My virtues, and the Blubber Butt Chronicles!

Project 31. Day#9

What virtues do I value in myself?

Well...not to toot my own horn but.....

I am honest.

I am dependable.

I am loyal.

I am a follower of the Creator of the Earth.

I am a princess (read more about that here).

I am determined.

I am me.

And in other news:

It's another edition of...

We were in a much better mood this Monday than last Monday and so it was much easier to get into the whole let's-see-how-much-weight-we-lost-thing.

I was feeling optimistic this week because I had done a really good job eating well and exercising the past week. The treadmill and I developed a great bond and L and I put in some great workout time after work.

SO I was really excited when I stepped onto the scale and saw 138.2 on the scale! Woohoo me!!!!

I am finally back into the 130's. It's been a long time since the scale read those numbers!

L also had a great week and was somewhat disappointed to find that she only last 1/2 a pound. But I was so proud! I know she felt discouraged but that's still a LOSS in weight and not a gain. So we both discussed what we could do this week to challenge ourselves. I decided to reluctantly give up my 250 calorie Jif on the Go peanut butter cup that I enjoy everyday for lunch and only eat it on Wednesday.

Boo.

BUT I'M IN THE 130's!!

So here we go again this week. I had a salad for lunch and chicken and veggies for dinner.

I have to admit though. For the first time ever I feel free from the bondage of food. I no longer plan my life around food. I am starting to plan food around my life. It's amazing what can happen when you give God control of something. Even something as simple as dieting!

So here ya go. Pictures...and yes we are in our workout clothes. Enjoy.

There's a party going on!!! 14 days of Love Challenge!

Can you believe it's the end of January already?

Where did this month go!? Before we know it we are all going to be blogging about Christmas again.

I'm really excited about February though and I have some really fun blog posts planned.

Not only am I working on a handmade gift for my husband but I am also planning a really cute gift for the classes I work with at school.

Super. Pumped!

One of the things I am most excited about however is my new project that my husband and I are planning for Valentine's day this year. We have decided to not spend as much money on gifts this year and really try to do personalized things that will mean so much more.

So...starting February 1st we are going to be challenging each other to 14 days of Love. Each day we will surprise each other with something personal and special. I already have a few things up my sleeve that he doesn't know about. I'm pretty excited about it!

Here's where you come in:

I am going to be hosting a linky party every day where we can share how we are showing 14 days of love!

Here are the rules:

1. Each day show someone that you love that you love them.

2. Take a picture of it.

3. Link it up to each day's list.

4. Show some love to other bloggers and check out their posts.

And the best thing of all: A GIVEAWAY!

On February 14th, in honor of the day of love itself, I will be giving away a handmade gift of my own to one lucky blogger.

How's that for showing some love!

Grab my button below and I can't wait to see your projects! You have 2 days to plan!!

Good Luck!

<center><a href="http://manicmother.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Manic Mother" src="http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac70/aobanion8628/14daysofovebutton.jpg" /></a></center>

A beautiful tip:

Project 31. Day #8

A beautiful tip.

Oh wow, this has definitely been the most challenging day of the Project 31 challenge so far.

When I first started thinking about what to write I panicked! I don't really do anything special to myself to be "more beautiful". There are tons of hair-styling videos and make-up preparation tutorials already all over the web and to be quite honest, I wear the same makeup and generally wear my hair the same everyday.

Soooooo I'm probably not the one to be asking about beautiful tips.

But THEN!

I had an epiphany.

I do have a beautiful tip to share!

Are you ready for this?

SMILE!

I am amazed by all the people who go through life NOT smiling. What a great way to make yourself look better, and it only takes a second!

Not to mention smiling makes you feel better on the outside.

So there you have it.
My beautiful tip.

:)

Project 31. Day #7: A blog about you...

Hey, you!

Yes that's right, I'm talking to you?

You are beautiful!

No, really, you are.

When I saw you for the first time I thought to myself

Wow. I wish I could look like that. I wish I could have such amazing beauty surround me everywhere I go.

Your glow about you is infectious

and everyone's head turns when you walk into the room.

I am so jealous!

What do I have to do to become as beautiful as you?

