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Wordless Wednesday

Favorite picture from Vegas vacation

Wordless Wednesday!!

Wordless Wednesday: Merry Go-Round Ride

Engaged!!!

Officially engaged!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Ugh!

Just saw a picture of myself from about a year ago. All I can say is UGH. I will never let myself look like that again. :-( Not sure how I ever let myself get to that point but.. it won't happen again.

We went to see our friends Ailene, Jimmy, and Jason. When we got to their house, she couldn't stop telling me how great I look. Her Mom (who knows me) Skyped her while we were there so she could see the boys. She also couldn't stop telling me how great I looked. It's nice to hear how much it's paying off. While there, Ailene kept mentioning how much she wanted to lose weight. Of course, she wants it to come off the easy way. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. I wish I could get it through her head so she'd stop wasting money on shakes and teas and coffees that are designed to "help lose weight fast." Too bad she doesn't understand it won't be a permanent thing.

Anyway, I think we're off to the Y for a work out and then maybe to the splash pad. It's looking beautiful out there! Have a great day everyone!

New clothes..

I went clothes shopping the other day for the first time in forever. Losing weight is causing me to have clothes that no longer fit. The ones I have are falling off (woo hoo!) so I knew I'd have to go buy new ones eventually. Anyway, I stopped at Old Navy (one of my favorites) to see what they had. For the longest time I couldn't buy pants or anything in store because they stopped carrying plus size beyond a size 20. The shirts and stuff were fine, just not the pants. I'm super excited I can now fit into the pants in store!!!! It's still kind of a tight fit, but I can button them and zip them, LOL. also, I ended up buying a swim suit. It's the first suit I've ever bought from them (in store or online). It's cute, flattering, and best yet-it's a smaller size! I also ended up buying a skirt. I've never bought a skirt from them ever so to even buy one, let alone an XL, is awesome to me!

How cute is that suit? I mean seriously! They're on sale for $20 so I was thinking about buying another one. I don't necessarily need another one, but it's so cute. We also swim ALL THE TIME so I feel like it'd be worth it in the long run.

I guess basically this boils down to.. NEW CLOTHES, SMALLER SIZES, LOSING WEIGHT!

Just had to share..

Just read these stories and cried..

I can't get over how life can just change in an instant or even how good life can really be, even though the road to get there may be difficult.

Your Stories: We Bloom

Recipe Drop..

Had to post this recipe as it's one of the best oatmeals I've ever had. Bonus-it's fairly good for you!!

Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries and Bananas

Start your day off right with this warm, satisfying heart-healthy breakfast your family will love.

Source: www.skinnytaste.com

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 Min
Cook Time: 45 Min
Total Time: 55 Min

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 2 medium ripe bananas the riper the better sliced into 1/2" pieces
• 1 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup honey (or agave)
• 1 cup uncooked quick oats
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts  or pecans
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1 cup fat free milk (or any milk you desire)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries and Bananas
2. Modified from Ambrosia Baking
3. Skinnytaste.com
4. Servings: 6 • Serving Size: 1/6th • Old Points: 4 pts  • Points+: 6 pts  
5. Calories: 211.7 • Fat: 5.4 g • Protein: 5.6 g • Carb: 38.1 g • Fiber: 3.8 g • Sugar: 22.8 g
6. Sodium: 76.9 mg (without salt)    
7. Ingredients:
8. Directions:
9. Preheat the oven to 375° F.  Lightly spray a 8 x 8" or 9 x 9" ceramic baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
10. Arrange the banana slices in a single layer on the bottom of the ceramic dish.  Sprinkle half of the blueberries over the bananas, 1/4 tsp of  the cinnamon, 1 tbsp of the honey and cover with foil. Bake 15 minutes, until the bananas get soft.
11. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the oats, half of nuts, baking  powder, remaining cinnamon, and salt; stir together.  In a separate bowl, whisk  together the remaining honey, milk, egg, and vanilla extract.
12. Remove the bananas from the oven, then pour the oat mixture over the bananas and blueberries.
13. Pour the milk mixture over the oats, making sure to distribute the mixture as evenly as possible over the oats.  Sprinkle the remaining blueberries and walnuts over the the top.
14. Bake the oatmeal for about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the oatmeal has set. Serve warm from the oven.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 211.7
Fat: 5.4g
Sodium: 76.9mg
Sugar: 22.8g
Carbohydrate: 38.1g
Fiber: 3.8g
Protein: 5.6g

