Freedom & Funnel Cake!!

This was prolly THE busiest 4th of July ever! But it was so great! I started my day WAY too early considering it was a day off from work. 5:30 in the AM to be precise. A few days before I decided to run the Firecracker 5K. Who knows why. Ok mostly it was to cancel out the guilt I knew I'd feel later when I consumed my funnel cake. The race started at 7:00 which really is too early but what can you do!? I talked Joelyn into running it with me, Bless her! and of course we had a little photo session with ourselves before we ran!



Here's me running to the finish line. I realize it looks like I'm not running very fast but trust me I was! I think my freakishly long legs make me look like I'm not going very fast. I'm willing to bet those 2 girls behind me took 2 or 3 steps to my 1!! But man I've got some great legs!!



I shaved almost 5 minutes off my time from my race last year! Go me!!

After I ran my fat face off I had grand plans of sitting around watching the parade. Then I got roped into walking with my Branch's float & passing out candy to the onlookers. Ok fine I'll do it. So after running the parade route I turned around & walked it while passing out candy. Good grief! It was really fun tho & it made for some GREAT people watching let me tell you! All the weirdies this city has to offer were out in full force & they wanted candy!

After that it was funnel cake time! Not since my Jenny left me have I been able to find someone who loves funnel cake as much as I do.....until Megan!! Bless her for coming into my life & loving funnel cake! Pretty much our whole day was centered around when we'd be getting our funnel cake. I can't celebrate my independence without funnel cake. It's unheard of.

Delicious!!!



Now that's the look of happiness!!



After that we had a little BBQ at Chris's house. Honestly I ate too much in such a short span of time but that's what a holiday is for right?! Originally I wasn't going to go to the river to see the fireworks but my friend Arie got a group together so I went & it was a great time!!



The 4th of July always makes me think of my beloved Grandparents & the carnival we would have in the backyard at Knollwind. And of course that parade she'd make us all march around in! We'd march around that yard till we dropped & she'd keep going with her drum major baton & all manner of patriotic music blaring in the background while Grandfather char broiled our burgers. Man I loved it & man do I miss them!

Let Me tell You About My Sister Kristy....

Today is Kristy my sister’s birthday! Let me tell you a little bit about her….I’ve known her all my life! Of all the siblings Kristy & I are the closest in age-14 months apart to be exact. Also of all my siblings Kristy is the one I’m closest too. All my life it seemed like it was me & Kristy….and then everyone else.

There are 4 years between me & the next sibling. For 4 years it was just me & Kristy so we spent a lot of time together growing up.



When we were growing up all the relatives seemed to have it in their heads that me & Kristy were twins or something. We always got the same things for Christmas & birthdays except in different colors. Anytime Grandmother made us outfits ours were either out of the same fabric or exactly the same. People we are not twins!

When we were really little my sister Kristy couldn’t say my name right. Instead of calling me Meliss-a she called me Baby-sa. She also used to sing that song “Baby Love” (by The Supremes) to me but her lyrics would go…”baby-sa my baby-sa I need you oh I need you..baby-sa my baby-sa.” That song always make me think of her!



My sister Kristy wasn’t always very nice to me when we were growing up & she was forever trying or was succeeding at getting us/me into trouble. Here are just a few examples:

One time we had gotten into some argument & she punched me right in the nose. Nobody will acknowledge that this ever occurred but I distinctly remember laying on the kitchen floor gushing blood out of my nose. You don’t just forget something that traumatic!

In another such argument she decided the best way to resolve things was to pinch me under my eye. Who does that?! Some blood vessels got broken & I had this red mark under my eye for years.



Kristy had a problem with drawing on the walls in our bedroom. My mom told her if she did it again she’d be severely punished. Do you think that stopped her? I say nay-nay. She kept drawing her mural on our wall & then wrote “Melissa did this” next to it. I hadn’t even learned to write yet so obviously mom wasn’t fooled!

