Car Pool Dates

Recently Jason and I have been carpooling to work. It’s practical in that he has to basically drive by my office building on his way to work. So, it’s not out of his way. It also saves on gas, which was significantly more important last fall when gas prices were skyrocketing. And, it reduces the wear and tear on our vehicles. An unexpected benefit to carpooling is our time spent together. Those 20 minutes alone every morning and afternoon are great. It’s rare we are in the car ALONE anymore so that slice of the day is welcoming. The mornings are usually quieter because we are both barely awake and/or are checking email on our BlackBerries (hmmm, is that the plural for BlackBerry!?). But, for the most part, we like to just talk. Talk about stuff. What’s for dinner, what’s the day going to look like, the kids, the economy, etc. Stuff. We are like most busy couples I suspect: we have more than full time jobs, we co-parent, we are busy with the house stuff, and we work out. What we don’t do enough is date nights.

There are a few reasons for this. 1) Hiring a babysitter is expensive. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but babysitting pays well. Very well. An evening out can easily set you back $40 without blinking an eye. Add dinner and/or a movie to that and well, we’re in the triple digits my friend. 2) Our babysitter is in demand. We love Penny. She’s awesome. And, sadly, other people think that too. We’ve tried to keep her identity hidden from our neighbors and friends so they wouldn’t try and poach her but it didn’t work. ;) I’m only half-kidding here. 3) We can’t think of stuff to do. Ok, sort of. I mean, we go out to dinner, but we don’t feel like going to the movies, and there’s only so many times you can go to the casino before you realize that it’s boring and you never win any money. We’ve tried to organize some group dates with our friends and neighbors and that hardly ever works out for reasons #1-3 above. So, we’ve had to become creative when it comes to carving out our date time. We’ve taken a few hours of vacation and hit the furniture stores, or to IKEA. We’ve taken WHOLE DAYS OFF!!! To do whatever we wanted. Again, if you think about it, that probably cost us waaaaay more than a babysitter if you factor in our salaries for that day. Ha. Oh well. It’s not that we don’t like to spend time with the kids, but really, all couples need couple time and parents especially do.

So, for us, the daily Car Pool dates and the rare nights out will have to suffice. Here’s hoping we both come down with a cold on the same day and can take a sick day together. How romantic.

Heartfelt thank you...

So, I can’t begin to tell you how humbled I am by all of the comment love from yesterday, and into the early morning! As you can imagine, yesterday was quite the day. My BlackBerry was buzzing non-stop all day and I just couldn’t believe how many people stopped by to say hi. I received hundreds of comments yesterday on my posts and I read each one. I am hoping to be able to respond to all of them personally, because they mean that much to me. It’ll take time, but I am going to do it. In the mean time, if you’ve returned after finding me yesterday, thank you and I hope you keep returning. And, thanks to all of my “regulars” who had such nice things to say. I hope everyone gets to be the SITS Featured Blogger, it’s awesome.

So, thanks for yesterday, it was great.

Baked Fresh Just For SITS...

Wow, what a way to start the week...

I got an email yesterday that I was chosen to be a Featured Blogger on SITS! I am sooo excited, tickled PINK you might say, about this. I've been patiently waiting and hoping for this day to arrive. I've been involved with SITS for about as long as I have had my blog and I love it. I've found some great blogs to follow and have met some really great people, too.


Here's a brief synopsis of me:

1. I live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, just about 15 minutes from the Mall of America


2. I work full time managing a technical writing team at a large international information solutions company.


3. I have 2 girls, Kaitlyn (5) and Chloe (2 1/2)


4. I am married to Jason, who is my best friend and love of my life. Whether he likes it or not.


5. I am forever trying to lose weight and learn to love working out and I suck. at. it. ;)


6. I am addicted to Diet Coke and have no plans to quit, thank you very much. ha.


7. I love everything about cupcakes. I love to bake them, decorate them, and collect them (not the food kind). This poses a problem for #5 above.


8. I am a rabid Ohio State Buckeyes fan. Go Bucks!

So, there ya go. Welcome to my little spot on the Internet. I hope you take a look around and let me know what you think. I love reading everyone's comments on my posts and have learned some amazing things just from the comments. I promise to return the comment love--if it takes me all night long to answer them. ;)


Thanks for stopping by!

The Daily Grind

Help me. Our 5 year old has this incredibly annoying habit of grinding her teeth at night. It’s so loud and piercing that it keeps us awake at night, when she’s in our bed. When she’s sleeping in her bed, I can still hear it! It’s the worst sound on earth. There’s no stopping it either because she doesn’t even know she’s doing it or what grinding your teeth even means! It’s hell. We’ve asked her dentist about this and he said it’s completely common for youngsters to grind their teeth and as long as it’s not hurting the back teeth, they leave it alone. Great. Sounds like they grow out of it, but when!?! She’s been doing this since she was 2. Holy cow does it sound awful. Anyone else experience this with their kids!?

