Some wedding pictures ... more to follow later

Girls in Wonderland 2009

B and I went to Florida in early June to visit Melia and Melissa and to partake in Girls in Wonderland 2009. We had an absolute blast at GIW in 2008, so we were really looking forward to the trip. Well, it turns out we are a little too old for GIW. We don't stay up until 5 am drinking and partying, we don't dress completely trashy, we don't throw our trash on the ground wherever we want, we don't run around the hotel hallway screaming and yelling at 4 am, and we don't generally act like immature assholes. Don't get me wrong - I loved the pool parties, spending time with B, Melia, and Melissa, and getting away for the weekend, but I can do without the rest of the weekend. It's just not my scene anymore. B and I go to bed at a fairly reasonable hour most nights, and we get up fairly early to get things done. We still love to have fun, but maybe just not in that way. I guess I'm just done with my early 20s (though I never actually acted that badly when I was in my 20s - there was some really horrid behavior going on).

In fun news, we ditched the pool party on Saturday and went to Epcot Center! I had never been before, and I loved it (though, I can't believe how much they charge for admission - holy crap! Don't they know we're in a recession - who can afford those prices?). It was really fun to go there with B. We stayed for the fireworks show, and it was just a really great date.

All in all, I'm very glad we went to Florida, as it was great to see Melia and Melissa and to go on vacation with B. However, I'm pretty sure that next year, we will be going to Florida just to see M and M - no more Girls in Wonderland for us! I guess we are more content in the regular world, and I'm okay with that!

PS - if you ever have a chance to see DJ Pride, run, don't walk, but run away. She is just not a good DJ. Lesbians like music with words - not house music like the gay boys. Get your demographics right!

WW Update

I have now lost 35 pounds on Weight Watchers! Woo hoo! It took me a long time to make it to 35 from 30, as I didn't have as much time to work out and my eating slipped a bit. However, I have recommitted to the program, and I think I'm back on track.

Speaking of the program, I know many people participate via WW online. I'm not sure that would work for me, as I actually love going to my weekly meetings. I find talking to others, celebrating our successes and sharing our setbacks, chatting about recipe and snack ideas, and just the overall support I receive to be simply amazing. I just don't think I would be as successful if I only participated online, but everyone is different. If the online program works for others, that's great. However, speaking of online resources, I do find the online support group at wwtweets (on Twitter for those of you who don't Tweet) to be amazingly helpful. I feel honored to walk with others as they journey down the weight loss path - it's a prety amazing experience, and I'm grateful that I found the group. The internet is seriously fantastic; how did I survive without it? I guess that's a post for another day!

To get back to the point, I'm thrilled to be where I'm at with my weight loss right now, and I'm also excited to keep moving forward. So to close, a note to the 35 pounds I've lost - good bye and good riddance! You won't be missed, and I hope to never find you again!

Saturday the 14th?

As you know, yesterday was Friday the 13th. I'm not one who puts much thought into superstitious dates like that, so I didn't give it much thought. However, perhaps I should have, as some idiot drunk driver smashed into B's parked car early this morning. Technically, it was already the 14th, but I'm pretty sure those Friday the 13th movies extended into Saturday the 14th sequels...anyway, I can't believe that happened! Poor B has some of the worst luck of anyone I know.

Here's a recap of what I know: I went to bed around 2:00 am and fell asleep soundly. The next thing I know, B is shaking me awake at about 5:00 am and telling me to get up because someone has smashed into her car and the police are here. I was completely out of it, but I crawled out of bed and threw on my jacket, a hat, and my boots. Sure enough, when I went outside, the police were there and her car had been smashed. So sad. The idiot hit it hard enough that her car actually moved and the bumper is cracked and pieces of the wheel well are all over the ground. We aren't sure if it's driveable, so B arranged for a tow later this afternoon. Boo, boo, boo.

