5 Down and Vegas Bound

This week was my second weigh-in since I have restarted my Weight Watchers program and I am proud to say that I have lost my first five pounds! I've been working on incorporating more exercise into my everyday activities and I am definitely reaping the benefits. I can definitely tell a difference- I have been sleeping better, I have WAY more energy and I actually am starting to enjoy exercising. I have five more months to lose the other 25 pounds and get to my goal weight and I am excited to see even more changes in myself. I may decide later that I want to lose a little more weight, but for now my goal of thirty pounds seems so reasonable that I'm going to stick with it. Plus, this is the weight that I was when I started dating my husband so I know that it is definitely possible.

In other news, today my darling husband and I booked our trip for our first wedding anniversary. We are heading to Vegas baby! I have never been and we have been talking about going ever since we started dating so we decided that it would be the perfect getaway to celebrate our first year of marriage. The thing I'm most excited about? We are planning on renewing our wedding vows at a drive-through chapel! We decided when we were engaged that we wanted to renew our vows every year on our anniversary in a different place and it seems perfect that our first vow renewal will be in the tackiest place possible(hopefully we will be in the backseat of a cab for this). We had the big fancy wedding- now we just want to have fun and come back with some great memories. I can't wait!

Coffee Mocha Recipe

I have been doing really well with sticking to my weight loss program. I have been using my Weight Watcher points, getting regular exercise, and spending a lot less time sitting on the couch channel surfing :) This morning I really wanted one of those fancy coffee drinks that they sell at Starbucks and other coffee chains, so I made up a WW friendly recipe and it came out pretty darn good!

Coffee Mocha
2 Tbsp nonfat milk
1/2 cup brewed strong coffee
1/8 cups chocolate chips
2 Tbsp processed cocoa
handful of ice cubes
2 Tbsp Splenda

I simply put all of these ingredients into a plastic cup and used my immersion blender to mix them until the concoction was frothy and delicious. It turned out great and didn't cost the usual 4 bucks that it would at a fancy coffee shop. I calculated this recipe to be worth 4 WW PointsPlus.

My Book List

Okay, I think I've finally decided on the list of books that I will read this year! I will keep this list as a reminder, but I may end up substituting some of them for other titles during the course of the year (this is what happens when you come from a family of people who are all as obsessed with reading as you are- you get stacks of free books!).

My List (For Now)
1) "Emma" by Jane Austen (I'm currently reading this so I added it)
2) "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
3) "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" by Stieg Larrson
4) "Frida" by Kahlo
5) "Michael Jackson: A Life in Music" by Geoff Brown
6) "I'm Not the New Me" by Wendy McClure
7) "Eight Cousins" by Louisa May Alcott
8) "Planting Dandelions" by Kyran Pittman
9) "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
10) "Why Do Catholics Do That?" by Kevin Orlin Johnson
11) "The Miracle of Saint Anthony" by Adrian Wojnarowski
12) "Lucky Man" by Michael J Fox
13) "The Fallback Plan" by Leigh Stein
This is as far as I have gotten... if anyone has any good books I can add please let me know! :)

2012- The Year of Actually Keeping My Resolutions :)

So every year I make a New Year's resolution. Usually I try to keep them very vague so that I'm not disappointed if I end up breaking them (eat better, walk more, read more, etc.). Not this year though! I have made two resolutions this year that I plan on keeping.

1) Lose thirty pounds by June 4th. This will be my one-year wedding anniversary. I want to be more energetic, have less stress about my clothing not fitting, and just be healthier! On January 1st I joined Weight Watchers online and I am already working towards my goal. I will be weighing in every Sunday morning so I'll update on my successes(or lack thereof).
2) Read twenty-five books. I find myself spending a lot of time staring at the tv and not really getting anything productive out of it. My plan is to make a list of the twenty-five books that I have always wanted to read and then work towards accomplishing this goal. I have the time to read and I should do it now as a stress-reliever instead of wasting time watching reality tv shows. I will make my list some time in the next few days and post it here.

These are my resolutions and I am excited to say at this time next year- goals accomplished!

Grateful

This week I have been thinking a lot about how thankful I am for so much in my life. Usually this time of year is stressful and crazy and I never get to do all the things I set out to accomplish. This year I decided it was going to be different though. I wanted to make sure that I took advantage of the Christmas season and not have any regrets; so far I've done pretty well!

My life is so completely different from what it was a year ago. New town, new job(s!), new people, even a new name! :) Christmas has always been my favorite time of year but this year it has meant so much more because I get to spend it with my husband. I love that this year we get to go every place together. When we were dating long distance it was always so difficult to figure out whose house we would be at and at what time, where we were going to meet up, etc. This year I get to get in the car with him and just go! I have to say that of all the things that have changed for me this holiday season, the one I am most thankful for is the fact that I get to share Christmas with my family, which now includes one very special guy :)

Mmmmm Winter Soup

It has been so cold and rainy lately that I felt like I wanted to make some soup to warm us up this week. I found a recipe for Beer Cheese Soup online and then tweaked it to fit my own taste :) It came out deliciously cheesy and super filling so I just made a pan of cornbread to go with it and I'm happy to say it was definitely husband-approved.


Beer Cheese Soup
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 cup green onion
salt and pepper
1/3 cup flour
3 cups milk
1 12 oz bottle or can of beer, preferably a lager so the flavor is stronger (I used Yuengling because it happens to be my husband's favorite)
1 1/2 teaspoons spicy mustard
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
croutons to garnish

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the green onion and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the flour and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. Increase the heat to medium high and add the beer and mustard and bring soup to a boil, still whisking. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes, whisking occasionally to prevent lumps.
3. Once soup has thickened, add the cheese one handful at a time and stir well to let it melt. I kept mine on low heat while doing this which helped the cheese melt easier. Season with some salt a pepper, top with croutons, and enjoy! My husband also added some chunks of cooked ham to his and loved it.

I Won!

After much asking and begging and bargaining with my darling husband, I have finally gotten him to cave! I have been wanting to put up our Christmas decorations for WEEKS now and he was being very stern about the fact that decorations are not to be put up until the first day of December. I, on the other hand, have always thought that the day after Thanksgiving was the Day of Decorating. That's how it always was in my family and I always loved that the holidays just moved right from one to the other this way.

To cut a long story short, after a very unfortunate (for him) instance of him needing me to scratch his back and me threatening never to do it, we are now going to be putting up our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving! I am so happy! I have been picking up some random things for the house over the last few weeks and now I finally get to put them to use. I can not wait! I work 9am to 8pm the day after Thanksgiving, but no matter what I WILL have Christmas decorations up in our house by the time the day is over :)

Growing up in my family, my parents had a tradition of buying my sisters and I a new ornament each year. Our tree always looked a little crazy with all of our different choices but I loved it and I plan to continue that tradition with my own family. This year Ethan picked a few ornaments because he didn't have as many as I did and I bought my pick last week. (Click on the links to see pictures of our ornaments!)