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Scale Victory!!

Today I officially hit 50 pounds lost when I stepped on the scale!!!! It's a lot for me, but it is nowhere close to where I want to be. I've started the C25K program (again) and I'm going to try my hardest to keep up with it. I recently had a friend post that she has lost 100 pounds over the course of a year. The majority of that came from diet changes (which I've done) and running. If she can do it, so can i!!

Here's to 50 more and a whole life new opening up for me!

Milestone!!

This time the milestone isn't for Dylan. It's for me! I've been exercising since early December. Tonight (for the first time ever) I managed to run for longer than 2 minutes without feeling like I wanted to die! I'm going to attempt the C25K. Tonight was Week 1, Day 1 and I surprisingly felt really good. I'm going to do a 5k eventually, even if it kills me. I just want to be able to say I can do it and I did it. YAY me!

Ready for battle!

Dylan has his 'war paint' on and is ready for battle.

The zoo has face paint in the kids area. Every time we go, Dylan insists on getting his face painted. Today he wanted to do mine too, but I escaped before he could get his clutches on me. Next time for sure..it'll be fun. Right?

As a side note..oh my gosh this weather is divine!

Merry Christmas to me!

For Christmas, Ryan gave me a gift card worth $150 to the store Anthropologie. I actually lost it somewhere after opening it Christmas morning at my parents house. After searching both our house and then searching at my parents house, we gave the card up as a lost cost. Thankfully, Ryan e-mailed Anthropologie and explained what happened. They ended up sending him the gift card code so that we could print it out and either use it in store or online. I ended up buying 20 things online, which is pretty good considering the prices at the store.

I was sitting at home this morning and hear a knock at my door. It sort of freaked me out until I saw the UPS man outside of our window. Lo and behold, my Anthro package had arrived. I haven't had a chance to go through everything in the package but I'm excited to start using everything. Love, love, love this store! If I get married, I hope they have a registry because I want to register there.

My parents also gave me a gift certificate to a local running store. Ryan, Dylan, and I went over there last week so I could pick up some shoes. I'm now the owner of my first pair of grown up athletic shoes (Brooks). I never quite understood why people made such a big deal out of working out in an expensive pair of shoes. Now that I've been working out in them, I'm seeing why. It's so much more comfortable in a higher end shoe. I used to get horrible pain in my feet from working out in cheap shoes. Now my legs hurt a little but I never feel it in my feet. So, so, so much nicer! Hoping they'll be helpful in working my way toward a more ideal weight.

As a side note-I highly recommend the YMCA. I can't say enough good things about them. Signing up with them has been a dream come true.

And now I'm off. Dylan has been under the weather so it's been a rough couple of nights around our house.

Night everybody!

I'm a chef!!

Dylan helped Grandma and I make French toast for breakfast this morning. I let him help me crack eggs and I poured the milk. Afterward, I let him blend the mix with a fork. He loved doing it and didn't want to stop. Grandma then let him help dip the bread in the mix and he flipped a couple pieces with the spatula. As much as this age drives me nuts, I love it. He can do so much now and its fun getting to see him do new things.

Hope everyone had a great new years eve celebration. We spent it with my parents and some friends of theirs. Unfortunately, Dylan woke up vomiting this morning BUT he seems to have made a full recovery. Yay! Hold off Mr. flu bug for a little bit longer. :-)