I am glad it’s Friday. It’s been a long week. Oh, I did go get my hair highlighted at that school and all is well. It took her 4 HOURS to foil my hair. But, it looks good. A little blonder than I thought it would be, but she did a great job. I am sure it would have cost 3 times as much to have it done as thoroughly at a salon so I am happy.

Here’s to another great weekend, hopefully! We are off to the gym tonight so J can take the girls swimming while I work out. Chloe FINALLY had a good time at the child care center while I worked out last Sunday. Kaitlyn was with her and they had a lot of fun so hopefully I can take them more on the weekends while I work out. It’s an awesome center and they have fun, plus it gives J a little break, too while we’re away.

Have a great day!

Recharging my Batteries Today...

So, I have today off in honor of MLK Day. My husband and kids are at work/preschool. So, do you know what that means? FREEDOM! Sweet Freedom. I've been looking forward to this day for a long time. Through the holiday craziness, I kept counting down the days to the 19th because I knew I would have a day to myself. Selfish? Not at all. Completely necessary and I wish every working parent, stay at home parent, and every parent in between could have today off, too. Spreading the love, I say.

What am I gonna do? Hmmm. I dunno! That's the beauty of it. I have a much needed highlighting appointment this morning that I can hardly wait for. I am trying out a new place--the Minnesota School of Beauty. For $35, you can get your entire hair foiled. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will turn out okay, but I am pretty confident that it will--they are all supervised by instructors, and hey--I bet they are more attentive than some of the hair stylists I've seen lately! HA.

Other than that, I may go get coffee, finally catch up on all of my bloggy friends, and clean up stuff. Whatever I do, it'll be awesome. I was going to go to the MOA, but we ended up buying a new TV this weekend so I think the boy would have a fit if I went shopping, too.

Have a great day everyone! :)

Finding out whether she’s a gymnast, a fish, or Ralph Macchio

We enrolled Kaitlyn (the 5 year old) in a gymnastics class at our gym. It’s a basic learn how to tumble, balance, and do cartwheels type of class—nothing too difficult. We looked at enrolling her in the local top-notch gymnastics club but the cost for a similar class was a lot more and we felt that it wasn’t worth it yet. We didn’t really even know if she wanted to take gymnastics, but we did know she needed to do something this winter. She’s got way too much energy and now’s the time for her to learn how to harness that energy into a sport or activity. It’s the “try it on” period. So, she’s going to try out gymnastics for a session, then move on to karate or swimming. She’s expressed interest in all three activities, as well as dance. So, we’re just taking a shot with gymnastics first. I really don’t care which one she ends up sticking with, if any, I only care that she finds something she likes to do and wants to continue with. Not because I want her to become the next Nastia Luikin, or Michael Phelps (okay, well, Dara Torres) or Daniel from The Karate Kid. I want her to enjoy being physically active. I want her to push herself and become confident in her strength and abilities. It’s clear my personal experiences are driving a lot of this, but that’s okay this time. She’s excited because she gets to do all of these different sports and hopefully she’ll find something she likes and wants to stick with. I’d love to cheer for her on the sidelines of a karate competition or a swim meet, or whatever.

Now, this is not to say that I am only focused on their physical development. I fully intend to have them take piano lessons and develop their creative side. My mom is a piano teacher and she would shoot me dead in my tracks if my girls didn’t learn to play the piano at some point during their childhood. Playing the piano teaches you patience, rhythm, and really helps develop your math comprehension. Well, it’s supposed to—I never did well in math and I took piano lessons for years! (maybe it skips a generation). Music is a huge part of my childhood and I want them to experience that, too.

Really, my biggest hope for Kaitlyn in all of this experimentation is that she discovers how strong she is, how much fun it is to be a kid, and how many different ways there are to express yourself. And, that it’s “cool” to be strong, graceful, patient, competitive, and FIERCE. ;)

I Love Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!

OMG!! How did I not know about this!?!?!?! LOVE IT!! Thank you SOOO MUCH WishTrish for making my day!! :)

When Barney and Doogie collide...

I am not ashamed to admit that I had a poster of Doogie Howser in my dorm room at Ohio State. Loved him. Love Barney Stinson even more.

Awesome.


(SNL from January 10th)

Mindless ramblings on a Saturday night...

Ok, how yummy is that picture? Just sayin...

