#78: Snow Day

As I sit here at work drinking my extra hot, one Splenda, sugar free vanilla latte, I'm also looking outside at the snow! It is coming down out there! When I woke up this morning and looked outside, I thought the snow was done and all we were getting was a dusting. I was still glad I parked in the garage though! My parents are out of town this weekend and no one else in my family had to work this morning, so I decided to be lazy (or genius?) and park in the garage so I wouldn't have to brush off my car before work. Score! But when I opened the garage door this morning, the snow was really coming down! I couldn't believe it! I think it's subsiding now, which is good, because J is on his way home for the weekend!

It's only been five days since we last saw each other, but we are super pathetic. I have a feeling this is going to be the hardest semester since J went away to school in the Fall of 2008. It's killing us. But then I remember all the servicemen and women who are away from their family, sometimes without any communication, for months and months at a time. And it's then that I feel extremely grateful and blessed to be able to freely communicate with Josh and know he's safe at all times. I am seriously and ridiculously blessed.

Not to be random, but my shoulder hurts. I started the 30 Day Shred workout that I mentioned here. 20 minutes with only a mat, 3 pound hand weights, and Jillian Michaels on DVD. For 30 days. I think I can do it. My boss informed me I'll be more sore after 48 hours (rather than the initial 24), so I have to keep up with it and work through the soreness, making sure I continue stretching and drinking lots of water. Can't wait to see the end results! My biggest issue with any workout though (and the success with which I complete it), is carving out the time for it every day. My schedule with babysitting Little Monster is a little different every day, and sometimes I make plans for after work and get home late. I'm going to make this exercise a priority though, for my overall health and well-being.

Have a happy weekend!

#77: Hair

I love how fast my hair grows. I decided to do a little comparison to the day I cut eleven inches off my hair (12.31.09) and New Year's Day (2011). Here you go!

 

It's crazy what a difference a year can make :) Can't wait to see how much more it grows between now and the wedding!

#76: Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

I love lists, you know that. Or at least you should by now! Another thing I love is celebrating the anniversary of special dates. J loves doing this too! We celebrate our dating anniversary (May 9), our first kiss anniversary (December 20) and this year we got to celebrate our engagement anniversary! We wanted to go out on New Years Eve, but J had to work at 5am on New Years Day, and we technically didn't get engaged until 12:15am on New Years Day, so we decided to wait until then to celebrate that anniversary. A big thanks to the Melton family for the very generous gift card to The Melting Pot and for no advanced notice of the massive food coma we endured after our four course meal.

And because you know how much I love taking pictures (and how much I love food...), here is a picture representation of our night. Complete with commentary. I know you love my commentary!

 I couldn't decide whether I liked this picture...

 ...or this one, so you get both :) Aren't we cute together? I think so.

 Oh hey handsome!

 The flash was a bit much, so we decided to go with the red romantic light from the restaurant :)

 Leaning in so I could get a better view!

 Me!

 Me again...sorry...

 Aaah, the food! I didn't think to get a picture of our AMAZING cheese fondue or the delectable salad (with...get this...Parmesan crusted pine nuts. So delicious. I died.)

 How we felt after dinner...so full...

 Clean plate club :)

 Mmm...chocolate fondue with flambéed marshmallows.

 We made quick work of the pound cake, cheesecake, bananas, graham cracker coated marshmallows and oreo crusted marshmallows and brownies. And strawberries, of course. So we asked for more strawberries...

 Finished! We rolled outta there (literally) after a nice three hour long dinner. So lovely :)

Have you been to The Melting Pot before? What did you think?

#75: Ice, Ice Baby

 Welcome to the first ever 2-A-Day Thursday!! In order to still meet my 250 post goal, I need to get caught up. So for the next five (or six...not sure how far behind I am) Thursdays, I'll be posting two posts! Lucky you :)  So without further ado, here's today's first post!

The day after Christmas, we went to see ICE! with J's family.  It was held inside a super gigundo tent outside the Gaylord National Hotel at Washington National Harbor. It was mine and J's first time over there and I can't wait to go back to the Harbor when the weather warms up.  ICE! was so awesome...but so cold. Only nine degrees inside!!! This year's theme was "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and we loved it! We even went down an ice slide...priceless.

