I love, love, love the holidays. I’m the one that you’ll find busting out the Christmas music before Thanksgiving has even hit.  I’m not taking anything away from Thanksgiving, I love it and it’s great. BUT… Christmas needs more time!

The lights, ooooo the fabulous lights! On Black Friday night Brad and I are already going through different neighborhoods that we know are the big “Christmas decoration” neighborhoods and scoping out all of the festiveness.  With our hot chocolate in hand and the Christmas music blaring we just love it! I love that I have a husband that loves it as much as I do, and doesn’t care if I want to decorate for Christmas on November 1 — which we didn’t. Every year I used to decorate earlier and earlier… in 201- the date to beat was November 13.  Unfortunately I didn’t beat my record this year as I thought I was hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year and thought some people would be peeved by my over Christmas decorating and already having the fall decor put back into the garage. But on Black Friday I pulled out the tree, hung up my wreath, and decorated the mantle!

Can we discuss some of the cheesiness that is holiday music?  No doubt there are the classics that everyone loves, and there are the ones that make me cryyyyy like a baby in my car – - mostly these two:

First there is that damn Josh Groban, who sang not only his version of I’ll Be Home for Christmas but he felt like he needed to make me bawl my eyes out by adding in sweet heartfelt messages from families of soldiers. You can always get me with the patriotic card.

That one doesn’t include it totally but you definitely get the idea with all of the photos and military people in the audience. Then of course we have sweet, sweet song — “The Christmas Shoes”. Now if that song can’t pull at your heart strings then I dunno. I literally try (like I did right now) to listen and see how long I can force myself not to cry. I think I got to the second line before my nose started burning and tears started forming.

Now wipe the tears off of your keyboard, I won’t talk about anything sad anymore. Now there are what I find to be the worst Christmas songs. Sorry Kenny Loggin fans, I can’t stand this first one.

Brad and I like to call it, “Celebrate Meatloaf”. That’s what we swear it sounds like he’s saying. I know there are a lot of people who like that song though so I might lose a few of you on that one. But this next one you HAVE to agree. It’s the definition of a cheesy 80s song and I don’t remember ever hearing it until this year which is weird since I listen to a lot of Christmas music. But anyways, on Black Friday we heard this song and by the second line we were like “huh?” and turned it up — laughing ensued and I had to come home and see who sang it, confirm that it had to be an 80s hit, and laugh again.

 

Good ‘ol Christmas cheesiness at it’s finest. So what are some of your favorite things about the holidays… and those things that just drive you crazy? Any favorite songs or ones you can’t stand? On that note, yes I love “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”.

This Week: -2.6 lbs. / -.72%

Total: -13.8 lbs. / -3.7%

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you all get to have a fantastic holiday weekend and if you are taking on one of my favorite past times, Black Friday, then good luck! I’m really hoping I can take on this weekend with some good exercise and some good food — all in moderation!

This week I did pretty well – obviously I did something right since I dropped another 2.6.  I know I could keep doing better though which frustrates me because I feel there could be some frequent 5 pound weeks if I was making it happen.  But hell, if I can just change little by little then I’m happy.

One thing Brad and I did good with is we started sharing some meals more frequently, so I was really proud of him for that, mostly because he has never been a sharer. I only got in one gym night this week but I did do some dog walks, a night of Jillian Michaels, and a night doing Zumba.  So even though I didn’t make it to the gym I was still getting some activity in.  Even though I don’t see a change yet and I think it will be a while until I do, that’s okay.  I FEEL better and that’s what’s awesome.  Since I have so much to lose I just thought it would be a while until I felt really good but it’s amazing how I feel! 14 pounds is so far from the long term goal but I was telling Brad yesterday after we purchased a 15 pound bag of dog food for Dakota — THAT IS A LOT OF WEIGHT! Go carry that bag of dog food around the store for 20, hell even 5 minutes, and you would be pretty exhausted! That’s a lot of weight I’ve taken off of my joints and I’m so proud of that.

I thought I would mention my secret to Zumba for anyone that maybe has wanted to try it but hasn’t wanted to pay for the classes or doesn’t have it available in their area.  I don’t feel like I could get through an entire hour of a class so until I get more in shape I’m doing my ghetto DIY Zumba. I spent a good 45 minutes or so going through Zumba videos on You Tube – there are thousands.  Find some to songs you really like – I found that LMFAO and Black Eyed Peas had some of my favorites… and I hate to admit it – Party in the USA by Miley. I made a complete “playlist” of the You Tube videos and I plugged them in and had my own Zumba class right in my dining room.  I could share some links or you could hop on You Tube and easily find some great ones – most of the videos were around 4-5 minutes so I would do like 8 songs and it went by really fast and it’s a WORK OUT.

