I Eat Because I'm Faht and I'm Faht Because I Eat!

I'm sure this quote came from a movie - but like most movie quotes it definitely pertains to my current lifestyle. John and I say it all the time then we laugh then we get depressed and cry.  Okay maybe I'm kidding on the crying part - but that's where the kidding stops.  When we were dating and "skipping through the daisies" in love, we both were very good about working out and actually both made a TON of progress toward our goal weight.  Swearing all the way that we would NOT be "that couple" that gains all their weight back after they marry.  Sad to say, we are they.  

Well not entirely so - neither of us crept back up to our original weight - but let's just say we aren't far away.  So, enough of the talk: The diet will start tomorrow - let's pig out tonight and prepare for it!!  None of this being weak for each other.  None of this laying around stuffing our face at 11:00 at night in front of the TV.  I'm a new woman - er I will be one starting tomorrow (hehe).  

So what have I done to get started?  I've decided to resume my nightly "running is fun-see!!" mindset and also begin the online weight-watchers.  After all, one must learn to control their points (er calories) for the rest of their life eh?  So why not start now.  Nothing worth it is ever easy.  (Yes, I'm in the motivational quotes part of the diet plan right now-just bear with me).  

Thankfully, John has helped me resist the urge to "pig out tonight" in preparation for my sabbatical from food tomorrow.  It's not fun - I can tell this even early on.  Putting it simply - eating is fun - I enjoy it - I've pretty much revolved my life around food.  This isn't normal folks - and I wanna be normal!!  

So, tell me how you do it - what are your tips, techniques, etc.  Come one and come all - help me on this quest!!  I'll be using the blog as a measurement of where I am and how far away I have to go.  No, don't get excited, I won't be stating any actual #'s or numbers on here.  I love ya but not enough to tell you how much I weigh.  I'll just let you know how many pounds I lose - every once in awhile.  Don't worry - my blog won't turn into a replica of the weight watcher's blog - but since it's all about me - and this is the new me - I'll talk about it every once in a while.

Not only am I ready to be thin(ner) but our other motivation is Hawaii this January for our one-year anniversary.  After all, who wants to vacation in Hawaii and be mistaken for a beached whale?  Not me!!

Today is the start of a brand-new me.  Sniff sniff - I'll sure miss the yummy food. :(

Follow The Leader

Yes, I'm the leader - and you ...... should follow me! :D  

Sarah and I were blog-talking last night - and found a cool new feature on blogs.  You can now "follow" someone's blog - well at least proudly proclaim yourself as a follower of their blog.  How do you do this you ask?  Well if you absolutely canNOT live without my random rambling blog posts - and consider yourself an avid fan and follower of my insightful words (yes, all of you out there should be nodding your head) you can just click on the right hand side of my blog and choose to be loud and proud in proclaiming your undying devotion to my blog!!  It's about time you all came out into the open eh?  I know there are at least more than TWO of you out there!  It's time to show your faces!!

Ok, in all honestly, pretty pretty please proclaim yourself a follower - just so it looks like I have friends.  I can pay you later - mail a check, clean your house, ANYTHING!!  I just want to see your smiling faces each time I log into my blog and know I'm doing all of this for YOU - my PEEPS!!  

So, if you love me, you know what to do!!  (If you still don't know what to do, I'll happily step you through it!!)

Partay In Da House!!

Time to blog about my new favorite past time!!  UFC!!  For those who are unaware - it stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship.  I never knew how much I loved watching people bloody each other until I married John and was inducted into the UFC Fight Night parties.  I quickly learned that our house is the host of this monthly fight night due to our hi-def TV.  I'm sure there is some skill found in these fights - I'm sure of it - but more often than not it just seems like a blood bath.  Honestly, I enjoy UFC night because it's a good excuse to get together and eat and laugh with each other.  I've found I have a weak stomach for things such as blood and punching and near death moments.  (I can't even look when people get shot in movies - it's just too much).  But, for the sake of the party, I have learned to stomach a little of the event - and allow myself to hide my face when it gets real nasty.  

So, last night was our UFC night and it was one of the best ones we had in a long time.  No, not because the fights were very intense and graphic (at least not in my opinion - even though I'm sure the others would say yes) but I enjoyed it more simply because we got to relax with old friends and EAT - one of my favorite things to do!!  And not just eat anything - we got to dig in on some Cincinnati Skyline Chili (yes I'm hooked to this too thanks to John).  It was good food and good fun......er and good fighting.  Here are a few pics of the fun we had as we reenacted what we saw on TV.