It's 9pm on a Saturday night, and here I sit, alone, with my laptop and my super warm blanket, curled up on the couch watching junk TV. For tonight, this is as good as it gets. The girls went to bed without trouble, the boy was exhausted and went to bed a little bit ago, so here I am. Precious time to myself to play on Facebook, catch up on all of my bloggy friends, update my checking account balance, and read up on the latest happenings in Hollywood. Perfection.

So, I thought I'd share some of the stuff I've been loving lately. Some new, some not so new. All of it awesome.

• Mint.com
  This site is the coolest financial analyzing site out there and it's free. I use it to track my checking account and it breaks down all of my transactions into spending areas and I can create a budget and it'll track my budget against expenses. I can set up alerts so that Mint.com lets me know when a transaction occurs that looks suspicious (based on my parameters, etc). Very cool. You can track your credit cards, 401k accounts, too. But, I am sticking with my checking account for now. It's extremely safe and doesn't store any account information--it just uses your log on information. Very cool indeed.


• Finally Thin!
  This book, by Kim Benson, is a very honest account of her dramatic 200 lb weight loss. I've been following her story for a while and was really excited to get her book. It's great and really hard to read--she's been through a lot and her experiences will really affect you.
  
• Wall-E
  If you haven't seen it yet, RUN. DON'T WALK to your nearest Blockbuster or Netflix queue and grab it. Honestly, it's my favorite Disney movie ever. That little robot stole my heart.
  
• Diet Pomegranate 7-UP
  Oh my Lord is that stuff good. It's seasonal so it's probably long gone by now. But, let me tell you, this was amazing. I only found it in 2 Liter bottles and every time we saw it, we bought it. I am now loving and trying all things pomegranate. But, nothing comes close to this. It's the best pop I've ever had, and coming from a hard core Diet Coke addict, that's saying something. I emailed the 7up people begging for more info on where I can get this stuff and alas, it's a seasonal flavor only and that I'll have to wait. Ugh. :(
  
• Britney Spears: Circus
  Say what you want about her, but the girl can put out a kick-ass CD. I was a huge fan of her last album, Blackout, and thought it was her best ever. This one beats it.


• Family Swim Time at LifeTime Fitness
  Okay, so LifeTime Fitness altogether. We have belonged to this gym for years and go to the most awesomeness location (we think) in Lakeville, MN. It has everything anyone would ever need. We've started a new thing--we do family nights at the gym. J will take the girls swimming during family swim hours while I do my workout. The girls love swimming, J doesn't mind taking them, and I am forced to walk into the gym and work out for a set amount of time. Win-win.
  
• Hungry Girl emails
  Have you heard of Hungry Girl yet?? If not, go here. I get her daily emails and I love them and always learn something new about nutrition. She has some awesome recipes, too. I am going to make the chocolate cupcakes tomorrow--2 points each! Sweet. UPDATE: I made these cupcakes and THEY ARE INCREDIBLE!!

So, that's all for now. Maybe you'll find something cool to check out from my brain dump. Maybe not. ;) Hope you are having as great a Saturday night as I am. :)

-suzi

Don't Derail...

I’ve been getting myself in gear this past week or so, trying to get organized at home and at work. It’s amazing what 2 weeks off will do to a person. I feel discombobulated and generally aloof! One of the biggest things I did this week was to adjust my workout schedule. I moved things around and now I work out 4 days a week instead of 5. Why, you ask, would I workout LESS than before? Simple, I wasn’t really working out all that much before. In fact, I’d venture to say I maybe worked out 3 times a week, on a good week. So, when looking at my schedule, I decided to chuck a day in favor of a longer, harder 4 day/week workout schedule. So far, it’s been good. Tuesdays are my long nights because after my workout I go to my WW meeting. * A quick word of caution—if you decide to change your weigh-in day from a morning to an evening time, be prepared for serious sticker shock at the scale. My leader said that next week should regulate it and I’ll be back to normal again. Hopefully, less.

My WW meeting was great this week. I changed my meeting because I found a WW leader that I really connected with. Finally. My previous leader was great, very energetic and informative, but just not for me. This one is amazing. For starters, she lost 190 lbs. No joke. I can’t even fathom that. If that were me, I would rent out a billboard and tell the world! So, with her advice, I bought a new 3 month journal to track my food. I hate journaling. Hate. It. So, I was leery about this, especially when I pay for the online tracking and can track on my BlackBerry. Now, ask me how that’s going… go on… Ya, nada. So, she suggested I go old school and put pen to paper and really track it. So, for the last 2 days, I’ve done that. YIKES. Well, no wonder I am not losing anything! Good Lord. I will tell you what—writing down what you eat, NO MATTER WHAT YOU EAT, is really hard. There’s no hiding it now. I’ve really had to be honest with myself and admit that I haven’t done squat to try and curb my bad eating habits, up until now. I wish I would have kept track of my eating when I was throwing caution to the wind and not thinking about any points values—that would have been an interesting comparison to say, a month from now when I hopefully have learned a few lessons here and there. Whatever, can’t look back.

