Shawn's 39th...and holding...Birthday Swap!

Shawn over at Seriously Shawn is hosting a Swap in honor of her 39th ...and holding...Birthday! That's right people. She will no longer be celebrating birthdays, only anniversaries of her last birthday. So, let's join in and make her 39th and final birthday the best one yet!!! Swaps are so super fun, if you haven't joined in a blogger swap before, you are missing OUT! Click on the button and follow the instructions. It's easy-peasy-japanesy.

Hope everyone has a FABULOUS FRIDAY!!

Extreme Makeover : Me Edition

Blah blah blah...that's how I feel about today's Extreme Makeover : Me Edition today. Well, just about my post and the fact that I don't have anything positive to say right now. I just came back form weigh-in where I gained 1.8 pounds...that's almost 2 pounds! What the hey? Ugh. I guess the positives are that I felt a little kick in my pants when I stepped on those scales today...like a little voice saying "see, you better get your butt in gear" and I left the meeting feeling somewhat motivated. So, I guess I better listen. I want next weeks 'tales from the scales' to be good. I wanted soooooo badly to have lost 25 pounds (at least) by vacation. Now I know that I can kiss that dream good-bye. Vacation is a week from tomorrow and now I am an extra 1.8 pounds away from that goal. boo. My WW leader said something today though that really stuck with me..."the road to success is always under construction." I think that is very fitting.

So, this week I will...

• exercise


• eat LOTS of fruits and veggies


• drink lots of water


• make smart choices


• remember that one bad meal does not constitute giving up

I will not...

• be frustrated


• give up


• sabotage myself


• let stress get the best of me


• lose out on quality sleep


• make excuses

I hope everyone on the weight-loss/healthy living highway has a successful week ahead! For more EM:ME go see Amber (she lost 4 POUNDS this week!...go give her a virtual 'pat on the back'!)

New Moon HOTTNESS!

I'm here today for the love of New Moon...and all it's yummy goodness. I don't really have time to be on Blogger...I should totally be punching some numbers and running reports, but these lovely photos captured my attention and I just couldn't NOT share them with all of my fellow Twilighters (Twihards, Twiholics...however you label yourself...you know who you are.)



Without further ado...

Let the love triangle unfold...it does make for a great story, doesn't it? I love Jacob for the fact that if his love for Bella (and her's for him) didn't exist, the Twilight Saga would have ended a lot sooner. So, thank you Jacob for loving Bella.

Holy HoTTness...it's Edward Cullen!

Thank you Lord for New Moon and the fine features you bestowed up on our very own Edward Cullen. It's much appreciated.

...did I mention that I would like to give thanks for Edward being so hott?

Once again, I would like to give thanks for Edward being so HOTT...however, I do not give thanks for this portion of New Moon. At this point in the book, I was ready to throw my copy of New Moon out of my bedroom window and make it my life's mission to make Stephenie's life as miserable as possible (but I totally don't feel that way now, of course...but at the time...well, you know what I mean.) Oh, but I am thankful for Edward and Bella's reunion in Italy and all of the Shirtless Rob pics floating around the internet...thank you for those!

This makes my heart melt...I'm going home to re-read New Moon...TONIGHT!

Yeah, this one...

Hellloooo, CUTE boys! :)

The whole cast...

In case you aren't keeping count, there are only 116 days until New Moon (that's like 2,784 hours...or 167,040seconds).

For the 11th (eleventh) and 20th (twentieth) commenter (if there are that many...if not, I'll do a random drawing), I have a New Moon teaser poster w/ your name on it! If you're a Jacob fan let me know. The first person to declare their love for Jacob will get a Jacob poster!

I would like to give a big THANK YOU to Michelle (from Tickled Pink) for my WAY cool magnet she sent me...that she bought while in Forks, WA (yeah, THE Forks!) over the 4th of July! Thank you, Michelle! You're awesome! I love owning something that came from Forks! :) It will reside with the rest of my Twilight treasures in my office and every time I look at it I will think of you. :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Enjoy your week!