Exercise?

Eat less?

No?

Wait, what do you mean?

You don't do any of those thing?

You do what!?!?

So you are telling me that if I walk in faith

show compassion to everyone around me

live thankfully

pray daily

seek God's will constantly

worship continuously

and love deeply

I can be as beautiful as you?

Hmmm...I think I can manage that!

You deeply inspire me to do all those things.

Will you help?

I long to be as beautiful as you, my friend.

Dedicated to all women out there who need to strip off the outer expectations of beauty and learn to strive for beauty on the inside!

And especially dedicated to one woman who does all of these things and more. A beautiful daughter, a beautiful mother, a beautiful friend!

Love ya, sis!

A little piece of heaven: Embrace the Camera

I couldn't think of a better embrace the camera picture than this one taken by Photo Booth on our computer:

I'll admit I was posed here but minutes before this picture was taken all three of us were passed out on the couch.

Of course when Abbey heard the "3-2-1" countdown she was of course intrigued and woke up.

Still, aren't we cute?

I love my little family!

J-j-j-jaded

Okay, so I am loving this Project 31. challenge that I am participating in.

It's quickly becoming the highlight of my evening.

After the laundry is done, and the dishes are washed I love to sit down and check out the next's day challenge and think long and hard about what I want to write about.

(I do my posts the night before that way it can go out on my email subscription list. Not subscribed? You should)

Anyway, I digress.

The question for the week was about jaded beauty and if the world's definition of beauty has ever jaded me.

This started me thinking.

What does "jaded" mean?

Other than the name of a fantastic Aerosmith song.

So I looked up the word all scholarly like and this is what I found:

jaded:

1. fatigued by overwork

2. made dull, apathetic, or cynical by experience

So, in response to this question?

YES!!

Turn on your t.v. Alright it's probably already on. Now, count how many skinny, beautiful, flawlessly skinned, women you see in..oh.10 seconds.

And you wonder why I would feel jaded.

I get so tired of wondering what I could do to be more beautiful. If I watch my food intake enough, exercise enough, tweeze my eyebrows enough, bleach my hair enough, MAYBE I will measure up to an ounce of what those women look like.

It's so tiring!

Luckily, and through much prayer, God is teaching me that I am beautiful all in my own way.

I read a book with some of my kids at school about a bluebird who bragged to everyone he met that he was the most beautiful animal in the forest because he was the color of the sky.

He ended up making a mouse feel like crap because he was gray, not blue and therefore not beautiful.

He made a flamingo feel ugly because she was pink and not blue, so again, not beautiful.

So one day he goes up to the Wise Old Blackbird and begins to strut his stuff and flap his jaws about how beautiful he is, blah blah blah.

What does Blackbird say?

He reminds the bluebird that the sky is not always blue. Sometimes the clouds are gray and casts a beautiful sky over the Earth, and sometimes, when the sun sets it sends the most beautiful pink colors stretching across the horizon.

The lesson?

We are ALL beautiful and we all have our place in this world.

It doesn't matter if this girl can't compare to Miss Carrie Underwood over there. I AM BEAUTIFUL!

So I encourage all you beautiful women out there to rest easy. God created you in an image of Him. We can't be anything but beautiful!

Will I still be jaded at beauty sometimes after I post this? Of course. Beauty is exhausting.

I guess at times like that I will just have to re-read this post and remind myself.

You are beautiful. No matter what they say.

(Thanks Christina for such great lyrics)

5 years ago:

5 years ago today:

He asked:

and I said:

Mr. O'Banion. I. love. you.

{and in case you were wondering, that old Marquee is the inspiration for the title of this blog. Our life together began the moment I looked up and read those sweet words}

Project 31. Day #5: A letter

Dear Father,

When I think about someone who has made my heart come alive, how can I not think of you?

You knew me before I was even born.

You breathed life into my lungs.

You quite literally, made my heart come alive.

But God,

You are so much more than just my Creator.

You are my Savior.

I can't begin to tell you what it means to me that You are on my side.

Just this week I have seen Your presence in my life providing for me and protecting me.

