Tea and Easter Pictures

It's been such a busy week and I'm once again using the blog as a means of procrastination. I have a serious case of senioritis right now. After this week is over, I only have three weeks of class left before summer vacation, then student teaching starts in August! Eek! It's crazy. The advisor is going to review my portfolio on Friday, then I'll get my recommendation for student teaching and I'll be good to go. I can't believe it's almost over. Well, anyway, on to the good stuff...

Last week I went shopping and to afternoon tea with my mommy and future mommy-in-law. I ended up buying 4 tank tops at the consignment shop. I forgot to take pictures of them, but I'll get around to it. I did find out that I could get away with a size 14/16 top, which is super awesome. Of course that's only if I wear the proper pants (I have a pair of black stretchy dress pants that I can pull up nearly to my boobs and it shapes me pretty well since I don't have any shape wear yet). After shopping, we went to afternoon tea at a really cute restaurant called the Hyeholde. Even the building itself was absolutely adorable!

mine on left, Ben's on right,  both equally fabulous

I'd been worried about the food they would serve us because for a fat chick, I'm a really picky eater. See, they don't let you choose what you eat, they just bring you whatever they felt like making that day. So, we get there and sit down and we have a list of at least ten different teas to choose from. Ben's mom picked Earl Grey, my mom had pear caramel and I got green tea tropical. They were delicious. We each got our own little pot of tea and it was adorable. Then, they brought us each our own little plate of assorted goodness. Beware food porn:

Seafood and sausage soup, crab cake, ginger and cream cheese sandwich triangle, ham salad sandwich triangles, and couscous. YUM!



We savored each delicious bite and then they brought out desserts.

Almond and apricot scones and banana bread with clotted cream and raspberry blackberry jam

Tiny lemon panna cotta with strawberry rhubarb jelly topping and candied lemon peel garnish.



Bottom to top: Pistachio French macarons with pistachio creme filling, mini pineapple upside down cakes, Bailey's cheese cake (to die for!), nut clusters, and on the very far left were bittersweet chocolate and Grand Marnier truffles.

It was the most fun I've ever had at a restaurant, quite honestly. Obviously it's not something that should be done frequently, but it was a great time with great company. It was the first time any of us had gone to tea and I'd say it was well worth it.

It's just about time for Ben to get home, so I should probably get started on making dinner. I suppose I'll have to wait to post about Easter for another time...But here's a sneak preview...

Love my nephew!



Hope everyone had a great Easter/Passover/Feaster :)

xoxo

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. Will post pictures later on tonight after family time :)

My commitment to myself is to not look like this by the end of the day:



xoxo

8 Month Bandiversary

Happy Hump Day, bloggers. I don't have any pictures yet because I'm at school, but today is my 8 month bandiversary. In these 8 months, I've lost 55.9 pounds, bringing me to a weight this morning of 208.5. I'm still pushing to get to Onederland by my 24th birthday on April 19. I've mentioned this before, but the last time I remember being under 200 pounds was in seventh grade when the school nurse recorded my height and weight. I'll be ecstatic to see a 1 in the first position on the scale. I'm almost half way to my goal weight. 58.5 pounds left to lose until I hit my goal of 150. I'm getting kind of scared because I'm having such trouble seeing the difference in myself. If I can't see the changes in my body in the mirror at the halfway point, will I be able to see the changes after I've reached goal or will I always see the 278 pound fatty in the mirror? It worries me. I know this is a fairly common theme in the banded blogger world, so if anyone has any advice on how to deal with these changes and how I can help my eyes and mind catch up with my body, that'd be great. I mean, the pictures help, but I don't want to live my life through photographs.

I just got a text from my dad congratulating me for being over half way to my goal and I was confused...but he was going with my highest weight of 278. It took that text message to realize that I've lost 69.5 pounds total. Crazy. And you know what? I really like the metric system in this context. I'm not a big fan of centimeters and such, but it's super awesome to know that I'm well under 100 kilos, weighing in at 94.7. Good times.

And speaking of good times, in non-band related news, I have a really fun girls' day out planned with my mommy and future mommy-in-law. We're going to a plus sized consignment shop followed by afternoon tea. I can't wait. We've never been to tea before, so we're all pretty excited. And I also won a gift basket from my office for Easter. We had one of those guess how many jelly beans are in the jar contests and I won one of five baskets. Now, I've never won anything like that in my life because  I'm  terrible at guessing things-age, weight, height, amount of stuff-I'm just bad at it. That being said, I just wrote down a random number (436) and went on my merry way without even looking to see what kinds of goodies were in the baskets. Hopefully it's not packed full of candy. Keeping my fingers crossed. It should be a really good day today, once I get out of school. Oh and that's the reason for my absence lately, too. I just turned in my GINORMOUS online portfolio to the education department. They'll review it and decide whether or not I get to student teach in the fall based on that stupid thing. I did the best I could, I think, and it's so nice to have that weight off my shoulders, but now I'm just worrying about whether or not they'll like it.

