Things I'm loving - March edition

iPad

I'm in love with my new iPad. It's so great for the train and it will be nice to have on the airplane rides I have coming up. It is definitely my favorite gadget!

My Fitness Pal App

This is my favorite new app for weight loss. When you sign up for MyFitnessPal, it asks what your weight loss goal is and how much weight you want to lose per week.  If you choose too quick a weight loss per week, the system warns you that you’ve gone below the recommended number of calories per day and recommends a slower weight loss.  I chose to set it for two pounds a week. Whenever you eat something, you enter it into the software. If it’s in the database, it will populate the nutritional values into your daily consumption. If it’s not, you can add it to the database yourself. I have not come across anything that isn't in the data base yet, which makes it so easy to use!

No-chip manicure

I am really hard on my nails so anytime I get a manicure it usually only lasts 4-5 days, max. The no-chip manicure was awesome. I didn't get 2-3 weeks like some people have said, but I got 13 days where they looked perfect. I will definitely get it done again, especially when we go on vacation.

New members of the family

The most exciting thing this month is that I get to spill the beans on some very exciting family news! We have some new family members on the way. Jacob is going to be a big brother! We will have a new niece or nephew come early September!

Also, my sister and her Husband Teddy are expecting their first child!! It's the first grandchild in my family, so my parents are sooo excited. Baby Lach will be making his or her debut in early November. Michael and I are so excited. It's crazy to think that a year ago we didn't have any nieces or nephews and now we're going to have 3! Auntie Sara is on a budget now!

Wordless Wednesday - Spring has sprung

Easter Decor

I finally got around to putting up my Easter decorations this weekend. Since I found some cute stuff last weekend, it motivated me to get it up. Plus I have to go to Washington DC this weekend for work so I knew if I didn't get it up now, it might never go up. Everything is all pretty in pastels now.

Weight Update Monday

 

We had another pretty good week on our diet this week. We did splurge for dinner on Saturday and had sushi on Friday, but other than that we stuck pretty close to our calorie counts. Obviously we did okay, because we both lost this week.

Michael's weight loss this week: 3 lbs

Sara's weight loss this week: 3 lbs

Weekend Recap

This weekend went by way too fast. It was pretty relaxing but I could definitely use another day off! On Friday I worked from home which was nice as always. Michael came home and we decided to go out for dinner. We haven't been out much since we started our diet, so we decided to splurge a little bit and go get some sushi.

We had some really yummy rolls and enjoyed our date night. After dinner we headed home and just relaxed. 

On Saturday we got up and went to breakfast with Rich and Ken. After breakfast we headed down to my parent's house to see my Mom. My Dad is fishing for a few days so we thought we would go down and see her for the day. We planned on doing some fun shopping and going to dinner. We went to a few fun boutiques and Target and Home Goods. I found some really cute Easter decorations. 

We went to dinner at one of our favorite places, Trattoria Tazza. We had a super yummy meal, but it was definitely a splurge on our diet. I had a super yummy chicken dish called Pistachio Chicken with a creamy pesto sauce. It was so good!

After dinner we headed home. We just relaxed and watched the Hawks game before crashing for the night.

Today we got up, made some breakfast and then headed out to CostCo and the grocery store to do our grocery shopping for the week. After grocery shopping we headed home and I started putting up my Easter decorations. Our cleaning lady is coming on Tuesday so I wanted to wait but I have to go out of town next weekend so I knew it wouldn't happen if I waited. We just relaxed most of the afternoon and watched some movies we rented from Redbox. We rented Megamind and Grown-Ups.

I thought Megamind was pretty good. Personally, I liked Despicable Me better, but it did have some funny parts and had a good story overall.

Grown Ups was exactly what you would expect with Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James and Rob Schneider in the starring roles. It was really funny; we laughed out loud many times.

For dinner we headed over to Michael's parents. Michael's Mom made some yummy ribs and we got to see Rich, Tif, Jacob and Grandma. We had a yummy dinner and had fun playing and laughing at Jacob. We hung out for a little while and then headed home. We are just watching some TV and getting ready for the week ahead. I hope all of you had a great weekend and have a good week ahead!

Our week in pictures: 3/20 - 3/26

Sunday, March 20: Spring clothes shopping spree

 Monday, March 21: Michael got me this super cute penguin case for my iPhone

Tuesday, March 22: Michael worked late until after 8:30 almost every night this week

 Wednesday, March 23: Snow, really? Come on Spring!

