weight loss update week one

It's been one week since I decided to get serious again (since I slacked for a whole month) about losing the rest of the weight! Here's where I stand this week:

Height: 5'7"
Starting Weight, October 11, 2010: 195lbs
Restarting Weight, February 15: 164lbs
Last Week, February 18: 159lbs
Goal: -3lbs
Today, February 25: 157lbs (-2 loss since last week)
Total lost: -38lbs

So I missed my goal this week by one pound, but I'm still happy because I spent most of the week studying like crazy and only worked out one day! This coming week I'll definitely be hitting the gym more often, and my new goal is another -3lbs or down to 154 by next Friday!

fashion friday

swimsuits I'm liking as warm weather approaches...

Ralph Lauren

Apparently frills are very in this season, I've seen them everywhere! I would pair this with plain black bottoms, I don't much like the skirt look.

L*Space

This one looks black but it's actually navy (of course). I love pairing one solid piece and one printed!

O'neill

I LOVE the bottoms of this one but I usually hate that type of top on me and it's the only option :(

Victoria's Secret

I don't usually find bandeau tops very flattering except on super tiny girls but I've been wanting to give them another shot because it looks so cute in the picture! This one has removable straps which might help. 

Hopefully I'll be adding a few of these to my wardrobe this spring!

nursing school

I've given up on the photo-a-day challenge because I've been too busy studying for my HESI the past 4 days!

For the fall semester I'm applying to two nursing programs, Brookhaven College and North Central Texas College.

Admission to the Brookhaven program goes based on a point system, with points awarded based on GPA, the number of non-required but nursing related courses taken, and your HESI score. This is good news for me because most schools rank applicants based only on GPA. I really needed a good score on the HESI to have the best chance of getting in, and I wanted a 95 or higher. Sadly, I only got a 95, but I guess I'm happy it's not any lower than what I was hoping for! The test is five parts: math, grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and anatomy & physiology. Without the pesky a&p portion I would have made a 99, ugh. Oh well though hopefully it is still enough to get in! My total points for admission then are 33.4, and last semester everyone with a 31.7 and above got in, so I definitely have a chance, it just depends on the pool of applicants I'm up against. Now I have until April 21st to wait anxiously.

NCTC also uses a point system but unfortunately the exam is only used to narrow down the people with the top points. If I get chosen to take the entrance exam, I'm sure I can get in, but hopefully I have enough points to get that far. That process doesn't begin until May.

If I can't manage to get into either program for the fall, then for the spring semester I'll be applying to UTA (again, which was my original plan that didn't happen), Northlake College, El Centro College, Tarrant County Community College and Brookhaven and NCTC again. Surely one of those will accept me!

I really, really feel like the program at Brookhaven would be perfect and it seems like everything is pointing me in that direction so I hope it's in God's will for me to start there in the fall. I guess I'll have to wait and see (and try not to worry).

anthropologie dreaming

One day I'll be able to afford to shop there . I can't wait.

(apron)

(Everything navy blue appeals to me for some reason. I didn't even realize almost everything was navy as I picked them, I only noticed once they were all lined up. I did make a conscious effort to go with pink on that one sweater, but only because I already own a similar in navy...)

day 3- a picture of an actor/actress from your favorite show (can you guess which?)

fashion friday and a weight loss update

I've decided I want to learn to like wine. I think it's disgusting but supposedly it's an acquired taste, so I'm going to put some effort into acquiring it. (I just like the idea of having a glass of wine with a nice dinner, seems so grown up. And it's good for you!) So there's a cool place in Grapevine, TX I've never been to called Cork It! where you can try all kinds of different wines in tiny sample sizes for pretty cheap, even the really expensive ones. M and I's friends have told us about and once I got this idea to start trying to like wine, I looked it up. It didn't get great reviews but I still may want to try it. Another, more expensive, option is going on a winery tour/tasting around Grapevine, which sounds way more fun. I definitely want to do one of these (and drag M along with me) in the next couple weeks when our weekend schedules aren't completely opposite. So, what I plan to wear wine tasting (maybe).


Express dress with similar long gold necklace

Express brown leather belt

American Eagle brown leather sandals  

I plan to go shopping tomorrow and hope that I love this dress as much on as I do in the picture (it looks like it could be really flattering or fit really awkwardly and look frumpy). I'm not sure whether it will look good with a belt or not, so that's a maybe.