Sarah, going for John's jugular using the "Rear Naked Choke" - yes you are supposed to be 

clothed when you do this - not sure where it gets it's name.

John and Brad duking it out in a good ole-fashioned wrestling match - wherein they 

wore themselves out after only a short 15 seconds.

And me taking John down in the guillotine.  Yes, they had to instruct 

me on how to hold the pose - see how naive and soft hearted I am?  

These things just don't come naturally to me ;-)

Feeling The Love

I've been tagged and as a result....I'm feeling the love.  In all honesty, I do love when people tag me on things like this (thanks Nik!).  It gives me time to talk about my favorite subject...... Me!!!  So, now, according to the law of the tag, I must respond. Enjoy getting to know me bettah....I know I do!!!  ;-)

Two names you go by:
1. Shanaynay
2. Shanabell
Two things you are wearing right now:
1. Shirt
2. Jeans

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. Movie popcorn in all it's buttered glory - coming soon in the next few hours hopefully :D
2. Dr. Pepper (my long lost friend - once again..sniff sniff...let's move on mmkkay?)

Two people who will most likely send this back
1 Colton - because she does EVERYTHING I say!! ;-)
2 Michelle - because she needs to learn to do everything I say....and update her blog!  Two birds w/one stone eh?

Two things you did last night:
1. Drove forever and ever and ever coming back from Branson.
2. Slept like a log on the most comfortable bed ever - my own :D

Two things you ate today
1. Pancakes at Village Inn w/my Sis-in-law Sarah and her cutie kids.
2. Movie Popcorn - coming soon so I'm counting it :D

Two People you just spoke with:
1. John
2. Sarah

Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Meeting an Inspector for a home inspection.
2. Meeting an Inspector for a termite inspection.   Woohoo!!!  (sarcasm noted ;-)

Two longest car rides:
1. From Branson to Arky last night in the pitch blackness of night with windy pretzel roads, a crappy map, and my husband following on the moto.  I spent 99% of the time frazzled with worries over all the above.

2. From Utah to Missouri by myself with all my belongings crammed into my lil car.  Driving across the country all by my lonesome, with all my belongings, belting out the music.  Rather liberating - I encourage everyone to have at least one of these life moments before you die.

Two favorite beverages:

1 Dr. Pepper - sniff sniff - no longer in my life but will always be my one and only love.
2. Country Time Lemonade - I see to have developed quite the addiction to this in order to numb myself from missing my DP.

Tag to anyone who wants to feel the LOVE!!  And anyone who is a frequent visitor of my blog!!  So that means maybe 3 people??  Hehehe.  

Laboring At The Lake

Our Labor Day weekend was spent laboring at the Lake.  Table Rock Lake - In Branson.  We were lucky enough to score the condo's for the weekend so we had yet another Bell reunion over the weekend.  The first day/night were spent with the Walker's and the Bell's and my mom and very pregnant sister.  We wandered around Branson Landing, and enjoyed a dinner at Joe's "Crab" shack - eating what else?  Chicken!!  Our family isn't diverse in food of the aquatic nature.  And by "not diverse", I mean - we don't let it even touch our lips.  The only seafood diversity comes from my brother-in-law Kendall.  He's the one digging into the crab, shrimp, and lobster, while we all happily dip our chicken strips.  I blame it on my mother of course ;-).  The most exotic fish we got all through our growing up years were fish sticks.  And yes, I drowned mine in ketchup to get rid of the "fishy" taste.  

Our second day was spent lounging around and being lazy.  Some impromptu shopping, some napping, and some dinner at one of the biggest grease joints on the strip (yes, we regret this later).  And then we are off to enjoy a cultured evening at Noah: The Musical.  Michelle, Kendall, my mother, and John and I were rather excited for this opportunity.  Of course the internet has rave reviews and we talk ourselves into forking over the moolah.  Only to walk away severely disappointed.   The stage props were impressive, the acting was overly cheesy, although they had good singing voices, and alas at the end, Jesus comes out looking like Liberache, adorned in his diamonds and glitter and asking all of us to be saved.  It was definitely a scare you into submission type of church event.  Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against church and Jesus.  I think he and it should be in much more of our lives, but the booming voice of the narrator frightening all of us to run the other way, was a bit overboard in my opinion.  So, those who have seen it and liked it - good for you.  Those who haven't - don't.  I've decided I won't see anything less than Broadway type plays from now on.  Much more professional and entertaining.  This.....was neither.  But all in all, it was a nice little getaway with a few of the fam.

