Tag Archives: wedding

A triple surprise in Phoenix

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Aunt Karolyn, Kathy and Uncle Keith, the birthday triplets!

Hello, bloggies! How is everyone doing? This weekend was a whirlwind for Matt and I, as we jetted off to Phoenix for 24 hours to attend our aunt’s and uncle’s 60th surprise birthday party! Karolyn, Kathy and Keith were the first triplets born in Phoenix, and to celebrate, the family decided to give them a very big surprise.

The party was held at a country club, and once people walked down the stairs they were greeted by this banner giving a little hint to what was to come. The banner says… “A lap full of joy, two girls and a boy. The triplets were born September 5, 1952 and grew up as Children of the 60s.”

Matt’s awesome aunt Gina arranged all of the decoration and concept, going for a groovy psychedelic 60′s bash with a little bit of Alice in Wonderland flair.There were balloon center pieces at every table made up of daisy balloons, and each table had a jar full of vintage candy like Zots, buttons, candy cigarettes, chocostix, necco wafers and lemonheads. I picked out all of the zots and now my teeth are suffering! There were also vintage records and album posters placed around the room. It was a blast from the past!

There was a very nice buffet of fruit, salad, cookies and cold cuts – a nice light and yummy dinner.

I got the lucky task of decorating the cakes… with food coloring gel. Not my usual supplies, but hey, I made it work! Does any one get the reference to Alice on here? Name that band and song. Matt had to explain it to me. I’m not quite up to date on my 60′s references.

When Karolyn, Kathy and Keith walked in, I think it was safe to say they were pretty surprised- here they are right when they walked in!

It was really cool because Matt and I haven’t seen them since our wedding two years ago, so were also a big part of the surprise! It was so fun to be around that side of the family and celebrate with them. Here I am with Matt and my awesome in-laws, having a blast.

We had so much fun in hot hot Arizona, but sadly we only got to stay for one night. After the party, we dragged our butts out of bed and flew back to Los Angeles to change eras once again. Sunday night we were guests at a 1920′s themed bash! Stay tuned for the next post to see how Matt and I got Hollywood Glam!

(I know these posts aren’t weight loss related, but they’re fun! They’ll also show why my posts are going to be a little light this month. This weekend we were in Arizona and then went to a wedding. Next week I’ll be working on site in San Francisco for four days then flying directly to Baltimore for Fitbloggin’. After that we come home for a few more days and then it’s back up to Northern California for Matt’s birthday. We are busy beyond belief! Add in a thesis in its final stages and a full-time job and it’s true that life is what happens when you’re busy making plans :) How lucky we are though to get to do all these exciting things! )

 

 

San Diego Summer

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Cousin Mark and his wife Debbie with us! <3

Hey everybody! Hope you had a fun and safe 4th of July. Last weekend, Matt and I drove south to San Diego to attend a going away party for my cousin Mark and his wife Debbie, and their awesome two kids (who were flower girls in our wedding!). They’re moving to Colorado so we wanted to make sure we stopped by to wish them well before they head out!

 

Flashback - Here's Mark and Debbie's girls, Dylan and Gwen as our flower girls!

Before the going away party, Matt and I got some lunch – and when in San Diego, you eat tacos! A few yelp reviews later, we landed at Los Honchos Tacos where I nommed on some pollo asado tacos loaded with cilantro and onions. When they got to the table I was a little surprised to see how oily the tortillas were, so I only ate one tortilla – they were wrapped in two tortillas. Calorie-buster #1!

Then, we headed to Koby’s Swap Meet, where I saw some very random things being sold – like a half used canister of italian seasoning and a 3-legged live bullfrog. I bought these stunna shades for a whopping $4, some cucumbers (3 for $1! who could resist?), a vintage tea pot for $5 (it now has an african violet planted in it), a car wash sponge, and a hoodie. All of that for like $30. I love flea markets.

My new stunna shades and my cutie-pie Gwennie!

Once we got to the party, we had a good time catching up with our cousins and enjoying the amazzzzzing feast of Filipino delights! Debbie is filipino, and I secretly hoped the party would have Lumpia. Lumpia are kind of like egg rolls – usually filled with spiced pork and other things and deep fried. Well – my hopes were fulfilled when my nose led me to this gigantic dish of dreams:

I only had three, but believe me, it took major restraint to not make like a klepto and stuff them in my purse on the way out. In addition to lumpia, there was every type of dish you could dream of: cupcakes, curry, some sort of beef/blood thing, roast beef, fresh fruit, fried rice, sushi type things, chicken katsu, bacon wrapped hot dogs, teriyaki chicken, strudels, pies…. the list goes on!

Nom nom nom

While I sampled a little bit of everything, I realized something that usually doesn’t dawn on me until it’s too late – I don’t need to finish everything I took. It feels wasteful, but there’s nobody standing over me scolding me if I don’t finish every bite of my hot dog. I ate until I was full, but not gross full.

The dessert table

Since it was my second-cousin Dylan’s 9th birthday party too, we got to watch all of the kids in attendance whack the pinata. I have to say, if you ever want to see craziness, watch kids attack a fallen pinata. It was incredibly amusing and made me slightly fear for the future…. because if Matt and I have a child that has even half of my smart-assness and his mischief, we’re gonna be in trouble.

In summary, it was a great weekend and it was so nice to connect with Debbie and Mark and the girls before they move. What’d you do last weekend?

 

Weekly Weigh In – A Good One

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Do you hear the trumpet fanfare? Can you see the confetti falling from the sky, a million rainbow sprinkles tumbling from the clouds? How about that giant, gold trophy I have in hands? Can you see it? NO?! Well damn, you’re just going to have to imagine it – because – I have FINALLY reached a major weight loss milestone of 10 pounds!


10 pounds is big, people. 10 pounds is a sack of potatoes. 10 pounds is two fairly heavy dumbbells. 10 pounds is loose jeans and a smaller tummy roll, a shrinking double chin and a major boost in terms of weight loss confidence. YAY! 10 pounds! I’m back to my wedding day weight! (I’d like to blame those 10 pounds on the following things: Honeymoon pina coladas and fettucine alfredo, grad school, and Sarah Palin. Just kidding on that last one.)

I weigh the exact same thing, now!

Here’s the irony. I’ve been meaning to write a post about this, but I’ve been off Weight Watchers for about a month and a half now. It just wasn’t doing it for me. I just did not track – and it might have been laziness, but I never seemed to remember to update my tracker. I couldn’t justify the expense anymore when I quite simply wasn’t doing it. So what have I been doing? I’ve been eating less. Being sick the past few days has shrunk my appetite, but besides that, I just kind of realized that I don’t need to eat as much as I normally do. Instead of having a third small taco, I stop after the second and wait. Chances are, that magical little “FULL” indicator inside of me will turn on after a few seconds, and I continue living in my merry way, satisfied and on my way to weight loss with the simple decision of having one less taco.

Seems simple, right? Why is it that so often the things we’ve struggled with for so long are really just so simple? These 10 pounds have inspired me to keep it up, and apply this new-found knowledge to the next few months. Things are going to be hairy for awhile with midterms and holidays, but armed with my new “Wait and see if you’re full” strategy, I feel confident that I can knock out at least another five pounds before beginning 2012.

How are you doing?