Hulk Hogan is my Cheerleader!

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted anything in over a week! Shame on me! Well, nothing terribly exciting has happened since then. The only real noteworthy thing is that I had an interview on Friday with a company that the temp. agency sent me to. It was a really good interview and I think I'd really like the job. But, they're still interviewing people so that could mean one of two things: a. they haven't found the "one" yet, or b. they'd already committed to interviewing X number of people before they started. I've tried not to get my hopes up too high just because if it doesn't work out I don't want to be really really upset. But, the truth is: I really do want this job. It's a lot of excel spreadsheets and stuff I like to do and I know I'd be really, really good at it. The lady at the temp. agency was really impressed with me and I got an email from her today saying that she is looking daily for a placement for me. So, that makes me feel good. I have a feeling everything will work out the way it's supposed to, even if that means that I don't get this job that I interviewed for. 

Now, on to Hulk Hogan...

As I stated in an earlier post, I've become somewhat of a "gym rat". Well, there's this guy that's there a lot of the time when I work out and I think he kind of looks like a young Hulk Hogan (but not quite as buff...and he has red hair instead of blonde but he also wears a bandana). Saturday I was working out early in the morning and the place was pretty much dead...then he came in and there was a fruit basket where you first come in and he took a banana out of the basket and somehow caught my attention (I was on the elliptical) and he started to pretend it was a phone. It was pretty funny. Then, we actually talked. He looked like a person who would know a thing or two about working out, so I said "Hey, you know like you know what you're doing here..." and then I told him I'd been working out for a week straight doing about 6 miles a day and the scale wasn't budging even though I could tell my clothes were getting looser. He said that was ok, and that sometimes it can take a few weeks. He also said I should drink a lot of water. Then, when I went to leave he said "Keep up the good work!" Well, I saw him again tonight (I don't know why, but it seems like we end up at the gym at the same time, whether it's in the morning or the evening) and he said I looked like I was working out pretty hard. I told him that I had work out hard because I have a ton of weight to lose. Then, he said "You're doing a great job!" Awww..... so, anyway, Hulk Hogan is my cheerleader. One of these days, I'll ask him his name, but for right now...he's "Hulk Hogan". 

Working out has been really hard, but fun at the same time. The scale has not been as much moving as I would like, but still I can tell I'm getting healthier. Yesterday, I realized that I was going faster on the elliptical without really trying. That was a pretty big deal. But, when I went to Weight Watchers last night, I found out I'd only lost 1.4 lbs in a week. I was pretty upset. But, the WW lady said it was good. I guess when I think about only losing 1.4 lbs a week it makes my weight loss journey seem sooooooo long. I know the scale will eventually have to follow if my pant size starts dropping (which like I said earlier in this post...I can tell my clothes are feeling looser). I got a compliment from Andy a couple days ago, he said that my legs are looking more "shapely". They had better be looking more "shapely" after doing 6 miles a day for a week! Another thing that's hard about losing weight is our location. I'm not talking about Boise. I'm talking about our apartment's location in Boise. We live off of one of the main streets in town. And...there just happens to be a lot of temptation on this street... within a couple of minutes drive you can go to the following fast-food places: McDonald's, Taco Bell, Taco Time, Subway, Burger King, Jack in the Box, Wendy's, and a little mom & pop take-out/drive thru burger/ice cream place. Not to mention, you can also drive to Dairy Queen (it's just a little bit farther than the other fast-food joints). So, I guess you could say we live just off of "Temptation Row". I must admit even with all of my lifestyle changes and my new healthy eating habits and working out, I've fallen victim to my fast-food cravings a few times. I'm thinking of making a rule for myself that says I can't eat Fast-food except to have a salad or maybe if it's Subway - a healthy sub. I think I could do it. I think I'd hate myself. But, I think I could do it. I went an entire year without eating at McDonald's because one day I just "decided" not to go there because I liked their food too much. I haven't officially decided anything yet, but I may make a drastic decision soon. 

