Battle of the Bulges

This picture is more like speechless Wednesday. I’m simply amazing in my full length flowered dress. My shoes have soles that are incredibly honkin’ in thickness. Wow.

I’m so glad that my style has evolved some.

In lieu of Manda’s birthday, I decided to join her today in listing my quirky confessions. Happy Birthday!

1. I do not “do” fruit in my VEGETABLE salad. Fruit salad, yes. Baby oranges, grapes or anything other than lettuce, tomatoes, cukes and onions and I’m pretty much out. I don’t do cooked fruit either. Sweet and sour chicken yes. Cooked pineapple, no.

2. It bugs my sleep if my room is cluttered. I’m pretty organized but I do have my moments when I let things go (usually when I’m busy) and my sleep suffers as a result. I lay in bed thinking of how I should clean my room and usually when I’m finally tired of the clutter, I spend 8 hours cleaning. Hence my cleaning spree this weekend.

3. I like my room really cold and lots and lots of blankets when I sleep… all year long.

4. My bff calls me grandma because I Tivo all the Dateline, Primetime, 20/20 and 60 Minutes shows. I’m 29.

5. I almost never put my clean laundry away. I just dig thru the baskets to find what I want to wear and then when they’re empty, it’s time to do laundry again.

6. My grocery lists are an art form. By aisle and type of food. And if I make a mistake, no scratchsies outsies. It takes me less than 30 minutes to do about $100 bucks worth of shopping and that includes the check out.

7. I compulsively check my alarm clock to make sure it’s set for the right time (that doesn’t mean I’ve remembered to turn it on).

8. I have a mental list of three things that I must have at all times: keys, cell phone, wallet. Only once have I forgotten one of these things. My day was thrown completely off because I obsessed about the wallet that I may/may not have let in my car.

Ok, your turn. You know you wanna bare all!

I wonder the thought process that Polly has when she is being tempted. Oooh, I want that stuffed animal even though mommy always says ‘No’ when I get near it. Or it’s lots of fun to make the kitty cat growl at me. Or it’s hilarious when me and mommy are playing outside and then she calls me and I just run off like I never heard her. That’s my favorite.

Two Christmases ago I received a plush, light up snowman from my mom. I LOVE snowmen and I get them every year as gifts either from others or from me to me. This particular snowman was my fast favorite and because she (it was definitely a girl) had a country-ish theme, I could keep it out the whole winter. Because I have a hard enough time putting away my Christmas stuff, it was nice to be able to leave this decoration out just because it was ‘wintry’. And this is what happened when said decoration was left out.

And this is who did it. I could have killed her but obviously I didn’t. I mourned and moved on.
And this is my beloved kitty, Pip. He never chews anything. Except the Christmas lights but that was a long time ago and a completely different story.

This is wild. 200+ people were enlisted to freeze at the exact same time in Grand Central Station. Pretty cool. Little freaky. Thanks Vera.

Budapest, Hungary. Eastern Europe. 8 hour flight. Can you say Xanax?

Who travels with me?

Last year, it was just Mel. This year Glenn (Mel’s hubby) and Texas Greg are coming along. That should be loads of fun, if you like grumpy and guffawing. At least the girls will be in one room and the stinky boys in the other.

Our home church in Baltimore, MD has churches all over the world. They have a pow-wow twice a year, once in Europe and once at our homebase. The pow-wow this time of year is in Europe.

What will I do with Polly? Oh my god, will I blog while I’m gone? And what else will I do while I’m there?

Don’t worry puppy fans. She will join the pack at Mel’s house. The nanny LOVES my doggy so she’ll be well cared for.

I’m pretty sure I will not blog while overseas. Internet=boku buckaroos. But stay tuned. I may surprise ya.

Mainly we’ll be at the conference, attending different sessions, hanging out with old friends, meeting new people, eating strange but wonderful food, walking around the city and one of my (our) friends is gonna take us bowling the day after we arrive. I’m also looking into meeting up with at least one of the girls that stayed with me last summer. Right now, it’s looking like a 10 hour train ride to Romania but maybe we can figure something out.

