Advocare 24 Day Challenge: Day One

So as most of you know, I'm in the midst of planning a wedding scheduled for mid October. With that being the case, weight loss is something that MUST happen! Not only do I have a pretty white dress to fit into, but a honeymoon that I'd like to look "smokin" on!

I was discussing this with one of my bridesmaids along with the fact that I've gained 30lbs since Jeff and I started dating (fat and happy right?) and she mentioned the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge. I'm always up for a gimmicky weight loss plan, but she guarantees it's the real deal and a great way to kick start my weight loss goals.

She delivered the items to me last night and I started first thing today. I spent all night last night prepping meals and snacks for the next several days and found myself excited for results when I woke up this morning.

Starting numbers:

Weight: 149.2

Ankle: 9.25

Calve: 15.25

Thigh: 22.5

Hips: 39.5

Waist: 38.5

Chest: 36.5

Arm: 11.75

Neck: 12.75

I did a lot of reading before agreeing to this challenge and the most talked about part is the fiber drink. If you've ever participated in this challenge you know what I'm talking about. It's terrible. It looks like your pouring saw dust into a bottle of water, and the longer it sits the thicker it gets... GAG!!

Besides that the Spark drinks are great and my meal plan thus far has left me feeling full every part of the day. I drank 9 cups of water (not including all of the water used to make the various drink concoctions) which is about 8 cups more than I'm used to drinking in a day.

Day 1 Meals:

Breakfast
Toast w/ Natural Peanut Butter
Banana

Morning Snack
Celery w/ Light laughing Cow Cheese

Lunch
Grilled Chicken Breast
Raw Yellow Bell Pepper Slices
Pinto Beans

Afternoon Snack
Plain Unsalted Almonds

Dinner
Grilled Chicken Breast
Green Beans (w/ 1 tbsp unsalted butter added)

Evening Snack
Apple

So far I feel like Day one was a success. Besides the disaster that was the fiber drink this morning, I felt full all day and my urge to munch was satiated by the constant fluid intake (and trips to pee, current count is 17 trips today).

Moving - Preparing for Wife-hood

If you have ever had to move from an upstairs apartment...more than once...my sympathies go out to you. I just completed the awful task of moving out of my 3rd floor apartment and into my parents' house in preparations for the wedding. My biggest piece of advise for moving out of a 3rd floor apartment you ask? Don't move into a 3rd floor apartment! (Unless there is an elevator provided)

But that chapter of my life has now closed, and next comes 6 months of "job-shadowing" my mom, in order to learn what being a great wife entails.

Any advice for preparing for wife-hood?
Any nuggets of wisdom?

Weekend Movie Night - Schindler's List

Well - our local movie rental place has closed.  Red Box is all that we have left in our area, which is quite a disappointment since most of the movies we rent on the weekends are older movies that have probably never seen the inside of a Red Box...

This weekend we stumbled across a movie on the history channel that Jeffery felt needed to be added to my "scene it" list.  He was, as usual, shocked when he heard me say I hadn't seen the movie, let along heard of it, and seeing as just last week I was bragging about my fascination with the Holocaust in my history classes when I was younger, it kind of contradicted the point I was trying to make.

Nonetheless, we recorded and watched Schindler's List directed by Steven Spielberg.  First, did anyone else realize Liam Neeson is in this movie?! This must have been his much earlier acting years, but it was nice to see a familiar face. In my own opinion, this movie was really great, not only was it informative and thought-provoking, but it pulled at those heart strings.  It showed what truly happened, without being over-the-top gruesome.  I have to admit, there were some moments when I closed my eyes, but one of my personal struggles is excepting death as a fact of life, and death on TV is no exception.  But all-in-all this movie gets an A- from me. It may even be closer to an A, but due to the length of the movie, and the blah mood that I was already in when starting the movie, it is getting a lower grade (this is why I couldn't be a teacher!).

Top Gear Tuesday

Okay, let me start this off by saying, yes...I am a car girl but no...I don't claim to know everything about them.  But in all seriousness, Top Gear has steadily become one of my top TV shows every week - and did anyone happen to catch tonight's episode?

Tonight on Top Gear, Tanner, Adam, and Rutledge were given the challenge of finding the best "Taxi Cab".  As usual each chose a vehicle matching their character almost to a T, Adam and his, always bizarre  choice of automobiles... chose an ambulance.  Rutledge, with his love for "classic" southern style, chose the El Camino and of course, Tanner chose the turbo charged Scion...how else would he get his passengers drifting around corners??

Rutledge and his El Camino were a big hit in our household.  Not only is it a muscle car classic - to some degree - it is also the car that is taking up a full spot in our garage!  El Caminos show true American Muscle, I mean...after the Camaro, and the Corvette, and the Trans AM, well, maybe 5th or 6th down on the list of American Muscle, but still there none the less!

