Guess what I am? Here's your hint. Child hood game, someone's "it", runs around and tries to get other people?

Yep, I've been tagged. Katy at Follow Me To I Do tagged me by default...apparently it's dangerous to be a "Follower". LOL

Anyway, here are the rules...Open the folder with all of your photos. Open your 6th photo folder. Take your 6th photo in that folder and blog it. Write something about it. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.

This picture is from May of last year, when I was still planning my wedding. The BFF, The MIL and I all went to the Bridal Expo at our city's convention center. This was the fashion show, complete with male "strippers". Hey, I'm not saying "no" to a little free eye candy every now and then!

I think this 'tag' stinks because I have so many more interesting photos than this one! I was totally tempted to cheat and pick out a better one, but you've gotta learn to play by the rules at some point in your life, right? :-)

Well, I'm tagging:

Irene at My Red Kitchen

The BFF at Samantha's Saga

MFN at Monkeyface and Baldy

Amber at The Border of Reality

Jen at Happily Ever After

Lyndsey at I Could Do A Lot In Fifteen Minutes

And my work here is done.

"Fresh and full of life..."

Am I the only person out there who can't start a roll of Fruity Mentos without finishing it?!

Surely I'm not alone.

I hope.

...anyone?

Back to the Future

So yesterday I told you all about how we knew that we would be using the Back to the Future theme song in the wedding. Today, I figured it's only fair to show you the video of the proposal.

Plus, I just really like to watch it. LOL.

A few things you should know:

The Hubs knew that I wanted a few things to happen when he proposed. My perfect proposal would 1) have taken some sort of effort on his behalf to pull off 2) would be done in public and 3) would be videotaped for posterity. Later on, I felt like I was putting too much pressure on the guy who would rather blend into the background than be in the spotlight, so I told him that it didn't have to be in public, but it DID have to be videotaped somehow.

I absolutely love fireworks. The Hubs' and my very first date was to a small county fireworks show on the 4th of July, and every year my city throws a HUGE Labor Day bash where hundreds of thousands of people head toward the river banks to watch the biggest fireworks display in the Midwest. The Hubs and I haven't missed a year since we started dating, and we go down the day before to mark our territory with duct tape, dollar store shower curtain liners, and Sharpies. The Hubs knows it's one of my favorite things in the whole wide world, despite the crazy crowds and the heat.

So it wasn't a big surprise when we decided to go to the fireworks in 2007. Little did I know, he was planning the most perfect proposal ever...

We had picked out my engagement ring back in February, so I knew the proposal could be at any time. Jack got two of The Kids to come along, Candice (who did our reading) and Harby-Man (the best man, who you can hear saying "we're probably standing in peoples' way..." at the beginning of the video. ) Harby videotaped, I obliviously reveled in one of my favorite experiences, and The Hubs sat there sweating it the whole time. (Some other day, I'll tell you about how he actually lost the ring earlier that day...)

Well, the time came, and he said "It all started with the fireworks, didn't it?" and the rest, you can see on this video.

A couple of things to notice:

1. At about :23 in, The Hubs gives a creepy look to Harby-Man. He was making sure the video was going.
2. At about 1:10, the Back to the Future Theme starts. 1:53 is my favorite part, and in my head, I hear those fireworks crackling every time I hear that part of the song.
3. At about 1:32, you can hear me say "Can we sit down now?!" because we had been standing in peoples' way for about 2 minutes at that point.

Enjoy!

"For once in my life" Part Two: The Ceremony

I spent a lot of time on our ceremony. In fact, I researched it, and wrote the whole darn thing by myself. (With some input from The Hubs, of course). Even though our ceremony was in a church, it was very important that we have a ceremony that was more spiritual than religious.

Early on, we had planned on getting married at the reception hall. This proved to be way too much drama with the hall management, so we had to find an alternate place. Meanwhile, we had already paid a non-denominational pastor his deposit. Luckily, we found a "Community Church" who was willing to let us get married there without joining or going through weeks of marriage counseling, and *bonus* even let us bring in our own pastor!

Music wise, I had a hard time picking everything out but the recessional. That was pretty much set the day we got engaged.

The Pastor and The Hubs, The Parents (all 3 sets!), and The Bridal Party all processed to Gary Schnitzer's Version of Pachelbel's "Canon in D". While I love "Canon in D", I did everything I could to find another song to use for the processional. It has just been way over used in the weddings I've attended or seen on TV in the past couple of years. In the end, though, it was perfect, and nothing else would have been right. Guess that's why so many people use it, ya think?

(The Hubs' Parents. Awesome folks!)

(MFN and The Hubs' friend Greg).

My father (who apparently forgot how to smile that day) and I walked down the aisle to a traditional version of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring".

