Whole30: Week 3

We're on the home stretch! We are going strong, still enjoying awesome food, still really wishing for a DLM killer brownie. We feel good, though not in a remarkable way. Nathan and Larry have continued to lose weight while eating full meals and snacking a bit.

If you missed it, here are our meals from weeks one and two.

We tried some new recipes this week, but also enjoyed some reruns. Getting in the groove. :)

Here's our meal recap for the week:

Day 15: Spaghetti squash boats! These were so good and super easy. Because it eliminates the step of removing the "noodles," this is my preferred way to serve spaghetti squash. It's also fun! I cooked the squash using the method in the webpage linked above, but just filled them with a simple meat sauce.

Day 16: One pot chicken and potatoes. Easy peasy. And good. I added a bit of cinnamon to the chicken because it was so good on the drumsticks we had last week.

Day 17: Taco salad. We used turkey meat with homemade seasoning, romaine lettuce, pico de gallo, and guacamole.

Day 18: Tuna casserole. Without noodles? How can this be?! This was actually Nathan's favorite meal so far. We omitted the peas (not Whole30) and the shredded coconut. I'll be making this again.

Day 19: SmashBurger! I was having a rough day and the chili I had in the crock pot wasn't ready in time for dinner, so my wonderful husband called SmashBurger and checked on ingredients, then took me out. We obviously ordered our burgers without buns, and also had to ask that they not be cooked in butter. We got fried eggs and lots of veggies on our meat, and it was great! I confess to eating three of Desy's french fries... but I don't feel bad about it. ;)

Day 20: Chili. This was a rerun from last week because we loved it. I added parsnips this time, but we didn't like them. I tried to skip the step where you boil the vegetables, but it needed more cook time in the crock pot because of that.

Day 21: Chicken soup. I didn't use a recipe... just canned chicken broth, chicken breast (I just threw them in frozen and shredded them when they were done), carrots, celery, onion, and potatoes. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, parsley, and thyme. Yum.

We discovered that prosciutto makes a great bacon replacement! We got ours at Aldi. It's just salt cured pork. Fry it up and it's delightfully bacony!

We're getting close to the end! I'm very curious to see if we feel a difference when we reintroduce dairy and grains. Honestly, I hope not, because who wants food sensitivities?

I found out the apricots I've been eating have sulfites. The ingredient list says "sulfur dioxide," so I didn't make the connection until I looked it up today. Oops. Again, sulfites are on the "no" list because many people have sensitivities to them, and I'm pretty sure I'm not one of those people. Thank goodness.

As I'm writing this we only have one week left to go! We need to come up with a solid plan for when we're done so we don't go crazy with our eating. I feel good about what we've learned so far.

On to the final installment...

Whole30: week 2

Lunch prep is getting extreme. The more I cook at once, the less often I have to cook it...

We are about half way through the Whole30! If you missed the week one recap, read it here. Check out the awesome meals we made this week:

Day 8: Nathan made the delicious rosemary chicken and green beans we had last week. We also had Crash Hot Potatoes again.

Day 9: I made this chilli in the crock pot... it has vegetables in place of beans (I don't like beans anyway, so that's a major plus for me!). It was so good... I added it to our normal recipe book.

Day 10: We had super great chicken drumsticks, broccoli, and mashed cauliflower (which was NOT good... maybe I did it wrong... but yuck.).

Day 11: Leftovers!

Day 12: We were at Dorothy Lane Market (fancy pants grocery store / cafe) for our monthly-ish board game party, so we got burgers without buns. They were very tasty, but I was really hoping for a fried egg on mine...

Day 13: My parents took us out to Piada for lunch where we enjoyed some great salads with lots of veggies and meat.

For dinner we made salmon cakes, green beans and broccoli, and crispy oven fries. I ended up turning on the broiler at 500 degrees to brown the fries, and that worked great. I forgot to take a picture :/

Day 14: Chipotle salads for lunch! Lettuce, meat, fajita veggies, salsa (no corn), and guacamole. Mmmmmm.

