Ahhh nogstalgia

Just the other day, I had to go to Target to buy a birthday gift for Tommy's little cousin, Keenan. She turns 2 on the 18th! I already had in mind what I was going to get her- anything pink and with princesses! After all, what girl wouldn't want princesses or want to be a princess? I know I did!! So as I browse the aisles of kiddie toys, I realize that there are so many new toys! I walked down an aisle and had a toy cat meow at me as I walked by. Scared the crap out of me! I take a closer look at it and it says try me! Pet me! So curious, I stuck my hand in the little plastic hole to pet the cat behind its ear. It moved and pushed against my hand like a real cat and purred too!!! How freaking crazy! I was amazed! I look at the price tag and see it's only $49.99. wow! I wonder if it transmits info back to DHS too! Haha just kidding... A little.
So I continue my search for princeses and find the coolest thing for a 2 year old. It's a Disney Princess play tent! How cool would it be for Keenan to get all dressed up in her princess gear and play princess in her own little castle? I wish I had one!!! :) I think it said for kids 3 and up, oh well! She loved it!



As I was leaving I saw in the corner of my eye a section of toys dedicated to nogstalgia. It was there that I was transported back to my childhood when I would play with some of these simplier toys. These toys didn't have conversations with you or had all the flashy lights that today's toys have. I think the most annoying, but funnest toy i had was the little popcorn push popper. It was a hard plastic bubble with little primary colored balls that popped up as you pushed it. It wasn't until I was a little older that i realized how annoying it really was when my then baby brother played with the popper. There was also the infamous jack in the box. I took it down from the shelf and wound the crank to have the jack pop out and scare the crap out of me for the second time that day!! I don't know how kids then and now even like that thing! It was scary then and still is now! There was also the toy TV that played London Bridge is Falling Down and Row, Row, Row Your Boat as the scenery moved across the screen. I think that was one of my favorites as a kid. I think the toys we had as kids forced us to use our imagination. We were happy with the simple toys and made up our own games. I rekon that if I had gotten one of those toys for a kid today, it may not appeal to them than if I had gotten them a noisy flashy toy.
At least with little Keenan's new Disney Princess castle, she can use her imagination and pretend and be a little princess in her own little kingdom. :) That makes me happy.

It's official! We're ENGAGED!!! :)

Here's the link to our Wedding website TheKnot

Well, it's official!!! Tommy has proposed to me! It's such a wonderful feeling! I'm on cloud 9!  He completely surprised me!!!  The first question I've been getting is: "So, how'd he do it!?" 
How'd it happen was... Tommy and I were on our way down to the beach house at the Outer Banks for the long Columbus day weekend and had to stop at his parent's house to pick up the surfboards and other items.  Tommy had to pee soooo bad he ran into the house.  I came in and sat at the kitchen counter and at the end of the counter I spotted a barrel of monkeys and was so excited! "Ooooh Barrel of Monkeys! I haven't played with them in forever!!" Tommy comes out of the bathroom and I ask him if he wants to play.  Tommy says "Sure, you go first."  I pull the first monkey out and the next monkey is attatched and the next one is attached to that one... I thought how wierd that they are connected??? Tommy tells me to keep pulling them, so I do. Well as I pull out the last monkey, I see a little glimmer on its arm... It was the ring! Tommy took the ring and proposed and I said yes! It was wonderful and just perfect!!! It was all surreal :) He's the love of my life! I'm so happy and excited to love him for the rest of my life!!
Oh next question: what's it look like? BEAUTIFUL!!! 51 diamonds total! 1 round center stone set with 4 stones on either side (2 each) 1 on the top and 1 on the bottom side of the ring, there are 22 on each side on the split shank. It's a custom made ring... no one has a ring like it at all?!?! DON'T TRY AND COPY IT!!!!  :) All I have to say is... beautiful!
So much to do until wedding day!!! :) 

End of Week One

So today is one week since I've started Weight Watchers!  I felt like i failed horribly this week.  You see, with WW, you are on a point system.  You are only alloted so many points a day and then you have bonus points for the week that you can spread out through the week or use all in one day.  I like the WW plan because it makes you more aware of the foods you eat.  I think so far it's helped me.  Ok, maybe I'm a little crazy with it... looking up how many points this item is and how many points that item is.  I've even installed the WW iPhone app so I can check anything at anytime!  The only problem I have is portion sizes and restaurant eating.  There are a lot of restaurants that don't have their nutritional info posted!!!
So Tuesday night, Tommy and I was running around after work and needed to get something to eat, so we decide we're going to go to Olive Garden.  We had good intentions to go and eat healthily. The neverending salad!!! YUM! What about the neverending soup and salad? I'll admit that I was going to go and eat just the soup and salad, but then I saw the Pork Milanese! YUM YUM! I was only able to eat half of it... well, I stopped myself from eating ALL of it... and it's a good thing I did!!! The next morning when I got to a computer and pulled up Olive Garden's nutritonal information, my dinner was TERRIBLE for me! Just the salad for 1 serving was already 9 points! My beloved Pork Milanese was 1510 calories, 87 g fat, and 11 g fiber. :( NOT GOOD. Just my dinner and salad was my entire points for the day! But of course that's not all I ate for the day, so my points were basically shot for the week. :(
Today was weigh in day. A little nervous. Scared that I had gained weight instead of losing weight on my first week.  I take off my shoes, take off my extra sweater, take off my office badge, and even contemplated taking off all my jewelry (Hey, anything helps, right?). I step on the scale.  The lady behind the counter asks how my first week went, and I tell her, "Okay, but I think I did pretty bad with an Olive Garden night".  Then she says "Yeah, it's always hard when you go out to eat... Well, GOOD JOB!! You lost 2.2 lbs this week!". "I'm sorry, what?" I couldn't believe it.  So then I thought back to my week of eating, my first week on Weight Watchers... I guess I really didn't do too bad.  This WW plan is making me more aware of what I am putting into my body, and more conscious of checking the nutrition of everything, everywhere.  Now on to week 2!!! :)

