They Saw Mommy Kissing Santa...

And boy, did they tell us about it!

Saturday was Jake's preschool Christmas program. The class did a GREAT job, and we were all so proud. Our class rocks!

My videos won't upload but as soon as they do, I'll be happy to share. :-)

Family Camp '12: Been there, done that, tie dyed the shirt

Lest you think that my "poor children" missed me while I was gone, let me give you a quick peek at what went on during Family Camp.

In no particular order, there was:
Build-A-Bear, tent napping, Golden Corral, giant cupcake baking, library visits, picnics, National Science Center, puppet shows, McDonalds, bandana painting, t-shirt tie-dying, Great Grandma visiting, pin worm treating, Burlington City Park rides, dollhouse playing, story reading, pedicures, napping with Grandpa, tea parties, and CiCi's pizza.

And that was just Wednesday.

Ha ha. Joking.

But that still was all impressively squeezed into 5 days.

Oh, and Welcome Back party planning.

 

Here were some of the great tidbits I got via text and email while I was away:

 

Text from my mom 1:14pm Wednesday (not 3 minutes after they were picked up): "Brooklyn says to gpa...want to see my sports bra when we get to your house?"

 

Email from Brooklyn 10:14am Thursday:

Dear Dad and Mom,

We baked a big cupcake. We ate pancakes. We played dollhouse a lot. vyrrgfgfhhvfgdyfjd that means i love you.

 

Text from Brooklyn 5:19pm Saturday: "I love you. Mommy and Daddy this message is for both of you you now 12. Your the best. I love you guys. Good bye."

 

Text from Brooklyn 4:09pm Sunday: "Jefghdghasgdhjasgdhag it means how are you? Your the best! Do you eat meat there? Do you eat cereal there? From Brooklyn. What are you doing tonight in calaforna? How are you doing with the cat?"

 

Thank you to my Mom and Dad for making this trip possible by watching my precious angels for 5 days and nights. The kids had a great time and came home appropriately spoiled but well adjusted. :-) And though I didn't like it, they were also good about telling me to "stop calling and enjoy myself like a big girl" so that I kept "mom %" to only 1%. Chad thanks for you that, too. :-)

Hmmm...I wonder if Family Camp runs all year long?

And is there a Groupon?

Sunday: Squeezing in every last bit of fun (and food)

Sunday was our last day in Cali. We had plane tickets on the red eye home for 11pm that night so we had plenty of time to catch some more sights.

First, we went to the Farmer's Market and The Grove, where there are cool little shops and some food stands. (Chad and I ate Chinese.) I bought a pair of "Hollywood" sunglasses (hey, when in Rome) and Chad bought some cologne that he had been eyeing for a few weeks.

We went down Hollywood Blvd where we saw the Dolby Theater (formally known as Kodak Theater aka where American Idol finale is held), saw where my brother's latest movie, Dead Dad, screened, and walked by the Wax Museum where I ran into Sue Sylvester.
And saw a few stars...

And then we answered our question from the day before.

Do Sprinkles cupcakes taste as good in the ATM machine as they do straight from the bakery?

Um, yes.

And by the way, the dark chocolate and the peanut butter chocolate chip are both DELISH.

You know, if you are ever in the neighborhood.

We also traveled up into the hills to see the city from quite a distance up.


We then went back home, packed up, and headed to our last meal on the West Coast- Umami Burger.

Honestly, at this point I had to throw in the towel.

I had a salad.

I did try a bite of both Chad's and Caroline's burgers and they were pretty much the best tasting burgers ever. We ended the meal splitting homemade ice cream sandwiches.

And with that ice cream sandwich, we ended our weekend in California. Caroline and Eric drove us to the airport, and we hopped on the 11:05pm flight to Detroit and then to Raleigh.

Eric and Caroline were pretty much the most awesome hosts ever. They were so accommodating from super cleaning their kitty house for my allergies, taking time off of work, to loaning us their air conditioning unit at night (um, we totally brought a NC heat wave to LA that weekend bringing their normal 75 degree temps to 90 degrees), to driving us miles and miles and miles so we could see everything, to eating out way more than I am sure they are used to. The time spent with my brother and his wife was priceless. Having two kids who adore their aunt and uncle is great, but when they are home, it's pretty much constant "UncleEricAuntCarolineUncleEricAuntCarolineUncleEric..." Having adult time with them for 4 days was such a blessing, and we shared so many laughs and made so many memories. I am soooo thankful for this trip- not only because of time with E and C, but of course, time with my sweet husband. It really is true that I am about 90% mom and 10% wife when we are home. To be 99% wife and 1% mom (when I was texting and emailing home), was what we needed. It was wonderful for us as a couple....a not so young couple anymore. :-)

I survived the time away from my babies. I had not gone more than 2 nights away from them before and that trip was just about 2.5 hours away. Flying to the other side of the country to the other ocean was pretty much like ripping off the bandaid. But we all did great.

