When I hit my first goal, what my prize will be.

Le Creuset 5.5 qt round dutch oven:

As you know from earlier post I am have a workout/ weight loss goal to hit by the start of March. I figure that I can lose 10 lbs by then, and have my program set at that pace. My overall goal is 20 lbs, but I would like to hit that by June. I had been researching Le Creuset dutch ovens for a while now, but with the Christmas season in full swing they along with Kitchenaid Stand mixers were being given away all over the food world blogs. I found that most people say that the 5.5 qt. one will be great for everything and you don't really need a bigger size.

The link above takes you to the Amazon site for this idea ... price tagged at $235. I went to the outlets yesterday ( you can tell by my new Coach items in yesterday's post) and they had the same one for $185!! I know what you are thinking that isn't really that big of a deal, well the 4 qt on was $99!!! That is right people $99 for this amazing oven! Truth be told I can't really get over it, and I am very upset with myself that I didn't buy it then and there. Though I feel that we really do need to have something special in the wings for when we reach a point in our over all goals in life.

What goals do you have for the upcoming year? I am going to work on my list next week when I have time to focus on me again and not only my job. I have a couple ideas in mind, but I don't want to give away the final list. I also want to make a inspiration board. I got the idea from The Fitnessista. I really enjoy her blog, she has lived in Orlando (where I use to live) and just moved back to her hometown of Tucson (where Jrod is from). I think I enjoy that I can relate to her in a lot of ways, learn in many others, and am inspired too.

It's going to be a very crazy next couple of days at my work, but I am REALLY looking forward to them. I will go to work at 8am and hoping to be home by 4pm on Jan 1st. Yes, you are reading this correct and no I didn't type it in wrong, 4pm on 1/1/11. Crazy, I know, but this is my passion and you do crazy things for your passion.

Hope you all have an AMAZING New Year's Eve and please be very careful/ safe whatever you are planning on doing. See you in the New Year!!

Twitpic - Share photos on Twitter

Twitpic - Share photos on Twitter

What I got today at the Coach store. It's my first 'grown-up' bag!

Starting My Weight Lose Adventures!

I just wanted to say that I started working out today!! I did my plan that I had talked about early this month of 30 mins of Yogamazing then moving straight into Kettlenetics. I was sweating like crazy and I realized how badly I am out of shape. I ate okay today, knowing that work is going to be my downfall. I have TONS of junk food at my finger tips and the food options we have aren't very healthy for us. It's really a hit or miss about how good for us it is. I need to try and figure what food I can bring to work, thinking that I am there for breakfast, lunch, and snack. I live off of Healthy Choice pasta at the moment, but I am really bored with it. What do you do for a healthy meal/snack at work? I have a microwave, frig, and freezer to use/store my food in.

The New Year Diet; early!

Today at work a bunch of the sale staff came into the health club to weigh themselves. I asked what was going on and they are starting a Biggest Loser contest TODAY!!! That is correct folks, 3 days before Christmas they are starting to diet. They asked if I wanted to join, and I said sure. I need something to get myself a kick in the butt. I weighted myself this morning and I am one pound away from being the heaviest I have ever been! I only have two pairs of pants that fit, and one is getting tight fast.

We are doing a 60 day Biggest Loser contest, which means it will end February 19th, 2011. This means it will run over Christmas, New Years, and Valentines Day! Who thought of this crazy idea anyways? I have my new Flat Belly Diet Book which I had planned on starting next week, along with the new Zumba studio and my Gold's Gym membership! I can do this!!

I talked with Jrod today and my goal is to lose 10 lbs, but he feels that it should be 20 lbs. We will see, I just want to get the first 10 lbs off and see where it leads to. More than likely I will be losing the 20 lbs, I am going to give myself to around my birthday in April to lose it. My starting weight is 134 lbs. so the goal is now 114 lbs. All my weight is from my waist to about mid leg, so I am very pear shaped. My upper body doesn't gain weight but I am hoping to gain muscle up there. Really I want to lose the jiggle and get muscle. I am going to follow the Flat Belly Diet and then a program on the IPAD. I can't remember it right now, but I will find out. I want to be able to run, and I mean run a full half marathon by before summer. They have 12 weeks plans to train for it, so we will see if I am able to stick with it for the month of March. That is when I fell apart last year, along with summer time.

