Weekend Recap

Well, the last weekend of February is in the books. Hello, March! Please bring warmer weather, we cannot take much more of this whole winter thing. I see 40's in the forecast towards the end of the week, so let's hope we are moving in the right direction.

We had a great weekend, it was nice and low key On Friday, I went to Home Goods in the afternoon and found a few great Easter finds. For dinner we decided to stay in instead of going out so we just relaxed and watched the Olympics. On Saturday, I got up and worked out and put up the Easter decorations. I'm going to be doing a post on all the decorations this week, but here's a sneak peek!

After putting up the decorations we showered and got ready and headed down to the Bolingbrook Promenade to meet my parents, Arla and Teddy and Teddy's parents for lunch and tuxedo fittings for Arla and Teddy's wedding! We had lunch at Bass Pro's restaurant, Islamorada Fish Company Restaurant. It was really good. I had a 1/2 chicken with rosemary and lemon and Michael had the grouper fish sandwich. We had a really nice time at lunch and then headed to Men's Warehouse for the tuxedo fittings. Michael, Teddy, my Dad and Teddy's Dad all got fitted for the big day. We had fun teasing of all the guys and their ill fitting pants and jackets. We saw a lot of ankle!

 

My Dad showed us what he thought of our teasing! Check out the brown boat shoe with the black dressy shoe, stay classy!

   

Michael getting measured...feeling like deja vu?

After going to Mens Warehouse we went to a cute boutique in the Promenade called, Just Ducky. It was a really cute store and I picked up a cute decoration for Spring and a sign for my kitchen. We headed home and relaxed for a few hours and then we went out to dinner with Michael's parents. We tried a new restaurant by us called Jade. It was a Japanese fusion restaurant and it was really good. We had sushi for an appetizer and it was excellent. For dinner I had bulgogi and Michael had a Waygu beef burger. My bulgogi was ok; we all decided that the bulgogi that Michael's parents make is way better. Michael's parents even told our waiter the restaurant needed their recipe! It was a fun night out.

This morning I got up and worked out and then we headed out to breakfast and grocery shopping. We also hit up Costco to stock up on everything from detergent, spices and Michael's favorite, ketchup! We spent most the rest of the day relaxing and cooking. We made chicken parmesan paninis for lunch and Michael made himself some homemade Chex mix as a snack for the week. We watched the final Olympic event, the big hockey game between the USA and Canada. The Canucks edged us out but the USA played so well this Olympics. They finished 8th in Turino, so a silver medal is definitely an upgrade! For dinner we made homemade Chinese take out, sesame chicken and fried rice. It was delicious, it really is better than take out. Doesn't it look yummy?!!

 

We had a great weekend and I'm already looking forward to next weekend! We are going to the annual Pierogi fest at Michael's parents house next Saturday. My mouth is already watering! I am definitely going to have to put an extra workout in this week because I am not missing out on pierogi. I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a speedy week!

TGIF!

I'm so excited the weekend is here! Work wasn't too crazy this week which was a nice break. We don't have too much going on this weekend which will be nice. I'm looking forward to a relaxing one!

I want to get the Easter decorations up and I need to bring all of the clothes I got rid of last weekend to Goodwill or one of the those drop off bins. We also are going to get Michael's tux ordered for Arla and Teddy's wedding. It's coming up fast, only 3 and a half months left! We are going to have a date night on Saturday but haven't picked a place yet. We might go see a movie on Sunday, but we're not too sure; we're just gonna play the weekend by ear. I'm also going to start my photo a day project on Saturday!

Let's hope the weekend doesn't fly by. Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Ahh...Porkchop loves weekends!!!

New photo project!

I love taking pictures, being a scrapbooker I've always taken a lot of them. But ever since Michael bought me my professional camera (a Nikon D80) for a wedding present, I've really tried to become a better photographer. I'm looking into a bunch of different classes to take this summer but in the meantime I've read some books and tips online. The best way to learn though is to just play with the camera and shoot, shoot, shoot.