I kept forgetting to take my “before photos” but since there hasn’t been much change I finally got those done this week.  Seriously, I wanted to cry. They were so horrific to look at.  I did some in regular clothes and then ones in just undergarments — wow.  I want to make sure nobody ever has to see those. Yet at the same time, I really hope one day I’m proud to show them so people can see how far I’ve come.  Let’s see how I feel about it come week fifty-two.

The one thing I’m doing different this week is I’m going to lower my calories on My Fitness Pal.  I’m losing weight but they haven’t been adjusting my calories so I think it’s time for me to take off some of my calories and hopefully that will help me out.  I’m under my calories almost every day but this will just assure I stay there on the big day – like Thanksgiving. The day where the average American eats 4500 calories according to something I heard on the radio on Monday. THE AVERAGE. That means a good amount of Americans are probably pounding down 7000 calories. If I can stay away from the potatoes and bread I will have a successful Thanksgiving.

Have a great week everyone, and if you’d love to join in on the fun, find me on My Fitness Pal – my username is LaLaLewi!

This Week: -2.2 lbs. / -.61%

Total: -11.2 lbs. / -3.05%

Wow, where did this week go? Sorry this post is two days late but if we’re friends on Facebook or you follow me on Twitter you are usually pretty up to speed on how I’m doing.  My Fitness Pal is still working out fantastic for me and I’m meeting great people on there that have been such great motivators! I’m currently on day 18 — so only 12 more days until it’s a habit right?!

Some things I’ve really been noticing in just that 3% loss so far is I’m not in pain as much.  My back and knees tend to bother me a lot more and I haven’t been having that as much except my back a little after a lot of walking on the treadmill or something.  I’ve also been sleeping completely through the night where I used to wake up a lot more.  Maybe it’s the work outs I’ve been doing every night!

Since last week I brought in exercise because in Week 1 I didn’t do any exercise.  But by the morning weigh-in I had only been to the gym twice.  Since then I did Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred on Wednesday night and Zumba last night.  I’m trying to switch it up as much as I can now so I don’t get bored.  If I could do gym twice a week and Zumba and the 30 Day Shred 1-2 times a week I think that will be pretty great.

Even since Wednesday I had felt so good I couldn’t help it but weigh myself again and I may have dropped around another 2 pounds, we’ll have to see how it goes next Wednesday! I really think I can have a great week in Week 3, I’m feeling it! And I am vowing to myself to enjoy myself on Thanksgiving but not go overboard… maybe go on a walk with some fam after dinner.

Thanks again for all of the support on here, Twitter, Facebook, My Fitness Pal, and everywhere else — you all are such a blessing!

P.S. If we aren’t friends on My Fitness Pal and you are a member or would like to join (it’s free and amazing!), my username is LaLaLewi!

The kitchen remodel took wayyyyy longer then planned and definitely had it’s share of issues… But I love it! So just wanted to show a little before and after teaser and I will share more soon!

This Week: -9 lbs. / -2.44%

Total: -9 lbs. / -2.44%

That’s a pound a day! Although we started on November 1, we wanted our weigh-ins to be on Wednesday’s so we had a longer week then we typically will for our first week but I’m so proud!  The week went by great and I really didn’t feel too deprived of anything.  I even said no to cheesecake on Saturday night — SHOCKER.  I’m really proud of the hubby, he lost 11 lbs!

I realized by eating a sensible healthy lunch I can even go out and have a great dinner with Brad.  Yesterday we went to the Olive Garden for dinner.  We both made sure to look at the menus ahead of time, pick out what we wanted and logged them into our My Fitness Pal, and then didn’t even look at the menu at the restaurant.  It’s so easy to be tempted to get something else! I was shocked to see that the cheese ravioli with marinara, something I get frequently, was already one of the lower calorie dishes.  So I went with that agreeing I would eat exactly half and save the other half for lunch the next day.  Because it was cold last night I didn’t have a problem giving up their 350+ calorie salad for the 170 calorie, Zuppa Toscana soup which is delicious! Limiting the breadsticks was the hardest part, but we did it!

I can’t imagine how well I would have done if I added some more exercise in it.  I’m trying to move a little more, I’m so out of shape I just want to make sure I don’t hurt myself.  We did start doing the Biggest Loser Wii Video Game which actually is a GREAT work-out and as I slowly get back into shape I want to whip out the evil Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred — that woman knows how to kick your ass! I can’t wait to feel like I could make it a whole hour and then I’ll start getting my Zumba on!