How can I not be amazed when I step outside and see all the beautiful snow on the ground and know that You created each snowflake that falls from the sky.

I praise You Father.

I praise You for loving me enough to sacrifice Your Son for me.

I praise You for loving me enough to bless me with parents that are the most compassionate, God-fearing, people I know.

I praise You for knowing that I would need an older sister to talk to about things I don't feel comfortable talking to others about.

I praise You for a husband who seeks your face on a daily basis and has such a compassionate tender heart.

I praise you for being you and creating me to be me.

Thank you for creating me and giving me this life that I can be proud of.

Thank. you.

Love,

Me

Project 31. Day #4: Favorite Outfit

What is my favorite outfit

Haha, I can already image all of the cute responses linked up to this Project 31 linky party.

As for me and my house

We will wear sweats

My favorite outfit doesn't even really belong to me. It mostly belongs to Landen. A worn out Cumberland Cross Country hoodie and comfy cumberland sweats. It's the classic tale of "I'm Cold". "Here, wear my sweatshirt" never gets it back type thing.

And I don't remember how I ended up with the sweatpants.

Or how many times over the last 6 years my dad has told me that I was going to trip over the pant legs and kill myself.

It's an addiction. I can't give them up.

Trust me, I've tried. I used to work at the college bookstore and I purchased the same sweatpants, in my size. It wasn't the same. There wasn't the same kind of age worn into the seams. And let's be honest. They weren't his.

Gag, I know.

Anyway, I guess this is also one of those unique things about me too. I am not the stay all gussied up all day long type girl. I've tried that too.

The sweats always end up winning the battle.

Oh well.

He thinks I'm beautiful. Even in his my sweats.

Do those pants make my butt look big?

What are we making? Chicken and dumplins' of course!

Blubber Butt Chronicles: I will conquer you scale!!

and now for your weekly edition of the Blubber Butt Chronicles.

Today was a crazy day at work. I am not going to get into much detail but let's just say that God totally rocked my socks off and provided in a seemingly hopeless situation.

He's the best!

Anyway,

The three of us stepped before the scales again and I was really scared after gaining a pound last week. I worked out much more last week though and actually ran for 20 minutes straight on Saturday night (something that I have only done once in my entire life and in AUGUST!) I was a pretty proud sweaty lady.

And my eating was much better! I went to the movies Saturday and only had a little popcorn. I pretty much had Romans 14:20 going through my head like a stinking mantra. But it worked!

And then Sunday after church we went out to Mexican with family and I had like 10 chips and a lot of chicken and veggies.

Still, I was pretty nervous!

But, I lost 2 pounds! I am at 140.6. I am so close to being back in the 130's I can TASTE it! Okay, maybe that was a bad analogy, but you get my point.

L lost 3 pounds and is super close to the 120's

and

A lost 3 pounds and is hovering above 160's

WE ARE SO ROCKSTARS!!

That's a total of 6 pounds in 3 weeks for me. I am pretty pumped.

Unfortunately, with all of the madness at work we didn't get to take pictures but that's okay because next week when we are rocking our new weights, we are going to look FAB-U-LOUS!

Until next week....

Project 31. Day #3: Beauty Inspired

Day #3: Who is someone you know who inspires beauty?

Can I have two?

Good.

These two people greatly inspire beauty in my life:

growing up in my parents house was like most homes.

We had our ups. We had our downs.

But one thing was a constant.

God was the center.

Not many people can honestly say that they saw their parents seek God's advice in everything that they did. And they still do.

I learned a lot from my parents.

The most important thing in the world is family.

Family things stay in the family.

God has a plan for our lives.

Never go to bed mad.

I also learned that I was beautiful in my parent's eyes no matter what.

There was never pressure to be a certain size or look a certain way in our house.

We didn't always make the best choices nutritionally but I was never afraid of coming home if I gained a pound or thirty :S

That doesn't mean that my parents didn't want us to be healthy growing up, it just wasn't an obsession.

I'm grateful for that.

I learned that a sense of humor is a necessity in life. There were times growing up, and especially now in my adult life, laughing was the only thing that kept us from losing our mind.

I am thankful that my parents became "parents" to all of my friends.