Dinner was crockpot beef stew. This time I coated the beef with potato starch and used three cans of beef broth (instead of broth, water, gravy combo). I wish it were thicker, but it tasted great!


I make breakfast casserole at the beginning of each week so it's convenient to eat each morning. I'm very excited to say that Aldi brand ground sausage has no added sugar or other forbidden ingredients!! And it's very good. We also found that Aldi carries prosciutto that's just pork and salt, so it makes a nice bacon substitute!

We have discovered that guacamole is of utmost importance! We eat it every day on our lunch, and also on taco salad or Chipotle salad. It provides a lovely creaminess. I stocked up at Aldi.

We've branched out a bit in our snack choices. Some people don't snack at all on Whole30, but my body gets mad if I get too hungry (I think I have a fast metabolism so I get blood sugar drops sometimes), so I'm a-ok with a few snacks. Along with our nut mix, we have dried apricots (I'm an addict), sunflower seeds, raisins, and paleo brownie bites that Nathan made. He used raisins instead of dates because that's what we had on hand. They're good... and very rich, so just one is usually plenty. I got creative one evening when I was super hungry... I microwaved a red potato (it look about five minutes) and ate it topped with a fried egg. Nom nom.


So... it's going well. We're still enjoying good food, and I think getting into the groove of things is making it easier and it seems to be going more quickly. I'm having fun cooking new things too!

We have not cheated at all on our food choices (yay willpower!!), but we have all cheated by stepping on the scale. I didn't feel like I'd lost weight so I was prepared to be disappointed. Amazingly, I was down seven pounds Sunday morning! What?! I don't know how much is water weight and how much is actual weight loss, but I'll take it regardless! I know that Whole30 is not weight loss focused and that's fine with me, but I'm also aware that cutting out sugar is bound to have an effect on my weight... which is also fine with me ;)

Nathan has lost about the same, bringing him to a total of fifty pounds lost in the last year!!! I'm very proud of him :) He's my self control role model when it comes to food.  Tune in next week for our week three recap; same bat time, same bat channel.

View week three here!

Whole30: week 1

We've just about finished our first week on the Whole30 program. It's going well so far... I'm definitely very tempted to cheat or quit sometimes, but I haven't caved yet! My expectation that it would be difficult but not miserable has proven accurate. I've had full, delicious meals, and if I get really hungry in between meals I eat fresh or dried fruit, raw veggies, or nuts. As "diets" go I like this one because I can eat until I'm full and I can eat GOOD food... nothing weird.

I have had to get creative to cook without grains and dairy. I'm thankful there's such an abundance of Paleo recipes available online... it's a bit different than Whole30, but close enough that many of the recipes work.

It is SO. HARD. to find foods without added sugar. Or MSG or Nitrites. All I'm asking for is some bacon.

Probably the biggest challenge has been that I have had to cook nonstop! When I'm able to prep for more than one day at a time I feel a lot better. But today I was seriously in the kitchen pretty much all day. Thankfully, I like to cook... but it's a lot of work! It was my idea for our family to do this crazy eating plan, so I feel the need to take charge.

I wanted to record our menu here to help others who are looking for ideas for Whole30 or Paleo meals. I have a schedule laid out for the next week and a half, though I've already had to switch a couple things around. Anyway, here's what we've eaten so far!

 Nathan and I have been eating a pretty awesome lunch every day. I made fajita vegetables (peppers, red and yellow onions, mushrooms, and garlic), chicken, and topped it all with guacamole. So good! Nathan's a big fan. I made a ton of this today and am really hoping it lasts at least four days...

I ate scrambled eggs the first morning, but Nathan is used to eating breakfast on his break at work. I decided to make a breakfast casserole that could be warmed up a piece a day so Nathan could take his to work and I could eat mine at home, easy peasy! I have found ZERO bacon without either sugar, MSG, or Nitrites, and I have only found one very expensive kind of sausage with none of those things. We decided it would be worth trying to make our own sausage, so we bought some ground pork and I used this recipe to make our sausage. I thought it was just ok (I would add more seasonings next time, and I think I'm missing the cayenne pepper- we didn't have any), but Nathan really likes it.

