The Biggest Loser

My company, CE Holt, announced a competition starting Monday 1/5. The Biggest Loser: CE Holt. Now, I am a fan of the show... in fact, I watch it every season. It is inspiring to watch the transformations that occur on that show... I root for my favorites and enjoy the friendly rivalries because they all want the best for each other (though some try to hide that fact). Either way, I watch it and get so excited at the beginning of the season... new contestants, new lives to learn about, the start of a new beginning.... but somewhere, by the end of the season, I am disillusioned. I have watched my "favorites" go from fat... to hot...and I am still sitting on my couch...

We all know how I love a good competition. Softball, board games, heck, a good game of Catch Phrase and I am pumped! I can get, ok am, pretty competitive. So the concept of a competition at work...to lose weight... and for $$$? (my boss is matching $ for $ all initial starting money...)... I AM IN. I happen to the one of the only girls involved... and may I say, out of the 4 girls involved, I can so cake walk over them.... but the boys. Hmmm, this poses a challenge. Some of these guys have a decent amount of weight to lose (who doesn't?). But it's a ton easier for guys.

Then you have the cheaters.... my 2 bosses... "the Jeffs" as I lovingly call them... have decided to cheat. Official starting weigh in is on Monday... so they are now eating everything in sight (4-5 meals a day). They call it "bulking up". Haha. I even saw one of them eat an entire dozen Krispee Kreme donuts this morning... 12 freakin' donuts! Wow... I may have underestimated these guys.

I tried intimidation... he wasn't intimidated. Then I tried guilting him by calling him a cheater... he challenged me to find the rule that said he couldn't (being that the rules currently are: show up, weigh in, try to lose weight... I didn't have much to go on). I tried to appeal to his sense of honesty.... "that's not really the way it is supposed to go.".... so he countered with reminding me of all of the nice things that I could do with the $800 cash prize for 1st place... (heck, I could do a lot with the $400 and $200 cash prizes for 2nd or 3rd too!) He said that his smoking habit would help his appeitite... I told him I could consider picking up a smoke or two for assistance....He then informed me that he had enough stowed away in his flex spending account for lipo and a tummy tuck....I... don't. So I told him that laxatives work well... until he reminded me that I still have a job to do... so I gathered up my pride (what was left) and simply told him it was ON!

So I give in....or rather, I will step up to the challenge issued....

But I have a few tricks up my sleeve. In our conversation I found out that he has never watched the show.... (nor does he have access to or read my blog) so he has never actually seen the "real" way contestants on the show have "cheated the scale" in the past without ever really "gaining" actual weight or fat....

But I have....(see Lee, I told you those hours spent watching the tv were worth something...)

So, starting tomorrow, I shall be packing on all of the "water weight" that I can possibly hold....Gallons and Gallons of water (an no Diet Coke :-0 so come Monday, I figure I should have about 5-6 spare lbs to help pad my % of weight lost...) Oh, did I mention that I can hold my pee for a really long time???

If ya can't beat em, join 'em.... :-)

GAME ON BOYS!

My morning...

So I feel like I tore a page out of the "Alexander's no-good, very bad, terribly horrible, Day" kid's book when I woke up this morning....

Late, yet chose to put the snooze on my alarm because....?

Then I leave, my husband still asleep in bed because he didn't have to go to work today until 2... lucky.

Go downstairs and realize that my cell phone is not charged because....shocker,.... I didn't plug it into the charger. Apparently, unlike studying in college where sleeping on my open books imported knowledge through osmosis, leaving a cell phone NEXT to the charger does... nothing.

On the to the garage, where I open the garage door, get into the Jeep, narrowly spilling my Diet Coke (which would have made for a Tragic morning...) and promptly back up....


and into our Corolla which is parked behind the Jeep and the outside of the garage door...

BAM!

at this point in time, a rational person would assume that I would cringe and think, oh crap!... but no... running through my mind at the time was "what the heck is in the way?"

ohhhh yeah,... our other freakin' car!

what did I do might you ask?

why I got out, moved the Corolla to the street for Lee to drive it to work, got back into the Jeep and drove it to work.

The Jeep doesn't seem to be damaged at all; but no, I did not even bother to look at the Corolla.

Yes folks, I'm that kind of wife... the one who'll hit your car and not even go back upstairs to tell ya about it. I suppose I should call Lee and tell him about the incident, in case there is a mark on the car and he automatically blames the punk neighborhood kids...

on second thought, maybe they're not such bad scapegoats after all.... ;-)

Merry Christmas!!

My new camera... the Nikon P80... I am so excited! Lee surprised me with it on Christmas morning after teasing me with smaller gifts leading up to it like a memory card, case, battery, etc... :-) I spent most of Christmas playing with it and taking pictures of everything. I am excited about its features and want to learn how to use it to take awesome pictures...
first up, I can't wait to take pictures out hiking and at a Checkers hockey game!

Lee got some original paperwork for his 83' Monte Carlo along with a ton of other stuff so I think he was pleased as well. More importantly, we got the chance to spend 3 pretty much uninterrupted days together without studying or work getting in the way! Ha, gotta hate work... :-)

We spent Christmas day with Lee's family and then went to the new Epicenter theatre's uptown with the Wax's and the Sutton's on Christmas night... Yes Man wasn't Marley and Me like I wanted to see, but it was pretty funny. On a side note, the Epicenter is awesome... a theater with a bar and full restaurant.... drinking, eating, and a movie? Awe-some.

Saturday had us getting our butts handed to us by Josh and Julie on Mariocart on Wii. You would think we would do well as we have a Wii... but oh no... this chick sure did come in dead last on about 85% of the races.... oh well, we will have to get the game and practice up! =)

All in all, a Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Crystal!

Those that know me, know how much I love my birthday... the highlight of "birthday week" (aka the week following Thanksgiving :-) ) This year started out awesome with these flowers that were delivered to work on my birthday. Followed by Nathan's hotdogs for dinner that night with Lee... and TICKETS TO SWITCHFOOT!

To realize why this was important, you have to know that 1) I love Switchfoot and Jon Foreman... 2) I have been nagging Lee to see Switchfoot in concert again before Jon goes solo for good and the band breaks up.... 3) Switchfoot has come and gone to Charlotte area 3 times in the past 4 years and we have not gone to see them for various reasons.

However, 12/12/08, it all came together... Switchfoot came to Charlotte as the opener for 3 Doors Down (which meant that I didn't realize they were coming) and was surpised to get the tickets! We hit up Rusan's for awesome sushi before heading to the concert. Lee got us actual seats which was nice so we could sit through the local opener who were ok, but not great. Then... Switchfoot!!

Their set list...
Gravity
Gone
a Tom Petty cover song
Beyonce's Crazy in Love cover as a preamble to their song "Gone"
This is Your Life (where Jon jumped up and sang from the stands.... literally 20 feet from where we were at)
Home
Dare You to Move
Meant to Live


Then we stood in line at Lee's suggestion to wait for autographs... felt silly? yeah, me and the screaming high school girls who jumped up and down... but worth it for 2 tickets signed by the band? heck yeah!!!!

3 Doors Down finished up the night with a set of hits... some old, some new... but all pretty good.

Date Night In...

Lee didn't have to study tonight so we made some awesome portabello mushroom linguini and went to get hot chocolate from Dunkin'. Then it was desserts from the Fresh Market.... can you say tiramisu and cappacino mousse?? MMMM!

Oh, and we rocked out a gingerbread house too.... yeah, that's us as gingerbread snowmen in front.... note the candy work... that's all me. Lee piped the icing and was pretty proud of his handiwork as well :-)