how to eat pizza, chocolate, etc. As I sat back and just thought...eat it. Really, have that pizza but make your own and load it with your favorite toppings. Eat that chocolate if you are craving it but watch your portion size. If you want a beer, drink a beer but keep it realistic, don't binge. If you don't eat that now when you are on plan, it's not going to be a smooth transition when you are going to maintenance. This time around, there is no food off limits to me because I'm cooking it at home. I can whip up some healthier options than some of it's restaurant versions.

I also talked to Ryan about the loss because I was a little freaked out but he noted that when people tend to change their workout, you will see a better result because your body gets used to things. I switched up two things last week. I added in personal training and swimming on the sixth day of working out. So we'll see how next week goes.

It's been a good weekend so far. Chris and I ran our errands yesterday and we managed to walk out of Costco with a $20 bill and Meijer Outlet for $5! Though, he spurlged at Gamestop so I think the Anji idea is working out. She suggested an allotted amount for fun spending. Good idea because when it's gone it's gone. At first he was afraid to do that because Chris is like "I don't want to spend it unnecessarily" but it's hugely benefited when we walk into a Gamestop store and goes "Humm, this game is 50% used" so it totally helps out. We also splurged and went to a "Brew Ha Ha" event put on by a local radio station where they had micro-breweries. Chris and I love to scope out new breweries especially when we are traveling we have a few favorites. There was a couple of MI breweries we haven't been too so we decided to check it out. When we got there, we were kind of ticked to see that we had to pay $5 for parking because it was going to cost $30 to get into the door. So we paid for our tickets and we were supposed to get a glass but we were too late for that. We get in there and there's tons of people and some of the breweries are already gone or out of beer. It started to turn around when I found some sample tickets on the floor so all is good (it makes up for not having the glasses). I found that it's true "Grand Rapids" fashion that they are under prepared for how popular the event was going to be. That's the one thing that I've noticed about living in this town is that they are under prepared for some of the events or the popularity of it. It's like we are somewhat cultured over here. Growing up in Detroit, they had expos up the wazoo but Grand Rapids feels like they are just getting started sometimes. My only other complaint about this town it takes so long to get unique things. We finally have an excellent Mediterranean joint, a decent Thai joint, a great Ethiopian and Indian place. We're finally getting a Chipolte (I'm spelling this wrong, I know) this week. I hear that they are giving out free burritos on Thursday. Now only if we get a darn Trader Joes sometime soon! It stinks that the closest one is in Novi, MI or Tinley Park, IL. Well that's it for me today, take care all-Kellie