There wasn't any music during the ceremony, but I'll share with you our two readings:

First, one of "The Kids", Candice, read "The Blessing of the Hands"

“These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever. These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future. These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other. These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind. These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and as in today, tears of joy. These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children, the hands that will help you to hold your family as one. These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it. And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.”

And later in the ceremony, after we had said our vows, my Step-Dad read "The Blessing For a Marriage" by James Dillet Freeman.

“May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding. May you always need one another -- not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete. The valley does not make the mountain less, but more. And the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you.

May you need one another, but not out of weakness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you entice one another, but not compel one another. May you embrace one another, but not out encircle one another. May you succeed in all-important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces. May you look for things to praise, often say, "I love you!" and take no notice of small faults. If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back.

May you enter into the mystery that is the awareness of one another's presence -- no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities. May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.”

After our unity ceremony, and of course, our kiss, we were husband and wife! You know how I told you earlier that our recessional song was chosen for us the day we got engaged? He proposed during my favorite thing - fireworks - and the perfect song came on just as I said yes.

We walked down the aisle together for the first time as man and wife to the "Back to the Future Theme". When ever I hear that song, I automatically think of the day I got engaged to the man of my dreams. It was the perfect ending to our beginning.

Here's The BFF (a.k.a. The MoHGuyver for the many amazing things she did that day) and The Best Man leaving the church:

Next up: The Reception (but not until I get me some sleep!)

"For once in my life, I've got someone who needs me..."

("For Once In My Life", originally by Stevie Wonder, but for this blog's purposes is sung by Michael Buble).

I thought it would be fun to do a "My Wedding, In Music" post, littered with lots of lovely pictures from that amazing day, so here you go!

In this post: The Wedding Slideshow.

We had a slideshow that played while our guests were arriving, and had we not had a 12-year-old sound technician who didn't know how to operate his equipment, we would have had these songs along with it: (I can't remember the exact order they were in, but here ya go).

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" - The Beach Boys
"Come Fly With Me" - Michael Buble

(Cute Baby Hubs, 1979)

"Stuck On You" - Elvis Presley

"Come Go With Me" - The Del Vikings

(Cool Hat Hubs, Circa 1982)

"L.O.V.E." - Michael Buble

(Video Game Obsessed Hubs, circa 1987. He's still got that Nintendo. It still works. I'm a Tetris Queen, thankyouverymuch.)

"At Last" - Etta James

(Being Eaten By A Wolf Hubs, 2006)

"Burnin' Love" - Elvis Presley

(Mrs. B. 1982. That big red thing on my head is a strawberry birth mark that thankfully went away by the time I was 3).

"This Magic Moment" - Jay and the Americans

(Mrs. B. circa 1984-85. That thing between my legs? My binky. You wouldn't catch me without it.)

"The Best Is Yet To Come" - Michael Buble (Can you tell I like the guy?)

(The only time you will EVER see Mrs. B. in a bikini, circa 1986-87)

"You Send Me" - Sam Cooke

and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" - Michael Buble

(Mrs. B. Freshman Year of High School, 1996)

There were about 10-12 pictures of us through the years, I just thought I'd pick the ones you might laugh at the most. What a good blogger friend I am! :-)

Up next: The Ceremony

"Now that it's raining more than ever, Know that we'll still have each other, You can stand under my umbrella, You can stand under my umbrella..."

("Umbrella" by Rihanna).

Long post today, sorry!

When it rains, it pours. This past week has really sucked.

Let's start with a little background: my Dad has been best friends with this one guy since high school, so I've known him my whole life. Naturally, I've known his children my whole life, too. One of his daughters is two years older than me, and we've stayed in touch through the years. She married a Seaman, I was in her wedding. I married The Hubs, she was in mine.

She got pregnant (with her 4th son) the summer before The Hubs and I got married, and she called me up in a panic. She was so scared that I was going to be mad at her for being pregnant during the wedding, and she wanted to make sure I wasn't going to freak out or kick her out of the wedding or anything. Of course, I told her I didn't care if she was pregnant and that I wasn't worried one bit about the dresses or any part of it. Here we are the day of my wedding. Me, The Navy Wife, and baby Tyler at about four months along, chillin' in her belly:

Fast forward almost four months to the day, and The Hubs and I are meandering around Kohl's on Valentine's night. My phone rings, and it's my dad.

"Hey Dad. What's up?"
"Not much, I've got some bad news."
"Okay, what happened?"
"(The Navy Wife) lost her baby."

She was less than five weeks from her due date. She had a regular doctor's appointment on Monday, and everything was fine. Saturday morning she woke up, and knew something was wrong. She told me later that she just felt like something had happened. Mother's intuition absolutely amazes me.

