I only lost a little

So in the "Great Weight Watchers Attempt of 2010" I was doing really really well (as stated in my previous post). 5.6 lost in 2 weeks! However, this past Saturday at weigh-in, I had only lost .2 and I was very disappointed. Yeah...that's .2, not 2. So now my total is a whopping 5.8 over 3 weeks. I was really hoping to be at 7 by this point. I'm stuck so any advice on how to get "un-stuck" would be greatly appreciated...

Funny story as a side track. So over the course of our 18+ month marriage, Jarren had managed (until last night) to lose his wedding band twice.
Once was when he had been in the restroom and I guess things got a little dicey so he removed his wedding band and put it on one of the prongs of my iron toilet paper stand. He left it there and forgot where it was. Imagine the laughter we got after hours of turning his car, his office and our house inside out looking for it when I found it the next time I went to the bathroom.
The second time he was playing with it and dropped it on the couch and by some crazy force it managed to fall between the arm of the couch and the cushion, down into the body of the couch. The cushions are sewn in and there is a layer of backing under the couch. Although you can't tell by looking at it, our couch now has the backing completely removed, a 3" x 3" whole cut in the wood frame, and my husband once again has his wedding ring back. The bad part about that story was we could hear it rolling around in there, just couldn't get to it.
Well, last night he comes home after work and after he's there a little while, he says he can't remember if he locked the door and he needs to go back and check. I offer to ride along since it's late and I found it odd that he really didn't want me to go. But I'm a pesky wife and went anyway. He gets out to go check and door and I notice he's looking around the ground. He then goes in the building, which I find weird. Turns out, he has lost his ring at work that day. He took it off when he decided to shoot some hoops at the end of the day to make time go by faster (???). Put his ring in his pocket and when he got home, it was gone. Of course, I get out of the car, walk up the entry way and find it laying on the sidewalk, which makes him mad that I found it so easy. Third time is charmed, honey...try not to lose it again...

Back in the Habit

I'm getting back in the habit with a LOT of things. Not just posting more on our blog, because I say I will do that, but then if I don't, I just look like I'm bad at following through with the things I say I'm going to do. And honestly, I'm really good at following through... Here are my things (not necessarily in order of importance...just as I think of them!):

#1 - I Will Post on our Blog More
Yeah, yeah, you've heard this before. I really am. Because in the industry I am in (advertising), social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, etc.) are the new face of advertising for our clients and I have to get better at it.

#2 - Weight Watchers
I got into some great habits when I joined Weight Watchers at the large (for me) weight of 173.6 back in February of 2008. I had lots of success and managed to drop 20+ pounds for my wedding. My wedding dress was a size 8! Well 18 months later I have put that back on PLUS some. No excuses except being happily married and eating what my hubby ate. NOT GOOD for the 5'5" girl in her (ahem) "late" 20's. So I will not reveal the exact number I weighed in at my first WW meeting back on February 6, but let's say it was a tad over that original number. Now I have a healthy goal set (135) by a healthy date (August 23 - our two year wedding anniversary!). I have had my end-of-the-third-week weigh-in yet (that comes this Saturday), but as of last Saturday, I had already lost 5.6 pounds in only two weeks of trying. The system really does work when you use it. I'm getting back in this habit and already can tell a difference in clothes and my confidence! Hopefully I don't annoy you with lots of weight posts...I'll try not to.

#3 - Friends
It was so hard to move to Huntsville and realize the "forever" friends I thought I had in college are no longer near me. I met Jarren, fell in love, and got married and now his friends are my friends here. But it still does not fill that giant void I have for a friend who is nearby who I feel I can honestly open my heart to them and tell them everything and not be judged for it. I have that friend in my best friend, Lindsay Ann, but she lives 1,200+ miles away in New York City as a fabulous designer for the Brooks Brothers women's line! She's seriously so talented... But I miss her. I miss not being able to see her on weekends like when she lived in Birmingham. And it hurts the most now that I feel a particular friend has hurt me deeply even though I've always tried to have the best intentions. Deeply doesn't even graze the surface but I'll leave it at that. So my next habit I'm working on is to nurture the friends I care about the most so they always know how much I love them and care for them.

#4 - the B-I-B-L-E
Yes, that's the book for me! So Jarren and I have developed a wonderful habit in we joined a church two years ago and we attend regularly and faithfully because we WANT to. Not because we feel we have to. We genuinely look forward to attending services at Trinity UMC and have honored our love for the church with our weekly donations of money. But I want it to go beyond just the check I write. I want to find a Bible Study home there whether it for women or young couples. I want to get back into my Bible and back into studying it and really seeing what God's purpose for our lives is. I'm going through such a tough time right now in terms of my own mental well-being due to friends and feeling I cannot trust some. I know there are answers in the Bible for me and I plan to whole-heartedly dig deep to find a way to let my Christian light shine more and more!

Come to think of it...I think I put these in descending order! #4 is definitely my top priority! Funny how that works out... : )

Love to all to who read this,
E

You want food? We got food...

Before I start, please see a few of my favorites from our recent trip to the beach (Navarre) with Jarren's parents and Haley & Devin. It was so relaxing-we never really had any plans. We just went! Weather was great and the food was even better. You just can't beat a shrimp boil one night, crab claws the next, crab cakes for lunch and grouper the next day...anyway, here are the pictures!About to go out to eat for dinner one night.

Just goofing off!

