The Weekend Update (a.k.a. I Can't Think of Anything Better to Title This Post)

Our jam-packed summer weekends have officially begun!  We have something almost every weekend from now until the end of August...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Since I was home alone this weekend while Brent was running in South Bend, it was a perfect time to have my long-lost college friends come and hang out.  I hadn't really seen Domonique and Rachel since we graduated FIVE YEARS AGO (sick.), so it was great catching up.  We went to dinner, chatted, and snacked on Friday night, and then did a little shopping and lunching on Saturday before the girls went home.

Klassy Monkey Plate, anyone?

We went to a consignment shop where I got a huge mirror, a lamp, and a pear dish for $43!!  The mirror is similiar to some I saw at PierOne, only I paid $27 instead of $400.  And who says I'm not frugal?  If it doesn't work in the room, I'll not feel too bad about changing to something else. 

After they left on Saturday, I quickly threw together some macaroni and cheese (not Kraft, just to clarify), kissed my tired, sore husband good-bye, and headed for Northern Indiana.  Ashley hosted a cookout with our whole group of girlfriends and their others.  Very fun!  We played the game Celebrity, which is kind of a made up game from a Will and Grace episode.  Ladies, if I'm wrong about that, let me know.  It was very fun, took no props other than paper and pens, and had very simple rules. 

And finally, the last bit of my post is dedicated to my runner.  We officially have a Marathoner in this house!  Brent ran the Sunburst marathon on Saturday morning with one of our friends.  He didn't really train other than a few 10-milers after the mini and said he felt like it, but I think he still did great.  He ran it in 4:20, which didn't quite beat Daris from the Biggest Loser's time (his main goal), but still sounds good to me.  On Saturday night he said he wasn't sure if he would do another one, but now he's already planning out his training schedule for one in Iowa in September or the Monumental here in November.  Good work, Running Man! 

Race Day - The Things We Dropped

The heat was on at the greatest spectacle in racing this year.  An announcer on the PA said it was the hottest race day in history, and I believed it.  We started the day with a greasy McDonald's breakfast on our way to Will's mom's house, the unofficial meeting place of the Indianapolis 500.  I think all four of us had looked forward to that McDonald's breakfast all week.  Yummmmm.  We walked to the track loaded down with our coolers and boxed wine, of course.  You can't go to the race without boxed wine, duh.  I think we started to sweat about 3 minutes in, and at the 5 minute mark I remembered why you don't bring boxed wine to the race - it's heavy!  

 

 

Made it!  Taking a quick break before walking to turn 4.

Party on, Wayne. 

Rachel and Emily ordered cookies from Taylor's for my birthday.  So sweet - thank you again, girls!!!

We parked ourselves in the stands and set up our food/beverage stations.  And by stations, I really just mean coolers underneath our feet in the bleachers.  This leads us to the things we dropped, in case you wondered where I was going with that title.  You see, like most bleachers, there's a large gap between the floor board and the seat part of the next bleacher down.  When you're parked in the bleachers all day long with lots of stuff, it becomes pretty hard to keep all that stuff safe.  Maybe it was just hard for me, because I was the dropper of 80% of these items. 

Here were the fatalities of the day, in order of their disappearance into the bleacher abyss below:

1.) Brent's new water bottle

2.) Our sunscreen

3.) Brian's $100 race radio (this wasn't my doing, luckily.)

4.) The entire bag of Sangria after the bottom of the box fell out.  I thought that shoving a bunch of ice in the box was a good idea, but totally forgot about the potential of the bottom ripping out.

My driver's license and credit card were loose in my pocket because I didn't want to carry a purse in.  I think you can guess what I'm going to say next.  Yup, dropped them.  By some miraculous stroke of luck, Rachel noticed them on the floor of the bleachers teetering on the edge of the ledge and grabbed them.  

I'm wearing an oversized fanny pack next year.  I've heard they're coming back in Europe.

Great idea, random race guy!

By Lap 32 I was absolutely melting, so I wandered down to a tunnel underneath our seats to get out of the sun. 

