Finish the Sentence

This has been one of those forever long week. Yesterday truly felt like it was Friday so I was disappointed when the alarm clock went off this morning and reality hit. Nanny duties today include sitting in the BMW dealership to get the boss car fixed. Basically it means I get to sit with all the older guys who hit their mid life crisis and bought a car and are now watching Fox News. Thank the Lord for Internet and my quick thinking to bring my laptop today.

Anyways, last night my beloved Grey's Anatomy came back on and man was it as good as ever. Shonda is killing me with every emotion but I love every moment.

Linking up with Holly and Jake today for the Finish the Sentence link up!

 

1. I always pick more fried food over dessert. (All day, err day)

2. Look at the size of her butt, Becky, it is soooo BIG!

3. I recently learned that when you tell the kids to do something, they wont always do it and instead will continue to do something else the contradicts what you told them to do in the first place!!

4. Only when no one is looking I eat a whole sleeve of Thin Mints. The struggle is real y'all.

5. I lost my first 10lbs on my weight loss journey last week. 10 down, a million more to go!

6. I was certain I'd be an OBGYN when I was a kid, had I known it wasn't just "delivering all the babies" I probably would have decided on something else.

7. There is not enough liquor in the world for me to ever really want liquor, just not for me.

8. I just finished paying my bills....Happy Friday!

9. Why does everyone have to be all over my about my grammar, I know it's not the best but my degree is not in English so back off!

10. It's very rare when I get really angry, but when the delivery people did not show up on time and were 2 hours and 15 minutes late, I made sure they knew how angry I was.

11. If I were a dog I would want to be owned by my human self, I would be pretty spoiled and loved.

12. I don't believe I am ever getting out of this dealership, and I am bound to be hungry in about a couple of hours, this could get dangerous.


This weekend holds the first wedding of the year for me, it's in North Georgia so I know it bound to be beautiful! So ready to get my tears and dance on.


Have a great weekend!


Jenny

Weigh In Wednesday - Sitting In Limbo

Boy was this last week absolutely nuts!!! I had one of my best friends come in from North Carolina to go see Demi Levato with me and so while she was here we had to eat at all the best places. The best places usually don't line up with what I am usually eating. On top of that, mother nature was suppose to hit two days ago, but has decided to take her time so now I am just sitting around awaiting her arrival. It pisses me off because all I want to do is eat, and I feel like I cannot get enough food to keep me hungry. I am attempting to keep myself busy but with a nanny house full of girl scout cookies, and mother nature on the ledge, it's not looking too good for the home team.


Our Friend Mallory from St Augustine moved up here to Atlanta this past weekend as well, hence even more meals! We were all really good friends in college and went to the same church, this was the first time we all got to be together in a long while.

                             

I knew that I would gain this week, it was only about time because I have lost pretty steadily for a while. I am realizing how easy it is to slip right back into old habits. Going out to eat here and there can so easily turn into drive through runs and getting back in the cycle again of eating lean cuisines for lunch so that I can have those French fries for dinner. Not a good place to be. I definitely don't feel that great with all the crappy food and my face is breaking out like no one's business. It's so easy to forget how crappy you feel when you are eating stuff your body doesn't need.




Time to get back on the train! My first of probably 4 weddings that I am going to this year is on Saturday. Megan is my friend Kirsten's sister and I got really close with the whole family and am so excited for her and Brian. We are just praying for fantastic weather since it is in a barn in North Georgia. I know it is going to be so beautiful regardless and am so excited to be a part of her day! One of my secret goals this year is to be thinner at each wedding I attend. This is the first one, then I have one in July, October, and probably December. I know I can do it as long as I get back on track.


Without further ado....

                                    

Starting Weight - 239.4

2/24/2014 - 230.2

Loss this week - +2.2

Total Loss - 9.2lbs

Gain of 2 lbs....whomp whomp. Knowing everything I ate, it probably could have been way worse. I know that I am holding some water weight in too with mother nature looming. Hopefully next week will be another start of a losing streak. I am considering joining a gym soon, we live right down the street from a LA Fitness and I know that it's a really nice gym. Still debating though if I want to spend the money.

For now I am at home with a sick kiddo, double ear infection, bless her heart. Luckily we have every Barbie movie available to help her heal.

Jenny

Weigh In Wednesday - The big 1-0!

Well this past week was so very off, I had Wednesday and Thursday off due to the winter weather we received here, and by the end of that time I was so ready to be back at work. While I love a good couple of days off, I do not like when my schedule is all messed up. Work helps move the week along towards the weekend so as much as I loved playing board games I was so ready for normalcy.

The kids already had Friday and Monday planned off for President's Day and I ended up with Monday off. This was a good thing because all weekend I was layed up in bed with some awful infection I am just now getting over.

