Motivated To Diet

Okay, so I received a lot of motivation to be serious about dieting after attending Olympia weekend....so I am on a diet now and I have been consistent with it for two days straight....woo hoo!

Anyway, it is low carb, high protein, and moderate fat....my old way of eating was high carb, low fat, and moderate protein......so I am struggling right now to say the least.

JR is my own personal Richard Simmons....motivating me every second, so I am hanging in there and hoping that the results will be amazing and all of my missed Milky Way bars will be worth it.

Why is it that when you are on a diet, everyone is eating all of the delicious things that you are personally not allowing yourself to eat?

Las Vegas, Day 1

We spent our first day in Las Vegas at the Mr. Olympia Expo. Even though I am not really a fan of steroids and body building, I will have to admit that I really loved getting all of the free protein powder and other supplements at the Expo. JR, was in heaven and he had his picture made with eight time Mr. Olympia winner, Ronnie Coleman.

That's me with Mr. Animal(Evan Centaponi)....he is actually really good looking when he has dieted down. There were some women body builders there as well and the only reason I could tell that they were women was from there dress and hair...however, I guess they could have been cross-dressers.

One thing that I will say about this event is that everyone is so super nice. I don't know that I have ever been to a place where everyone had so much positive energy and friendly attitudes. I think that all of the hyped up attitudes were a result of all of the energy drinks being served up at every booth, because after I had been there about twenty minutes, I felt like I could run a marathon I was so boosted up on caffeine.

Also, I will say that if you ever want to be motivated to get into shape....just go to a Mr. Olympia event!!

First Day of Autumn

Today was officially the first day of Autumn and I am so excited, because it is my favorite season!

Someone actually called the bank today to see if we were open, because they weren't sure if we were closing for the holiday. Now really!! I know banks do close for a lot of holidays, but do people really think that the entire financial arena shuts down to celebrate the changing seasons? So funny!! I guess it must have been on their calendar, so they assumed it to be a holiday, thus assuming that the bank was closed, because as I mentioned earlier, we do close for almost every holiday known to America.

Anyway, who is looking forward to watching the leaves change colors and the weather get cooler? I know I am!

My Pig Pickin

I am making bar-b-que today. I don't know why I like to hyphenate that word. Anyway, the way I like to cook it is to put a pork tenderloin in a crock pot and pour barbecue sauce over it and cook it on low for about 6-7 hours and then pull it all apart with forks, put it on a bun and eat it along with my favorite side items.

So easy and so good.

I HATE ROCHEY BUGS!

I can handle frogs, lizards, spiders, and even snakes, but I almost suffer a nervous breakdown when a roach comes around.

Why is it that roaches will not run away from you? You can't stomp at a roach and scare it away. If you stomp at a roach it runs faster "towards" you. It is the scariest thing in the world! The worst of the lot are the ones that fly. They fly at you all out of control, but on a mission to land on your head. They look like a plane that is out of fuel but trying to make it to the landing pad with the wings leaning from side to side.

I hate roaches!!!!!!

Taste of the Season

It is no secret, to everyone who knows me well, that I absolutely love candy. I love pretty much all types of candy, with skittles and milky way bars being at the top of the list.

Anyway, there is something about the Fall season that really makes me crave candy corn. I have eaten about a pound of it over the last couple of days. The more candy corn that I consume, the more the weather seems to change.

I only like candy corn during the Fall and I think it is because I eat so much of it from September through Halloween that I don't want to even think of it until the next Autumn season. I don't even want to look at it when November comes around. I look at it with disgust and wonder who in the world likes candy corn?! But, magically, by the following year, I am ready to tear it up again!!

Friday Night LIghts

Exciting News!! I attended a high school football game last night...first one since I graduated in 1995. High school football games are whatever...boring, but oh the fans, they are so unique.

We live in a small town in South Carolina, very rural, which means to put it simple "Red Neck". So, last night I was swimming in a sea of Hill Billy and it was a sensory overload. Important note, we were not sitting with Cheraw fans, but Chesterfield fans and Chesterfield is much more redneck than Cheraw...or so my husband says.

I will begin with the sense of hearing. Normally, you can expect a fog horn or two at a game, but we were sitting near someone with a train horn. It had an air compressor and everything. I am referring to a real choo choo train horn. Loud as H E double hockey sticks!!

Next, was smell. It was hot and humid outside and it smelled like we were in a heap of hot garbage mixed with stinky feet, mustard, onions, and bad breath. It was so gross and I kept trying to focus on the clean smell of my clothes to keep from gagging.