I was definitely more into the race this year.  Okay, maybe just the last 25 laps.  My favorite part is the hoopla in the beginning, when the troops are out on the track, the anthem is sung, and Jim Nabors belts out "Back Home in Indiana".  Hands down, this is the best weekend of the year and one when I am always proud to call Indianapolis my city.

  

Work Party, D Rated Movies, and Puppy Hijinks

Who loves Memorial Day weekend?  Whoop whoop, ME!  My team had a surprise birthday party for me on Thursday, which was truly a great start to my birthday weekend.  We had take-out, cake, balloons, the whole bit.  Then, they gave me a gift certificate for a massage!  It was a wonderful surprise.

Lunch of champions.  Look away, Jillian.

We had a girls' night out on Friday night and ate a scrumptious dinner at Bonefish, drank martinis, and went to a late showing of Sex and the City 2.  Pretty awful movie...but I would have still seen it.  Now, see it again?  Doubtful.  Nonetheless, it was nice to catch up with the Fabulous Four again.

I've been really, really tempted to add a second dog to our house lately.  The most promising candidates right now look to be Big Boy, a Westie/other terrier mix at a shelter in Newburgh, and Oodles, a Westie/Poodle mix in Clay County.  Normally I can't stand poodles, but I like the looks of this dog.  When I think about it logically, and look at the supporting evidence, I realize that two of Bonnie might be more than we can handle.  Perhaps the addition of a low maintenance dog would work?

Here's what the little princess has been up to this week:

What are you having?  Mind if I get a closer look?

The object of her affection:

Crazy Black and White Kitty - on HER deck!  The nerve.

Week Two Results

I had another successful week doing the Making the Cut plan and am pleased to incorporate a few pairs of work pants back into my wardrobe.  Guess I can remove the hair elastic from the button hole now. 


Total Weight Lost: 4.6 pounds
Total Inches Lost:
   Waist - 2"
   Hips - 2"
   Thigh - 1"
   Upper Arm - 1"

I didn't do as well with the food portion this week.  Too much cheating on little things here and there.  The food part is always my downfall with whatever I try, so the best thing to do is to press on.  Keep Calm and Carry On.  I'm not losing as much as I probably should be, but if I can continue at 2 pounds a week I'll be happy! 

Just to forewarn you - the May Queen has quite a celebration weekend planned involving several events with delectable food and beverage, so don't expect too much from the Week Three Update.  I'll do the best I can, but the May Queen will make little sacrifice on her birthday weekend.

Lemony Stevenson's A Series of Fortunate Events

I'm prone to pack more in a day than it can handle.  It's a classic cycle of underestimating the amount of time something really takes and then scheduling something right on top of it.  I'm trying to get a little better about it, and I think on Saturday I finally mastered this art.

Becca's shower was in Waterloo, and I had scheduled spa appointments for Mom and I at the Woodhouse in Fort Wayne for the morning before the shower.  I also had to get a Jillian workout in, especially since I was naughty on Friday and skipped it.  By 7:57, I had worked out, packed, loaded the car, and was on the way to Fort Wayne.  I was really sweating my Starbucks stop at Exit 59 because I was running a little late, and I really started to kiss my Grande Skinny Hazelnut Latte goodbye when I was stopped by the Geist Mini Marathon lane closures.  The road wasn't supposed to close until 8:00!!!  Really, Lindsey....I think that 7:57 is close enough that it's a little unfair to get bent out of shape. 

Fortunately, I realized around Muncie that my fuel tank was low so I was FORCED to stop at Exit 59 regardless of having time to or not.  My low fuel light came on as soon as I hit the exit ramp, I kid you not.  I made it to the spa with 18 minutes to spare.  Well done.

I had a deep tissue massage and Mom had a facial.  I was asked if there were any special considerations before I had my massage.  "Yes, I'm going to a bridal shower later and I don't want any crap in my hair."  Really, that's all I requested.  Do whatever you want, just no lotion and oil in the hair.  It's not overly relaxing when you can feel the massage therapist getting crap in your hair.  She told me that if I just put my hair down, no one would notice.  Yes, thank you...I too know the tricks of hiding greasy hair, and that's really not what I had in mind.  But hair issue aside, it was a very relaxing massage.