I need to figure out how to balance life, working out, and work. That is going to be a whole adventure for the next up coming year. I am all up for it what adventures 2011 hold for me. I am really hoping for better health, a better body, more me time, and really wanting to move!!

What are your goals for 2011? Did you start your list?

White Christmas and White Riesling

What a better combination, the movie White Christmas and R10 White Riesling. It's amazing, best time I have ever watched this movie which as been many times. Jrod has never seen it, so I think that he is getting a kick out of my smack talking to the screen. I LOVE this morning, and the buzz of the wine is making it even better. I think that the dancing and singing along with the movie works too. I feel that being interactive with the movie makes him enjoy it more, or he is just laughing at me. Who knows, but then who cares. I am lucky for today was my Monday/Friday, that is why I had some wine. Jrod made another Pina Colada for himself, he had a half day today, a full day tomorrow, and then a half day on Wed. After all that he is off for the rest of the YEAR!! Can you believe it, for I can not. Though I am going to be sleeping over at my job for New Year's Eve to New Year's Day which also makes me think that I need a different job. At least for a year so I can have holidays. We are doing a ham for Christmas Dinner and I haven't a clue what to make with it. I haven't had a childhood Christmas since I was 17, or 13 years ago. I am just so lost on this one. Though I do have to say that I am very lucky, for a work a job that is my passion. Otherwise I don't think that I would ever be able to do it.

Now to talk about the big picture of wine to the left. It is the only wine that I have found that I enjoy. It's called r10 from Braman Winery here in Texas. From what I can tell it just opened this year, but it is amazing! I first had it when I was in Gruene Texas last month at the Grapevine Texas Wine Bar.

Sorry if this is too much of a mess, wine does me in pretty well. Now to start drinking water.

A World of Keflings!!!

What my plan for Wednesday is:

A World of Keflings!

I am beyond excited! That is why I spent my Sunday cleaning, and then Tuesday finishing everything for the holiday season. I will do a full day of work on Wednesday and then come home to download the new NinjaBee game: A World of Keflings! This is my game, and now that I have finished Plants vs Zombies; which is another amazing game. Plants is brought to us by PopCap the same people who have given us Zuma, Bookworm, and Feeding Frenzy. Got to LOVE them! Cake Mania is also one of my downfalls, but I can only play it on the Nintendo DSi.

I am all about video games at the moment, for we just finished watching the Video Game Awards that was on Spike TV while we were on vacation. I am sad with the writing of it, for I know that most of the presenters could be much funnier than they made them. I was very excited though to see Nathan Fillion present though. I would like to say that I feel he should have been cast as Nathan Drake for the Uncharted movie. Okay, I am done with the video game talk for now. I think that I will work on Cake Mania 3 while finishing listening to Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, it's the end that I love.

Sunday of Cleaning!

Good Evening, it's almost Honey Baked Ham time!

I had a busy day of cleaning and catching up from when we were on vacation. I had three loads of just clothes to wash! Though I am very happy to say that I have one over filled box of random items for goodwill, along with a full trash bag of clothes for the homeless shelter. At work we are doing a coat drive for the Haven of Hope homeless center that opened this past year in downtown San Antonio. I think that I am going to have at least 3 coats to donate, not counting what Jrod gives.

I woke up early this morning and starting cleaning as soon as I was moving. The goal was to get it all done today, so on Tuesday (my next day off) I can go shopping and wrap all my gifts. Jrod only has 3 more days of work for the year, that includes two half days. I am lucky that on Tuesday it's his full day, so I can freely run around getting everything done I need to. Now the main question is what to make for Christmas dinner? I haven't had a Christmas dinner in many a years, we are getting a Honey Baked Ham but where to go from there not a clue. Any idea's?

Cookies are Done!

This product is from Phenocryst Originals at Etsy.