Extreme Makeover: Me Edition

*hanging head in shame*...I feel bad. I miss you guys. I think about blogging and commenting on my fav blogs EVERYDAY, but something happens through the day and I NEVER make it over here...I'm sorry. *pouty lip* I would promise that I'll do better, but I see the trend continuing until after vacation, which isn't until August 6th-12th. I feel so consumed w/ planning and getting work to a place where I can leave it for a week...and the to-do list at home grows daily! It's hard work to get ready for vacation. OH, and Isaiah starts to kindergarten the day after we get back. Oy! Pray for me. Seriously. I need it.

I swore to Amber on all things Coach and Twilight related that I would come do EM:MEs yesterday...did I? NO! ugh. I'm sucha loser...a blogger loser. Not only did I let Amber down, but I let two of my favorite things down as well...Coach and Twilight. Come on, what kind of person am I? No, don't answer that. I'm drowning my sorrows in a cup of coffee and a package of 100 calorie Milano cookies as I type. don't look at me like that. Speaking of Amber, she could really use some love right now, so if you have a second, run on over there and give her a virtual hug. K? Thanks in advance. You're awesome. =)

Sooooo, on to EM:ME...

Amber asked, "How are you doing?"

Well, Amber...I'll tell you...and I'll be totally honest. promise. I haven't been doing the best that I could do, but I've been doing ok. I skipped WW last week. *gasp* I know, I know. Bad. Last week was so super busy and we had 3 special things going on at work...and you know what that means...CAKE! Yep, there was a Merritt's Cake in my office THREE times last week!!! I resisted. I didn't eat ONE piece! Can you believe that? I surprised myself. How does one turn down Merritt's cake not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES? It was quite an accomplishment. So, even though I didn't wake up early enough to exercise with Maksim *pouty lip*, I did have some successes. The bad: not exercising enough, letting my emotions direct my eating, buying a can of Frito Mild Cheddar flavored cheese dip...and eating all of the said Frito Mild Cheddar flavored cheese dip. The good: eating lots of fruits and veggies, drinking lots of water, and remembering to take my vitamins daily. Oh, and I went to WW yesterday. :) I lost 1.8 pounds! WOOHOO! It's not a lot, but it's a loss and it brings my total to 20.6 pounds!

So, how is everyone else doing?

P.S. For those of you who I sent packages out to as Thank You's for commenting for a cause, your packages should be arriving in the next couple of days...except for Shilo, I'm thinking Paraguay will take a few extra days. :)

P.S.S. I just wanted to say that Wicked was WICKED! I had a FABULOUS time. It is seriously the BEST musical I've ever been to and I can NOT quit listening to the soundtrack. It's amazing! I'm going to host a little WICKED giveaway soon, so don't miss it. :)

Bad Blogger :(

Man, I'm a bad blogger. I just can't seem to get it together in the bloggin arena. When things are chaotic in REAL life, blogging just doesn't come as easy to me. Life has been so busy...family reunion planning, family visiting, get-togethers, vacation planning. I have a million things I want to blog about, pictures to post, and stories to tell. I even have a "bloggin' to-do list". Lists make sense to me. They help me organize my thoughts, but lately lists aren't even making a difference. I've never been diagnosed with ADD, but I'm pretty sure I have it. I'm making a promise to try to get around and catch up with everyone's blog and catch up on some blogging of my own...ASAP! I swear on all cute Coach purses...and Edward.

How's your summer?

Guess what? I'm going to see Wicked the musical TONIGHT!!! I'm sooooo super excited and I can NOT wait! EEEeeeeeee!

Anyone else seen Wicked?

Tomorrow is Friday! Yippee! I think I'll try to muster up a Friday Confessions. We'll see how it goes.

Until then...

Hugs and lotsa LOVE! :)

Flip Flop Fever!

How lucky am I???  Well, I'll tell you!  I am ONE lucky girl!  Yes, I am.  My Flip Flop Exchange came from THE one and only Texas Darling!  She has a fantastic blog!  She sent me the CUTEST pink sequined flip flops AND she thought enough of me to send me a TWILIGHT book FULL of 7 HOTT posters of my Edward (OME)!  Eeeeeeeeee!!!!  So exciting!  You know where these are going...yep, all over my office walls.  Everybody around here talks about me anyway, might as well give them some new things to discuss.☺  

(I'm thinking SNL skit 'Coffee Talk with Linda Richman'..."talk amongst yourselves".)  

THANK YOU a million times over, Becca!  You're super-awesome-fabulous!

