10% joy and frustration!

Yesterday I weighed in at WW and was thrilled to see that I had finally hit my 10% goal... which means I have lost a total of 10% of my body weight since I joined WW back in August. I got my "10% key chain" for reaching this target. In order to celebrate this milestone I decided to make Vince a special supper "Ah-la-poof-bang" and give him the 10% key chain which took me 4 months to earn.

So I spent all afternoon making "Ah-la-poof-bang"... 3 kinds of vegetables, mashed potatoes, a thick ground beef gravy, (really just shepherd's pie but not all mixed together) and mini-yorkshire puddings. I set the table, lit some candles, and placed the key chain on Vince's dinner plate. Everything was beautiful and ready to go. Then Vince came home from work and as we sat down to eat I explained the significance of the 10% key chain. He was so congratulatory and proud of me for this accomplishment. But when he opened up the key chain... it broke! You'd think after 4 months of giving Weight Watchers $15/week (approx $250) they could afford to hand out a key chain that doesn't break the first time you open it!

General update on my life

In a nutshell....

• We attended 2 Christmas pot luck parties this week so when I weighed in for an ever so slight gain (0.2 lbs - the smallest increment the scale records) I counted that as a success. Pot lucks are my weakness as I want to try everything and I'm not one to limit my portions LOL. link to my weightloss page


• I have a new skill.... motorcycle rider. Vince taught me how to ride in just 3 days (apparently that's very fast). It was chilly so we were only out for a couple of hours each time. Unfortunately, due to the weather forecast, our work schedules, and the fact that it gets dark so early, it doesn't look like I'll be able to practice my motorcycle skills again for at least a few weeks. However, Vince took this picture of our bikes which I thought was pretty cool. Mine is the red one (a 2000 Kawasaki EX 250 Ninja) and his is the green one (a 2004 Kawasaki ZX-6RR Ninja).
  
  
• Louisa (my sister) was visiting here for a few days. Unfortunately her visit was from Monday to Thursday when I had to work so we didn't get to spend as much time together as I would have liked. It seems like she just got here and all of a sudden she had to leave. :( We miss you Louisa!!!
  
• Christmas shopping and wrapping is all done! YIPPEE!!! The final days leading up to Christmas are the craziest in the shopping malls. It's not too bad during the day but in the evenings you won't find me in the mall... I value my life too much LOL.
  
• Remember "Tears Are Not Enough" by a Canadian group of singers that called themselves Northern Lights? I can't find that song on iTunes and I really want it. I was able to find "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid (British) and "We Are The World" by USA for Africa (American) but I can't find the Canadian equivalent. Anyone who is able to download & send me the song will have my eternal gratitude :)

An executive decision and engagement pics

Okay, so I weighed in yesterday and was exactly one pound above my goal for this week. The scale gives results in increments of 0.2 lbs so when I say exactly one pound over, that's what I mean :) However, I have made the executive decision that goals can be met up to one pound over the target. For my Thanksgiving weigh in, I was 7.2 pounds over target... definitely not close enough to count as success. However, for this one I am going to call it success as up to one pound can easily be attributed to water weight, clothing, jewelry, having my period, or any combination of them. Therefore, yesterday I achieved SUCCESS for my goal of having lost 10% of my starting weight by this week. I don't have the keychain that WW will give me when I officially meet that target in just one more pound but for the purposes of the chart on my website, the goal was met :) http://members.shaw.ca/vicky.bennett/weight_loss.htm

On Tuesday, Vince and I went to the Superstore to get engagement pictures taken of us. We ended up with 2 different poses that we both liked. For your viewing pleasure, I present them to you here :)

Crazy days and crazy nights

Lots has happened lately so here's just a life update......

• Weighed in yesterday.... 2 lb gain :( But that's okay as I knew it was a bad week for me so I was prepared for it. The cool thing though is my clothes are really fitting looser and looser anyways. Some of the gain may have actually been muscle. That's my story and I'm sticking to it LOL.
  