Yesterday if you remember or read below, I was very upset about my Christmas shopping plans. This morning I woke up and just starting looking the internet for ideas with no place to even start. Then I remember Etsy! before all the Thanksgiving/vacation/Christmas work madness that has messed my brain up into a much I went looking for items I thought Jrod would like. Thank goodness I did! I bought more gifts this morning, two which have already shipped along with one more gift I have waiting to pay for! Let me tell you that I was on a roll this morning, was almost late for work because I was going to start shopping for my cats too. Then I remembered that they won't know it's not Christmas if the gifts come late.

Today we went and saw Tron Legacy in 3-D with Dbox seating and it was really good! Then we went out for a quick dinner, then off to Target. I had to finish shopping for my other work Holiday Party that is tomorrow night. I wrapped everything up tonight because the party starts at 5 pm and it's about an hour drive away with traffic. I also baked Brown Eyed Baker's No Bake Cookies, it was a request and I am hoping they turn out well. I am letting them cool over night. Breakfast with Santa is happening early tomorrow morning, so I am off to get ready for my Friday or maybe your Saturday. Hoping to hit up the Windcrest lights tomorrow night since we will be on that side of town, we will see.

Holiday's Around the Corner

I am just thrown for a loop, I have been up since 3am and finally fell back asleep right as the alarm went off. You know, the way that it always happens. Have been back to work for two days and they have been very full of catching up. It's been crazy, but I don't like to talk about work it will never lead to anything good. Though everything that was keeping me up all night went well, at least I think it did.

I got out of bed this morning right when Jrod left and jumped online to try and get some Christmas shopping done. I didn't realize that when I went to Amazon on my computer that Jrod was signed in to it until I went to check out. I panic and logged off his account really fast but forgot to clear the screen. I am 99% that he knows what I bought him for Christmas. I try to be an amazing gift giving and I have been doing wonderful if I do say so myself. This Christmas I am just sucking, I just don't have the time. The vacation at the start of the month is really throwing me for a loop. We normally go at the start of November, so at work I had to hurry to get everything done for Christmas/ New Year's Eve before I left. I am so frustrated, but I don't have the time to research ideas and I don't even know where to start. Grrr... anyone have any ideas?

Last night we watched Bad Santa, I really enjoy that movie this time of year. On the list still is White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street which I use to own but now must get off of Netflix, and last but not least is ELF. We watched the holiday special of Warehouse 13 and 30 Rock. Got to love that Liz Lemon!

So Sick....

Today I completely missed both Christmas parties and I still feel like crap. I have to be at work in 9 hours and I don't think that sleep will be coming to me tonight. I haven't been so sick/ in so much pain since I was in high school about 15 years ago. I will hope to post more tomorrow, I need to catch up with Karen. Every time she calls I am asleep, not having any luck with that one. Like the picture, it reflects how I feel today.

Flat Belly Diet?!?

I can't sleep due to taking a huge 3 hour nap around 3pm today, so up I am feeling like crap. I have two Christmas parties to go to today (Tuesday) but at the moment I just want to spend the day in my pj's watching Christmas movies with my heating pad and cats.

The title of this post is Flat Belly Diet for a reason, I wanted to know if anyone has tried this yet? I picked up the book at Bookman's used bookstore while I was in AZ this past week and have read a good amount of it. Last year at the time I weighted 11 lbs less, and between work and stress at home from work I can't kick it. I am a stress eater and all day long I eat really bad things for me which I need to stop doing. There is a bunch of recipes that I want to try and I am all up for eating 4 smaller meals a day for I am a snacker. They have really good pack ahead snacks and I feel if I just keep good snacks around it will at least be a start. I also think that their 4 day de-bloater is a good idea too. I have been having a lot of stomach/ ab gas bubble pain as of late and duck walking around doesn't always work. *I found while searching the web that if you duck walk your gas pain will go away & it works most of the time.

I am just getting back from vacation and starting my not fun girl week, so I think that next week I am going to start with the 4 day de-bloater of Flat Belly Diet to see how it works. I know that with the holidays and my crazy work hours that I won't be able to start the diet 100% just yet but I am going to try and stick to what I can. Now the exercises in the book I haven't really gotten into that much, but I am really wanted to go back to the gym now that my trainer as stopped calling me 24/7. Once I feel better I think that I am going to start up again doing my yoga videos from 6-6:30 am then adding a mix between Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred and Kettlenetics on days that I work. I really enjoy both at least the most you can enjoy getting your butt kicked.

