Trying a little something new...

Well I have decided to join Weight Watchers and go to meetings. I have noticed one thing in common of most of weight loss blogs I visit and that is, the majority of the people who have successfully lost the weight and kept it off, have gone to meetings. So even though I have lost over 16 lbs on my on over the last 3 months, I need to kick it into gear and go to meetings. So as of 8 am tomorrow morning I will be going to my weekly meeting. My weigh in day is going to change for the BLBE Challenge, but that shouldn't be a big deal.

I am back in my pre-pregnancy clothes (not as comfortably as I would like - but they do fit). I am only 2.4 lbs from my BC weight (before Charley), though I was trying to lose weight before I got pregnant with her. So I am going at this once and for all for myself and my daughter to lose those last 25 (well 27.4) pounds.

I am also going to be journaling more every day and I am going to TRY to post my menu. I say TRY because with Charley and everything that goes on once I get home, sometimes it is hard to find the 5 minutes to get on the computer. But I am going to do my best.

Alright...I am off to go and watch my girlfriends little girl this morning, then off to Virginia to see a bunch of friends and run a bunch of errands. A long day awaits!

I will be back tomorrow night with my official WW weigh in number and another post (with my menu!).

Until then...everyone have a great day!

A Lot

Well...I have a lot to say once again, since I haven't posted in what seems like forever.

On the first note...Charley is 7 months old today!! She is getting so big and so much more like a little person every day. She is starting to go through the "I only want Mommy or Daddy" stage. It is not really bad like some other people I have heard, but she does reach out for us now. I think it is so cute that she reaches out to me...but I don't want her to not go to anyone else, so we'll see.

Second, on the weight loss front for BLBE...I am down .4 this week. Not much, but at least it is something and it will be more next week. With being away for 3 days with little to no control over what I ate - it killed my week a little bit, but I was back on track the minute I got home and am going to kick some butt this week.

I had another great run today with Roni. Our goal today was to run for 55 minutes, however we went out not knowing if we'd meet this goal or not, because we were running a trail neither of us were familiar with. And boy was it HILLY! We went out 20 minutes and turned around, not knowing if the way back was longer, so we left ourselves some time, and figured we could make up some extra if need be at the end. Well we arrived back at a little under 47 minutes and I was dead from all of the hills - so we decided to stop. Here is our run. We are up in the air for next week...the last week before the marathon relay, so hopefully we can find time to meet up.


Speaking of the marathon relay, I got an email on Friday titled “Only 15 Days until Race Day!” woah. 15 days until the Marathon Relay. It is only 6 miles that I have to run and I used to do that multiple times a year before I had Charley – Every Thanksgiving morning I have ran a 10K – except for last Thanksgiving as I was about 6 months pregnant, so I walked the 5K instead (which was the SLOWEST 5K walk ever—the course is really hilly). But I am feeling good after my weekend runs with Roni, that this 6 miles will be a breeze and will prepare me for the 10K at Thanksgiving. So the count down is on...

Today my brother came and picked me up after my run, because we were taking my parents to a Phillies game for their birthdays. They haven't (we haven't either) been to the new stadium, so we were all excited to go. The Phillies won the NL East yesterday for 2 years in a row! So the game was kind of a give away since it didn't really matter in the scheme of things...but they still kicked butt! They won 8-3 over the Nationals. The game was a lot of fun. The weather was awesome and when the game ended the rain started as we pulled away from the stadium. Here we all are at the game. I think my parents had a great time and it was nice of us to be able to spend time with them with just the 2 of us.

Hmm, what else. Right now I am watching my tivoed Survivor and then next is Greys. Jimmy is at his parents in VA with Charley, so it is nice to sit down and catch up on some things. Though I really miss them. This week is no where near as crazy as last week. I am going to VA to take some stuff to a friend who had a shower last weekend, but couldn't fit the big stuff in her car and I am also going to have lunch with one of the Triplets who recently moved to VA. Wednesday I am going to go and get Charley's birth certificate (bad Mom) and visit a friend who recently had a baby. So it does sound like a lot, but it isn't really...and it will all be fun. Other then that I plan on getting a workout in every day. I am going to go walking or jogging with Charley in the stroller on days I am home and on days I am working I will workout at the gym. I just hope the rain holds off for days I am here with Charley.