Here are some pictures from our adventure :)

Did you see ICE? If so, what did you think? We're definitely planning on going back next year :)

#74: New Years' Resolutions

I don't typically do resolutions because, quite frankly, they never come to fruition. Plainly stated, I can never keep them up. Last year, I swore I would never drink another soda. I ended up making good on that...only until March though. So this year, I thought I'd make a list of all the things I'd like to accomplish in 2011, instead of setting one never-gonna-happen goal...This list is separate than the wedding list I have 171 days to complete. Luckily, there's only 148 things on it. Easy peezy. So here are 20 non-wedding-related goals for 2011:

1. Get in shape.  I'm not trying to lose weight, but I would definitely like to tone up. I'm planning on doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Hopefully buying it and trying it out tomorrow.
2. Cherish the time I have left at home with my family. There's been eight of us living in the house for awhile and I have a strange feeling I might actually miss the chaos when it's just J and I living together.
3. Drink more water. Enough said.
4. Get outside more.  This might have to wait until March-ish. I like to take walks around the block in the summer time, but I'd like to be even more active this year. Maybe some bike riding and/or hiking...yes, I said hiking. Don't have a heart attack.
5. Eat less cookies and processed foods.
6. Get more sleep.  This means putting down Angry Birds/turning off Millionaire Matchmaker and going to bed earlier. Just kidding, that was only last night. I usually have trouble shutting my mind and my to-do list off, so I need to start trying to do that earlier so I'm relaxed before I go to bed.
7. Clean more often and on a regular schedule. I'd like to have a certain day set aside each week to clean the bathrooms, wash sheets and towels and vacuum. The sooner I get into a habit, the easier it will be to keep it up.
8. Learn how to sew. I have a pile of clothes that need to be fixed/altered/hemmed and at least five pillows to make for our apartment.
9. Learn how to relax...preferably before our eight day trip to Cancun!
10. Find a new job in Richmond. This is kind of a big one...
11. Learn how to navigate one way streets in a big city. I always get turned around in Richmond! So aggravating.
12. Pay off my car loan.  The current balance is under $3000 now! If I pay it off this year, I will have paid it off in 3 years, which is not too shabby for a 5 year loan...
13. Plan our June 2012 trip to San Diego!!!!  I cannot WAIT to get J out to the west coast for the first time!
14. Listen better...especially when J is talking...
15. Pack up every single thing I own and move two hours away. Sounds easy enough right?
16. Get hitched. Woot.
17. Make new friends in Richmond. I have a couple already, thanks to J having married friends :)
18. Become more active in church. I've only been to our church in Richmond a couple of times, but I love it and can't wait to get involved. 
19. Learn how to cook more than just Mac and cheese, or spaghetti, or heating up something out of a bag...
20. Successfully entertain friends in our apartment for the weekend and not just for dinner.

Did you make a New Years' resolution? Or are you like me? Did you set a couple of goals instead?

#73: Guest Blogging

I've already raved about our wedding photographers, Peter Davis and his beautiful wife Sarah, and briefly told you how we found them.  My friends that got married on the same night we got engaged highly recommended the Davis' to us. On New Year's Eve this year, their one year anniversary, Peter had them guest blog and comment on some of their favorite images that Peter and Sarah captured on their wedding day. I would love for you to see them, so check their post out here!

Anybody wanna guest blog for me sometime? If you're interested, leave me a note in the comments!

#72: After Christmas Sales

I did it. I braved the wind and snow on Sunday, December 26th to do some after Christmas shopping. The main priority of my trip to Target was to find a cheap Christmas tree, but I encountered lots of lovely little things along the way...that went into my cart.

1. Table runner: I really wanted to buy a cute Christmas tablecloth, but there were two problems with this idea. One, I have no idea how big or what shape my dining room table will be. And two, the only tablecloths they had left were 60"x120"...which are large enough for my mom's eight person dining table. Pretty sure ours will only seat four. So I settled for a runner. And I love this one!

2. Green chargers: I thought these would be awesome to spruce up my holiday table! They'll go well with my red table runner (I really like the red/green combo for Christmas). And on sale for $2.50 for four of them, I couldn't pass them up!

3. Silver chargers: For the same price, I decided to get the silver chargers as well...they'll work well for other times of the year :)

4. Gift wrap/gift bags: If you've known me for any length of time, you'd know that I used to work at Hallmark. It was my first job and I worked there for five years (overlapping with the current job I have now for about a year). I absolutely LOVED working there and I stockpiled tons of gift wrap over those five years. Unfortunately, my supply has quickly dwindled and I found myself with only five half-rolls left after Christmas this year. So I decided to stock up on four megarolls (larger than usual roll wrap), all in bold red and white prints. Can't wait to use them next year!

5. Now, I wish I could take the credit for finding our Christmas tree, but I cannot. All the credit goes to J. Not only did he find us an awesome tree, but he bought it for $13.13 (including tax). If you see here, 13 is my favorite number. So it's no coincidence that this tree was meant for us!

Did you score any awesome deals after Christmas?