Snow!

This weekend MA finally got snow. It wasn't very much...Sunday we woke up to maybe an inch on the ground, with another inch coming throughout the day. Sunday morning was nice enough for a hike so CP and I took Fuzzy Britches to a local state park.




Isn't she adorable? :-)

Weight loss smoothies!

So I got a few emails about the smoothies the trainer is having CP and I eat for breakfast and lunch. Here is the recipe CP and I have been using:

1 banana
Handful of ice
2 heaping tablespoons of plain low-fat yogurt
1 cup of skim milk*
1 scoop of vanilla soy protein**
Handful of frozen fruit like blueberries, strawberries, cherries, mango, etc.

*The trainer suggested using Bolthouse carrot juice, but we found that we didn't like it.
**We found our soy protein at Walmart.

The recipe should make two cups or even two and a half cups of a yummy, delicious and healthy smoothie. There are tons of combinations so have fun with it! CP and I thought that we would be starving after only having a smoothie for breakfast, but so far it has easy to not eat anything until lunch. Watch...I say that now and then next week my body finally realizes that I am not feeding it very much!

Money troubles

Yesterday CP and I came to a realization that we have been spending way too much money recently. We finally uploaded Quicken to figure out where most of our money was going. Turns out, it is mostly going towards food. We haven’t been eating out that much (partly because there isn’t anywhere exciting to go), but we freely put grocery tabs on our joint credit card without even thinking about it. Not to mention the $300 we just spent at Whole Foods for Thanksgiving….

So with our new smoothie diet (we will be now be having smoothie for breakfast AND lunch to try to maximize weight loss), we will hopefully curb our food spending. We have a lot of frozen meals in our two freezers so we will start to chip away at that food for a while before buying any new food. We don’t want to have debt hanging over us when we are on our honeymoon because we know that we will be spending a bunch while in Equator/ the Galapagos. Plus, we are planning to definitely move back to our west coast city sometime in 2010 so that CP can get his MBA.

I also took a look at my personal credit card and realized that I can’t use it anymore. Right now I am paying just over the minimum and not putting much of a dent in the balance. This is not good. I am pretty sure that I am simply going to take it out of my wallet so that I don’t even think of using it. No more clothes, shoes, etc. for a couple of months because my work wardrobe is fairly new. I kept pants that I wore for law school internships in case I lost weight so I don’t have to worry about buying more when I do start to lose this weight. Plus, that might be a while before I move down a size because all of my current pants fit well….that is until I eat something.

More random musings

On Saturday CP’s mom got married to a man that she has been dating for five years. After the reception CP and her new husband had a small party back at their house for most of the guests. Because they had food leftover, CP’s mom handed us cookies, brownies, and other assorted desserts to take back to CP’s dads house. On the way back to his dad’s house, CP and I both agreed that it would be really weird to bring desserts to his dad from his mom’s wedding reception. I was surprised that she would even think to give them to her ex husband. I don’t think that she meant it in a mean way, but was it a small in-your-face to her ex? We decided to leave them in the car and bring them into work this week.

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Poor CP can tolerate his new stepfather, but both he and his sister reported that the new man in their mom’s life was trying to get touchy-feely with them. Saying that now that they are family, that he wants to have a better relationship with them. *Awkward* Both CP and his sister are not huge fans of the guy, but are nice to him because their mom loves him. Although my parents might not have a perfect relationship, I am thankful that they are still together. Divorced parents make everything so difficult. CP and his sister are both over 30 years old so a stepparent is not really necessary….not to mention their father is still alive and well so they also don’t need a fatherly figure in their life.

I think that CP is going to want to keep his interaction with the stepfather to a minimum while we still live on the east coast and hopefully it is just his mom that comes to visit after we move back out west!!

Random musings

This holiday was the first time I had seen CP’s sister, husband and two kids since CP and I got engaged. Everyone thought it was hilarious to have the kids (ages 4 and 6) call me “Aunt Non Sequitur Chica” instead of “Miss Non Sequitur Chica” as they have been calling me. I have to admit- it sounded VERY weird. Not to mention hearing my future mother-in-law introduce me as her “future daughter-in-law.” Why do I think that it is so weird? Why do I giggle every time I think of my parents having a son-in-law?

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Yesterday I got a call from the local NPR station thanking me for my gift this year. The woman asked if she could ask a few questions about why I gave, why I think that it is important, why I listen to NPR, etc. so that she could record it to play during the next pledge drive. I personally think that I said “umm” too many times, but I guess they can edit it out. If they end up playing my tape that is going to be WEIRD hearing my voice on the radio!

In need of a job?

Is anyone in need of a full time or part time job? The US Census Bureau is starting to hire for the 2010 Census. While it might not be the most exciting job in the world, if you are looking for some extra cash you know that you won’t get canned by the Federal government! Check out www.census.gov or www.2010censusjobs.gov for more information.

But what about me???

For the past week our trainer has suggested eating a protein smoothie for breakfast and lunch in order to maximize weight loss. CP and I decided that a smoothie for lunch was too difficult so a couple of nights we have had a smoothie for our dinner after having a regular lunch. We both thought that having just a smoothie for breakfast would leave us hungry around 10am- but they are actually really filling.

Because we have been having smoothies and not regular breakfast food, our stomachs have probably gotten a little smaller. That is probably why I did not have any seconds on Thanksgiving. That is probably why eating after CP mom's wedding caused my stomach to ache on Saturday. That is probably why eating at CP dad's house yesterday also hurt my stomach. I couldn't wait to make a smoothie this morning for breakfast.

So although my jeans felt a little bigger on Friday, after eating this weekend they no longer feel big. All of CP's family members commented on him looking skinnier, but didn't say the same about me. CP tried to make me feel better by saying that the first place that he loses weight is in his face, but it didn't really help. I am obviously going to have to work a little harder to work off the food I ate this weekend. Thank goodness we have the trainer tonight.