I should have enough time, if I pack my breakfast and lunch the night before to do both workouts (yoga + video) along with a shower. No lie, I am a sweat hog people! My friend Karen and I have had many a talks about people sweating while they workout. I am sometimes so bad that it looks like I wet myself! I have to say that I do feel better knowing that other people sweat tons too, my Zumba teach at the end of class is soaked! While Jrod is in school this up coming semester I am going to try not to stay at work so late and hit the gym more. I just have to prep dinner so we don't eat out so much, which as also been a HUGE problem for the last month. I bought a new cookbook, so don't worry I think that I am ready. Though if anyone as any amazing slow cooker recipes, I am always up for them! Off to lay in bed and read, hoping to fall asleep soon.

HOME!!!

I am very happy to say that after an amazing LONG, FOREVER drive yesterday we made it back home. The cats had trashed the downstairs, it took about 40 mins to clean up and that doesn't included the couch which I saved for today. I am very proud to say though that everything got put away last night as soon as we got home! All but Trader Joe's, I am going to redo the pantry this week. This is very rare for me, it usually takes like a week for me to unpack. Going to try out my new Bissell pet remover today on the couch, I am very excited, it got good reviews on the web site and they all had long haired cats.

I have to run.. we need food in this house ASAP! Thank's to the weather; a high of 60 today!; we are going to be having slow cooker chicken tortilla soup for dinner. Oh yeah, I love some soup with avocado on it! I am going to still with the usual dinners this week, but I bought one cookbook and one diet book both which I am going to start next week. I figured it would be good to let my body calm down and just bust through this week. Talk with you later!

Arizona Adventures!

Good Evening! Today has been a crazy long amazing day! We were up and out the door a little before 9am so we could go on a 'real' hike. Jrod has decided that in Texas we don't have any really hiking and after today I am with him, or at least we haven't found it yet. This morning we went with Jrod's friend on a 7 mile hike to Sabino Canyon on the Bear Canyon trail. It was amazing, now I just have to figure out how to move the pictures from the camera to the computer before we get home. Let's hope I can figure it out.

After words we did the tradition of getting a beer and hot wings at Thunder Canyon Brewery. We ate, talked, laughed on the outdoor patio for over 3 hours! We had more friends join us and it was just a blast! I just would like to say on a side note that the outdoor heater there are AMAZING and really work, which I have never found before.

We are now in the middle of a Kinect challenge, we did bowling, ping pong, and now boxing. I am really excited about Boxing because jrod feels that I cheat because I whip him every time! I beat him and one of his friends, but his other friend killed ALL of us! It is the best video game that I have ever played, let me tell you!

Amazing Breakfast!

Rise and Shine!! Up super early to go to Walmart for some food and items we were missing for our crazy baking adventure! We added Gingerbread cookies to our list over the next two days. Jrod has to take a final tomorrow night and I think that we are going to be baking while he does.

Now to talk about the amazing breakfast that we are cooking at the moment. We are just using left overs to make an egg/homemade hash brown/cheesy master piece. Then I made my super treat that I have only ever made once before because I ate them all myself. You take the refrigerated Crescent rolls and instead of putting hot dogs/cheese into them, you put in sausage. Then to make it worse you dip them into Maple Syrup!! It is crazy let me tell you.

The plan for the day is now mall, Trader Joe's, and then the baking excitement starts. On the list is still Pumpkin Pie (which I never get to have), Gingerbread cookies, homemade fudge with pecans (amazing!), and then I saw a recipe from WhatsGabyCooking...White Chocolate with Carmel filled Cookie Muffins. Hopefully pictures to come of our adventure!

Where in the world!?@

Hello wonderful! I am in the home of the Wildcats! That is right we made the drive in 12 hours and our first stop on the tour was Eegee's. Now if you have never been to AZ you must stop at one of these sub shops! They have these icee things, that change flavor every month; this month it is Hollyberry (it's like a sweet tart on crack) and a pizza pretzel that this lady dreams about at night.