Now, here's the picture of the day! We went to Portland (and a few of its surrounding areas) for our honeymoon. Here is one of the few photos we took while on our honeymoon. 

Workout Playlist!

I bought an ipod nano a couple of months ago. I love it! It's actually my 3rd one. I lost the first one somehow and then, I lost the other one in our move last year. But, I can definitely say that this one has gotten more use than the other two did combined! That's probably because I've been taking it to the gym and whenever I have to walk anywhere. I had a huge playlist for working out. But, then today I realized that I only listen to some of the songs (and I repeat the same ones over and over). So, I made a new playlist. Hopefully, this playlist will work out better for me.
Here it is:

"Somebody That I Used to Know" -- Gotye

"Soul Meets Body" -- Death Cab for Cutie

"Call Me Maybe" -- Carly Rae Jepsen

"Super Star" -- S.H.E.

"Tik Tok" -- Ke$ha

"Spaceman" -- The Killers

"Human" --  The Killers

"Somebody Told Me" -- The Killers

"Allouette" -- The Delta Rhythm Boys

"Vertigo" -- U2

"Bulletproof" -- La Roux

"Inside Out" -- Eve 6

"Evacuate The Dancefloor" -- Cascada

"Good Feeling" -- Flo Rida

"Fire Burning" -- Sean Kingston

"Hot N Cold" -- Katy Perry

 

What was that? Oh, it's just another Gym Rat!!!!!

Well, it's officially happened...my very worst nightmare - I've become a GYM RAT. I know that doesn't sound horrible. In fact, to some it might sound great. But, for me it means that I'm constantly pushing myself and I'll spend hours at the gym (mostly on the treadmill and elliptical) without even realizing it. I mean, I know that I definitely need to lose a lot of weight, but whenever I join a gym I become obsessed and I become a gym rat. I always promise myself that it won't happen "this time". But, it always does. I think I'm going to have to just set a time limit and stick to it. Today, I spent 2 1/2 hours at the gym. My goal today was 6 miles. Why 6 miles? Because I did some rough calculations and I figured out that on an average day when I lived in China I probably walked close to 6 miles and I lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. I know my diet was also a great part of it and I'm slowly getting my diet in order. I've been doing Weight Watchers and have been doing pretty well at staying within my daily points allotment. I've been eating a lot more vegetables and fruits. I've even learned to like grapefruit and All Bran cereal. My next goal is to start doing the stair master because when I lived in China I had to go up 4 flights of stairs up and down to and from my apartment several times of day. In addition, my classes at the school where I taught were all staggered on different floors so sometimes I'd have to go from the 6th floor down to the 1st and back up to the 6th and everything in between. I'm sure that had a great bearing on my weight loss as well.

Here is a picture of my gym. 

Sleep is a wonderful thing!

Sleep is a wonderful thing...that is when you can sleep. Today I woke up just after six and I couldn't get back to sleep so I thought I'd update my blog.
There's not a whole lot that's happened between my post last night and this morning. But, I thought I'd share a cool photo I made of our wedding. It took hours to do, but it turned out really nice and looks even better framed. I got the idea from pinterest. If you haven't checked out pinterest, you totally need to!

I didn't realize that the bottom left and bottom right are the same photo so I'll  have to fix that eventually.
But still, it looks really nice, I think anyway.

I Stand All Amazed!

 Sometimes...the Spirit directs you and let's you know what is "Right", even when everything seems to be going wrong.I learned this week that that it's best not to question the Spirit even when it seems tough not to do so. 

Here's my story. I think it's pretty inspirational. Hopefully, others will think it is as well.

 

I applied at temp agency this past week and they had me take tests to measure my abilities in Word, excel, typing etc...and I scored soooooooo high! I got an 83 on Excel when the avg. is 74 and a 93 on Word and the avg is 80.Plus, I did really well on the office skills (like doing math and spelling and grammar)

and on my typing and 10-keyand when I had my interview it went soooo well....the lady was sooooooo impressed with me and said, with my skill set she'd have no problem placing me

and in fact, because I did so well, she said she'd be putting me at the top of their list.

