Random and More Random

First and foremost, let me just say thank you to all of you wonderful ladies that came to the Back to School Boutique.  It was fantastic and I had such a great time...I hope you all did too.  :)

Ike had another really great over night stay at the vet's office for boarding.  We like to call it the hotel.

When Quinn came home from school yesterday, we had this conversation...

Quinn:  Where Casey and Chandler, Mama?
Me:  They went to stay at Meme and Pop's house this weekend so that they could go back to school shopping and have a girly weekend.  They're going to do lots of girly things, and you don't want to do girly things, do you?
Quinn:  No, I can't do girly things.  I not a girl yet.

I just let that one go.

I cleaned the photos off my phone today.  Here are a few of my favorites....

I'm pretty sure the trainer doesn't want to see that picture.  Its so yummy though...and from several weeks ago - our anniversary weekend.  And its kind of painful for me to look at right now because I'm pretty sure that I could inhale the whole plate.  Its the veggie melt at the Grill in downtown Athens, with a side of fries and feta.  Its a super happy food place for me.

After dinner we went for a short walk on campus.  That white building with the columns?  That's the chapel that we got married in.  Beautiful.

And speaking of beautiful...

...my chickadees getting ready for church a couple of weekends ago.  Chandler is really not that much taller than Casey.  If you look closely you can see that she has on those blasted wedge sandals.  I bought her a new pair of flat sandals the other day and made her trade me the wedges for them.  Ugh.

Here's Bikey, home from the hotel today.  And he can't seem to keep his eyes open.  It has been nap time allllllll day long.

Chandler

This child is a gem.  Seriously.  She makes me laugh every.single.day of my life.  Without fail.

We have had about a billion conversations about bodies these days - developing and periods and sex and babies.  They have lots of questions.  And I am trying my best to answer them.

Last night, while on the way home from the 3 of us running errands, Casey made a comment about how it seems like all the men in our family get cancer, so she's glad to be a girl.  I had to break the news that there have been some women with cancer too.  Like my Grandma Fondriest, who had breast cancer.  

Chandler:  What?  Breast Cancer?  What is that?
Me:  Its cancer in your boob.
Chandler:  WHAT????  I thought that you mostly couldn't get cancer in your boob or your butt.

Oh, dear, sweet child.  I have a feeling the questions and crazy comments are just beginning.  I think it is going to be a wild ride.

IKE and CO. Back to School Boutique

I am busy.  Super, super busy.  Swamped, busy.  Busy getting ready for this little shin dig.  I am really excited about it.  I love having lots of ladies pop over to the house to look at my handmade pieces.  Usually I make things, list them, put them in bags and store them in a rubbermaid drawer.  So, I love having them out all over the place.  Although it is also kind of distracting.  And then I fall in love with things all over again and it is all that I can do to not keep them all for myself.  :)

I love Enrique. I also love fried green tomatoes.

I love Enrique with Subzero Air Conditioning.  Like, really love him.  Its ok, not only does Chris know, but Chris also loves him.  Because we came home today and our upstairs air was broken - it was 89 degrees up there.  And we called Rebecca and then her dear husband came out to our house, after making 3 other calls, at 9pm.  I love that man. 

I had a cheat day today.  Meaning, I didn't watch what I ate.  Mainly because my new boss took us out to lunch (at The Savannah Room) and there wasn't anything that I wanted to eat that was less than 2000 calories.  So, I ate what I wanted - a fried tomato BLT with vidalia onion spread on toasted sourdough bread with a side of fried green beans.  And then I had key lime pie for dessert.  There are 2 things that I am proud of in this situation...besides that I ate all the fried that I could get my hands on (I'm kind of an all the way kind of girl...like if I was gonna have a little bit of fried, I might as well have a lot)...
1.  I only ate half my sandwich and 1/4 of my green beans and then I was full (with leaving room for dessert) and I stopped.  Prior to the lifestyle change I would have noticed that I was full and then kept on eating.
2.  I still didn't order a diet coke.  This Saturday it will be three weeks since my DCD.  Diet Coke Divorce.  Instead, I've had 96oz of water today.  No joke.  I totally drink water now.  And I sweat too.  I just didn't sweat before and so actually the whole sweating thing is kind of disturbing...and gross. And I think I might be having hot flashes to go with it.  Not that you really needed to know that.

I think next week I will be back to my WIWW posts.  Its been a LONG time since I've done one.  Mainly because I haven't been dressing.  I mean, I get dressed and all (because that kind of sounded like I was naked all day.  Not the case.  Definitely not the case.), but during the end of the summer if I knew that I was going to the gym I would just put on gym clothes to wear all day and that is hardly acceptable for a WIWW post.  Just sayin.

I'm done, may I please be excused?

Day 1:  New county, new school....everything was great!

But, oh, Good Lord, I am t.i.r.e.d.  In a big, big way.  But I didn't want that to be an excuse to not go to the gym because, well, let's face it, now that I am back to work, I am gonna be tired most nights.  So I went, and foolishly tried the elliptical machine.  Angie = fool.  Did you know that on the machine there is actually a warning that reads"If you feel pain, faint, dizzy or short of breath, discontinue use."?  Well, I feel those things most of the time at the gym.  I don't think I am going to be able to walk.  And won't that be awesome?  But seriously, I'm done.  Toast. 

ps.  If you would like to read about my original elliptical experience (you know, when I didn't even know what the name of it actually way)...you can find that HERE.

