You Have Been Warned...

This stuff is lethal.  I'm talking about Special K Chocolatey Delight.  The commercial says you can get your chocolate fix without undoing your whole day and they are right...to a degree.  I mean, one bowl of it is only 3 Points Plus (4 with 1/2 c. skim milk), which is great, wonderful, exciting, thrilling, etc.  But...I dare you to be able to only eat one bowl. 

Then get back to me and tell me you had to have two three even though you weren't hungry.  It's. That. Good. 

Try it...thank me tomorrow...

Yard Work = Major Activity Points!

Sorry it's been a week!  It seems I'm busy with life even when I don't feel that busy.

I was off work Friday for my WONDERFUL Mama, Sissy and Adopted Sissy to come to our home and help Jay and I work our little hineys off re-landscaping our front bed.  I wish I had taken a "before" picture, but, alas, I didn't.  You will have to be satisfied with the "after" photo...

It was an empty bed to begin with so this was some may-ja work (and work out - I got over 20 activity points!).  Here's what we have in there now:
• The bushes in the back are called Compacta Holly and they will eventually grow bigger (around 4 ft' tall and across) and will have to be shaped up each year, but they are a good, low-maintenance shrub other than that.

• The bright green plant in front of those are the only thing that remained in there that we planted last year and they are Nikko Hydrangea bushes, which means they can take partial sun, which this bed gets.  Most hydrangea bushes cannot take sun so make sure if your bed is in partial sun you get the Nikko variety.  Ours bloom purple/blue (I call it Periwinkle).

• The smaller green bushes in front of the Nikko Hydrangeas are good ole fashioned southern Gardenia bushes.  Can't wait for them to bloom in May and smell so good!

• The two tall, slim trees are Arbividae trees.  Pretty basic (they're an evergreen tree) and they won't get much taller than 4'-6'.

• The bush close to the porch steps is called a Cotoneaster and I love it because it is very organic looking (meaning it is very flowy, etc.).

• The flowers in the foreground are scattered throughout and they are perennials so they will come back each year.  The purple ones are Salvia and the pink ones are Columbine.

• The flowers just beside those are Pansies (the purple ones) and Gerbera Daisies (the hot pink ones).

We dug up about a million pounds of rock that was in that bed (HARD WORK) and I am planning on using those rocks as accent stones in the bed...just haven't placed them yet.

However, they were used Monday when TERRIBLE storms blew through the area for several hours that included strong winds (80+ MPH), hail, and rotation in the atmosphere (which produces tornadoes in most cases).  So...I rushed home from work and covered our new investments plants with anything I could find...this included buckets, coolers, wheelbarrows, and even our fire pit.  See here:

All in all, I would say all the hard work really paid off - we have a GREAT looking bed now and I earned LOTS of activity points which meant I enjoyed a delish margarita at Casa Blanca Saturday night!  Hey, I earned all 19 of those points.... :)

SHOES!

Does Spring not just make you want to pick up every single cute pair of shoes you see?  It does that to me...but my husband wallet always reigns me in.  But I couldn't resist in MAJOR sale picking up these two cute little specimens (BTW - espadrilles are very in this year according to the mags I've been reading):

Jessica Simpson "Crepe" Wedge Espadrille in Gold
Originally - $79.00
I scored for - $35.00
It isn't exactly like this Lilly Pulitzer gold wedge I was in love with a few weeks ago, but it's also not $198 so I think it's a great trade!

Nine West Vintage America Collection "Jaxson" in Black
Originally - $79.00
I scored for - $59.25
I would normally never pay even that much for a shoe (Dilliards, Belk, etc. always have really great shoe sales), but this black must-have is going to be a staple in my Spring/Summer/Fall wardrobe I can already tell (Fall in Alabama is still in the 80's, people...don't judge).

I'll try to post pictures the first time I wear each!

I think this shoe thing is coming from no matter what you weigh, shoes look great on you!  I am continuing to follow the Points Plus system with Weight Watchers and am losing weight.  But it's not coming off where I want it to.  My hips and thighs are staying the same while everything else is losing.  Makes shopping for pants and shorts very frustrating so I haven't really done it much.  But shoes fit me no matter what!

What shoes are on your must-have list for this season??

A Taste of Thai

Greetings!!

