Where in the World?

Guess where we're heading in just a few, short weeks?  No clue?  Yeah, I wouldn't have guessed it right either.  Baron has been traveling to Salt Lake City, Utah several times over the last few months.  He has to go back again in a few weeks and I'm gonna travel out and spend the weekend with him.  Yay! Who doesn't love a little free vaca? Thank you, SkyMiles :)

I'm a little excited because it's been so long since I've seen some legit snow!  There will be no cute vacation pictures of the newlyweds though (<--how long are we newlyweds for??), because I'll be looking like this the whole time:

I wonder who has the best deals on full face ski masks, hahaha!

Weight Loss Resolutions

This whole weight loss thing is hard.  The concept is easy, put less in than you work off.  Simple right??  Maybe for you, but not for me.  I decided to "take off" the week of Christmas from tracking, eating 100% on plan, and I definitely didn't go to the gym.  I know that the majority of my weight loss journey is mental and if I had to stay on plan 100% during the holidays that it would lead me to totally giving up and not losing weight in the big picture.  I was okay with a gain over the week of Christmas, knowing that I deserved it because of the choices I made during the week. 

I weighed in on Tuesday and was up a few pounds, no big deal.  Nothing I can't lose again and get back down to the weight I was at prior to Christmas. 

So here I am, publicly addressing my New Year's Resolutions for accountability:

- Stay 100% on plan (until our vacation coming up in the end of January)

- Workout (at least) three times per week. 

- Drink more water!!

We have a mini-vaca coming up at the end of January and I'm commiting to be 100% on plan until then. I plan to make some good choices on vacation, but I'm not going to track my diet and I'll probably gain a little bit of weight.  But I'm okay with that, this is a long term thing.

I also would like to go to the gym more often than three times a week, but I'm not going to get down on myself if I don't make it more than that.  Baron and I woke up early this morning to go to the gym before he had to go to work.  I have to admit, as much as it hurt to hear the alarm clock go off at 5:40, it felt really good to be totally done with a workout that early in the day! 

My last commitment to myself is to drink more water.  I was getting SO good at this during the summer and then the weather turned cold and I stopped drinking all the water.  I'd be embarrassed to admit how much (or how little) water I drink. My realistic goal to start out with is to drink two of my big tervis cups a day.  Realistic? Yes :) Gonna make me freezing cold? Yes :(

My weight loss journey has been slow.  I haven't lost as much as I thought I would've by the end of the year, but I'm doing it in a way I know I can stick with.  What good does it do to lose thirty pounds in the blink of an eye just to gain it all back just as quickly?

This year I'm commiting to my health.  I can do this.  I have done this. You can too!

Christmas Catch Up

Hi blog world!  Long time no talk, sorry bout that!  I'm back, thanks to my hubby who did surgery on my computer for me.  Baron got back into town on Wednesday night, just a few days before Christmas, and we had a wonderful first Christmas together.  We even got to Skype with both of our families for a little while on Christmas Day :)

Here's our Christmas season recap:

1) We drove through something called "The Galaxy of Lights" on Christmas night to see a great light display!

2) @ the Galaxy of Lights

3) On Christmas Eve we drove downtown to a Christmas Tree display, it wasn't as impressive as we expected, but we thought this tree was cute.  Notice the rocket?

4) We drove around on Christmas Eve and found a house with a light display synced to a radio station with Christmas music.  Disney makes us feel closer to home :)

1) What's Christmas without bright, red nail polish?!

2) Hot Chocolate...mmmm!

3) Puppies waiting for Santa

4) Lots of naps were taken :)  I think we slept for 2 hours on Christmas Eve. Oops!

The pups got a lot of cookies from Grandma and two Gator jerseys to wear for the bowl game! Go Gators!!

On Christmas Eve, Eve (you following?) we made Hot Chocolate in our Moose Cups and watched the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Hilarious!

And on a culinary note, we had pizza on Christmas Eve (kind of a tradition in my family) and I made stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer. They turned out great! Got the recipe from here: Stuffed Mushrooms.  Then I added some turkey bacon to the filling and slices of grape tomato on top. Yum!

I also wanted to make one of the traditional goodies for Baron that my mom used to make with us when we we little.  We used to always make "Rice Krispie Wreaths".  Except you use Corn Flakes.  Well I forgot the green food coloring and found that it was nearly impossible to shape the gooey mass of cornflakes and marshmellows so we just had Christmas Balls.  Wreaths are so yesterday.

On Christmas we decided to make Gnocchi together. Turned out great, took us about 2 hours to make which is nice because sometimes Christmas afternoon is kind of...boring...gasp!

