Ricky & Judd in front of two Battlestar Galactica posters.



Yesterday was a fun-filled gray Seattle day. Our friends Judd and Mandy had planned going to a Battlestar Gallactica exhibit that was at the Sy-Fyi/EMP musuem. I have never watched Battlestar Gallactica, nor do I know much about it at all, and I am pretty sure Judd's lady Mandy was on the same boat I was. The exhibit had a few cool things to look at, full size fighter ships from the show and costumes, but it was pretty small for all of the hype it was causing. We also spent a ton of time in the gift shops for the boys to look around, but no one bought anything. It was a total geek fest inside this exhibit and I didn't know what I was reading or looking at half the time, but I was a good sport I think and just slowly wandered around being "interested". :-) We spent about an hour inside the the rest of EMP, and I made everyone join me in the On Stage simulator, which is always a good time. I will not share our on stage photo, just because I don't think any of the other involved parties would appreciate it.

Look - I Can Sew!

Ricky bought me a sewing machine at the beginning of December and I so thrilled I have one now. I find myself thinking up all of these different plans and am not having the time to execute them. It is a running joke with Ricky that I am just going to use this sewing machine once and then I will be done and it will do nothing but gather dust. Well, I have actually made a couple things so far in just a short month!  

Starting with top left : Bruce (he really wanted to be in a picture) and an Adult sized two sided fleece blanket (gift),  Toddler sized two sided fleece blanket with stitched on applique (gift), Closer look at applique and blankets (they were gifts for a mother and daughter so I tried to coordinate the colors), & a Christmas stocking for Ricky's brother.



I realize that these are by no means impressive and complicated projects, however I haven't actually touched a sewing machine since I was about 9. So, I am happy I even remember how to get one up and running!

My next project (which I am hoping to do tonight) will be scarves and hats for my mom and I for the Seahawks game on Saturday. It's going to be cold and I am not a hat-wearer but maybe if I make it exactly how I want it, I will wear it. I happen to have some neon green fleece (Seahawk neon green that is) and the coordinating Seahawk blue with the logo fleece hanging around the house. I had bought the fabric last month and I got both pieces for super cheap (remnants discount + 50% off) originally for a couch throw for myself when I am yelling at the TV watching the game. However, it is only about 1 1/4 yards, and that would be a smallish blanket, so I think I will re-purpose this stuff. 

I plan on making some plain beanie type hats, but I stumbled across these adorable ear warmers at Delia Creates. So I think I will make the hat normal, but use these as some inspiration and maybe add some of those adorable fabric flowers! Stay tuned to see if I can pull this off! :-)



FatSecret.com

I am now trying my very best to lose the weight I posted about a couple entries back. My big goal would be to lose 100 lbs. Ideally I would like to complete that by the end of 2011 so I am starting off highly motivated and excited. The key to this for me is going to be persistence. I can rock a diet for a week or two no problem, then I get complacent and fall of the wagon. The key is going to be about 2 weeks in, seeing if I am just as highly motivated as I was in the beginning.

I did try weight watchers last year and I didn't stick with it for very long. Probably in my mind I just wasn't ready to make that change even though on the outside I was telling everyone I was. I made excuses all the time and swore to myself I would do better tomorrow and then I just stopped completely. Which boggles my mind because it was working. For the couple weeks I actually truly stuck to it, I lost an average of 2.5 lbs a week. I think in my head I thought it was easy and I didn't need to try so hard and if I had some slips it wasn't a big deal. However, I gained back what I lost and then some. One of my favorite parts of weight watchers (online) was the food tracker. I would enter everything I ate and it would track the points for me and let me know how much I have left for the day. It was great because I could really see the difference in the days I consumed several processed foods vs. the natural fruits, veggies, and meat. I found by comparing I was easily able to eat more and feel more satisfied on the natural stuff. It also let me see what food filled me up easiest so that I was not prone to snacking tons through out the day.

Right before the New Year I surfed around the internet and tried to find something similar that I could use this time around and didn't have to pay a monthly fee, but I didn't find anything that I really liked. A couple days ago I was surfing the app store on my iPad when I stumbled upon an app called calorie counter. It was free, and so I thought I might as well give it a go, considering I was planning on doing the old fashioned calorie counting system for my weight loss anyways. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I set my account up (free account) and then discovered this app is connected to the website FatSecret.com which is also free. The app has everything the website has, but the website also encourages you to join groups of people in the same quest for weight loss as you have. There is a ton of motivation in these groups. You can track you food diary, your weight diary, and your exercise, along with a database of tips and healthy recipes. Every day it will break down the protein, carbs, and fat you've consumed along with the calories. It automatically divides your day regarding exercise for 8 hours sleep and 16 hours "resting" which could be driving, sitting at your desk, or whatever you do normally. If you exercise all you need to do is enter it in (type of activity and for how long) and sub it for an equal amount of your "resting" time and it calculates the total calories your body burns in a 24 hour period based on your entries and shows you exactly what your calorie intake and output is. It does all the work for me, which I LOVE. You can view the tracker in different formats so you can see the different levels daily, weekly, or monthly. It also has a massive database of just about any food you can think of with the nutritional value saved right there, which makes it extra convenient when you are entering throughout the day. Of course if something is not in there (which I have yet to come across) you can add it manually and save it for future reference.

Here is the extra kicker, FatSecret.com also has a calorie counter app out for the droid (as well as the iPhone obviously). Which means I can access my account by computer, iPad, or cell phone and all I have to do is hit the sync option from any of these devices within the app and everything will get synchronized!! I will be able to track my food where ever I am and will definitely keep me accountable. I would recommend this website to anyone and everyone - it's free what do you have to lose? Except a little weight that is. :-)

Proud 12th Man Member!

Some of you may not know, but when we moved to Bremerton when I was 11 my parents bought season tickets for the Seahawks. My mom is/was a HUGE fan, so they bought 3 tickets, one for each of them and then one for one of us kids and we would rotate through. I vividly remember finding out which games were available as soon as the schedule was released and we would all draw numbers out of a hat to round robin pick each game. I scored the Seahawks vs. Raiders game almost every time, but that wasn't for lack of trading (or tricking some might say)  with my sister and brother for other games. I LOVED the hype of the these games. When the hard copy tickets showed up in the mail later on, they were like paper gold.  Unfortunately, those season tickets were dropped several years later right before the move into Qwest Field.

After Sunday's big W against the I was (along with every other die hard win or lose Seahawks fan) thrilled that the Seahawks would be in the playoffs. They haven't got in since the 2005 -2006 season where they got to the Superbowl (for the first time EVER) and got robbed by the referees.... but I am going to drop that because I get angry every time I talk about. ESPECIALLY after one of the referees admitted he blew several calls in the came several years later. But I said I wasn't gonna get into it.  Here's the thing. Everyone is up in arms because the Seahawks are going into the playoffs with a losing record (7-9). Guess what? If the Rams would have won the game Sunday, they would have been going into the playoffs with a record not much better (8-8 if they would have won).  So my point is stop griping to anyone and everyone who will listen that the Seahawks don't deserve to be in the playoffs. The way I see it, they won their division and deserve to be there, and I personally and THRILLED about it.

Come Saturday at 1:30 PM my mom and I will proudly be in our seats right next to the tunnel, probably with our faces and hair painted blue and green, ready to cheer on the hawks to a victory!