Well I think that is all...I am off to watch some TV and relax. I can't believe the weekend is already over!! Here is to a great week!!

I'm Back!

Charley and I arrived back home this afternoon from our mini vacation to my Great Aunt & Uncles on the Chesapeake. It was a great get away, though I am so glad to be home with Jimmy and the doggies.

This post is going to pack a lot into a little post, since I told myself I needed to get in bed by 11pm so that I will get up bright and early and workout at the gym at work. So here it goes...

I think I am going to go at it bullet style :)

• I am so amazed at all of the new comments I have received on my site! I can't wait until I have some time to come around and visit your blogs and leave you all some inspiring comments like you have done for me. I will come and visit soon I PROMISE!
• I am pumped about the BLBE Challenge and now that I am home - I am going to kick some butt!
• When I was away I...went on a 2 mile run (plus about 1/4 of a mile walk) with my dad biking beside me and played tennis for about an hour. I had little control over what we were eating so I had to get a little exercise in.
• After I got Charley fed tonight I wanted to go to the grocery store to get some supplies I needed to make a big pot of crab vegetable soup-- well I went out to the car to realize that I left her car seat in my parents car! And they were already back in DE, it normally wouldn't have been a problem, but Jimmy works at the bar tonight - so I didn't have the option of taking his car....So....we walked to the grocery store! It is about a 2 mile round trip walk pushing Charley in the stroller - so I got a little more exercise in.
• But...I walked out the door to put Charley in her stroller and she started screaming! I had no clue why, though I did just make her a bottle so I thought she was hungry, but the cry sounded like an 'I'm hurt' cry. So I went to give her the bottle when I noticed something on her cheek...she got stung by a bee! She stopped crying pretty much right away, but then I had to worry about seeing if she was allergic, so the entire walk to the store I was checking on her. She was fine! It didn't even phase her :) She is one strong cookie!
• oh yea, last week before I went away we got our first official pictures done...they turned out awesome! They emailed them to us on a website -though they are image marked, I will try and post some when I have a little more time.
• I just finished up dividing up and putting away my huge pot of crab vegetable soup. I can't wait to have it for lunch tomorrow!

I am now watching my tivoed Biggest Loser Family and I am off to check a few of your blogs before I have to get to bed!

Keep kicking butt!

5 Mile Run!!

I started this morning and the BLBE Challenge with a awesome 5 mile run with Roni! We went to Lake Montebello where there is a track that goes around the lake, the track is nice and flat - good for getting timing down - and is about 1.3 miles around. Our goal was to run 50 minutes and when we got to the 50 minute mark we were .15 miles away from 5 miles, so we decided to keep going and hit 5 miles! One mile short of the leg that I have to run for the marathon relay in a little over 2 weeks! Hopefully we will get another long run in next weekend. Here is our run from my Nike+.

Tomorrow early morning I am off to Irvington, VA with my parents to visit my Great Aunt and Great Uncle. Charley is going with me and will meet them for the first time. It should be a great time, since they live right on the Chesapeake. They have a boat and I love to go out on the boat and go fishing. It should be a great time...plus my parents will be there too...so I have a babysitter if I want to go out on a run or a walk. I won't have access to a computer so I will be out of the loop until Wednesday night. But as soon as I get back I will check in on your blogs and all of the fellow challengers!!

Good luck all and have a great week!!

Biggest Loser Blog Edition!

I have joined Angie's Biggest Loser Blog Edition Challenge!

It runs through the end of the year. I hope to be a lot closer to my goal weight by then. Click on the picture on my side bar to go on over and check it out!

