A Ladybug's Journey

We started our own tradition tonight, going to a movie on Easter.  We saw G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  I loved it, maybe better than the first, though I was a little disappointed towards the start of the movie.  Anyhow, here's some pics! =) G.I. Joe: Retaliation Movie Date! (He never smiles) Our ticket stubs.

Holiday's are always a hard time for me to be away from my family.  While we aren't a particularly close family, we did always come together around holiday's and spend time together.  Being 3000+ miles away obviously inhibits that from happening. An Easter tradition in my immediate family is to go to Swenson's for lunch.  This started when my sister Kristina would give up ice cream for lent, and then want only the best on Easter when she could indulge again.  Not sure if they are doing it this year, but I wish I was there to make sure they did!  My favorite lunch from there is the sourdough cheeseburger, it's crusted grilled using a parmesan spread that's to die for!  Their fries are also amazing... thick cut steak house style fries, that my family always leaves to eat with our ice cream.  There's just something about the soft potato inside and the crispy fry exterior mixed with the sweet ice cream that's a match made in heaven.  Oh, I miss that pla

I usually dread going to the doctor - like the plague.  I think most people do, but for those who are overweight it's a unique kind of torture.  If it isn't bad enough feeling bad about yourself and your weight problems, you have a health care professional preaching about how much weight loss would improve your quality of life.  For some people hearing this once is enough to snap them out of it and they turn themselves around... this does not happen to most people. I've always been told about my family history, about my young age, about options (medical and otherwise), and I made excuses, and lied about what I had been trying, and eventually would just switch doctor's, or stop going all together for a while. Last May I decided to stop hiding from the doctor's and to start going whenever they told me to, however often they told me to.  I have a doctor that I officially 'belong' to, but I don't actually see him. In stead I see a nurse practitioner who

I did it, I tried to make vegetable soup again... and I LOVED it!!! Okay, it's not the famous 0 P+ WW soup, but it is a 3 point soup, and I loved it.  Baby steps here, right? I used olive oil, an onion, two carrots, a potato, a parsnip, diced tomatoes, spices and beef broth.  It was amazing, and I've eaten it twice since last night.  Oh, and it was fast AND easy!  What could be better? Well, not being sick, that could be better.  I got sick on Sunday and haven't been able to shake it.  The soup helped though, a lot. Back to resting and trying to get better... getting in my servings of fluid for sure today!  =)

I'm (usually) one of those pinners who says "that's awesome!" and then never does anything with their pins.  I've tried a few recipes and saved a ton of stuff for later, but I just haven't gotten around to most of them. There was one pin in particular that really stuck with me.  I originally pinned it over a year ago: (Still looking for original source for pic) A few months ago I created my jars, and I've been using them since the start of January. It wasn't until last night though that I added the words and they were officially done. I also added a hidden motivator: As I loose weight there will be a 'hidden' message revealed through the back of the jar.  Can you read backwards to guess what it is? It's been great moving over a total of 19 stones from one jar to the other.  I can't wait until they even out, and then the Pounds Lost jar has the most stones in it!

I tried something new today and made mini taco shells out of wonton wrappers.  I used them to make yummy chicken taco's! =)   I took the wonton wrappers, sprayed one side with cooking spray and draped them over the edges of my Pyrex baking dishes.  I didn't spray the dishes, but next time I will, or spray both sides of the wrappers since they did stick a bit. I put them in a 400º F oven for about 10 -12 minutes.  About halfway done I rotated the Pyrex dishes around to try to get a more even color. When they seemed to be a nicely golden color I took them out of the oven and removed them from the Pyrex and onto a plate to cool. I topped each one with not-so-refried black beans (made black beans and then pureed with an immersion blender, same consistency without the added calories), guacamole, chicken, cole slaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots), Mexican cheese and green onions.  This was absolutely amazing and I can't wait to make them gain on Tuesday, but with t

Thursday at work there was a potato chip tasting going on.  Now, I am a self proclaimed potato chip addict, so I made it a point to not go in the room where the tasting was going on, however when some were brought out to us, I couldn't resist but try a couple new flavors that caught my eye. The one that stuck with me the most was the one I thought I would hate.  I didn't.  It's a strange feeling eating something that you don't think you, or anyone, should like, and yet you can't stop eating them.  Well, "can't stop" means that out of a little Dixie sized up that was brought to 4 people to share, I went from a tiny crumb, to a small piece, to a whole chip.  Then they were gone, and I didn't have to worry anymore.  Until someone gave Jessy a small bag to take home.  He ate half, I ate half, recorded the points and they are gone.  But they are strangely good.  Very strangely. They are sweet, savory, have a hint of shake n bake, and syrup, and

