Catching Up

Well last week is finally over. Customer Service Week, Cutler's birthday, my birthday, and my second camping trip. So customer service week was wonderful and I have received a ton of compliments from it. Cutler had a wonderful birthday as did I. Our second camping trip was great, we actually relaxed the whole time and it was definitely needed in my book. Here are a few pics from camping.

Very relaxing weekend with great friends and great food. I planned to run all weekend but got lazy and decided to just give in and relax. Weighing in this morning made me hold my breath but believe it or not I stayed exactly the same (and that is impressive due to the amount of food I consumed this weekend). We are planning a winter camping trip at the end of December and I am super excited about it. Cold weather, hot chocolate, camp fires, no Internet, no cell phone, what else could I possibly want?

Oh and one more picture:

we had ice cream sundaes at work one day and I forgot to take my ice cream scoop out of my purse so Anthony took a picture of it since I have been carrying it around for a week.

L

Turning 30

I finally did it, I turned 30. No idea what all the fuss is about either. I am fine with and really looking forward to what is ahead in life. I had a great 30th birthday, too! This week is customer service week nationwide and I am organizing the festivities within my office (well, I am the customer service manager so I guess it is part of my job description or something). We have played BINGO, had "happy hour", taken personality tests and worn items that reflected this. And on yesterday, my birthday, we had a decorate your cube contest. My cube (office) was "the destruction zone of my twenties," I had a blast doing it and everyone was so nice all day. I got home and Anthony had a new Ipod and cake for me. We went out to eat and started packing for our camping trip this weekend. The girls at work did let me take a few pictures of them so here they are.

Personality test...

Destruction Zone...

Everyone...

So, this thirty thing, I thought I was going to cry all day and absolutely flip out about being 30, but I didn't, I realized that I am in a great place in life and I can't wait to see what is in store for the next 30 years. People say your 30's are the best years of your life...if that is so these next few years are going to be awesome because I have already had some truly awesome years prior to now. I guess I am saying I worked myself up over nothing at all, I anticipated the worst and it was nothing more than a dud. Check out the pics on my Picasa web, the link is on the left hand side of the page, for more pics of Cutler's bday and soon to be pics of my bday as well.

Later,
L

3 Years Old!

Cutler's third birthday party was this weekend at SportsBlast, and boy did he ever have a blast.

Most of his friends and family were there and he played soccer for an hour, what more could he want.

I have to say this birthday in a box idea is wonderful, no more birthday parties at my house! We arrived with very few items in hand, the party room was already set up, the instructor was ready for the kids, pizza ordered, cake on the table, and a super friendly staff.

Well Honey and Nanny are coming through town today on their way back from Texas and I plan to meet them for lunch. This week is also Customer Service week at work and the crew is playing match the baby picture, bingo, decorate your cube, personality profile and a few other fun games.

If they let me take their picture I will be sure to post some!

L

Pre-Birthday Dinner and such

Cutler went to Selma this weekend to stay with his G and PamPaw so Anthony and I took the opportunity to do some things we have been wanting to do. Jennifer came by Saturday around lunch so we could catch up and she could show me her ring...again, I am so excited she is engaged.We ate lunch at a fabulous little cafe on the Alabaster/Pelham line called The Red Geranium. I had a smoked turkey and mozzarella panini and oh my goodness! the mozzarella was fresh and it had tiny little pieces of tomato and basil on it and in my opinion it was a little slice of heaven. Later in the day, Anthony took me to McCormick and Schmick for dinner, kind of a pre-30th-birthday dinner of sorts.

I had BBQ Shrimp and Grits and A had a fillet, shrimp scampi and their signature vanilla creme brulee. All of this was absolutely wonderful. During dinner we decided we are going to start going to a different restaurant every 3 months or so for date night, we have not had date night in over a year and we rarely make time to do that anymore. We did have to talk to Cutler while we were there, no way we could go all night without talking to him!

Anthony on the phone with Cutler:

Lori's dinner:

Anthony's Dinner:The dessert tray:Anthony's choice for dessert:Since I did not order dessert, I ate the strawberry off Anthony's:After dinner Anthony and I went to Academy to purchase a few items for Cutler's room. Here is what it looks like now:

And finally, a picture of a very happy Cutler in his "new room" as he calls it.

Get ready for a new camping story soon...we are headed back out into the woods in two weeks!

L

Almost time for Birthdays

So most of you know I will be turning 30 in a little over a month and I have yet to decide how I will take it. In April I set a goal for myself to lose 60 lbs by October 7, 2008 and now I only have 7 weeks to succeed.

I started out on weight watchers but those meetings were just not for me, we all know I have a short attention span and sitting in a room with a lot of other hungry women for an hour a week is just not for me. I am absolutely not knocking the program, I know it works I lost about 14 lbs in 6 weeks on it and I have many friends who have seen dramatic weigh loss with the assitance of weight watchers. So after I decided I could not bear one more hour of talking about the things I should NOT eat, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Come on, we all know I have a degree in Kinesiology and took more health, wellness, and fitness classes than any one person should so I know exactly what to do, doing it is the problem.

Mid-May I started what I call an On My Own program, I started counting calories and going to the gym for cardio at least 4 times a week and adding a little strength training in here and there. It is now August 20 and I have lost a total of......
get ready for the number......






are you sure you are ready?.........




ok then..........



I have lost a total of 42 lbs and I am so excited because I am doing it slow and the right way. That means I have 7 weeks to get rid of 18 more pounds, seems impossible but I am determined to get it done. If I am a few lbs shy it will not get me down because I am so proud of what I have acocmplished so far. My clothing size has now dropped by three sizes and I am on the verge of moving from the plus size department back to the misses department. I have not worn misses cloths since I was in high school and I can not wait to get back in them........

Now moving on to Cutler



Cutler turns 3 on October 5 and that may be harder to swallow than me turning 30. Last year when he turned 2, I cried all day long, nothing could make me stop crying. I went to work, sat at my desk and worked without talking to a sole and cried ALL DAY LONG! Maybe turning three will not do this to me again. Reservations have been made for his birthday party on October 4 from 11-1 at SportsBlast on Hwy 280 in Birmingham. Cutler has been asking me for the last 6 months when he can start playing soccer, so I decided to enroll him in SportsBlast for his third birthday and let his party be held there with one of their instructors. He has no idea about it and I am not telling him until that day. I can only imagine the look on his face when he finally get to start playing soccer....