To make this casserole, I used a dozen eggs and maybe 1/2 to 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 lb cooked sausage, sauteed mushrooms, and seasonings (salt, pepper, and onion powder, I believe). I baked it in a 9"x13" pan at 350 degrees for one hour. I cut it into 8 portions and I think that's just about right, though I might try 10 this week to see if that'll do us so I can just cook one breakfast for the whole work week!

Day 1: Dinner was baked Tilapia, "Crash Hot Potatoes," and asparagus. I didn't love the fish, but the rest was good. Those potatoes are my new favorite side dish.

Day 2: It was Larry's birthday (he chose to start this eating plan the day before, not me!!), and I wanted to make him pot pie because it's his favorite, but how can you make pot pie without flour, butter, or milk?? I made this almond crust (though I just mixed it with a fork and used almond meal, not blanched almond flour), and concocted the rest on my own. I didn't have any chicken broth on hand (and all bouillon I've found has sugar - often the second ingredient - or MSG), so I made a roux of coconut oil and almond meal, then once it browned I poured in almond milk and a pureed can of chicken. It looked a whole lot like cream of chicken soup. I combined chicken, cooked potatoes, and frozen mixed veggies for the filling. I was so focused on picking out the corn from the mixed veggies that I completely forgot that peas are on the "no" list... they're a legume. Arg. All that work to make it fit into the plan and I messed it up. However, we decided that peas are undoubtedly good for you, and we think the no legumes thing is a little weird anyway, so it's all good. ;) Anyway, it tasted really good! I didn't like the texture because of the pureed canned chicken, but everyone thought it was a success.

Day 3 lunch: I was out running around getting groceries, so I knew I wouldn't be back in time to make lunch... what's a girl to do? Order Chipotle! I was so excited when I realized I could eat Chipotle on Whole30! I ordered us salads with chicken, tomato salsa, and fajita vegetables, and then we added guacamole at home (because I'm cheap). It was so good.

Day 3 dinner: Beef stew! I love this recipe. I got it started in the morning and it was ready by dinner time. The changes I made were to use almond meal instead of flour, nixed the gravy mix, added mushrooms (which I do even when not on Whole30), and added potato starch at the end (I usually use corn starch). I used three small cans of beef broth instead of the combination of broth, water, and gravy mix. The almond meal didn't do anything for it and the potato starch got all globby... I think next time I'll coat the meat in potato starch instead and see what happens. I admit that it wasn't quite as delicious as the original recipe, but still delicious nonetheless.

Day 4: Nathan made me a delicious dinner. He made chicken with rosemary and other spices, and he asked me to make green beans. Very delicious team effort. I'm going to ask him to make the chicken again this week.

Day 5: Taco salad! I made our favorite pico de gallo recipe, guacamole (avocados, minced garlic, onion powder, salt, and pepper), and Nathan made taco meat with homemade seasoning mix. We served it over chopped Romaine lettuce. It was delicious.

Day 6 breakfast: I made everyone fried potatoes and eggs! Yum!

Day 6 dinner: Spaghetti squash and meatballs. I'd never made spaghetti squash before, but I used this method and it came out perfectly! I served it with tomato sauce (Read labels! Most have sugar.) and steamed broccoli. I was really happy with this meal, especially because I was unsure about whether I'd like the spaghetti squash. It was a really delicious dinner!

Day 7 breakfast: Larry made fried sweet potatoes and onions with eggs. I'm not a big sweet potato person, but it was a pretty good combo. And I didn't have to cook it :)

Day 7: Leftovers! I DON'T HAVE TO COOK ANYTHING!!!

...oh wait. I have to cook breakfast casserole for the week.