In keeping up with my goals for this year, I've gotten back to trying hard to lose weight. It was a slow start since I wrote that post, but happily I've turned the week around. I started back with the weight loss clinic plan for now too, I just wasn't motivated enough to do it on my own. Even if it does cost a lot (and is halfway impossible for me to find time to go when I work every hour they are open), I get results much faster and thus am more willing to drag myself to the gym! Begrudgingly, I will share my stats.

height: 5'7"

starting weight: 195lbs (yikes, I can't even believe that)

Tuesday, February 15: 164lbs (this would be before I started trying again)

Today, February 18: 159lbs

total lost: 36lbs

Yay I'm so excited (and surprised) to be in the 150s!

mini-goal for next week: -3 lbs/down to156lbs

My original overall goal was 145 but I think I'm going to change it to 135/140 now. While obviously my body has changed since 36lbs ago, I really can't imagine being happy with my results in 14 more pounds, and any of those put me in the healthy BMI category.

ps. I did day two of the photo-a-day challenge below.

day 2- a picture of yourself and the person you've been closest to the longest

day 1- a picture of yourself and ten facts

 1. I'm obsessed with babies and everything that has to do with them. I've been saying "I can't wait until I have a baby" since I was about two. I've worked at a daycare, I now work as a nanny, and I babysit all the time but it does nothing to satisfy my baby craving, I just really can't wait to be a mommy one day! (sidenote: my sister and I share this obsession, she has had five in the last 6 years!)

2. When I was three I wanted to be the person at the car wash that writes the numbers on your winshield with dry erase marker. I think my mom talked me out of it and I decided I wanted to be a doctor, which I stuck by my whole life until I started college and changed my major to nursing. No one in my family is too happy with this decision.

3. I have obsessive compulsive disorder. By this I do not mean that everything in my life must be clean and organized, which everyone likes to say means they have OCD. My compulsions are much more pointless and it makes no sense why I feel I have to do them. I can remember starting them in preschool, but they don't bother me too much (and I often don't even notice when I do them) so I haven't sought help or anything like that. They mainly have to do with patterns of numbers in my head that I must apply to a lot of things I do. I do like things clean and organized, but I don't think that constitutes a disorder in anyone :)

4. I hate all bugs. I am equally as terrified of butterflies and ladybugs as I am spiders and roaches. I even just hated to type those words.

5. I don't have a favorite season because I love them all equally. Each holds so many things to look forward to, and if we didn't have all of them, the coming of each new one wouldn't seem so wonderful.

6. I've always loved school and never stayed home sick. When I was younger I would be really sad if I was sick and my mom made me stay home. In college, however, I have a really hard time making myself go to class since it's basically optional, so I do much better in online classes.

7. I do not ice cream or birthday cake.

8. My first car was my dream car, a Volkswagon Beetle. The day after we bought it I couldn't stop looking out the window at it and couldn't believe it was really mine. It turned out to be a terrible car, but it sure was cute.

9. I don't think I could live without my iPhone. Not because I'm always talking to people on the phone, but it does so many things I would never want to do without.

10. I can't wait to graduate, not because I don't like school, but because I can't wait until I get to spend everyday helping people and saving lives and doing God's work.

photo-a-day challenge

I found this challenge on this blog. I wish it was all pictures that I could take myself so I can practice my photography skills, but a lot of them are going to have to be googled or older pictures. Oh well! Also, on one's that don't specifically ask for words (like today's), I'm only posting a picture with no explanation. I think it'll be more fun that way!

So here are all the days:
day 1- a picture of yourself with ten facts
day 2- a picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
day 3- a picture of an actor/actress from your favorite show
day 4- a picture of your night
day 5- a picture of a favorite memory
day 6- a picture that makes you laugh
day 7- a picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
day 8- a picture of your favorite food
day 9- a picture of something you hate
day 10- a picture of something you love
day 11- a picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
day 12- a picture of something you want to do before you die
day 13- a picture of someone who inspires you
day 14- a picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
day 15- a picture of your biggest insecurity
day 16- a picture and a letter
day 17- a picture of somewhere you'd love to travel
day 18- a picture of something you wish you could forget
day 19- a picture of something you wish you were better at
day 20- a picture of your favorite book
day 21- a picture of something you wish you could change
day 22- a picture of your day
day 23- a picture of something that means a lot to you
day 24- a picture of yourself and a family member
day 25- a picture of something you're afraid of
day 26- a picture that can always make you smile
day 27- a picture of someone you miss

There were 30 but I deleted one that was dumb and few that were pretty much repeats.

"I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord." Jeremiah 24:7

I'd like to think I have always been close to the Lord. I went to a private Christian school from the time I was three until first grade, and I am so thankful for that decision that my parents made because it has truly shaped my life and my faith more than anything else. I remember  very well being "saved", or specifically asking Jesus into my heart, when I was in kindergarten.