I am thankful that my parents follow God and everything He asks them to do. Even if it meant stepping out of their comfort zones. I only hope I will follow God with such commitment.

I also learned never to accept hand-outs but to work for everything you want. To tithe on a regular basis, and to expect God's blessings. EXPECT THEM!

They love their kids, they love their grandkids, and even their grand-dogs with an unconditional love.

I could go on and on and on about my parents. I love them so much and I think that it's because of them that this little gal even stands a chance.

If beauty had a picture beside it in the dictionary, it would have a picture of them.

I have been blessed.

Mom. Dad. I love you!

Project 31. Day #2: What makes me uniquely me?

What makes me uniquely me?

Man that's a loaded question...

I think one of the things that makes me uniquely me is that I am an open book. Any emotion, any thought, any fear is written plainly on my face. This is also one of the things I detest about my dang self. I can't keep anything secret.

I also think that my heart makes me unique. Most days I am extremely vulnerable. I am way more affected by things you say than I will EVER let on. Other days I am a rock and I let things fall right off my shoulders.

I am a family girl.

There is no other place I'd rather be than spending time with family. I have especially grown in this area since moving away from mine. I have learned a whole new area of respect and appreciation being 3 hours away. It's never easy knowing that your family is making memories without you.

I love to sing, but am afraid of where it might lead.

There was a time when I would give anything to stand in front of a crowd and belt my lungs out. Now I freeze up just at the thought of being asked.

I don't know where it came from?

I only hope that God can continue to help me work through it.

I would love to go live in Savannah, GA.

It's pretty much paradise.

I could drink Peach Tea all day.

Enough Said

I'm a princess.

No joke. Really I am.

Royalty.

Minus the tiara, although one day I will wear a crown.

Don't believe me.

Check it out:

Galatians 4:6-7

You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, "Papa! Father!" Doesn't that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

(See, told ya)

My dog is human.

Seriously.

Just ask her.

And that's me.

I'd say I'm pretty unique, wouldn't you?

:)

Project 31.

I was so excited to wake up this morning, drink my tea, schedule my day, and then hop on my computer to check out what's going on in the world.

God really rewarded me when I saw a new blog segment called Project 31. that I am stoked to be participating in!

You can click on the link above to find out what Project 31. is but in a nut shell it is taking 31 days, based on Proverbs 31 and detailing what it means to be an extraordinary woman. Each day I will be blogging on different topics. I can't wait to get started.

So...why wait!

Day 1: What does beauty mean to me?

Our whole lives we have heard people say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I guess that's true, but the older I get I am finding that I care more about my beauty than any one else does. I am the one criticizing every wrinkle and speck on my face or every roll on my body. I am the only one who is responsible for my lack of self-esteem; even on my best days.

Over the last few years (blame it on getting older, I guess) I have learned that in order to be a truly beautiful person, it takes more than makeup and cute clothes. People could care less about the outside; they notice the inside WAY more.

Think about it this way? In your social (dare I say gossip?) circles that you find yourself in on a regular basis do your conversations center around what another person looks like, or do they center around another person's character? We hardly ever attack someones appearance.

If the saying is true that I usually notice the flaws in people that I know are areas of concern for myself than I have a long ways to go.

True beauty lives in our souls; you know, where Jesus lives. But sometimes the world starts pushing Jesus out and takes root itself. This is when our "beauty" becomes less beautiful. Compassion, gratitude, love, these are the pieces that make up a beautiful body in Christ. These are what we will be judged on one day when we stand before the Lord to answer for how we live our life. Don't misunderstand, God isn't going to be happy if we destroy our bodies and what He has planned for us over something as fleeting as food. And God also created us in His image, so to Him we are the most beautiful creatures ever anyway. But it is what's inside that counts.

I guess my point here is that I long to be beautiful in God's eyes, not just in the eyes of the world. And I can't help but think that the more I increase in the first area, the more beautiful the world will see me too!

About that verse...and a free printable!

I recently shared with you here about a verse that God had placed on my heart regarding my gluttonous, slothful, self. I know, I know, you are probably saying "don't be so hard on yourself!" or "You look fine!".