She went to the doctor, they did an ultrasound, and discovered that the baby was dying. Even if they had done an emergency c-section, it would have been to late. They enduced her labor later that night, and she had to give birth to her fourth son knowing he was already gone. That's the part that gets me every time I think about it. I just can't imagine how hard that must have been for her.

We found out on Thursday that Tyler's funeral service was going to be Friday in Chicago, so I called The Hubs at work, and told him we had to go.

By 4:26 am on Friday morning, I was already showered and dressed. We were on the road at 5:13. We saw the sun rise somewhere along I-70 in Indiana:

And we got to Chicago with about an hour to spare before the viewing. You know, no matter how prepared you think you are, really, you're never ready to handle a baby's funeral. A Navy Chaplain presided over the service, and then we caravan-ed to the cemetery. Because The Navy Wife's husband is still on active duty, and could be sent anywhere in the country or the world, they decided to have Tyler's body cremated. This way, they can take him with them wherever they end up. At the cemetary mausoleum, The Navy Wife placed his urn into a small glass display case along with a small blanket and a plaque with his name, and a single date: 02/14/09. It was one of the saddest experiences of my life.

After spending some time with the family at their home, we left for our return trip. The second 7 hour drive that day. We got home and in bed a little after 1 am, twenty hours after we left the house to start the trip. It was totally worth it, and I would do it again in a heart beat.

So that was downpour number 1 last week. Downpour number 2? The BFF found out she has a fibroid tumor the size of an orange making a home for itself in her uterus. She's been having rough periods, bad cramps, and the occasional fainting spell for years now, so this explains a lot. She's (obviously) devastated because the only "cure" for fibroids is a hysterectomy, and she plans on having kids some day. She's only 26, dude! She shouldn't have to be dealing with that reality. But she is. And she's finding her own way to deal with it - namely through humor. The tumor now has a name - it's Tulula. We decided (on girls' night, no less) that if it ever popped out of her stomach like in the Alien movie, we hoped it would be more like Spaceballs...

"Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gaaaaaaaaaaaal..." Yes, disgusting, I know, but funny. And I'm up for whatever helps her through it.

So now, she's focusing her energy on finding any info she can on possible solutions other than a hysterectomy. She'll beat this. I know she will. In the meantime, she can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella.

And finally, the third downpour: my cousin, who had a very difficult time getting pregnant, and suffered one previous miscarriage, had her baby last week. We were concerned because the little girl (Katie!) had to stay in the hospital for jaundice and have some EKGs done, but she got to go home with Mommy and Daddy this weekend! Yay! So there's one reproductive downpour with a rainbow at the end.

So rather than leave you all stunned and sad after reading this post, I'll make a possibly futile attempt at the light-hearted topics. The good parts of my weekend/life: Saturday night Girls' Night with The BFF and Tonja. (I just realized that Tonja is one of the only people on this blog that I don't have a pseudonym for. I'll have to work on that. For now, she's Tonja.) We ate at O'Charley's again (a girls' night favorite) and then went to see the requisite girls' night chick flick:

Now, I own the series of books. I like them. But somehow, I came away from this movie annoyed, and angry, and depressed. So annoyed, in fact, that I don't even care if you have plans to see it, I'm going to ruin the plot and ending for you. (Fair warning). Cliffs Notes version: She lives in NY, shops a lot, and runs up $16,000 worth of credit card bills on Gucci and Prada and Burberry. She gets hounded by a mean old collections agent, sells all her Gucci and Prada and Burberry, and magically pays the collections agent off in pennies.

Here's the thing. I've mentioned here before that one of my goals in life is to get out of debt, or to at least get it under manageable control. I'm doing it, and I'm proud. But there have been times in my life that I have been hounded by collections agencies. Everything the collections agent does in this movie is ILLEGAL in real life. He comes to her house, he hounds her for the money while she's live on TV, he tells other agents to tell debtors he will take everything they have away from them, humiliate them, harrass them, send them to jail, etc. All of which are downright illegal.

1. I'm annoyed that the movie's producers allowed such blatant falseties to be shown. It ruined the believability and enjoyment for me since I know that could never really happen.
2. I'm annoyed because those people in the world who aren't aware of their rights as a debtor will walk away from that movie thinking that the people who are hounding them can do the same things.

The other thing that absolutely pisses me off about this movie: she solves her problem by magically selling off the $16,000 in fancy-pants clothing and accessories in her closet. Wow! That was easy! Are you kidding me?!?! Name one person in America who has creditors breathing down her back who can just basically twiddle her nose and solve her problem Bewitched style? For those of us who are struggling to meet their responsibilities, she being able to fix it with no struggle whatsoever? It's a slap in the face.

Yes, I know the movie is a chick flick. Yes, I know it's supposed to be unbelievable, lighthearted, and you are supposed to fix every problem in less than two hours. It just struck a nerve. The movie wasn't a total loss, though. There are a couple of absolutely hilarious scenes - the dancing scene for one. Cracked. Me. Up.