In good news, our neighbors heard the crash and called the police immediately. In more good news, that same neighbor, or perhaps another neighbor (we don't know for sure) stopped the driver from fleeing, so the police were able to arrest him. The officer said the driver was drunk, and he also said he was uninsured. Of course the jackass was! Nice. A side note: Seriously people, don't drive if you don't have insurance. My friend Paige was recently involved in a similar accident involving an uninsured driver, but she wasn't as lucky, as no one stopped the driver who hit her and he got away. Grr - take responsibility for your actions people! Anyway, the officer said the court would require the jackass that hit B's car to pay restitution to either us or B's insurance, which is good (if the jackass ever pays). In bad news, we have to cover B's insurance deductible and go without a car for a while, but in the grand scheme of things, that's okay. Really, I'm just relieved the guy didn't come driving down the street an hour later, as he could have careened right into B as she left for work...a smashed car seems insignificant in comparison to that scenario!

So, even though the whole thing really sucks, and I'm sad for poor B, I also feel pretty decent about it too. It's great to know we have such fantastic neighbors, and it's great that B is okay. All in all, and based mostly on some ridiculous horror movies, that clearly wasn't the worst Friday the 13th/Saturday the 14th thing that could have happened. :)

Hope your Valentine's Day started off better than ours! Love to all!

One of the worst places to live?

The Pew Research Center recently released a poll ranking people's choices for the U.S. cities in which they would like to live. I believe the institute surveyed 2,000+ people or so. The results? Minneapolis-Saint Paul came in 26 out of 30. Only Kansas City, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Detroit ranked lower. OUCH! Cities like Houston, Las Vegas, Saint Louis, Dallas, Phoenix, and Pittsburgh beat us. Double OUCH (Houston especially - that place is just awful)! I believe Denver came in first, San Diego second and Seattle third.

I have mixed thoughts on this survey. It definitely stung, as I have a lot of hometown pride. However, as we are enduring the worst winter since 1984, I can see why people would not want to live here. It's brutally cold in the winter, disgustingly muggy in the summer, and super sloppy in the spring (when we get a spring). We do have fantastic autumns here, so that's at least something. I get it though - the climate sucks for most of the year. And as it turns out, people really valued climate, particularly warmth, in their choices (though how Seattle came in third then is beyond me - hello no sun for half the year!). Also, most people who move here say it's extraordinarily difficult to break into a group of friends; basically that Minnesota Nice only exists on a surface level. Again, I have to admit they are probably right - I've actually known people who have said that their lives are full and that they don't need any more friends. Obviously, that sort of attitude doesn't help newcomers feel welcome. Plus, the level of passive-aggressiveness that exists here is insane! So much so that some of B's coworkers don't get her when she's just herself - speaks her mind and is completely honest and direct. Hell, sometimes even I don't get that - I'm always searching for the underlying truth of her statements. Clearly, that passive-aggressive thing was hammered into me.

Despite all the bad things about the Twin Cities, I still love it here. And I think others would too, if they gave it a shot. We have fantastic parks, lakes, and trails. We have good schools (Minnesota consistently ranks in the top 5 in the nation), and we have activities for all - all four major sports leagues have teams here, we have a WNBA team and a professional soccer league team, we have fantastic arts (consistently ranking near the top for regional theater, with the Lion King debuting here. Also, the Frida Kahlo show opened its U.S. tour here), and a decent night life (obviously not like NYC). For a city of this size, I think all that stuff is pretty damn good! Also, within 2.5 hours, you can be hanging out in Duluth and exploring Lake Superior, or within 4-5 hours, you can be off exploring the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area. I'm not sure how you beat that.

Maybe there is a lesson for us Minnesotans to learn from this survey: if we want people to move here and endure our brutal climate, we must be kinder and more open to newcomers. No one wants to move anywhere they can't make friends (my sister Samantha is struggling to make friends in Seattle now, and it took Sarah a full year to break in to a group in Northampton - that's hard stuff)! It doesn't help that most Minnesotans grew up here, which means they have a lifetime of built in friends and acquaintances. This also means a lifetime of familial and friend obligations as well. This phenomenon results in busy, full schedules and a crazy social calendar at times. However, it probably wouldn't be that hard to open our doors and our hearts to new folks from time to time. And really, we would probably benefit more from it than the newcomers in the long run anyway. Insularity is NOT a good thing, as it stifles learning and personal growth amongst other things.

