Happy Birthday!

Guess who turns 1 today???

The BLOG!!!

I can barely believe it has been a year since I started this thing... but I went back to my first post, and yup... September 20. It is even harder for me to believe that before a year ago, I had no idea how to eat and exercise effectively. I have learned so much in the last year and have never felt so great about myself.

I thought it would be a good time to go over the changes that have occurred in the last year, for everyone in our family.

Let's start with the dogs, because they are most important. :)

A year ago, we had just brought Franklin into our lives and Deluca was in for quite the shock. Now, they are roughly the same height, annoying as can be, and the best of friends. I couldn't imagine our lives without Franklin, and I know Deluca feels the same way.

First week Franklin came home

Just a few months ago.

They may drive us crazy, but they really are good boys. :)

Moving on to Mike, my sweet, wonderful, always happy, neverthoughthewouldeverjumponthehealthytrain husband.

Before:

Last October, on our Mexican Vacay

He jumped on board much later than me, but since he did, he has lost about 30 lbs and helped me to lose the last 10 myself. Having him run and eat healthy with me has helped tremendously. I am so proud of him and so glad we have gone down this journey together. 

And then there is me...

My very first 5k, ever. Look at those cheeks!

and here we are now:

I could fill this blog with before and after photos, believe me, we have plenty. But, wow, what a difference! Together we have lost more than 50 lbs and have such different lives than before. Our days of poor food habits, wasteful weekends, and couch potato-ing are behind us and are now filled with exercising and cooking wonderful, healthy food. We still have our days that we eat what we want, when we want, but we know how to balance our days and even our weeks better than before. We still have times where exercise is not a priority, but between the two, one of us will always encourage the other to get us back on track.We make a really great team, and I really hope this continues with us for the rest of our lives.

Goals Update:

I technically didn't set the short and long term goals for myself until September 30 of last year, but I am going to go ahead and say what I have to say about them.

My long term goal was to lose 25 lbs and I am not going to reach that by September 30, or ever for that matter. That is a decision I made a while ago and I am completely happy with it. I had no idea when I set those goals for myself what 25 lbs would do to my body. I am currently at a solid 20 lbs loss, and I couldn't feel better. The things that I have left to change on my body are not measured in lbs. I want to tighten and tone, and continue with our healthy lifestyle. I am really happy with my weight and feel that I have lost all that I can. Pounds and weight aside, I have dropped 2 dress sizes and 3 pant sizes in the past year.  My body has figured out how to remain and maintain those 20 lbs off without me having to try too hard and that is how I would like to keep it. I want to continue to exercise and eat well, but I also want to keep myself at a healthy and happy weight, which is where I am right now.

One of the biggest reasons for starting this blog was to figure out a way to lose weight and keep it off, to change my attitude towards eating, and to find a healthy balance between good and bad foods, lazy days and challenging work outs, and to avoid 'dieting' all together. I think I have absolutely achieved that. There isn't much I won't pass up in the way of food, and I like that I haven't put myself in a position where I have to. Mike and I have both gotten to this healthy place without using any of the latest diet fads or quick fixes, which is something we are both really proud of.

Over the next year, I hope to achieve other goals that I have started to set.  I would like to complete a half marathon, improve my 5k and 10k speed, improve on my hill running, and learn how to set a pace and stick to it. I would like to get to the gym more, increase my weight training, and tone my arms, legs, back, and abs.

I thought that once I reached my happiest weight, I would be done and all I would need to do was maintain. I have learned that getting healthy is not so simple and the more I learn about it, the more goals I have and want to achieve. It is a life long commitment that I know Mike and I are happy to take on. I hope that we can continue to be an inspiration to others and most importantly, teach our (someday) children to have a healthy relationship with food and exercise.

I have to say that I credit a lot of my achievements to this blog. I know I don't have a huge following, but knowing that just a few people read it, help me to stay focused and on track. Life is pretty great right now, and I hope it never changes. :)

accountability

In keeping with my accountability of my progress and work outs, I have decided to post each day of my training on here. Sometimes, that might be all that you get, but I am promising to post it. No matter how slow, how crappy, or how miserable my run was, I will post it. I feel like making that promise will force me to keep up with my training and continue toward my half marathon goal.

Today was Week 1, Day 1 of half marathon training. According to Hal Higdon's training schedule, I need to run 3 miles today, as well as tomorrow and Thursday, with a 4 mile run on Saturday. For some reason, I was moving this morning! Maybe I was excited about starting the training, or maybe it was just one of those "great runs" I was talking about before, but I looked down a few times and I was running in the 7s!