Adam - I rarely have much to say about his choices each week.  He never chooses a car I would even consider myself, and he plays the "old man" character quite well through his choices.  Though I must say tonight he showed a new side, with a Party Ambulance to Taxi passengers across Las Vegas, how could you go wrong?

And Tanner - what can I say - He is the only reason I love the show like I do. His constant great choices in cars (besides the occasional rice burner...) and his always fun launches, show the sexy side of cars and driving that I fell in love with.

But the BEST part of tonight's episode, Tanner Foust driving a brand new McLaren MP4-12C side by side with Carl Edwards in the 99 Ford Sprint Cup Car. Tanner is an amazingly skilled driver, and really held his own on the circle track, where Edwards obviously had the home advantage. Every week I start off slightly disappointed that the winner is quite predictable when driving a racing car is the prize, but by the end of the night, I wouldn't want to see anyone else driving it.  Ending yet another Tuesday night with the combination of beauty and speed on my mind.

Applesauce Streusel Cake

January was my first month participating in Bakin' Friends and let me say it was wonderful! Not only did I get paired up with the founder herself, Stephanie from Steph's Bite by Bite, but I got to try out a new recipe that turned out great.  The secret ingredient for January was *Applesauce*.  With January being the month that everyone tries to start back on their health-kicks, it was only fitting that we try a baked recipe made with the healthy substitute.

I am not a "from the brain" baker. I have never been able to change recipes to suit my needs, let along come up with any on my own. So with that being said, this recipe came from Anna at Cookie Madness.

Applesauce Streusel Cake by Cookie Madness

Cake Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg

Streusel Ingredients

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
4 tbsp cold butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray square pan with cooking spray.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and brown sugar; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix melted butter, applesauce, sour cream, vanilla, and egg. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients and stir until mixed.  Pour into pan.

4. Make streusel by mixing all dry ingredients together, then cutting in the butter.

5. Sprinkle streusel over top of cake. Sprinkle nuts over top of streusel. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown around edges.

Weekend Movie Night - Pulp Fiction

Growing up I wasn't much of a movie kid, sitting in front of a television for more than 5 minutes was usually a task all in itself. Even today I feel like I need to find an activity or craft to partake in if I'm expected to stare into a TV for any long period of time. With that being said, over the last two and a half years that Jeff and I have been together, he has become more and more surprised at my lack of movie knowledge and/or experience. To sum it up, if it wasn't produced by Mr. Walt Disney and/or if someone (or something) dies at any point in the movie, I've probably never seen it. So my genius of a fiancé thought, why not make a regular blog post about our weekend movie night adventures.

Basically what happens is we go into the movie store looking for something to watch, nothing new is worth a darn so we hit the 99 cent racks. Much to his surprise every movie he picks up and says "this is a classic!" Or "if you haven't seen this movie you just aren't American!" I sheepishly smile and have to admit ignorance. So we take one home in hopes that I will become a more rounded American through our escapades.

This weekend we rented Pulp Fiction - Don't judge, I lead a very (self-imposed) sheltered life! Now this is a movie I associated with guns and blood; with Quentin Tarantino as the director, I couldn't help but think nightmarish thoughts. But I must say, it was actually a decent movie. I have to admit, any movie that can make me laugh is graded as decent in my book, after all, I watched Inglorious Bastards and thought it was awesome! (Until I watched it again thinking how much blood, violence, and cursing took place that I had seemingly gleamed over...) but none the less, this was a good movie. There was comedy, multiple story lines without the weird romantic drama sneaking itself in at hidden moments, and overall quality writing. It's not my personally favorite (that category will always be saved for movies like Finding Nemo, Juno, and Cinderella) but either way, it's not a movie I regret watching...

Wedding Planning - Change of Colors

So all of this wedding planning has left me just plain worn out! I had no idea planning my wedding would be this time consuming, stressful, or confusing!  So since my last post a few things have changed.  First and foremost, the date has stayed the same - that is locked in stone, and we went and booked the church for that day - so if anything, we will be married on 10-19-13 in the Newcastle Baptist Church :)

Now for the changes - first off - the color.  Long story short, I've changed the colors to "Sapphire and Diamonds" Anyone that has known me for even a short amount of time knows my love for blue sapphires, and just the look of that color against a crisp white and silver is stunning to me. 

Obviously this changes the theme of the wedding. "Country chic" really doesn't go well with the new colors. So the wedding has taken more of a formal turn - a turn for the better in my opinion :)

As of right now those are the only things decided - date, location, color, and theme - now I just have to find me a wedding dress!