 

If we get hungry in between meals we munch on a mix of nuts and dried fruits Nathan put together. It was hard to find the dried cherries he wanted without added sugar, but Trader Joe's carries them. The mix has almonds, cashews, walnuts, raisins, and dried cherries. I think mix 2.0 also has pecans. Yeah... the first bag went really fast with all of us eating it... We also eat other dried fruit like apricots, or fresh fruit or veggies. I was snacking on raspberries earlier and they tasted heavenly.

All in all, I'm really enjoying the food we've been eating all week! It's GOOD food, and we're not going hungry. Nathan cheated and weighed himself and found that he has already lost five pounds. He's weirdly skilled at losing weight. I know that weight loss isn't really the grand goal of the Whole30... but it would be a nice benefit ;) I don't see this as any kind of long-term eating plan for us, but we are learning a lot about food and the way we eat, and it is certainly good for our health (and self control!), so I think it's good that we're doing it. I'm not gonna lie, I'm really conflicted on what to do on my birthday in a couple weeks... to cheat or not to cheat...

Tune in next time for week two of the Whole30! (See it here)

*I designed the poster at the top of this post. Please feel free to print it out and stick it on your fridge! That's where it lives at my house :)*

A new year

Happy New Year! ...a few weeks ago! We had a great Christmas with our families and New Year's with our college friends! It was so nice to see everyone- it seemed like we'd never left :)
Above are all the guys.

Eliana practicing being a big sister (her little brother Isaac was born a few days later).

Desy the cowboy!

I wish we and our college friends lived closer together.


I got a fancy-pants new camera for Christmas (Canon EOS Rebel T3 if you care) so I've been having lots of fun with that! We went with some of our family to Cox Arboretum the first week of January and had fun walking around and taking pictures. It's really beautiful there- I can't wait to see it in the spring!





Last week (?) Nathan and I took the boys to the park and O had a blast! It was chilly but still unseasonably warm. As pretty as snow is, I'm honestly kind of enjoying the not-frigid weather.
I guess I haven't really written about Orion for a while. He talks all the time, often in phrases. His pronunciations are getting better so it's a little easier to understand what he's saying. He's still crazy about cars, and loves toy cars, the Cars movies, and real-life cars. Orion also loves letters and numbers. And running around like a crazy person, especially if he's being chased.

He's been inconsistent with naps lately- I'm worried he's trying to drop his nap already- but still sleeps great at night. We want to transfer him out of the crib soon, but I'm kind of dragging my feet on that one.

As for Desmond, he's sitting up pretty well, but not well enough to leave him unattended because he'll undoubtedly fall over. He's rolling over really well. He loves to play.

He's eating solids at every meal and enjoying everything I give him. So far he's had squash, sweet potatoes, peaches, pears, sweet peas, and carrots. We often mix in rice cereal. He's a good eater!

Sleep is NOT going well. At all. I'm trying to get him to take 2 naps a day instead of like 5, which seems to be going well except that the naps aren't as long as I think they should be. Night time has been terrible lately. He's been waking up every couple hours and crying a LOT. I am trying to do some sleep training because he's fully capable of going more than a few hours without eating at night, but it's hard. I'm going to read a book I haven't read before today/tomorrow, so hopefully it'll have some helpful tips.


I actually ran yesterday for the first time since October!! My running band was completely dead from disuse. Ha! It was so warm that I thought I better take the chance and get out there (and break in my awesome new running shoes!). I did pretty well- I ran about a mile with a short break toward the end. It was SO windy... oh my goodness. The last leg was INTO the wind and it was crazy hard. That's when I had to take a break and walk for a minute. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how I did.

I'm pushing myself to start running again because I think I've gained back a couple pounds :/ So I have 8 or 9 pounds to lose. I need to get myself organized and motivated to get this DONE!

That's a plan I can live with!