On a brighter note, my wonderful nephew is doing well. He sleeps a lot, but I went over to visit on Saturday and he was wide awake and very animated. It was nice. He's even able to roll over onto his side now, probably as a result from overstaying his welcome in his mother's womb. He'll be three weeks old on Monday. I can't wait to see what my brother and sis-in-law picked out for him to wear for Easter.

That's about all I've got for now. I'm sorry I haven't been commenting like I'd like to, but just know I've been keeping up with your blogs religiously. It's a great means of procrastination and for that, I thank you all :)

Stay tuned for pictures from our girls' day out!

Have a good day, all.

xoxo

Week 33

Very little movement on the scale this week, but at least it's movement in the right direction. 210.6, which is .1 lb down from last week. I'll take it. I was so nervous this morning because this is the first time since surgery that I didn't step on the scale at all between Thursday weigh ins. I don't think it's worth the anxiety not to weigh between weigh ins, at least for me, anyhow. Things are on the band front are kind of weird. I'd been eating badly, especially the day Michael was born, and I PB'd this week. Too fast eating a pork chop. Yuck. But, it's only my second time in nearly 8 months, so I guess that's not so bad.

This might be weird, but my parents still make Easter baskets for my brother and me. Obviously, this year I said no candy. I asked my dad for any combination of Benefiber, vitamins, and my yummy delicious Costco protein shakes. I was out of the shakes already, so he stopped by and brought me 4 cases of protein shakes. I'm a happy girl. That's a pricey Easter basket though.

I have to go finish up some school stuff, so I'll leave you with what I think is the most fabulous picture of my bitty baby nephew.

Have a good day, all!
xoxo

Go Steelers!  We love you, Hines!

It's A BOY!!!

That's right, my sister-in-law finally gave birth to a healthy 8 lb 12 oz baby boy! We welcomed him into the world yesterday afternoon. 10 fingers, 10 toes, and absolutely beautiful (though I might be a bit biased). Both mommy and baby are in the hospital doing great. Anna was induced on Sunday night, and she was in labor for hours before they decided that they had to do a c-section. Justin and Anna looked so happy to finally meet their son. Here's a picture of the happy family...

Introducing Michael John



Anna and Michael will be going home on Thursday. I'm so excited to watch this little guy grow up. He's going to be so loved and so happy.

The only downside to yesterday was spending literally all day (9:30-5:00) at the hospital...with donuts...and other naughty things. But, back on track today. And this is a really weird thing to say, but I kind of feel like donuts don't taste as good as they used to. Now I know for the future.

Hope everyone's having a fabulous day!

xoxo

Week 32

Sorry for the absence. It's spring break and I've been doing spring breaky things--like homework and cleaning the house and the sort. Anyway, yesterday was supposed to be weigh in day, but I accidentally sabotaged myself Wednesday night by eating tons of sodium (I made beef with broccoli for dinner and used regular soy sauce-stupid). So, yesterday's weight was 212.4, which I knew was due to such a high amount of sodium, so I figured I'd wait til today for a more accurate reading because earlier in the week I had seen 211.1. Today, the scale said 210.7, which is a .9 lb loss since last week. And pretty well on track for where I wanted to be at my fill appointment, which I actually ended up not going to. I feel really good at the fill level I'm at and I don't want to mess with a good thing. Hopefully I can still make it to Onederland by my birthday on April 19. I'm a tad nervous, but I've been doing well with food and water, just need to bump up the exercise and I think I'll be golden.

Goodness, I shouldn't wait so long between posts. I've got lots to talk about. Well, Saturday, I went and met the fabulous Chris. The ice broke quickly-we met at Sbux and just as we met up on the sidewalk, a gaggle of girl scouts came by, giant wagon of cookies in tow. We made our way off that sidewalk and into Sbux so fast. Anyhow, Chris is such a sweet woman! It was really great to get to meet her and have the reassurance that the people I talk to are in fact real. And we found out that we live about 10-15 minutes away from each other, so that's super awesome. Like she said, we'll definitely have to make plans to get together again and take some pictures. I felt bad for making her leave her house so soon after surgery, but I was glad she was able to. She let me interview her for my class, which was weird because I felt like I was prying, but she was great about it. I'd love to do it again, sans a notepad, Chris.

