A Big Announcement!

After three and a half years of dreaming about it and endless pins on Pinterest about my future wedding, it's finally a reality!! Antonio popped the big question last Thursday and I of course said yes!

The proposal was perfectly us and I was completely surprised. The night started out by going out to one of our favorite sushi restaurants. After delicious dinner, we started to walk around the little lake right near the restaurant, but only minutes into our stroll it started to pour! So we ran back to the car and away from the rain. On the way home we totally saw a double rainbow! It was pretty cool!

Anyway, we decided that we needed some dessert so Antonio headed to Coldstone and I grabbed my most favorite treat from Chik Fila a banana milkshake. We headed home to settle in to watch a movie and I started to prepare my kids' treats for their last day of school to following day.

Out of nowhere, Antonio tells me he found a gift he meant to give me from his recent trip to Bolivia. (That's where his dad is from and some family still live.) After joking about his forgetfulness a little, he pulled out a cute little hand painted clay pot and handed it to me. I opened it up to find this inside:

I was so shocked I gasped and closed the lid right back up! I can't really remember exactly how I reacted but I know there was a lot of nervous giggling and crying and hugging involved. After calming down, I asked Antonio to put the ring on me and it felt so weird and real and perfect all at the same time! I was so happy he decided to do it when we were home alone just being us.

After making some very frantic excited calls, we settled in to watch a movie. Needless to say, I never did finish my milkshake and I couldn't sleep all night. It made for a pretty rough last day of school. But it was all worth it to know I would get to spend forever with the love of my life! And it also helped to look down and see this beauty on my finger all day long...

And here we are at our first event as an engaged couple! As close to an engagement photo as we have right now:

Confession

Today I ate this: 

 and this...

 and this...

 oh. and this...

Why? might you ask am I throwing all my hard work to the side? Teacher's Appreciation Week is why. 

Now, don't get me wrong. I love that we have a day, let alone a whole week, where (some) people are able to recognize the work that teachers do. It's not all sing alongs and summers off. Teaching is tough work - physically and emotionally. But, I wouldn't give it up for anything. Watching my kids try to do the math to figure out my age today was such a tiny thing that made me smile. And most days, it's like that. 

But anyway, Chik Fila was giving away FREE combo meals to all teachers today! And the amazing PTA at my school has been organizing lunches all week! (Which is where the Zebra Cakes come into play....) 

At first, I kicked myself for giving into so much temptation in ONE DAY. I swore I'd eat nothing else tonight and only fruits and vegetables tomorrow. But now as I sit here finishing up the last of my milkshake that I'm too afraid to look up the points for, I realize that days like these are not for degrading myself for being human. Actually, today opened my eyes to how much progress I've made. Before starting Weight Watchers, the meals I ate today would've been an normal occurance. Then, I would have come home and eaten more! (And maybe even snuck back into the lounge after school to steal some more Zebra Cakes....)

But because I am recognizing how unhealthy and ridiculous my food choices were today, I can feel OK about them. Because it means I'm finally getting it. Finally making that lifestyle choice everyone talks about. I screwed up today, but I know now how to get back on track tomorrow!

Fruit Night & A New Look

First of all, what do we think of the new look? Antonio's brother got me Photoshop for Christmas and I hadn't really had much time to play around with it. I spent a little time getting re-acquainted by re-vamping the old blog here! I'm super stoked about it!

Anyway, in trying desperately to keep myself on track with Weight Watchers, I spend countless hours on Pinterest, Skinnytaste and other recipe/health sites trying to find tips and tricks. One thing that I've found is that meal planning is key. Not only daily, but also for the week. So, I try to keep a detailed shopping list throughout the week and stick to it at the grocery store.

One thing that I'm lucky we can splurge on at the store is fresh fruit. As I've said before, I struggle the most with sweet cravings. Most of the time fruit, and maybe a little low fat pudding dip, can cure my cravings. I've started buying so much fruit each week, that I've dubbed grocery store day "Fruit Night".

This is night when I unload all the delicious fruits I've purchased and get to work. I usually spend 1 to 1 1/2 hours just cutting, peeling, and storing fruit in just one night! But, it's worth it when I can open my fridge to see all of these fresh, healthy alternatives to the chocolate, cupcake and doughnut temptations being brought to me for Teacher Appreciation week...

My (Friend's) Big Fat Greek Wedding

Almost two years ago, one of my sorority sisters texted me a picture of an absolutely STUNNING engagement ring. I was so thrilled for her and her new fiance, but when she said they had chosen a date in 2012 it felt so. far. away. It turns out those years seemed to fly by, because last weekend we had the pleasure of finally celebrating the new Mr. and Mrs.!

