Busy Day, Big Day

Well, I'm just going to post a quick update since I wasn't able to get on here at all yesterday.  I had a busy day yesterday getting a number of things done on my to-do list in regards to our possible house purchase.  But, besides that, last night Brian and I went out to eat with my parents and grandma to celebrate my dad's birthday that was last Sunday.  My dad chose Carrabba's which I was excited about because it's one of my favorite restaurants!  And I'm happy to report that I learned a HUGE lesson last night.  Something that is definitely worth sharing with ya'll- especially those of you trying to lose weight or maintain your current weight.

So, in preparation for the dinner out, I spent a great deal of time scouring over Carrabba's menu and nutritional information online.  I was figuring out what would be the healthiest choices for me to order and calculating how many Weight Watchers points things were.  Well, I finally decided on ordering a cup of their minestrone soup to start and then a small order of their grilled chicken.  The grilled chicken came with a choice of 2 sides, so I was anxious to find out what their vegetables of the day were, otherwise I would have been stuck with a side of pasta and garlic mashed potatoes.  Well, the vegetables ended up being a sauteed broccoli and a sauteed spinach which both sounded good to me!  The minestrone came and in my opinion it was just okay.  I worked at Olive Garden for 11 years and always loved their minestrone, so yeah, I guess I'm a bit biased.  Then my grilled chicken entree came with the side of sauteed broccoli and sauteed spinach and honestly, I wasn't really a fan of any of it.  The chicken was grilled in such a way that I could practically taste the grill on it.  The spinach was okay, but the broccoli was actually very good.  The only problem I had with those is that they seemed to have been cooked in a lot of oil, which is obviously very fattening.  So, I ended up only eating about half of each part of my entree.

So, long story short- my lesson learned was this: to order something that I KNOW I will really enjoy and plan to eat only half or a small portion if it is higher in points.  If I had done that I would have enjoyed last night's meal and I would have had leftovers to enjoy again today.  If I had ordered what Brian ordered (an entree with a serving of both chicken parmigiana and lasagna) and only eaten half of each, it would have only cost me 12 points, which actually isn't too bad.  So, LESSON LEARNED!

I'm headed off to our home inspection soon!  And I am very much crossing my fingers that everything goes well!!!  EEEEKKK!!!

Important Meeting

Good morning!  Not too much to report from the rest of my day yesterday.  I went to Target to pick up a pizza for dinner and buy gifts for my friend's baby shower and of course left with more than just those items!  I swear, it's impossible to leave that store without spending money!  Although, I didn't spend much more than I was intending on- just got a couple more things with coupons, so that helps!  And I used a gift card to pay, so it's almost like I didn't spend any money at all!

My mister had to work yesterday- he's been working A LOT of overtime this year.  The company he works for has been doing so well that they've actually had to add a second shift.  They used to only operate with a first shift, so obviously things have changed for the positive.  Which is a blessing and a curse.  Yes, overtime pay is fantastic, but that means less time I get to spend with my mister! : ( At least it's job security!

So, tonight we are meeting with our mortgage broker because... drumroll... we got an accepted offer on a house last week!  Yippee!  Very exciting!  But, also very stressful.  We are on quite a short timeline here.  First, we have our meeting tonight to finalize financing.  Then on Wednesday, we have the home inspection which will hopefully go well (crossing my fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes!) because... we need to give 60 days notice that we're going to vacate our apartment, which means they need to receive our notice by the 1st, which is this Thursday.  So, tight window there, hey?  I'm not really concerned about our meeting tonight because obviously we already had financing addressed or we wouldn't have been able to have a pre-approval letter to go with our offer on the house.  But, I am thinking that Wednesday to Thursday will be very stressful.  EEEK!  Then to add to it all, IF everything goes well and we do indeed get this house, it means we'll be moving just a few weeks before our wedding.  It will certainly make the next couple of months busy to say the least!

Last week was a great week of staying on Weight Watchers program for me.  I strictly stuck to it from Tuesday to Saturday and I lost over 5 pounds!  Booyah!  We had dinner at my parents on Saturday night with Brian's parents as well, so I made that evening my "free meal" time.  Basically that means I allowed myself to splurge and not worry about points.  I was back on track right away Sunday and again this morning.  I had a scrambled egg with mushrooms, mozzarella and Mexican cheese and a little bit of Door County cherry jam on top for breakfast this morning.  And of course, Door County coffee with it!  Can you tell I love Door County? ; )

They have THE best coffee!  We always buy some when we're in DC!

You should check out their website!  You might be able to pick up their coffee at a store near you!

I don't have too much else on the schedule for today besides getting things gathered for our meeting tonight.  I need to pick up some account statements from our credit union and get my taxes from my parents' house.  Oh, and I will probably make some granola bars for Brian.  I haven't made them in awhile and I used to always put them in his lunch.  It's a super easy recipe, but I'll wait and share it with you tomorrow!

I'll leave you with a picture of my cat Isadora... she's hard at work!

My little birdwatcher!

 

 

First Things First

Well, hello!  My name is Laura J : ) Here I am, finally starting my own blog.  This is something I've been wanting to do for months, or years really.  I finally found made the time to get started on sharing my daily musing with ya'll.  Aren't you lucky?!

Let me tell you a little bit about my life right NOW.  I am currently unemployed- by choice.  I quit my job as a bank teller in March after working there for over 2 years.  It just wasn't what I wanted to be doing and once I paired that with the long commute and minimal pay it was clear it wasn't worth it for me to continue there.  Although, I did make some fabulous friends there that I'm sure will be lifelong!  Obviously, I wouldn't have been able to quit without the emotional (and financial!) support of my wonderful fiance Brian!  He is the love of my life and the perfect match for me.  It's true what they say about opposites attracting.  My rambunctious personality makes up for his calm demeanor.  My friend Andrea was dating a guy named Matt and mentioned that he had a single, but quiet younger brother- Brian.  I pursued him of course and here we are almost 3 years later, just 2 months away from our wedding!  And Andrea will soon be more than just my friend- she'll be my sister-in-law, as her and Matt got married in 2011!  So, expect to hear a lot about wedding planning on this blog- or at least for the next 69 days because that's how long we have until the big day!

Just got these earrings yesterday- gonna wear them on the big day!

The biggest part of my daily life now (and probably forever) is my struggle to maintain my recent weight loss.  At the end of January last year I set out to finally gain control of my poor eating and lose some weight.  I began a rigorous routine of twice daily workouts, 6 days a week.  I also followed Weight Watchers on my own with old materials from when I was a member years ago.  It was rough and took some SERIOUS determination to stick to it, but I did!  By October, I was down 50 pounds!  Booyah!  I still have weight to lose, but maintaining my weight loss has been hard enough.  So, expect to hear quite a bit about my constant battle with eating.  Ugh.

I think that's it for today.  It's almost noon here and I still haven't eaten breakfast!  My tummy is growling!  I'll leave you with a pic of a little treat I'll have with my english muffin with peanut butter...

1/2 cup chai tea mixed with 1/2 cup skim milk and a few ice cubes-- delicious!

 Enjoy your Sunday Funday ya'll! ; )