Here are the stats:
Starting weight: 132.4
Current weight: 126.8
Goal weight: 120
Weight lost this week(s): 3
Total weight lost: 5.6
Pounds left 'til goal: 6.8

So... apparently the secret to success is NOT running and making sure to eat lots of Halloween candy...? Huh. OK!

Just weighing in

Here are the stats:
Starting weight: 132.4
Current weight: 129.8
Goal weight: 120
Weight lost this week(s): 0.8
Total weight lost: 2.6
Pounds left 'til goal: 9.8

Yaaay for getting into the 120s!! Less than 10 lbs left :D

Germantown 5K

My dad and I successfully ran the Germantown 5K on Saturday! My only goal was to run the whole thing (no walking), and I achieved that goal! My buddy Kaylee, who ran it with me last year, ran with us too. I finished in 35:45, which is just about the same as my other 5K results... slow and steady ;) Hey, at least I'm consistent!

Race Results


About to cross the finish line!

As a big surprise, I got a medal for finishing in third place in my age group (and gender), and my dad got second in his! Please ignore the fact that we were beaten by a 7 year old and a 78 year old... ha!!

I also won a pedicure and a TJ Chumps gift card (well, dad won the card and gave it to me) as door prizes! Sweet!

Thanks again for running with me, Dad; I couldn't have done it without you!!

A bit

Here are the stats:
Current weight: 130.6
Goal weight: 120
Weight lost this week(s): 1
Total weight lost: 1.8
Pounds left 'til goal: 10.6

I'll take it.

5K on Saturday!! I'm anxious about it since the furthest I've run since Des was born is 2 miles (5K is about 3 miles), but I'm going to give it my best! My dad and a friend are going to run it with me which I know will be a big help. Wish me luck!

I think I can, I think I can

I need to write a little update about my running/weight loss. Running is going alright... I ran two miles today for the second time! It was super hard, but I did it. I registered for the Germantown 5K on October 15, so I need to keep pushing myself like crazy so I can run the whole thing!!

Weight loss... boooo... not going so awesome. According to my scale a minute ago I have lost less than a pound in over a month. :( Nathan and I aren't eating desserts for a couple weeks, so I was/am hoping that (combined with running) will help... that's got to be a lot of calories I'm saving (we... eat a lot of desserts).

Here are the stats:
Current weight: 131.6
Goal weight: 120
Weight lost this week(s): ?
Total weight lost: 0.8
Pounds left 'til goal: 11.6

Meh. Hopefully it starts coming off soon...

Here it goes again

Yep, it's that time again. Time to lose weight. Oh joy!

I AM happy to say that I weigh about 8 lbs less than I did after Orion was born (which makes sense since I weighed 8 lbs less when I got pregnant with Desmond than I did with Orion) so I have less to lose this time. Still, it's going to take some serious running and possibly a change in my eating habits (*sob*) to get it off. So... here it goes again.

Here are the stats:
Current weight: 132.4
Goal weight: 120
Weight lost this week(s): 0
Total weight lost: 0
Pounds left 'til goal: 12.4


Aaaaand.... the dreaded "before" pictures.

Before:




















I have gone running twice this week (first time in almost a year!). The first time I didn't start my running band correctly so I'm not sure how far I went, but it was probably half a mile at the most, which was my goal. Tonight I went running- Robin rode her bike along with me since it was dark and my iPod was dead (nooo!). I ran into our resident skunk while we were out... thankfully that's all there is to that story. I did my very best and... I RAN A MILE! I can't believe it... my second run in a year and I ran a whole mile. I am beyond thrilled. I am totally doing the Germantown Oktoberfest 5K on October 15.

The inspiration for this post title. There's a lot of Ok Go on my running playlist :) Best music video ever.



Stay tuned for Desmond's 2 month update on Tuesday!

Catch up!

I ran two 5Ks in October and never posted about them! The first was on October 16 in Germantown. I ran with Kaylee, a buddy from our youth group. I was able to run the whole way! I finished in 35:30 which is... really slow... but hey, as long as I didn't stop to walk I'm happy! That's actually pretty close to my time from my first 5K.