I felt pretty great during my run and was shocked to look at my splits. I never understood how people got faster in the last mile of their run, but it looks like I did just that this morning.

So my plan is to post at least the above pictures for each of my runs during training. That should hold me accountable and help me to get out of bed every morning. The only time I won't be posting the runs will be while I am in Mexico, unless they have free wifi and I can throw up those snapshots without being charged a few hundred pesos. If I can't do it there, I will post as soon as I return to the states, because I will be running in Mexico. Again, I WILL BE RUNNING IN MEXICO... No excuses, not even tequila related excuses. :)

--

Last night I made a quick stop at Joe the Trader's to grab a few things, including our dinner. Mike and I were both in the mood for hot dogs, (why?) so I grabbed some chicken sausages instead. Along with our sausages, we had some garlic fries, which were surprisingly delicious for frozen fries. They were just the right amount of crunchy and tasted somewhat fried.

Somehow these ended up in my cart which proves the point of never going to a grocery store hungry... I had these puppies open within seconds of getting into my car.

The good news is that we actually have some food in our house now, which we didn't have any of before. I am really sick of eating crap and ready to get back to my regular eating schedule. Yesterday I tried one of the new salads from Wendy's and was pleasantly surprised. The dressing was not terrible for you and I was excited to see they offer half sized portions now, which are just the right size for lunch.

This was the apple pecan chicken salad (half portion) with pomegranate vinegarette dressing. It was really tasty. But, I just looked up the sodium content and am not very happy about it... so maybe I will steer clear of those in the future.



While we are talking about nutrition and sodium content, I thought I would circle back to my calorie counting. I had stopped for a while, because I feel like I have a really good handle on what I was eating, but I think I need to start back up again. Although I am pretty good about knowing what is going in my body, I don't know that I am staying completely on track. My weight loss has been at quite the standstill lately, which I am actually ok with, but I still have about 4 lbs to get to my 1 year goal. I have no doubt I will get there, but I am just kind of hanging out in the 139-142 lbs range. I am super proud and happy about that, but I think if I got back into my strict calorie counting, I could drop those last 4 lbs easily.

Another reason I want to start it back up is because I know I will need to increase my calories as I increase my mileage with the half marathon training. I haven't done a ton of research just yet on how and what to do change my calorie intake, but I plan on figuring all that out as I get into the 5-10 mile range.

As far as my sodium is concerned, I am pretty convinced that it is not having a huge impact on my blood pressure. I haven't talked to my doctor yet about it, but I feel like on the days that I have a lot of sodium, my bp is no different than on days that I haven't had a lot of sodium. One thing I have noticed is that I get headaches and feel crummy on days that I have things with a lot of sodium in them. Maybe I am just crazy, but I definitely feel a difference when I eat out or eat things that I know are pretty high in sodium.

I think I would like to stick to the low sodium lifestyle, since our bodies just do not need as much sodium as we take in. I know that I will have to adjust that as well, since through running, sweating, and losing sodium, I will need to make sure that I don't get dehydrated. But, I hope to find some sort of balance through it all, since I obviously am going to have this blood pressure problem, and I still don't want to go on any type of medication for it. (FYI, my bp is too low to actually go on bp meds, but this is something that I may have to accept in the future).

Well, would you look at that, I only meant to write a short little post about how I plan on posting my runs throughout my training but I actually wrote a whole post. Lucky you! :)

Yesterday's Stats:

Calories (-) 309
Sodium (+) 1437
Protein (+) 9

unexpected seven

Hello there! Hope your weekend was fantastical. :)

Ours was awesome. Being at home for an entire weekend was exactly what we needed. It made the weekend go by at a much more normal rate and we got a lot accomplished. Most importantly, our house is finally clean. Like the whole thing. Not just the main floor and bathrooms, but the whole thing is pretty clean (just don't check the closets or garage).

Mike got a lot of gardening done, but not as much as he would have liked.  He added another raised bed so we could plant some potatoes. Unfortunately, the weather didn't allow for us to actually plant them, so we will have to do that another day.

We also got to spend some good quality time with my mom for Mother's Day, so that was nice. This was her gift from Mike and I. Isn't the color awesome? I fell in love with this hydrangea, but there is no way I could keep it alive. My mom and her boyfriend do a lot of gardening, so I thought it would be perfect for her.