Anyone with experience on train-ing it in Europe? Just when I think I’ve found a good site to use, I discover it’s in Ro-gar-ssian.

When do I leave?
NEXT month baby. March 5-11th. Woot!

I’ve become one of those people. You know. They stop on the side of the road and whip out their digi-cams. I just couldn’t help myself.

Most of today and including right now it is 67 degrees. It’s February 6th and I wore a t-shirt and sandals to work. Which could explain why I keep getting sick. *shrug* I am NOT complaining but the warmer weather is a tease because even though I want to be dumped on with tons of snow, I’m soooo ready for spring-ish clothes and FRUIT IN SEASON.

Today, my bff and I booked our tickets to Budapest. We paid $492 bucks r/t! That is an UNBELIEVABLE deal. We’re going for a missions conference and then we have a few days of play time. So hopefully we’ll be able to hit a neighboring country. Ideas are welcome as always. I will be investigating online later to see if we can maybe visit on of my girls from last year’s stay. Oh yeah, we leave next month.. March 5th!!

I was right this time. My crappy eating last week did NOT, repeat not, pay off. You know those times when you feel as if you’re gonna gain and then don’t (I LOVE those times). Well, this was not one of those times. I’m up 0.6. On a positive note, at least I’m still in the 170’s.

Last night I did 45 minutes of strength training, a workout formulated by SP. I have to say when I got home, everything hurt but in a good way. Then I made a healthy dinner broiled potatoes and chicken and then tuned into my all-time favorite show The New Adventures of Old Christine. Dreyfuss is freaking awesome and I nearly pee my pants whenever I watch. And I could just strip all my clothes off and throw myself at melt at Mr. Harris. But I digress.

It’s so easy to slip away from the gym even after weeks of going but I have to say it felt really good to be back!

Yesterday I had some time to poke around on a few new sites and found Secrets of a Black Heart and Shamelessly Sassy. Funny, funny gals. If you’re in need of a laugh, I’m sure they’ve got one for you.

And finally, I’ve always wanted to be a presenter at the awards shows and since that’ll never happen I’m gonna give one out here. There’s only rule. Hand it out to as many people as you’d like.

And the award goes to………..

Where the hell is Barbie?
I know I’m not the only reader to laugh so hard to the point of snorting. She’s AMAZING and inspires me. She’s got this picture of a magazine cover of HER on it and she has quite the amazing before and after. Not only is she a great read I always see her comments floating around on others’ blogs encouraging them.

Swizzlepop
She’s another one you CONSTANTLY see floating around building others up. She has been my longest and most faithful blog friend. She’s an amazing person with great food habits (Hostess 100’s). And recently she made LIFETIME. She’s beautiful, funny, smart and she’s worth a read.

Roni
She’s the whole reason I started the bloggy thingie (that was for you HappyBlogChick). I joined to have some accountability, to share my thoughts because quite honestly I felt like no one did understand this struggle. As a result I got a whole COMMUNITY of people dropping comments saying encouraging words, giving me a “hang in” just when I needed it. She has a great site with food ideas, rants (which I love), exercises but most importantly the amazing community which is just the support you need.

Kate
If you’re looking for someone to ooze positivity, look not further. It’s not the annoying kind either. She almost always throws some inspirational quote our way. She BAKES but using healthy alternatives and she has a daily puppy on her blog. :)) She’s such a sweetheart working on her own weight goals but is so quick to have a word of encouragement to me and many others.

Happy Tuesday!

I think I’m gonna take a break from blogging on the weekends… I seem to have more to talk about come Monday morning.

