Best. Day. Ever.

Today has been a very exciting day.

First, my abs hurt like crazy due to some crazy contraption that I was playing with at the gym. Second, my husband let me have my Valentine's Day present early. I took a picture for all to see. He found some gorgeous peridots. I'm sure you're wondering what could be better than gorgeous peridots? My husband has a job. Well, almost. He's going through the background check right now and then they're offering it, I guess. So exciting!

I guess that means we'll be moving sooooon!

A little fun with questions

Kate from Diary of a Blonde tagged me in this cute little interview thing. So let's give it a whirl!

Rules:
1. You must post these rules.
2. Each per­son must post 11 things about them­selves on their blog.
3. Answer the questions the tag­ger set for you in their post, and cre­ate 11 new ques­tions for the people you tag to answer.
4. You have to choose 11 peo­ple to tag and link them on the post.
5. Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.
6. No tag backs.

Facts About Moi:
1. Graduating from college has been my greatest achievement to date. It only took six years which also included countless boyfriends, two engagements and one marriage! 
2. My favorite piece of jewelry is my wedding ring, my next favorite is all of my Peridot jewelry.
3. My love of Mexican food drives my husband bonkers. Whenever he suggests we go out to eat, my list consists of all of my favorite Mexican restaurants. His list generally consists of Thai, Sushi and Chinese. Problems tend to arise. 
4. I have a strong aversion to self-professed "Bitches" and "Bad Boys". I, especially, don't like bad boys. They're rude, caustic, and worthless. Why would I go for a bad boy when a nerd is so much cuter?
5. Toxic friends are one of my biggest pet peeves. Ditto on toxic significant others.
6. Accounting is something I'm doing for the time being, but probably don't want to do for the long term. 
7.  My favorite food is Mac & Cheese with a can of Tuna. Whenever I'm down, my husband will make me a bowl to cheer me up. It generally does the job.
8. I absolutely love the beauty of Seattle. It's gorgeous here. But I could do without the traffic.
9. The Hunger Games Trilogy is one of my top five book series of all time
10. I haven't had a hair cut since June...it's January. 
11. I love the style from eras that have long passed, especially the 40s 50s and 60s.

Q's From Kate:
1. Who is your favorite Disney Princess and why? Ariel. She risked everything for someone she loved and nearly lost it all.
2. If you could change your major, what would you change it to? Either Astrophysics (which was my original major prior to Accounting) or Midwifery
3. What is your best talent? Coding websites, despite my lack of training and probably my ability to sing.
4. Where would you most like to travel to? Aix-en-Provence in France. <3
5. What is your New Years Resolution? To lose weight, to be healthier, to take care of myself and my marriage.
6. Sweet or Savory? Both. At the same time. Yum.
7. What was the last song you listened to? Ellie Goulding's "Your Biggest Mistake"
8. Which celebrity would you have sex with, no questions asked? Ewan McGregor. I hope my husband isn't reading this...
9. What is your favorite TV show and why is it so great? 30 Rock. It can make me double over laughing  every time.
10. Would you rather be at the beach or in the snow? Both are awesome, but there's something that is wonderful about an ocean beach
11. What is your heritage? Irish. From my freckles down to my temper.

Q's From Me:
1. What is one item you can not live without?

2. If you could live anywhere in the world, money not being an object, where would you live?

3. What's something that can move you to tears because of it's beauty?

4. What is your greatest achievement to date?

5. Which celebrity would you have sex with, assuming your significant other was out of the picture?

6. What is your dream job and why would you want to do it?

7. What is something you wish to achieve in the future?

8. What is your comfort food when you're down?
9. What is your favorite kind of chocolate?
10. What is your all time favorite song?
11. What is your favorite thing about the current season?

11 Friends:
1. Colleen
2. Danielle

3. James

4. Hailey

5. Tim
6. Tom
7. Stephanie
8. Jeremy
9. Aly
10. Lacey
11. Courtney

Relax and let live

I'd love to relax here...