I love the pools.  There's just something freeing about the weightless feeling of floating in water that I absolutely adore.  A friend suggested that I should try water aerobics, and I'm so glad they did.  I friggin LOVED it!  I can't wait until next week when I get to go again.  I'll only be going for the rest of the month (Saturday's) because next month I'll start a plus size yoga class.  I'm so excited for that one also.  I'm hoping that with the new shift bid at work Jessy will be able to get an earlier schedule.  It would free me up to be able to go to the evening classes during the week.  We'll see. =) Source

... my dreaded 'pre' photos.  While I understand that I'm not exactly at my starting weight, I could not bring myself to take photos like this before today.  I'm still having trouble coping with the fact that I took them at all. I'm toying with the idea of taking new photos tomorrow, and only taking photos on my weigh in days, so that I can track my measurements with the photos, but since I worked up the gumption today I wanted to start with these. I know that I'm in a striped shirt, but that's what I wore to work today (with a work appropriate top to cover my shoulders) and I thought about changing, but the stress of 'what will I wear for y before photos' was almost enough to make me back out.  So I went with that I'm wearing now. Without further adieu, me.  Close-up face, front                                        Close-up face, side  Upper legs & torso, front                                           Upper legs & tors

I don't like veggies.  This is not something that I am happy with, but it's something that I accept, though I'm trying to change it. In our Weight Watchers meeting on Friday the famous 0 Point Garden Vegetable Soup was listed, and I said this is it, I'm going to go for it.  Everyone loves it, it looks delicious, I'm going to make it. I did. I hated it. Jessy didn't care for it either, he liked it even less than I did. A whole pot of soup got thrown away. Here's to the next try.

Since the ornaments that we made yesterday had to cool overnight (come down from a couple thousand degrees to room temp), we weren't able to bring them home until today. We went to pick them up today, and I wanted to post the finished pieces.  I absolutely love them and can't wait for Christmas. Mine                                                           Jessy's

The glass blowing class at Studio West was SOOOO much fun!  I can't wait to do another one, maybe in a few months.  It would be even better to go with a group of people that we all know. While waiting for the studio to open, we took a pic. These are our HAPPY faces... Can't you tell? First, a feel for the glass.  We were given a bit of molten glass and allowed to handle it any way we wanted... They were all globs that got recycled, but it was still fun. During the process we got to heat our own pieces.  The glory hole (red hot glowing circle) is where you heat the glass that you are working in. While we didn't get to shape our ornaments, we did get to blow in them to create the air bubble and therefore the ornament. We also got to shape the hook where you would put the wire/thread in order to hang the ornament.

I haven't had to attend a mental 'Food AA' meeting in a while.  I don't think about food all the time like I did before.  Planning has helped.  I can't stress the importance of planning, along with tracking, if you are trying to loose weight. On Saturday mornings (if not Thursday/Friday), I plan out dinners for the rest of the week.  From there I build my shopping list for the grocery store.  This has also had the added benefit of saving us money, food isn't getting wasted and we're not going to the store all the time. To help with my planning I've come up with 'theme' nights.  These are loose themes that are just a guide to help me come up with meals: Monday - Mexican Monday, Meatloaf Monday, Meatball Monday, Meatless Monday Tuesday - Takeout Tuesday, Taco Tuesday, Tortellini Tuesday Wednesday - Whatever Wednesday, Wacky Wednesday Thursday - Through the Fire Thursday (grill night) Friday - Fishy Friday, Pizza Friday (I know, Pizza and

After last weekend, eating out so much, not tracking my points, etc. I am happy to say that I did not have a gain this week.  Even better?  I achieved TWO milestones today! 5% of starting weight, GONE 3rd 5lb loss Even Weight Watchers Online threw me a mini celebration!   That was GREAT to see.  Made me want to go out and run... but since it was time for dinner I did that instead. Want to see my milestones so far? Ok, so, when I selected my next weight loss goal that last star went away, but I made sure to get this screen shot first, so that I could remember this feeling.  It's amazing. My next goal will be at 10% weight loss, which will be 299.8 lbs.  That will be a HUGE milestone for me, as not only will it be the 10% reached, and all the 5lbs that it will take from now to then... I'll be under 300 lbs.  I don't think I've been under 300 since around 2004.  That's huge.  That's amazing!  It will be lighter than I have been in 9 years. I

Wow, what a weekend... well, since Thursday actually. We picked up Celia in Portland on Thursday, had lunch at Pambiche (Cuban restaurant in Portland) and then drove over to Astoria for the night.  On Friday we explored Astoria (and Goonies film locations), visited Cannon Beach, toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory and drove home.  Saturday we visited Crater Lake and Sunday we went to Skinner's Butte, and Hop Valley.  What a busy weekend we had! Astoria is beautiful, and filled with so much to do, I had no idea.  I want to go back and spend a weekend there to really be able to do everything that there is do to.  I also want to drive down the coast with more time, maybe overnight somewhere about halfway down.  It's such a beautiful place, and there's so much to see and do, I want to give it the attention it deserves.  Maybe in the summer when the sky is blue and clear. Here's a rundown (with just a few pics) of the past few days.  I had a great time and I can't