Nothing much to report...

I am so looking forward to this weekend.  I have nothing on the agenda.  It feels so good.  I am going to clean house.  Hopefully clean out some closets and organize.  I've still got some unpacking to do from the weekend.  I miss Patrick not being at home at night.  I enjoyed having him around at night so much, I got used to it.  He hated having to go back to work too.  I don't think the whole night shift would be so bad if it wasn't every single weekend.  It's hard to get friends to go out on a Sunday or Monday night.  I know because it's hard for me to want to hang out knowing I'm going to have to get up and go to work the next day!  Anyways we are still so thankful for his job so I'm trying hard not to complain.  Last week just spoiled me!

This was right before we left.  Wish we were still there!

You know I couldn't leave sweet Ally out!  She has no idea how spoiled she is!

I might get crazy and venture out to Target tomorrow... maybe not...

Wednesday Weigh-In

This is getting harder and harder.  I've hit a bit of a plateau.  I'm still losing but not at the rate I was.  Plus we were on vacation this weekend so I felt like I had an excuse to eat whatever I wanted.  Which I did I just tried to moderate how much of everything I was eating.  I took a lot of fruit to snack on and we walked a lot.  So that helped.  I'm fitting into some of my old clothes a lot better which is a fantastic feeling.  I love being able to slip into jeans that I haven't worn in over a year.  It's a confidence booster for sure.  I was hoping to get out more and walk/run this week but the weather turned cold and ugly again so it'll be tough for me to get out. 

Now for the scale...

Down 2.8lbs from last week.  (I was only down 1.8lbs at WW) I have reached my 5% goal.  I was very excited!  My goals this week are to track better.  I haven't been doing a great job writing down everything I eat but now i've got to do better. 

Thanks for you continued support!  Yall rock!

Home Sweet Home

We made it home yesterday afternoon.  I hate coming home after a weekend away.  I hate unpacking almost as much as I hate packing.  I hate doing laundry.  I hate having to go to get up and go to work.  I would much rather still be sitting by the fire with my coffee and book.  On our way out I wanted to get an ornament for our Christmas tree so we stopped at The Christmas Place.  Oh My Word!  I could have spent all. day. long in there.  Patrick stayed in the car with Ally and it is probably a good thing cause I could have spent a fortune.  I bought a couple ornaments.  I'm ready for Christmas after seeing that place.  Patrick wanted to stop at the knife place while I sat in the car with Ally.  We had a nice drive back.  We decided it takes twice as long to get up there as it does to get back! Ha!  Isn't that always the case on vacation?!? 
I guess that's all from here.  Thank goodness Monday is almost over!  Only 4 more days till the weekend!

The Smoky Mountains Day 2

Cades Cove

Today we headed out to drive through Cades Cove.  I'd never done this before and neither had Patrick so we were very excited.  We slept late so we didn't get out of the house till after 1:00.  It seemed like a long drive (although it really wasn't).  It was one of the most beautiful places I've seen.  Such a simple beauty.  We had a blast just driving through looking at the deer and seeing the Smokies from another angle.  We were going to go to dinner at The Smoky Mountain Brewery but after sitting in traffic and Ally crying when we tried to leave Patrick decided we should jsut hang out at the cabin and eat left over lasagna.  I was pretty disappointed since I'd done a lot of research trying to find a great place for us to eat.  But it was probably best we didn't try to get out.  We've got to get up early in the morning and we're not looking forward to it! 

Ally loved Cades Cove. 

Our first try using self-timer...not so great!

Pretty sky!  The weather was beautiful today too!

Deer!

I love this shot of Patrick and the Smokies!

Patrick's not such a bad photographer after all!

Patrick kept "calling"them and they looked up every time!

Still snow on the ground in some places!

The Smoky Mountains Day 1

Downtown Gatlinburg

This photo has been shopped!  The mountains actually have snow on them.  I couldn't get the color right so I changed it!

We had a great day today.  We could not have asked for better weather!  It was absolutely beautiful.  It was sunny and in the high 40's.  I got to wear my cute scarf and coat and didn't get hot!  We went to downtown Gatlinburg and just walked the strip.  We took Ally with us and I think she had a good time.  We rode the Sky Lift and I am kicking myself for not buying the photo they take of you at the top.  It was so cute of Patrick, Ally and me.  We also went to the Stars Cars Museum.  It was fun!  Most of the snow has melted.  It was such a nice day to just be outside!  We came home and enjoyed some cheese lasagna and garlic bread (probably way to many points but we won't talk about that!)!  We are all exhausted!  Here are just a few photos from the day!

Our Family at the top Sky Lift!

Patrick and the "General Lee"

Me and one of Bob Hope's cars!

I can't decide if the jeans look cute or stupid tucked into the boots.  Any thoughts?  I hope they look cute cause that's how I wore them all day!

Gatlinburg or bust!

We made it to the snow covered Smoky Mountians yesterday afternoon.  It was a long journey!  It felt like days, but we finally arrived!  The website said the cabins could only be accessed by 4-wheel drive during winter weather.  They weren't kidding.  Luckily for us we came in on the last day of sub-freezing temps, otherwise we'd be spending the entire weekend in the cabin.  We literally drove up a mountian to get here but it was so worth it.  Today we are going to go into downtown Gatlinburg and do a little sight seeing.  Ride the Sky-Lift, maybe eat some fudge.  We are also wanted to drive through Cades Cove ( we may save that for tomorrow)! 

