Waiting to Say I Do: DIY Projects

Happy Sunday, everyone! I had a really fun weekend this weekend becaaaaaauuuusse I got to start making the centerpieces for the wedding! 

With the wedding 167 days away (but, really, who's counting), it's exciting to start doing some of the more "fun" stuff.  I feel like, since we made our big decisions last fall (date, venue, DJ, photographer, and church), we haven't been doing much in the way of wedding planning. A couple weeks ago, we wielded the "zappy gun" while we registered and last week, we worked on sending out our Save the Dates! 

But yesterday has been the most fun so far. I really wish Patrick could have helped out, but he lacks some of the finer motor skills that we used yesterday (sorry, Patrick!) 

My mom's friend, Victoria, owns a farm in Adelle, Wisconsin and she very kindly offered to help me make centerpieces for my big day. My sisters, my mom, my second mom Pam, Patrick's mom Beth, and a family friend Sue trekked out to the farm. I'm not entirely sure everyone exactly knew what they were in for...

First, let me tell you a little bit about Victoria. She is, in a word: cool. Patrick jokes that she's my girl crush (not untrue). I won't go into her entire history, but she used to be a florist in Downtown Milwaukee and she and her wonderful husband Tom chose to move out to the country. They built their gorgeous farm home from and old barn and Victoria grows flowers and different assortments of vegetables (right now she has lots of garlic bulbs going). Among a lot of other talents, she makes a lot of her own food from scratch and still makes beautiful floral arrangements for a large hotel in the area. She's going to be hosting a multitude of classes in her shack this summer if anyone is interested in coming with me! Also, she'll be launching her very own blog soon and everyone should check. It. Out! I'll be sure to keep you posted! 

Her house is absolutely gorgeous and every inch, beam, and corner of the house speaks to Tom and Victoria. I would post pictures of the house, but maybe that would be creepy? Tom actually felled the trees to make their hardwood floor!  And, from her beautiful antique trunk collection around the house to her shiny copper pots and pans that hang in her kitchen, their house is so uniquely theirs. Honestly, I want to move in, and maybe one day Victoria will find me just hiding up in their loft amongst all of her dad's old books. 

She's so wonderful and she came up with the centerpiece idea and just ran with it. When I met her back in February, she just started sketching some ideas and it grew from there! Unfortunately, I'm not very creative, but I told her that I know what I like and I can take direction very well. So far, that has worked out very well because I have liked everything she has come up with. As many of you know, decision-making is not my strong suit, but I made some decisions as it came to this project! Go me! 

As we got to the house yesterday, Victoria had a beautiful spread for lunch: two types of salad, Ceasar and a tomato artichoke, a carrot soup that was to DIE for, some spinach-stuffed chicken breasts with a lemon aioli, and delicious bread. To drink, lemonade with rosemary-infused ice cubes. Very fun and very delicious. Once we had filled our bellies, we decided to take a little walk around the farm. We saw the shack where Victoria will hold her classes this summer that she has also made into a very quaint guest home and met her chickens. Most notably, Mo'nique, for whom Kalee had a certain fondness.

Afterwards, Elise and I took a ride in the 4-wheeler back up to the house with Farmer Tom (just because) where we started our project. Elise joked that the truck looked like an orange Pope-mobile.

I don't want to share too many pictures because I don't want to give away the centerpieces before the wedding! BUT! I will tell you that they are awesome. We toiled for about 2 or 3 hours making these centerpieces, just clucking our little gal talk, just like Victoria's other chicks! At the end of it all, we were able to make a mock-up of a table centerpiece, and I'm super psyched for everyone to see them. 

I'm so thankful for my sisters, family, extended family, and NEW family for helping out yesterday! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! And now we get to all look at the centerpieces with a particular fondness and pride. 

See you all on Tuesday! 

Weigh In: Week 15

Margaret
Current weight: 150.8 lbs
Chest: 36D
Waist: 34.5"
Hips: 37"
Weight Loss: GAIN 0.4
Total weight loss: 10 lbs

Patrick
Current weight: 199.9 lbs
Chest: 41"
Waist: 38.5"
Hips: 38.5"
Neck: 15.75"
Loss: 6.1
Total weight loss: 22.6 lbs

First. Let me say that I am SO proud of Patrick! He worked really hard this week! He worked out a lot and even ordered fruit as a side when we got burgers Friday night. He's such a great shrinking hungry pal. He's wasting away! People who haven't seen him in awhile always comment on how great he looks. And he does! I personally love the way he looks all the time, but I'm sure he'd say the same about me and then we wouldn't be bloggin about it! 

Now onto me. 