Friday night, after coming home from work, we changed clothes and headed out to meet my mom and her friends for the Zack Brown Band concert. It was a really fun concert and we had a great time. The weather was so cold, but since we were up and dancing, it wasn't too bad.

Saturday morning, I woke up and made french toast for everyone. Before breakfast was done, our GoLocal delivery showed up, so we were able to add fresh strawberries to our plates.

My mom, her boyfriend, and friend all left a little after 1, so we got a sorta late start to our day. I spent a good portion of the day just catching up on TV while Mike worked in the garden. I did get some good cleaning hours in though, so the day wasn't a total waste. We also made a trip to Lowe's to get some patio ideas.

After showering and prepping for dinner, Mike and I spent some time outside, drinking wine and listening to music with the pups. The weather was so nice, so we tried to spend as much time out there as we could.

He loves his brother...

By the time dinner was ready, we decided to head inside since it had started to get pretty dark outside.

 

Mike was in the mood for steak so I marinated his in a high sodium marinade for most of the day. I went with a salmon filet, since I knew I could keep the sodium pretty low and still enjoy it. I love steak, but I think I love the marinade more than the steak, so it is just pointless to me without it.

We also grilled some sweet potatoes which we had never done before. It was so easy and they turned out fantastic. They were on the grill for about 45 minutes and were so soft and piping hot when they were done. Mike sauteed some summer squash and mushrooms in olive oil for our veggie.

It was an incredible dinner.

Don't worry, I snagged a few bites of his steak for him. :)

We spent the rest of the evening sitting on the couch either talking or catching up on our sit coms from the prior weeks. We haven't been home, so our DVR is packed with shows right now.

--

Sunday was a really great day. Mike and I woke up before church and had time to actually eat breakfast. We packed a bag of running clothes and then headed to church for the first time in weeks. It was so nice to be back.

Afterwards, we had coffee/tea with a couple from church and just talked and caught up. Mike needed to get in a 10 mile run in this weekend and they told us about a fun trail that was exactly 10 miles long. We headed straight there to check it out.

Our run started at Shelley Lake, which is where Mike and I had ran the day after our first 10k. I planned on doing 5 miles and then doing some ab work outs while Mike did his 10. Running felt really good. I had to take both Friday and Saturday off since my legs were still incredibly sore from my last leg work out, so I think the break was just what I needed.

Our route took us around the lake, through some woods, and onto the Capital Greenway, so there was plenty to look at along the way.

We ran by water, over bridges, and through tunnels. Those types of runs just keep me so entertained.

When I got to the 5 mile mark, I felt like I had a little more left in me, so I figured I might as well get 6 in. When I got to 6, I was still feeling really good, so I decided I would just run until I couldn't anymore. Around 6.6 miles, my legs were starting to ache pretty badly and I kept tripping over the ground. I guess I really wasn't picking my feet up like normal. Since I was so close, I pushed through to 7 miles and called it quits.

That was the longest I have ever ran. Since I have been only doing 3-4 miles lately, I was really surprised and proud of myself for getting in such a long run. I felt really good the whole time too, and the only thing that stopped me was my legs aching. The awesome thing about the Nike + app is that if you put in a goal and you go past it, it gives you updates in post goal information. It was a pretty great feeling to hear "6 miles completed, you have surpassed your goal by 1 mile." :)

Mike continued on to finish his run and I headed out into one of the grass fields to do some stretching and an ab workout. I have had this app in my phone for a few months now, but have just recently started using it. Basically, you press start and follow the example on the screen. You can choose 5, 7.5, or 10 minutes and I have been doing 5 lately. I decided to up it to 7.5 yesterday, which was a pretty intense work out. My abs are definitely feeling it today.

I finished up with stretching and abs right as Mike was finished with his run and we headed home to make some lunch. We would have loved to go out to get Mexican for lunch, but old low sodium me wouldn't allow it. :) Instead, we went by the store and grabbed the ingredients to make some bean and cheese tacos.

They were delicious, and took no time at all. I had one black bean and cheese and one pinto bean (added a little milk and mashed to make refried) and cheese taco. Perfect Sunday afternoon lunch.

For dinner last night, we had planned to grill some boneless pork ribs with bbq sauce. We have really been in a rut lately with dinner, and we were ready for a change in the meat department. We bought the ribs a few days ago and pulled them out of the fridge around 6 pm last night. Since we have never cooked ribs before... we had no idea they took 3 HOURS TO MAKE! Needless to say, we had a meal change up at the last minute. We will have to start much earlier next time in order to make those in time for dinner. We went ahead and stuck them in the freezer since I am pretty sure we don't have the time for a 3 hour meal in the coming days.