Next, sense of touch. No, I really tried not to touch anything. That one can be skipped. Also, we can skip taste, because we ate before we got there and I wasn't hungry. Even if I would have been hungry, that would have gone away due to the rotten hot garbage smell that we were sitting five deep in.

Lastly, sense of sight. Oh my gosh!!! I could really type a lot with this one, but I will just focus in on the one thing that sticks out most in my memory. A woman changed her baby's diaper right there in the bleachers!!!! JR figured that was probably contributing to the smell.

And last, but certainly not least, my favorite quote from the night. The cheerleaders were throwing free mini footballs to the fans and someone behind us yelled out..."danga football, let's win us a ballgame".

Go Braves!!!

Bizaar Foods

I think that everyone has a story about that signature dish that they ate as a child. Maybe it was good, maybe it wasn't, but there was that one meal that you always remember.

Me, JR and one of our friends had this discussion yesterday. For me, the signature dish was "red beans and rice"...not as a side dish, but as a complete meal. I hated it! I just wish that there was a side dish that would have accompanied it, so that I could have just eaten that. Unfortunately, everyone else in the family loved it, so it seemed like we had it all the time. I would gag at the table, too. It would make my mom want to slap me, but I really couldn't help it.

JR's signature dish was a (when we were poor) dish. It didn't have a name, but it consisted of sliced white bread with cream of mushroom soup poured over the top as the "gravy". We laughed about it, but JR said that for him it was a treat, because he loved his gravy bread dinner.

Our friend's dish was also a (when we were poor) dish, however, his parents weren't poor when he had to eat it, they just made it to reminisce on when they were poor and to let their children have the experience, too. He called his dad to let him give us the ingredients..which his dad remembered well....it had a can of diced tomatoes, mayo, a dash of sugar, and soda crackers. I laughed that he remembered the "dash of sugar" ingredient. Unlike JR, our friend didn't enjoy this dish...the thought of it repulsed him, but I think that he plans to torture his future children with it just to keep the legacy of the dish alive.

Food is so much fun!

So Annoying

There is actually a really long list of things that are annoying to me, but I thought that I would discuss a couple of them..

1. Flossing teeth anywhere other than in the bathroom. Believe it or not, I have had people floss their teeth in my car, at the dinner table, and in my living room. All of which managed to gross me out. This is an activity that should be reserved for private moments in the bathroom followed by a few minutes with a toothbrush and soap and water to wash your hands.

2. Slirping soup or milk from a spoon or bowl. Nope! Put the spoon all the way into your mouth and deposit the food. Don't make that irritating slirpy sound, it isn't necessary.

3. Popping chewing gum. It is okay if I do it, but it is not okay for anyone else to do it. Since that doesn't seem fair, I try to be mindful of others and refrain from popping my gum until nobody is around.

4. Clipping fingernails or toenails....lets just go back to #1 and let me say that most grooming activities need to be done in the bathroom.

Thus ends my etiquette lesson.

Get Ya Hair Did

JR and I attended a friend's wedding yesterday. It was very sweet, pretty and well planned out. So much time goes into making a wedding the "perfect day". From the perfect dress to the perfect food all to be shared with closest friends and family.

One thing that really struck me as odd was one of the bridesmaid's hair. I noticed her obvious lack of enthusiasm in styling her hair at the rehearsal Friday night when she had it sloppily twisted up in the back with an unattractive pin holding it into place, but I thought....whatever, it is just rehearsal. But, she kept the same style for the wedding. I couldn't help but think that it was completely rude of her. All of the planning that the bride did to make the wedding beautiful and then the person that she chose to stand with her on her special day didn't even take the time to style her hair and look presentable. All of the other girls looked beautiful, which made the one twist style girl stand out even more.

Of all the times to slack on grooming, a wedding is not the time. When everything around has purposely been decorated to be lovely and beautiful; you need to step it up a notch so that you blend with the beauty.

At the reception, my newly found confidant leaned over and said "I don't know you very well, but can I be catty for a moment? Why didn't that girl get her hair done?" I replied, "I don't know, but I wondered the exact same thing through the entire ceremony. I guess it could have been worse, the pin clip could have been a pencil".

On Holiday

JR and I just returned from a week long vacation at the beach. We had a fabulous time. Sunshine and tans everyday. We ate Thai food one night and it was awesome and authentically hot(we had to send it back to be scaled down a few heat levels before we could actually eat it). We also ate at a nice restaurant that had some of the best crab cakes that I have ever eaten. We made plans to watch a movie and play putt putt golf, but we never did. Most of the fun is in the planning and anticipating, anyway...so, I figure we didn't miss too much.

Now, it is Friday and I am hoping that Monday doesn't come too soon.