So in case you're following along, here's a Girls' Night Movie Recap:

Bride Wars: B+

He's Just Not That Into You: A-

Confessions of a Shopaholic: C -

That's just one girl's opinion, though.

Oh, and you didn't think I'd write a ridiculously long post without mentioning the diet, did you? It was, after all, the reason I started this blog, even though it has morphed into something else lately.

I lost .2 pounds, bringing me in at 255.4 for the week. I'm seriously amazed, since horrible news and an impromptu trip to Chicago left much to be desired on the diet front. It is what it is. I just need to get back on that freaking treadmill and get back on track. I'm having a really hard time motivating myself to do that. Help?

Here's hoping your week is sunny and umbrella-free!

Up to the minute update update

I made it home without killing anyone, and had 1,000 calories worth of tacos for dinner.

Diet 1, McDonald's 0.

Thanks for the support, Katy! :)

Up to the minute updates...

Somebody in this office has McDonalds.

I can smell it, and I'm going to kill them.

So maybe this diet thing isn't so easy, after all. Hmmm.

"Soy un perdedor, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?"

("Loser" by Beck)

Well, technically, I'm not a loser. I'm a gainer. As in, I gained .6 pounds since last week. Bah.

But in another sense, technically, I am a loser, since I'm competing in my company's Biggest Loser Challenge starting today. Would you like to know what kind of humiliation this entailed? Well, I'll tell you, because I'm such a good blogger-friend.

First I had to take part in a fasting health screening, which meant nothing but water for me for at least 9 hours before the tests. The good news? The technician didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. My blood sugar was in the "Diabetic" range, surprise, surprise. My 'bad' cholesteral was a little high, but my good cholesteral was really high, so they kind of cancel each other out. My blood pressure was high (for the first time in my life. ever.) but both the technician and I attribute that to some very bad news I got over the weekend. (A close friend of mine suffered a terrible loss, and I'll leave it at that). But anyway, all in all, my health screening went exactly how I thought it would. I'm overweight, I'm diabetic, I have super good cholesterols.

Now, I know you're all sitting there saying, "well, that's not humiliating, now is it?". Just you wait.

After I finished my health screening, I had to go give my $20 entry fee to The Gatekeeper for TBL Challenge. Basically, this person is responsible for collecting the money, collecting the starting weights (by way of an official weigh-in in her office), and keeping a list of everyone who is participating. This is all fine and dandy, unless The Gatekeeper ends up being your boss.

So today, I walked into my boss' office and gave her $20 to watch me step on a scale and record my weight. Great! Best day at the office I ever had! Not.

It's not really a matter of not trusting her to keep things secret. I know she will. Really, it's just the fact that my boss is one of the skinniest people I have ever met, and whether you like to admit it or not, people have opinions and pre-conceived notions about obese people. I know that she could tell that I'm overweight by looking at me, but it's two different things to see someone and say, oh, I bet they weigh such-and-such, than to actually have proof of how much they weigh. I've never been met with anything other than shock when I have disclosed my actual weight to friends. They NEVER think I look like I actually weigh that much, so I can't even imagine the shock of my super-skinny boss when I stepped on that scale and she got the numbers. I'm wondering how it changed her view of me as a person.

Oh, incase you're wondering, here are the numbers. To cut down on the confusion, we're going to stick with my scale weight for this blog, which was 255.6. The scale in my boss' office said 256.2. Like I said earlier, I'm up .6 pounds. Bah.

So, anyway, TBL starts today. There is a mid-point leader prize of at least $100 which will be given away on April 20th, and then on May 18th the winner will get at least $200 and one vacation day. Just incase you're counting, that makes THREE times I get to be weighed by my boss. If you're having a hard time empathizing (is that a word?) for me, just go ahead, try to imagine walking into your boss' office, stepping on a scale, and then having him or her record your weight for prosperity. Three times. Yeah, thought so.

On an "I'm going to look at this whole thing as positively as possible or else I'll die" note, I'm really glad I'm on the Health and Wellness Committee. Being on the Committee has sort of forced me into the spotlight with the whole thing, because I had to speak at the Friday Pep Rally and I'm the one giving out all the TDP info. Everyone at the company knows I'm a part of it, and they expect me to do it and succeed. I need that motivation to keep me going - there's nothing I dread more than failing infront of a bunch of co-workers. Oh, except being repeatedly weighed by my boss. But I digress.