We had lunch at Casa, the one where we wouldn't see anyone we knew since all of Mom's makeup had been removed in her treatment and my hair was greasy.  The Casa salad was excellent as usual...my favorite!

I made it to Ashley's by 1:20 (we had to leave at 1:45...in theory) and a whirlwind of activity began.  We wrapped presents, dressed Audrey, dressed ourselves, and loaded the car. 

We made it to the shower just a few minutes before the bride was supposed to arrive, so we were a little bit frazzled as we pulled in.  It was a surprise shower and the invitation strictly said to not be late.  As soon as we parked, Ashley realized that we were in the mud.  A few attempts at getting the car out were futile, so we decided to deal with it later...later as in, "Some guys will surely be here to push this car out later."  Our shoes sunk in the mud while we tried to unload both Audrey and the presents.  We were the last guests there, but fortunately we were just in time.

The shower was wonderful.  Becca's sisters did such a great job with everything down to the smallest detail.  The food was delightful - fruit kabobs, lettuce wraps, Tex Mex bruschetta, three types of desserts, and yummy punch.  They handmade the tablecloths in pinks and greens and handquilted a table runner for her.  It was awesome! 

So back to this little car problem.  Yes, it was definitely stuck, and the three guys who were there at the beginning of the shower had left.  Forunately, there were some pretty tough women at that shower, mainly Marquardt women, who were able to push that car out of the mud.  Nothing like the accomplishment of five women in heels pushing a car out of a muddy field.  Kinda makes you feel alive. 

The big stuff of the day was done, but one more event remained.  The neighbors' 8 year-old's birthday party.  They frequently tell us to "Come on down to the pool"  and we've never taken them up on the offer.  We didn't end up walking down to their house until 9:30ish, and we also had our dog with us.  This seemed like a great idea at the time since they have dogs that come down to play frequently and really Bonnie is the common topic of our conversation with our neighbors.  Much to my embarrasment, the last of their party guests were leaving as we walked up, but they had already seen us.  We apologized for coming so late and we tried to leave, but "No no, stay and have a drink!"  We don't know these people very well and I just felt so bad.  Then, Bonnie and their Great Dane got into a little spat (Bonnie turned it into a spat), so they had to lock him up in the house.  That was the fastest I've ever drank a Bud Select in my life. 

As I recap my marathon of a Saturday, I think I have to credit Lady Luck for making everything work out okay, and not my improvement in scheduling skills at all.  After reading back through my post, I'm pretty sure I still suck at this.  Maybe a goal for next year?

Week One Results

I'm checking in today, Day 8, with results from the first week.  Remember, Jillian promised me that my clothes would feel different at the end of the week.  True!  I put on a pair of shorts this weekend and they were definitely looser.

Here are the stats at the end of Week One:

Weight Lost: 2.6 pounds
Inches Lost:
  Waist - 1"
  Hips - 1"
  Thigh - 1/2"

Here's to another good week of being on Jillian's wagon, as much as I'm NOT enjoying the workouts and morning cottage cheese.  :)

Can I Make the Cut?

I've run my guts out the last four months but only have a four pound weight-loss to show for it.  To put things in perspective, that included six pounds lost in January when I had the flu.  Huh.  I'm sure it's because I gained muscle.  :)

I bought Jillian Michaels' book a long time ago and pledged to start this 30-day plan after the mini, so here I am.  I've completed Day Two of the meals (modified a bit) and workouts.  So far I've lived to tell about it, but I would do just about anything for a sweet tea tonight.  No, no...be strong!

Jillian told me (and thousands of others) that I would see a noticeable difference in my clothes after week one, and a DRAMATIC difference in my body after the second week.  Yes, sign me up for that!  To hold myself accountable, I will be checking in each Tuesday with a report of inches and weight lost. 

So far, I think the biggest difference is in the portion size and what I'm eating for breakfast.  I usually eat Cheerios in a plastic cup as I drive to work.  This morning, I choked down a cup of low-fat cottage cheese instead.  Not terrible, but not overly appetizing at 6:30 a.m.

Tomorrow's a rest day...and I'm pretty happy about it.