On Monday (the day after Christmas) we woke up bright and early and headed to Target, Hobby Lobby, and Walmart for some after Christmas sales.  I wanted to pick up a few decorations that I'd had my eye on all through December.  We were lucky and I found everything I wanted for at least 50% off, woohoo!!  That afternoon we headed to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.  Baron was in heaven and I thought it was a lot more interesting than I expected ;)

And that's it folks, that's all the pictures I took.  Don't judge that the majority are from the iphone. I'm a bad blogger. 

Coming up this week on the blog:

- Talking about a vacation that's coming up...(I'll give you a clue, it's COLD there!)

- Sharing some fun Christmas gifts

- Getting back on track with Weight Watchers (cue scary music).

I hope you all are having a great *short* week back at work.  I'm still cleaning up from Christmas and today will start with laundry. Oh my word, the amount of laundry!!

Have a great last few days of 2011, kiss your husbands, and drink lots of water!

Cheers!

2011 Recap

What a year it has been!  2011 has been the happiest year of my life, I married my happily ever after!!  We've been through a lot of changes this year and we are both so excited to be ringing in 2012 here in Alabama, together!

Here's a recap of our year in pictures (mostly by iPhone).  Whew! I'm tired all over again!

January-

1st- Rang in 2011 watching fireworks in downtown Jacksonville with Baron and one of my best friends, Ashley.

Macey didn't like the fireworks :(

4th-  Baron popped the question (and I said YES!)

February-

14th- Macey Valentine turned 3!



April-

21st- My last day of work in Labor and Delivery.  Such a hard day for me, but I am so thankful for all of the experiences I had there!  After I got off in the morning I headed home (where Baron met me) and packed up all my belongings to move them into Baron's apartment in Gainesville.  Can you say tears?

23rd- Baron and I make a road trip to Alabama to explore and find a place for us to live.

25th- Baron's 28th Birthday!! A low key dinner celebration while we were apartment hunting.

26th- We signed the lease on our new apartment "home" in Alabama.  Whew, what a relief!!

27th- One of the worst outbreaks of tornados in years took place while we were "house hunting" in Alabama.  Spent a very scary day in our hotel lobby with no electricity and lots of nerves!

The weather before it got too crazy



Baron and I huddled up in the lobby of our hotel.  Tryin' to keep smiling!



29th- Made it home just in time for Baron to walk across the stage (with his PhD!!) in Aerospace Engineering! 

May-

5th- Headed to Charleston, South Carolina with two of my best friends for a little Bachelorette getaway!

21st- Our Wedding Day!!



22nd- Headed to Alaska for a blissful two week honeymoon with my love <3



June-

11th- My best friend got married in Jacksonville! Got to hang with my friends and family one last time before moving to Alabama.

My ''little'' brother ;)



I <3 my family

12th- We finished packing up Baron's apartment and started our trip to Alabama.  Goodbye Florida!!

13th- Finished our trek and made it to our new home.  The first day in our new apartment:

July-

3rd- We added a new addition to our family, Maximillian!

7th- My friend Ashley came for a visit!



18th- Started Weight Watchers...hellllllllllo healthy eating!!

28th- My Momma came to visit for a few days!

August-

26th- I turned 26 years young!  Another low-key celebration, man we're gettin' old!!

September-

11th- My best friend came for a quick visit and made a road trip all the way back to Florida with me!  I spent a week and a half in Florida with my family while Baron was in Maryland for work.  I got to see lots of friends and family but wasn't there long enough to see everyone.  Can't wait to go back!

October-

October was uneventful.  We continued house hunting, training Max, and trying to eat healthy.

November-

9th- We submitted an offer to build our dream home.

10th- Our offer was accepted and we are under contract!!

My future kitchen :)

Our empty lot

23rd- We met both of our families at a cabin in Blue Ridge, Georgia for Thanksgiving.  Spent a wonderful few days together and had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner if I do say so myself.



December-

17th- Max graduated from Obedience Class! 

Pin says, "Recall Race Champion"   

And now here we are, about to celebrate our first Christmas and New Years together! Thanks for being so good to us, 2011!!

Broken Laptop

Hey y'all, I'm coming to you via my trusty iPad.

Why??

Well I may have broken both computers in my house. I plead innocent but I was, in fact, the last one to be using both computers when they stopped working. Oops!

So I'm not ignoring the good ol' blog just can't type much with the current options ;)

Hope to catch up soon!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours!

We wish you the happiest of holidays and a 2012 full of blessings!