Weight Watchers

I am back on Weight Watchers again. Yes, yes, yes, I know, this is about the billionth time I have tried to do Weight Watchers but I am determined to stick with it this time. My work put together a group so it makes it very easy to weigh in and attend meetings when I just have to walk down the hall. Plus, Weight Watchers revamped their program so it is something new and different which is always a nice change. It is called Points Plus and so far, I am really liking it! Instead of calculating points by calories, fat and fiber, now points are determined by fat, carbs, fiber, and protein.

I started last Tuesday and after my first weigh in, I am already down 2.2 pounds! That doesn't sound like much but it is on the high end of what they say you should lose each week so I am proud of that! I have a pretty lofty goal so I have to plug away week by week. That's the only way to get it off!

I stuck to the program even while going out to dinner before the Grace Potter concert and while having a burger and beer party at our house. I didn't feel too deprived not to say I wasn't still wishing I could eat some bad for you food but I managed just fine.

Here's to hoping I will return to a skinny minny in the next 12 weeks!

A Weekend Get Together

We had a little get together at our house this weekend since our friend John came in town (we missed his wife, Abby, a lot!). Mark and John wanted to try to make Juicy Lucies which are two hamburger patties squished together with lots of cheese stuck in the middle and on top on the burger. Mark said it should be a cheese explosion in your mouth when you bite into it (gross). I requested turkey burgers.
We also served Hendrick's cole slaw, fries, and veggies. The Juicy Lucies didn't turn out as Mark had hoped (though they did the next night he tried to make them) but the turkey burgers were amazing!
The usual crew came with their kids. Charlotte, Michael, and Elliette had so much fun playing together. Michael and Charlotte really had fun playing in the ice cold water of the beer cooler and Michael even worked his magic on Charlotte by asking her, "to come look for the moon with me." Looks like we have a little player in the works!

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals Concert

Mark and I took some friends to the Grace Potter and The Nocturnals concert at the House of Blues on Friday night. It was an amazing concert! I gave Mark these tickets as a Christmas gift. I had never seen Grace Potter and had only heard her songs when I was driving with Mark in his car but after seeing her in concert, I am a fan! She was awesome. Mark put it best when he said she is a true female rockstar. She knew how to swing her rockstar hair, shake her rockstar hips, and belt out her rockstar tunes. And, her outfit and shoes were to die for!!!
This is only the second concert Mark and I have ever been together and I would like to set the record that I did NOT fall asleep at this concert even though it went past midnight! We had a wonderful time together.

Amazing Dog Paintings

For Valentine's Day, I gave Mark paintings of our dogs! They turned out better than I ever expected (excuse the shadow on the paintings, I took them when the sun was shining through the kitchen window!).
Lindsey Moffitt is the artist. She is a friend of my cousin and is starting a Etsy shop painting dog portraits. When I heard she was doing this, I had to get some of our sweet pups! Lindsey was amazing to work with. I just e-mailed her a bunch of pictures of the dogs so she could get an idea of coloring, facial expression, and body positioning and she ran with it!

I know I am crazy about our dogs but I was SOOO excited when I saw how well the paintings turned out! Mark loved them too. I can't wait to hang them in our house and enjoy them for years to come.

Valentine's Day

Mark and I had a great two days of celebrating Valentine's Day! Since he was going to be gone on Monday, we celebrated Saturday and Sunday night. Two celebrations are always better than one, right?

Mark had to work on Saturday so I wanted to have a yummy Valentine's themed dinner waiting for him when he got home. We had salad, garlic bread, and these adorable heart-shaped ravioli (after I added the red sauce though I thought it could represent a morbid and sad bleeding heart, but whatever).And for dessert, a heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie pie (picture was uncooked) with vanilla ice cream.While I was cooking and baking this meal, the dogs enjoyed some Valentine time too. Bandera chose to lay outside and enjoy a nap in the sun.Dixie got a Frostie Paw in the kitchen (they are too big for Bandera and make her sick). She loved it!Mark told me he would take me out for dinner Sunday night but after he spent all day cleaning out the garage and I spent all day doing laundry, grocery shopping, and helping him with the garage, we were both exhausted. We decided on take out and a movie. I love nothing more than Taco Cabana's queso and tortillas so Mark and I feasted on that while enjoying a Redbox movie. I am a pretty cheap date (and always have been...second favorite cheap date is a hot dog from Costco)!