Part of the HWC's plan is to include on-site exercise classes. Starting this week, we've got a trainer from a local gym coming in, bringing all the necessary accoutrements, and teaching a class. Every Tuesday is Boot Camp, and every Thursday rotates between Pilates, Yoga and Total Body Sculpt for the next 10 weeks. I'm doing both classes this week, and I'm trying to recruit as many people as I can to join me. Although, I'm not really excited about shakin' it and getting all sweaty infront of my co-workers...but there could be more embarrassing things. (Like being repeatedly weighed by my boss...are you getting tired of hearing about that yet? :-))

I'll let you know how the classes go...I'm actually really excited about them because they are so convenient. How can you say no to working out at work? I don't have to drive to the gym, and I've got a great group of awesome friends going with me. I have a feeling it's going to be awesome.

In other news, here's what's going on: The Hubs got his financial aid approved to finish his Computer Network Engineering degree. Yay! He's going through the help of a Job Center, so basically that means they will pay for his schooling if he jumps through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops. Apparently he's a great hoop-jumper, because he finally got approved to start Spring Quarter, which begins March 31st. We sat down together last night and worked out his schedule.

Now, while I fully understand that this in no way compares to My Friend Natalie's (MFN from here on out) husband leaving for a year deployment in Iraq in March, I'm pretty damn depressed. He'll be gone Monday - Thursday from 6:30 am until 10:30 pm. He works until 3:45, and then will go straight to school to do homework and such until his night classes every night.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it's pretty much going to be this way for the next 2 years. You know those hoops? Well, he has to go full-time, every quarter (including Summer) until he's finished, and he must finish all of his degree requirements within two years. Yay, fun. I've lost my husband.

Truthfully, though, I know that this is all for the best. The salary in his degree field is pretty much double to triple what he's making now. He's our only hope to ever getting enough money saved up to get a house and get a life. (Me finishing my degree wouldn't change my job/salary situation any). I'm trying super hard not to be sad about everything, because I know it's hard on him already, and I don't want him to feel bad because I'm unhappy. I am happy that he's finally doing it. I'll be even happier when he gets that damn diploma.

So I guess that's it for now. I've spent most of my day answering questions on TDP, and avoiding the one person in the office whose girlfriend works for Sparkpeople. He has it out for me. LOL.

Such is life.

(and I'm really not thrilled about being repeatedly weighed by my boss. Can you tell?)

Have a great week!

Valentine's Day

Okay, so I'll be the first to admit that I'm one of those people who doesn't care about Valentine's Day unless she's got someone to celebrate it with. And since The Hubs married me, I get to care about it for the rest of my life!

Last year, it wasn't a big deal. I don't know why, but it just kind of came and went and there were some flowers and cards, but no big deal. This year, Jack was working on my Super Secret Gift, so I think that kind of upped the excitement quotient for me. I 'wasn't allowed' (read: we didn't have any) to spend any money on him, so I made him this:

It's (0bviously) a Valentine's Day Coupon Book filled with 12 coupons of various levels of raunch. I'll spare you the details. You're welcome. I handmade the coupons and the envelope using left over materials from the wedding. Total cost? $0.00 and about 3 (wo)man hours. He enjoyed it.

As for me, I finally got the one thing I've always wanted. I had asked The Ex about a million times, and I had severely hinted, and then finally flat-out begged The Hubs, and he came through. Of course he did, that's what he does. And that's why I married him (among various and numerous other reasons, of course).

Anyway, Jack called me at work during his lunch break on Wednesday "just to say hi". He never ever calls "just to say hi". But I didn't think anything of it. Then on Thursday, he called me during his lunch, but I didn't answer because I was on a conference call. Then he called again during his afternoon break. I'm thinking "boy, he's really missing me this week!" but then, about an hour later, I get these:

He had flowers delivered to my work! Yay! Finally! I have always wanted it - it's torture during holidays like these, when you see delivery guy after delivery guy coming in with huge bouquets of roses, and big heart balloons, and teddy bears, etc. and you never get anything. But I did! I don't need the huge bouquets, and the balloons, and the teddy bears. This was perfect, and colorful, and it made me happy.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, the revealing of the Super Secret Gift! Originally, this was meant to be a Christmas gift, so The Hubs also ended up not spending any money for me on Valentine's day, since he had already bought the materials. His man hours, however - there are probably over 20 man hours in this gift. It may not look complex, but The Hubs never does anything half way. And he made me something, which I just think is amazing, and totally sweet. So without further ado, here it is:

He made me a shadow box! I love it! He hand-stained the letters, carved out the center of the heart, painted it, and assembled the whole thing. Here are some close-ups:

I love it!

So last night, after we opened presents, we headed out to dinner. I had made us reservations at one of our favorite restaurants and we had a great meal. If you ever go there, you MUST get the Chicken Fried Chicken. It's hell on a diet, but man, does it taste good! It was so worth it! And then we had a city staple for desert.