This month has been stressful at best, reason for a person to be committed at worse. Thankfully, no one has managed to commit me and my emotional breakdowns have not been large enough to totally take me out of service. In fact, my emotional breakdowns happen to coincide with the two days of the week that are reserved for relazing: the weekend. So, instead of hanging with friends, playing Xbox, going on dates with my husband, my time has been spent mindlessly sifting through pins on Pinterest or sleeping. Thankfully, Pinterest is enough to completely chill me out after five to ten minutes, but the lying in bed and sleeping/sulking/refusing to remove myself from the dent that my body has created in the bed needs to stop. And after a confusing, frustrating and emotional resurgence of my good friend, Depression, on Saturday, I knew something had to be done.
My husband says that I live as if I'm continually running from crisis to crisis, few of them my own. For the most part I'm in agreement, but I think of it as being in almost a constant fight or flight mode. No matter how we define it, this constant stress still makes me a complete wreck more often than not. Well, starting Sunday, which happened to be yesterday, I promised myself that I will try to take everything that happens in stride. Try to relax and live this life. There should be no reason that I need to spend hours on Pinterest just to calm down after a stressful day. To spend more time laughing and being with my husband and puppy. They make me smile the most. Most of all, though, accepting that we can not force our lives to take a certain route. Everything happens for a reason. St. Francis of Assisi said it best, "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Amen.

This makes me smile

So far, my attempts have not been fruitless. Despite running a bit late this morning, I just smiled, took a deep breath and just reminded myself that I would get to work shortly and that things would be okay. In fact, I managed to joke with my husband about the one thing that tends to set me off most, clothing. Or rather, my lack of cute clothing that fits. So far, it feels like I've accomplished so much by not freaking out, or even stressing about, the little things in life.
My husband is probably reading this and either nodding his head encouragingly, hoping that I'll keep it up or rolling his eyes, because I'm a neurotic crazy person. Or, more likely, both.

All I want for Christmas is...

The holidays are a time for family and being home. Unfortunately, home is a rather flexible term right now for our little family. We currently live with my husband's parents, who graciously took us in while we tried to get out feet under us. Six months later, we are still hopeful that my husband will find a job, but having so little space and not being able to start our lives is truly wearing on us. Right now, I'm writing this while my husband plays video games. Let's just say that it's hard to concentrate and write at the same time. But I don't want to ask him to turn it down or try to choose something that is more, well...silent, because this is our spot. The little area where we can be ourselves and pretend is home. For now.

So the one thing I want for Christmas is for my husband to get a job, so we can start making the home we've been dreaming of. I know he is trying his hardest and that the economy sucks so terribly bad, but please, if there is a god, please, let this happen for our family. I would be forever thankful and I know James, who is going stir crazy, would be thankful as well.

Moving right along

Today will be my first weekly check-in regarding my weight loss plan!

Check In #1
Weight Lost: 0
-Diet: Eating better was difficult at first, there was that tiny meltdown discussed a couple days ago. But, I'm happy to report I'm doing much better. Actually, my husband and I had ice cream last night after a very adorable date, and it tasted way too sweet. My diet is for sure evening out.
-Working Out: Started this on Friday. Friday was a seven mile walk. Yesterday was a half mile run. Today is a rest day for a lot of reasons (More on that shortly...). This week, aside from tomorrow, should be better for exercising. I just need to get my butt out of bed in the morning! I'm forcing myself to either do a run around the block or go to the gym that I have a membership at but never attend.
-Overall: This has been a gradual change to my diet and my exercise habits and I think they are working thus far.

Now for the topic everyone wants to talk about and the reason I'm not running/exercising today....My best friend is having her baby today!! Last I heard she's being induced. We're going back to the hospital in a bit to check on her. But it's exciting!