I try to shoot on the weekends, all the holidays and special events but I think to get even more practice shooting everyday at different times and in different lighting would give me even better experience. I saw a really cool idea on one of the blogs I just found, Tales of the Trees, called Project 365. You are supposed to take a picture everyday for a year. I'm a little late to the party since it's almost March, but I still think it would be fun to do. I think it would be interesting to see our life in pictures week by week. I'm sure some weeks would be pretty uneventful and others more action packed, which is how life is. It's another way to capture and catalog our life. We'll see if I'll be able to keep up with it, but I am definitely going to try. I start shooting this weekend!

February and March Goals

Well, we made it through February, just a few days left. With March comes the return of Daylight Savings Time and hopefully warmer temperatures; I'm really looking forward to it! Here's a recap of my February goals and new ones for March.

February Goals:

1. Continue my weight loss. I am hoping to be down more than 60lbs by the end of February. Goal Met! I am down 62lbs!
2. Continue to workout at least 3 times a week. Goal Met - all but one week I worked out 4 times
3. Have a fabulous weekend getaway with my husband for Valentines Day! Goal Met - it wasn't too hard!
4. Try 3 new recipes this month - As Michael would say, "Epic Fail!" Not even 1 new recipe.
5. Blog at least 20 times this month - Goal Met! I blogged 24 times this month with a couple more to come!
6. Learn to sew! (It's actually going to happen this month!) - Goal Met! I can finally scratch something off the baby bucket list too!

March Goals:

1. Continue my weight loss. I am hoping to be down 68lbs by the end of March so I can hit my goal of 75 lbs by May 1st.
2. Workout at least 4 times a week.
3. Try 5 new recipes this month
4. Have my Easter decorations up by the first weekend in March
5. Blog at least 24 times this month

I don't have anything to wear!

It's no secret that I love clothes. I love shopping for the latest trends and adding new pieces to my wardrobe. I don't spend a lot of money per item on my clothes. Most of my clothes are from Old Navy or TJ Maxx or Marshalls. I spend the most on my nice trousers for work. I typically shop at least once a month (not so much right now since I'm losing weight) for some new items which is probably why the closet was as full as it was!

We have a pretty large walk in closet and I was talking up all but about 15% of it. I do actually let Michael put some clothes in there! The problem is that I was wearing only about 30-40% of what I had and now that I've lost weight, I can probably only wear 15% of what I have in there. It was time for a massive clean out.   

Here is the before - clothes everywhere!

After about 6 hours of trying on hundreds of items, I finally sorted through everything. Michael was in there with me the whole time to help me decide what I should keep or toss. He helped keep me honest because I probably would not have tossed as much as I did if he wasn't there. There were items I literally haven't worn in 5 years. I got rid of so much stuff and the best part was that most of it was way too big! It felt good.

 

The giant pile of clothes in the "donate" pile

8 bags of clothes ready to be donated!

Ta da! The after shot! 

We have so many extra hangers now, probably a good 200 of them. I went from taking 2 whole sides of the closet to only 3/4 of one side. This is both seasons of clothes too! I feel like I don't have anything to wear the closet is so barren. I am definitely going to reward myself once I hit my 75 pound mark with some new clothes for spring and summer; I've earned it. Plus, the closet looks so sad only being half full! At least one thing can be marked off the spring cleaning list, so I'm already ahead of the game.

Menu Planning Monday

 

We did really well cooking from home last week. We cooked every week night except Friday. I need to go through some of my cookbooks next weekend. I am running out of meal ideas. I need it to be grilling season!

So here's our plan for the week.

Monday: Crunchy garlic chicken

Tuesday: "Big Salad" night

Wednesday: Michael - burger, Me - pad thai noodles

Thursday - Chicken pesto pasta

Friday - Take out

Saturday - Date night

Sunday - Sesame chicken and fried rice

Weekend Recap

These weekends really need to slow down a bit; before you know it they are over. All I can say is that at least this is the last week of February and I'm hoping March brings some warmer weather. I can't even express how over winter I am. As soon as the snow starts to melt, we get more. I just want to be able to take Porkchop for some walks. At least we spring the clocks forward in a few weeks, more daylight should help the spring fever some!