Lets.get.real

I have grown a lot since I married my best friend almost 4 years ago. I have grown spiritually, I have grown mentally, and I have grown a LOT physically!

But that's the beauty of God's Holy Inspired Word!

Just when you think you are about to give up, or that your healthy self is as old as your marriage license, God gives you that really cool little nudge in the right direction. The funny thing is, His instruction may have been there right in front of your nose (or on your nightstand) all along. All you had to do was open it and spend time with it and learn from it. (I'm talking about the Bible here, yo!)

"Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food"

Holla!

Verse, where the heck have you been all my life! Have I really been destroying the work of my Lord one Cheese Puff at a time!? Well crap!

1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 answers our question

Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

What does this mean? It means that every time, EVERY STINKIN' TIME, we do something to our body or put something in our body that is not healthy we are slapping God in the face!

God sacrificed a lot for this 141 pound girl. He sacrificed his SON...his CHILD! his ONLY child. (you know the verse, John 3:16) for us. So when we do something that isn't pleasing to Him we are pretty much saying "Thanks anyway God, I appreciate you sending your Son for me, but it's my body and I will do with it as I please! You know the answer for that? Heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes. Don't get me wrong, God doesn't punish us by placing diseases like this these in our lives. He knew that our bodies weren't perfect and therefore He knows that if we treat our bodies as a temple to Him we will be rewarded with good, healthy, temples. When we begin to defile the temple that's when we begin to see the consequences. God never intended for us to make ourselves literally sick with food. We did that to ourselves. He created perfect bodies made in His own image. We are the ones who ate the stupid forbidden fruit. We are held fully responsible for our screw-ups.

On the flip side. As Christians (you know, children of the King of Kings), we should want to have a temple that is Holy before the Lord. We should want to only put good things in it and have it pleasing in God's eyes. When I care more about what I am putting in my body than what my body is putting out for God, I have a problem. And this is where I have been for the last 4 years. It's been more about the food and less about the body and what it should be doing for God.

I can't explain how my mindset has changed since God put this verse in my life. It has totally changed my outlook on why I want to lose 30 pounds. I still have worldly desires, I want to look good, wear my skinny jeans, and not feel like every skinny girl is making fun of me behind my back at the mall (slightly paranoid, I get it!) It's more about wanting to feel good so that I can be used by my Lord to do His work.

I hope you can be inspired by this awesome verse too.

And another cool thing:
A FREE PRINTABLE!

I whipped this thing up in Photoshop to display in my scrapbook/office and I though "Hey, others might want it too." It's 5x7 so you can put it in a frame, on the fridge, or any place that will remind you that God has bigger plans for you than just satisfying your sweet tooth.

*And if you download my free printable, please leave a comment on my blog so that I know people have put it to use. It might encourage me to put some more freebies on here in the future!*

Romans Bible Verse

I'm participating in:

Embrace the camera: 1/20/11

found at this fun blog

andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com

This is one of my ALL-TIME favorite pics of the Mr. and I.

Love HIM!

(I know I already posted it earlier this week...so sue me!)

Week 3 of the Blubber Butt Chronicles

Monday has come again and believe me or not, I was dreading it. Last week was harder than I thought it would be. Not the work week so much, but definitely the weekend and then having MLK day off was even worse!

Breakdown of diet mess-ups this week:

Thursday: Mexican

Saturday: Bob Evans (although not so bad because I had veggie omelette)

Saturday night: Red Lobster with my family in Lexington to celebrate Mom and Dillon's b-day)

Monday: Olive Garden (can't turn down pasta. or bread. or peach tea. CRAP!)

So I wasn't really surprised when I stepped on the scale and saw that I had gained a pound. But really, one pound isn't so bad. And we began working out this week too so I attributed some of it to muscle mass. But mostly to my gluttonous self.

L, however lost 3 pounds! Woot for her!

Here are the pictures.....and I apologize for the horrible quality, I forgot my camera at home so they were taken by my iPhone...

L & A: Kicking butt-one pound at a time!

Picture Frame Jewelry Holder

Earlier this fall I decided that I was tired of my brown and cream bedroom decor and wanted to make things a little more cheerful. So I painted over the mud colored walls and added a bright green to the back wall that the bed was on.