Saturday - I took down my freakin’ tree and cleaned the first floor of my house from 8:00 am until about 4:30 pm. I’m talkin’ steam cleaning the carpet, washing the kitchen floor, scrubbing counter tops and vacuuming the umpteen tree needles from every crevice. I think next year my two resolutions will be to check my mailbox more often (right now it’s about every 7-10 days). The reason for this is I missed the notice from my HOA that said tree pickups would be the week of January 21st. Nice. Good thing my friend’s dad has a dumpster that he offered to haul off my pathetic tree to. I’m so excited though because I rearranged the furniture and everything looks so nice! :)) Oh my other resolution will be to take down my tree for the week of tree pickup.

Sunday - I woke up feeling pretty crappy. Sore throat, feverish, achey, chills, basically the same symptoms everyone else has been feeling lately. Polly had WAAY to much energy yesterday. I was ready to post “does anyone want a dog?”. 50+ lbs jumping on my stomach is usually fun except for yesterday. I pretty much slept the entire day until about 6:15 to which I tuned to the Superbowl. Let’s just say I’m in mourning. I was supposed to go to my neighbor’s house to watch but since I wasn’t feeling well, I opted to stay in. They were doing a $1 a spot and I picked ten and guess what? I won $50 bucks! That NEVER happens!

Monday - that’s today. I’m feeling better than yesterday. I got on the scale this morning and I was up two pounds. I kinda expected it because I didn’t really do too well eating this past week. Not many fruits, veggies.. but stayed on target with the water. I am gonna start exercising again. I am feeling bad about paying 84 bucks a month and not using my membership at all. I think I need to start strength training again. I can’t tell you how many times I heard on tv or read online (this week alone) that in order to lose weight, you should exercise with weights. So that’s what I’m gonna start doing… tonight, after work. *insert sarcastic yay here*

On a sad note, my boss called me this morning to say that one of his very good friends was hit by a car and killed last night as he tried to cross the highway on foot. If you would, please keep his family and friends in prayer. This is a very sad time for many people I know.

I got this in an email from an old friend…. and because I’m bored and have nothing interesting to post as of yet, here goes. Feel free to copy and paste. :))

1. What is your occupation? Office manager
2. What color are your socks right now? mint green with cranberry colored flowers (good thing my pants are long b/c they totally don’t match)
3. What are you listening to right now? my portable heater
4. What was the last thing that you ate? ham, egg & cheese on english muffin
5. Can you drive a stick shift? sure can
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? black
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? a customer
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? yep
9. How old are you today? 29
10. Favorite drink? diet soda although I haven’t had anything except water in DAYS
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!!
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? yes, ugh
13. Pets? doggy and kitty cat
14. Favorite food? hamburgers
15. Last movie you watched? Pay It Forward
16. Favorite Day of the year? probably Thanksgiving or Christmas.. but only if spent with family… otherwise the holidays SUCK
17. What do you do to vent anger? depends who made me angry. I have quite the Portugie temper at times.
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? hands down my Barbies
19. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Fall
20. Hugs or kisses? Again, depends…
21. Cherry or Blueberry? def cherry
22. Do you want your friends to email you back? does not apply but feel free to comment!
23. Who is most likely to respond? swizzle and mel
24. Who is least likely to respond? dunno
25. What is your favorite song? Who Knew by Pink
26. When was the last time you cried? Um, hmmm… I dunno… maybe in church I teared up a little.
27. What is on the floor of your closet? lots and lots of shoes
28. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending
this to? Melissa
29. Who is the friend you have had the shortest that you are sending
this to? Probably all my bloggy buddies
30. Favorite smells? clean clothes
31. Who inspires you? Roni, Steph, Melissa, my mom
32. What are you afraid of? Being forgotten
33. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? cheese
34. Favorite car? MY car… :)) Camry
35. Favorite cat breed? Domestic cuz that’s what I have
36. Number of keys on your key ring? about 8
37. How many years at your current job? 1.5
38. Favorite day of the week? I’d have to say Saturday.
39. How many states/countries have you lived in? 2
40. Do you think you’re funny? sometimes and especially when I’m overtired or took a very strong pain killer.