Instead, we heated up the leftover beans from our lunch, scrambled some eggs, and sauteed some potatoes and onions for a 'breakfasty' dinner. I am always down with eggs for dinner, and the addition of beans and potatoes just made for a tasty and quick meal.

Have a good Monday, everyone!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 66
Sodium (-) 219
Protein (-) 8

the salty life

Hey, hey! Hope you are all having a great Monday so far.

I am still trying to get in the swing of things after a really crazy weekend. We were super busy all weekend long, and then spent all of Sunday relaxing on the couch after having a little too much fun on Saturday night.

Friday night's date night went really well and we totally indulged in way too many bad-for-us foods, which leads me to believe it is time to make a real change in my behavior on the weekends, but we will get to that in a minute.

We headed to dinner at BW3's for Mike's celebratory outing. We ordered beers, a fried appetizer, wings, and cheese covered potato wedges.

We sat outside so we could enjoy the beautiful weather, and I am glad we did since yesterday and today are FREEZING cold!

I ordered my favorite thing - traditional chicken wings with the salt and vinegar dry rub. We rarely go out to eat there, so I figured I might as well get my favorite thing.

When we headed to the movies, neither of us were hungry, but again, since we rarely go out to the movies, we thought it would be a good idea to get some movie theater popcorn with butter. We each had a good amount, but didn't even finish half of the small bag we ordered.

Side note - American Reunion was awesome... if you liked the other American Pie movies, you will like this one just as much. Totally cheesy, totally predictable, totally too much male genitalia shown on the big screen, but totally worth it. 2 butter covered thumbs up from me!

On Saturday morning, we got up, Mike headed to a work function, and I got ready for a bridal shower. We headed to Greenville as soon as he got home and I made it to the shower just a few minutes late. We decided to spend the night in Greenville, since it was also a friend's birthday, so we wanted to celebrate.

These pictures are from later in the night, but here I am with the bride to be and then another picture with one of my best friends, who also lives in Greenville. 

I indulged HEAVILY in some celebratory drinks and even drank liquor, which is a BIG no-no for me normally. I am just not a fan of liquor... this theory was further proven later that evening, when I had to sleep on the bathroom floor. Yikes.

We woke up Sunday feeling awful. Mike had ran 7 miles on Saturday while I went to the bridal shower, and he said he felt like it was for nothing after eating and boozing it up that night. I was not feeling good at all, so we spent the ENTIRE day on Sunday on the couch. Even though I was OK with this, since we really wanted to catch up on some TV, I did not like the hungover feeling of a queasy stomach, constantly hungry, and sadness. I haven't felt that way since Mexico, and it did not feel good.

Getting Personal

Normally, I would just chalk our weekend up to a wash and start fresh on Monday. We always eat really well during the week, and even mostly on the weekends, but this was just one of those times where we let it get out of hand. Normally, I would just let it slide, but, I was smacked in the face this morning with reality, so it is time to make some real changes about these every once in a while weekends.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning just to get my yearly physical. This is with my primary care doctor, so I had gone in a few weeks earlier to get my blood work drawn. The last time I went to the doctor, my cholesterol was all out of whack and I knew I had to make some changes to my diet.

When my doctor came into the room, we reviewed all of my blood work. My triglycerides (bad) were back in the normal range, when before they were elevated. My HDL (good) was too low before, but now was high, which is great. My LDL (bad) which was elevated before, was now really low, which is pretty awesome. He told me I was at the perfect weight for my height, and my BMI which used to be in the overweight category, is now in the normal category, which I already knew, but it was nice to hear from him. My pulse had dropped from the high 80s to the low 60s, which is a pretty direct correlation to the running.

The only thing that was not any better, and had actually gotten worse, was my blood pressure. I know I have touched on it before, but I have had issues with this in the past. I thought that I had a pretty good handle on it, since for the last few years, my blood pressure has been completely normal, but I guess not.

The first question my doctor asked me was, how much salt do you take in daily?

I immediately jumped into my purse, showed him mynetdiary and explained that I only allow myself 1500 mg of sodium per day... usually. As soon as those words came out of my mouth, my mind started racing through the salt and vinegar wings, cheese fries, popcorn, and beer on Friday, the deli sandwiches, cheese dip, and alcohol on Saturday, and the tortilla chips and salsa on Sunday. There was my answer.