I feel like if I could get through that while going to 2 potlucks, eating out a couple of times, and not getting in a ton of exercise then I can have a huge success at this! I’m so excited and I thank you all for the support!

Dieting is not as easy as 1-2-3. But I’m doing a little something that I hope will make this different then last time, and so far so good.  It truly does help being in this competition with so many people. I have someone with me CONSTANTLY that is in the competition.  I work with my best friend who I have at work all day so we work together on it, and I have my husband at home at night and on weekends to work with me.  We’ve been able to motivate ourselves so much.  But sometimes I just need that little push.

Since day 1 I have been writing a number on my wrist.  I keep a pen next to my toothbrush so I remember to do it every morning.  I write the following number every day so I know how far I’ve gone on this journey.

Today. Day Number 7.

I can’t just make this another diet.  I have said this before but I have to do things that aren’t so extreme to make it stick. This has to be a lifestyle this time. And that’s my goal. Something that is FOREVER. So I’m taking it one day at a time, for the rest of my life.  So why do I feel like I have to write it on my wrist? I see this number all of the time. I look at it constantly throughout the day.  So it’s always on my mind, always a reminder of what I’m trying to achieve.  I feel it’s that little push of motivation I need and it feels good.

No, I don’t plan on eventually having 3,428 written on my wrist.  I have set goals that will switch it up to be that constant reminder.  The highest number that will ever be on my wrist is 365. I plan on switching it up at either one year, or when I lose 100 lbs. Whatever comes first.

I’ve always loved the infinity symbol and what it represents.  I was also always attracted to the idea of even getting a tattoo of it to represent love, or my faith, numerous things that can be everlasting.  But I thought how perfect this is to go with my new lifestyle change.  This is something I want to do for the rest of my life! So when I hit that 100 pound weight loss or if I’ve stuck with this journey for 1 year I will stop writing the number and Brad said he would get me this bracelet from Tiffany.

I love the bracelet and I love what it will symbolize to me.  Just something else that I can wear everyday as that constant reminder.  Then once I get to what I like to call “ONEderland” — that glorious mark back into the 100s.  The day that I weigh 199 pounds or less I will finally get a tattoo.  I’ve wanted one for so long but have never made the jump because I have never had one that I felt was important enough to me for me to want on my body for the rest of my life.  So sticking with my infinity theme and this new look on my new life I will get a tattoo inspired by this.

It won’t be identical to this but I will have it designed off of this with the infinity symbol and the world life.  It’s also a great way to share my journey.  In just the 7 days I’ve been doing this I’ve had a couple people ask me what the “number tattoo” meant.  I love being able to share this and feel a sense of pride… especially after my weigh-in last night!

Although our first official weigh-in isn’t until this Wednesday I wanted to see how my progress was over the first six days…

Seven pounds baby!

It feels so good and I’m so proud of that seven! Brad lost a little over 10 and I couldn’t be happier for him! I’ll update you with my official weigh-in on Wednesday but that small victory made my whole weekend because we had a lot of parties (involving potlucks!) that we went to this past weekend and I worked really hard on making sure I made smart decisions and it showed!

What Would Wendy Williams Wear?

No.

Where Would Wacky Waldo Wander?

No.

Okay so these five letter ‘W’ alliteration phrases are kinda tough. So I’m going to stop there, because they really are just pretty lame.  So you might be wondering what the ‘WWWWW’ stands for.

Wonderful Womack Wedding Weight-loss War!

What the?! So when my friend first got engaged we started calling it the “Wonderful Womack Wedding” — thati s her future last name, and no she’s not marrying this guy…

So when we decided last week that we wanted to start getting ready to get fit for the wedding and lose some weight it ended up turning into an entire weight-loss competition.  Next thing you know we’ve recruited some other bridal party, family, grooms, and significant others.  And that’s how the WWWWW was born.

We start today, November 1, and the “weight-loss war” will end on May 31st.  It was a $25 buy-in and we check-in with our percentages lost every week.  The winner takes all… BUT if you gain weight you have to put in a dollar for any time you gain a lb.  That money will all go into the “Porker Pot” which the 2nd place will get all of that money! There’s nine of us in the competition so that’s $225 right there!

