Fall is for taking walks...or riding in wagons:
I realize it has been months since I posted on here and I am slowly working on getting together some updates! I am starting with a refresh of my template. At least now you have something new to look at...promise to have more posts soon!
Sorry to shout at y'all but I am super excited to announce that after 11 months on weight watchers I finally made my goal weight today!!! I am back in my pre-pregnancy clothes and it has been interesting going through all of my winter stuff and trying it on since I was 26 pounds heavier this time last year.
So although bikini season is over, I have finally achieved my bikini quest goal. Now I just have to maintain it over the holiday season. Wish me luck!
We had the pleasure of taking Luke on his first trip to the zoo last Friday. We met Aunt Andrea and Uncle Tom at Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC and spent about 2 hours checking out all of the animals. The elephants received the most enthusiastic response from Luke. He just loved it when they flapped their ears and moved their trunks. He also really enjoyed seeing the goats in the petting zoo area. And we got to spend some time close up to the gorilla, Chaka, who put on a little show for Luke behind the glass. We were all very glad the glass was there though! After all the excitement, Luke passed out in his car seat before we had even backed out of our parking space. Can't wait to take him back again!
Apparently Luke has become obsessed with the bubble machine at daycare. As in, dunk your head in it obsessed. He came home looking like this yesterday:
One of my uncles uncovered this really cool photo of my grandparents from 1938. Seeing it really brightened my day so I had to share it here. I just love old family pictures. We lost my grandmother about 8 years ago and I still miss her terribly. I wish Jay could have met her. I so wish she could have been here to see Luke. They would have had a blast together. She was such a cool lady and so much fun to be around. I can actually see a little of myself in her in this photo which makes it extra special. Except I don't think I was ever that skinny!
Good news! Finally, after 3 weeks in a row of slight weight increases, I am down 2.6 pounds this week! This puts me slightly below where I was on May 1st. Total weight lost from January 1st until now is 20.8 pounds. Yahoo! I have the bikini in my sights now and am hoping to debut it at our annual Laborless Labor Day retreat in a few weeks. We are meeting up with Courtney, Greg and Avery at Lake Lure.
5.6 pounds remain between me and my goal weight. I hope I can stay on target this time and keep moving forward. Wish me luck--the last few pounds are always the hardest to take off!
Jay graciously constructed a raised garden box for me this weekend so I can attempt some fall planting. I have a self-described brown thumb, but I am hoping to change that. I have been reading up on square foot gardening and plan to plant some broccoli, spinach, sugar snap peas and also a few herbs for fall harvesting. Wish me luck! (Don't worry, I am aware that I will need soil. Baby steps...)
Sadly I have gotten pretty far off track with my healthy eating habits over the last month. I am up about 4 pounds where I was several weeks ago. It sucks but it is my own fault. We had company from abroad and of course had to take them to all our lovely american eateries complete with free refills on just about everything. Not to mention it has been so hot I get angry at the end of the day if there is not a cold cocktail in my hand.
Also, I love my new neighborhood to death, but these people are making me fat! We get invited to a party here just about every weekend. As a matter of fact, we can hardly walk Luke down the street without getting invited in somewhere for a beer. And who is going to turn down a cold beer when it is 95 degrees outside? Not this big girl!
Anyway, I am on a mission to get back on track. So please don't be upset if I turn down your beer or your banana pudding. It's nothing personal, I just have a date with my bikini ok?
Little man is starting to look like a big boy, now that he has all these teeth. He made me quite nervous during this photo shoot as he kept attempting to display his newfound walking skills on the extremely hard cement floor! Luckily we got a few decent shots in between all the toddling arround:
Just a quick update from me. Things have been crazy at my house between the move, traveling for work and trying to unpack boxes in between. Let's just say I will be very happy when I get the chance to spend more than 3 consecutive nights in my house. I think next week is the week! 
Been thinking about my birthday wish list and came up with a few things:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/40615097/hand-stamped-sterling-silver-charm-neckl
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=16807184&RN=2172
Or I'd take a wanna be equivalent such as this: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=14871942&RN=2172
Here are some scans from Luke's school pictures a few weeks ago. Can you tell he just woke up? What gave it away first, the bedhead or red eyes? These were taken the day he turned 10 months old. And because I am biased and think he is gorgeous even if he did just roll out of bed and have these taken, I am posting them here!
A quick bikini quest 2010 update: I am under the 10 pound mark! Yes, after a disappointing week last week, I got back on track and am down 2 more pounds today for a total of 16.8 pounds lost since January 1st. That means I have only 9.6 pounds to lose to get to my goal weight. Hallelujah!
The best news this week is that while I was in the middle of packing for our move I pulled out a bunch of pants from the spare room closet that I haven't worn in two years and I was able to not only squeeze into, but also button several pairs. These are pre-pregnancy pants people! Maybe everything isn't squeezing back in exactly how it used to, but who cares? Yay for shopping in my own closet! It's way fun.
And since we are heading to up to the 80 degree mark and beyond this weekend maybe I will sweat off a few more pounds since I am a cheapass who won't turn on the AC until absolutely necessary!
This week's Bikini Quest Update:
Okay, so I am a little more than halfway to goal actually. 14.6 pounds down, with 11.8 left to lose. I've lost a whole stone now! I am kind of shocked. When I first started on this weight loss mission, it seemed near impossible. I thought I would have to spend the rest of my life holding onto this extra pregnancy weight. However it seems to be coming off slowly but surely, and the more I lose, the more confident I am in myself that I can really do this.
The best part is that now that my body has adjusted to the portion control I really don't feel deprived. I still get to have my glass of wine with dinner and that is good because the way work has been going lately, I have needed it! Honestly, I feel great. I was really missing feeling good about myself and I feel like I have that back now. It's pretty awesome.
Work has been very busy this week and has prevented me from getting to the grocery store to pick up essentials (ie. bread). Last night I decided to make burgers and fries for dinner because not only is that quick and easy, but we had all the ingredients we needed at home so I could put off shopping one more day. Or so I thought. I forgot about the whole bread/bun aspect of burgers. Seeing as we are out of bread and I am already trying to purge our freezer of extraneous food since we are preparing to move, I dug through the freezer and came out with a package of hot dog buns. Hence, the hamdogs we had for dinner were born. I think I did pretty well working with what we had last night, no?
I have to give credit where credit is due on the term hamdog though. This dates back to me and Courtney's 2007 trip to Chicago where I had to employ the same bun tactic, as can be seen in this post.
Never fear, I am getting out to the store today!