Perhaps I should make it a goal to try to meet some new folks this year, sort of a belated New Year's resolution if you can call it that. I think I like that idea. Perhaps we should all give it a shot! Now I just need to figure out how to go about doing that...stay tuned.

Duggar Wedding Insanity

B, Karen, and Paige suckered me into watching the Duggar wedding the other night. If you aren't familiar with the Duggars, you are missing out on a whole new level of insanity. Hard core, bible thumping, conservative Christian, southern family with EIGHTEEN kids. 1 8 ! Insanity, pure insanity. Don't get me started on all the reasons why having that many kids is just wrong, as that would equal an entire additional post. Instead, I will focus on the insanity of the wedding, which was the point of the crazy episode we watched.

In this episode, the oldest Duggar son (probably about 20 years old) was getting married...to a woman he had never even kissed! He hadn't dated her, talked to her much, hung out with her...he didn't know her and she didn't know him. It was basically an arranged marriage, and it was just creepy. The worst part - the son was so horny (well, duh, after 20 years of NOTHING) that his entire focus was on finishing the ceremony and racing back to the hotel. He kept saying that he didn't want anything to interfere with their departure time...that poor girl he married! A lifetime of Christian, missionary style, jackrabbit, let's make a baby sex lasting for a minute or so...EW. An even creepier part - his dad gave him some DVD explaining what should happen on the wedding night before the wedding. The four of us actually considered ordering that DVD just for the laughs!

Anyway, back to the wedding...how does anyone think this is a good idea?!? They are both super young and have barely experienced anything yet. Getting married without at least even kissing...what if there is no chemistry? What if they aren't physically sexually compatible (this is actually possible)? I guess they are just out of luck, or at least she is. Her wifely duties will require her to put out for the rest of her days, no matter how bad it is. Her duty is to reproduce, and now I'm sure they will go about overpopulating the earth just like his parents...creating little babies to continue on their weird, screwed up community. Scary, but mostly sad. I feel sad for her.

Obviously I could be wrong; they could wind up blissfully happy. Maybe I'm too cynical or too jaded. I guess we'll never know, as she won't be able to speak up if things turn sour. I never thought I would say this, but it turns out being raised Catholic wasn't so bad afterall!

Thirty!

I've now lost 30 pounds on Weight Watchers! THIRTY, 3 - 0! Yeah! This week's loss was especially crazy, considering how I ate when I was in Neenah with B and her family. To really demonstrate how amazing 30 lbs is, here are a few examples of things that weigh 30 lbs:

• Matty's giant bag of dog food (that is an excellent visual)
• 6 bags of flour
• 30 boxes of butter
• 1 big bucket of kitty litter (yikes, I know how heavy those feel when I'm hauling them in from the car)
• 3 10 lb bowling balls
• 1.67 Tonys (my big orange cat)
• 1/2 of Matty the dog
• My lawschool backpack (okay, that's probably an exaggeration).

I think you get the point - 30 lbs is a significant amount of weight. My clothes are starting to be ridiculously big; I have to cinch all my pants, and I laugh at myself when I look in the mirror before work. I guess that's a good ridiculous though, right? Also, my knee feels a lot better, which is fantastic. My health, especially my knee, was my biggest reason for starting this journey, and I think my work is already paying off in that department.

In bad news, I haven't been to the gym in a LONG time. I also haven't played volleyball for over a month. Illness and work (and let's be honest, some laziness) have kept me from both activities. I was planning on going to the gym tonight, but I may go to bed instead. At 8 pm. Yes, I know I'm only 32 and not 82, but I'm tired. Work has been stressful as of late, and I still don't think I've completely recovered from the blackhole of sickness. So, the gym will have to wait yet another day. The personal trainer may kill me, as I haven't worked out once since we met last week. Oh well.

