When You Hit That Wall

Have you ever wanted to change something about yourself so badly, but for some reason just couldn't do it? I have been struggling with that my whole life. The one thing I want to change about myself is my weight. I know it isn't healthy, but yet I can't seem to bring myself to do much about it.

I have always been this way. I am what you would call a yo yo person. I lose some weight, then I put it back on. I have been like this my whole life. I don't know why, I just have. 

Sunday night though, I hit a wall. I seriously had the biggest breakdown/meltdown I have ever had about my weight. And it really made me see just how much I want to change the way that I eat and live. 

So, I am here to tell all of you that I am going to change the way I eat and live. I am going to start eating healthier foods. I am going to start exercising again. 

And actually, I have already started. I have already started watching what I am eating. I am logging my calories and exercise with MyFitnessPal. (Follow me! My username is mdelliott12) I am getting my butt back in the Gym starting tonight with Zumba class. 

And I am taking the time to read a few books on nutrition and how I should be eating to lose weight. I am currently reading Bob Harper's "The Skinny Rules" and Women's Health "The New ABS Diet for Women." My Husband read "The ABS Diet" book that is geared towards men and has lost 30 lbs and kept it off for over a year. 

This is the first time that I feel like I am actually making a change that I am going to stick with for the rest of my life. I have a fire lit in me and I seriously want this more than anything right now. I want to be healthy and I want to feel good about myself. I want to feel beautiful, not just wish that I was. 

And I hope that you guys can help encourage me and cheer me on through this life change. And if you are wanting to make the same change, let me know and we can encourage and help each other. 

It is a new day and it is always a great day to get better!!

Fit Bit Giveaway

Good morning lovelies. This will just be a real quick post to tell you about this awesome giveaway going on over at At Home with the Hinkleys. Mrs. Natalie along with a few other bloggers are having a giveaway for a Fit Bit. 

If you don't know what a Fit Bit is, it is pretty much a device that helps you track your calories, steps and a bunch of other fitness related data. I have been wanting one for a while because it is tiny and not bulky and easily hidden. So head on over to Natalie's blog for more details on how you can win one!

Saw It. Pinned It. Did It.

Today I am linking up with Katie at Keep Calm & Carry On for Saw It. Pinned It. Did It.

I pinned this adorable tree ornament nine weeks ago so that when we got our real Christmas tree, I could make this very cute and special keepsake ornament.

Source: imgfave.com via Megan on Pinterest

And this is what mine looks like. It is a little bit different than the Pinterest version, but I love that it is ours. I kind of want to do one for each tree we get, but that might be a little much on the tree every year, haha! And if you have plans of doing this for yourself, make sure to let the piece of wood from the tree dry out for a few days. If not it will be sticky and sappy and it will be harder to write on. 

Head on over to Katie's blog if you want to link up for Saw It. Pinned It. Did It. 

Anniversary Recap

As I told you guys on Monday, the Husband and I celebrated our One Year Anniversary!!! We didn't do a whole lot, but we did celebrate a little.

After I got off work on Monday, I headed to the store to get some wine and the Husbands cards. I had forgotten to take care of this during the weekend. Oops!

I picked out his cards and then headed to the Liquor store. And of course they were out of the wine that I wanted. That was the second place in two days that didn't have it. So I asked the Hubby to stop at a different one on his way home and guess what? They didn't have it either! So I told him just to come home and we would stop somewhere on our way home from dinner to try and find it. 

When Hubby got home he walked in with a bouquet of pink roses for me! He knows me too well! They are gorgeous. We then exchanged cards and then headed out the door to dinner.

We decided to go somewhere we had never been(and we had a coupon for this place) so we chose The Elephant Bar. The food was delicious and I loved the atmosphere of the place. It was a great place for a great Anniversary dinner! 

After dinner we went to THREE more Liquor stores before we finally found one that had a bottle of my delicious Moscato Cupcake wine!!! They only had two bottles left, so I bought both!

We then headed home to enjoy some delicious Anniversary cake and a glass or two or three of wine :) 

The bakery that made our wedding cake specifically asked us not to freeze the top tier of our cake. They said that it would be disgusting and that they would make us a new one for our anniversary. So we happily ate the top tier in the week following our Wedding. So a few weeks ago I called and ordered our cakes(yes it is plural) for our Anniversary. 

I ordered a Red Velvet and a Tiramisu cake. I ordered two different ones because these were the two flavors that Aran and I had specifically picked out for the wedding because they are our absolute favorites. And of course, we didn't get any of these on the day of the wedding. For some reason they didn't think to ask us if we wanted some of our cake and so they served everyone else except us. So we didn't even get to try the two flavors that we specifically picked out! 

The cake was freaking delicious!!! And the wine was pretty damn good too! We even got to use our fancy Crystal Toasting Flutes for the first time! I am glad that we decided to get fresh cakes instead of a year old frozen one. I think the taste was definitely way better than what it would have been. 

