Holding onto summer

This past weekend was my first weekend off since the 4th of July.  That’s a really big chunk of summer that I didn’t get to enjoy with anyone because, lets face it, there’s not a lot of people to hang out with when you’re off on a Tuesday.

To kick off the weekend we decided to go to this cute little Italian restaurant  that’s not to far away and has a big patio.  Sadly, the place had gone out of business and we were forced to drive around with the sunroof and windows open in search of another patio.  There is seriously nothing better that driving around on a beautiful summer evening.  We decided on a Max and Erma’s, nothing fancy, but a really nice patio that no one was enjoying.  I just love getting to hang out with my husband, it may seem like an obvious thing for someone to say, but when it’s been nearly 2 months since you’ve had the same days off as your most favorite person it’s a really big deal to get to do something small like have a decent dinner together in a great atmosphere.  I ordered  a Mojito, which aside from a freshly made Caipirinha, is in my opinion about as close to summer in a glass as you can get.

http://www.food.com/recipe/mojito-269483

http://www.food.com/recipe/caipirinha-59612

While I’m being honest, I don’t really drink much, Friday night is probably the first time I’ve had any alcohol since my last weekend off.  So 2 Mojitos and I was pretty tipsy.  We ordered some delicious fresh made chocolate chip cookies to take home, and stopped by the store to get some caffeine, with all intentions of going home to watch a movie and stay up late.  We pull up something on netflix and the thing I know it’s 3am and I wake up on the couch with Will sound asleep stretched out beside me.  At least we put some effort into our date night.

Saturday we had big plans.  First brunch with some friends at the Northstar Cafe, a local restaurant that specializes in delicious food made from locally sourced and organic ingredients, it’s one of those places that people get in lines that stretch for a block or more and don’t even think twice about how long it is because the food is just that good.  Next onto Will’s favorite comic book shop to pick up his weekly pull (it’s possible that there’s a comic or two in there for me also.)  And finally to top off our night we went to our first ever Columbus Crew game, pro soccer, with one of Will’s buddies from work and his wife.

We’d never been to a professional soccer game before, it was honestly a lot of fun.  Aside from television I haven’t really watched a soccer game since I was a kid and my brother and I played.  The Crew came back from 0-2 to win 4-3, and afterwards we went out for a couple more drinks at a bar that apparently is the place to be after a Crew game.  The people there made us drink something called victory juice out of an actual trophy.  It was really a little surreal, but an experience I wouldn’t have been without.

I decided to top off my weekend with a trip to the pool with a girlfriend.  We’ve been trying to go to the pool for really the entire summer, and since I was freaking out because summer is nearly over I decided we had better make it happen.  I may have over done the sun a little, but right now that little bit of red feels completely worth it, because it can’t really have been summer without a little bit of sunburn.  Besides our upcoming vacation there’s probably only a few days left for me to enjoy the outdoors anyway.  The nights have already cooled off enough for the early trees to start changing colors.  So I’m going to do everything in my power to make the most of the 23 official days of summer that I have left in 2012.

 

Life without bread

Back in May I was talking to a friend of mine about how frustrated I was getting with not being able to lose any weight.  I managed to lose 20lbs before my wedding, dropping from 157 to 137, on our all inclusive honeymoon I gained 3lbs back and I’ve been sitting at 140 ever since.  During the last two years I’ve continued working out, though my eating wasn’t as good as it should have been.  She had lost about 40lbs eating low carb on and off and was trying to talk me into trying low carb for a month to get to my goal weight of 130lbs.

Well it took a bit of convincing, but in July of 2012 I decided to start not a low carb but a grain free diet.  I wasn’t really convinced that in the height of fruit season I could cut out carbs entirely.  So with a few cheat days in July I managed to lose the 7lbs I had gained back bringing me back to 140.  I also gained a crazy amount of energy, and stopped having that gross belly feeling in the morning.  So I didn’t lose all the weight I wanted, but I felt so good that I decided to keep going.

What am I eating?  Only the most delicious things you can imagine.  Delicious pork-chops friend up in butter, with green beans tossed in bacon for my favorite dinner.  Breakfast on work days is usually Greek yogurt, I prefer Fage brand, and I top it with fruit or honey.  On days off I make eggs with just cheese or to spice things up I’ll add some organic salsa.  Lunches consist of fruit, lunch meat rolled up with cheese and maybe another yogurt if I was still hungry.  I also to go the gym at least 4 days a week to run 2-3 miles.  It’s hard with my rotating schedule to get more gym time in, but I figure it evens out because I am on my feet running around for most of my days at work.

Unfortunately this past week I came down with a nasty case of strept throat.  Having lost my appetite and finding it terrible to swallow anything not liquid I’ve abandoned grain free for the time being and taking in any calories I could in the form of smoothies, slushies, and soup.  I’ve still lost and kept off another 2lbs this month so once I’m healthy again I’m hopping back on the grain free train.  Only 8 more pounds to my goal weight.

