New table!

Wooo! We got a dining room table. We are real grown ups now!

Jeff made this beautiful cutting board for me! (and J)

 8 chairs here, but we'll only use 6 most of the time. It has a leaf that allows us to seat 8.

J installed beautiful recessed lighting. I owe you all a picture of the connected lighting (and without that awful floor lamp) as soon as I have time!

The new living room to dining room view.

Eleven

Well I have now lost 11 pounds and added a ticker to the bottom of this page. My goal is close (1.6 pounds away) but I'm already feeling that my goal wasn't enough: I think I should strive for more. I feel like I need more than this 12 pound loss to feel really great about myself, so I'm probably going to extend it, once I reach my goal weight, to lose another 5. If at that point I still need to lose? Well then I'll keep going!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, dear readers!

Happy Birthday, J

 Friday was J's 28th birthday. I feel like 28 is a turning point year as it is getting close to 30. I guess you just skip along in your twenties and they seem like they will never end. I'm not worried about that, by the way, it's just weird. :)

We went to Orange County Mining Company, which is very close to our house and up on a hill. This was the view! The bright cluster of headlights is Chapman Ave. and the ocean is out there...the left half of the picture...if the colors would show it.

We went with both families (minus Mark, boo) and had a delicious dinner, followed by an ice cream sundae bar at our house. J doesn't like cake of any kind, so we have to get creative! I had chocolate and vanilla ice cream, strawberries, bananas, Reese's pieces, M&Ms (dark and milk), mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, crushed Snickers, crushed Girl Scout Cookies, chocolate syrup, mini marshmallows, sprinkles, cookie dough, gummy worms and gummy bears. I think that's all... :) We played Apples to Apples and laughed our butts off. It was a lovely night.

I know I've said this before, but I really feel like 2011 will be a wonderful year for us. It has started off as such, and I hope it will continue. My wish for J is that he has a  great 28th year.

A jarring disovery

After my debacle with rats (UGH) I dicovered that one of those creatures made it to the back of one of my very deep cupboards and munched at a supply of extra baking products in plastic bags. I keep my supplies in jars (more pictures to come) but the surplus was still in the store's packaging. I decided it was time to jar EVERYTHING.

 So I made a trip to Target (green produce savers, above) and IKEA (glass jars and plastic pop-top dispensers below)

 It's getting there...

Ten Pounds, People!

Oh boy am I clever with my ten pound note, English currency! Oh hehe I crack myself up.

I have lost ten pounds my friends! 

TEN POUNDS.

That is...a sack of potatoes. I am one sack of potatoes smaller! WOOOOO!!!!

7 more to my goal! :)

J takes first place!

J raced on his new single-speed mountain bike on Saturday and what do you know, the little stinker won first place in his division. Unfortunately, I wasn't there to photograph it, but I'll place an older race picture below just for fun! He beat one of his competition from last year by over 15 minutes--and that guy was on a geared bike!! All his hard work is paying off. Way to go, J!!

What a stud muffin!!! hahahaha...

Our home from the sky!

Flying back from Phoenix on Thursday, the plane made a little spin right over our house. Look closely (or click to enlarge) for a small red arrow. :)

Weight loss

I don't really "do" New Years' resolutions...so before the year ended, I had started to diet. I lost maybe 2 pounds total across December, which I still think is great considering I was making things like the delicious peanut butter cups above...Alas, on Christmas morning with Jeff and Linda surprised us with a gift of a cruise, I decided to add a goal to my vague weight loss plan. Mid-January I signed up for myfitnesspal.com and started to track my caloric intake. This is not something I would normally EVER do, but it's been really helpful. I track my morning workouts, nightly walks, and everything I eat. Most of the Hungry Girl meals are already in their system, and if not, I can easily add them. Tracking what I eat this way DOES help...For instance, I have four boxes of Girl Scout cookies sitting behind me right now, and I am not eating them because I know that (dinner included) I'll have 477 calories left today, and I'd like to have a snack this afternoon and stay below my goal of 1,310 calories.

So far (including the 2 in December), I've lost NINE POUNDS.

Woooo!!!

I can totally see the difference in my face and the way clothes fit. I feel like "myself" and I want to continue to lose, in a healthy way. My goal is to drop 1 pound per week, and if I am extra good (like if I don't use up all 477 calories today) I lose something like 1.5. By the cruise, I should have dropped 4-5 more pounds and be feeling good.

Part of the dedication to this involves not eating out hardly at all. It sucks, honestly, but when I see the amount of calories in the meals I eat out, I am HORRIFIED. For example. I enjoy Pad Thai at a chain Asian-inspired restaurant from time to time. Until I knew it contained 2 servings of 750 calories each, for a whopping 1500 calories!!!!!!!!  More than I can have in an entire day. I for the time being, I am limiting my intake and trying to avoid eating out and also eating a lot less. To do this, I have to eat basically all day...I have yogurt, apples with unsalted peanut butter, brie and whole wheat crackers, hummus and carrots or whole wheat pita...etc. It's hard to do, given the job I have...and I definitely have days that I go without eating for long enough that I'm suddenly starving and make a bad choice. I've also had a few days in which I'm quite certain I'm going to pass out, and because my blood sugar is so finicky, I really need to be careful that I'm keeping a steady level all day...this means not going hungry, or eating sugary foods, and making sure I have some protein.

After the cruise I plan on trying to maintain my weight...I'll probably still use myfitnesspal during the week but not weekends, and allow myself to sometimes go over (but I'll try to reign it in if so!)

How cute is my dog?!

Random pictures from the weekend

 Chloe's hair...

 A pretty sunset from my commute.

 Hibiscus in my yard...J would like to get rid of all the hibiscus plants. I have to admit, I'm not usually a fan of their tropical-ness, but the double petal variety are quite pretty.

Mmmm Thai Lettuce Wraps

Another Hungry Girl 1, 2, 3 Recipe that turned out wonderfully...

I couldn't find light Thai peanut dressing, as called out in the recipe, so I made my own using natural unsalted peanut butter, rice vinegar, cilantro, lime juice, and crushed red pepper. It was so delicious I'll probably make it again for a salad!

 The veggie mixture inside the wraps consisted of cucumber, scallions, cilantro, shaved carrots, and rice vinegar. Then I cooked up some chicken for the inside, tossed in peanut dressing, and assembled.

 Below is the plain peanut butter I used...it's delicious!

MMM. I think I could also have added chopped bean sprouts and edamame to the inside mixture and even less chicken and they still would have rocked. Oh and for water chestnut haters...nary a water chestnut in sight! (they are in most lettuce wraps)

Overall, this was delicious and VERY low in calories. Unfortunately, it was not a main course-worthy dish and we were still hungry. But that's ok!

Beautiful Chloe

Saturday, I did Chloe's hair for Winter Formal. Isn't she gorgeous?!