Today was a night easy bum day for we only made 3 stops, one of which was Eegee's again and the other that I am very excited about was Bookmans which is an amazing used book/DVD/video games/boardgames/etc store. I could easily spend hours in it, and I have before on other trips. Yesterday we stopped at REI and I got a kick ass jacket, let me tell you! It's white with a FUR hoodie, I am loving it!! It is a lot more than I wanted to spend, but I am going to take back the jacket I got at JCPenny's the other week and then I joined REI's co-op and every year you get a check mailed to you for 15% of all you spend at the stores or online. Which is wonderful for me because the closes store back home is in Austin, though I have no problem's making that drive to hit up REI which is right across the street from Whole Foods.

Speaking of Whole Foods, I am looking forward to an amazing day tomorrow! We are going to Trader Joe's for our yearly stock up! Our first stop, after I go food shopping with Jrod's mom is.... Millie's Pancake Haus! No lie, it is so FUN on the inside and they have potato pancakes to die for! The real ones are so hard to find, well at least they are in south Texas.

I am off to bed, was trying to wait up for Jrod from his Guy's Night Out but I think that this post is long enough. We are so busy visiting with all of Jrod's friend's I wish that he would write it all down so I could plan what I would like to do too. OH! On Saturday is the first day of the Winterhaven Festival of Lights, I can't wait to go. It seems amazing from everything the website is talking about! I will hopefully be able to find the camera by then and take tons of pictures to show! This is all going to happen after we also go to the 4th Avenue street fair, which after driving down there last year but not getting to stop I am so looking forward to!

Amazing Day Off!

Had a busy morning, woke up early so I could chill for a bit. I knew that it was going to be a busy morning and I am happy to say that I got all my running around done and was home by Noon! This never happens to me. My morning though was amazing! Sat in the dark with only the lights of the Christmas Tree on along with the light for my Kindle. Read Call Me Mrs. Miracle today in order to get ready for the Hallmark movie this weekend. It was really cute, not $7.29 cute but lesson learned on that one. I am hooked on the Hallmark Movie Channel this time of year, it is a double bonus now that Martha Stewart and all of her specials are on it too!

The rest of the morning went fast; stopped into work for an hour, exchanged my hiking pants for ones that fit (a size bigger that I have not fit into for about 14 years :( , also exchanged the non working Star Trek Hallmark Ornament for a working one. No lie all the other stores were dead, even Whole Food, but Hallmark was CRAZY!!! Went looking for Harry Potter audio books and I found that one I was looking for a Borders, but it was $75! Can you believe that!?! On ITunes it is $45, and I think I am going to have to break down and get it for our trip to Arizona.

I already told Jrod that it was going to be an early Christmas gift for him. I really don't know what to get him this year, it just get harder and harder. I have tons of ideas but then he buys them first, which is really the only problem. He found a jacket that he liked but it was $180 and I don't really know if he would ever wear it.

Do you have any idea's for the video game man who has everything? He is a runner and I am thinking about getting him a heart monitor, but what one? There is so much info out there on the net, I don't know where to really start.

House Holiday Lights.

Close up of the house lights

Before the sun is down (of course) then a street view. Yes, those are snowflakes in the window too.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I am okay to say that I got my butt kicked this weekend. Today is my first day off and I made the mistake of not listening to Jrod and being a bum. I thought I can totally get half my do to list done, and I did. Now I need a nap, and I still have to clean up around the house. This past long weekend I work 46 hours in 4 days, which doesn't seem to bad but the last day was only an 8 hour day. It was crazy making Thanksgiving dinner, working from day until night, and trying to help make magic for hundred's of families.

I have to say that my favorite part of the whole weekend was when a husband and wife stole books out of the Operation Paperback for the Soliders drive bin. Happy Thanksgiving to both of you very much, crazy right!?!

I am very happy to say that today I bought my amazing Clark shoes for $88 on sale with free shipping on Zappos! I also went out to JCPenny's and got a 4 in 1 jacket from St. John's Bay for only $50 instead of $180. I got it in pink/brown because the purple/black just didn't sit right with me. I am sad to say that my hunt for a Narina book and Harry Potter audio books did not go well. I went to three stores and nothing! I am hoping that I have much better luck at the GIANT Borders at the Alamo Quarry tomorrow. Off to try and take a nap before Jrod gets home, but I don't think that will be happening. If not then I will just be playing Kinectimals, I am a cub black panther at the moment and Chi is LOVING watching it on the screen.