She said I'd make a great receptionist or admin. assistant and figured that they could probably place me withing a few weeks (if not sooner).

but they needed a reference from Wells Fargo

which was fine But, I knew that they don't do references and I told her that. She said that they just needed to ask them a couple of questions...so I gave her the name of my former supervisor...(because it's their policy that they MUST get a reference from your previous employer).

Well...I got an email from the lady that said she couldn't get any info from Wells Fargo.

and that because of that they wouldn't be able to place me because it's their policy that they MUST get a reference from the previous employer. There just wasn't any way around it.So, I was sooooo sad...

I'd felt so good about everything...I felt like the Spirit had lead me to this one temp agency (I'd been to others but all they wanted to do was send me to some rinky dink call center). I felt really confused because I still felt really good about it all...even after I got the rejection e-mail. So, I sent a reply thanking them for their time and saying that the best I could do was to probably get a reference from a former co-worker at Wells Fargo, but that I knew that probably wouldn't work for them.Somehow, even though I had kind of started to accept the fact that I wouldn't be able to work with them I still felt really good about working with them. The Spirit was just so strong. I knew I shouldn't question the Spirit but I didn't understand why I felt so good when it obviously wasn't working out. Well, I didn't hear from them for almost a day. Then, I got an e-mail late Friday afternoon. It was such a surprise. I didn't think I'd hear back from them since they wouldn't be able to work with me. But, I was shocked at its contents! The lady said she'd gotten special permission to use a former co-worker from Wells Fargo as my reference! Now I knew why I had still felt so good about everything. It *was* working out after all! I am so grateful for the Spirit and for the direction it gives us in our lives when we are listening to it. I'm grateful for its promptings: I don't know if they would have thought about using one of my former co-workers as a reference if I  hadn't brought it up in the first place. Hopefully, I'll get placed soon! 

Well, here's the picture of the day. This is a photo of me and a friend in my favorite park in the city where I lived in China. The park's name in English is Goldfish Park. It was my favorite place to relax while I lived there. I would walk around the park for hours at a time every night (for exercise). It is a HUGE park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Now, here's something cute a friend showed me tonight. It's Cookie Monster's parody of the song "Call me maybe".

I got a real kick out of it. 

Cookie Monster "Share it Maybe"

New Look!

Our blog has looked the same for a really long time so I decided to get a new background. So, enjoy! I think it's super cute and it fits my personality perfectly because I ALWAYS wear flip-flops! 

Today, I'm going to take on the tedious task of renaming our France/England photos. They all have been assigned random numbers and when you pull them up you have no idea which picture you're going to get, so I'm going to go through them and name them. That way when we want to look at a specific picture we can actually find it, rather than going through hundreds of photos. Eventually, I'm going to get some of them framed, or at least do a collage. I think that would be pretty cool. 

Tomorrow, I get to weight myself for the week so I better be really good today. I'm .2 from a total of 5 lbs since last Saturday, if I don't make it, I'll be really sad. I actually do 2 weigh-ins, one on Saturday morning 

at home and one on Monday night at Weight Watchers. I do this because I have two different starting weights one from last weekend when I really got back on track and decided to lose weight and one from Weight Watchers that I started a few months ago. After visiting my family I kind of got off track and I'm actually a couple lbs heavier than when I started Weight Watchers, ouch! But, I'm moving forward. That's all that matters now. 

Today's photo is one I took a few years ago when we lived in our old apartment. YOne night there was a double rainbow. You can barely see the other rainbow, but I assure you that it's there.

Probably Nothing Exciting Today!

So, I'm trying to be good and post something everyday. Hopefully, my one follower will enjoy it. You know who you are. I  promise I'll try to have interesting posts most of the time. But this is a good way for me to kind of journal too, so it helps me do that too.