So anyways, on Friday we went out to dinner to Ted's Montana Grill. We wanted to go somewhere new since we tend to go to the same few places a lot of the time. We have driven past it a bunch of times and always wondered how it was. It was really good, I would definitely go back. After dinner we came home and made some rice krispie treats for dessert and just relaxed the rest of the night.

On Saturday, I got up and worked out and then I had my annual eye doctor appointment. I ordered my contacts for another year and then headed home. I then took on quite the project...cleaning our master closet. It took almost 6 hours to do! I am going to do a post on the project later this week but as a teaser, here is a before shot of the closet, yikes! Every inch of available space is jammed with clothes.

After spending most of the day sweating and trying on clothes we took a little cat nap and then showered and got ready for dinner. For dinner we headed to our favorite sushi place, Sushi Kushi Toyo. It was delicious; it is seriously the best sushi we have ever had. After our yummy dinner we headed home to relax. We watched a Harry Potter movie and I took down the Valentine's decorations before we crashed.

Today, I got up and worked out and we did our Sunday tradition of breakfast and grocery shopping. We hung out for a little while and then we got ready to head to Michael's aunt and uncle's to celebrate his cousin Paul's 30th birthday. We had a great time seeing everyone. We even got to see Michael's cousin Anthony via Skype. He is a Marine and is currently in North Carolina. We had dinner over there and then headed home before the snow hit. It is starting to come down pretty heavy now. We are supposed to get 8-12 inches overnight. I hope this is the last big storm, I am so sick of winter! We are just going to relax the rest of the night and pretend that tomorrow isn't Monday! I hope all of you had a great weekend!

Ready for the weekend!

I am so excited the weekend is here! For a short week, it sure seemed long! We don't have a ton planned this weekend, which I am happy about. I'm hoping its going to be a little warmer this weekend so I can take my workouts outside.

I need to get the Valentine's decorations down and do a few other things around the house. I might start tackling cleaning out our master bedroom closet to get ready for spring and summer clothes. I need to get rid of probably 60% (Michael would say 90%) of the clothes I have in there since they are either way too big or I just don't wear them. We are going to have a date night tonight and probably tomorrow night too! On Sunday we are going to be celebrating Michael's cousin Paul's 30th birthday. I will have a full weekend recap and hopefully some pictures on Sunday! Have a great weekend everyone!

Since I don't like to post without a picture, here is a funny picture of Porkchop that I took on Monday. He was sitting like the little prince that he is on the couch watching me workout.

Things I'm loving: February

The Amazing Race!

This is one of Michael and I's favorite shows on TV. We love to watch all the teams race around the world and perform crazy tasks. We love to talk about whether or not we would do the said tasks and most of my answers are "Hell no!" I love to watch everyone else do them though!

Olympics

We are totally engrossed in the Olympics right now! We are loving the skiing, speed skating, snow boarding, luge....pretty much everything. The only thing Michael hates watching is the figure skating! I just think its really cool rooting for your country to win each event we take part in. I think it might be really exciting  this time as well because the US is doing so well and racking up a lot of medals!

Spring clothes hitting the stores

I think we are all so ready for winter to be over. Obviously it's going to be several more weeks but just seeing bright happy colors, floral patterns and swimsuits reminds me that it won't be long now. Plus I have to say I'm pretty excited about being several sizes smaller this spring so that means another one of my favorite things...shopping!!!

Dove dark chocolate

Dove dark chocolate is my go to treat when I need a little chocolate fix. Dark chocolate is actually really good for you because it is packed with antioxidants and it has been proven to lower blood pressure. But really, in the end it's just delicious! I keep a bag in my desk at work and when I feel the need for a sweet craving a couple of Dove definitely do the trick!

My Valentine!