Zumba is freeing me!!

I LOVE Zumba! Went to class again today, at mystudiozero here in San Antonio. I am very excited that they are knocking out one of the walls and making it double the size. I was a bum for a good part of the day due to the power being out for no reason at all. I think that is one of the least favorite things about this neighborhood. Today while I was making dinner (Veggie soup with Barley!) the garbage disposal died. We now have two things in the house to fix, the garage door has been broken for a year now ever since we got hit by lightening. Never a fun thing, let me tell you! Looking forward to Thanksgiving shopping tomorrow morning after a quick pop over to work. Going to load up on green beans and stuffing!

Being Free!

I am so happy today, why you ask... because I have 2 days off in a row. That hasn't happened since I went to Florida in September. Yesterday we went to Gruene TX for the Market Days and it was a BLAST!! After walking around the Market Days we went to the Grapevine where you can get 3! free tasting of wines. I am not a big wine drinker at all, never found one that I like at all. When our friends wanted to try some and asked for the sweeter wines, I was like why not?!? I won't find anything that I like. J and I tried the same three ones; Sister Creek Pinot Noir, Driftwood Orange Muscat, and lastly but not least in any way, Braman-10. The Driftwood Orange Muscat and the 10 were amazing, we started with a glass of 10, then moved on to a bottle of Driftwood Orange Muscat, then bought another bottle of Braman-10 for this week's Thanksgiving. No lie, by 2:30pm I was GONE!! They had run out of crackers so I only got one serving of spinach dip, I was very sad about that one. It was a blast to sit out on the porch drinking wine with amazing friends and people watching which is one of my favorite past times.

Next week we are going to New Braunfels, Texas for Wassailfest! Again I have never been and it sounds like tons of fun. I am hoping for a cool clear night with a bright moon where we can walk the streets drinking cider. If you have never been to either area and you live close by you should 100% check it out. I still have to figure out a plan for getting to Fredricksburg this holiday season too. Off to research Christmas Trees and see if I want to get one , no lie I will probably have one by Tuesday. I would like to have all my Christmas stuff done this week so when I am super busy at work I can come home and be a bum on my couch looking at the tree.

The Holidays are Here part 2!

So the holidays are upon us, for me this is super crunch time at my job and I am LOVING IT!! I played with garland, got about 5 HUGE boxes filled with holiday crafts and toys, and got to wear the pink elf outfit below around along with the turkey leg hat above.

The Turkey Leg Hat is from Family Fun and we will be making about 350 of this with guest next Thursday at my hotel. While wearing it I made a person laugh so hard she started to cry, no lie it made my day!! We have a HUGE all manager meeting tomorrow and for the start of it I am going to wear the full elf outfit with the turkey leg hat on top. I have to get everyone as pumped up for the holidays as I am.

What are your plans for this up coming Thanksgivng? I will be working for the first time in 3 years and we are going to get a turkey pre cooked, I just have to pick from where. I am really leaning towards Rudy's but County Line is also having an amazing deal. What to do, what to do. I will be gone from 8am until about 6pm at night so jrod is going to be doing all the cooking. I LOVE his mash potatoes and can't wait to try his green beans.

The Holiday are HERE!

The best way to relax... by me!

I have many a hobbies that I fully enjoy but just don't have the time to really be able to sit down and do them to the point of being relaxed. I wanted to share what I am working on at the moment with you all, it's the Many Mountains tote from sublime stitching. If you have never heard of this company it is AMAZING!! I found it right after I moved to San Antonio, it is based out of Austin, Texas. Jenny Hart is the own/creator and has so many easy to do/learn projects that you will be able to start in no time at all! I have to say that I wear my sushi kitty polo I made myself a couple of years ago with pride still. http://www.sublimestitching.com/

Between stitching the mountains and wrapping yarn around the wreath for my fall door wreath, I have been very much enjoying the little free time that I get. I hope that this helps you find a new way to relax with the crazy holiday season coming up. If not this may also give you some really great gift ideas that you can make yourself! *Go Handmade Christmas!* Off to search etsy while jrod's at school, I really need to get a move on Christmas shopping.