Today is my day off and all I've got planned is baking a cake with my friend from work, working on my picture frames (yes, I still haven't finished them yet), and just plain relaxing. Oh, and I might throw in some housework somewhere in there as well as a nap.

My friend is from Somalia and she's a Muslim. Right now it's Ramadan and they're fasting for 30 days (4am - 9pm everyday) and apparently the fast ends this Sunday and they have some sort of big gathering and they have lots of food. So, she's baking an African cake. Last night she asked if I had measuring cups because she doesn't have any and so I invited her to come over and bake it here because, of course, I have tons of measuring cups. So, that should be fun. I think I'll ask her more about her religion. I've always been intrigued by Muslims. I think if I wasn't LDS I'd either be Jewish or Muslim. She also said I could come to her mosque some time just to see what it's like and I think I'll take her up on her offer. That would be really cool. So, that's what's going on today. Like I said yesterday my blog feels naked without any photos so here's one from our France/England trip that I really like. I turned out really well.
 ENJOY!

 I think this is a really good shot of the Eiffel Tower! 

Not sure if I took it or Andy did! 

Qdoba = YUMMY!

I had a pretty busy day today. Not terribly busy, just a little more busy than usual. I was a good girl and after I dropped Andrew off at work I headed straight to the gym. I think I was mostly asleep during my stint on the elliptical and I really don't remember much except for that even though I was tired I did my mile faster than normal. (Maybe because I wanted to get done faster so I could get home faster so I could take a nap) I know it doesn't sound like much but right now all I do is a mile. I've sprained my ankles both so many times I that it's not even funny. A couple of months ago I re-injured my left ankle and although it's not technically sprained, it hurts a lot so I'm trying to let it heal, but at the same time I'm trying not to baby it too much. Then, I came home and took a short nap before I headed off to my interview at the temp. agency. It was an great interview. I had to take some tests (typing, excel, Word, etc...) before my actual interview and I knew I did O.K. on them. But, my interviewer was really impressed with me and said I did awesome. My excel score was an 83 and the average is 74. My Word score was 93 and the average is 80. She said they'll have no trouble placing me! In fact, she said I'm at the very top of their list now because I have such a great skill set. She said it probably wouldn't be long before I get an assignment. (One could come tomorrow or it could take a few weeks, but she didn't seem to think it'll be very long) So, hopefully, I'll be saying "buh-bye" to Wendy's soon. I know it will be just a "temp" job but Andrew and I both feel good about me doing this and leaving Wendy's. The temp. agency is all the way on the other side of town and a part that we rarely go to. So, after leaving the temp. agency I was driving and noticed a Qdoba. I remember Angela saying it's a good place so I decided to try it. All I can say is "YUMMY!" I had a burrito and I made sure that I stayed within my daily Weight Watchers points allowance too. It took up a good chunk of my points, but it was definitely worth it! The only other really interesting thing about today was that I learned a new Korean word: Kegogi. It means dog meat. A customer came into Wendy's tonight and we were talking and somehow we got on the subject of Fast Food in other countries. He said in Korea he went to Burger King and they had a Bulgogi burger. He was going to describe was bulgogi is but then I told him I knew what it was and loved it. Then, he said make sure you don't get kegogi and told me the meaning of the word. That was the most excitement I had tonight at work.

Today's post felt kind of naked without any photos so I scoured our hard-drive for any and all photos. To my great surprise I found our photos from our France/England trip. I'd thought that only a few had survived and that most had been somehow deleted before they got uploaded. So, here are a few of the more interesting and random photos I found.

(And sent to bed straightaway so the adults can play!)

YUM! CHEESE...LOTS of CHEESE!

Soup & Crepes!