After starting public school in first grade, religion played a smaller role in my life. My mom was going to medical school full time and working almost every hour of the weekends at a hospital to pay the bills (my parents had divorced just over a year earlier). While she was working, I spent every weekend with my former preschool teacher Miss Dee and her husband and teenage stepdaughter. They took me to their Lutheran Church every Sunday, but I remember little that I learned there so I wouldn't say it had too much of an impact.

When my mom graduated in 1996 and I stopped spending weekends with Miss Dee, we didn't go to church very often. It wasn't until 1999 that my mom was influenced by a friend and we began going to Catholic church almost every week.

I mostly just went along with everything, recited all the necessary phrases at the right times as I began to learn them, etc. In the Catholic church, teenagers are confirmed as members around 9th or 10th grade. They take classes each week teaching them about the faith that lead up to a confirmation ceremony. About this time in my life, I started to question everything we were doing and saying in church. I didn't understand so many things and they didn't seem right to me. Who is the pope and why is he better than the rest of us? Why would we pray to Mary? Aren't these things specifically forbidden in the Ten Commandments?

I told my mom I had no intention of being confirmed because I didn't believe any of the things the Church was telling us and I didn't understand why it had to be so ritualistic. At the same time, I was struggling to draw closer to God. I wanted a great relationship with the Lord, but I didn't understand all the rules the Church seemed to be imposing. I had friends who attended Fellowship Church in Grapevine and they all loved their church. They seemed so Godly and happy with their church and their religion and I was very jealous. I started watching the sermons from Fellowship on their website and I really loved what the pastor had to say. I asked my mom if I could start going to Fellowship Church instead, and she told me no, because I wasn't switching churches solely because a boy I liked went to Fellowship (this was also true of course).

While she may have been right about my initial interest in Fellowship stemming from wanting to be around this boy more, it really did lead to something good as I was watching the sermons and learning more than I felt like I ever had in any catholic service.

Fast forward to today, quite a few years later. The past years since high school, I have mostly only been going to church on Christmas and Easter. I have always prayed constantly, and I have never abandoned my faith in God, but it was just a part of my life, not my whole life and reason for being and doing everything I do, like I've come to realize it should be. I learned that the bible explains that God made us in such a way that we want to be close to him, that our hearts yearn for his closeness. I have felt this completely in the past month or so, and nothing is more important to me than my relationship with God at this point. I am so happy that I have finally come to this realization and it has made such a difference in my life already.

Now the topic of church comes back up, as with this feeling came the strongest desire to return to church. One day, God put it in my heart that I needed to find out as much as I could about Catholicism and know for sure where I stand. I started reading all the free samples on Kindle of books about Catholicism (that is the first chapter of every book, it’s cheaper that way haha). I actually went out and bought this book

and I have since realized that I had no idea what the word catechism actually meant prior to reading this book. I always knew that to be confirmed, you had to first take catechism classes. Therefore, I deduced, this book must be about becoming a Catholic. Haha I was so naive. Apparently, the Catholic Catechism is a 900 page book that outlines everything that Catholics believe and cites each belief in the bible. Here is the actual catechism

I read the idiot's guide anyway, and though it wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, it was so much better. I understand so much more about the Catholic faith, and things before that I thought were silly or unnecessary, I now believe in wholeheartedly.

I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who has ever criticized Catholicism (because I used to be that person), and not because I want to convert you, but only because a lot of what you may have been criticizing is incorrect and I like to know all the facts before I go into any argument to avoid looking stupid :)

Kidding aside, the book definitely changed my life and, again, I am so happy that God led me to it! It actually left me wanting to know a lot more though so I plan on reading the actual Catechism soon (yes, that ridiculously thick one) and at the same time try to look up all the verses from the bible that are cited so I can try to understand even better what Catholics believe the bible is teaching us.

(Disclaimer: people tend to think the catholic religion is very strict about everything, and that might lead you to think this is a book of rules. It is not that at all. It does interpret each of the commandments, and that's the closest thing you will find to a "Thing Catholics may not do..." section.)

So, this post has definitely lived up to the "ramblings" half of my blog name, but all of this means a lot to me and I felt like writing it down. If anything, I'll love to come back and look at my own blogs in a few years, even if it's pretty boring to everyone else now!