Baby steps

So, last Sunday I posted regarding my weight loss plan. Honestly, so far, I've been pretty terrible at it. The first day I tried pretty much surviving on as little as possible and then broke and started scarfing everything I could...including a Caramel Brulle Latte. And that latte was so not a skinny one. So first day, I failed in an epic fashion. Second day, armed with some delicious and nutritious snacks, my day was so much better than the one prior. Wednesday came around, same deal. I ate even less, snacked some, and felt amazing. So, I guess the first step for myself was to eat better. Exercising comes after the eating better part. Now, my desire for refined sugars and starchy foods is super limited. (I actually just want to snack on a handful of almonds and dried cranberries. Yum!) We currently have two bags of Hershey's kisses and I've only had five over the past four days. There just isn't a desire for me to eat them! In addition to losing my sweet tooth, my energy has gone up immensely. Today, my husband and I are going to a local park and walking five miles to our favorite doggy park at Marymoor and then the five miles back. Our puppy is going to be so tired, but I'm trying to find reasons to get us out and about because we both feel like we need to "get rid of" the weight.
On the bright side, my ability to keep up and manage the exercise part this next week may not be as bad as the week prior. After all, I have more energy!

Four Day Weekend!

The world is right with a coffee...

Today I managed to duck out of the office a little early. This was due to my desire to begin my four day weekend as well as the fact that I was running out of things to do...and things that my mind could handle. In the middle of the day a terrible migraine popped up and almost took me out. But after a ton of water, some queso and carrots, and Advil, my migraine was disappearing and I was a functioning member of society. Well. For the most part.
So I ducked out, in my rain boots, that were purchased yesterday due to total soakage while walking around Seattle the past few days, grabbed my signature drink (Grande Skinny Caramel Macchiato) and waited for the 252 to show up. The picture pretty much sums up my wait. Relaxing because the four day weekend I have been dreaming of has arrived.
In college, four day weekends were pretty normal. There was always some holiday the school was close for. In the real world, though, those days are few and far between. So four whole days...is like magic. My weekend is already planned! Aside from Thanksgiving my plans consist of lounging around in pajamas, eating at our local breakfast place, playing video games, and spending quality time with my husband that I see so rarely, or so it seems.
I know that this is also a time to be thankful. And believe me, I am thankful. I'm about as thankful as I can be....for the four day weekend.

Some weight loss tips

Due to my plan to lose some weight and be healthy again, I'm posting some great weight loss tips that I've managed to find via some Googling. Applying a few of these tips to your life can help shed lots of weight.

1. Take the stairs. My office is a very old building in Pioneer Square in Seattle, so taking the stairs scares me just a bit. But you can lose up to 300 calories if you go up and down the stairs for thirty minutes. I think I can manage that a day.
2. Prepare your own meals. Thankfully, this already happens for me for all meals except for breakfast. To combat this, I'm going to be waking up at an insane hour to assure that I can get to gym, get a shower and eat a good breakfast.
3. No pop. Ever. Empty calories. So not worth it.
4. Drink water before a meal. Anyway that you can make your brain go "Oh! I'm full!" much earlier than normal is going to be helpful on the weight loss road.
5. Eat five, small meals a day. Simple logic. The more snacks/small meals between meals, the less likely you'll be to gorge yourself when your next meal comes along.
6. Stay positive.

Getting my fitness on!

My life has been a whirlwind since I married my husband. Graduating college, moving in with my in-laws, receiving an awesome job, best friend getting ready to have her first child, husband struggling to find a job, economy taking a royal beating. It's been stressful, to say the least. And since I got married I have gained about...well, far too much for me to be comfortable with. But today, after stepping on the scale, I made a vow that I'm going to try to keep. I'm going to lose the weight.

Maybe it's my vanity that makes me want to lose the weight so I can attempt to be what society sees as beautiful. Maybe it's the fact that struggling to breathe because of asthma that wasn't there prior to the weight is starting to get to me. Maybe it's my desire to never have a freak out that sounds like omgimsofathowdigetthiswayihatemyselfnothingfits. More than likely, it's an accumulation of all of these things. No matter what, though, it ends here.

