Friday Five: The Fiance Edition

TGIF!  I am super excited for this weekend.  Tonight we're going to our wedding venue for dinner!  Saturday and Sunday we don't have major plans which is nice.  My cousin and her husband are coming for dinner tomorrow.  I need to do a few errands as usual.

 

I decided to write 5 things about my fiance, Saro for today's Friday Five.

 

1.)  In case any of you were wondering what nationality Saro is, he's Armenian.  He was born here in the U.S.A. (same hospital as me!) and has visited Armenia.  He speaks and writes the language fluently.  I've come to LOVE Armenian food.  My soon to be mother in law makes some of the best.

 

2.)  He's the hardest working person I know.  In the 7 years I've known him and I'm sure before that, he's never once called out sick even if he's had a fever.  Fever to me = always stay home.  He works a lot of hours & 6 days per week.  Example - yesterday he worked from 8:30am-10:30pm and woke up today at 5:00am to go back  *thumbs down!*

 

3.)  He's color blind.  Every time we go out, he asks me if his outfit matches.

 

4.)  He hates public transportation, food that jiggles - jell-o, custard, cottage cheese,

 

5.)  He loves food so spicy that it makes him sweat, popcorn, Snickers, vanilla ice cream, nuts, beer, & tuna right out of the can.

 

 

Have a great weekend!



High Protein Breakfast

I'm horrible at taking pictures for the blog lately but I wanted to share a few high protein breakfast ideas.

 

I've been trying to up my protein and keep carbs and fat to a minimum.  The fat part is hard because I eat a lot of coconut oil and avocado.  Oh and peanut butter.  Oops.

 

Anyway, this morning I had egg whites with a green smoothie and it came out to 24 grams of protein.  The green smoothie was 1 cup of spinach, 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, half of a banana, 1 scoop chocolate Shakeology and 1 tbsp Trader Joe unsalted peanut butter.  Lots of ice too.

 

I packed cottage cheese, blueberries and a kiwi for my late morning snack.  I'm having Trader Joe's canned chicken for lunch.  So with all of that, I'm at 67 grams of protein and I'm pretty low on fat and carbs which is good.

 

I'd like to purchase more protein powder but it's so dang expensive.  I used to use Isagenix which I just found out I can order online without being a member or ordering through someone, so that's a good option.  It's $51 for 14 "meals."  I know I won't have it every day so maybe that'll last about a month.  Shakeology is like $130 for a month supply, figuring you have it every day.

 

Have a good day.  It's almost the weekend :)

T25 Update: 7 Weeks Down

I am still doing the T25 workouts religiously.  7 weeks down.  3 more of Alpha for the 2nd time and then 5 weeks of Beta.  I'll finish right before the wedding.  I'm feeling proud of myself that I'm sticking to it.

 

While the scale is fluctuating between 153 and 155, it's still down from 160 2 months ago.

 

In 3 weeks, I go back to my endocrinologist and I'm going to ask him more about Hashimoto's and weight.

 

I DO feel tighter - my legs and butt feel solid and my waist area feels and looks smaller.

 

I stopped running about 3 weeks ago and I haven't had any lower back or hip pain.  As much as I LOVE running, I don't think my body can handle it.  The slamming impact on the pavement is not good for my lower back.  I don't think I am one to use lame excuses as such, but it's true and I've admitted it to myself.

 

It's weird - T25 is a LOT of jumping so it's NOT low impact.  Jumping jacks, jump squats & lunges, burpees, etc. but besides the normal muscle soreness, I haven't had any issues.  Knock on wood!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tonight we're going to our wedding venue to meet the new manager and to pick out our linens.

 

77 things checked off on my Knot.com checklist - 23 left to go!

Hallelujah! It's Tax Return Day!

That was a pleasant surprise!  I check my bank account every morning.

 

Here's how I'm spending mine this year:

 

50% of it is going straight, directly, not passing GO - into the wedding savings

13% of it is going to my accountant for his services

11% is going towards a credit card bill for recent expenses

9% of it is going to a doctor bill

8% of it is going towards a friend's wedding festivities

5% is going towards part of my homeowner's insurance bill

4% new work shoes and a manicure

 

Geez, it goes quick!

 

Next year and from there on, I plan to make an extra mortgage payment and student loan payment each year.  I hope!

 

Do you spend or save your tax return money?

 

Click here for some good options!

 

Have a good weekend.



Wedding Wednesday

 

Tonight I am getting my hair and make up trial for the wedding!  My cousin is doing my makeup and her friend/coworker is doing my hair.  If it's not too much to ask, I might ask her to try 2 different hair styles.  Even if they're not perfect, just to get an idea of how they'll both look with my veil.