I am off to bed. I am meeting Roni for a 50 minute run tomorrow morning at 9am. Wish me luck!

The Beach...

Well we are back from the beach, I could live at the beach, so I can't say I am happy to be home, but we had to come back so here we are.

We had a fun filled and very memorable vacation...here are some highlights and of course some pictures.

We packed the car in a monsoon. That is to put it nicely...well should I say...Jimmy packed the car in a monsoon. Hurricane Hanna was passing her rain our way that day and it was windy and rainy as heck. Since we were taking the doggies with us, we couldn't pack the back of the pathfinder, because that is where they travel. So we had to fit everything into the travel bag on the roof rack. So we jam packed it full inside the house and then we took it out and put it on top of the car and Jimmy stayed out there in the rain and tied it all down.

We got everything in the car and we were off. By the time we were on the highway for 5 minutes the rain stopped...that didn't make Jimmy too happy after packing the car in the rain.

There was no rain when we got to the beach either. We got everything unpacked and settled in, Charley fed, the dogs walked and I went off to the brand new Harris Teeter and did our grocery shopping for the week. I LOVE HARRIS TEETER. We don't have one here near our house, (they are building one in the city, but it won't be there until 2010!) so I was in heaven.

The next day we met our friends on the beach who were in town for the weekend and had a great day on the beach. Charley LOVES the sand. She wanted to sit on the edge of the blanket or in the sand and play with it, with her feet and her hands. You just had to watch her the entire time, because she kept trying to get a handful into her mouth. Here she is playing in the sand.


A few big things that happened while we were at the beach...one key thing...Charley is growing up WAY TOO FAST!! On Monday she said her first word. I got up with her and the doggies and let Jimmy sleep in. I strapped her into the baby Bjorn and took the doggies for a walk. Well the entire walk she was saying "Da Da" "Da Da" I was wondering if it was a fluke, but when we came back she kept saying it all day long. Jimmy was in heaven. My favorite was when one of the doggies would come near her and she'd say "Da Da" :) I'd just look at Jimmy and laugh.

Then on Tuesday she took my fingers like usual and tried to put them in her mouth to chew on them like she does with everything. Well this time when she bit down it hurt! Her 2 bottom front teeth had popped through!! So not only did she say her first word....she had 2 teeth! She needs to slow down some!!

You can barely see the teeth now, but when you can start seeing them in a picture I will definitely post one!

We went on 2 long family walks every day with the dogs. We also went on a few runs, including our first run with Charley in the jogging stroller. Here is a pic we took of us after the run - don't mind the bottom of the picture, I had to balance the camera on the hood of the car!


We had about 3 1/2 good days on the beach. One day we went to the outlets in Rehoboth and then one day we went and played mini golf with my parents. And I am ashamed to say Jimmy beat all 3 of us...playing one handed with Charley strapped to his chest in the carrier!! It was pathetic!! He even had 2 holes in one! I told him next time we play I get to carry Charley!!

We had a great week at the beach overall. The place we stayed was so nice. And though we went after Labor Day, the pools were closed :( we never really thought about that. But the neighborhood was practically deserted! We could walk the dogs all around and not see anyone else!! The neighborhood was great, lots of trails to walk and our place backed to grass, where we could let the dogs out to run around some. All in all a great time. I want to go back. I can't wait until next year, when Charley can run around and play all day at the beach!

Here are some pictures...there are so many I love. She was just all smiles all week and so cute!!

Enjoy!!

We had a little photo shoot when my parents were there...these are all on the back deck of our place. My mom is great at getting Charley to laugh and smile...while I just clicked away! Here are a few of my favorites!

Daddy's Little Girl

Family Photo :)

After a long day at the beach we headed to Rehoboth for dinner with my parents to one of our favorite restaurants...Nicolas...and it was chilly so we had to buy Charley a little hooded sweatshirt, but the smallest we could find was a 2T! We walked around for a little while after dinner and about 5 minutes into the walk, she zonked out...too long of a day at the beach I guess!! :)

Another family photo...we had an awesome waitress at Mango's on the boardwalk and she volunteered to take our picture...and did a great job!

p.s. to all of you who asked about my job...all is set. I signed on with a new company today. Same job, same pay, same part time hours...just a new company. All is well! Thanks for your concerns!

