083. Dinner, Dresses, and Developments

Dinner

Tonight I made a quickie dinner because we had a 7:30 appointment at David's Bridal for Nicki to try on wedding dresses and for me to try on bridesmaid dresses.

For dinner I made some roasted red potatoes and a veggie burger inspired by the Red Robin Bonzai Burger. It was a Morning Star patty, with Munster cheese, a bit of BBQ sauce and some pineapple chunks.
I don't remember if I've ever posted how I make my roasted potatoes. It's so super easy so if you're curious...

• chop up potatoes and toss in a ziplock bag.
• add 1-2 T of EVOO (depending on amount of potatoes)
• add sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, and any other spices
• shake vigerously
• pour on top cookie sheer
• bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes.

Dresses

The trip to David's Bridal was a huge success! Nicki found (and purchased) her dress!! I took a ton of pictures, but since one of the dresses was actually purchased I'm not going to be posting any of them.

We're also almost 100% on the bridesmaid's dresses, but we want at least one other bridesmaid to try it on. We're all pretty similar in body type, but it helps to see the dress on more than one person.

This is the actual dress...

...and these are the colors.

That brown dress was a size 24 so it was way too big to actually try on, but we wanted a picture of the color combo for the bridesmaids.

Initially we considered the tea length dress in the photo above, but I decided I'm just too short for tea length so we went with the full length. (I was given full control of bridesmaid dress selection.)

Developments

I have some big news my wonderful readers! I am going to be moving over to wordpress in the next week or so. I've been considering it for a while now as I've heard wordpress is a much better blogging platform, but I made my decision after one of my earlier posts got eaten by Blogger. Blogger has eaten one post too many! So keep your eye out for my new address!

082. The Blahs

So February is off to a rockin start. (Note: that was sarcasm.) Yesterday was a pretty bad day all around. I was planning to get to work early only to have my train get delayed by switching problems. I ended up being 15 minutes late. Generally I'd just get over it; I'd chalk it up to "such is life on the CTA," but yesterday it really soured my mood...for the whole day. The more I thought about my bad mood the more I realized I've been in a bad mood for a while now, like, most of January. I've started thinking I have mild seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Especially after reading Tina’s post about SAD.

I hardly see sunlight since it's still dark when I leave for work and dark again when I leave to go home. Plus, the weather has been crappy. Crappy weather, grey skies, and snow are standard for January in Chicago, but that doesn’t make it any less depressing. I’ve had zero motivation to do anything. My last few weekend have primarily been spent laying on the couch watching my way through my Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs. This past Saturday I basically had to force myself off the couch and out for my friend Kelly’s birthday. I haven’t been blogging with any sort of regularity (clearly). I keep putting off basic things like laundry and cleaning up around the house. They’re not the most fun things to do, but I generally get them done.

In any case, something needs to change because I am not happy with the way things are going right now. I don’t like being no fun girl. I’ve been thinking about it, and I didn’t go through this last winter. So my first question of course is, “what’s different?” After thinking about it I noticed two key differences.

Last winter, I was living in LaGrange. My commute was shorter (about 20 minutes on the train), and I walked home from the train station. I saw more sunlight as a result. This winter, it takes me an hour to an hour and a half to get home on the train and bus. I only walk across the street and by that time it’s mostly dark anyway.

Last winter, I was working out hard core. This time last year was when I really started getting serious about loosing weight and living a more healthy and active lifestyle. I was running several days a week and doing Zumba weekly. This winter, I’m still working out, but not to the same extent. My work-outs have been one of the first things I’ve blown off. I’ve also had a few minor injuries that have slowed me down.

So what’s the plan?

First, I’m going to try and get out for a 5 or 10 minute walk at lunch every day. This is especially important on sunny days. Part two of the plan is do my workouts no matter what. I’m going to stick to my February goal of cardio 5 days a week and strength training 3 days a week. I’m also going to get my 2 (or 3) days of yoga in every week. I honestly think if I can getting back into serious work-outs will really go a long way to making me feel better.

So, in the interest of keeping myself accountable, I’m going to be posting my weekly work-out schedule. Here is this week’s:

Monday: 60 minutes of yoga, 30 minutes of swimming.
(I got a late start out the door to yoga class so this ended up being 60 minutes of yoga and about 15 minutes of high intensity running.)
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 60 minutes of yoga, 30 minutes of swimming
Thursday: 30 Day Shred video
Friday: Long run at the Pavilion
Saturday: 60 minutes of yoga, 30 minutes of swimming
Sunday: 60 minute spin class

Lunch today was left-overs from last night's burrito bowls. I was disappointed because I forgot my avocado at home. :( However, lunch was good none the less. I'm such a HUGE fan of brown rice with black beans and corn (and some tomato sauce!) mmmm...mmmm....mmm....