One Christmas she woke up in the middle of the night & decided that we should sneak downstairs & get into the chocolates my mom was using to make holiday candies. I told her we shouldn’t but don’t you remember how she punched me in the face & pinched me under my eye!? I had no choice. I had to go along with it. So we snuck downstairs, grabbed some chocolates out of the bag & took them back up to our room. But then we needed more so back downstairs we went. This time my dad heard us rummaging around. we raced back up to our room & pretended to be asleep. “Give me the chocolates.” “We don’t have any” Kristy replied….which might have been convincing if she didn’t have chocolate all around her mouth. I gave mine up immediately! After my dad went back downstairs Kristy lifted up her blankets & revealed a hidden stash of chocolates that we then proceeded to eat. The next day our punishment was that we had to sit there all day & not play or do anything. I had to sit on the bright blue staircase leading up to our room which was completely blocked off from anybody & any other room in the house. There I sat all by myself all day long. Kristy got to sit in this green director’s chair we had in the kitchen….IN THE KITCHEN…with everybody else. She’s the one who masterminded this little plan & I’m the one getting the brunt of it! Those chocolates weren’t even that good.

I could prolly go on & on with these stories but let’s just move on!



The thing about me & my sister Kristy is that as adults we are incapable of getting along if we live in the same state. Weird right?! If we live in different states we’re like BFFs!

A few years ago my sister married this boy Todd. He’s a great time!


She really likes that boy A LOT! I mean yes she loves him but man she just REALLY likes him. Kristy & Todd give me hope for a happy marriage. I see so many of my friends in unhappy marriages & it makes me sad for them & a little scared of ever getting married. I don’t wanna be like that! But then I always hear Kristy say stuff like “if I have free time I want to spend it with Todd. Why would I want to go play with my friend when I can play with Todd?”

My sister Kristy has these 2 kids….Owen & Erin. Aren’t they cute?!

Owen



Erin


Well as cute & adorable & hilarious as they are they are THE most high maintenance children I’ve ever seen. Bless.Their.Hearts. Besides having endless amounts of energy & a 30 second attention span Owen has Juvenile Diabetes which means his blood has to be tested countless times a day & has to be given insulin shots. Also he never stops talking. Ever. He is a riot! Erin has needed to be held almost every second of everyday she’s been on earth. All day. All night. Honestly I don’t know how Kristy does it every day & still finds time to update her blog, make endless amounts of crafty crafts (even she made me a skirt when I was down there last weekend), plan & execute the yearly BHCP (that’s the Betty Hively Christmas Party. Gosh surprised you didn’t know that!), and (this is by far THE most impressive one) get herself ready & her hair done everyday instead of sitting around in mom jeans or sweat pants all day!! Now that’s impressive! And even more impressive how much she LOVES those 2 crazy kids of hers even tho they are SO CRAZY!! I am constantly amazed with all she is able to handle. She is an amazing mother. And she calls me at least twice a week when I’m at work which I absolutely love!

So that's my sister Kristy! I love all my sisters but she is my favorite!

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life. ~Isadora James




Happy Birthday Kristy! I love you!!!

Emancipation Anniversary Celebration!

Can you believe it's been 2 years since I made my big move!? I can't believe it either! Not gonna lie the 2nd year was harder than the 1st. I think I felt it more this 2nd year all the lasting effects it's had on my life....for good & for bad. We won't even get into the bad but 2 of the best things that have happened in this last year are #1 I have been doing some work at the Domestic Violence center here in town & I love it! Which has lead to #2 I decided to go back to school & get a degree in Social Work! Crazy right!? For as hard as it was, had I not gone through what I did I don't think I ever would have gone in this direction so for that I'm grateful. I need for something good to come out of this for me & I think I finally found that something!

I didn't think I could top last year's celebration of running my 5K & then going down to Salt Lake & eating at the cheesecake factory! Please! So i didn't try! This year I got my group together & we had a BBQ. The 1st BBQ of the season! It was great! My dear, Sweet roommate Chalise planned the whole thing. She is so amazing!! For some reason she kept the location a secret from me & no one was allowed to tell me where the BBQ was at. Mostly she did this cuz she knew it would drive me nuts not knowing what was going on. true story-it did!! Matt had just moved to a new little house & he graciously let us have my celebration there. I was so excited to eat my 1st hot dogs of the summer!

Chalise & Matt gettin ready to man the grill



mmmmm burgers & hot dogs! We decided to name Chalise Mrs Lowry after she dumped almost an entire thing of season salt on those burgers!



And even Dain took me for a ride on his motorbike! You know I'm not a daredevil in any respect but I do love a nice motorbike ride!




Sometimes I think of these friends I've made since I moved & I think "what if I had never met you?" If I hadn't made that choice to move I never would have. 2 years ago I made a choice & it was the hardest thing I've ever done in life & they have helped to make that choice worth it!

Me & Matt


Me & Chalise


Anne Kelly


Matt & Chalise


Dain & Chris


Me & Megan


Uhhhh why are there no pictures of Joelyn?!?! She's super important to me!