With the crazy week my eating was a little crazy. I had French fries three times. Three times too many and I was certain it was going to be a gain this week. But since I was sick and Sunday was spent having soup and PowerAde, I lucked out.

This week I stepped on the scale and...

                         



Starting Weight - 239.4

2/18/2014 - 228.0

Loss this week - 1.9

Total Loss - 11,4 lbs

That's right folks, I hit the big TEN loss!!!! Woot woot!!!!! So happy. I know that I have lost and gained weight so many times but hitting 10lbs gone for forever just makes me elated. I am seeing the difference in my clothes. My black pants that I always wear and getting loose and will need to be replaced soon I am sure. A lot of my workout pants are getting loose too, my shorts that I usually wear are definitely getting loose and really riding up instead of staying where they normally do. Guess it's time to hit up Ross soon!
 

I am back on track today, totally in calorie range and making the best decisions. No more French fries for this girl! The only thing is that I wish I could exercise but I am not pushing it at all until I am 100% well. No need to make this sickness stick around longer then it needs to.

I guess that's it for now. I have been taking pictures every week to go in my weight loss binder and looked to see if I could see a difference in the way I looked and I really couldn't tell a whole lot. If anything I think my boobs are getting a little smaller and I am totally ok with that haha. I would show the pictures but I have not uploaded them yet. Hopefully by next week I will!

Have a great Wednesday!

Jenny



Weigh In Wednesday - 1 Month

Here we are at my 4th official weigh in here with the weigh-in-Wednesday crew. I love this link up, I love the community, and I love the encouragement. There is nothing pushing me more then knowing that once a week I can bare my all and people are there to cheer me on or give me an encouraging word. So thank you again!

I am off today because of the ice/snow here in Atlanta. This is round 2 for us to redeem ourselves after the last one so I'm hoping we do better! It's different this time though because the ice is crazy. At least it gave me some time to get in a nice workout at our gym here at the apartment. Who knows if and when the power might go out. Anyways....

This is now my 1 month mark since I started eating better and I must say it's been a fantastic month. I have been eating wayyy better then I have in the past years and I am feeling much better. I know that this is the time it's really going to work because it's not just a "diet" it's a lifestyle change. I am making better decisions every where I go and to me that is a big difference.

A few things that have majorly changed for me are fast food and soda. Yes I have had fast food here and there, but it has mostly been Subway or Moe's. When I have these though it's not going all out crazy, its making sure that I choose wisely and that I make the healthier choice rather then just listening to what my brain thinks I want. I have not had McDonalds, Taco Bell, Wendys, Burger King, or any of the like in over a month. Now that's just about a record for me. I have only had French fries one time and that was this past week at Chili's I really wanted them and decided I could have them every now and again, just not every day.

Soda has been a huge undertaking, luckily I was already off and on it for a few months but just switched over to sweet tea, lemonade, powerade, and juice. Basically anything else sugary that I could substitute for soda, which is not an better. Since starting my weight loss I have only had 1 sweet tea. ONE. That's it, everything else that I drink is water. All day, every day, and I love it. Sometimes I add a lemon here or there but taking in water has made me feel a ton better.

I also started a weight loss binder this past week. Basically it's a mini binder with page protectors and sheets of paper. Every Monday when I weigh in I take two pictures of myself and then log my information into my binder. I print out the pictures and put them next to the info every week. I can look anytime I want to see the progress I am making and the physical changes I am seeing in my body. I love it so much, I can't wait to look when I get down 30-40 pounds and see what a change I have made and how much more I can do!

Last week was a good normal week for me. My kids were all in school again for a whole which is a welcomed change. They are out again this week due to weather so now that makes 3 out of the last 4 weeks out of school -_-. I love them, I just am not ready for summer yet haha! But anywho it was a good week, I tracked everything except for Saturday (Chili's and guacamole, lots of it) but I did go hike the mountain on Sunday which is my favorite thing to do. I felt good about my weigh in, I had been monitoring it all week because my diet bet ends in like 3 days and I wanted to see how it was going.

                                      

  
  Yay!!!! 2.5 this week!!!! I am so excited. I keep expecting to get on the scale and not see it move or even gain weight. I am realizing though that because I am really making changes and really sticking to it that I am actually going to keep losing weight.

Starting Weight - 239.4

2/10/2014 - 229.9

Loss this week - 2.5

Total Loss - 9.5 lbs

My goal this week is to get to that 10 pound loss, I am sure that I can as long as I keep on doing what I have been doing.
My diet bet ends on Friday too and I need to be at 228.4 so I need to kick it into gear to make sure get that last 1.5 lb off so I can win my money back.

Have a great Wednesday.

Jenny

5 on Friday Olympic Edition!

Last night started one of my most favorite times of every even year! The Olympics!!!! There is just something so patriotic and just plain awesome about the Olympics. I have downloaded my apps and have set my TV to full coverage for the next few days.