As with any remodel of a room, whether big or small, I decided that some reorganization was necessary too. This led me to find most of the jewelry that had been stored in ziplock bags or one of 20 different jewelry boxes in various locations around the space. Now I had a bigger problem, what the heck do I do with all this stuff!

The first thing I decided to do was sort through everything I had found. I had accumulated a lot of costume jewelry though-out the years and lets be honest, I just don't wear the stuff so I threw it in my donate pile.

By the time I had sifted through all of my stuff I had a nice little pile of bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and rings to show for all my hard work.

I wanted somewhere to store my jewelry that was both accessible and cute all at the same time. I hopped in my car. Drove to my second home (Hobby Lobby) and began pacing the aisles looking for some inspiration.

Then it hit me!

A picture frame!!!

So I ran over to the photo frame department and grabbed a solid black frame. Now I needed something to stick on the frame because I hated the cardboard backing and I sure as heck wasn't going to keep the picture of the smiling people I don't know! So I ran back over to the scrapbook section and found a FANTASTIC piece of paper that just matched the color of my newly painted bedroom.

Now, the real problem, what can I use to hold my jewelry.

Enter in another spark of genius! EYE HOOKS! HL had some great gold ones that were the perfect size! PUMPED!

After I paid for my purchases I was so excited to head home and try it out!

I started by painting my picture frame white. I love how some of the black still shows through giving it that vintage look.

Then I glued my paper to the cardboard backing using regular adhesive.

I marked out my holes for the eye hooks and then drilled small holes into the cardboard and screwed in the hooks.

and here you have it, a fabulous jewelry holder suited for any room in the house!

And doesn't it just fit perfectly into my bedroom decor!

The best part is that you can customize it anyway you want! Want neon orange? Do it! Want a wooden frame. Totally!

You can make it completely yours!

I linked this project up here:

It's going to be a bumpy ride!

Close your eyes and imagine that you are strapped into a group of 17 people, barreling down a hill at 50 miles per hour. All of a sudden you feel the ground go out from under you as you catch air and then you come crashing down just as you think the end is near.

Sound like some horrible nightmare?

Well, it wasn't! It really happened and it ROCKED!

This weekend we went with our youth group to Valley's Edge, a snow tubing place. It was the first time to go snow tubing for both of us and we were PUMPED!

We got there right after they opened and I'll admit, after I saw the crazy mountain of a hill that we would all be sledding down I got a little anxious. Not to mention how I felt after reading the the if-you-die-don't-sue-us waiver that we had to sign with all it's talk of cornices and crevices and avalanches. In New Paris, Ohio. Avalanches? Right.

anyway,

we had such a blast that by the end of the two hours we decided that we should all try and go down as a group. So we got into 2 lines of 8 (Eric, our youth minister was in the very back), latched on to the person's feet behind us and closed our eyes, crossed our fingers, for safety, and.....

....you know maybe you should watch for yourself

(video courtesy of Eric Clarkson's video camera)

and just to give you a glimpse of what we looked like:

It was SOOOOO much fun that we decided to do it again soon and try to beat the record of 57 people in a group!

Another great part of the day was a friend was able to snap some great pictures of the Mr. and me. It rarely happens that I get good pictures of us because I am usually trying to take pictures of everyone else.

The fun thing is that my friend L (remember her from the Blubber Butt Chronicles) and her fiance T were able to join us which made it even more exciting.

So how do I feel about snow tubing? LOVIN' IT!

Can I open my eyes yet?

I have survived. It's Monday. The first week of our diet challenge is over. I didn't go over on my calories once this week. I did awesome. NOT! I totally should have read the fine print of the whole calorie count thing more closely. Not only do I need to limit myself to 1,200 calories per day, but I also have to be looking out for my fat intake, my carb intake, my sodium intake, blah. blah. BlAh!