I went to church yesterday with M's family (M was working) which I plan on doing every Sunday, and I will hopefully be starting my classes in August and be baptized, take my first communion, and be confirmed all at the same time on April 7, 2012. :)

Also, our church is having a speaker on Thursday on the topic "Why be Catholic?" which I really want to attend. How more perfect could the timing be that this speaker comes the week after I start going back to this church talking about the exact topic I'm searching for knowledge about. All God's work of course!

ps. I apologize for not knowing when to capitalize the words Catholic and catechism, I tried my best (and took some advice from Word).

fashion monday (oops)

What I'd like to be wearing tonight on our valentine's date! (which is actually probably going to be this weekend, since we just went out for my birthday dinner we thought we'd space them out a bit!)

white v-neck from Loft

floral skirt from Express

nude peep toe pumps by Christian Louboutin

and pearl drop earrings

I love how cute and springy this outfit is. It may only be February, but it's supposed to be in the 70s today, yay! I love this skirt and might actually go buy it for our date this weekend. The shoes on the other hand I will never own :(

goals for my 22nd year

Really this is my 23rd year because my first would have been when I was 0-1 year old, but that just seems too weird writing goals for my 23rd year, so I'm going to go ahead and leave it incorrect.

So yesterday was my birthday! I'm now 22 if you didn't catch that from the rambling above. It wasn't too exciting, I went to work, went to dinner with Matt, and then we came home and watched a movie. I was happy it wasn't some big ordeal like my 21st birthday though, I wanted it to be pretty low-key (though I would have liked to have been off work at least :|).

But anyways, I decided to make a list of goals I want to try to achieve this year before I turn 23 and put them here to perhaps make me a little more accountable. Sort of like new year's resolutions maybe, but not exactly as they are a bit more specific. So...

1. Get into nursing school. Now this has been my goal the last 1.5 years and things continue to stand in my way. This year I'm applying to 2 or 3 programs for the fall, and 4 for the spring if I need to. I have a really good feeling about one of them, and as long as I can do well on that entrance exam (which got postponed to a week and half from now thanks to the snow/ice). I'm praying that this may be where God has been leading me all along and that I will be starting my first semester of nursing school in August! (But trying not to get my hopes up because it's been a really long, hopeless road so far.)

2. Lose the last 15-20 pounds to reach my goal weight and then keep it all off! Last October I started working hard to lose weight, with the help of a weight loss clinic and by working out, and so far I've lost just under 35 pounds. I'm super happy with my results but I haven't worked so hard the last 5 weeks and have only gone from -30 to about -35 since Christmas. I'm doing it on my own now (weight loss clinics are expensive), so that makes it harder, but I know I can commit and finish because I've already done the hard part, only a little bit left! When I was trying hard I lost about three pounds a week so I hope to have lost at least 15 more pounds by the end of march (close to 6 weeks from now). I'll update as I move towards my goal (hopefully)!

(This is not my gym, we don't have palm trees in Texas. I do find it hilarious that they have escalators for such a small amount of stairs and that those two men on their way into the gym are really that lazy. Perhaps that is why this picture was in google images. If I were them I would certainly be taking the stairs, mostly because I'm terrified of escalators.)

3. Lastly, I want to make it a priority to go to church every Sunday and, even more importantly, work towards being baptized and confirmed as a Catholic next Easter (I'll be 23 by then so working towards it/getting started taking the classes is my goal!) I'll definitely expand more on this in another post!

(This is the church I would like to go to/become a member of once I'm baptized. I will probably end up being baptized at M's parents church though, as I will most likely ask his mom to be my sponsor. This is also where I want to get married! It's looking awfully scary in this picture, but I chose this one mainly because I envy the talented photographer who took it.)

So a year from yesterday I hope to be in my second semester of nursing school (or at least my first), weigh 15-20 pounds less than I do now, and be two months away from being baptized! Just imagining that makes me so happy and I pray God helps me to achieve all of this in the next year :)


ps. If you were anxiously awaiting finding out what I got for my birthday, I haven't gotten anything off the list yet! The one I want the most is kind of pricey, so if M is nice and buys it for me, it will be sometime this month. I'm waiting for the other to go on sale so I can use a gift card I have!

pps. I just realized I forgot fashion friday! I'll do fashion Sunday tomorrow.

birthday wishlist

so my birthday is friday and if I could have everything, here is what I'd ask for:

new coach purse and wallet

hello kitty iphone case

hunter rain boots

northface jacket

express dress (which I already have in black and wish I could wear everyday!)

 macbook air

and these

or these boots

but since I can't have everything I want, probably I'm only getting one or two of these things. Stay tuned to find out which ones!

adventures in couponing

I have a new project I've been working on, and a very time consuming one at that. While I've always wanted to try couponing, I didn't really start learning the ropes and clipping coupons until I saw this post. I'm still in awe. $96.00 worth of groceries for free?! 

