Half Marathon

This past weekend included a trip to Nashville.  Melissa and Betsey tackled a half marathon!! Along with about 30,000 other people.

Poor Melissa was sick as a dog but she made it 13.1 miles!!!

 Don't they look happy!?  Happy and tired!!  Our little runners :)

After the running, we all went home and rested.  Then we headed out to Satco which was fabulous as always. 

We headed downtown and got there right as a concert was getting out...so it was nuts!!  We found one place downtown that wasn't as packed.  

The Second Fiddle was not packed but I really enjoyed it.  We also met up with Lindsey :)

Very successful trip to Nashville...if only I hadn't come home sick :(

Wedding Website

Only advantage to being sick in bed all day on a Monday?  Getting a great start on a wedding website :) 

meredithandnathan.brides.com

Accomplishment

Today marks a big ol' accomplishment for me.  I had to stay home sick today (blah) but am starting to feel better after resting.  I did go out at 4 for my Weight Watchers weigh in....and boy am I glad I did.  I lost 3.8 pounds this week (a shock after being out of town) which was so exciting!!

I have also now lost a total of 50.8!  50.8!!  I absolutely cannot believe it!  I'm in my healthy weight range finally!!  Such an exciting weigh in day for me!  I wouldn't be surprised if I gained a bit next week after such a big loss but I am still excited!  

50 pounds!  So very exciting...I am still disappointed that I had 50 pounds that I needed to lose, but I'm proud of myself for getting back on track.  I'm healthier than I've ever been.  I work out about 5 times a week and am eating what I want but on a much healthier way.  I'm thankful for all the support I've gotten from my friends, family and fiancee!  

Life lately....

Life lately is fun.  Very fun!  My days consist of work which is fun and exhausting and overwhelming and exhilarating all at the same time!!  In the evenings, I spend time with friends, family or fiance.  I've been going to the gym 4-5 times a week which I'm loving!  I love going to classes: weight lifting, zumba and even kickboxing!!  I've also started training for a 5K.  I don't have a specific race in mind yet.  Weight Watchers is doing a Walk-It Challenge where they are encouraging members to train to walk 5K.  I can already walk 5K so I'm challenging myself to run/jog 5K.   I'm one week into it.  So far so good.  I'm using the Couch to 5K plan which I'm hoping will get me to where I need to be while not killing me!!  I also started taking a Spanish class...3 classes in and I'm still at "hola" but I'm practicing and understanding so far...lots of practice left!!

My days also consist of planning...planning for a wedding!!  We set a date: June 16, 2012.  Nathan and I are ready to begin our life as a married couple but this date will give us plenty of time to plan and relax.  Here's hoping that I'll have a teaching job for next year so I don't want to overwhelm myself with wedding planning, wedding and school year!  Whew.  I'm enjoying gathering information and reading several books to begin preparations.  Only 423 days left!!!

spring break

I am in love with spring break.  Don't worry, I haven't forgotten Nathan, my true love, but spring break...oh spring break.  So what if I have things I should be doing, I'm just gonna lay in bed or on the couch.  I'm going to lay here and read other people's blogs about wonderful beautiful things they are making and creating.  And I'm going to choose not to feel bad about it!  Whoo hoo spring break!!

April Showers

...but me and my boots are ready for MAY flowers!!

(Phoebe chewed on these but you get the picture!!)

And she's enjoying the boots box :)

Weekend wrap up (a little later)

And here is what I had originally planned for my weekend wrap up.  

It's a little later than planned but with good reason.

Now to get on with it....

Two fun meals.  

Chicken and noddles chicken helper.  Yummy and only 7 points for a cup and a LOT of flavor. Doesn't get much better than that!!

Until you see this next meal...

Gorton's Shrimp Scampi

Ok so a box of this is about 10 bucks.  Now it's on sale a lot so that's positive.  Also Gorton's will send you GOOD coupons if you sign up for their e-mails.  And there are 3 servings per box.  So enough about the cost. 

One serving is 6 shrimp and they take about 5 or 6 minutes to make on the stove.  The sauce is on the shrimp and is absolutely wonderful.  For 6 shrimp plus sauce, it is only 3 points or 120 calories as the box says.  I make a cup of brown rice for 4 points and mix it all up.  And Oh. My. Goodness, is it good!?!?!  Do yourself a favor and buy this shrimp.  It is absolutely fabulous.  Often you can get it for about 5-6 dollars a box.  Yum yum yum.

One other fun thing I bought at the grocery this week was this cute little bag of apples.

I was already planning on buying some Jazz apples if they were still on sale and the bag sold me for sure!!  Check these apples out if you've never had them.  Also, Pink Lady apples are the way to go as well!!  Both have been $1 per pound which is a great deal on apples.

Other news is that I'm still thrilled about the engagement!!  Can't wait to spend my life with that man!!