Ok before anyone gets all crazy, here’s my measurements.  I’m 5’1″, and extremely pear shaped, my waist is 28″ and my hips are 40″ and 36″ on top.  130 is at the top end of a healthy weight for my height, the low end is 101.  I’m not shooting for anything crazy, just healthy.  Here’s me and Will.  Yeah this photo’s a little outdated, I’ll post some newer ones soon.

Well we’re still on introductions

This week has mostly been surrounded by work adventures. I’ve taken over a much larger department at work, official this week. I was also left in charge of organizing the completion of everything related to our quarterly walk by all the district folks. Even though I was completely terrified, and when I got to work yesterday they were already walking, and our regional manager taking the lead, we still passed! They are doing this new thing where we get these mini plastic trophies when we pass, I’ve never been so excited to get such a tacky little thing. It really is a huge achievement, I’ve worked for this company for nearly 3 years, and this is only the second time I’ve ever been a part of a walk that wasn’t failed.

With work taking up the majority of my week I really wanted to take some time to introduce myself a little better. I think a tale of the first weekend trip that Will and I took together will sum things up nicely. We’d only been dating about a month when Will asked me to go to Baltimore, MD. with him for the weekend. It was opening weekend for his favorite baseball team, and all I knew up front that we were doing was going to see not one but two baseball games. I was terrified, even though I’d been to a few Pirates games with my dad as a kid, my overall opinion of baseball was Most Boring Game of All Time! I was also nervous about the drive, 6 hours is a long time to spend in a car with a guy you’ve only known for about a month, what if we ran out of things to talk about? I don’t really remember much of what we talked about, I do remember lot of cracking up about the GPS lady telling us to get on and off the same highway about 8 times in an hour. The GPS lady in his old car was completely insane. I knew then that the trip was going to be just fine.

Will had planned outings he’d never told me about as a surprise. We went to the national aquarium, and he bought a side show to see the dolphins, and I’m pretty sure he enjoyed the show more than I did. We also went to Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, it’s right next to Camden Yards, and full of the most wonderfully nerdy things you’ve ever seen. And shopping! Where we happened to run into Evan Longoria, just hanging out in the mall with some other guys from the Marlins. The first baseball game we went to was sunny and beautiful, I’d never been to a game where everyone was so excited to see their team play. The second game was sooo cold, as March tends to be, but we muddled through, I bought an over priced hoodie, and we snuggled and drank hot chocolate, and had fun anyway even though we lost.

By the time we were heading back to Columbus I knew that we were going to be together for the long haul.  Any couple that can find adventure even on the cold and dreary days can make it through anything together.

Adventure, day one

Welcome everyone to The Adventure’s First!  The hot and humid days of summer are finally breaking and my favorite time of year is edging onto the horizon.  I just love autumn, the weather is just perfect for adventuring, I never want to stay inside because it’s just too hot out there, and with a full month of days over 90 this summer I really have spent way too many hours hiding out in air conditioning. 

Autumn also means our anniversary!  And with it our annual anniversary-cation.  For our first anniversary we went to St. Petersburg, FL, the ocean is just about my most favorite thing ever.  This year we’re going to San Francisco, CA, mostly so my lovely husband can check 2 more baseball stadiums off of his list. 

It’s a very special mostly sports adventure we are going on this year though.  As I implied we’re on a mission to see every baseball stadium in the country, Will’s most favorite thing in the world is baseball.

The list so far:

• The Oakland A’s vs. the Baltimore Orioles (Will’s favorite team!)
• The San Francisco Giants vs. the San Diego Padres (a rematch of a game we saw in San Diego earlier in the summer)
• The San Francisco 49ers (Will’s favorite football team) vs. the Detroit Lions, for the 49ers home opener
• Everything touristy, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, trolly car ride, china town, fisherman’s warf, union square, and of course eating!

I’m not a huge football fan, mostly because with the NFL and College football it’s on almost every day of the week through out football season.  This will be my second NFL game in person, the first was last summer in Tampa, also the home opener.  As exciting as it was to be in the crowd losing their minds, it was over 100 degrees and just really too hot for me to pay any attention to anything except how how I was.  I am extremely excited to get to see the 49er’s home opener though, it’s hard not to get excited about anything that Will is excited about.  He just get’s so ampped.  

Enough about future adventures, today’s adventure is starting this blog.  I’m on day one, but I have big big plans, and I hope I’ve at least peaked your interest enough to come along and join me in my mostly daily adventures. 

p.s. in case you’re curious to the title of this blog, it’s taken from my favorite book of all time.

“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.”

-Lewis Carroll.  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass