Not SO bad...

First things first--my Wednesday Weigh-In. I gained. But honestly, I'm HAPPY with the number, because if you consider how much I usually gain on a trip, I should actually have weighed in the 160's today, lol. Tennessee trip in April = 7.5 pounds gained;  Indy trip in May = 12.5 pounds gained. Then this morning, two full days after my Arizona trip?

Weight:  + 1.5 pounds since last week

Waist measurement:  +1 inch since last week

Body fat:  + 0.5% since last week

So to see 150.5 on the scale this morning, meaning a 1.5 pound gain in Arizona, I was actually pleased. I still feel a little puffy, so hopefully lots of water and veggies this week will help me drop back down.  I'm not even going to tell you what I weighed the evening I got back from Arizona 156!

After I weighed in, I thought to myself, "Was it worth it? Was gaining 1.5 pounds WORTH all of the crap you ate in Arizona?"

HELL YES IT WAS WORTH IT! It was worth every calorie. I ate at places that I've never tried before, I had Mexican food with a "real" Mexican, I ate red velvet ice cream, I had cake for breakfast two days in a row, drank enough wine to fill Lake Erie, and ate enough tortilla chips and salsa to feed an Army. And I would do it all again, even knowing I was going to gain 1.5 pounds.

That made me think of the other trips, and how much weight gain they were "worth". Tennessee? 10 pounds! I gladly would gain 10 pounds for the Tennessee experience we had--thankfully, it only cost me 7.5 pounds.  :)  Indy? Indy was probably worth 2 pounds--definitely NOT the 12.5 I gained, especially considering that I ran a half-marathon while I was there!  The wine weekend with my girlfriends? Worth 3 pounds! (It was only 24 hours, so I can't give it TOO much--but all the wine and yummy food was definitely worth 3 pounds. I don't remember what I actually gained).

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Anyways, thanks so much for the input on the birthday party Noah was invited to. I should have been more clear (not that it makes a huge difference): Noah is my 7-year old in 2nd grade; ELI is my 5-year old kindergartener. Both of my kids have spent the night at my parents house at least once a week since they were babies, so I wasn't worried about Noah getting homesick. But I definitely worry about my kids getting sexually abused, and I just don't feel comfortable having him spend the night anywhere that I don't know the adults VERY well.

I showed Jerry all of your comments, and he changed his mind. I was expecting Noah to throw a big fit when I told him that he couldn't go, but he was fine with it. I explained to him WHY I was saying no--that I don't let him go anywhere with strangers, and that these parents are strangers to me. I said he could invite his school friend over that day, and he forgot all about the party. Whew!  Now I just have to make the RSVP call, and I am dreading it. I think I mentioned that I have horrible phone anxiety--I HATE to call people on the phone. I know that sounds weird. I might have Jerry do it for me, like I usually do!

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Wow, just as I was typing this, Noah lost his first tooth!!  I'm so excited for him! He's the LAST kid in his class to lose a tooth, and the kids were teasing him. He said they called him "Little Tooth". LOL, kids are terrible, aren't they?! It was a little wiggly when we left for Arizona, and I was hoping he'd lose it when my sister was here (she was the one who pulled all my teeth when I was little!) She said she'd give him $100 for his first tooth--crazy, I know. He's only getting $5 from me :)

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I made a decision today that I REALLY hope doesn't make my readers think of me as a sell-out. When I first started this blog, I said there was no way I would ever put ads on it. I figured it would be super annoying to readers and I wouldn't make enough money to be worth it. But I've been SO STRESSED about money lately, because of my upcoming surgery, and I've been trying to come up with ways to make (or save) money. I have no idea if adding ads to my blog will generate any income whatsoever, but I figured I'd try it out for a month or two because it can't hurt. I just hope I don't lose readers over it!

I went through my closet and picked out some stuff to take to the consignment shop tomorrow, so there is a little money. I took everything from my chest freezer and crammed it into the freezer in my refrigerator, just to save on electricity. Yes, I'm totally desperate.

I even thought about things I could make in order to sell, because I'm pretty crafty. Ugh, it's just so frustrating! (And if you're thinking the obvious question, "Why don't you get a job?!" the obvious answer is that I need the money for surgery, and if I'm getting surgery, I won't be able to work). So I just need to get creative with ways of making money.

The whole point of all this is to let you know that you may see ads on my blog soon. Hopefully they aren't annoying or distracting. I'm not selling out. I love to write, and this blog has all-but taken over my life because I love it!

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Puffy

Thanks for all the nice comments on the entry about Sarah's wedding. I was just super happy to be able to FIT into that dress! ;)

I ate a lot of junk while I was at Sarah's, and I definitely felt the effects of that. My hands were super swollen and puffy every morning, and I know it was because I was eating out on a daily basis. I'm not used to eating out, so my body just got bloated. I did run while I was there--4 miles Thursday and 6 miles on Friday.

As soon as we got home, I jumped right back on the wagon as far as eating and exercise go. I ran 6 miles yesterday and 3 miles today. I have 4 weeks until my surgery, so I want to keep running often, but I'm not training for anything. It feels kind of weird to not have a schedule. I just want to be in really good shape before I'm not able to run for 6+ weeks!

I was craving veggies when I got home from AZ, so I went to the fruit & veggie market to stock up. I'm still feeling puffy, but hopefully a couple more days of healthy eating will help. I'm still going to weigh-in tomorrow for my Wednesday Weigh-In, but I promise you that it's not going to be pleasant :)

I made some baked oatmeal for breakfast yesterday, and it was SO GOOD. Renee ordered baked oatmeal when we went for coffee last week, and I was obsessing about it ever since. I looked up a recipe online, and just made a couple of modifications. I poured almond milk over it and sprinkled a little brown sugar on top.

I brought Renee and Jessica each a piece, and Jerry ate some. I'll be making more tomorrow probably, because I think there is just one piece left. I used this recipe: Pumpkin, Cranberry, & Apple Baked Oatmeal. I typed out the modified recipe here. It tasted like all the elements of Fall in a bowl! Pumpkin, cranberries, apples, cinnamon... yum!!

This morning, I had to volunteer in Eli's kindergarten class to help the kids decorate pumpkins. Kindergarteners are so cute! After all the kids were finished decorating, they performed a few songs for us. I took pictures, but I'm not sure who wouldn't mind me posting pics of their kids on here, so I won't post them.

And speaking of dilemmas with the kids' safety... Noah brought home a birthday party invitation today for a sleepover. I don't know whether to let him go. I don't know the parents of the boy. The boy has a different last name than his mom, so I did some "research" on the computer (Facebook, Family Watchdog, White Pages, etc--yes, I'm a freak about this, but I worry about my kids!) I found the boy's dad on Facebook, and he is pretty young, and dating a stripper. Can't find anything about the mom.

Noah told me that the party is going to be at the boy's grandparents house (which is actually an apartment). Jerry says we should let him go, but I really don't know. I was thinking of just letting him go for a few hours and then picking him up. It's the sleepover part that makes me uncomfortable. I just don't trust ANYONE around my kids unless I know them well. Noah wants to go very badly. What would you do?

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The Wedding

Sorry I'm so late writing this. I've been so screwed up from the time change! Yesterday went by way too fast--we got to the airport at 8:30 AM in Phoenix, and we got home from Detroit airport at 7:30 PM. So our entire day was just gone!

But I'll back up. Saturday was the wedding. I tried on the dress as soon as I woke up, and thanked God that I could actually still zip it. Jerry and I went to breakfast at this super cute little restaurant with our friend Lance and his girlfriend. The restaurant was outside at a farm, and everything was super fresh. I took one pic of the restaurant, but it's not very good:

All of the bridesmaids had hair appointments at 11:30 at a fancy schmancy salon. Instead of buying us a bridal party gift, Sarah paid for us to get our hair and make-up done! They gave us mimosas while they prettied us up. I started with my make-up. She airbrushed foundation on my face, which was kind of cool. I asked her to do whatever was best to cover the jawline acne I've acquired over the past year. I loved how my make-up turned out.

My hair was next. There was the "Senior Stylist" and the assistant of the senior stylist. I never knew that stylists had assistants! The assistant brought me drinks and gave me hand massages and all that good stuff along with handing things to the stylist while she did my hair. I had no clue how I wanted it styled, and she described something that sounded nice, so I told her that was fine. I really like how it turned out, but it was hard to get a good picture of it!

This is a dark pic at the reception, but I'll post better ones once Sarah gets them

After everyone got their hair and make-up done, the bridesmaids all left with Sarah's mom (except me--I went with Sarah). Sarah wanted me to drive her to her house to get her overnight bags and stuff, and then we'd drive her Mustang to the wedding site. The drive was gorgeous once we left downtown Phoenix:

This mountain was gorgeous, and then Sarah told me that that is where the wedding site/reception would be!

Once we got to the site, we changed into our dresses and waited for guests to arrive. The wedding was supposed to start at 4:30, but people were still showing up, so we didn't end up walking down the aisle until 5:00. Jerry had my camera, and took a lot of photos, but they didn't turn out well. Here are a couple:

The only pic he got of me walking down the aisle

All of us bridesmaids

Saying their vows

I wasn't feeling emotional at all until I saw Sarah's mom crying, and Sarah cried a few times, and her new husband even cried! I was holding Ne's ring (Ne (pronounced 'Nay') is Sarah's new husband). My only job during the ceremony was to hold her flowers and hand her the ring. I did my job, and I didn't drop anything.

It was over 100 degrees outside, though, and I could actually feel the sweat drip down my arm and drop from my elbow. How lady-like ;) 

Turns out Sarah forgot the marriage license at her house (an hour and a half away!) so the two weren't "legally" married all night. I never got to sign the license as her witness because I had to leave in the morning :(  I guess the minister went to her house in the morning to get all the signatures. Sarah did NOT, however, forget her $31 panties ;)  By the way, I LOVED your comments about those. I read them to Sarah, and she thought it was funny too.

The reception was immediately after the ceremony, and while the bridal party took pictures, there were Mexican dancers that entertained the guests. It was kind of interesting! I tried to get a pic, but it was dark and they were moving way to fast...

The bar was open and there were chips and AMAZING salsa for everyone to munch on while they waited for Sarah and Ne to finish up pictures.  I had a beer and some chips and salsa, and talked to Lance for a little bit. We took a photo that has become a tradition at weddings since we were two years old!

1984 vs. 2003 (at my wedding)

vs. 2011, at Sarah's wedding

I have a few more, but I don't feel like looking for them right now. My mom took a pic of Jerry and me:

 Then the reception was right there on site. There were candles and little lights all over, and it was gorgeous! My pictures don't do it justice:

Head table

We ate right away. Since Ne is Mexican (and his family doesn't speak English) the DJ said everything twice--once in English and once in Spanish. The whole wedding was VERY bi-cultural (is that even a word?!) Traditional American wedding for Sarah's side, but with lots of Mexican flare thrown in. They had American foods like roast beef, mashed potatoes, and green beans, along with Mexican food like fajitas and refried beans.

Thankfully, Sarah told me that I didn't have to do a toast if I didn't want to--and of course I decided not to (although I should have... she did one for my wedding!) After the toast (which the best man did in English and Spanish), there was lots of dancing. The DJ mixed American music with Mexican music, and the Mexican music proved to be the most popular, among EVERYONE. They did the "dollar dance", so the best man and I stood up there and collected cash for everyone to dance with Sarah and Ne. I wished I could've taken pictures, because Jerry went up and paid to slow dance with Ne ;)

The first dance

Me, dancing with Ne

Ne's family was VERY fun

Me, Sarah, and my friend Lance (we all grew up together)

I danced a little, but mostly chatted. I had a few glasses of wine, but I had waaay too much the night before to want to drink much. At around 11, I started loading up Sarah's car with her stuff so that she wouldn't have to stay after the reception. Jerry and I rode back to the hotel with Sarah and Ne in her car. We were all SO TIRED. I fell asleep numerous times while sitting in the back seat. I gave them hugs good-bye, since Jerry and I had to leave for the airport in the morning.

Again, I got zero sleep. I was SO TIRED the next morning. We went to the airport and had breakfast, and then had no problems boarding or taking off on the plane (thankfully! I don't think I could've handled a repeat of Wednesday's flight). We arrived in Detroit and I had to get a cinnamon roll for my kids. Weird, right? Every time I talked to the kids while we were gone, Eli kept telling me that he wanted me to bring him home  a cinnamon roll. So I made it a mission to do that.

When we picked him up on the way home from the airport, he was SO MAD when he saw it. I had no idea what was wrong! Then, after about 10 minutes of questioning him, I discovered that he wanted a SOUVENIR, not a CINNAMON ROLL. He kept saying 'cinnamon roll', thinking that he was asking for a toy. Poor kid!! It was so cute!

The kids had a blast with my sister, of course. Last night when I tucked them into bed, Noah told me, "Mama, you know what my favorite part of the week was? Spending the night at Dylan's!" and I asked Eli, "Eli, what was YOUR favorite part of the week?" and you know what he said? In the sweetest voice, he sighed a little and said, "Coming home."  My heart melted.

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Okay, this is way off-topic, but I got a phone call today from the plastic surgeon's secretary, and the date of November 14th has been confirmed!! My surgery is scheduled for 6:30 in the morning that Monday. I'm so excited :)

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Rehearsal (Arizona-Day 3)

Once again, I was up at 3:30 this morning. It's impossible to get into the groove of Arizona time.

Yesterday, Sarah and I went to her gym again. I ran 6.4 miles on the dreadmill in 60 minutes. The last three miles I did intervals, just to help pass the time a little faster. I set the slow speed at 5.8 mph, and the faster speed at 7.0. I did a quarter mile slow, then a quarter mile fast, and repeated that for 3 miles. I'm glad I went, but I don't think I could ever enjoy being a gym rat. I like running outside so much more.

After the gym, we showered and got ready for the rehearsal. We went to lunch at a little Mexican restaurant that reminded me of Chipotle. I had two fish tacos, and they were SO good.

We went to check out the resort hotel that everyone is staying at, and Jerry and I decided to book a room for last night as well as tonight (originally, we were just going to stay Saturday night, but when we saw how awesome the rooms are, and that our friends were staying here, we added a day). 

Since we were having a barbecue at Sarah's house for the rehearsal dinner, our moms spent most of the morning and afternoon in the kitchen, cooking. I had too much wine for sure, but it was so fun! 

Jerry, with two of Sarah's dogs (she has three)

Me and Jerry (my hair! ugh)

Watching the moms cook  ;)

During the rehearsal, Little (that's the dog) was begging to be held.

I don't know why I look so confused... it's a simple ceremony!

Walking with the best man

Sarah and me

Completely exhausted and ready for bed at 11 PM

Today is the wedding!  We have appointments for hair and make-up at 11:30, and then we're going to get dressed at the wedding site. The wedding is at 4:00. Jerry and I are going to fly home tomorrow at 10:30 in the morning, so I may not write again until I'm home.

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Arizona: Day 2

I'm having such a hard time getting used to the time difference!  In Michigan, it is 10:40 PM right now, but in Arizona, it's only 7:40. I really feel like I need to be asleep.

I was up bright and early at 5:00 this morning, which is when I finished writing my blog. We had some coffee and sat around for a little bit, and then Sarah and I went to her gym. This was a (near) first for me, because the last time I was in a gym was when I was a freshman in college (2001).

The gym was HUGE and the equipment looked really nice. Sarah had a 3-day pass that I could use, which was perfect. I planned on running 8 miles on the dreadmill. I learned that just because it's in Arizona doesn't mean it's any less boring to run on a treadmill. Each machine had its own TV, but there wasn't anything interesting on. I ended up watching America's Next Top Model and running just 4 miles before I couldn't take it any more. It was SO HOT in there, and there weren't fans (except ceiling fans, which didn't help at all).