So here's to another year down. My goal for next year is to not feel the need to observe it!

Matty's Birthday Celebration!

So we had Matty's birthday celebration a couple weeks ago. It was a great little evening & there were a TON of people there! Dain & I co-hosted & decided to pull a surprise over on Matty. On Tuesday nights our Branch does visits to new members, less actives, etc so we thought this would be the perfect night to have his party. So I got the visits canceled & told everyone we'd be having Matty's birthday instead BUT we just let Matt think visits were going on per usual. So everyone showed up for visits as normal, got there lists, but then headed to the restaurant instead. Then Dain brought Matty a few minutes later. When he walked in the door this is what greeted him......






I don't know about you but this would make me feel pretty good! I can't believe how many people were in attendance! The month of March just wasn't very good to our dear Matty so I'm so glad so many people turned out for his party. He really needed this. We then proceeded to stuff our fat faces with delicious Mexican food. It's a good thing they put us in a totally separate room cuz we were pretty rowdy!

I especially love Chalise in this picture!!







And of course we had them sing to him & he got to wear this very fashionable hat!



For Matty's present I decided to do a whole 1978 themed gift. I got a bunch of stuff that came out the year he was born. Such as..

Season One of Diff'rent Strokes



Reese's Pieces


Hungry Hungry Hippo


And Whatchamacallits

I also put together a CD of 1978 Billboard chart toppers consisting of songs by the Bee Gees, ABBA, Grease, and Barry Manilow to name a few. The best part of this little ditty was the CD cover that Dain helped me make. Ugh the image won't upload to the Blogger. grrrr but we put Matty's face on John Travolta's body in the Grease poster. IT.WAS.A.RIOT.

Honestly I couldn't really tell if Matty did or didn't like my gift. I thought it was a GREAT gift but you know creativity is lost on some people. Whatever I loved it!

Happy Birthday Matty!!

Joelyn's Chinese New Year Birthday Celebration!

So Joelyn's birthday was earlier this month & since she was headed for Hong Kong a couple weeks later & since it was also Chinese new year I decided to do an Oriental themed dinner for her. I love Joelyn cuz she lets me throw fabulous dinner parties for her! This turned out to be one of my favorites that I ever put on.

I created a fabulous menu of delicious Chinese food that I made all by myself!

Chinese noodles


Egg rolls & crab rangoon (super delicious & look how great they look. very professional)


And Orange Chicken which I had never made in my life but not to be all whatever..I totally rocked it!!


I decided that we should use little take out boxes instead of plates & it looked really great on the table & I think everyone enjoyed it. Also for Chinese New Year you're supposed to give your guests "lucky money" in red envelopes so I made these cute little envelopes on my Cricut & got fake money from the dollar store & set them at each place setting as a little party favor. So cute!



the table


looks like a Chinese Restaurant!




And of course we had fabulous guests! It's how we roll!

Nellie, Dain & Kaylin



Chalise & Matty


TJ & Joelyn


seriously one of my favorite dinner parties ever. Happy Birthday Joelyn!

Vent..........

Ok I need to vent for a minute....So you know i'm doing Biggest Loser with my crew right? well I'm also doing one at my office as well & the contest at my office is about to drive me to drink. I am in last place as of today. How is that possible?! This will sound like a dumb excuse but seriously something is wrong with the scale here at work. I'm for real. my group biggest Loser is a week ahead of my office one & according to my group contest I am down almost 10 pounds. great right!? Would you like to guess how many pounds I'm down according to my office one? 2.2!!! that's it. 2.2 pounds. while the other peeps in the contest including this fat girl who eats cup o noodles everyday for lunch & pigs out on food every weekend is beating me. what the hell is happenign at my office?! we've got 9 weeks left but sitll come on. I don't get what's happening wiht me & that scale. I'm eating right & cutting calories & I'm working out almsot everyday & showing results on the scale at home but I come here & get deflated every single week. UGH!!!! These lazy fatties at my office can't beat me! vent over.....