Yesterday I made my Magic Soup. I call it Magic Soup because it helps you lose weight. How? It's simple - it's vegetable soup and it's yummy and it's super low calorie and once you eat it you don't really crave anything except for the soup. My mom used to make it once in a while when I was growing up and I made it after I came back from China and had gained back a few of the pounds that I had lost over there. It totally worked. And...as long as you keep up with healthy eating you don't gain back the weight, so it's not just water weight that you're losing.
Saturday I bought a really big stock pot. I didn't know how big of one I'd need and I couldn't decide between the 8 qt. and the 12 qt. Finally, I decided to go with the 12 qt. Boy, am I glad I did! I only made one batch of the soup and it filled the entire 12 qt plus I had to use our crockpot and it filled that up as well! So, we have Soup, Soup, and more Soup. And, Andy seems to like it...he had 3 bowls last night! But, that may have been because he didn't have any rice (which is what he generally eats).

YUM!

Our enormous stock pot

This morning I was really ambitious and made crepes. Actually, I just wanted to go to I-Hop and get there Nutella crepes, but I didn't feel like spending the money, so I decided to make them at home. They were actually pretty filling and I only ate 2 which is good because that ended up being 11 Weight Watchers points. But, I have 42 for the day and an extra 49 for the week that I can use any time. So, 11 for breakfast isn't bad.

Here's my crepes from start to finish.

I didn't realize until after I took the picture that the bananas and nutella on the second picture kind of look like some sort of alien face!

Michigan/Wisconsin Trip

I got to go visit my family back in Michigan and Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. We had tons of fun and ate tons of food! If there's one thing my family is good at - it's making fabulous food and making sure you are constantly eating this fabulous food! My aunt made her World Famous Lasagna (well, it's famous in our family anyway) and in my opinion the Olive Garden would pay her a fortune for her recipe. It's really *THAT* good! We went to my aunt's favorite smoothie place and got smoothies and shared a pecan pie bar. I'm not a fan of pecan pie, in fact, I try to avoid it at holiday gatherings. But, this was simply delicious! My uncle made his famous chili, but I didn't get to have any because he made it late the night before I left to come home and somehow the crockpot got unplugged so it wasn't ready when we left at 3am. I was soooooo sad. My aunt and uncle live in a small town and I have really surprised that the restaurants there served really good food. We stopped by Marquette, the city where my grandparents live and had muffins from Babycakes. They make the BEST sour cream chocolate chip muffins. I had missed them soooooo much. I had a great visit with my grandparents and it was good catching up with them. They fed me too. It was kind of pointless to try to stick to my diet. But, when I was visiting my grandparents I did eat something healthy - I had 1/2 a grapefruit. I didn't get to eat my favorite local food - pasties, but I bought some to take home with me, but I needed dry ice to keep them frozen during my trek home and the place that sold it was out of it the day we needed to buy it! I was sooooo sad! But, my aunt said she'll ship them to me when the weather gets cooler. If you don't know what a pasty is I'll tell you: A folded pastry case filled with seasoned meat and vegetables.It's usually made with beef (but other meat like steak can be used), potatoes, rutabaga, and onions. Needless to say with all this food I gained a few lbs. I'm back to my healthy eating habits now and I'm happy to say I've lost almost 5 lbs since I returned home.

This is a picture of a pasty!

Now, lest you think all I did was eat when I was on vacation, you're wrong. My aunt and I spent a lot of time going through dress patterns because she's going to make me a dress! She's an excellent seamstress. Also, we spent a lot of time at Wal-Mart (looking at fabric) and buying random stuff that she needed. We also spent quite a bit of time at bead stores. She's really into beading and her creations are really beautiful. I got to pick out some really nice different colored pink beads and she's going to use them to make me a necklace. She's also going to make me a bracelet. While I was there I made a simple pandora bracelet. (Basically, it's some big beads on a wire...nothing too difficult). And, I got a Michigan stone and tied a silk rope through it to use as a necklace.

Here are some more pictures from my trip. I should have taken more, but my phone kept dying or I kept forgetting to take it with me while we were out and about.