Our night hit a few rough patches when we started talking about a couple of non-Valentines-y topics. I think I need to encorporate a moratorium on all non-lovey-dovey topics of conversation during Valentine, birthday, or anniversary dinners, just so that our night doesn't hit that temporary snag. All in all, though, it was a very nice night.

We got back home and went to bed, and The Hubs says "Do I have to use a coupon?"

LOL...I love that man.

Don't hate me...

Seven Deadly Sins Wrath
Who did you last get angry with?	Jack
What is your weapon of choice?	Words
Would you hit a member of the opposite sex?	If I had to.
How about the same sex?	Again, if I had to.
Who was the last person who got really angry at you?	Probably Jack.
What is your pet peeve?	Bad drivers and closed-minded people.
Do you keep grudges, or can you let them go easily?	I'm a keeper.
Sloth
What is one thing you're suppose to do daily that you haven't?	Work 8 hours.
What is the latest you've ever woken up?	Ever? Probably 1 or 2 pm when I was in high school.
Name a person you've been meaning to contact, but haven't?	My grandparents.
What is the last lame excuse that you made?	I'm busy.
Have you ever watched an infomercial all the way through?	Yep. I freaking love infomercials. LOL.
How many times did you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock this morning?	3. Every day.
Gluttony
What is your overpriced yuppie beverage of choice?	XS Energy Drinks. $2.50 for an 8.4 oz. can! Sheesh!
Are you a meat eater?	Yes, I'm definitely a carnivore.
What is the greatest amount of alcohol you've had in one sitting/outing/event?	Way too much. But that was a long time ago.
Are you comfortable with your drinking and eating habits?	Drinking? Yes. Eating? We're working on that.
Do you enjoy candy and sweets?	As much as the next normal person.
Which do you prefer: sweets, salty foods or spicy foods?	None of the above. I like fried foods. Hence the fatness.
Have you ever looked at a small house pet or child and thought, "lunch"?	Umm...no.
Greed
How many credit cards do you own?	None, but mostly because they won't give me any. LOL.
If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?	Pay bills, finish degree.
Would you rather be rich or famous?	Rich.
Would you accept a boring job if it meant that you would make megabucks?	Hell yeah.
Pride
What's one thing that you have done that you're most proud of?	I'm creative.
What's one thing you have done that your parents are most proud of?	I didn't get knocked up out of wedlock.
What thing would you like to accomplish late in your life?	I'd like to travel the US and the world.
Do you get annoyed by coming in second place?	Nah. I'm comfortable with mediocrity.
Have you ever entered a contest of skill, knowing you were of much higher skill than all the other competitors?	I don't think so.
Have you ever cheated to get a better score?	Yes.
What did you do today that you're proud of?	I ate a healthy breakfast.
Lust
How many people have you seen naked (not counting movies, family, strippers, locker rooms)?	Probably less than 10.
How many people have seen you naked (not counting physicians, doctors, family, locker rooms, or when you were a young child)?	Again, probably less than 10. (I hope!)
Have you ever caught yourself staring at the chest/crotch of a person of your chosen sex during a normal conversation?	No.
What is your favorite body part of a person of your gender choice?	Arms
Have you ever had sexual encounters (including kissing/making out) with multiple persons?	I plead the fifth.
Have you ever been propositioned by a prostitute?	Not that I know of.
Envy
What item of your friends would you most want to have for your own?	Specific item? Natalie's husband had a classic Corvette, but it's gone now.
Who would you want to go on "Trading Spaces" with?	Sam because we have similar styles and she wouldn't let them do anything crazy.
If you could be anyone who existed in the world, who would you be?	Someone who is a good person and has expendable money.
Have you ever been cheated on?	Yep.
Have you ever wished you had a physical feature different from your own?	All. the. freaking. time.
What inborn trait do you see in others that you wish you had for yourself?	Hard-workers.
What deadly sin...
Do you do the most often?	Gluttony
Do you do the least often?	Greed
Is your favorite to act on?	Sloth
Take this survey or other MySpace Surveys at PimpSurveys.com

Soyvey...oy vey!

Finish the sentence:

1. My ex: deserves the girl he ended up with.

2. Maybe I should: get to working on The Hubs' Valentine's gift.

3. I love: thunderstorms in the summertime.

4. People would say that I'm: silly.

5. I don't understand: why it matters to some people that gays want to get married.

6. When I wake up in the morning: I hit snooze 3 times. Every single morning.

7. I lost: 5 pounds in January!

8. My life is full of: awesome people.

9. My past is: chock full of mistakes.

10. I get annoyed when: The Hubs drives my car and leaves the Odometer on one of the trip meters instead of switching it back to the main number. Yes, I'm neurotic, and yes, he knew that before he married me.

11. Parties are: fun, but I can't last as long as I used to.

12. I wish: I could win the lottery. Cliche, I know, but oh so true.

13. Dogs: make life worth living. Although, I don't actually own a dog right now, so does that mean I should kill myself?