On the real Valentine's Day I got a gift at work from my secret admirer. After a little thinking and handwriting decoding, I figured out it was from my sweet mom! She drove to my work to drop off this little gift. She is wonderful to me!
We had a nice Valentine's Days celebration. Nothing like a day of love to remind me of how lucky I am to be married to such a great guy and to have a great Mom too!

Snow Days!

Well, winter weather definitely hit the Dallas area last week! With snow, ice, and wind chills of negative 10 degrees, I had a total of 4 glorious snow days home from work. It was such a gift. I think I am one of the few people who absolutely loves being locked in her house! This is how I spent the majority of my 4 days... Nothing better than a great book, a warm blanket, and a sleeping Bandera in my lap!The first day I scored some testing for work (that was productive!) and spent the remainder of the day reading. There is nothing better than being curled up on the couch with a good book and Bandera on my lap! Dixie was dreaming in our bedroom so she wasn't far away. I also managed to squeeze in (haha) two naps which I needed after hardly sleeping the night before due to the strong winds and sleet hitting the windows all....night....long.

We got a lot of snow Thursday night to Friday - 6" to be exact!
It was a true winter wonderland.And of course, the dogs loved playing in it. This is a picture of Bandera chasing the neighbor's dog while Dixie then chased Bandera chasing the neighbor's dog. Dixie thought they were playing together though. :)
I think it was hard for Bandera to stay warm but she managed!Dixie loved sticking her nose in the snow and acting like a snow plow. She cracks me up.
Becky took me to Kroger on day 4 since I was running out of some food staples. I was too afraid to drive on the inch of ice plus the 6 inches of snow. She snapped this picture of me wearing Mark's hunting boots as I made my way from her car to the front door carrying my groceries.
It was wonderful to have the days off!

Weekend Fun!

I had an absolute BLAST this weekend! I haven't had this much fun with friends in a really long time!

Friday night, we had my belated birthday party. All I wanted to do was play the "Just Dance" game on Wii. Doug and Becky were nice enough to allow us to have a mini party at their house since they have a Wii. Anthony, Mandy, Derek, and their 2 girls came over and played with us. Mark ordered pizza and bought fancy cupcakes from the Cupcakery in Frisco. It was so much fun! We learned two things from this event: 1. Mark has good dance moves and beat all of us (except once -- I beat him in the duet dance) 2. That game is a workout! We were all sweaty and out of breath by the end of the dance. Sadly, we didn't get any pictures of the night...boo!

Saturday night was Girl's Night. We all wanted to try this new restaurant in the Shops at Legacy called Seasons 52.
It was amazing! They serve all fresh, organic food and every meal is under 470 calories. I had cedar plank salmon with asparagus, carrots, and a few potatoes. They also have this awesome idea of mini-desserts. They come in shot glasses and are only $2.50. They allow you to have a taste of dessert without splurging on calories. I had a banana one and the other girls had chocolate and peanut butter ones.
No one wanted to share so I guess they were all delicious! Now, after a shared appetizer, a meal, a mini dessert and some drinks, I am not sure I was still in the 470 calories range, but everything was delicious! I will go back again, for sure. Mandy, Becky, Jenn and I had such a fun time laughing and talking we decided to go for one more drink and then head home. It was a great night and one that I can't wait to repeat in the future!

Sunday morning, Mark took me to breakfast at Le Peep. He decided to skip the last day of hunting season since he was sick. It was great to spend time together over a yummy meal!

I had a wonderful weekend filled with laughter, friends, and good times. It made me very happy!