Quick Post

Hi everyone...

I have a few good long posts coming, but no time to write them at the moment...my company lost our contract and I am currently sitting here waiting for a job offer from the company who won the contract....so needless to say I have been busy figuring out my job situation.

I will have a beach post with Charley pics and a food post or two as we have had 2 new really yummy dinners recently...that were so easy to make it was scary!!

Until I have time to post...hopefully when Charley takes a nap tomorrow I will get all caught up!

Until then...

At the beach!

Well, our beach week started a little rough, with a nice day full of rain from Hanna. But today was gorgeous!! About 85 and sunny!! We got up and took Charley and the dogs on a LONG walk, about an hour, then we came back and got Charley some lunch and headed for the beach! We stayed at the beach from about noon until 4. Then came back and took care of the dogs, showered, fed Charley dinner and went out to dinner with my friend Shannon and her fiance.

Dinner was amazing, I got teriyaki (sp) salmon with coconut rice and a mango/pineapple/mint salsa and mixed veggies. yum.

The plan for the morning is to get up take the dogs for a nice long walk again, then Jimmy and I are going to take our first run with Charley in her jogging stroller! We are just going to go for a short one, a run down to the community center here in the neighborhood to buy our amenities passes so we can go to the fitness center and then jog back. Then we are going to make some sandwiches and hit the beach!

I can't wait!! :)

Wonderful Night

Tonight Jimmy, Charley and I all walked to the grocery store to pick up a few things. We live a little over a miles walk from a small local grocery store. The great thing about this is we can walk there entirely through our neighborhood and a connecting one. The walk was great. It almost took us an hour total - not including the little bit of grocery shopping we did.

Here is our walk from my Nike+ we weren't moving too fast, but we were out moving as a family and that was great!


We have decided that we need to do something like this (a leisurely walk somewhere) once a week. And the optimal day is when my parents come and watch Charley for the day. Because they walk the dogs for us during the day, so usually we won't go for our nightly dog walk - so if we do a family walk (minus the dogs...though they are a big part of our family!) we will still get out on those nights and not feel so bad for leaving the dogs behind because they have had a fun filled day with my parents and have already been on a walk. Plus if we go without them, there are less pit stops and we can go inside places.

Well that is my excitement for today...tomorrow I am off to home (Delaware) to get my haircut before we go to the beach, meet up with the ladies on my Mom's bowling team (so they can meet Charley) and go get sushi with my friend Sam. I haven't had sushi since before I was pregnant and CAN'T WAIT to have it at my favorite place tomorrow!! Oh and I have mapped a run at my parents house...about 3.5 miles. I need to keep running so I can keep up with Roni on our 2nd run on Saturday!! And so I can finish my leg of the marathon relay in less then 6 weeks!!

Oh yea! The 5K on Monday went great! I finished in around 32 minutes. I wanted to get under 35 as I am still just getting back into running. I can't believe I used to run it in about 27 minutes a few years ago! I need to get back into that kind of shape! The excitement of the day though was that Jimmy got a medal in the race!!! Yep my husband got a bronze medal in his age group with a time of a little less then 23 minutes!!! He was too cute, he was soo excited! I was so happy for him!! A little background on Jimmy...when I met him he looked totally different then he does now (I'll have to post pictures sometime) he was a smoker and drank a lot. He had never ran in a race before he met me. I got him to quit smoking, he still thanks me for it every day...and got him into running and a healthier lifestyle. And in turn he lost about 50 pounds. Of course it fell off quickly (MEN!) and now he is incredibly fit and in such great shape, he kicks my butt at running and everything fitness related. It is great that he is so much more healthier now and in such great shape. I love him so much.

Have a great night everyone!!