 

I'm excited!

 

I won't share specifics on here because someone whose name starts with S and ends in aro is reading  ;)

 

Next Monday I will go for my first dress fitting.  Saro's aunt is doing the alterations.

 

I think I mentioned that we had to change the day and time of our rehearsal so two weeks ago I ordered new invitations.  They've been stuck in the same town for almost a week now, per the tracking details.  Hmmmm.

 

I'm also still waiting for the first company to send me a return label and refund me my $50 I spent on the first batch of invitations.

 

Too many non-convenient things are happening but I'm just trying to breathe and tell myself this is all for our marriage, and that's what is most important.

 

I pretty much now know why people hire wedding planners.  It's A LOT of work for a girl.  Oof.

 

The invitiations will be ready in 2 weeks and then I need to mail them out right away.  I'm planning on ordering photo stamps (I have a $25 off coupon which helps) but I need to wait to order them to find out how much the invitations weigh.  I am thinking I need $1.19 per, so let's see if I'm right!

 

Next Tuesday we're going to the venue to pick out linens.  OH and the maitre'd at our venue quit after working there for 20 some odd years, so now there is a new person to meet and re-ask the 2390482390 questions I've already asked.

 

We're meeting with our music MC in a few weeks.  He also informed me that they joined hands with another company but assured me everything is still the same per the contract we signed, etc.

 

Breathing...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Enjoy and *cheers* to a 3 day weekend! 

Saro is cooking dinner and last night I made chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels for dessert!

 

Murphy at his Valentine's Day party at "school."  LOL.  It was a charity benefit the dog camp had on Monday.



Love, Murphy!



Wedding Wednesday: Hotel Guest Bags

 

We decided to do Welcome bags for our hotel guests.

 

I bought paper bags at Michael's and ordered tags from Etsy.

 

I used a Sharpie and a NJ stamp.

 

We're going to fill the bags with water, Advil, snacks, cookies, gum & a list of things to do in the area.

Depending on pricing, I might add small bottles of Verdi too!

 

Are you doing Welcome bags too?



My love for Etsy

Sorry I've been a little MIA!

 

Anyway, as I'm in the midst of helping to throw 2 baby showers (within 2 weeks of each other), I wanted to share this idea in case you too are planning a shower or party, or will be in the future!

 

It's definitely a little overwhelming with wedding planning, but there are family and friends helping out with both showers which is good.  I am in charge of the invitations and cakes for both.

 

I knew I could go on a bunch of different websites and order invitiations but I decided to take a different approach.

 

On Etsy, you can buy an invitation design and customize it.  You then print them yourself!  One of the designs was ready that same day.

 

I chose to do it this way for cost reasons and for a fun/different looking invitation.  They have a ton of shops that offer digital images for purchase!

 

Have you ever done this?  Genius!

 

I hope you're all doing well.  We're expecting more snow here in NJ on Thursday.  It could be up to a foot.  On top of the foot we already have.  Yikes.

 

 

Tuesday Frustration

Good morning from snowy NJ.  We got about 8 inches of snow yesterday and another 8-12 is on the way tonight!  Oh and on the news this morning, they said "the big storm isn't coming until Sunday."  OH!

 

Onto my frustration.  Sunday I did T25 and ran 2.6 miles outside because it was 54 degrees out.  I skipped yesterday's T25 workout because I shoveled heavy snow for over an hour and I'm really nervous about making my back issue worse.  I woke up almost every hour last night because I was in pain.  I don't know if it's from the T25 or running, or both!  My upper back hurts but I know that's from shoveling so I'm not too worried about it.  I'm feeling a pinching pain in my back and I feel like I have to be very careful bending over.  I have a fear of throwing my back out or something.

 

I'm also extremely frustrated that I've lost 0 lbs. since starting T25.  I was down 2 lbs last week and now I'm back up again.  I've followed it religiously (even the stretch days and double session days) except yesterday AND have been running on top of it.  I do feel a little tighter in my stomach area.  I keep reading all of these posts on Facebook how people lost 10-20 lbs after the full 10 weeks.  I know I don't have a lot to lose but I can definitely stand to lose 20 lbs.  It's just not budging.  I thought being on thyroid medication might help but 2 months later, nothing.

 

I've been eating very well for the last 5 weeks (after the holiday binging) except of course Superbowl snacks and drinks.  One day of bad snacking and a few drinks shouldn't make a big difference.

 

However, I'm not going to give up.  I plan on finishing Alpha and then repeating it for another 5 weeks, and then doing the Beta session.  Maybe it'll all melt away at the very end!

 

Now to research more about Hashimoto's and weight loss....