Ugh. So I knew I would gain this week, and I'm not going to lie, I'm very bummed about it. I feel like I've been sitting around the same weight for the past month and it's not that much fun. I think I need to make a vow like Patrick did. I WILL be under 150 by next week. With some really really hard work and discipline, I can get there. I'm not going to pretend like I don't know how this happened. Like, Oh poor me! I try so hard and the weight won't come off! I DO try hard. But I also have been cheating. Full disclosure! I have. And this blog is about me being honest, so all of you should know. 

Let me tell you about last week. Last week I worked. A LOT. I had one day off, Friday. So I wanted to indulge....so we got Stack'd. For those of you who don't know what Stack'd is, it's a burger place in the 5th Ward with very yummy burgers (...but still not as good as Sobelman's...sorry). 

BUT What make's Stack'd so scrumptious, though, is it's array of options when you BYOB (Build Your Own Burger). You can choose from turkey meat, bison, 100% grassfed beef, or a bean burger. THEN you can put toppings on (cheese! mushrooms! jalapenos!) and THEN you can choose your bun. You can make your burger naked (wrapped in lettuce) or on a regular bun or a pretzel bun or garlic toast! Fun, no? Then they top the whole thing with a Frickle. That's a fried pickle and, if you've never had one, you must. You really must. That's all I will say on that. 

Afterwards, we went to a going away part for two of Patrick's work buddies who are moving out of Milwaukee. We went to Flannery's and, while I drank my Dirty Shirley's with Diet Sprite, I don't think it helped much. 

And that's the gist of my week. So where did I overeat or maybe not count all my points (Besides the obvious colossal burger I ate)? Well, I'd have to say probably on nights I got home from work at 11:30 or 12:00 and felt so STARVING I could eat a horse and then probably ate the equivalent of a horse in, say, Krunchers potato chips. I believe that was Tuesday night. You all know by now that I seriously lack a "stop eating" button. I can really have ZERO self control at times. I don't know. When I got home, I wasn't thinking "Wow, I could really use some carrots right now". 

So that's what I'm working on this week. Self control. Truthfully, I work out enough! And I'm not hungry all the time. But I eat when I'm bored and when I'm stressed.  The healthy habits really are starting to stick, but every now and then, I just....I don't know, I indulge. And too much! So I've come to the conclusion that I probably don't need to eat anything when I get home at 11:30 at night since I usually go right to bed anyway.

The next thing Patrick and I are adding to our journey is more strength exercise with a serious goal in mind. Patrick and I are participating in a weight loss challenge for the summer through Ellipse Fitness in the Third Ward. My measurements are going to become EXTREMELY accurate because we will weigh in, get measured and have our BODY FAT PERCENTAGE recorded once a week. We can take any classes we want throughout the summer. And, if our team (Patrick, Dave and I) loses the most weight and body fat, we win some moneys! And we need moneys. We're scrimping all our coins and dollars for the wedding! Wait til you guys see the team shirts I'm going to make for us. They will be so gloriously wonderful. 

This week we run the dreaded 12 miler. At least from here on out we get to taper, horray! I'll be running my 12 miles on Friday. I've mapped out a very nice tour of Milwaukee which will take me through the Third Ward, along the LakeFront, through the East Side and many, many side streets. 

Speaking of running, we'd like to have take a little moment for everyone at the Boston Marathon yesterday. Training for a big race ourselves, we really felt for everyone who trained for such a pivotal moment in their lives to have the day turn in the blink of an eye. I think, ultimately, the Marathon still did what any big race or event sets out to do: instill a sense of camaraderie and of victory. What happened was horrific; but racers, emergency responders, and spectators all did their part to help. That type of selflessness and courage should should maintain our faith in humanity in the face of such cruelty and ugliness.  We send out our love and our prayers to Boston. 

Hungry Hungry Pal: Weigh In: Week 14

Week 14: A little bit of this and a little bit of that..... 

Hello loyal readers, this week was not a banner week for us from a weight stand point!  We had a great week, extremely fun, and very enjoyable week together, which usually means that we had a rough week on the points end of the spectrum.  On Friday we took in an Admirals game with the Professor G-Force and David the Admiral.  The tickets to the game were a gift from Marge and I to G for his birthday.  Given this special occasion we decided to celebrate his birthday in style with some sauce and bar food.  Dave, G, and I taught Marge the intricacies of the sophisticated drinking game known as Hockey.  G and I got absolutely crushed by Dave and Marge, which led to G and I getting over-served.  Overall, we all had a great time, and it was great to make G feel special for a night. 