I know this isn’t the first time I’ve come to you saying I’m going to lose weight, but I’m hoping since my friend who is also the bride now works with me there will be tons of daily motivation not only at work, but then I have Brad at night — he’s part of the competition as well.  So I know I’ve cried the weight-loss wolf so many times but I hope you’ll take me back and stick around to encourage and motivate me — it’s what I always need most when hopping on the weight-loss train.  We turn in our weight-losses on Wednesdays (to stick with the W theme of course! LoL) so you should expect to hear from me most Wednesdays to hear how I’ve done.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the funds so I won’t be doing Weight Watchers this time. I do plan on using My Fitness Pal which is probably one of my favorite sites — their app that is synched with the site is fantastic and I have found that site to be great for tracking exercise, food, weight-loss, and motivation! Best free weight-loss plan in my opinion. I’ll be tracking things like my calorie, fat, sugar, etc. intake.  And for exercise I plan on visiting the gym a couple of times a week, doing some walking (Dakota’s favorite!), and taking Zumba classes.

The wedding is in June so I hope to be able to have a hot little bridesmaid dress in a size I haven’t been in for a long time!  There are a few goals I have that I’m excited about… first there is our annual Maui trip in February that I’d like to have a little bit of energy for.  The next is obviously the wedding in June so I should hopefully look even better by then.  Then in October is the “Run for Your Lives” 5K that I’m dying (pun intended) to participate in! A 5K where you are doing obstacles and running from Zombies to keep your health? Sounds like fun to me! That means it will be almost a year and the ultimate prize of all would be is if I feel like we are both healthy enough and at a time where we can start crossing the bridge of discussing starting a family — because ultimately I’m doing this for my health and to start a family.

The last time I did a weight-loss competition was at work and I actually won so I’m determined when money is involved! Have you ever done a weight-loss competition? What is one of your favorite weight-loss tips at the moment? I’ve been getting TONS of tips and ideas from Pinterest!

We always strive to be creative with our costumes and to not buy the typical costumes that you can find at all of the Halloween stores.  Last year was a huge success with our Double Dare costumes — people LOVED us!

“Physical Challenge!”

People loved the costume and we actually won an award at one of the Halloween events we attended — the people all around our age loved it, older people just didn’t get it.  This year we went with one that everyone got and from the response we have had so far it seems like we had a hit!

Publisher’s Clearing House!

Winner, Winner… Chicken Dinner!

It was a lot of fun, and people loved it – the only problem was if we weren’t together and I wasn’t holding my check and he didn’t have the balloons (or people didn’t read his Prize Patrol badge LOL) I basically just looked like I was in my PJs and he was a creeper in the office.

We only had this one party on Saturday and we have some more events coming up this weekend so there will be more pix to come after next week! What is your Halloween plans this year? What are you going to be?

TODAY ONLY! {FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14}

Quick request! My best friend is getting married next year and our favorite local cupcakery is doing a contest to win their cupcake truck to come to your event.  You just have to have the most ‘likes’ on your picture today!  The only rules was you had to see their truck and take a pic with it at their debut this last weekend so when we were at Food Truck Fest we took that pic and posted this afternoon for the contest… we aren’t far behind so your quick vote would be awesome.  Here’s what I need…

1. Go to the “My Delight Cupcakery” page HERE.

2. Find the photo shown below and “LIKE” the picture.  I posted it under my name, Laura Lewis.

3. Hope we win so I can gift this prize to my friend for her wedding! She wants cupcakes and is trying to find a great deal at the moment!

One day last week I won a couple of tickets to “I.E. Food Truck & Brew Fest 2011” on Facebook for a little contest and was pretty excited about it.  At one of our local sports arenas, Citizens Bank Arena, they set up around 55 food trucks and probably 10 local breweries or so.  It was from 11:00 – 6:00 pm unless you purchased a VIP ticket and then you got to get into the event at 10:00 am.  I remember hearing about long crowds in the past so Brad and I decided we would head over maybe around 1:00 or so, let the first round of people that showed up first thing kind of start heading out.

When poking around before the event on Facebook I heard a few complaints that the VIP tickets weren’t worth it, as most food trucks weren’t 100% ready to go right at 10:00.  Good to know for future food truck events!  We strolled on over shortly after 1:00 with cash and my iPhone in hand and we were ready to get truckin’.

Of the trucks, we visited about seven of them.  We easily could have stopped sooner, and we would just share one item from each truck – man did we get full, and didn’t finish many items!  But here are the trucks we visited in order as well as my thoughts on what they had to offer.

Nom Nom Truck

If any of you watched the first season of The Great Food Truck Race you should know the Nom Nom Truck very well since they won the season (update: I don’t obviously know very well because Nom Nom had to correct me *my bad* — they were one of my faves so I guess I overlooked it was actually Grill ‘Em All who won! LOL).  They are known for their delicious Banh Mi — a Vietnamese sandwich.  We tried a grilled pork Banh Mi and a lemongrass chicken taco.