Little man's first birthday

So I've been waiting to post my next blog because I've misplaced my camera cord
to upload pictures. However, this morning, I remembered I had pictures of the cakes on my iPhone. :)
This past Sunday, I attended little baby Blake's first birthday party. I can't believe it's already been one year. I can still remember the day my cousin Angie and I drove up to Maryland to the hospital in hopes of seeing the new baby!!! The anticipation was killing us. We got out of the car and were almost at full running speed! Angie then called out "hey! I get to hold baby first since I'm the eldest!" Oh touché dear cousin! That was always the rules in our family- Whatever the elders say. And of all the cousins, Angie was second in line next to her older sister, Alice (who so happens to be the grandmother of baby Blake). When we finally got to hold baby, all we could do is just stare at him and coo and awww! He was so tiny! His fingers and toes so miniture! And being a newborn, all he wanted to do is sleep, we just wanted to see his eyes! He was just precious!!! I'll admit, I did have baby fever. Haha. And momma Krystal and daddy Blake were doing so well, we were there to witness the first diaper change! They did sooo well!
Flash forward a year... Baby Blake is walking, talking, minature version of mom and dad! He's still just as precious as his first day into the world, except with a lot of personality! He loves sweets (takes after his mom) and is a very happy baby... Laughing and smiling almost non-stop! Krystal and Blake are very lucky to have such an easy going baby.
So we had his first birthday party, and I was in charge of the cakes. I made 2 cakes, one for baby and one for everyone else. What's a one year old's birthday without their own cake? Both cakes were marble yellow and devil foods with a strawberry filling between the layers. The difference was baby's was covered in buttercream frosting, while the other cake in fondant. (I wanted to make sure baby got messy!!! Muhahhahaha) the theme was Ravens because it was football Sunday and mom n dad have shared their love of the Baltimore Ravens with baby.
The cakes were a hit! And baby just about finished half of his cake! I only have the "before" pictures on my phone. I'll upload the "after" pictures when I get my camera cord later his weekend.

Muffin-top

So here I am the beginning of October, finally trying to start my blog. What I'll write about? I don't know. Maybe a little about everything... whatever is on my mind. So right now, on my mind- Yesterday I started the Weight Watchers program. It all started when first thing yesterday morning, I begrudgingly got out of bed, brushed my teeth, and started the process to get ready for work. Tommy took Marley, the dog, out. When he comes in, I ask how the weather is outside, (even though I have a weather station and can get that information). He says it's a lil chilly, so I think hmmmm, I should wear pants today. I got to my closet and pick out a nice pair of black slacks... one of my favorite pairs. I slipped them on to find that I have to now shimmy my way into my pants. I get them on, button them, and voila! Black pants on, albeit a lil tight. So I go to the mirror to see how bad the damage is... It was pretty bad... I actually had muffin-top!!! Noooooooooo. So then I thought I got them on, I'm not taking them off! However I would NEVER be caught dead in public with muffin top! So I looked for a comfy, yet somewhat dressy shirt to wear over my MT. I ask Tommy, can he see my muffin-top and he says, "you don't have muffin-top". Ha, that's what you think! I lift my shirt for him to see... (I can't believe how comfortable I am with him to do that), and his reaction confirmed my muffin-top. It really wasn't all in my mind. I have muffin-top. :( He didn't have to say anything, and he was not a jerk at all, I just knew. Tommy's actually very sweet!! In fact, he tells me everyday, how beautiful I am.
Disgusted, I pack a gym bag, determined to go to the gym sometime today, whether it be during lunch, or when during downtime at work, or even after work... I was going! I get to work, and my cousin Krystal tells me she's thinking about WW. I've always been hesitant on doing it because I know what to do, just didn't want to pay. But she talked me into it since they are running a BOGO sale right now. I figured why not? So we signed up. Promised to go each week and weigh in. I just hope this keeps me motivated. I left work and went to the gym (Gold's Gym in Tysons) and did cardio for an hour! Felt great! I would go to the one by my house, but my ex (throwing up in my mouth) goes there and always tries to talk to me... hummmm maybe that's why i stopped going to the gym overall- to avoid him.
Most people wait till New Year's to make a resolution. I'm making mine on October 1st. I'm going to do the WW thing and see where it takes me, I'm going to go to the gym at least 3 times a week, and I'm going to eat healthy, and fit into my favorite black slacks again!!!
Wish me luck!