Lifestyle.

My brain feels like it is allllllll over the place right now.  Does that happen to you?

1.  Chris and I are both starting new jobs...tomorrow!  Feeling both excited and terrified at the same time.  Feeling a little frustrated to be attending three days of new employee orientation after already having spent a morning at a human resource meeting and a morning at a technology meeting.  We think there should be a fast track for people who have already been in education for awhile.  :)  I am starting (gasp!) year 11.  I don't know where the time goes.  Really.  I don't.  I feel like we were just getting in the groove of summer and then its over.  There are times when I really wish we worked normal, year round jobs, so that our schedule would be somewhat more consistent.  The older I get the more I feel this way.  It messes with my brain...this need for a schedule that I have.

2.  I'm having an Ike & Co Back to School Boutique Friday night and Sat morning.  So, I feel kind of all over the place trying to get ready for that.  But am REALLY excited about having a house full of wonderful ladies.  Email me if you are local and want to stop by.  :)

3.    Chris and I have been really serious about this whole changing our lifestyle bit.  I've been hesitant to blog about it because...well...I don't really know why.  But, here's the situation (my parents went away on a weeks vacation, and they left the keys to the brand new porsche, would they mind?  Ummm, well, of course not.  I'm sorry.  Every time I say, "here's the situation" I feel the need to bust out with a little DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.  Lame.  I know.  At least I didn't sing the entire song for you.  I could.  Its a secret talent of mine.  That and Ice Ice Baby, Baby Got Back and Its the End of the World.  I feel another post coming on about this. )  Whew!  Anyway, here's the situation...I am not exaggerating.  I gained 17lbs from January to June.  I went up 2 pant sizes and a bra size.  In 6 months. Some might say that I needed to gain weight, but this was the first time in my life that I have gained weight as an adult without being pregnant.  I even took a pregnancy test looking for a cause. 

In the five years that Chris and I have been married, he has gained just under 50lbs...25 of it in the past 12 months.  At the beginning of the summer when NONE of my shorts fit, we decided that perhaps we should quit the whining and do something about it.  Hence my random fits of running at the beginning of the summer.  But nothing was really sticking and we needed to do something.  Neither of us were feeling very good about ourselves or our lifestyle.  You know, the lifestyle were I have 3 helpings of country fried steak with white rice and gravy for dinner.  That lifestyle. 

So, for our anniversary we joined the gym again.  And we got trainers.  And we met with a nutritionist. 

I haven't had a diet coke in 15 days.  I am not even kidding.  I don't think I've gone this long without one since I was maybe 16 years old.  We have been using the My Plate feature on the Livestrong website.  (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should look at it.  Super fun.)  I've been going to the gym 4 (if not 5) times a week - doing some trainer-y moves twice a week and then cardio the other times I go. 

Now don't get me wrong, I still feel ridiculous doing most of these things.  You know, especially when I realized I had started throwing punches as I was running.  Pretty ridiculous.  But I felt even more ridiculous when I could no longer fit into clothes that I bought in MARCH.  March, people.  And not last March...this March.  I felt ridiculous when it was taking me 20 minutes and trying on multiple outfits when getting dressed in the morning not because I couldn't decide on what to wear but to find something that fit to wear.  Huge difference.  I felt ridiculous when contemplating buying new work clothes (again!) and then praying that the weight gain would stop (not to worry, I had my thyroid checked...its in perfect working order), when I could spend the same (if not less) amount of money changing my lifestyle and being able to fit in my old clothes.  My "me" clothes.

My trainer?  I love her.  No really, I do.  Even though she makes me mad when she says things like, "And we're doing 2 more, cause you can."  Sometimes I really want to tell her what she can do with her two more.  It wouldn't be nice.  Chris says that you can hear the two of us laughing throughout the gym.  And so it is kinda fun to spend 30 minutes laughing while doing ridiculous things.  She is also another white girl who loves gangsta rap.  We're also planning a flash mob dance together.  Although I think that's supposed to be a secret.

And Chris and I are doing this together.  And we feel really good about it.  We also feel really good about the united front that we are presenting to the girls and the positive changes we have made for our family.

And now that that's all out in the open.  I think I'll blog a little more about it from time to time.  :)

4.  The other night we had chicken for dinner and Quinn and I were going back and forth talking about how we love the chickey, chickey, chickey and then I would bgok, bgok, bauk, bauk at him and he would do it back to me and we were all laughing and smiling and having a fabulous dinner together...until my kid said to me, "Bauk you!"  And then we stopped laughing and all just looked at each other.  And now its something that Chris and I mumble under our breath...bauk you.

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So I (clearly) have no idea what I am doing with this thing other than I decided to start fooling around with it the weekend before I go back to work.

Smart, Angie.  Real smart.

So maybe you should fool around with it and then tell me what its all about.  Cliff notes style.

Do they even still make Cliff Notes?  Just wondering.