The second race was the Raptor Run at the Creation Museum in Cincinnati. Allie and Rachel ran with me! Actually, Rachel smoked us, but Allie stuck with me :P I ended up having to walk a couple times which stunk, but I was actually wheezing/gasping for air so I'm glad I did! It seemed weird that I had just run the same distance the week before so much more easily... but this course was a lot more hilly and I think the baby is hogging my energy. Oh well!


I realized that I never really posted the "end results" and "after" pictures from my weight loss journey! I never reached my actual goal, but I'm very happy with where I ended up anyway. I'm 8 lbs less than I was before I was pregnant with Orion, so I call that a victory in itself!

Here are the stats:
Current weight: 120ish
Starting weight: 140
Goal weight: 115
Total weight lost: 20 lbs


Aaaand...drumroll please... the before and after pictures!!



Hurraaaay! :D

(let's just ignore the fact that I'm going to have to do it all again in less than a year... ;)

Inchworm

Look who's learning to crawl! He's getting faster and faster at doing this. Unfortunately he's obsessed with power cords, so I'm really hoping he doesn't chew through one... eep!! Notice that I enticed him to crawl with a plastic water bottle. Ha!

He also pulled himself up to stand today! That one surprised me. I don't think he's close to walking yet, but standing is an important step!

I've got a new plan to try to help Orion sleep better. I've been reading that most babies around his age who eat solids regularly eat 3 bottles of 6-8 oz a day. He has been eating 3-4 oz bottles every 3 hours. I'm going to try to get him into the 3 bottle routine along with 3 meals of solids a day... I figure if he's eating more right before bed maybe he won't get hungry and wake up at night... because I really do think he should be sleeping better at this point.

Lately when he gets up at night I walk into the room to find him on his tummy with the crib bumper pulled down and his face peeking out at me. Really cute... but the mobility is making sleep extra problematic. Sigh.

Other stuff: Our refrigerator broke yesterday so they just bought a new one! It's very fancy- stainless steel, french doors, lower freezer, ice and water dispenser in the door. I guess they got it like half price because it was a discontinued model. Nice! Getting it in the door was a TIGHT squeeze, but with my wise guidance they got it in ;P

When it rains it pours... the kitchen sink also clogged last night, and today there's a growing mysterious wet spot in my living room. Our house is falling apart!!

Sooo I haven't updated on weight loss stuff for a really long time! My weight has been stuck between 120 and 121 for weeks.
Here are the stats:
Current weight: 120.2
Goal weight: 115
Weight lost this week(s): 3
Total weight lost: 19.8
Pounds left 'til goal: 5.2

I've been really really lazy lately, both about eating and exercise. I have only been running maybe once a week... it's too stinkin' hot! I was (amazingly) able to run two miles one day this week! I was pretty excited- it's been a while. I wish I felt more motivated! I keep thinking I would like to run a 10K someday, but that just sounds like an awful lot of work... haha! People kept telling me that once I reached 3 miles running would get easier... nope! Obviously I can go way farther than I used to, but it's still a lot of work!! Maybe once it gets cooler I'll start doing better again... :P

I'm looking forward to a great weekend in Michigan with friends... hope you have a good one too!

Odds and ends

I'm sorry I haven't posted pictures/stories about vacation yet, but our internet is being ridiculously slow lately and it's very frustrating to try to upload pictures (I say as I try to upload vacation pics to Facebook for the second time...).

So instead you get miscellaneous updates about our lives in general... without pictures.

Adventures:

This past weekend we were world travelers. We drove up to Brighton, Michigan on Friday for our friend Amy's baby shower! She's having a baby girl, Eliana, in August. She's got to be the most fun person to watch open presents- so excited about everything! I had a really nice time seeing her, my roomie becca, and becca's mom. Nathan paid a quick visit to Amy's husband, Geoff (Nathan's former roommate), at the pet store where he's the manager. And ate at a Japanese steakhouse... yum. That night we decided to stay with Geoff and Amy for the night so we could actually spend some time with them, which was wonderful. And I got to feel Eliana kick a TON which was amazing :) The next morning we all (sans Geoff) ate yummy bagel sandwiches.