Now, I am not saying that there isn't more to it than just sodium intake, because there absolutely is. I have a STRONG family history of high blood pressure, stroke, etc., which is why I have always been a little more concerned with it than most, but it is something that I really need to take more seriously. I guarantee, that if I hadn't had the weekend that I had, my blood pressure would have been in more of the normal range. Blood pressure is one of the few things that is directly related to sodium, meaning, you spike the sodium, you spike the blood pressure. You remove the sodium, the blood pressure returns to normal, if there isn't some other underlying disease or issue. I also have a bit of what some would call, anxiety and 'white coat syndrome.' Even as a nurse, I get super nervous and anxious about going to see the doctor. Reverse the roles, and I am cool as a cucumber.

I now have to check my blood pressure each morning and night for several months, to make sure that it is not consistently high, and so that I don't have to be put on any type of medication. I 100% believe that this is something that can be managed by my lifestyle, and I will do everything I need to in order to avoid medications.

My doctor kind of laughed at me when I said that I monitor my sodium levels as close as my calories, he said, "wow, the things you will do to avoid a pill." He really does know me so well...

Overall, I think this last year has made drastic improvements on my health, I just need to do a lot better with my weekend indulgences. I know we all need to have them every once in a while, but I would say that 3 full days of it is a little more than what I needed. For some people, their bodies can tolerate that without any issues, clearly mine can not.

I think I am going to do a little experiment with my blood pressure... I'll keep you posted.

Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form trying to provide any advice on dietary or medical changes, I am only providing my opinion on these topics and how I plan to make changes in my own life.  Please refer to your own health care provider for any medical advice or treatment options.

You never know who might come across this little bloggy blog. 

what a year...

I hope you all enjoyed the special guest post from yesterday. Mike is already begging to do more. :)

Last night, we ran in the Foxhunt 5k race, a race that is one of my favorites. It is held downtown, which I love to run through, and after the race they have live music and beers. The concept of the race is also a lot of fun. The girls start running first. Then, after 3 minutes go by, they let the guys go. The point is for the guys to "catch" the girls. I guess it used to be called the "skirt chase race," but later changed to the fox hunt race. My goal last night was to make sure Mike couldn't catch up to me. :) Mission accomplished.

As always, Layne ran with us and she and I actually stuck together for most of the race. She got ahead of me by a few seconds at the end, though. Also, the REAL Elizabeth and Mark were there along with a few other friends.  Kind of a fuzzy picture, but here is the crew.

 
After the race, we all stayed to have our 2 free beers and get some dinner at Natty Greene's. I went with the Top Hat, which was a chicken salad sandwich and french fries. Since I am a major pig, I ate everything except my leftovers before taking a picture. Sorry!

--

I have now been running in races for a full year, so I thought it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane, to see how far I have come. I ran my first 5k on April 19, 2011, and completed a 5k last night, exactly 1 year later.

My first 5k ever, the NCVAN, 2011:

Time: 33:30

Pace: 10:49

Being my first 5k, I didn't really know what to expect. I remember telling everyone my time, and they were all so impressed. I really liked this race since it went through a fun neighborhood downtown and it was a great feeling finishing for the first time.

Foxhunt 5k, 2011:

Carolyn Time: 34:33

Pace:  11:09

Mike Time: 30:48

Pace: 9:57

This was my worst time to date. I was pretty disappointed with my performance that day, since I actually did worse than my first race. It was a fun run, but you can tell by the picture how out of shape we both were. 

Gobblers Run 5k, 2011:

Time: 31:19

Pace: 9:45

I had really trained hard for this run, and my goal was to beat my personal best of 33 minutes. I was really happy I had achieved that goal, and enjoyed every last bite of my Thanksgiving dinner that day. Unfortunately, I didn't run again for a month or too, which put me a little back out of shape. 

Miles for Matt 5k, 2012:

Carolyn Time: 28:19

Pace: 9:08

Mike Time: 28:46

Pace: 9:16

Starting out 2012, I set a goal for myself to run a sub 29 minutes 5k. I really didn't think I would be able to do it in my first 5k of the year, but I did. I was certainly ready for this run, and was really, really happy with my time and pace. And that I beat Mike. :) 

Cary Road Race 10k, 2012:

Carolyn Time: 54:22

Pace: 8:45

Mike Time: 53:30

Pace: 8:37

Another goal I had for 2012, was to complete an 8k. I went a little above that and completed my first 10k just last weekend. I was extremely nervous for this race, but completely shocked myself finishing with such a great time. 

