nope.not today

my thoughts exactly today!
i found this sweatshirt on pinterest and was like this is me. today.
i have a migraine.
i have no energy.
i want to quit the diet i am on.
i feel like gagging when i think about food.
i want to go home, lay on the couch and do nothing.
but i can't because we switch payroll company's at work and it created 10 times more work for me. nope. not today.

sorry for the rant. i am just being real.

eos

so my husband recently pointed out an obsession to me. honestly i don't have a problem he just thinks i do. i have a ton of eos lip balms. they are everywhere.....

on my desk at work

in my car... ( this mint one is by far my favorite though, don't tell the pomegranate raspberry one on my desk though) 

on my nightstand

then i have a couple extra on hand in case i run out.

these pictures don't even show half of them because this morning i found four in my purse. four. who needs that many in your purse when i obviously have them everywhere to begin with. i think that a) i should buy stock in the company. b) target should track my shopping and stop me from purchasing the same item and c) i should win a award if i finish one. 

evolution of smooth you make great lip balm and you have hooked me. my husband is not a fan though. 

weight loss

this is the cottage is summer time

i spent this last weekend at my families cottage on oneida lake. it is the most perfect place to be because you are removed from everyone, yet there is so much to do. me and the hubs went skating on the lake. parker was slip sliding everywhere because he didn't get the idea of ice..... i wish i recorded it!

 i went on many walks with parker boy as well.

atkins update: on sunday we completed our first week of the atkins diet and i lost a total of 10.4 pounds. i am so excited. my total goal is to lose 29 pounds. i just have a little under 19 pounds left. i ran across this website called cotton on which sells cloths. i will be honest and say i am not a huge fan of the clothing section but their active wear is very cute. i purchased 5 work out tanks and a new water bottle and it came to $45!! this is one way i stay motivated. it makes me more excited to jump into my next workout. 

                    

speaking of workouts, their is a ton of free one on hulu! i don't have cable but i have hulu and netflix. i found this amazing one from the channel get fit, stay fit. they have workouts that are around an hour long. then i found another site that has only twenty minute workouts. i normally pick two of those to do so i can get in my 40-120 minutes of working out in. 

one of my favorite guides to help me lose weight is this polar watch. i love how it tracks my workouts and tells me how many calories i lost based on my information! seriously its great.

this journey of losing weight hasn't been all butterflies and roses. the first three days i went through withdrawal from sugar. i was craving ice cream, cake, frosting, fruit, and chocolate! if you know me at all craving chocolate is like a huge deal it only happens at a certain time of month besides that i think its gross! i know the whole women population is wondering what is wrong with me right now. before you plan an intervention let me tell you that i am in love with white chocolate! white hot chocolate with a shot of raspberry gets me every time. great now i am thinking about sweets. 

the worst day was on thursday.... at work we have someone retiring and a ministry threw a party for him wednesday night. they left this beautiful cake in the fridge for the office to enjoy the next day. the cake was made by my favorite baker in the world. she makes moist cakes with amazing butter cream frosting. let me tell you it took everything in my body not to eat some of that. friday i was talking with another lady in the office and she was like it wouldn't have been worth it because it was dry from sitting in the fridge open all night. that did make me feel better but i was so proud of myself!!

[happy tuesday, friends]

m.i.a

sorry i have been m.i.a lately!

me and the hubs have been super busy. plus we started the Atkins diet. we are both in a wedding in june and want to lose a little bit of weight before the wedding. my plan is to lose 29 pounds. we started the diet on sunday and this morning when i weighed myself i was down 3.8 pounds!! woot woot!!

thursday we got together with some of our friends from our connect group from church and hung out while watching basketball!

friday we had date night at olive garden to down our sorrows in carbs because we knew on sunday we were not able to eat carbs anymore! i got whole wheat pasta with alfredo sauce and the hubs got chicken parm.

saturday we went grocery shopping for the diet. i literally bought 12 peppers, 10 onions, 4 heads of broccoli, cabbage, 3 cases of eggs, 4 blocks of cheese and so on. the guy who rang up our groceries was looking at me so funny. i am sure he is thinking what are these crazy people doing!!!

saturday night me and the hubs went to my moms house for my cousins birthday party. it was a mad house full of beautiful little children. i was able to catch up with my other cousin about her atikins diet journey and get workout tips and stuff from her. she lost 20lbs is two in a half weeks. i was getting meal ideas from her and so on.

sunday we booked our one year anniversary trip! we are going to boston for 5 days, possibly more! i am so excited!! this will be my second trip to boston. i am so excited to explore the city because me and the hubs have a dream to live in the outskirts of boston someday! also, because he works at a hotel we were able to get our hotel in boston for only $39/night!!!!!! i looked up the price of our room on the hotels website and for the whole 5 days it would have been $2,237, we are only spending $223 for the whole 5 days!!!! how crazy is that!!!

this week i am going to post about the items i got on my march budget, what i am lusting for in april, along with some parker spam and possibly a few new outfits ( i always feel weird posing in front of the camera)

happy spring!

today is the first official day of spring! woot woot. except when i went outside this morning it was snowing. that's a great way to ring in spring! then to top it off, beginning of next week we are expected to get a mini snow storm. lol happy spring new york!

despite the snow i am going to think happy thoughts and show you some of the things i am looking forward to this spring!

1| pastels

2| ankle pants

3| floral print

4| tulle skirts

5| white pants 

what are you most looking forward to this spring season?

tater tot casserole

this is a recipe that i remember eating all the time growing up. my great-grandma made it and passed it down to my grandma and my grandma passed it down to my mother. the infamous tater tot casserole!

this is a really simple recipe to make and has the ability to interchange ingredients if you don't have everything. 

ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef (i have used half ground beef and half ground turkey)

1 med. onion

1 can of cream of onion soup (you can use cream of celery or cream of mushroom as well)

1 cup cheddar cheese ( can use mozzarella, coby jack, etc.)

1 bag tater tots

Steps:

1| pre-heat your oven to 350F

2| sauté ground beef and onions together (make sure to completely cook the ground beef leaving no red.)

3| once cooked, remove heat and drain the fat from the pan

4| stir in can of soup off the heat… it may look gross but trust me its not!

5| place beef mixture into a casserole dish (i used 3 quart)

6| sprinkle cheese on top

7| line up tater tots 

8| place in the oven for 30-40 minutes (i always do 40 minutes) 

enjoy!

march madness

okay i have a confession… i love march madness! my husbands family all fills out brackets and we compete against each other to who can get the most right. the play-in games start today. i have my bracket filled out, and let me tell you its a winner because i have 'cuse going all the way!!!!!! (syracuse.. for non-basketball people) i know i am a winner, right!

shirt: kohl's

blazer: kohl's

pants: NY& Company

shoes: kohl's

well if you haven't noticed kohl's is one of m favorite places to shop. i love the lauren conrad collection along with the elle collection. if you find things on the clearance rack you can get up to 30% off of that. one time i went got 4 shirts, a dress, and a necklace and only paid a little over $8! how crazy is that!!