Unfortunately, there was such a bad glare on my screen I thought I was taking better pictures then I was.  Seriously that sandwich was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted and was one of my top two favorite items we had at the event.  Here is the breakdown of the banh mi on the NomNom website:

I could seriously have this sandwich FREQUENTLY. The taco was also delicious, but just was a no-brainer!

Palazzolo’s Gelato

This was kind of an impulse buy.  In the moment we were hot and we thought we wanted something sweet.  We ended up paying $5 each for a pre-packed homemade gelato.  I just ended up going with a classic red raspberry and not finishing it because I quickly realized I wanted savory while Brad went with “what they were known for”.  It was called Mackinac Island Fudge which is a Pana gelato with a caramel swirl and Mackinac Island fudge chunks throughout.  Mackinac Island is apparently an island in Michigan I believe and they are known for this killer fudge and they add it with there gelato.  They were originally from Michigan so they said they were very proud of this gelato — it was killer!

Great Balls on Tires

Goodness, gracious… great balls on tires! I could eat these balls everday.  Okay maybe not every day, but this was the other fave up there with NomNom for the day!  I read the first thing on the menu and didn’t even read the rest – I told Brad we were getting the IncrediBall. And boy was it incredible. It was ground Kobe beef wrapped in applewood smoked bacon with Gruyere cheese, wild arugula, and garlic aioli on a fresh toasted brioche.

I’m seriously ashamed of these pictures.  But when you have this delicious food in front of you and a husband chompin’ at the bit it’s a little difficult to get the perfect “iphone photo”.  These balls melt. in. your. mouth. They also have some other great balls I would love to try in the future that sound AMAZING – you can check them out on their menu HERE.

MeSoHungry

MeSooLaLa & MeSoHungry were MFEO.  Although we had just tried a slider we decided to go for another and this one although wasn’t quite as good, it was still a fantastic slider on the same fresh, amazing bread.  At MeSoHungry we tried the KTM Sliders with Marinated Short Ribs, Pepper Jack Cheese, Crispy Onions and Spicy Crème Fraîche. Is your mouth watering yet? Writing this post was a bad decision right before dinner time.

This is where it all started to go down hill.  From here on out I was FULL and although we still wanted to try a couple of things I was just not having much sound appetizing so I can’t give a good valid review of the food but I will still show you the trucks, what we tried, and what they have to offer.

Don Chow Tacos – Chinese Mexican Fusion

I remember hearing about this truck from Diner, Drive-in, and Dives and Brad had wanted to get some tacos so this was our top choice.  We got a sampler that had three street tacos — one carne asada, one chicken, and one… pork maybe? I seriously can’t remember. Please remember, food coma was setting in and I wasn’t taking notes.

All I remember is that middle taco had some type of bacon on it and they were spicy! But they were freakin’ amazing… I don’t see what we got on the menu on their site so I can’t say for sure what any of it is though.

Baconmania

Did someone say Bacon? At this point I was realllllly feeling ill.  Unfortunately a lot of things were sold out on the truck by the time we got here.  There is a lot of crazy, delicious sounding stuff on their menu and you have to see it all HERE but we decided to go with the Jack Back Sammie.

It had thick-sliced egg bread, stuffed with melty Sharp Cheddar Cheese and a “chunk bacon blend”.  On their site it says that it comes with a shot of tomato soup for dippin’ but we didn’t get that.  Maybe they were out or what, but I also see on their site some add-ons which might have been good.  This was a classic, comfort food right here.  The bread was a LITTLE too thick for me but the cheese and bacon that I was stretching out of there was good.  Not overloaded with bacon, but enough and I really wish I would have had that shot of tomato soup – that might have made it have that perfect finish with it.  I will definitely hit up the truck again some time.

Paradise Cookies

Last but definitely not least, there was Paradise Cookies.  Brad wanted to end the day with something sweet so he wanted an ice cream sandwich.  The line was the longest one we waited in — still only around 20 minutes (which isn’t too bad for food trucks some times!) and during that time I walked up and looked at their cookie and ice cream selection and caved.  Of course, once again I couldn’t finish it and by that time I was DOWN. FOR. THE. COUNT.

We both went with their chocolate chip cookie — I did both but Brad did one of that and I think some type of double dark chocolate or something like that.  I went with just a classic mint chip ice cream and Brad tried this rich and delicious English Toffee ice cream.

And to finish it off… we did not try this truck but the name just killed me so I took a picture of it anyay.  Truck Norris.

Do you live somewhere where food trucks are popular? What are some of your favorite trucks you’ve had?  It is a huge craze here in Southern California and it can be lots of fun visiting different trucks!