After that, I went out with a bunch of friends to celebrate my friend Mary's birthday. The plan was to go to Hard Rock and then to a bar, and I was ok with that because I knew what I was going to order and everything. But, plans change. We had a party of 15 or so and the wait was going to be about 45 minutes, so we headed over to Houlihans where there was a 15 minute wait. I ended up eating 3 very small pieces of BBQ chicken flatbread pizza and a couple french fries.



Birthday girl  is in the middle with the zebra shirt, I'm in the back with my very best friend Sam on my right.



It ended up being a really good time. I've never really been out like that before, like to a club type thing or whatever. I know, I'm terribly lame. Anyhow, after dinner we went over to the previously mentioned club type thing. It was very loud, but very much fun. I definitely had a little too much to drink, as they had kamikaze shots for $1.00. I never ever dance, but that night, I ended  up on the dance floor with my lady friends and it really was fabulous. Loved being out like that. I've decided that maybe it would be good for me to act my age every once in a while. We left there around 1:30 or so and we all ended up at a restaurant. I was having so much fun, I just didn't want to go home yet. Ben did. He was soooo tired, but he was such a good sport for chauffeuring me around like that. Anyway, I got some mozzarella sticks and we sat and talked for a couple hours. Keep in mind it was daylight savings that night, so Ben and I didn't get home until 4:00am. I never do that. The last time that happened was probably 5 years ago when I was 18. It was...refreshing? Sure, refreshing.

Then, Sunday, Ben and I went to the home and garden show and I had millions of free samples. I was super surprised to still be in the 211s on Tuesday (Monday I was up to 216, but I attribute that to TOM and sodium).

Overall, it's been a pretty ok week. I've been a bit emotional for no good reason, but surely I'll get over it.

This niece or nephew of mine is now officially late. My brother's holding out hopes for a St. Patrick's Day baby, which would be super sweet. If she doesn't go into labor by Sunday, she's going in to the hospital on Sunday night/Monday morning at midnight and they'll induce her. I hope it's before then though because I'm on campus for 12 hours on Monday and it would really suck to not be there when my first niece or nephew enters the world.

Well, I guess I'm off to go some more spring breaky stuff. Hope everyone has a great weekend and a happy and safe Saint Patrick's Day.

xoxo

Week 31

Glad to report that the scale is down 1.9 pounds from my last weigh in, for a new low of 211.6! Even more exciting since the last time I weighed in wasn't on my usual Thursday, it was on Sunday (for my 7 month bandiversary) a mere 5 days ago. Super happy about that, but I'm getting nervous about making my goal of 210 by Monday. See, Aunt Flo is in town and in addition to that, I'm going out to Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday night to celebrate my friend Mary's birthday. I've already decided no alcohol and I know I'm going to get their chicken lettuce wraps for dinner. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any full nutritional information for their menu so I have no idea how much protein or sodium is in it, but it's 676 calories for the full appetizer portion. Also on Saturday, I get to meet Chris, which I'm super excited about. She generously offered to let me interview her for my research class, so that's our excuse to finally get together.

It looks like it should be a good weekend. Sunday is the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show, which Ben and I have been going to every year for the past 3. Always a good time. I just hope I don't go crazy with the free samples of food. I'll for sure have to keep myself in check. But I mean, it's 9 acres of walking around, so that's got to count for something. Plus, I'll be pushing my mom around in a wheel chair for that 9 acres, so that should help, too. No worries, nothing's wrong. She's just arthritic and her legs don't work as well as they used to.

Speaking of mommy, I made reservations to go to afternoon tea at a fancy restaurant with my mom as well as Ben's. I'm pretty excited about it. Who doesn't love tiny sandwiches and little bites of food? Should be awesome.

Baby update: Sis-in-law's blood pressure has been pretty good for the past couple days...luckily both she and my brother are nurses so they can easily monitor it at home. She went to the dr on Tuesday and was told that they won't be inducing and she can probably last another week. She has another appt on Monday, so it looks like this baby will be born during my spring break, so I'm super pleased about that.

My God, this post is so much more cheerful than I'm feeling right now. I wonder how that happens? Like, I'm in the worst mood ever and you wouldn't be able to tell from my writing. I don't know if it's Aunt Flo or the rain or what, but I just feel like curling up and being sad all day. Preferably with a heating pad, some tea, tons of chocolate and about twelve super sized orders of fries. But that would probably be a bad idea. I will say that I'm not going to class today. Wish I could call off of work, but we need the money and I'm not dying, so I should probably go. Plus, I don't want to upset any old people by having my company send a replacement. On that note, I'm going to go mope for 4 hours before I have to head out. Hope everyone's having a good week.

xoxo