We're having our good friends Teri & Thomas Brandon over for dinner tomorrow night and I'm pumped about cooking a nice meal for someone else besides just J & I! Those who know me know I actually really really really like cooking. I'll include recipes and pictures in my next blog post...)although at the rate I'm going who knows how long that will be). Just to make you salivate, we're having:
Steak
Cajun red potatoes
Greek salad (that Teri's making)

Then, we're all going to hear Ugli Stick at The Sports Page! Fun times...ADPi Christmas Cocktail 2004 anyone?? : )

LinkedIn

I joined LinkedIn today and I want all of you who read this to do the same! Just click here and get started. It's like a professional Facebook. At work, we're learning all about social media and how Twitter and blogging is the new thing. And since Jarren NEVER writes on the blog, I'm thinking about letting this take a more professional twist...and plug TotalCom while I'm at it! So hopefully ever so often I will be posting a tidbit of something interesting I've learned from the world of advertising. Some will be funny (as we do tend to have a blast working on things here at the Ward Ave. house!) and some will be serious. Short blog post today... Go join LinkedIn and invite me in your network! Please!!!

ATL, here we come! And a rambling thought to Alabama Power...

No, we're not moving to Atlanta (much to my mother's dismay)! We're headed there today to visit the 'rents as soon as that 5-o-clock whistle blows for the day. We're actually going to help her distress her white kitchen cabinets. They need such an update and this will really warm them up. I can't wait to post before and after pictures for her to see. Should be good fun!

I really don't have much blogging to do today, I just realized I need to keep up better with it. Which seems to be a recurring theme to all my blog posts. I'm really trying to keep a handle on it all because the social media world is taking the advertising world by storm - literally. It's HUGE. You're not anyone if you aren't posting your ads to Facebook and YouTube and updating with a blog and Twitter. It's confusing just to keep up with the world we're in with all these things coming at you. To quote a line from the movie "He's Just Not That Into You" (which is a terrible movie, btw), "...and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It's exhausting." I couldn't agree with her more. Sometimes even my own husband rejects me with that fabulous technology known as the cell phone by not answering my phone calls about 68.4% of the time.

So all this reliance on technology got me thinking on how reliant we are on it. For example: last Friday night, Jarren and I decided to go see the new movie The Hangover (HILARIOUS, btw. Even if they do show most of the funny parts in the previews). Anyway, it's a 7:30 movie and we have to get there early for me to see the previews (in my humble opinion - the BEST part of any movie). So we're sitting in the theater at 7:15 when the screen goes black and the emergency lights come on. Seems a transformer has blown due to the overactivity of air conditioners considering the sweltering heat wave that has crossed Alabama the past 2 weeks or so. And my thought is, we live in Alabama. Of course it's hot in the summer. 100 degree + days in the middle of June aren't completely uncommon. It's 2009. Do we not have the ability to recover from people just trying to stay comfortable? Apparently not because it took over 4 hours to restore power to a large chunk of the county. We finally got into our house at 11:30 that night. You read that right - 11:30 to get into our house. Why you ask? Because we are so reliant on power and technology that when the power went out, our only entry into our house currently (the garage door opener), wouldn't work. We tried for 30 minutes to break in and didn't succeed. Which makes me feel good that we couldn't even break into our own home... And you know what we learned from all of this? Nothing. Because we still rely on that power to fuel our lives. Moral of my rambling? I don't understand all these left-wing nut jobs rambling on about renewable energy and save the planet and global warming (which I don't believe in, btw. Argue with me all you want on this point, I do not believe in man-made global warming) when we can't even get power restored to a major Alabama city in a timely fashion when the only reason for the power outage in the first place is people running air conditioners a little cooler. It's summer in the South in Alabama (as I've stated). It gets hot here every year, just as it has for decades. Be prepared for this, Alabama Power.

Thank you.

Update on Jarren

So I realize I have not updated this blog since April and that means I'm a VERY bad blogger. But we've been so busy! We've had several showers for friends getting married and visits with family, etc. But then I also realized that I need to update on Jarren.
Last Tuesday night, we were up all night with him violently ill. He kept saying his stomach hurt and he was violently throwing up and alternating between hot and cold. We went to the doctor as soon as they opening thinking it was probably food poisoning or something because he ate at nasty Bandito Burrito Tuesday night while I was at Bunco.
Turns out, doctor was afraid it was appendicitis and sent us to the ER via ambulance. THAT was an experience and probably cheap, too.
We get to the ER at Huntsville Hospital and of course had to wait WAY longer for everything - to see the doctor, to get the CT scan, etc. Well, turns out it WAS appendicitis so Wednesday afternoon at about 4:45, Jarren went in for surgery to remove it. He's doing great now and we went home before 8:00 am the next morning. They didn't even have to use stitches! They were able to do it minimally-invasive so he's just been really sore. Friday was a slightly rough day for both of us (him because he was irritable and sore and me because...well...he was irritable and sore). Saturday he over-did it a little which made Sunday a sore day. But he went back to work yesterday (Monday) and seems to be doing great! We go back to the doctor Friday to get the little butterfly tape removed and hopefully get the all clear to get back to normal. I miss snuggling up to him in the bed!!!
So that's the update with J. Praise God everything went smoothly and he's almost back to normal!

We've Lost a Bedroom...

We're officially all moved in and yes, we've lost a bedroom. To the dog. Tank has officially declared one of the guest bedrooms as "his". He even sleeps on the bed in there at night. All night long. It's the only place he'll go these days. Even when J and I are in the den watching TV, he won't hang out with us anymore. He goes to his "room" and lays on the bed. I'm not sure if I should be alarmed at his sudden affection for this particular room or relieved that he doesn't sleep in our room and jump on and off the bed 50 times a night where we hear his little toenails every time he does it. Right now, I'm leaning towards relief since I'm getting more sleep.

Moving went great! It was a lot of hard work and we had so much wonderful help from our wonderful family and friends. We couldn't have done it without them! We're busy trying to do what I call "finishing touches" so I'll be sure to post some finished pictures in the next week or so as we get more done.