And I may not even wait 10 more years to do it again. :-)

Friday: Crossing State Lines

Part of the fun of the vacation was the mini road trip we had planned with Eric and Caroline. We checked out of our Vegas hotel Friday morning and hit the road to LA- approx a 4-5 hour drive. Traffic was great, temps were hot, and yummy Greek food was consumed at Mad Greek in the middle of the desert.


Oh yeah. And Wilson Phillips was rockin on Pandora.

We made it to Eric and Caroline's super precious home sometime that afternoon and settled in. Which for me, meant popping a few Sudafed thanks to Furbaby. :-)

Furbaby was NOT happy that his Mommy cleaned up and thus banned him from the guestroom. He was very curious who we were and why we had invaded HIS kingdom. :-)

We decided to go see a movie. ("The Campaign" was opening that day and I wanted to experience a "Hollywood movie theater.") Not to mention, Chad and I rarely experience movies at home anyway so its always a treat. We also walked around some and passed by Nickelodeon Studios- home of iCarly and Victorious. We immediately took a pic to send to Brooklyn.

After the movie, we headed to Malo Cantina, where Eric and Caroline had held their rehearsal dinner last year.
I had a yummy beef and pickle taco and a chicken taco. They also have really cool soft tortilla chips and a "salsa fleet" where we could try lots of yummy salsa.

With full bellies and still cracking up thinking about the afternoon's movie, we went back home for a little bit of TV watching (they turned us on to Honey Boo Boo Child and we showed them The New Girl) and then bed time.

More fun- and lots more eating awaited us Saturday!

Thursday: All Vegas, All the time

So, last I left you, I was dreaming of this:

And why shouldn't I when the temps looked like this:

Chad wanted to play a few poker tournaments and I wanted to bake in the sun, so while we did spend a half a day of our "honeymoon" apart, we were both in our element.

And I was thrilled that I only had to sunscreen ONE person.

Eric and Caroline spent the morning and part of the afternoon with me at the pool and then the four of us cleaned up and headed down the strip.

First stop: Caesar's Place

Then we moved on to the Cosmopolitan where we ate at the Wicked Spoon.

Also known as the best.buffet.ever.

We were very happy to be there.
Very happy.
The thing with this buffet is that eveything comes in its own tiny bowl, plate, cup, basket, etc. It helps with reducing waste but also makes everything self contained.

And just looks plain cute.

(spaghetti and veal meatballs and mac and cheese)

(fish and chips)

And can you believe that they actually open all your crab legs for you? Yup. Split right in half.
They should for a buffet that cost more than our two night stay at the Excalibur hotel. :-)
Oh, and the desserts......

After we all left in a food coma with smiles on our faces, we walked down the strip and just enjoyed the sites.

We all had an "awwww" moment when we walked by the Bellagio fountains and they had just started their "show." Each time I have been to Vegas there is a new song and show, but what a cool moment when we realized that this evening's song was Elton John's "Your Song," the song that our parents danced to at their wedding, the song that Chad and I had played during our wedding ceremony, and the song that Eric and our mom danced to at his wedding reception.

What would Heather Locklear do?

So I'm in a blogging funk. I am still exercising, still have belly fat, still have precious kids, still making Pinterest dinners, and still have a fabulous yet busy job. So, what's new to write about?

MELROSE PLACE!

Hear me out...

I've given Jillian a break because of a crazy August planned, so in the meantime I am doing Zumba and the elliptical (because it is way too hot to be running outside). I found that 30 minutes on the elliptical is not enough, but 43 is about perfect.

And coincidentally the same amount of time as an episode of Melrose Place on Netflix.

So, I decided to watch the entire series of Melrose Place this year while on the elliptical. It's not rocket science. But it is fairly entertaining.

And gets me back on the elliptical.

So, occasionally I would like to enlighten you with things I learn/ recall from this wonderful time in history we like to call "The 90's" in a series I'd like to call "Only on Melrose Place."

Only on Melrose Place...