  
• Centerpieces are done..... HOORAY!!!!! The single thing that was causing me the most stress about the wedding is taken care of. Vince and I went to a huge dollar store to look around and see what we could put together for centerpieces (I know this is most guys' idea of hell so kudos to Vince for putting up with a shopping trip like that LOL). We ended up buying a few different things to build various "prototype centerpieces" at home. We got home and tried a few things out and we both quickly agreed on the combination that we like the best. So the next day Vince went out and bought enough of the items at the same store to make 19 centerpieces (the max number of tables we'll need if everyone we invite decides to come). We can't put them together until the day of the wedding so until that day comes the centerpieces are officially done :) Thanks to those who gave centerpiece suggestions... I really liked the fighting fish idea (the ashtrays and duct tape idea not quite as much LOL) but unfortunately I read them AFTER the prototype shopping trip.
  
  
• Last night was a PZW wrestling show. It was a good show but unfortunately it ended with Vince (who is one of the referees) getting a concussion. Long story short, a wrestler kicked him in the head in a particularly vulnerable spot which caused him to black out for a while. When he came to the paramedics took care of him and determined that he had a concussion. Many people believe that professional wrestling is all fake but the injuries can be all too real. Luckily Vince will be okay and since he is on vacation right now he can take the time he needs to rest and recover completely before going back to work.

I think that's all my news right now. Thanks for reading :)

All the big things are done.....

Today Vince & I met with the marriage commissioner (formerly known as Justice of the Peace) who will be performing our wedding ceremony in May. Having booked her for the big day we are now officially done with the big stuff LOL. We have the hall booked, my dress is bought, the invitations are printed (although it's too early to send them out yet), the rings have been purchased, the DJ is booked, and we have the major decorations decided on and some already bought. The rest is just details. :)

With one big exception that is going to single handedly put me in the nut house.....

The table centerpieces!!!! I have a general idea of what I want but it's proving impossible to actually make a real decision and bring it to life. I want to incorporate flowers and candles but in both an attractive and safe way. Also keep in mind that the wedding colours are maroon and white with touches of black and silver... as soon as I add any greenery it looks like Christmas so I need to be careful of the amount of green in the decorations but especially the centerpieces as they will be seen close up.

I'm leaning toward hurricane lamp candles with flowers around the base but I really can't decide if that's what I want or even if I can afford that. With tables seating only 8 guests that means we will need at least 12 and possibly as many as 19 centerpieces depending on the number of people who RSVP in the affirmative. If anyone has any nice centerpiece ideas that I can put together relatively quickly and in large quantities without having to remortgage my house and that are still nice enough to give away and don't look like Christmas.... please, let me know :)

My man is a very very bad man LOL

Vince told me the rings would be delayed for at least a week and for a second I wondered if he was fooling me. But he sounded so disappointed when I talked to him on the phone that I thought there's no way he could be lying...... WRONG!

Vince is a very good actor as he had my engagement ring the whole time and I never knew it. He came home from work and right away said he was going to get changed to go out for supper. But after a second or two he called me into the bedroom. When I walked in he had a yellow rose (my favorite colour) and the ring... and he was down on one knee. He fooled me but he did it right so I'll forgive him :)

Soooooooooooo Close!

I wieghed in today for a loss of 0.4 lbs which means I'm just 0.4 lbs away from my goal for the CKOC show (in 2 weeks). Do-able? Absolutely! I hoped to get there today but I'll just be happy if I make that goal at all. That weight will mean that I have lost 10% of my body weight since I joined Weight Watchers back in August. That'll be freakin' cool! LOL. I'll get a keychain from WW (big deal LOL) but the feeling of pride & accomplishment are what I'm really looking forward to.

In spite of not yet reaching my CKOC goal, the weigh in today was actually cause for celebration.... even though the loss was a small one, it was enough to set a record. I am currently at my lowest weight EVER since I gained it all about 8 years ago after I quit smoking. I lost a bunch of weight a while back and at my lowest I was 0.2 lbs higher than I am today... that was 18 months ago. I have been battling to get the weight off again all that time. But now I'm officially breaking new ground as my weight drops even lower.

In other news.... my engagement ring was supposed to arrive today after being sized for the last 2 weeks. Well, I guess they have a huge backlog to deal with (due to the Christmas season maybe?) and the ring won't be here for at least another week. So I'll keep wearing my "training ring" and hoping it arrives soon. One week from today will be the one month anniversary of our first date so maybe it's not a bad thing if it's a little delayed.