Then Nathan, Orion, and I headed to Onstead, MI to visit his grandparents since we were so close. It was a surprise visit and they were so happy to see us, especially Orion of course- they hadn't gotten to meet him yet. We all went out on Wolf Lake (they live right by it) on their boat for O's first boat ride! It was a fun little visit.

Next we drove south to Napoleon, Ohio to see my parents. We had dinner with them, I went for a run with my dad riding his bike beside me (3 miles again finally!!). Lots of relaxing ensued while we were there, plus eating out at my very favorite Chinese restaurant. Then finally, after dinner Sunday, we drove home.

But wait, there's more! Monday we went to a party with a bunch of friends and folks from Urbancrest church at their pastor's house, which was a blast. Lots of good food and a lively game of wiffle ball. After that we went over to our friends' Shawn and Michelle's house for more fun and food (the guys made tacos and fajitas!). It was a very wonderful weekend :)


Orion:

On the drive to Onstead I discovered that Orion had cut his first tooth! It didn't seem to bother him at all, but it sure is sharp!! No more chewing on Mama's fingers for him! He's getting another one today and has been super grumpy all day, so I guess he's not invincible after all ;)

He's sitting up better and better, though still has a little ways to go until he's totally stable. Soon though! He's using his high chair now which I really like, so we can eat dinner together... sort of :P

Today, after a tip from a lady from church, I went to a garage sale and got a full big laundry basket full of clothes for Orion for less than $20! Really nice things too. I went by myself and got 16 items for $8 (50 cents a piece!), then once I got home I decided that it would be silly not to buy more at such an amazing price and quality, even though I would have to buy much bigger sizes (12 months to 2T). So I brought Nathan with me and we got 26 more things for $10! I'm so excited. We had to buy some more plastic totes to store clothes in, but it's totally worth it!


Me:

In weight loss news...
Here are the stats:
Current weight: 123
Goal weight: 115
Weight lost this week (or... 3 weeks): 0.2
Total weight lost: 17
Pounds left 'til goal: 8

I went up a pound last week (I was on vacation, ok?), but down a little extra this week. We've been eating out and about SO MUCH with all of our traveling and busyness that it's a wonder I'm not gaining a bunch of weight. I'm doing my very best to keep up with my running, but it's hard to go any distance in this gross heat and humidity. Ick.


Nathan:

He got a new job! One of the custodians at our church retired, and they offered Nathan the job. I know he'll do it very well- he's a hard worker and he has lots of experience. I'm pretty excited about this :) He starts next week.


Plans:

More busyness coming our way! VBS is week after next, then immediately after that Nathan and most of his family are going to Haiti for a mission trip and I'm going to spend the week with my parents. And somewhere in there (June 16) is our third anniversary! No clue how we're going to celebrate that (late night dessert out after VBS?), but hopefully we can spend some time together!

I will do my very best to get those pictures up sometime soon-ish, and will probably add pictures to this post when I can. I hope!

Another plan? Change internet providers. Oy.

Help Haiti 5K

I DID IT! I ran my 5K race! On May 16, 2010, a cool rainy day (thank goodness it wasn't hot!), we drove down to Cincinnati in our matching tie-dye shirts to run the race. Allie, Rachel, and Stephen (Rachel's boyfriend) ran with me. We met our friend Michelle there too. It was CRAZY HILLY and thus incredibly hard, but I somehow pushed through it and didn't stop. I finished in 35:17. I can't believe I made it!

Go team!

About to cross the finish line!

My adoring fans

We did it for the food

I'm going to keep up with the running and see where it takes me... I think I'm going to set another goal so I don't quit. 10K perhaps?

Post on our vacation coming soon... stay tuned!