Biggest Loser Day 21

Well this week started out great. My running is getting easier & my legs aren't feeling so old & decrepit & the Icy Hot smell is starting to leave my apartment. I'm not quite sure what my problem was but when I came home from work Friday afternoon I was STARVING! Seriously starving. And I meant to eat. I stopped by Kiwi Loco to treat myself to some frozen yogurt. Delicious. But that little treat didn't satisfy me whatsoever. Next I ate the leftover curry chicken & rice I had taken for my lunch & then to top that off i had a bagel & cream cheese. Ok it was one of those bagel thin things so not as bad as a full on bagel. Good grief Melissa. Later Friday night I went to Joelyn's to play and she continued to feed me. Spaghetti (which honestly was more tomatoes than actual soaghetti so that's not too bad)& some veggies, an english muffin with butter, a pudding cup (sugar free) and a little bitty York peppermint pattie. Stop eating Melissa! Saturday started out better & I ate sensibly all day. Then me & Chalise decided to try this new frozen yogurt place Orange Leaf. These frozen yogurt places are going to be my downfall. This place is even better than Kiwi Loco! That night we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. Joelyn & I were sensible & split a burrito & I had rationed out my calories so I could eat said burrito. Then for some stupid reason we decided we just had to have more frozen yogurt. Seriously someone needs to come slap my face. Oh the guilt & the calories. I did not ration for this. Saints be praised the next day was fast Sunday. Melissa you need to have Fast Monday through Friday to make up for this! Them of course it's Super Bowl Sunday. We tried to keep it healthy by doing kabobs on the grill. Sure meat & veggies how bad could that be?! Not that bad until the chips & salsa came out along with cheese dip. It was over for me. And having not eaten all day due to fasting I was starving again. We all just kept eating & eating & then Chalise had a great idea that we should make a cake & eat that too. oh my gosh! Luckily we decided to weigh in before all this pigging out. I didn't lose my 3 pounds like I wanted but I did lose 1 1/2 so I'll take it. This week needs to be better. Dear Melissa sort yourself out!

Biggest Loser Day 28

So pretty good week on the dieting front. Working out, however, could've been a little bit better. Monday I had a GREAT workout! Ran my fat face off! Of course my legs were aching after & the next day. I had my 1st go at the strength training workout I was attempting. There are 12 exercises in the workout....I got through 5 of them & I wanted to die. It was rough. Squats & lunges are not your friends! My legs were killing the next day. Tuesday I tried running but had to split my cardio between that & the bike cuz my legs were screaming at me. I did a few more of my strength training exercises. Still a good workout. Wednesday I didn't get to the gym until way late & 2 of my gal pals were just getting ready to go sit in the hot tub. I felt that was better use of my time! Thursday I helped Joelyn move so that burned some calories right!? I finally talked myself into going to the gym but when I got there I discovered that I left my ipod at home. I can NOT workout without my ipod. Forget it. I drove back home & you know I wasn't going back. Friday I had to weigh in for Biggest Loser at my office. why am I only down 1 pound?! i think this scale is wack! that night I indulged in some frozen yogurt. hey it's better than ice cream so back off! Saturday me & Chalise drug our butts to the gym & I had a GREAT run! this was my last chance workout before todays weigh in & I was determined to get rid of every calorie I could. I will have my 3 pounds even if I have to cut something off! So today we weighed in....I stepped on the scale....and....I had lost my 3 pounds!!! YEAH!!!! I was so excited! So in total I have lost 7.8 pounds & I have 17.2 pounds to go. Next week I have GOT to be at the gym at least 3 days but really I should get in there 4 days this week.

Also I indulged in another round of frozen yogurt. Don't judge me. Don't you dare judge me! I lost 3 pounds this week!!

Biggest Loser Day 21

Today was weigh in day....While my eating the previous week was on track I only made it to the gym 3 days. Plus some other factors were going to mess me up...I'm a girl...you figure it out! I was hoping to at least lose 1 pound from last week & I'd still be on track with my 25 pound goal. I stepped on the scale & i was EXACTLY the same weight as last week. Down to the fraction of a pound. That's pretty crazy. Ok so i didn't lose any weight but I also didn't gain any so I'm ok with it. This week I'm doubling my efforts at the gym. Cardio 4 days instead of 2 or 3 & I also printed out a full body strength training routine to do 2 days a week plus some target routines for the other days (legs, shoulders, back, abs & the ever dreaded glutes). I'm looking forward to getting to my new routines & trying them out. Altho I'm about to become one of those people I always make fun of who come to the gym with all these notebooks & paperwork to keep track of everything. Now people will be making fun of me! I'll report back next Sunday on the week's progress.

This Is What I'm Doing....