After that, Sarah and I went into the spinning classroom--but there wasn't a class going on, so it was just the two of us in there. I've always been TERRIFIED of spinning, so I would never have tried a class. But Sarah showed me how it works and WOW. It was seriously the hardest.workout.EVER. I only ended up doing 20 minutes total, and most of it was just easy peddling to catch my breath from the extremely intense 30 second hardcore crap she had me do.

Spinning is intense. And definitely not something I'm interested in pursuing! I realized that I had every reason to be terrified of it, because it's HARD.

We're supposed to go back to the gym tomorrow, too. I know I'll run, but I don't even want to guess how long I'll last. The heat + boredom does not make a fun run!

After the gym, we went to her house and showered and dressed, then we went to get manicures and pedicures for the wedding. I picked the same color of pink as my dress (the dress color is called "Watermelon") for both my toes and my fingers.

My mom flew in today for the wedding. She's staying with a mutual friend at a nearby hotel. They came over to Sarah's and planned the rehearsal dinner. We're going to have a picnic here tomorrow for the rehearsal dinner, even though we're not having an actual "rehearsal". Tomorrow is when everything is going to get crazy, I'm sure.

Sarah's friend Kristal (also a bridesmaid) flew in today as well. We went and got ice cream after dinner. I had a scoop of Red Velvet and a scoop of Reese's PB Cup. Yum!

Sorry, but I've not been good with taking pictures while I'm here. But I did get the pictures back from the Big House Big Heart 10-K race I did on Sunday, so I'll show you those:

Check out how pale my lips are--that's how you know I'm about to puke

Picking up the pace, with 50 yards to go

Finish line

This is one of my brother's pics. Why don't my pics ever turn out this good?!

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The nightmare that was my flight

Well, you all know by now that my biggest fear is flying. I hate it and will do just about ANYTHING to avoid it. So naturally, when something goes wrong, it would by on MY plane! I will start by saying that I made it to Arizona safely, and I'm fighting to stay awake at Sarah's house right now (it's 9:10 PM here, but 12:10 PM in Michigan).

Jerry and I got ready to leave and my little brother ended up driving us to the airport. We had no problems getting through security or anything, and we made it to the gate. After waiting there for a while, the plane started boarding. I had picked our seats online, because I wanted to be SURE to get a seat next to the window, since my older brother told me there would be less turbulence.
(Okay, I literally fell asleep while typing. It's now 9:00 Thursday morning)...

We got on the plane and sat in our seats. I was just above the right wing. I had taken to Xanax in the airport, but I was still nervous. The plane started taxiing and we got to the runway. Then we just sat there. For a looong time. The plane was super hot, and there wasn't much air coming out of those vents. I was on the verge of a panic attack.

Then the pilot came on the speaker saying that there was a problem with the right engine, and they were "working on it". WHAT?! I just wanted to get off the plane immediately. I didn't want them to fix it while we were sitting there. We sat there for about an hour, and everyone was super hot. Finally, the pilot said that they weren't able to fix it, so we had to return to the gate and go board another plane.

I was NOT okay with this. I really just wanted to go home. My Xanax was quickly wearing off. Anyway, Sarah sent me a text saying that her friend Kristal (also a bridesmaid) may not be coming, and she really needed me to come. So about an hour later, we boarded a new plane, which had different seating. And of course it would be my luck that they'd put in in the BACK of the plane, which is the worst spot to sit as far as turbulence goes.

I popped a couple more Xanax, and then we had to sit and wait in the plane for almost another hour because they had to reload our luggage and change the food carts and all that crap. So it was three hours after the original departure time that we finally took-off.

It was the most turbulent flight I've ever had. The second we took off, the plane was shaking and rocking and I just thought, "What the fuck am I doing here?!"  I kept my feet off the floor and my arms off the hand rests (I found you feel the bumps less if you don't have contact with those things).