As many of my friends and Facebook friends know, my major in college was in accounting, which requred a large amount of business classes. In laymans terms, I'm a planner. So, below is a management plan for my weight loss. My management professor would be insanely proud, I'm sure.

Mission Statement: To become healthier through daily exercise and losing forty-two pounds, thus returning to a pre-wedding weight.

1. Maintain a daily exercise regimen
1. Wake up at 4:45 in the morning on Mondays through Thursdays for one hour exercise sessions at the gym
2. Either Fridays or Saturday require the gym, but one must be a rest day
3. Yoga sessions on Sundays
4. Train to start running long distances to help build up strength with lungs
2. Maintain a healthy diet
1. No. More. Fast. Food. (Everyone should now sell their stock in McDonalds and Jack in the Box)
2. At Starbucks, one of my greatest weaknesses due to me being a Seattlite, nothing with milk. Straight coffe and tea are okay.
3. Introduce more fruits and veggies as snacks
4. Eat a healthy, hearty breakfast each morning
3. Stay on top of plan
1. Work with husband, as he's going to be trying to lose weight too
2. Monitor food consumption and exercise daily
3. Report to this blog every Sunday regarding the progress of the plan

This will take me at least six months to accomplish, but with determination and hard work my husband and I can make it work.

Wish me luck!

A time to be thankful...

Lately, there have been many posts on my facebook regarding people being thankful for something each day. This is a brilliant idea, to state what you're thankful for, as it makes you realize how thankful you are for the things you take for granted. The only downfall is, I don't particularly care for some people's thankfulness...nor their terrible grammar. I decided to follow suit, because, like I said, I think it's important you vocalize what you're thankful for, but without spamming my friends' news feeds.

So, ten things I'm thankful for...
1) My husband. The man who is always on my side, makes me laugh, brightens my day, and loves me despite my problem...of being insane. He was crazy enough to marry me after four months of dating, and even though many people doubted our relationship would last without out any outside forces, let alone weather things like a terrible economy, financial problems, life changes, we still are trucking along. Me and him. Him and I. We're in it for the long haul. And I'm thankful that the man I'm going to spend the rest of my days with is him.
2) My family. The people who raised me and shaped me into the woman I am today. They have helped me accomplish so much in my life and have picked me up when I have fallen down. And I have fallen down quite a few times. They bought me my first car, pushed me through college, and were my emotional life lines. And while they make me insane sometimes, I love them with all of my heart.
3) My In-Laws. My second family, is what this should say. The people who took us into their home and have allowed us to live there while we get our feet under us. They have been understanding, patient, and loving. I love them both very much. And I couldn't be more thankful for them.
4) Sasha. Our little bundle of fur and urine. Thankfully she doesn't smell like urine as much as she used to! Sasha has been our little baby since we met her that day in January. She has grown up so much and is the sweetest, kindest dog I've ever known. When we have children, she is going to love to have someone that can play with her.
5) Stephy. When you've known someone since you were twelve and you're not twenty-five, to say you have some history is a grave understatement. This woman. She had loved me, when others have kicked me down. Always, and I mean always been there for me. She has stood up for me. Loved me. Protected me. And been one of the greatest friends in the world. I feel lucky to be her best friend and to be involved with her and her pregnancy. To be part of this life-changing moment. I love her so much and I hope she knows that.
6) Education. Having an education is, for sure, a good way to get a step up in the world. Which is why I'm so thankful for it. Thankful for having the opportunity to study something that will impact my future and my family's future.
7) A Job. With a capital J. Something that does so much more than pay the bills. I feel so blessed to have something while many of my friend struggle to make ends meet and fight the economy.
8) Friends. I'm thankful for those that have supported me and loved me through everything. Especially the ones that were there for all of my exciting moments in life.
9) Family Friends. In particular one. My mother's best friend. The woman who held me after I cried my eyes out after going to a friend's funeral even though she was having a dinner party. She kept my mother sane during the planning of my wedding. She has loved me and my family for as long as I've known her and I'm forever thankful for her.
10) Love. It really does make the world go 'round.