This is how I usually sit during the day...while eating bon bons and drinking Starbucks...skimming through the latest US magazine...daydreaming of Edward.... 
Check out that "come-hither-look"...don't have to tell me twice!  Those eyes are SMOKIN'!
Oooo, and she sent me a postcard w/ a Ca-UTE cowboy on it!  Thanks again, Becca!

Hope everyone has a happy Friday Thursday (I'm off for a 3 day weekend!  Woot!)

p.s. I'm typing this in Safari...for whatever reason I don't have as many blogger problems in Safari like I do when I use IE.  Just thought I'd pass that on to anyone else who might be experiencing "technical difficulties".)

Extreme Makeover: Me Edition

Amber at {aefilkins} hosts Extreme Makeover: Me Edition each week on Wednesdays. It is a fabulous time to read other people's journey to healthy living and weight loss, gain encouragement, give encouragement...and make friends! We all want friends, right?! :)

This week's topic is simple:

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Share with us how you're feeling about your progress.

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To be completely honest, this week has been a struggle for me. I haven't worked out with Maksim since last Friday! *hang head in shame* My in-laws came for a visit over the weekend and with visitors always comes FOOD! We grilled out and I was good...I made myself a turkey burger and it was YUMM-O!

Let's pause for a recipe break...

Jenny's YUMM-O Turkey Burgers

1 pound of ground Turkey (all white meat...lean)

2 slices of Pepper Jack Cheese

seasoning salt

Directions: divide ground turkey into 4 equal parts. Roll turkey into a ball and press out. Take cheese slices and divide them into fourths. Press 2 cheese squares in the middle of each turkey patty and cover with the ground turkey and press back into a patty. Season w/ seasoning salt (or any kind of seasoning) and grill...and Enjoy! They're delish!

You know how it is when family is around...you just sit and visit and eat...and drink mojitos. Oh, you don't drink mojitos? Hmmm. Maybe that's just us. Well, for anyone wanting to know a mojito made w/ 2 oz light rum and 4 oz of mojito mix is 4 points on WW.

On Sunday, Isaiah went home with his Grammy and Papaw for a few days. *insert pouty lip and major sad face* He's NEVER been out-of-town without us and NEVER stayed that many days without us. It was so hard to let him go...he's my baby and I want to keep him that way...BUT it was good for him and he LOVED it!

Going to Grammy and Papaw's!

He really had a great time and did terrific! However, while he was gone, in the evening I felt myself wanting to eat and snack due to nervousness/boredom. It was all I could do to just go to bed and not eat something...popcorn, chips and guacamole, crackers and cream cheese...something! I'm just relieved to make it to Wednesday. Isaiah is back home and it's weigh-in day at WW! WOOHOO! As of last week, I had lost 16.2 pounds LOST 18 POUNDS (an additional 1.8 at WW this week!). *fingers crossed* for another good weight loss. (I'll come back on and update this post after weigh-in.) I had a small goal set for this weekend. When I started trying to lose weight back in March, I had said I wanted to lose 20 pounds by my family reunion, which is this weekend. I don't think I'll hit 20, but I feel good knowing that I'm close. My next goal was to have lost 25 pounds by the NKOTB concert in Dallas on the 17th of July. I'm really hoping to meet that one! I need to look smokin' hott for Joey! (Right, Xazmin?! :)

My goals for this week are: to keep eating as many fruits and veggies as I can squeeze into a day..."portable fruits" (aka bananas, grapes, berries...things that don't need peeled, cut, or sliced) ROCK! I also have been trying to drink at least 8-10 glasses of water every day...thanks to my stainless steel water bottle, it's been pretty easy! I love that thing! I MUST exercise! I'm hoping my nose unclogs so I can get back to exercising with Maksim asap ...acceptable levels of oxygen are essential while exercising with Maksim!

Check out this mass mailing...

If you commented on a Comment for a Cause, you have a package headed your way! :)

**I'm still having MAJOR blogging issues, so please know that I'm trying to get around to everyone's blog and comment...it just takes me FOREVER!!!...if I see one more "error" message I think I'll SCREAM and simultaneously throw my computer out of this 4th story window...hopefully, things will be back to normal soon!**

Hope everyone is having a great week!