 Thursday, March 24: Last day for crazy pills, thank goodness! Let's hope it's the last time too!

 Friday, March 25: Sushi date night, yum!

Saturday, March 26: Fun shopping with Mom and Michael today. Lots of fun, Easter finds!

This week I'm...

Loving: That I'm losing weight again, it's amazing what 400 less calories a day can do!
Disliking: This nasty winter weather we're having, hopefully it's Winter's last gasp.
Craving: Anything on a bun or between two slices of bread.
Wanting: To have a nice relaxing weekend, it's been a rough week.
Hoping: For good news next week!
Reading: I haven't been reading since Kristin introduced me to the Chuzzles!
Watching: Not much this week, we are so behind on all of our shows because Michael's been working like a mad man.
Listening to: Amazing Motown performances this week on American Idol. My favorites this week were: Casey Abrams (thank God they saved him last night!), Lauren Alinea and Pia Toscano.
Looking forward to: Putting up my Spring and Easter decor this weekend!
Hearing buzz about: Elizabeth Taylor passing away, she was a Hollywood Icon

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Half Birthday to my better half!

My new motto...

Weight Update Monday

 

As I mentioned last Monday, I am canceling Menu Planning Monday temporarily since we are on a diet. We had a great first week. The first couple days are always the hardest, but then you get over the hump and it gets a lot easier. It was the jump start I needed to kick my weight loss plateau to the curb. After losing a little over 100 pounds I haven't been able to move the scale since. Apparently I just needed to bring my calories down a bit, because it has really worked this week. Michael's biggest craving is for carbs so it was hard for him to cut them out. It was worth it though, he had a great week.

Michael's weight loss this week: 7 lbs

Sara's weight loss this week: 6 lbs

Weekend Recap

And before you know it, another weekend is gone. We had a pretty busy weekend. On Friday, I worked from home and poor Michael had to get a tooth pulled. I brought him to the surgeon because they had to put him under anesthesia and he couldn't drive himself home. He did really well and despite being pretty groggy, he was in a good mood. Of course I had to take his picture while he was still waking up in recovery.

I took my little patient home, gave him some happy pills and he was off to bed so I could finish my work day. He slept most of the day and into the evening. He was able to eat some pudding and yogurt but that was about it. 

On Saturday, we were up early and we met up with Rich, Tif, Baby Jacob, Ken and Michael's parents for breakfast. Jacob entertained us as always, eating pancakes and just being cute!

After breakfast we headed home and then I headed out to do some shopping. I had Spring clothes on my brain and lots of coupons in my purse! I scored some major deals and some really cute new Spring clothes. I got most of my new items at Old Navy since they were having their 30% off give and get sale for charity. Most pieces were $10 or less. I am definitely set for Spring now, now if only the weather would cooperate so I could wear them!

I love these skirts, they are bright and colorful and I can wear them with a multitude of colorful shirts. I wear a skirt or dress to work almost every day in the summer so these will definitely get some good use. 

I love having cardigans lots of colors so I can mix and match outfits with any of them. I usually wear a cardigan over my dresses too since it's cold in the office. I got most of these at Old Navy and a couple from Marshall's. They were all $10 and under. 

I also got a bunch of cute tanks to wear under cardigans or blazers. I also got a few fun ones for vacation. And I couldn't pass by a cute Mickey T for our Disney trip coming up. All of these tanks were $5 and under, a total deal!

After my successful shopping adventure, I headed home to work on some appetizers for Ken's birthday party that night. We made buffalo chicken dip, bacon wrapped smokies and birthday cake pops.

Somehow I managed to not take even one picture at Ken's party; bad blogger, I know. We had a great time at the party. There was lots of yummy food, good conversation and maybe some flippy cup too.

Today we slept in and got up to make some breakfast. Michael wanted to go to the shooting range so he headed off to pick up Rich and I stayed home. It was gray and rainy out so I turned on the Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family and got to work. I did some dishes, laundry and some other cleaning around the house. When Michael got home we headed to Whole Foods to pick up some fresh meat and veggies for meals this week. We did great on our diet this week, which I will post about tomorrow. I also found a super cute Spring welcome mat for our front door at Whole Foods.

For Sunday dinner, Michael cooked us up some strip steaks we got at Whole Foods today. They were delicious! Tonight we are going to just relax and watch some TV. I hope all of you had a great weekend and have a good week ahead!