Our first fire

We burned our first fire in our fireplace this week.  It was Monday night and it had started to snow again.  I was freezing (i'm pretty much always freezing!).  So we had a couple logs and Patrick decided to build a fire.  OH My WoRD!  It was so nice and cozy and warm!  Ally kept walking over to it and just standing because it was so warm.  We've lived in our house for about 2 1/2 years but never built a fire until this week.   We had a light dusting outside.  It was so nice to just sit and listen to the fire crackle and watching the snow fall outside.  I loved it!

Wednesday Weigh-In

Sorry this is so late! I've been busy gettting ready for our vacation!

Is it Wednesday already?  I guess it is! The weekend flew by, I guess because I had so much going on!  Well this week was not good.  Friday, we had the Mardi Gras Party at church complete with meatballs, jumbalya, gumbo, spinach dip, etouffe, crab dip, fruit, veggies, king cake and lots of wine.  So needless to say I went way over my points for that party.  I did really try to do good.  I resisted king cake but totally made up for it with the wine!  I did dance a lot so that was at least so sort of physical activity.  I also did a lot of walking/ sledding in the snow!
 Saturday, we had a birthday party for my brother-in-law.  I did really good at the party.  We ordered take-out from Ruby Tuesday I had the Chicken Fresco with steamed broccoli and white cheddar mashed potoatoes which was about 15 points but I ate half for lunch then the other half for dinner.  I ran into trouble when my mother-in -law handed us our Valentine bag.  We had a huge bad of M&M's, Snickers and Twix.  All my favs!  Then I started putting Patrick's Valentine bucket together and it was like I lost all control.  I had laffy taffy and fruit roll ups.  It was awful!  I like to blame the fact that I had a glass of sweet tea at lunch with always seems to make me crave sweets!  Then Sunday I was so bad with the candy. 
Monday I think was worse. Which brings me to Fat Tuesday!  I certainly lived up to that name yesterday!  Caroline and I went to Weight Watchers then we had already planned to go to dinner with our husbands since they'd never really hung out and they both work crazy schedules.  It was so much fun but I splurged big time!  I'm giving up french fries for lent so I had the chicken crispers and french fries.  I also had  Margarita!  It was so good!  But today I am back to counting points and eating right! 
We are going to Gatlinburg on Thursday and I am going to buy groceries tonight so that we don't have to eat out the whole time we are there.  I'm going to try to not buy a bunch of junk food and choose more healthy things for us to snack on while we are there.  Patrick is not going to be excited about this but he understands! 
On a positive note I did receive my first compliment that I looked like I'd lost weight from someone that didn't know I was trying to lose weight! It was a great feeling!
I was up 0.2lbs this week at WW.  Which ironically is exactly what I needed to be down to reach my 5% goal!  Now for the scale...

Same at WW which means I've gained 0.2lbs!  I'm not thrilled but I'm not gonna let it get me down!

This just means that I have got to get serious and count every single point I put in my mouth.  I haven't really been doing this up to this point.  I've been just kind of estimating and eating less! So this week I'm going to count every point even if I go over my daily points each day (since I will be on vacation!)  I just need to keep track to get in the habit of keeping track!  I'm also going to have to bite the bullet and start walking.  Which there is alot of walking to be done in Gatlinburg so that will be fun. 

Anyone have any suggestions of how to not blow it while on vacation?

Mardi Gras Party

Every year the ladies group at church throws an awesome Mardi Gras party.  My mom and her good friend are in charge of it.  They do an amazing job.  Now I've never been to Mardi Gras but I have been to New Orleans and they really create an atmosphere in our parsh hall that you are on Burbon Street.  It is so much fun and they always have such amazing food.  There's a DJ (the same Dj we had at our wedding) so everyone just dances the night away!  My sister was able to go this year since she is 21 and she was so excited!  I was too!!!

The food table

Mom, DJ Mike Shell, and Mary (mom's friend that does all planning)

Amy & Me with our Who Dat? Saints cups!

Me and Sister.

My sweet parents

The dance floor and some decorations.

We draw a King and Queen each year.  This is the King and Queen this year!

I just love all the decorations.   They borrow wrought iron tables and chairs for the night.  I always looks so good!  With the Season of Lent starting tomorrow I've been thinking about what I'm going to give up.  I'm thinking it's going to be french fries!  I love fries so much...It's going to be hard. 

Snow Day...

I wanted to add more pictures from our snow adventures.  We had so so so much fun!  I felt like a kid again!  We started the day sledding down the small hill at my parents house.  We have an old truck bedliner that works really well.  The only problem is it is really heavy.  Usually the boys are there to help us but this time they weren't.  We only did it one or two times because it was so heavy.  We then just resorted to sliding on trash bags!  You go so fast but man does it hurt!

My Mommy & Daddy!

Sunset at The Horton House

After the Mardi Gras party at church we decided to stop by the new Gardendale High School and have a snowball fight in the courtyard.  Well that somehow turned into going sledding at the stadium.   There is a huge hill at the stadium so we went home and changed into our "snow suits" and headed back to the school.  It was so much fun!

Elizabeth making snow angels.  This became her "Snow Signature"!

Me in the courtyard at the new school. 

Me and Sister

She was brave enough to go first!

Me and Ally at the top of the hill.  The new school in the background!

Ally loves sledding.  Please try to notice how high and steep this hill is!

Sister and Amy!

Snow angel on the field!

Such a fun night! thanks girls!

Elizabeth and Amy got up Saturday morning to run a 5K.  Ally and I slept in!
That's all the snow pictures for now!  More on Mardi Gras to come!