On Saturday as a way to say thank you to Marge for putting up with my act all through my busy season, I planned a date day for her and I.  First we ran 10 miles (which is not all that fun), but we had a nice time outside together with Memphis. Memphis can only go 6 miles, but he has fun on those six miles to be sure.  After our run, we ate the Original Pancake House on Downer.  Marge had the Western Omelet with a side of pancakes, and I had a Bacon Waffle with a Chocolate Chip pancake, Bacon, and Ham Steak.  After that hearty breakfast, we went back to my place to clean up.  After we showered, and got ready for the rest of the day we went and got massages on the East side of Milwaukee.  We then went and got our God on at Old St. Mary's.  After we prayed for everyone in our lives, we went and had dinner at Bosley on Brady, where we had Green Bean Tempura for starters, I had a steak for my entree, and Marge had the Seafood Symphony.  We of course had to split a bottle of wine with dinner, which was delicious as well.  We ended the night with a painting class at Splash Studios where we learned how to paint a motorcycle, which was a blast.  Marge's painting was very good and spot on with the instructors painting. Mine was more of the abstract variety, but still good in its own right.  Ohh and we had a bottle of wine during our class as well...starting to see a theme here? 

On Sunday we went and registered for our wedding which was fun, but there is just too much to choose from! I mean how may different types of plates, forks, knives, and glasses are there in the world? We ended the weekend by having dinner with Elise and Mitch the Muffin.  Marge cooked up some Stove Top Macaroni and Cheese (6 pts), which was up to Marge's normally high standards, with a bottle of wine on the side.  Marge also made some French Onion Soup (4 pts) to eat during the week, which was great as well.  

When you add all of that up, and sprinkle in a Brewer game during the week which featured cheese fries, brats, and hot dogs, we did a little bit of this and a little bit of that, which adds up to me GAINING 3 lbs and Marge GAINING 0.4 lbs.  I am going to put this on the blog to hold myself to it.  Next week I will be part of the 100 club, in other words, I will be sub 200.  Mark that down, and check in next week with the Gal to see my progress.  I hope you all have a great week, God Bless and I'll talk to you in a month. 

Margaret
Current weight: 150.4 lbs
Chest: 36D
Waist: 34.5"
Hips: 37"
Weight Loss: GAIN 0.4
Total weight loss: 10.4 lbs

Patrick
Current weight: 206 lbs
Chest: 41"
Waist: 38.5"
Hips: 38.5"
Neck: 15.75"
Loss: GAIN  3 lbs
Total weight loss: 16.6 lbs

Weigh In: Week 13

Happy easter, everyone!

Patrick and I had a really fun and wonderful weekend this past weekend. We finally got to spend some time together! Saturday morning, I met Patrick downtown and we ran 8 miles together by the lake. It was absolutely beautiful outside. and little Memphis poochie pup got to tag along for 6 of the 8 miles! During the day, we did some shopping, had lunch together, and trekked up to Green Bay to see his family.

Patrick and I slipped ourselves into chocolate comas on Sunday, and I had a nice big glass of wine with lunch to end the Lenten season. I got to see Patrick's whole family, including his aunt Sherry, who is in my bridal party, and we got all updated on wedding progress.

Sunday night, we went out to my sister's to have dinner and continue the chocolate fest. See my godson Cormac:

Points-wise, we kept everything in check, even with all the chocolate and wine! All of the running during the week provided us with extra Activity Points (34 for me) on top of our 49 weekly points. 16 cadbury chocolate pieces is 4 points. I couldn't find fairy food on there (my favorite chocolate ever), so I didn't count the few pieces I ate (shhh! don't tell anyone). 

Margaret
Current weight: 150 lbs
Chest: 36D
Waist: 34.5"
Hips: 37"
Weight Loss: 2 lbs
Total weight loss: 10.8 lbs

Patrick
Current weight: 203 lbs
Chest: 41"
Waist: 38.5"
Hips: 38.5"
Neck: 15.75"
Loss:  0 lbs
Total weight loss: 16.6 lbs

I have to say, I'm super excited to be at 150. I'm about 8 pounds away from my goal. It's probably been, like, sophomore year (of high school!) since I was under 150 pounds! Seriously.  Patrick is disappointed he didn't lose at all this week, but is happy to stay steady. His big goal is to join the "100 club" and be under 200 pounds. 

We have about 6 months until the wedding. I'm hoping I can lose 8 pounds by then. We might have to go on serious scary lockdown around August. I'm talking possibly cutting carbs....I just don't want to think about that now.

This week, we have a reallllly long run on Saturday. I really hope it's nice out...

Tuesday: 4 miles with a sprint pyramid, Thursday

Thursday: 3 miles at 10:00 min/mile 

Saturday: 10 miles at 11:00 min/mile