My biggest hurdle is getting through the massive carb/sugar cravings that I still have. I’ve had to really argue with myself over whether or not that cookie is worth and really, how bad can it be? Ha. Try really bad. So, on top of my lovely Vision Board, I’ve posted little notes in places that I can see them to help me stay on track. The one pictured here happens to be on my monitor at work. People walking by my cube must think I am nuts. Or, on a diet. ;) I don’t care. It works.

I need to post more inspirational quotes, pictures, etc. in different places so I can keep on it. Of course, I already have 3 perfectly inspiring objects I look at every day: my husband and 2 girls. They’ll keep me on track, or shove me back on it when I inevitably derail… Hopefully, that won’t happen a lot.

Summoning the Courage to Go Off Auto-Pilot

It’s pretty easy to stay the same. There’s no real effort in just going about your daily routine on autopilot. I think I’ve been on auto-pilot for years, quite frankly. Especially when it comes to my health. After Chloe was born, I didn’t get that same push to lose weight like I did after Kaitlyn. I felt really energized after Kaitlyn was born and really committed to getting into shape and dropping the weight. I did lose the weight I gained from the pregnancy and then some, but it didn’t last. After Chloe, I lost most of the baby weight and that’s it. I don’t even remember caring about it to be quite honest. I am sure at the time I was thinking about it but I don’t remember being as focused as I was before. I am sure it had to do with being busy with 2 kids, trying to sell a house, building a brand new house, a job I had to return to, and well, life. Life got in the way.

So, now, 2 ½ years later, I am really ready to change my life. Not just go on a diet. I will never go on a diet again. Yes, I am a Weight Watchers member, but I don’t view it as a diet. Not anymore. WW is teaching me a whole new way to live. And really, any weight loss program will work, as long as you work it. Duh. I like being on WW because I like being accountable and feeling like I am being proactive about getting healthy. However, I think I am just now trying to really take a close look at my life and acknowledge that I have to change just about everything I do. It’s a very scary prospect I think. Imagine you hired someone to take a look at your business to evaluate its efficiency, profitability, and overall performance and they came up to you and said that you basically need to shut it down, tear it to the foundation, and start all over again. That’s how I feel right now. I feel like I need to just start over. Forget the past—it’s the past. Move on and learn from my mistakes and setbacks.

I know none of what I am writing is new or earth shattering. I know that change requires courage and a willingness to stop doing what I’ve been doing and really focus on learning a new way. I want my life to be different. I need my life to be different. My foundation is solid, everything else needs torn down and rebuilt. Not an easy task. But a worthy one.

Auto Pilot = OFF

Vision Boards...so 2009!?

On my way home from my WW meeting yesterday (I somehow lost 2lbs over the holidays! Go figure...), I was listening to my favorite talk radio station here in the Twin Cities, FM 107.1, and the Get Real Girls were on talking about resolutions and intentions, etc for 2009. The whole idea of creating a Vision Board really spoke to me. Maybe because I was always really good at making collages in school, I dunno. But, here's what the idea is: create a collage out of pictures from magazines or whatever--anything that inspires you. Find images that speak to what you are working on in your life. I, obviously, am working on my health so oddly enough I have about a thousand fitness/health magazines just lying around so I had plenty to work from. So, I went through the magazines and found images and phrases that meant something to me and pertained to my goal of getting healthier. It was a lot of fun and the end product was pretty cool I think. I plan on hanging it in my closet so I can look at it every day. My vision board is covered in images of strong, healthy women and inspiring phrases. I think it's a great idea to visualize your goal and keep that visual in a place where you can take time and really look at it. So, in my closet it goes (click on the pix above to get a closer look)--it's my own walk in closet so J doesn't often go in there and won't make fun of it. Not that he would, but still... he's a guy. It's just another tool to add to my tool belt, so to speak. I'll let you know how it goes.

Also, it turns out that Vision Boards are all the talk on the blogs, not just mine! Here are some links to some great posts about them.

• Twists on new year's resolutions: words, superpowers and vision boards


• Crafting a Life: Creating Your Future With A Vision Board


• Who said New Years and Vision Boards go together?

I am excited about getting back to a schedule. It was a nice 2 weeks off but honestly, I don't do well unsupervised. So, tomorrow is a welcome sight for me. I am ready to get back to work (and I have lots of it, too), get back to WW, and get back to busting my arse. I am a much better Suzi when I am reigned in. :)