  

I can't have a February loves list without my Valentine! Thanks for a great Valentine's weekend babe; I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

My Top 10 Get Healthy Tips

 

I want to preface this post by saying that these tips are entirely based on my experiences and just because this works for me, it might not work for you, or you might not even agree with what I'm doing. Most of these tips are nothing new and thousands of books will tell you the same things. However, a lot of people have asked what I've been doing to lose weight so that is why I put this together. And now, my top 10 get healthy tips!

1. Make the decision you want to change your lifestyle

This is the most important tip I have. You can do tips 2-9 but if you haven't fully committed to 1, it will never last. This is why every doctor says that diets are temporary and the only way you can have long term results is through a full lifestyle change. It takes a lot of commitment to eat healthfully. It is a lot easier to go to McDonalds than make a healthy meal, but it is obviously not the best choice. It's all about choices and making good ones is the hardest part.

For me, when we started talking about when we were going to start a family I just felt that I wasn't taking the best care of myself and that things would only get more complicated once we had a child and that I owed it to myself and my future children to be healthy so I can provide a good example. My doctor encouraged me to lose 50 pounds before we started trying to get pregnant as well.

2. Drink lots of water and nothing else

Now I know this is not rocket science and nothing new, but drinking water is one of the best things you can do for your body. It helps you flush out all the bad by-products when fat breaks down in your body. Water also helps you feel full for longer. Many times if you feel hungry, you are really thirsty, so try drinking a glass of water first. The other part of this is not drinking soda or juices with high sugar content. Liquid calories are very sneaky and things you may not think about. Also, it has been proven that drinking diet soda actually stimulates hunger and you tend to eat more after drinking it. Juices that are high in sugar essentially just turn into calories and then fat. I was never a big juice or soda drinker, so this is not that hard for me to stick. I drink only water and then milk at dinner time.

3. Eat breakfast everyday

This is probably the second most important tip on this list. Eating breakfast is pivotal in losing weight. It jump starts your metabolism in the morning so you are burning calories more efficiently throughout the day. You also tend to eat less during the day if you eat breakfast. A lot of people say that eating breakfast makes them hungry before lunch and that is proof that it is speeding up your metabolism. Making good breakfast choices can make you feel fuller as well. Every morning I start with a breakfast sandwich that consists of a whole grain english muffin, egg whites and either turkey sausage or a piece of canadian bacon. I usually have an apple or a banana as well. Around 10:30 I usually have another piece of fruit to keep my metabolism going and then have lunch around 12:30. Eating more often during the day actually helps you lose weight, who knew you could eat more and weigh less!   

4. Get moving!

For me personally, changing my eating habits and watching calories will only help me lose weight for so long. I absolutely have to workout in order to keep dropping pounds. When I first started changing my eating in November I waited about 3 weeks before I started building workouts into my routine. They say it takes 21 days to build a habit so I wanted to change only 1 thing at a time. I workout 4 days a week for about 40-45 minutes. It's really hard for me to have the energy and time to workout during the week because of my work schedule so I only workout Tuesdays and Thursdays and then Saturday and Sunday. It really works for me; as soon as I started working out, the pounds started melting off.

5. Don't deprive yourself

I think one of the dumbest things you can do is try to go on some crash diet totally eliminating carbs or trying to eat salads or baked chicken every night. You will only be able to sustain that kind of diet for a very short period of time. Instead if you choose a balanced diet you can eat what you want for the most part. That's where working out comes into play too. If you want to splurge that day, make sure you burn some extra calories to account for the calories you are going to consume. If I really want something like pizza, I have it. Except instead of eating a medium sized pizza, I will have 2 or 3 small squares of pizza and a salad alongside it. Also, when we go out to eat, I usually cut whatever I ordered in half and push it to the side.

6. Track your progress diligently

They say you should only weigh yourself once a week but I find that weighing myself everyday really keeps me on track and keeps me motivated. I love that after a hard workout I can see that I'm half a pound lighter. On the flip side, seeing after a night out I'm a pound heavier enforces my need to drink a lot of water the next day to flush out the salt from eating out. The scale doesn't scare me anymore, its a big source of motivation for me to see my hard work pay off. I also take my measurements regularly to see my progress and taking pictures of yourself is another way to see the difference and increase your motivation.