Ok so it's a new year & of course that means the dreaded New Years weight loss resolution. I expect 96.5% of people in America have made this same resolution. Ok so have I. And I'm serious about it. For realz. I read online that blogging about your weight loss journey can be really helpful so I thought "hey I already have a blog so why not throw some of this on here. It's my blog & I can do what I want!" So here we go....it's truth time....

So last Spring you may or may not remember that I ran a 5K. I'm still really proud of that. from January to May I worked to turn myself into a runner & let me tell you it was painful. Seriously there for about a month I thought my ankles were going to snap. My legs hurt so much every day. Icy Hot was my new BFF & my apartment reeked of it. After 30 years of never running I was determined to turn myself into a runner. There were days I could barely drag myself out of bed because my legs hurt so much. I had to take the stairs one at a time like some toddler. There was even one day that I just couldn't go to work cuz I couldn't get myself out of bed. My legs!! eventually it went away & running became easier. I was eating well, I was exercising & I lost a good amount of weight. It felt great! Then summer came & I had no desire to work out or eat correctly. I just wanted to be out playing & soaking up the sun & everything involved food. Burgers & hot dogs & smores & chips & potato salad & I wanted to eat all of it & honestly I didn't feel guilty about any of it. Summer was great. Somehow in all my frivolous eating i only managed to gain about 7 or 8 pounds. please you can't even see that! Then came Fall & Winter & my bad eating & lack of exercise continued. And frankly I just didn't care. I felt fine about the state I was in. Yeah sure I would've loved to be skinnier. who wouldn't?! But I didn't feel self conscious enough or unhappy enough with myself to even really care. It was actually kind of nice. Then one day I woke up & felt like my pants were getting tighter. well crap. I paid a lot of money for these pants & they need to fit me cuz i'm not buying bigger ones. By the end of the year I had put on another 6 or 7 pounds. Really that's not too bad for all the eating I did & frankly I enjoyed it. However that's got to stop. My clothes are starting to get tight, my face is looking chubby & I'm starting to feel gross. Hence the New Years weight loss resolution.

So me & my little crew (Chalise, Matty, Joelyn & Dain) have started a Biggest Loser contest amongst ourselves. It lasts 12 weeks & I am determined to win. I'm also in a Biggest Loser contest at my office which is ending a week later than this one. I am also determined to win that. Joelyn & I started our weightloss extravaganza week ahead of the official Biggest Loser start date & in the 1st week I lost 2 pounds. good job. Last week i was down 3 more pounds. good job again. I want to lose 25 pounds in the 12 weeks.

what am I doing to achieve said 25 pound goal? well Ill tell you...and it's painful...besides dieting...I am back to running! and it hurts!! Pretty much I'm having to go through the same misery I did last year with getting my body into running condition. MY.LEGS.HURT. Icy Hot is my new BFF & my apartment reeks of it. a few days ago I came walking out of the gym & by the time I got to my car I was in tears. My legs! I just need to power through for 2 or 3 more weeks & I'll be fine. Hopefully I can make it. Ok I'm not trying to be all whatever but I was blessed with a fabulous pair of legs. seriously I was. they are my most valuable asset & I've been praising them all my life. It's time for them to earn their keep!

Also I found this GREAT website www.caloriecount.about.com where you can keep a food journal & track your calories & finD out where your nutrition is lacking. I am FOREVER lacking in the vegetables department. You can also keep track of what you're doing with your workouts & how many calories you're burning. There are workout plans on there & TONS of great recipes. I am possessed by this website. After Icy Hot it's my new BFF.

Another thing that really motivates me is having some visual goal items where I can see them. It gives me something to work towards. Currently I have a pair of jeans tacked on the wall in my bedroom. They're staring me in the face. Begging to be worn & I intend to wear them soon. I also found a fabulously vintage swimsuit I want to be able to wear this summer. I look at that picture every so often to keep me on track. I will look so cute in it! Also when I reach a certain weight milestone I am going tom splurge on a fabulous pair of new jeans. I'm going to buy them next month but in the next size down from where I am then. They cost $80. I'm not spending $80 on a pair of jeans that never fit me. I intend on fitting into them!

SO that's what I'm doing right now. Pretty much all my energy is focused on this right now. what am I having for my meals everyday? When am I going to get home to eat dinner? When am I going to be able to get to the gym? When are my legs going to stop hurting? Are my ankles going to snap today? I'm hoping to devote some time to blogging about this little odyssey so hunker down for that.

My next weigh in is tomorrow. I have a feeling there might be some tears...and not just because of my decrepit legs! I'll report back.