After the cake and wine we just relaxed on the couch and watched some TV. It was a great way to spend our first Anniversary and I can't wait to see what we do for the next bazillion ones we have!

A Year Ago

It is hard to believe that a year has already gone by since I married my best friend. 

A year ago today, I was walking down the aisle towards my soon to be husband. A year ago today, we said our "I Do's". A year ago today we celebrated our love for each other with all of our family and friends.  

I can hardly believe that it has already been a year. And so much has happened over the past year for us. Things that I would have never thought.

 I got a promotion at work. A damn good one actually. 

We bought a house. 

The Hubby got a new job.

We went on an amazing Honeymoon and had an absolutely amazing time. 

And we got a dog. 

I don't think that I could have asked for a better first year of marriage. I love my Husband more today than I did a year ago. And I know that I will love him more and more with each passing day. And I honestly can't wait to see what this next year of marriage has in store for us. 

Happy Anniversary Honey! I love you so much and I can't wait to see what is in store for us. 

New Year's Eve Recap

Originally we didn't have any plans for New Year's Eve. I know, we are lame. We just aren't big party people. But, my friend Megan called the day before and asked if we wanted to come over to her place and have dinner and play board games with her and her Hubby. This sounded way better than sitting at home. And we love playing board games, so we were excited. 

We headed over around 6:30 for dinner. Megan made this delicious lasagna and served it with some really yummy bread. And of course we had some dinner with our wine, I mean, we had some wine with our dinner :) 

After dinner we started the board game festivities. We played three or four rounds of Skip Bo, a few rounds of Telestrations and a couple rounds of Disney Scene It! before it was time for the ball to drop. 

We turned the tv on about a minute til midnight, just in time for the countdown. With our sparkling cider in hand, we rang in the New Year! 

It was a great night with great friends and awesome memories. I couldn't have asked for a better way to say goodbye to a great 2012 and welcome hopefully an even better 2013. 

Christmas Recap

First off, Happy New Year!!! I hope that everyone had a wonderful New Years!

Sorry this Christmas recap is so late, but the Hubby and I have been enjoying our time off and not doing much of anything. But, I am ready to get back into the swing of things with blogging.

Our Christmas festivities started on Christmas Eve. In the past, Christmas Eve was always spent at my Grandmas. She would always cook dinner and the whole family would come over and we would spend the evening together. It was always one of my favorite parts of Christmas and it is something we haven't done in a while since my Grandparents had moved out of state and especially now that they have passed away.

So this year, I decided to invite all of our family up to our new house and cook dinner for everyone. I figured why not pick up, where Grandma left off. So the family came up and we cooked a delicious dinner. We made ham, Au Gratin potatoes made from scratch, fresh green beans with bacon pieces and home made hot apple cider. And my Brother brought over his famous fruit salad. We had quite the spread and it was delicious!

After dinner, my Nieces were ready to tear into all of the gifts under the tree. I passed all of the gifts out and in about two minutes, the girls already had all of their stuff unwrapped. Not surprising I guess, I mean they are a 6 and a 4 year old :)

After all of the presents were opened, everyone headed out for the night. It had started snowing(yep, we had a White Christmas!!!) and the roads were starting to get slick, so everyone wanted to get home safely. And my Brother and SIL had to get the kiddos in bed so that Santa could come. Overall, it was a great night full of family, great food and some great memories. It definitely made all of us think of Grandma and we knew that she was there with us. And we all decided that we restarted a tradition. Christmas Eve at my house from now on. 

A few random pictures from Christmas Eve

Christmas morning the Hubby and I woke up and opened our gifts from each other. This was the first Christmas morning that we have ever spent just the two of us. And I am glad that we did this, especially in our new house! The Hubby spoiled me rotten, which worked out well because he was spoiled rotten too!

And yes, I DID get my pink Kitchen Aid, which I may have mentioned earlier because he gave it to me early. And I also got some new Nike workout clothes, the Hunger Games Books, Pitch Perfect and some accessories for my Kitchen Aid.

The Hubby got his Star Wars XBox, Madden 2012, an XBox Live card, a Munchkin game, a Star Wars Folded Flyers book(he loved this) and a few other things that I can't think of at the moment. 

After we had opened our gifts we got ready for the day. First, we went to Church. Christmas Service is always my favorite of the year. 

After Church we headed up to Aran's parents house. We opened gifts with them. I was really excited because I got a food processor! I have been wanting one for a while but just haven't had the funds for it, so this was really nice to get one. But of course I didn't take a picture of it, oops!

After we opened all of our gifts we sat down and watched Pitch Perfect. Love that movie. Makes me laugh every time. After the movie, we sat down and had an amazingly delicious dinner. 

It was a great Christmas! We really enjoyed getting to spend time with all of our family and with each other as well. I can't wait until next Christmas!