Monday, December 7, 2009

Ultimate experience at the Christmas Devotional

Last night Dani and I had one of the best experiences of our lives! We had the opportunity to obtain some tickets for the Christmas Devotional from a coworker. It was 6 of us total. We decided to meet up at door #5 about 30 minutes before the devotional was to start. One couple was bringing the tickets for all of us. Well they were late in arriving because of the traffic and lack of parking, so we waited until 5:57, just about a minute before they were to close the doors! We were kind of down because we knew we wouldn’t get good seats. So we go through the metal detectors, and soon after a brother comes up to us and asks if we wanted some really good seats, OF COURSE! He said it would be in the floor area So we’re thinking ‘oh well we lucked out at least we’ll be closer than we thought’ well it turns out they put us all on the 7TH ROW! It was amazing!! Here we are walking in on the hour and sitting on the 7th row right in front of the presidency. We were just so amazed that it happened the way it did. We enjoyed every bit of the devotional, the choir and orchestra was just so powerful, I had never experienced that from so close. After the Devotional ended we get up and realize that we were SURROUNDED by all of the apostles! Our faces must have looked pretty funny, we couldn’t believe it. We were ushered through the front of the Conference center, along with the rest of the general authorities. I thought the experience was priceless, especially since the crowd was slow moving, which gave me the chance to chat with Elder Cook (which happens to be my mission president’s brother) Sis. Dew, and greet just about every other apostle. They took us through the long tunnel underneath the conference center and the temple, that was a neat experience in and of itself. The whole night was just was just priceless. Especially since I got to experience that with Danielle :)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Eat to live UPDATE

So, First weigh in: 10/19/2009 at 239 lbs
Last weigh in: 11/23/09 at 226lbs

13 lbs Woohoo!!!

The "lifestyle change" is going great so far. I can't believe how easy it's been. I actually feel like I could step it up. Throughout the week I'm careful to eat healthy foods, but on weekends I have eaten a lot, and still have lost weigh, I'm loving it. I'm going to the gym about 2-3 times a week, so I could definitely improve there. but woohoo it feels great!

Monday, November 9, 2009


I overheard some co-workers talking about a health book they started reading a while back, called 'Eat to Live.' Among other things, this individual shared her experience on how much weight she lost and what she did in order to achieve her weight loss goals. I was interested enough to order the book and look into it. 5 bucks plus tax. Three weeks ago Danielle and I started reading the book and both were surprised at the well-researched information which the Author shared from his years of research and expertise. The author, Joel Fuhrman, M.D., focuses on making a lifestyle change from the typical American diet to a more natural diet focused mostly on raw fruits and vegetables. I think the book is amazing! I've actually been following his advice for the last 3 weeks and have already lost 8 lbs! I'm not starving at all, I'm just eating a lot more veggies and got off the fast food train (I still visit the train every now and then, but definitely not like I used to). Anyway the book is great because he's not selling anything; he's just educating you on the important nutrients in food, what foods carry what benefits. He lays it all out, lets you know what is most healthy. I highly suggest you give it a try!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Subway Lady is weird...

Yesterday I went to get lunch at a nearby Subway and the conversation went something like this:

Me: walk into Subway
Manager lady: NO, WE DON'T HAVE IT. NOPE. WE'RE ALL OUT.
Me: [blank stare] uhhh....ha ha....yeah...
Manager lady: HAHAHAHA, WHAT CAN WE GET YA.
Me: yeah do you have the veggie max sub here?
Manager lady: SURE DO. PUT THE GREEN PEPPERS AND OLIVES ON IT THOUGH, IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO EAT THAT SUB.
Me: Um, I'm ok thanks...
Manager lady: YOU WANT TO TOAST THIS ONE TOO, PERSONAL SUGGESTION, IT MAKES IT TASTE BETTER.
Me: ok....I'll have it toasted...

Then the poor 16 year-old in between the big manager lady and the sandwich counter started making my sandwich. She had a look in her eyes that screamed "help me she's going to put me back in the closet after I'm done making your sandwich." so my sandwich is done, I go to the register:

16 year-old to Manager lady: ummmm...the credit card machine is still down.
Manager lady to 16 year-old: [in an attempted whisper tone that I can clearly hear] WATCH THIS....
Manager lady to 16 year-old: GIVE HIM THE SANDWICH. JUST GIVE IT TO HIM!
[16 year-old hesitates as her mind subconsciously shuffles through her ethical values and tries to makes sense of why she is giving away free food from a restaurant that clearly charges people for food, and which could have made arrangements to only take cash instead of just giving away food. But she slowly slides the sandwich my way anyway.]
Manager lady to me: LUNCH IS ON ME TODAY, NO CHARGE.
Me: ....boy that's great, thanks so much.
Manager lady: YOU ARE WELCOME. [looks at me with a creepy stare because she knows that she just pulled off the coolest manager move she could ever make, and is waiting for my mind to explode because of the slyness and craftiness of her moves.]

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs!

We had a blast this weekend when we met up with my closest of friends Stace and Naomi and watched 'Cloudy with a chance of meatballs' in 3-D (hence the glasses)! We really enjoyed it! Afterward, we hit up Coldstone for some dessert and spent the evening reminiscing about mission memories (Stace and I served in Philly PA together). Good times!