As I travel along this weight loss journey, I'm discovering there are a few food staples that I need to survive:

• Soup - I eat a lot of soup. Always have though, so this isn't that different
• 94% Fat Free Popcorn - this is a new one, as I used to hate popcorn. However, my weakness is salty, snacky type food (not sweets at all), and popcorn fulfills those cravings for me. I'm eating some as I write this!
• High fiber bread and lean lunch meat. I LOVE sandwiches, so I needed to find bread I can eat. I found bread that I enjoy, and it's only 1 point a slice (good, hearty bread)
• Fruit - bananas, clementines (tons of those), apples, pears, fruit cups, etc. I love fruit.
• Oatmeal - maple and brown sugar, lower sugar, almost every single morning
• Malt O'Meal - love it
• Eggs
  
• Smart Ones meals - I take one for lunch almost every single day
• Fat free Yogurt
• Babybel light cheese (LOVE this)
• Weight Watchers ice cream treats, especially the 1 point fudge bars
• Chicken breast
  
• Baked potatoes
• 100 calorie snack packs, especially the cheez it party mix. Yum!
• 60 calorie Jell-O pudding cups (70 calorie for Rice pudding)
  
• 10 calorie Jell-O cups
• Refried beans
• Canned green beans
• Diet coke (or other diet soda). I know, I know. I'm supposed to drink a lot of water. But I just like Diet Coke a lot more. I try to drink more water, but a girl can only change so much at once. :)
  

There you have it - my life in food for the last three months or so. I'm probaby forgetting a few things, but I think that at least provides a glimpse. Additionally, B often cooks for me, so I'm really blessed in that department. Her help is especially important right now, as I've sort of hit a motivational wall. To help me overcome that wall, she told me to pick five new recipes from the Weight Watchers cookbook for her to make. It doesn't get much better than that, right?

I know I always say this, but I hope I can find the willpower to continue on this journey. The first 30 pounds weren't easy per se, but they also weren't that hard. From past experience, I know the last 30 will be absolutely brutal. However, I might be getting a little too far ahead of myself here, as I have the middle 30 to lose before I even get to the last 30. Yikes - how did I let my weight get so out of control? That's simply mind boggling to me. Alas, it happened, and all I can do now is work on repairing the damage. So far, so good, right?

As usual, I'm open to tips/advice on new food, work out ideas, etc. Only you can help me prevent food boredom, friends and family. I need you! Here's to losing the "middle" 30!

WW Update

Drum roll please...I've now lost 27.8 lbs on Weight Watchers! Woo hoo! I received my 25 lb medal at the meeting today, and I also received my 10% key chain (which I was supposed to get a while ago, but I was sick). I'm thrilled. Soon, I will have to buy new clothes, as my pants are falling off me. Good thing some of them are slightly adjustable, or I would be in trouble!

The new session at work starts next Tuesday, and I'm paid up through that (ends near Easter I think). I hope I continue to succeed, but it will only get harder as I lose. Oh well, today is a good day, a day to celebrate! Yay for a smaller Schmiddy!

PS - Happy birthday to my good friend Ms. Moe! I love you!

More Holiday Madness

The holiday madness continued, as B and I celebrated with my family and the Halters on Christmas day. We opened presents in the morning, and then we shared a fabulous meal together. After that, we enjoyed treats and numerous rounds of Apples to Apples. Even my dad and Mary joined in for the game, and we had a blast! I love that game! The only thing missing: Samantha and Travis. It was definitely sad to not have them with us, and I hope in the future we can all be together on the holidays. Probably not likely, but a girl can dream. Despite the big hole caused by their absence, it was a great Christmas.

Oh, a sad note - my grandma joined us, and she is in terrible shape. The Alzheimer's has really taken hold, and she is almost completely incoherent - doesn't follow conversations and can't express her feelings. She still likes to help with things (she used to run the entire Christmas day, and she did it with grace - some of my best childhood memories are of Christmases at Grandma's and Grandpa's place), so I set her up with me to put cream cheese in the celery. It was painful to watch her attempt to figure it out, but with some guidance and patience, she was able to help. I think she was frustrated, but I also think she felt useful. Otherwise, she really didn't know what was going on. Sad to watch. I hope she soon reaches the stage where she no longer realizes that she can't remember things. That's the hardest part - to know she knows something is wrong, but we can't help her. So sad.