7. Pinpoint your weaknesses

This was really important for me. In order to change your habits you have to realize the bad ones you currently have. I really didn't eat that bad to start with. I didn't really eat fried food, I don't like fast food, a lot of the crutches people have I didn't have. My biggest problems were portion sizes, cheese and ice cream. I love to cook and bake but I would make too much food and eat too much of it. I wasn't listening to my body when it was telling me it was full, I would just keep eating because it tasted so good and I acted like I would never eat it again. I have cut my portions probably by 2/3. It has made all the difference. My other weaknesses were cheese and ice cream. I would put cheese on everything and eat way too much of it. The same goes for ice cream. I would have it every night after dinner and I was eating 2 or 3 times the serving size. By pinpointing those specific weaknesses it has helped manage my calorie intake and in turn helped me lose weight.

8. Set realistic goals and an overall goal

 I could stand to lose 100 pounds but setting out to conquer something like that seems monumental. My doctor said he wanted me to lose 50 pounds so that was my first goal. I lost 10 pounds on vacation so when I came back it really got me motivated. It seemed so easy. Before I knew it I was down 20, 30, 40 and then hit my 50 pound goal only 2 months after starting. It felt really good. I immediately set a new goal of 75 pounds. Now being down 60 pounds, 75 seems so close. I am going to keep going until we start trying to get pregnant and up until we get pregnant. I will continue to set small goals and maybe I will hit that 100 pound mark! Even once I am pregnant, I will continue eating healthfully and not take the "eating for two" attitude.

9. Plan meal menus

Planning ahead when it comes to meal planning eliminates the temptation for going out to eat and making bad decisions. By having a strategy of your meals for the week you can make your healthy choices ahead of time. It also helps having a planned meal schedule for the nights I workout during the week. I try to plan a quicker meal that Michael can start while I'm working out or utilize my crockpot to have it ready to eat when I'm done. 

10. Bring your lunch to work

Along the same vein as having a planned menu for the week, bringing your lunch to work eliminates the possibility of making bad decisions if you go out to eat. When you eat at a restaurant, you have no control over the ingredients used, the amount of salt they put into it, etc. I bring my lunch almost everyday. If I go out it is usually only once a week at the most. I either have leftovers from dinner the night before or some type of sandwich with a piece of fruit on the side. Also, another benefit is that you will save money! It's not cheap to eat out everyday so you're helping your body and your wallet! 

So if you're still reading, congratulations, it was a long post! I hope this helps explain some of the factors of my success so far. It actually helped me too; it reminded me of all the positive changes I've made and I will continue to follow my own advice!

Next stop...75!

I hit another weight loss milestone yesterday. I am officially down 60 pounds! Even with being out of town for the weekend and splurging a little, I still managed to lose weight and hit my next goal. This just proves even more for me that by changing my lifestyle, I can still occasionally splurge if I make healthy decisions 90% of the time and work out. I'm really proud of myself. This weight loss train is just gonna keep moving. My next goal is 75 pounds. I would like to hit this goal by May 1st. 

A lot of people have asked me how I've lost the weight so I'm going to do a post this week on my top 10 tips that have helped me achieve success. Look for that later this week.

Here are my progress pictures.

 

                Before                    50 pounds lost            60 pounds lost

                                   

 

 

50 pounds lost

         60 pounds lost

Obviously the results are not as dramatic compared to my before and 50 pounds lost, but I can see some subtle differences. I can't wait to see what 75 pounds looks like!

Menu Planning Monday

We did not do very much cooking last week. We were super crazy at work and we didn't really do grocery shopping since we were going out of town. We still ate well, but I want to get back in the kitchen! I went grocery shopping today and got us all re-stocked and ready for cooking this week.