For two hours, the turbulence was really bad. Once we got past the mid-way point, it got a little smoother with a few rough patches. I even managed to take some pictures:

Lake Michigan coast line

Dunno where this was... but aren't the circles kind of cool?

Tired from 2 mg of Xanax

The mountains out west look awesome

The landing was really rough. I almost hit my head on the seat in front of me because we stopped so fast. But when we got to the gate, I saw this:

The yellow sticker says "human remains"

It was sad and kind of interesting at the same time. They were actually loading the body onto the plane while we were deboarding.

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We got to Sarah's, and her house is GORGEOUS. I was in total awe. I didn't take any pics last night. We went out to dinner with Sarah and her fiance, Ne  (His name is Norberto, but everyone calls him Ne--pronounced Nay). They took us to their favorite Mexican restaurant called Ponchos, and it was AMAZING. I didn't plan on eating too much, and I even split a dinner with Sarah, but I left there completely stuffed with margarita, chips and salsa, and a variety dinner. I even had my first tamale, and it was so good.

After that, Sarah and I went shopping for her wedding night lingerie. I had told her a long time ago that I wanted to buy it for her, so we finally got to go shop. I also bought some Spanx for myself ;)  After paying, we were walking out, and the math wasn't adding up in my head. I thought $160 seemed like a lot for three items--her nightie (about $50), my Spanx (about $75), plus a pair of panties that were blue lace and said, "I DO" on the front (didn't check the price, but they were just panties).

I pulled out the receipt and those panties were $31!!! We both laughed so hard at that. I know for a fact that I've never spent more than about $3 on a pair of panties. We discovered that the "I DO" was made out of swarovski crystals--BAHAHAHA.  Then we were joking about how she could possibly use them again, and she said maybe she could rearrage them to spell, "IT'S A BOY" some day. Yup, the $31 pair of panties. Yikes!

This is what a $31 pair of panties looks like

We are suckers.

Today, I'm going to Sarah's gym with her to run on the dreadmill. Arizona is HOT.

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New pics from the party

Well, I don't look any better in the bridesmaid dress than I did 10 weeks ago. Oh well. I'm just praying that come Saturday, I'll be able to zip it. So I won't be eating much on my Arizona trip.

My mom came over last night and brought over the pictures from my dad's surprise party. I love how they turned out!  I won't bore you with tons of them, but here are a few favorites:

Someone asked my dad something about the 60's... haha!

My little brother Nathan, my dad, and my older brother Brian

My siblings, my kids, and my parents

Me and my siblings

Being silly

Love this picture of Noah!

My mom's next door neighbor took all the pictures. They look fantastic, don't they?!  For Christmas, my mom is going to hire her to do a photo shoot of Jerry, me, and our kids.

I'm going to keep this entry short, because I am still not done packing, and we're leaving for the airport at 6:00 AM.  Did anyone happen to catch Dr. Oz yesterday?  Chris Powell was on there--I love him!! He's a trainer that helps people with massive weight loss. I originally saw him on The 650-lb Virgin documentary, and now he's on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.

Anyway, he said something that completely struck a chord with me yesterday. He was talking about his diet regimen (eating high carb one day, and then low-carb the next, for 6 days a week). You get one "free day" per week where you can eat whatever you want... as long as you don't bring it home with you.

This is genius! I know it's so simple, but 90% of my overeating is AT HOME. I don't even think I would have the urge to binge outside of my house. I don't binge in public, so this makes so much sense to me. Anyway, he actually talked about a few things that are new to me--which is rare. Most weight loss advice we've all heard 1,000 times over; but he had some new, interesting info.

Today I went out for coffee with Renee and Jessica again, and Jessica suggested that the two of us run the FULL marathon in Detroit next year! I really want to do it, and having someone to train with would be fun. So I think we're going to do it!  :)

Jerry and I are going to bring the kids to my parents house now, and then next time I write, I'll either be in Arizona or back home. I'm bringing my computer so that I can hopefully blog, but I don't know if I'll have internet at Sarah's, so we'll see.

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