I have a twitter but don't use it too much, when it comes to the Olympics though it's one of my favorite places to be. Nothing like a good laugh from what some of these people are tweeting. My roommate and I have also decided to live tweet while watching the Olympics. You can follow her at @lindseydedge and me at @jennylynn4930 and our hashtag is #landjtweettheolympics

Last night was spent watching a lot of the pre-qualifying stuff for figure skating, slope style snowboarding, and the Moguls. Let me just say a few things. 1. I wish I was as cool as the snow boarders. They are so cool from their outfits to their names to their looks.... I'll just leave that there. 2. My knees are still hurting from watching those girls do the moguls going downhill. Just ouch. I pray for their safety every time they go down.

So in honor of that I have decided to share my 5 favorite tweets that I found from last night!

1. Yes.... this is so true. I watched the Super Bowl and was less than enthused, but these Olympic commercials are making cry and clap at the same time!

2. This one was just too funny not to post. I read it to my roommate and we both just cracked up.

3. It's amazing how much we feel like we are experts in the sports when they come on. I am the same way talking terms I have never heard before in my life...true story.

4. This is sooooo true. It should be a timed event, and there should be categories based on size. I am sure I would take the Gold for size "really big". 

5. I have seen all the stuff surrounding the conditions there and then watching Bob Costas have that eye infection this was just icing on the cake!

What are your favorite sports in the winter Olympics? Will you be glued to the TV as well?

Happy Friday!

Jenny

Hard Decisions Made Easy

So I posted a while back about my decision to go to Grad School to get my masters. I had decided I didn't want to teach and wanted to be a Child Life Specialist. You don't need a masters to be one but I figured what the hey I might as well since I have a bachelors. I took my GRE, got the scores I needed and applied to the University of Georgia for their program. 

About to three weeks ago I was thinking about what the next couple of years would look like for me. As I got to thinking I realized that I wasn't sure if I really wanted to take two years off of working full time and go back to school. Not only would I be not getting paid I would be in even more student debt. After praying about it I thought it really wouldn't be a good idea. Then one weekend my roomie and her boyfriend and I attended a church conference where the speaker spoke on prophecy. We paired up and just prayed boldly for our partner, mine happened to be a lady I had never met. She told me that as she prayed for me she sensed God was telling her that I was teetering on something and that I knew where I needed to go and that God was going to take care of it so I should go in faith. I cried because I knew exactly what she was referring to. 

The week after I looked on the Child Life Council website to see what I would need to do just to get certified. Since I already have a bachelors I would just need to take a handful of classes, do an internship, take the certification test and I am good to go. I reached schools that would let me take classes as a non degree seeking student and as a distant learner. I found about 7 schools and started emailing contacts to figure out what I needed to do. All of them emailed me back. After looking at costs and how easy it would be to register and apply I decided on the University of Alabama. My brother went to school there, that's who I root for and who just so happened to have a great program for me and an awesome advisor that was already helping me so much. 

After talking back and forth I applied as a non degree seeking distant learner (which means I didn't have to pay an application fee!!) and got accepted. I will start taking classes come this summer and will need 10 or less classes depending on what I have already taken counts for. 

I know that God has had a huge hand in it. I applied to Alabama on Monday was accepted on Tuesday, on Wednesday I told my small group my new plan, and on Thursday I got a letter saying that I was not accepted to Georgia's masters program. It was just confirmation that it was not where I was suppose to be. His timing is always perfect. I am just honored I get to witness it. 

So now I will be working still with my nanny family and taking classes. When I get a job in a hospital the opportunity might arise to get my masters and I might take advantage of it, who knows. For now I am very happy and lookin forward to the future. 

With all that being said Roll Tide Roll. 

Jenny 

Weigh In Wednesday - Keep on Keeping On

Another crazy week in the life of this nanny.

As I stated in my last post, we had the 2014 Snowpocolypse which caused me to be stranded at my bosses house over night, and then caused my kiddos to be out of school for three days. Talk about throwing a wrench into your schedule. When things get stressful all I want to do is eat. I didn't have pizza and fried rice this week, but my sweet tooth kicked in and I had a chocolate or two too many. That's ok, sometimes you need just 1 piece and you can stop.

This was also Super Bowl week, or also known in my world as the Food Bowl. Of course I had a fantastic party to attend with the best food known to man. I didn't do too bad, I only ended up eating one piece of pie and then the snacks here and there but I kept my big bottle of water with me and sipped the whole night. This kept me full and also made me had one less hand to use to eat so I couldn't eat as much, haha.