14. Cats: are cute when they are kittens, but not as much when they get older. Also, The Hubs is uber-allergic.

15. Tomorrow: is Wednesday. I have to cover the phones for the receptionist's lunch break.

16. I have a low tolerance: for closed-minded people. And bad drivers.

17. If I had a million dollars: I'd buy you a green dress. (But not a real green dress, that's cruel.) Seriously, though, I'd pay off all my bills and the Hubs and I would finish our degrees.

18. I'm totally terrified: of falling. One day, I'd like to go skydiving to get over that fear, but it will have to wait. Especially now that that guy just had to land himself on his first jump after his instructor died of a heart attack mid-air. Yeah. It's gonna have to wait.

19. Next month: is my birthday! And I love me some birthday!

20. In ten years, I hope: to have a family, a house and a dog, and to have my debt under control.

Repost this as "Finish the sentence..."

OMG...I love "about me" surveys. Does that make me conceited? Egotistical? Strange? I hope not.

:)

"Oh, simple thing, where have you gone? I'm getting old and I need something to rely on..."

(Keane, "Somewhere Only We Know").

Okay, so two-part post here, folks. Let's start with the weekend.

The BFF and Tonja and I had a girls' night planned, which worked out swimmingly with the fact that The Hubs was going up to his parents' house for the weekend to work on my much-anticipated, top-secret Valentine's Day gift, and I didn't want to go up there and spend the weekend simultaneously attempting to avoid The Hubs and The Mother-in-Law (The MIL, from now on). Not that I don't love her to pieces, and not that she's not an incredibly sweet, funny person, but she's just her. And sometimes that's a little too much for me.

Any-hoo. We had a girls' night planned for Saturday, that's the moral of the run-on sentence above. We went to a Pure Romance Warehouse Sale, because we're hip like that. If you're not from my neck of the woods, and don't know what Pure Romance is, basically, it's Avon or Pampered Chef, or PartyLite for, ahem, adult novelties. You can throw a Pure Romance party with all your girlfriends, or couples, and have a representative come to your house with all her goodies and she will tell you all about them, even demonstrate some products, etc. Basically, she wants you to buy them because she makes a commission. Anyway, every year before Valentine's Day, Pure Romance has a Warehouse Sale where they open their warehouse to the public and sell you all their stuff at supposedly discounted prices.

Let's just say I was less than impressed. First of all, it's a big honkin' warehouse, but there's only one little teeny tiny section of Rubbermaid bins on shelves for you to shop from. Secondly, it was packed in there, and there wasn't any sort of rhyme or reason to the flow of traffic. (See, there's that elusive OCD kicking in for your reading enjoyment...) Thirdly (is that a word?) I didn't really need anything there, so I was over it in about 5 minutes. The BFF and Tonja shopped around a bit, but I think the overall concensus was that it was disappointing. Oh well, I didn't need to spend any money anyway, and I'm sure Pure Romance will still be a thriving business without me.

Sidenote: for living in such a "conservative" mid-western city, there sure were lots of people at that warehouse sale...and the Hustler Hollywood in town is always booming. (Of course, for me to know that, I would have to have been there, and I never, ever would entertain the thought of entering such an establishment of ill repute. Uh huh. Never. ) But anyway, my point is, that people always say my city is soooo behind the times, and soooo conservative. And yes, I do live only one exit away from what is quite possibly the largest Jesus-coming-out-of-a-body-of-water-with-a-cross statue ever.

(Yeah, I'll bet you don't drive past one of these babies on your way too and from work every day) But my city really isn't that backwards. We have a very long way to go, but we do have a Pride Parade, and gay bars, and Pure Romance hasn't been outlawed...yet.

And, wow, did this post go somewhere I wasn't thinking it would go. Let's get back on track, shall we? We shopped, and then we went on to Girls' Night Phase Two...eating! What girls' night is complete without dinner, I ask you? So we had Red Robin (again, for those of you who are keeping track, that's my second trip to Red Robin in 8 days...and it's not even one of my favorite restaurants!) We had a yummy dinner, and Tonja had coctails (I just can't justify spending almost $8 on a drink!!!), and we had lots and lots of soul-cleansing, giggle-enducing, we-don't-do-this-often-enough, girl talk. My poor Hubs, Tonja's poor fiance, The BFF's poor BF. LOL. Good times, good times.

Then it was off to the movies! I love going to the movies...especially with the girls, since The Hubs absolutely refuses to go see a chick flick with me. Usually I have to bribe him, or make him feel guilty - I specifically remember having to do a trade-off to get him to see Enchanted with me, although for the life of me, I can't remember what it was that I had to do. Maybe I blocked it out. LOL. Anyway, the girls and I saw this:

And it. was. good.