Alright, now that I have had my 2-year old tantrum I can get back to acting like an adult. Which is what dieting is all about right? Taking on full responsibility of my actions and eating habits, embracing each day with a new zeal for life and exercise, and sweat. I don't mind the fat, sodium, carb, thing. It's not that I don't want to watch them, it's just that I didn't know to watch them, and now that I do I feel like last week was a total waste of my time. I didn't even realize it until one day I noticed these huge red lines all over my grid and then I saw things like 126% and 156% (which in my educationally centered mind meant GOOD JOB!) but really meant I exceeded my fat intake for the DAY by 126%! What the heck!

I digress....

It's Monday, a.k.a, weigh in day, and after school L, A, and I closed the door, got out the scale and faced the music.

L:

Last week she weighed in at 139.4. This week....drum roll please.....

1 pound lost to the devil of blubberness!!! Don't let the Mrs. Debbie Downer face fool ya. She was happy. The thing about L is that she already has like the perfect eating habits so fitness will be key for her, whereas I'm just a lazy glutton so it will be an all-around lifestyle change.

A:

Now A was in the midst of some mind-blowing training at work the day that the weigh in and measurements for week 1 were taken. (L & I were totally off the clock so no we were not "horsing around" on the job!) So since we weren't able to take her picture on the 3rd she decided to start today. So this is her before picture. Next week will actually show results!

I can't wait to see what happens next week! Go A...we are totally rooting you on!

and lastly, yours truly...

....now let me tell you I was totally terrified. I don't know exactly how L & A were feeling but for me it was kinda like working really hard to cook some delicious meal and spending hours sweating over the dang stove then waiting for your husband to taste it and decide the fate of the stupid pasta thingy in the plate that you cared so much about and only made to surprise him with dinner in the first place...WHOA...built up frustration anybody?

Anyway, I took off my shoes, took off my vest (yes, totally PG here folks) and took a step of faith.....

.....can I open my eyes yet?

.....

quit stalling, Amanda

.....

remember, 146.6 pounds last week.....

......

really stalling here.....

.....

OH MY GOSH!!! 5 whole pounds! How the heck did that happen! I guess all that resisting temptation-making good choices garbage actually works. And the weird thing? It wasn't that hard! I was so excited I even drew the stupid arrow going the wrong direction, it was supposed to be a DOWN arrow!!!! Now if I can just incorporate some activity into the mix it should do the trick. If it wasn't for this dang cold I got over the weekend I totally would be climbing Mt. Everest right now, but alas, the steps to my bedroom were the most I could muster.

Seriously though, giving credit where credit is due, God really spoke to my heart through K-Love, the christian radio station that I listen to. They had a guest on the morning show and during the interview she quoted a bible verse that I had never heard before.

Do not destroy the work of the Lord for the sake of food.

Slap.in.face.

What have I been doing the past 3 years? Besides stuffing my face with Cheetos, Burritos, and anything else ending in "os", I have been destroying one of God's instruments in this crazy messed up life. ME! Boy, when I heard this verse I totally had a different outlook on what my goal is! I should want to stay healthy so that I can give my best to God and be all that I can be. (Weird, I just started patriotic music in the background).

I lost five pounds this week. Incredible! I am so proud of all of us! I can't wait to see the results over the weeks and I know L & A are excited too.

(Btw, as one of the co-leaders of this crazy blog, I work hard to keep all of this entertainment going. If you have a gmail account or Google account I would love if you would look over to the right and follow this here blog! It would make me feel all warm and tingly and loved....just saying)

Boys Baby Album

Back in November I blogged about a baby album that I had created for a co-workers baby girl. I had so much fun doing it that I decided to try a boy's album. Another co-worker has the cutest little 8 month old who loves Ohio State, so when she asked me to make her one I knew right away that I wanted to try to make a themed Ohio State album. What do you think?

I changed the colors of the memory cards to Scarlet and Grey

and then I added the cute little cardstock tabs at the top and embellished them with some stickers.

My favorite is the 1 year old tab, it's a helmet!

I also changed some the extra tags in the back so that the mommy can customize them to say whatever she wants to celebrate.

This album was a blast to make! I think I am definitely a sucker for themed things. I would love to create any kind of themed album if you know of someone who might be interested.

Also, if you have any ideas on other types of albums that could be done the same way I would love to hear them. I'm thinking of trying out a wedding album soon!