Day 3 had us laboring at the lake.  Or maybe that was just me?  It was definitely fun mind you.  But does anyone besides me notice how much work it takes to enjoy it?  Especially with 4 kids under the age of three.  Lugging all the gear, setting up the gear, bathing the kids in sunscreen, hobbling over the razor edge rocks down to the lake with two kids in your arms (WITH lifejackets) and wincing in pain on each step.  I can now say I know what it feels like to walk on glass!!  The kids were adorable though so it was all worth it.  Even though they couldn't quite decide if they wanted in or out of the water.  We got to play on the seadoo, eat some lunch, and relax in the sun.  Preston pooped all up and down his body, and on Grandma - neither seemed phased through all of it.  Cora had a tendency to fall asleep the minute she floated in the water, Ashlyn was a bit timid of the water and fighting a cold but enjoyed being accidentally submerged by her father.  She literally came up cheesing and smiling since we were all trying to make it a "happy moment" and divert her from the tears.  And Kayley was a chatterbug as always telling us all about Ariel and Jasmine and asking what each of us were talking about, eating, etc.  She's quite the curious little one and it is adorable.  

Needless to say, after three days of spoiling the babies and swimming and sleeping on uncomfortable beds, and enjoying a great grilled steak, John and I were pooped and ready to head for home Sunday night.  Nothing like a vacation to relax and tire you out all at the same time.  A great time was had by all!!

Headin' Back to Ma Roots

So technically we tapped into our family roots a few weekends ago.  But since we've been booked busy since then, I haven't had the chance to blog about it.  However, this is not to insinuate that it wasn't a hilarious weekend full of laughter I'll have you know.

As you devoted readers of my blog may know by now, my sister-in-law Sarah excels at coming up with exciting and rather random sources of entertainment for all of us.  It's definitely not the typical "dinner and movie" night either.  She was the creator of our Derby Girl outings.  And still hot on the trail, she instigated our Demolition Night Out, with our full blown white-trash look.  We were all a bit surprised (and concerned) at how easy it was to duplicate the look.

We started the evening by meeting at Sarah and Tom's and getting decked out in blue eyeshadow, hairspray, big hair, and rub-on tattoos.  Already I was aching from all the laughter and pointing at each other and the night hadn't even begun yet.  Once we were decked out we loaded up and headed to the Sizzler for dinner.  I know, I know, what better place to dine on such an evening.  Surprisingly they didn't realize that we were intentionally decked out in our garb - I think we blended in with their regular customers.  All both of 'em.  Yes, we were about 4 people in a restaurant of 10 (including the servers).  The food was entertaining to say the least.  Hardly delicious but definitely entertaining.  Then we headed onward to the grand finale, a night at the Demolition Derby!!  This was only my 2nd visit (last year John and I went while we were dating - it was true love the moment I stepped past the gates, hand-in-hand with him...sigh).  Anyway, I digress.  We arrived at the derby this time and were welcomed rather warmly to our peeps and the smell of white trash in the air (most likely our hairspray coated hair I'm sure).  Then we sat and enjoyed watching cars crash into each other for the next two hours.  It wasn't quite as chaotic as last year's Derby.  They seemed to play a bit too nice for my taste.  But there were a few cars sitting on top of other cars, while some lost their axle's, and others chased each other around the ring.  One of the best parts of the event is when we all pray toward the American Flag hoisted up high in the air on nothing else but a boom lift.  What a way to start such an interesting evening.  We always like to people watch most of all.  We found your typical odd balls but the most interesting was when we met Rosco the Raccoon.  Apparently this was his second time frequenting the Demo Derby as well.  Here are some hilarious pictures depicting our hilarious evening.

John and I all geared up and ready to go!!  Yes, those are rub-on tattoos on his arm, and yes it is the full sheet square.  Very realistic eh?

Sarah helping me achieve "the look".  Apparently I had failed miserably on my own.

Fine dining at it's best.  John is paying his respects with the hat over his heart.

Sarah & Tom chowing down.  Sarah's t-shirt says: "Princess" with the excessive amount of hearts n arrows.  Tom's says: "Who's Your Daddy" will the Pepsi hat completing the look.

John's sleeveless shirt with his hat with built in bottle opener.  And my ratted hair and blue eyeshadow with an Eeyore shirt saying: "Mood Swings in 5 Seconds".  

And alas, the most interesting sighting of the night.  Roscoe the Raccoon with his devoted owner.  Sharing kisses and picking at each other's ears and eating candy.  They were definitely the pair.