The BFF and I have lived off of that book ever since Greg Behrendt (aka "Our Guru") wrote it, and it showed up on Sex and the City. Seriously. If you haven't read the book, and you're in a relationship that makes you sad more often than it makes you happy, leave, do not pass "Go", do not collect $200. Just go out and buy that book. I'm telling you, it all makes so much sense after that.

Anyway, the movie was good. Not amazing, not horrible. It was good. What made my day, however, was the end. I won't give it away, in case you plan to see it (which I recommend, btw), but in the last scene before the credits, they played my song. Which, coincidentally (not really) is the song that I quoted in the title of this post.

There was a while in my life where I was in one of the worst relationships imaginable that didn't involve actual physical abuse. Emotional abuse? Check! Cheating? Check! An immeasureable amount of lies? Check, check, check! And it went on for almost five years.

Well, technically, the first year was pretty good, but from there, it was just a slow, torturous, excruciating downward spiral of being so deep in this relationship that neither of us wanted to let it go, yet subconsciously and consciously doing anything we could to get out of it, and then getting back together and thinking we could make it work. Oh. My. God. was I so much work for The BFF during those years!

At any rate, just about the time when I pretty much knew I had to get out of this relationship, and everything that I was reading in Greg's book was pretty much corroborating that fact, and our relationship was just going through this agonizingly slow decaying process, Keane came along. British boys, yum. British boys in a band, even yummier. I fell in love with their aptly titled first album, Hopes and Fears. They spoke to me, and somehow even in the midst of one of the most torrential times in my life, hearing the music from that first album always takes me to a happy place. I don't even think happy is the right way to describe it...maybe calm, or content is a better way to put it. But it makes me happy. Always has, always will.

Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when, you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go, somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know.

So when the movie made from the book that changed my life ended with a song that was simultaneously changing my life, too - well, lets just say it was absolutely perfect. And I consider it as my own little present from Greg Behrendt. Yes, I'm dilusional like that. :)

We shopped. We ate. We chick-flicked. (that sounds dirty, doesn't it?) We saw a chick flick. It was the perfect girls' night out. And then the whole feminist, 'we don't need boys', 'chicks before dicks' thing flew right out the window as The BFF went home to wait on The BF to get off work, Tonja went home to her fiance, and I went home to an empty house wishing I could be where The Hubs was, even if it meant I had to hide from The MIL.

And so, continuing this exceedingly long post: The Diet.

Lucky for you, there is very little to report in this category. I've been sort of, kind of, maybe watching what I eat, with little regard for calories, and I haven't worked out. I did, however, manage not to gain any weight, and even managed to lose a little... a whole .2 pounds. I weighed in at exactly 255 this morning. I'll take it. TBL at work starts next Monday with a weigh-in and a health screening, so I'm planning on kicking it into gear then, but trying not to sabotage myself until we get there.

And finally, th-th-th-th-that's all, folks!

Have a good week!

"Everything's gonna be okay, dada doodoo, just dance..."

("Just Dance", Lady Gaga)

255.2

I'm not okay with it, but I've accepted it. I knew the consequences of going off the diet and not exercising, so I'm not surprised. I'm moving on.

I am officially 3.2 pounds over my goal weight for January. My goal weight for 2/28 is 244, so that means I've got 11.2 pounds to go this month. That's a totally do-able 2.8 pounds per week. I've just got to start counting my calories again, and get my ass on that treadmill.

You know, it's funny: even though I didn't meet my goal in January, I am actually really happy and proud of what I did do. I'm not at 260 or 258 or 256 anymore. I made progress, I actually lost weight! And I just can't (and won't) beat myself up for not losing enough of it.

The good news is, I know that what I was doing actually works. And I know that it will work if I stick to it. Just call me Super Glue.

In other news, this past weekend was The Hubs' birthday weekend. He turned the big 3-0 yesterday! We celebrated by ourselves on Friday with dinner at Red Robin (one of his favs!) and then Saturday night, we celebrated with The Kids (a.k.a. all of our friends from his hometown/high school). I d.d.-ed so that Jack could get as ferschnickered as he wanted to. And he did. LOL. I was super excited because The BFF made one of her (soon-to-be) world famous cakes for Jack, and she and The Boyfriend drove over an hour to come party with us until the wee hours of the morning. I'm so glad she was there!

I think they ended up leaving for home around 2:30, and Jack and I left at 3:00. We got his drunk ass in bed around 4, and he slept like a baby until almost 1pm. Then yesterday, we celebrated with his parents and watched the Super Bowl. It was a nice night.

Oh, and in all the big birthday hubub I forgot to take updated pictures and measurements, so I see an update post in your future.

I think this week is going to be pretty quiet, thank goodness. Work, eat right, work out. That's the plan, kids.

Have a good week!