So I started researching and trying to find a blog/website that could teach me how to coupon and get those kind of amazing results. Unfortunately, most of what I found are for ladies who shop at Publix. I would loveeee for Texas to have Publix, mainly because they seem to be the most coupon-friendly. And, just to make it even more difficult to find a blog that does all the work for me (by posting store specials and coupon match ups), apparently Tom Thumb is only a north Texas thing? Who knew.

Luckily I ended up at the krazy coupon lady's blog. She does weekly Safeway deals and they seem to be the same as Tom Thumb's for the most part, since they are the same company.

The krazy coupon lady suggests that you by four newspapers. Now I felt quite ridiculous doing this, and thought for sure two people couldn't need enough groceries for four newspaper's worth of coupons no matter how much we were stocking up! 

My four newspapers yielded all these coupons/sale ads

These are all the coupons I ended up clipping (one newspaper's worth)

Which left me with all of these coupons books if I needed extras of anything

Now pretty much my next step was to look through all the sale ads (or use the krazy coupon lady blog, but I kind of forgot to do this step which would have made things way easier) and match up things that are on sale at a particular store or Tom Thumb coupons with all my manufacturer coupons I had clipped. This is ridiculously time consuming and tedious. Also, it's hard to know what is a good deal on something when I've just started and I'm used to just paying whatever price something is whenever I need it. This is why I only ended up with two good deals so far out of all of this. 

So in the Albertson's sale ad I notice two good deals. First, boneless skinless chicken breasts are buy one get two free with the coupon. Amazing, right? Hardly. I go in the store, find my chicken breasts (in the chicken section of course) and try to use the coupon I brought with me.
(Sidenote: don't use the self checkout aisle. I was thinking this would be the least annoying, but of course it turned out to be the opposite. The overseer of the self checkouts had to come approve every coupon I used. I only used 5 and it took 20 minutes. People in line behind me were surely contemplating running me over with their baskets.)
Well, the self checkout overseer comes over and informs me I have the wrong chicken breasts for the coupon, which seems impossible because they say "boneless skinless chicken breasts", are the correct brand, and they were the only ones like them in the chicken section. Apparently, the ones you can use the coupon on are located by the doors? So I annoy everyone in line just a little more, at the overseer's urging, and go get three of the correct packages of chicken. Just a couple of differences between this chicken and the other ones I picked. They have seasoning and they cost four times as much. Super. I don't notice this until I have scanned the first package and I wasn't about to call the overseer over to cancel this now that the people in line are checking their watches, sighing, and pretending to commit suicide using their fingers as guns. Instead, I ended up with three packages of chicken for $18. The normal three packages with no coupon= $18. I got a few free sprinkles of seasoning. Oh well, we now are the proud owners of a year's supply of expensive chicken (I sliced the breasts lengthwise because they need to be thin for our George Foreman and ended up with 16!). 

 (and dated them all wrong I'm now noticing...)
Now onto the success story. Albertson's sale ad had buy four P&G products and get $4 off your total purchase. These toothpastes were on sale for $1.99, down from $3.29. If you bought four, you got another $4 off, making them $1 each. Well, turns out buying four newspapers was a good idea, because each came with a $.75 off coupon! So I ended up getting each of these toothpastes for $.25 instead of $3.29. Yay! 

(For comparison, that travel toothpaste cost $.99, all four of my amazing deal toothpastes cost $1 total!)

So, if anyone is still with me, I think couponing will eventually totally be worth the while. It's a ton of work and I have so much to learn but I am very proud of my one good buy so far! Small victories.

Also, we went grocery shopping tonight at Tom Thumb and couponing the lazy way (that is not matching up with deals or store coupons) saved us $28 and we ended up with $136 in groceries for $108. Not as awesome as 4 toothpastes for $1, but still worth my time clipping all those coupons!

fashion friday

So, the ice was just barely getting better, and then last night it snowed 4+ inches! I'm so over it. And my test I've been spending my last three snow days studying for is cancelled. 

Oh well in the meantime, fashion friday! Some blogs I read do this and I love it so I'm starting it.

So, what I'd love to be wearing super bowl sunday:

navy cardigan over...

super bowl tshirt with...

skinny jeans

these boots

and this belt!

ps. I saw something similar (same shirt at least) on a mannequin so I can't really take total credit for this ensemble, but I love it! Now just to buy the shirt and boots and belt...