So this whole only weighing in one time a month thing isn't going to go over real well for me.  I think I'm going to have to get back on track and weigh in every week.  Lifetime means you can weigh in up to once a week, but you only have to weigh in once a month.  Soooo...without a weigh in looming over my head, I cheat more often.  Like this weekend.  BAD!  And this morning with Chick-Fil-A.  But I hadn't had a chicken biscuit in I-don't-know-how-long and the urge took over and I had to have one.  And now it's done and I can move on without one again for another six months.

So this post includes a recipe and pictures (from the BB so the quality isn't perfect) for Thai Lettuce Wraps.  This is a GREAT option for dinner when you are low on points remaining for the day.  They are absolutely delicious and filling and healthy!  So without further adieu...

Thai Lettuce Wraps (1 serving)
1 chicken breast, grilled, sliced
5 romain lettuce leafs
1/3 c. shredded carrots
3 tsp. Thai peanut sauce (see photo for details)
3 tsp Thai sweet chili sauce (see photo for details)

Points Plus = 5

With warm weather upon us I will divulge to you my "sweet tooth" secret.  But I'm telling you, if you run out and buy them all up I will be very upset at you!  Purity Banana Pops are AMAZING, cool, sweet, refreshing and wait for it...1 Points Plus!

Coming up this week/weekend:
Chicken Pesto Bow-Tie Pasta
Cream Cheese Spaghetti
Seafood

Happy Eating, Ya'll!!!

TANgorine Update!

Doing a quick update via the BlackBerry on my previous TANgorine post.  I learned the secret to self-tanning lotion and now, I LOVE it!  I highly recommend the Jergens Natural Glow now that I have discovered this one key secret:
You MUST moisturize with a good, high-quality lotion (I use Curel Ulta Healing) about 10 minutes before using the Natural Glow.  That's the trick!  That one simple step before-hand will ensure you have NO BLOTCHES, NO STREAKS, NO STRIPES!!!  I'll try to get a good pic up soon of my super cute tan legs!  :)
Happy Glowing, Readers (all 4 of you...)!

TANgorine

I don't really do product reviews, but I'm doing one now.  In the spirit of hitting Lifetime with Weight Watchers, I decided I needed to get tan(ner) for spring.  In the college days I used to be all about Fake-N-Bakein' it up at the tanning bed, but these days, I realize Amazonian tan for someone my age in March is just not a good look.  Really, overly dark just isn't very "in style" anymore.  I'm sure I'll go twice a week for a month or two in April and May to shake the white off some...but in the meantime, I had heard that Jergens had recently redone their Natural Glow tanning moisturizer and at only $7 with my Kroger Plus Card, I decided to give it a go.

My ankles are TANgorine, people.  Blotchy, blotchy, blotchy.  I was so careful about my application of it, where to concentrate and where not to, etc.  And it is orange.  I thought with all the technology out there now that they could perfect a sunless tanning lotion.  Not so much...  When you see this bottle in the stores, run away...

Guess when it comes to sunless tanning, it's Slim Pickings out there, ladies.  Slim Pickings...

Celebration!

So Saturday I finally accomplished six weigh-ins without going more than 2 pounds over my "goal" weight (I put goal in quotation marks because I still plan on losing 15 more pounds)!  So I got my Lifetime number and as long as I don't gain...I'm free for life with Weight Watchers (of course, I will continue to pay $12.95 a month for the awesome online tools!).  Congrats to me!!  :)

To celebrate (BTW - Weight Watchers always says to reward yourself with a non-food treat...which means spend money) we went to Home Depot and bought a grill and new patio furniture.  Before you go all Holy Guacamole on me, my Mom and Dad were going to contribute to a deck we were going to build as Jay and I's b'day gift, but when we abandoned the deck idea, a grill was the next best thing to get!  So Mom and Dad are reimbursing us for the grill...which is AWESOME!  Here it is:

You likey?  Go pick yourself up one at Home Depot...check out the details on it here.

Also, we got new patio furniture with a table to eat outside on.  We wanted wrought iron so it was classic and would always be in style.  Plus, we wanted the great bouncy chairs like my mom and dad have!  We have already spent several hours in them and we just got it all set up late Saturday afternoon!!  That whole spring forward thing really got us in the mood to enjoy our outdoor living space.  We added an umbrella and lights, and once the lights are all set up and looking great, I'll get a real picture!  What's that?  You want to see the patio furniture now?  OK.  Check it out here and also the picture below...

But ours don't have cushions at all... no way I'm putting those ugly red striped things from that picture on my chairs!!  We will go sans-cushions...don't like that look.

Busy little weekend for the Webbs!!