Foxhunt 5k, 2012:

Carolyn Time: 26:35

Pace: 8:34

Mike Time: 25:14

Pace: 8:08

Scroll up to this race from last year... then scroll back down to this time and photo. I am blown away by the difference. Not only do we look SO MUCH DIFFERENT, but our times are amazing. Last night I ran my fastest 5k to date, shedding almost 8 full minutes off of my time. Mike also ran his fastest 5k, dropping over 5 minutes off of his time since last year. If this isn't some inspiration, I don't know what is. 

Since we are talking about my New Year's Resolutions, maybe I should look at what else we can check off of that list. Here it is, copied directly from my post in January.

2012 Resolutions - I have a bunch:

• Get to church more - we fell in love with a church, but just haven't had/made the time to go very often. I would like to make more time for that this year.  - we have been really involved with our church this year, we joined and I was baptized. I would say we are doing really well with this one.
• Date night every week for Mike and I. - Sadly, we have not done a very good job with this one. We are going on a date night tonight though! More on that below!
• Shop more - that sounds like a bad resolution, but I have a problem where I won't shop for months on end, then I will be so far behind in the things I need and can't ever get caught back up. I would like to set aside a little money each paycheck to put in a shopping fund. That way, my wardrobe will be up to date. - While I have not really done a good job of creating a shopping fund, I think we have been shopping more this year, and with the weight loss, we have had to go buy new and updated clothes, so this one is iffy.
• Update my iPhone more - now that I have a new phone, I want to keep it up to date and current. - I have been updating my phone every month, getting pictures removed and onto our laptop to keep it clean! Whoo Hoo!
• Stay home more - I have a bad habit of planning tons of mini-trips to see family and friends. As much as I love doing this, we need to spend more time at home, enjoying what Raleigh and our area has to offer. - We spent the entire month of January and February, at home! March was a little crazy, and we have a few weekends of out of town coming up, but we have definitely been better about this one.
• Pay off debt - we have a really great plan for our debt pay-off and I really want us to stick to it.- This has been tough with the massive amount of plane tickets and weddings we have going this summer, but we are still trying!
• Savings - we also have a good plan for our savings, but we haven't been very good about sticking to it, so this year, I hope we can do that.- See directly above.
• Finish re-decorating our downstairs.  - We did get some of our wedding pictures framed, collage put up in our foyer, and made some fun art for the bathroom. The rest is still waiting...
• Continue with my goal of losing 25 (now maybe 30) lbs by the end of next summer. Get to the gym more, continue eating healthy.  Officially 15 lbs down since the start of this blog, completely out of size 10 pants, and only 10 lbs to reach my goal by the end of the summer. Definitely on track with this one. Plus, Mike is now on board!
• Run a sub-29 minute 5k race  - CHECK!
• Run in an 8k race - I see your 8k and raise to a 10k and CHECK!

Overall, I would say I am doing really well for it only being April!!!! 4 months in and the majority of my goals are practically met!

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Tonight, Mike and I are going on a date. We do a lot of date nights at home, where we make dinner, get a redbox and just hang out, but it is pretty rare that we actually go out to eat and go to a movie or do anything else without meeting up with friends first.  Usually, that is fine with us, but it will be nice to go at our own pace tonight.

We really wanted to celebrate the fact that Mike won the challenge, so we thought tonight would be a perfect night. In true Mike fashion, we are heading to Buffalo Wild Wings (fancy establishment) to eat dinner and then we are going to see American Reunion! I am sooo pumped about seeing this movie! 

I feel like the American Pie movies are my generation's Animal House. They are like OUR movies. The characters in those movies were at the exact same stage of life as I was when they came out, and American Reunion is no different. Most of us (hush, Layne and Elizabeth), have either already had our high school reunion or are getting ready to.

I remember laughing so hard at American Pie and American Wedding, so I am so excited to see American Reunion. CAN NOT WAIT!!

Well, I think this blog post is long enough, don't you? Time to get to work, and count down the hours until I get to head home and go on a fun, relaxed date night with the hubster. I think I am most excited that I don't have any reason to get dressed up, since we are going to a casual dinner and a movie. Since this is Mike's celebration, he wouldn't have it any other way, and neither would I.

Hope you all have a fantabulous weekend! 

Yesterday's Stats:

Calories (-) 115

Sodium (+) 15

Protein (-) 16