After Christmas, B and I hosted her parents for a few days to celebrate Hanukkah. On the 27th, we hosted a big Hanukkah meal for everyone, and it went really well. B did a great job with the meal, and everyone had a nice time. I really enjoyed spending time with B's family, and Karen and Paige too. I'm looking forward to incorporating a Hanukkah celebration into my holidays each year.

Things finally returned to normal after Christmas, at least until we left for Seattle on the 31st and I became sicker than a dog (see following posts for more details).

All in all, the holidays were fantastic this year. Busy as usual, but really packed with family, friends, and joy. No complaints at all! Can't wait until next year already!

More Holiday Pictures

Holiday Madness

As the holidays approach, I find myself in a bit of holiday madness. It's great, but I wish I had more time to really enjoy it. I'm exhausted...how do people do all this with kids?!? Amazing.

Here's what I've been up to:

On Friday night, B and I went to the Holidazzle parade. It was cute and fun, and the weather wasn't terribly bitter. That makes a huge difference. After the parade, we went back to B's and made dinner for us and Samantha, who was in town from Seattle. After dinner, we all went over to Rice Park in Saint Paul to check out the holiday lights there. Very fun and very pretty. We took Matty along with us too, and she seemed to enjoy herself (except when B put her on top of one of the giant boxes). All in all, a very Christmas-y evening.

On Saturday morning, B and I went over to Mary's for the first annual Christmas cookie bake off. The weather was horrible, so driving out to Chaska was a bit scary, but we made it just fine. There were numerous cars in the ditch and others were fishtailing all over the place, but the Honda did me proud. Anyway, the bake off was quite fun - I made peppermint bark and wreaths, Samantha made chocolate chip walnut and sugar cookies, Jessie made Mexican wedding cakes and peanut butter cookies, and Mary made English toffee. I fell off the WW wagon a bit as I wanted to taste everything - delicious! At the end of the day, we got to leave with a bunch of different cookies too - the beauty of the bake off! I think it's something we will try to do each year, if our schedules allow for it (it's a bit difficult with Samantha living in Seattle!).

As I said above, I made peppermint bark this year. I had never made it before, but I suddenly found myself craving it at Thanksgiving and decided at that point that it couldn't be that hard to make. Turns out that it's not, and it turns out that it's a huge hit! It might even compete with the wreaths, and that says a lot. Everyone seems to love it, and B says people were chowing it down in her office. I guess I will add that to the list of things I make each holiday season! Easy and delicious - can't beat that!

Saturday night meant it was Pajama Christmas time! I was a bit worried that people not make it due to the weather, but we had a very good turn out and lots of Toys for Tots to donate. Yay! Emmett Otter made his annual appearance to much chagrine from some, and we watched other movies as well. The treats were delicious and the company terrific - all in all a good night! Baby Jason looked super cute in his Christmas onesie - I cannot believe how big he is already!

On Sunday, I slept in quite late to recover from the whirlwind of activity, and then finally got motivated enough to hit the J with B. Sunday night, B and I marked the first night of Hanukkah, and I gave her presents for the first night (she's getting little gifts for each night). We then went to bed decently early, both tired from a weekend filled with holiday madness.

Whew! Even though all that holiday excitement is already past, there is much more to come as well. Tomorrow is Christmas eve, and I think B and I are going to a movie with Ali and Jill. Thursday is Christmas, which means family time with the Schmids/Halters. Friday and Saturday, B has to work, so I probably will too. Saturday night is a Hanukkah celebration with B's family (B's parents are staying here, which means I must clean at some point too), and then Monday it's back to work for two days until we leave for Seattle on Wednesday. Whoa! I'm looking forward to everything, but I also understand why people need vacations after their vacations. I need down time! :)

Merry Christmas to all, and Happy Hanukkah as well! May the season bring you only peace and joy. All my love, Lisa