Relaxing Saturday with Family

Happy Saturday Everyone! I hope you had a nice and relaxing Saturday like I did.  

This morning started off with Janna and I heading to the gym for a workout.  I mentioned last month that Janna and I will be running a 5k and 10k in the next few months and today we sat down and made a plan for our training and to decide what races we are going to do this year.  I am excited to announce that we are going to run the Ann Arbor half marathon in June! It will be both of our first and while we are both nervous, it's going to be pretty awesome.

We have also decided that it would be totally awesome to run The Color Run this year! I cannot wait to run this.  I had originally planned to sign up for it last year, but due to some scheduling conflicts I was unable to run it.  So this year is the year of The Color Run and I cannot wait! 

The best part of The Color Run is it is the day before my birthday so we will have a total blast staying down in Ypsilanti the night before and celebrating in style! Once we have a definite training schedule in hand, I will make sure to share with you what we are using.

After my excellent workout with Janna this morning, I showered and headed up to my parents house to go get facials with my mom.  I had intended to get pictures of my mom and I, but I was so excited to be there that I forgot.  

After our facials, we headed home to have Shepherd's Pie and cake to celebrate Justin's birthday with my family.  Justin has requested Shepherd's pie for dinner on more than one occasion, so I made sure to tell my mom to make that for him.  It was delightful! I will have to share the recipe with you all when I make it again.

After dinner we had funfetti cake for dessert.  Justin is not a huge fan of cake, but if he had to choose one flavor, it would be funfetti, so that was his cake this year! It was super delicious.  Oh and did you know if you do milk instead of water, melted butter instead of oil, and add an extra egg the cake tastes homemade? My mom saw it on her friend's Pinterest and it really did give it less of an "out of a box" taste to the cake.

Silly brother took my camera... haha

A few weeks back, Justin and I played Mille Bornes for the first time at his parents house and loved it.  So you can imagine our excitement when my mom gave Justin that for his birthday! It's such a fun family-friendly card game.  If you're in the market for a new board/card game, I would check this one out!

Question of the Day: 

What is your favorite game to play with family?

Bitter is the New Black

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I trust that your first day back to work has been as non-stressful as mine.  I have to say, I really was not looking forward to getting my butt up this morning, but once I got going, I was glad to be heading back to work. 

I had my weigh in at Weight Watchers today and I can honestly say that I am disappointed in the number that showed up on the scale; however, I now know where I am starting and where I need to be.  Let's just say, that to be "healthy" weight, I need to lose a minimum of  34 pounds.  I guess we shall see what this year brings! 

I have been talking about doing a book review for a few weeks now and today I finally had a chance to do one!

Brief Overview

Jen Lancaster was living the sweet life- until real life kicked her to the curb. 

She had the perfect man, the perfect job- hell, she had the perfect life- and there was no reason to think it wouldn't last.  Or maybe there was, but Jen Lancaster was too busy being manicured, pedicured, highlighted, and generally adored to notice.  

This is the smart-mouthed, soul searching story of a woman trying to figured out what happens next when she's gone from six figures to unemployment checks and she stops to reconsider some of the less-than-rosy attitudes and values she thought she'd never have to answer for when times were good.  

Filled with caustic wit and unusual insight, it's a rollicking read as speedy and unpredictable as the trajectory of a burst balloon.  (source)

My Review

I will start with this: I loved this book.  Jen Lancaster is the type of character that you start out hating but begin to love as you see her go through the struggle of what her life becomes.  I often found myself laughing out loud at her almost too entitled attitude and the types of situations that she finds herself in.

I really appreciate that she is not afraid to tell it how it is, even if it is at her own expense and she addresses her weight in a way that all women wish they could.

If you are looking for a light-hearted, funny book to read then I would suggest starting with this one.  

Additional Reviews

• Write Meg
• Alexa Loves Books
• Reading for Sanity
• Toothy Books
• Small Strokes Fell Big Oaks

I have already borrowed her next book from the library and look forward to starting it after I finish my current read! 

Question of the Day:

What genre of book do you prefer?

Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone! I trust your New Years was as enjoyable as ours was! Originally Justin and I were originally going to go out for the evening, but in a last minute decision decided that it would be better to stay in for the evening and invite a few friends over.  

I have to admit that I was a bit more excited about getting to decorate than I should have been.  We've been at our new place for about three weeks now and have not really had a "house"warming party, so this was my first chance to decorate and invite people over.

We ended up only have my best friend, Danielle, and her boyfriend, Stephen, over and it turned out to be a pretty nice evening filled with silly props and UNO.  Danielle got me Big Bang Theory UNO for Christmas and I was excited to get to play.  

While Justin and Stephen spent some time slaying Zombies on Modern Warfare 3, Danielle and I got caught up since it's been a while since we've spent time together.  Turns out she got an iPad from Stephen for Christmas! How cool is that? 

Once 11:30 came around, we made sure to turn on New Years Rockin' Eve.  It was so weird to not see Dick Clark on the screen as we counted down to the ball dropping.  He was such a symbol of all things New Years Eve.  While Ryan Seacrest did an excellent job, he is no Dick Clark.  May he rest in peace.

Frye was a bit startled by all of the noises and even went so far as to hiss (only the third time I've heard him do that).  You can imagine how thrilled he was when Justin decided to put glasses on him.  Oh well! We wanted him to be part of the fun.

Now here comes the fun part... New Years Resolutions.  So often we all make them but break them in the first month because 1. It gets hard, 2. Life gets in the way, or 3. We just plain don't care anymore.  And I can honestly say that I have fallen into all three categories before.  So this year I am only giving myself a few, and a few that are realistic. 

1. Run a half marathon 
2. Sew my first quilt (all by myself)
3. Make healthier choices with what I eat and drink
4. Give more of myself than to myself
5. Read 1-2 books a month

Seems pretty realistic right? I hope so! Another "goal" for 2012 is to write a letter to my birth parents.  A while back I decided to wait to contact them until after the Holidays because of the stress and anxiety it could cause everyone.  So here we are, it's the New Year and now I've got to move.  I will make sure to keep you all posted as this story unfolds!

Questions of the Day:

What are your New Year Resolutions?

What will you do to keep them going?