I'm not really sure what dinner is going to be tonight. Originally, the plan was Spaghetti Squash with marinana and sauteed zuchinni, but tonight I am embarking on the soul (and self-esteem) crushing adventure that is trying on bridesmaid's dresses. Nicki, my mom, and I have a 7:30 appointment at David's Bridal. We went on Sunday and found some stuff we liked (bridalgown and bridal party), but they were way too busy for us to be able to actually work with someone and try stuff on. I'm going to be bringing my mom's fancy camera to take photos so I'll be sure to post them later.

056. It's a Sad Blogger Day for Me

So, I wish I could say I have all kinds of fantastic pictures of the wedding last night to share with you all, but sadly I don't. I think my camera is dying a slow and painful death. Every picture I took last night came out super blurry. I noticed this problem in my New Years Eve pictures a little bit, but it wasn't terrible. My dad is trying to see if he can fix it, but I might be in the market for a new one very soon. Until the problem is resolved my photos are going to be pretty limits and taken with my iPhone.

The wedding was fantastic. It was such a great time, and it was so awesome to see a bunch of my friends that I haven't seen in at least a year. My friend Dan managed to break his nose. How does one manage to break their nose during a wedding reception you ask. Well, back in high school at a NYE party this tradition of singing along to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody got started. It starts with the guys and the girls in circles swaying and singing along. When the song reaches the "heavy" part the girls get the hell out of the way and the guys start moshing. Once the song slows back down we all end up in one big circle. This was repeated at every party and major even through high school and college. We even managed to pull it off at senior prom. It's also been part of every wedding as well. The whole thing is ridiculous, and to an outside observer we probably look positively insane, but it's part of the tradition of our friendships. Anyway, during the moshing Dan's nose connected with our friend Atom's head and Atom's head won.

I definitely drank a bit more than originally intended, but I only had a slight hangover this morning. It was nothing a couple huge glasses of water couldn't fix.

This morning I went out with my family for a late breakfast at Flapjack's Pancake House which is my favorite place to go for breakfast. I had stuffed French toast with apple compote and a side of hash browns.

My mom and I ran some errands. I managed to get my hands on a pair of YakTrax. Now I just need the temp needs to increase a few degrees so I can test them out. I would really like to go out for a run this afternoon, but it's so cold outside breathing would be a struggle. I do think I'm going to head over to the indoor track once Chris gets home from work.

I really need to get some run time in. I'm running a virtual 5K on January 23rd. The three girls I ran with for the Santa Shuffle 5K and I are going to run a 5K on treadmills on the 23rd and report back to each other. It's a pretty brilliant idea if you ask me. A great way to keep ourselves motivated since it's not really race season in the Midwest right now.

Since breakfast was huge, I had half an everything bagel with some onion and chive cream cheese for lunch just now.

I'm quite tired today so I'm going to go relax on the couch and read a book (I've got both of my container gardening books to get through, and I just started reading Skinny Bitch.) or watch some TV with a cup of tea. I also need to decide what to make for dinner tonight. Any suggestions?

055. Going to the Chapel...where my friends are getting married

My friends Jennie and John are getting married today!!!! I've very excited for them, and who doesn't love weddings? They're so much fun! My goal today is to keep the drinking in check. This should be somewhat easy as I am driving. I also want to make sure I fully document the evening so I can share.

Quick morning recap: breakfast was an open face fried egg sammie with sharp cheddar and some of the potatoes I had left over from yesterday morning.

After I ate I Whittled My Middle, and Chris and I had to make a trip over to his mom's house to try and find his black dress shirt. We didn't have any luck.

I am absolutely in l-o-v-e with my dress/ outfit for today. I picked up the dress at H&M for about $35. I was the first (and only) dress I even tried on.

I loathe dress shopping. I'm very top heavy (large chest, wide back, swimmer shoulder's and tiny little hips on chicken legs) which makes it very difficult to find dresses that fit properly in all the "right" places. Add to that the fact that nothing causes my self esteem to plummet quite like dress shopping. Anyone with me on that one? I find when I'm dress shopping, I always end up having to go at least a size or two larger than my pants/ shirt size. I'm currently in a M top and size 8 bottom so why is my dress a 14? I know size is just a number, and I generally don't put much thought into it, but really, I just don't get how stores size clothing?!

Anyway, I'm sure you can imagine how stoked I was when I not only found a dress I loved that fit perfectly!

I paired the dress with the sweater and shoes I bought Wednesday and a bracelet one of my co-workers bought me for Christmas. Personally, I think I look adorable! Not to toot my own horn or anything. :)

I'll be sure to post all about the wedding tomorrow.