Here's our menu for the week:

Monday: Katsu-don
Tuesday: Herb roasted Chicken made in the crock pot with potatoes
Wednesday: Make your own pizza night (BBQ chicken for me, cheese for Michael) and salad
Thursday: Ranch chicken sammies with salads
Friday: Date night!

A Lovey Dovey Weekend Recap

We had such an amazing weekend! It was so nice to get away for a few days. I'm sad the weekend is over but I'm happy I took today off as well just to extend the weekend a little bit. I wish I could start my work week on Tuesday every week! So on to the recap, it's long and picture filled!

On Friday morning we got up early and finished packing everything up and headed down to my parents to drop off Porkchop for the weekend. After dropping off the dog we were on the road and headed North to Lake Geneva. We made it up there really quickly and pulled into town around lunch time. We went to one of our favorite lunch spots Popeye's on Lake Geneva and scored a lake side table view for lunch. We had a great lunch watching all the locals drive their cars on the lake heading out to their ice fishing huts.

 

All the little black spots on the lake are ice fishing huts

The weekend before we were up there, Lake Geneva had a Winterfest celebration. Part of that celebration was the national snow sculpting competition. Obviously its cold enough to keep them standing so we were able to walk through all the sculptures. It was really cool, I took a ton of pictures!

 

Michael in front of Popeye's with a snow sculpture of Popeye character Wimpy and a stack of hamburgers; it was only fitting!

All the snow sculptures in the park

Michael with a snow brontosaurus

 

Me with sea turtles and a coral reef

Pigs on a Harley

 

Me with a cupcake

 

Eskimo family, check out the walrus underneath!

 

Robot

After we walked around the snow sculptures we headed to main street to stop in a few shops. We headed to one of my favorite stores, the Cornerstone Shoppe, but didn't find anything this time. It was time to check-in so we headed to the resort and to get our room. 

 

Our room, they have all just been re-done

 

Love the TV in the bathroom mirror!

A wintry view of the golf course from our balcony

We relaxed for a little bit and took a little nap before we headed to dinner. Before dinner we decided to exchange our Valentine's Day gifts. 

Present time!

I love a little blue box!

 

A ladybug charm necklace! (Michael calls me ladybug, bug, buggy)

Modeling my new necklace!

 

Michael's turn next!

I made Michael a "52 reasons why I love you" book from a deck of cards

One of the "52 reasons"

After exchanging gifts, we headed to dinner at the hotel. Here is a picture of us before heading out.

 

After dinner we relaxed and watched some of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics before calling it a night. 

On Saturday we got up and went to breakfast at Egg Harbor. After breakfast we hit up all the shops on main street that we missed on Friday. I found some cute Easter decorations, we got Porkchop some treats and I found a couple new pairs of shoes. I was really excited about the shoes because pretty much all of my shoes are way too big after losing almost 60 pounds. It's really weird to think my feet are shrinking too! Nine West was having a buy one, get one for 50% off sale so I picked out 2 new pairs. After torturing Michael with all the shopping he could take, we picked up some sandwiches and headed back to the resort. We put our swimsuits on and headed to the pool. We took a nice swim and spent quite a bit of time in the hot tub; it was really relaxing. We took a nice little nap after our dip before we had to get ready for dinner. 

Ready for our Valentine's dinner

We had dinner at the Geneva Chophouse. It is in the Grand Geneva resort and it's one of our favorite restaurants. We had a delicious and elegant meal. They pulled out all the stops for Valentine's Day giving all the ladies flowers and a special menu for the night. We started with chopped salads and bread. Michael had a filet and king crab legs. I had one of their specials which was a center cut ribeye with porcini mushroom crust and porcini mushroom butter. For dessert they had a special chocolate bar where you got to choose what you wanted. We chose chocolate covered strawberries, truffles and a chocolate pop. Everything was so delicious, we left with very full bellies. After dinner we headed to the hotel bar and watched some of the Olympics. We got to see Apollo Anton Ono win his silver medal in a crazy race! We had a great night.