The bride is Greek and let me tell you, that movie was no joke! Greek weddings are big and fun! I mean just look at this bridal party... and that gorgeous church...

The ceremony was also very interesting to watch. There were a lot of really meaningful traditions that I was honored to get to take part in.

The reception was at a hotel in Baltimore and it was so beautiful, of course! Everything suited the bride and her personality just right. And of course, they started the night off with some Greek dancing!

It was great to get to catch up with some friends that I don't get to see very often. Lauren even came all the way up from Georgia AND I got to spend some quality time with my little sister, Rachel! Here are some more photos of the gorgeous Greek extravaganza:

The White Tank Top Incident

When I first revealed that I was joining the Weight Watchers bandwagon, I also revealed what exactly spurred me to join. Although I had been feeling overweight, unhealthy and just not myself for quite some time, I still lacked the motivation I needed to really DO SOMETHING, you know? Until the white tank top incident...

When I got home from an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING 4 day cruise (which I'm still not sure I properly blogged about...oops) with some great girlfriends, I was SO SO SO excited to upload all the photos we had taken during the trip. The cruise was a kind of extended bachelorette party of a good friend of mine and so, naturally, the maid of honor had some super cute shirts made. Complete with the so appropriate tagline "Setting Sail Before the Veil"! The night we decided to show off our shirts, we got off the ship in Nassau and had a great time at Senor Frog's dancing and drinking and laughing. I couldn't have asked for more! Until I saw those pictures...

First of all, I believe that stark white is not particularly flattering on anyone larger than a size 2, to be fair to myself.

However, seeing myself next to all the other beautiful ladies in their cute cute cute tanks in the Bahamas, I finally got the kick in the ass I needed. Disgusted with myself, I sought out my "last resort" and signed up for Weight Watchers. I say last resort not because I'm ashamed, but because as an athletic moderately sized person, I always thought I could just do it myself. Obviously I was wrong.

So today, when I realized I was wearing that same damn white tank top at the gym, I decided to see if all my work had made a difference. Feeling a little silly, I put on the same outfit I wore that night in Nassau and started snapping some typical bathroom mirror shots. I couldn't find a great side view from the trip, but you get the point...

I know I'm my own worst critic, so I can't see too much difference. Maybe a little less lumpy in the middle? What I really want to know is... what do YOU ALL think????

Ups and Downs...

First of all, thanks to all my blogger friends out there for listening to all this weight watchers rambling. Some of my real life friends are getting pretty bored with it by now!

I haven't written in awhile because, well, I've gotten a bit off track... The last two weeks, there have been so many temptations. And I've just been SO. FREAKING. TIRED. Does anyone else notice that tiredness and hunger are exponentially linked? And stressed. Isn't the end of the school supposed to be the easy part? Whatever it is... I've gained. Not much, but enough to make me feel pretty crappy about all the progress I've made so far.

One of my favorite new pastimes, through the weight watchers program, has been to discover and try out new, healthy recipes. I've never been much of a cook, but I've really started to enjoy it! I love reading reviews and searching the websites for delicious new meals! And luckily, Antonio is a more than patient participant in my experiments.

Anyway, I'm hoping that if I can get back on track with recording my weight loss process here, that it will help me get back on track with my eating habits again. I know it's a little late, but I put together a little one month montage. I can't see too much of a difference, but hopefully it will be just enough to give me the little boost of motivation I need!

Tasty Tuesday!

I've never really been a cook before. I like instant gratification, which usually means take out or microwavable meals. However, my new eating habits do not really go hand in hand with these types of meals. I also really like to bake. But, the problem is I usually am just baking for Antonio and I and end up making way too much. And that much delicious food just cannot go to waste... so I eat it.

So lately, I've been really enjoying finding and trying out new recipes that are a little more Weight Watchers friendly. A few week ago, I found Pink Lemonade Cupcakes on SkinnyTaste.com. I thought that Easter would be a perfect time to try these spring treats!


The recipe itself does not call for any icing on the cupcakes. They really are pretty sweet and can do without... I guess. But I am a frosting lover and when I found a super simple dip/icing recipe on Pinterest, I had to try it!

All you have to do is mix one package of fat free, sugar free instant pudding mix with ONE cup of skim milk. (The recipe on the pudding box says two cups, but you only need half of that) Then, once the pudding starts to thicken, mix it in with a whole container of Lite Cool Whip. The result was delicious as a frosting for the cupcakes but also a great, light, low fat sweet tooth fix with fresh fruit!

I decided to add the Peeps to be a little more festive, but here are my low fat Easter Cupcakes!!!