These are my aunt and uncle's cats. Dusti is the grey one and Webster is the black one. They were my constant companions during my visit. I slept on the couch and Dusti usually insisted on sleeping on my neck while Webster preferred to sleep ON my feet. But, sometimes they would both sleep ON my feet cuddled up together.

Webster is my favorite! He's so loving and just plain cute!

Marquette Harbor

The view from the car going into Marquette.

I had a really nice visit with my family and I'm glad Andrew gave it to me for my birthday present. I haven't seen most of my family in over 4 years. So, it was really good to be "home". It's so beautiful there and there are many good things there, but one thing I don't miss are the winters and all the S-N-O-W! I'm glad we live in Boise, and Boise's become home. We're so blessed here to live in such a nice place (with very mild winters and not a lot of snow). It's also beautiful here with all the trees and the mountains in view. I'm also grateful to live 2 miles from the Temple instead of 8 hours! I can't wait until they finish renovating it and we can go again. Last I heard it's going to be re-dedicated in November sometime. It's been closed for more than a year now. I really can't wait until it reopens! I even have family names I can bring now!

Flip Flops & More Picture Frames

R.I.P. Favorite Flip Flops 

(about 2010 - July 19, 2012)

Today my favorite pair of flip flops died. They totally came undone. I tried to put them back together but they still kept coming apart. So, I guess it is goodbye. They were the best flip flops ever! They had polka dots and they were so well worn  that they were almost like a second skin. They were just wonderful! I miss them already. Luckily, I had a back-up pair of flip flops ready to go...but, they just aren't the same and they're just not quite as cool. But, I suppose I'll survive...somehow. 

Today, I also made more picture frames. Andy and I have been married for 5 years now and we still haven't hung up any wedding photos. So, I decided maybe if we had picture frames we just might get around to hanging some up. Plus, I just really wanted to make picture frames again today. I must say that the frame I made the other day turned out sooooo well. But, the frames today were just O.K. Maybe it was beginners luck. Nevertheless...I can't really complain I got them at the Dollar store and if I really end up hating them I can always make new ones. Here are some of them. The lighting is not the greatest so you don't really get the full effect. They look better than their pictures.

This one is spray painted white.

You can't really tell from the picture but the inner rim (right around the glass) is textured with dots.

This one is also spray painted white. 
Then I took glitter glue and made swirls all around it.

This one I spray painted white and then took glitter glue and made hearts in the corners. 

But, the one in the top right corner got kinda smudged. Hopefully, once it's on the wall it you won't be able to notice it.

This one was a disaster. 

It was supposed to be white glittered. 

But somehow, it just turned into a goopy mess.

I also have a couple that are silver glittered. Those turned out so I'm not sure why the white glitter didn't work. Sometimes, I'm not the brightest and I didn't realize the fumes from the spray paint would be so strong. So, I spray painted them in our apartment. I didn't even open the windows or doors or do anything for ventilation. Then, when Andy came home he kinda lovingly scolded me. So, I did what I should have done in the first place...I went outside and finished my last few frames. I spray painted those frames grey. Luckily, with both our doors open and the air conditioner on the fan setting it didn't take too long for it to get rid of the fumes. But, seriously, I don't know what I was thinking. 

Being Crafty!

I'm on a crafty kick right now. Today I decided that our bathroom needs some decorations. So, I made this. In case you can't tell it's a picture of a guppy. The reason that Guppy is spelled "Gu-pee" is because Andrew and I have this little thing we say when we have to pee. Instead of saying something like "I've gotta pee" we started saying "Guppy" so I made a play on words for the picture. I made the frame from a Dollar Store $2 frame. I took Mod Podge and mixed it with glitter. Then I covered the frame in the Mod Podge/Glitter mixture and let it dry for a few hours. I also had the Guppy picture printed off at Office Max on their glossy cardstock and then had the mat cut at Hobby Lobby. I know it sounds like a lot of work for this one little project, but it kept me busy and satisfied my need to: a. decorate our bathroom and b. make something cool.