On Sunday morning we headed to Egg Harbor for breakfast again and then went back to the hotel to relax before we had to pack up and get ready to leave. We got home in the early afternoon and just relaxed for a while. My parents came down to drop off Porkchop for us after watching him all weekend so we wanted to take them out to dinner to thank them. We went to Bonefish, which was delicious as usual! After dinner, my parents headed home and Michael and I crashed. We had such an amazing weekend. It was great to get away and we really love going to Lake Geneva no matter what time of year. I'm excited because I get to go back again in May for my sister Arla's bachelorette party that I'm hosting at the Grand Geneva Resort!

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! I'm sad the weekend is over, but I'm happy I have a short work week. Hopefully next weekend will be here before we know it!

Happy Valentine's Day

So a lot of people will moan and complain about how Valentine's Day is a made-up, Hallmark holiday and you don't need a special day to tell someone you love them. Well to that person I would say, you must not be in love! I agree that you don't need a special day to tell someone you love them, but Valentine's Day gives you an excuse to do it an extra special way! Michael and I don't usually go too over the top. I typically make him a card or a sentimental gift. He is a wild card and I never know what to expect from him!

We are celebrating this weekend with a 3-day weekend getaway in Lake Geneva (I had this post done and scheduled to post today). I will have a full round up of pictures and details about our weekend away tomorrow!

Me and my Valentine

Love Through All Seasons

I love you all through February,

Not just on Valentine’s Day;

I cherish you when the flowers of spring

Appear in the midst of May.

I adore you in the summer,

When the air is filled with heat;

Without you in my life each day,

I wouldn’t be complete.

I treasure you in fall,

When leaves are turning gold;

I have loved you since the beginning;

I’ll love you when you’re old.

I cherish you in the winter,

When colder days are here;

I love you, love you all the time,

Every minute of the every year.

So I’ll give to you this Valentine,

But I want to let you know,

It’s not just today, but always,

That I will love you so.

Getaway time!

Michael and I are leaving tomorrow morning to head North to Lake Geneva. I am so excited for a long weekend getaway, we could really use it! It has been a really rough couple of weeks at work for both of us. I'm excited for all the relaxing, dining, and shopping with just the two of us. It's one of our favorite places to go to sneak away. I will have a full weekend recap and hopefully lots of pictures on Monday. I hope everyone has a great weekend and a very lovey dovey Valentine's Day!

And since I don't really like to have a post without a picture, here's a picture of Michael and I last year on Valentine's Day!

Whole lotta shaking going on!

This morning around 4 am I was woken up out of a dead sleep because our bed and everything else was shaking! (Michael didn't feel a thing!) A 3.8 earthquake hit the far west Chicago area in the DeKalb and Sycamore area. People as far as Wisconsin said they felt it as well. We had an earthquake last year as well but the epicenter was in southern Illinois and it was over 7.0 magnitude. I'm glad that this one wasn't as big as that because we would have probably had some damage since it was a lot closer. I've never felt an earthquake my whole life and then we have 2 in the past year, crazy! Well I guess we're now prepared for our vacation in California in July, since I know what to expect now. Let's hope this whole earthquake thing doesn't become a regular occurrence in Illinois, we shouldn't have to deal with snow and earthquakes!

Olympic Fever!

I'm so excited the 2010 Winter Olympics are starting this weekend! I've always been a big fan of watching the Olympics. The last Olympics were the 2008 Summer Olympics and they were amazing especially with Michael Phelps in the pool! My favorite events of the winter Olympics are ice skating, skiing, bobsled, luge, snowboarding, speed skating and hockey. There are less events in the winter Olympics then the summer ones but they are all really exciting events to watch. We are going to miss most of the first weekend of events since we're going to be in Lake Geneva but luckily they don't have too many finals that first weekend. Go USA!

NBC has a full schedule of events here.

P.S. - It looks like Chicago could be hosting the winter olympics with how it looks outside today! I am happy to be warm and toasty inside and working from home today!