1. ...is $10 a sufficient amount of money to hand your sister and say "treat yourself to the movies tonight" while one has dinner with your husband's best friend

2. ...is slamming down a ginormous corded telephone considered "dramatic."

3. ...am I reminded of my days in the mid 90's as a sales associate when I had to swipe credit cards with the big machine and carbon paper.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The post where I bare all (all belly flab, that is)

I seriously think I now have a girl-crush on Jillian Michaels.

Remember when I declared that I was starting this?

Well, when I did, I kinda looked like this...

[Actually not "kinda," that's really me about 2 months ago.]

I started the 30 Day Shred on June 9th. I took this "before picture" a few weeks prior when I was doing P90x, but as I mentioned here, I was not really that great to sticking to the "diet plan." :-) So, I don't blame P90x for my lack of results, and if anything, P90x really helped me get into shape endurance-wise and helps me really keep up with Patrick in Zumba.

But back to the 30 Day Shred...

I took measurements on Day 1, Day 15, Day 21, and Day 30. I really wanted to see what this program could do, but I also knew that I would have to be diligent with it and make the commitment. I vowed to do 30 days in 30 days....not like my P90 in P106.

Then I realized I would be on vacation for 9 of those 30 days.

Well played, Jillian. Well played.

But hey, I am up for the challenge, and it was a trip to the beach, not an international cruise where my video capabilities would be limited.

And I am proud to say that I did the 30 Day Shred in exactly 30 days.

Holla.

So, I gave it my all. I stuck to the program. I did 28 minutes every day. Sometimes at 6:15am, sometimes at 9:30pm, but by God, I didn't skip a day. However, I was not quite as diligent as I set out to be with the diet plan. I ate red meat...and desserts...and french fries.

Oops.

With that being said, are you all curious as to what results I saw? Since many of you blog readers have supported and encouraged me the last almost 2 years as I have transformed into a more healthy mama, I feel very comfortable sharing with you the hard facts. After all, nothing is worse than admitting my weight on the internet and facebook as I did in late 2010.

Before measurements/ 15 days/ 21 days/ 30 days
Weight: 156 pounds/155.4/152.6 = 3.4 pounds lost
Arms (upper): 11.25 inches/11/11/11 = 0.25 inches lost
Thighs: 24 inches/24/23/22 = 2 inches lost
Calves: 15.5 inches/15/15/14.5 = 1 inch lost
Chest: 32 inches/31.5/31/31 = 1 inch lost
Stomach: 36 inches/35/34/34 = 2 inches lost
Butt/hips: 39.5 inches/38.5/38/38 = 1.5 inches lost

So, overall a 3.4 pound and 7.75 inch loss! Not too shabby for 30 days AND while on two vacations.

I count it a huge success because two years ago I would have never sported this bathing suit on a public beach...

So, if you know me well, you know that I can't stop now. I need something else. When my 30 Day Shred ended while at the beach, I kinda got nervous because I didn't have anything else lined up. I imagined myself backsliding. I did run twice, which I haven't done in a while, so that felt good. But there's just something about Jillian.

So, I did some Amazon research and then a quick trip to Target today and picked up this...

Ok, Jillian, let's see what else you can do. Bathing suit season isn't over yet.

P90x...Out

I did it! I graduated from this beast of a workout!

Thank you, Tony Horton, for a wonderful 90 (well, probably about 105) days! I wish I would have been more conscious about my diet, but frankly, I felt like I had to eat like a horse just  to keep up enough energy to complete these workouts. But it was a great experience, and I would recommend it to anyone. No "after pics" because the only definition I really found was in my arms and actually in my obliques- and both places aren't exactly the most photogenic. But when I tell you that my stamina is improved by 210%, my thighs don't clap together when I run, and that I can keep up 100% with my no-body-fat Zumba instructor for 45 minutes solid, I hope you know that it definitely acheived some results.

So, what's next for this Mama? Well, you know I like structure and I like a start and an end. So, I ordered this...

It's older, but it's new to me (and only cost $6 on Amazon). It's 30 days straight of 20 minute workouts. Muscle confusion with cardio, strength training, and ab work. After doing 90 days of 60-75 minute workouts, this should be a breeze to fit into my schedule. I also plan on doing Zumba and running about 3-4 times a week during the program. A critic says to take your measurements beforehand, so I will actually do that this time. And take another "before pic"- which I guess would be my "P90 after pic." :-)

I'll keep you posted.

And I think I am actually gonna lay off the cheeseburgers and milkshakes for the next 30 days, too.

It is bathing suit season, you know.