I am in the process right now of learning to cook for 1 person instead of 6 or more like I grew up learning to do. This causes me to take many a more grocery trips throughout the week to get more fresh food but that is ok with me. My new favorite thing is this Beef and Broccoli I made, it has honey and vanilla with soy sauce and Siracha. I know it seems like a weird combo but with just the right amount of each you are talking about perfection.

                                      

Monday I rolled out of bed and immediately changed into my weigh in clothing and went pee and then hopped right on that scale. I thought maybe I would be down 1 or less and go this....

                                   

 

Yep down 3.1!!! So happy with that! Not much exercise with that one since I wasn't able to do my normal Sunday mountain. I can only think how much more I could have if I had just walked a couple of days...that's what this next week is for!

Starting Weight - 239.4

2/4/2014 - 232.4

Loss this week - 3.1

Total Loss - 7 lbs
 

I am taking in a lot more water these days. Since I started this whole thing about 3 weeks ago I have not touched any soda at all, I call that a success. It's all water all the time for me. My goal is to be drinking at least 64oz. a day.

Yesterday I got a package from my Cara partner Audrey, she has been so fun to get to know. She sent me the best box ever! I am going to be posting on that later in the week.

                                       

I also got a box from my mom yesterday and one from my Mimi today. So blessed to get care packages from my family. It makes being single around Valentines Day that much more bearable haha. It really doesn't bother me that much, I just make extra money and babysit for people! Winner winner, chicken dinner!

                                    

Happy Hump Day!


Jenny

That Guac Tho....

Once upon a time there was a girl who wasn't really a fan of avocados or guacamole. As she got older and learned the errors of her ways she tried some and fell in love. The end. 

Well yep that was me. Story of my life is not liking something for a long time, and then trying it in the last couple of years and loving it. That's basically what happened with guacamole. So of course with the super bowl being this past Sunday I wanted to make some fresh guacamole to take with me to the party I was attending. I had a few of the ingredients from the farmers market I went to and so only had to get a little more.






It's a good guacamole full of flavor!












Ingredients:


8 Avocados
2 Limes
2 Roma Tomatoes
2 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 Red Onion
1 Jalapeno Pepper

1/4 Bunch Cilantro

Start with the tomatoes and clear out all of the seeds and dice them up into small chunks.

Then take that jalapeno pepper and do the same thing, take all of the seeds out and dice it up super small.

                              

Mince the 2 cloves of garlic.

Chop up the 1/2 red onion and join them with everything else in the bowl.

Then there is the avocados. You want to make sure you have ripe avocados so that they mash easily. Cut around the entire avocado and then take the pit out and scoop with a spoon the insides into
a bowl.

                               

Take your two limes and cut them in half and squirt all the juice into the avocados and start mashing. It is totally ok if there are chunks left. No one minds a good bite of full on avocado.

Mix in the ingredients from the other bowl and add garlic powder to taste (I love me some garlic so you can use your discretion on how much you want to use). Take about a good handful of cilantro and chop it up a bit and mix in as well. Then wa-la! Some good guacamole. Make sure you eat it as soon as possible or it will turn brown.

Happy Tuesday!

Jenny

Super Weekend

Hello it's Monday! 

I am so ready for this week. Two weeks ago my nanny family was on vacation and so I had the week off to do whatever I wanted. Last week we had the snowpocolypse of 2014 and Atlanta shut down. This including spending a night at work and then having the kids out of school for three whole days. Anyways I am ready for some normalcy again. 

This weekend was spent recovering from the crazy snow week. Saturday was a nice easy day. Friday night I was looking online to see if I could find a farmers market close to my house to go get some fresh produce. I came across www.farmersmarketbaskets.com and started reading. Basically it's a food co-op that only costs $10 a year. You get a basket of fruits and veggies every week that is compromised of items from farmers markets. The cost depends on the size basket you get and the fruits and veggies vary by season. I loved the idea and decided I wanted to join. 

Saturday I ventured over there and got my first basket ever. They also have a little market where you can buy extras for a great price. I got all of the food below including the yellow basket for $20! 

This was the small basket and then I added the extra apples and the avocado and garlic. I am so excited to cook up some stuff this week to eat. 

I also ventured to Ross to see if I could find a strainer for my sink and then found this basket and banana hanger to go on the counter. 

Saturday eventing I babysat to earn some more money for my trip to Germany in March. I am so excited! I am buying my plane ticket next week and can't wait it will become so real. I mostly can't wait to get my arms around my niece and nephews, and meet the newest one for the first time! 

Sunday was church and baking and Super Bowl! 

I made my apple crumb pie for the party which is always a major hit! 

With my fresh avocados I made some homemade guacamole as well. I haven't mad fresh guacamole in like 4 years so I was excited to make it. It turned out awesome and I was so pleased! I am planning a recipe post tomorrow. 

I watched the game off and on. Mostly just hung out with a ton of cool people. 

Have a great week! 

Jenny