10.28.2010

FROM GRACE WITH LOVE

I thought I'd post this video I received from my daughter, A and Grace in anticipation of my arrival tonight. 


Now isn't that the cutest thing ever?  I can't wait to kiss that cute face and snuggle that little sweetheart and her adorable brother!  Being a Memaw is the BEST!

10.27.2010

HAPPENINGS

I am in the middle of my fourth week of JW's program and feel amazing!  I have tons of energy, don't need any sleep aid to go to sleep or stay asleep, have improved my stamina and fitness level and have lost pounds and inches!

I am flying to Utah on Thursday for a long weekend to meet my brand new grandson, Aaron and spend time (every waking moment) with both of my grandbabies, daughter and son-in-law.  This time tomorrow I will be heading to the airport.  I simply cannot wait to get there!

I will, of course, be the "Paparazzi Memaw" while I am there and come back with lots of photos of my precious, darling, adorable, sweet and snuggly grandchildren.  Can you tell I don't like them very much?  *wink*

I have lots to do before I leave (laundry, pack, workout), so I will say Ta-Ta-For-Now!

10.25.2010

WHERE WE LEFT OFF

We have just spent a fun, laughter filled weekend with some of our best friends, Tom and Heidi, who live in Seattle.  You know that a friendship is true and solid when you can after long absences apart, pick right up where you left off and it's as if that time apart had never occurred.

Heidi and I became good friends in college while we both were taking a horseback riding class and began carpooling to the class which was a out in the country, and a long drive from our campus.

Our 35 year friendship has seen us through a lot.  We attended each other's weddings, raised our babies, spent countless hours in playgroup, at each other's homes making fun crafts, group dinners, pushing strollers at the Mall, attending evening painting classes, summers taking our kids to the beach, late night heart to hearts over coffee and even divorces.  We've toasted and celebrated our happy second marriages and shared each other's joy as we've added sons-in-law and became grandmothers.

Bruce and Tom have also become good friends and get along famously, too. The four of us have so much fun when we get together!  It's hard to say goodbye, knowing that it may be another long stretch of time before we spend more time together. 

But we know when we do, we will once again, pick up where we left off.

10.18.2010

A BIT OF THIS, A BIT OF THAT

This is a group shot of all us at the Croptoberfest scrapbooking day I went to two weekends ago. I'm in the back on the left.  We are all signing 'I love you' for a special girl, Britt for whom we also raised $140 to help purchase a laptop so she can continue doing her school work while she goes through chemotherapy and heals. Sending out our love and prayers, Britt!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 A sent me this sweet photo of Aaron yesterday.  They were out shopping.  He looks pretty relaxed, doesn't he?



Last, but not least, here is a photo of big sister, Grace taken at the hospital when she went to meet her little brother for the first time.


It's a rainy Monday here in San Diego and its supposed to be rainy through Thursday.  It sure feels more like Seattle...but I am loving it!

10.17.2010

SIBLINGS

I thought it would be fun to compare some photos of Grace and Aaron when I found this photo of Grace in her car seat when she came home from the hospital back in January 2009.



And here is Aaron in the same car seat coming home from the hospital on Thursday, October 14, 2010.


Sweet siblings.

10.14.2010

MEET AARON

AARON GLENN

This sweet pic was taken this morning, October 14, 2010.  I think he is absolutely the most precious little boy.

Mama and Aaron will be discharged to go home, after lunch today.  Happy day!

10.13.2010

BLESSED ARRIVAL

Our precious grandson was born today (three weeks early) and weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces and was 19 inches long.  He is healthy and perfect. I can't wait to meet him!

Here he is right after he was born all snuggled in a blankie in Mama's arms.

 This one was taken after he and Daddy returned from his very first bath.

I already had a trip to visit A, K, and Grace scheduled for the last weekend in October.  Since Grace was two weeks early, I figured little brother would be born early too and I'd get to meet him before our vacation to Nashville, which had been planned before we learned about A's pregnancy and it turned out that we are traveling when she was due. 

Little brother did not disappoint.  He just could not wait that long to meet his mama, daddy and big sister!  He was three weeks early!

Mama and Daddy are choosing a name for their new son as I write this...stay tuned!

10.10.2010

CLEAN EATING

This morning I began my fifth day of clean eating and working out--following Jackie Warner's workout and eating plan. 

I received my copy of her book last Wednesday and read through most of it that night.  I immediately began taking notes and made a grocery list for meal planning.  Last Monday, I began my 20 minute interval intensity cardio on the treadmill.  I have the workouts typed and taped to our treadmill and elliptical so I can vary my workout.  I will be using kettlebells for cardio/weight routines too. More on that later.

As soon as I finished the first workout, I was both energized and wiped out.  I also discovered during that workout, I became driven and focused on the hard work ahead of me.  It is a great feeling!  Much better than feeling out of shape, sluggish and unmotivated.  I can attest to the endorphins that exercise generates! 

Today, I went grocery shopping and now our kitchen is full of foods that make up "clean eating".  I have lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grain cereal, bread, bagels and eggs, chicken breasts, and lean meat.  I hard boiled some eggs to have for breakfast and snacks, squeezed some lemons for juice to add to my water.  I bought some decaf green tea and herbal fruit tea to drink in the evenings to avoid that urge to snack. 

I already feel better eating clean and working out again!

10.08.2010

KEEPING IT REAL

My sweet hubby is back home AND it's Friday!  After I got off work today, we met for an appetizer-happy hour dinner at our favorite Friday night haunt, which, by the way, we have not been to for nearly three months.  I have missed it.  It was not crowded tonight when we arrived and I was so surprised and happy to see that they added purse hooks under the bar!

I stayed on track with my good eating and ordered a dinner salad with Italian dressing and an order of meatballs.  I also had two glasses of chilled house Chardonnay.  And two large glasses of water.  My "dinner" was so tasty and it was so fun to spend time with my hubby catching each other up on our week apart from one another.

On our way home, we stopped at our favorite coffee place and I got a cup of black decaf to complete my night.

Tomorrow, I have my scrapbooking marathon day called Croptoberfest.  I am going to be working on a photo book of photos of my grand-daughter, Grace.  I have a ton of photos and I really need to get them in a scrapbook (or two). 

It will be a fun day of sharing, journaling, laughing and fellowship with other creative types like me.  It will also be an early day for me.  My scrappin'-croppin' event begins at 8:30 a.m. and I will have to make sure I have my mug of coffee ahead of time!  Power up for my day!

Hope your weekend is on a great start too!

10.06.2010

BRAVO, JACKIE AND ME

I have a new routine that I began this week. 

As soon as I come home from work--I do not pass go or collect $200-- instead change into my workout clothes head out to the garage (our home gym) and bust through a short but brutal cardio regime.

I have Jackie Warner to thank for that.

Jackie who?  And how did that happen? That's what you are asking, right?  I'll tell you.

You see, two weeks ago, I was channel surfing and found Thintervention with Jackie Warner, which is a Bravo reality TV show. I watched two back to back episodes at first, mostly because Jeana Keogh from Real Housewives of Orange County (another Bravo TV reality show) was one of the participants and she happened to be one of my favorite "housewives".

Bethenny Frankel originally on Real Housewives of New York is my all time favorite housewife and now has her own show, but I will have to do another entire post on Bethenny, sometime. Do you see a pattern here?  haha!

So, back to my story.  After watching only part of the program,  I became intrigued with Jackie's methods and ideas about exercise and diet and began doing some more research of my own. Much of her thinking is in line with what I already have come to believe about fitness, weight loss and success in both, so I was captivated with the whole series from the get-go.

I googled Jackie and found some of her cardio training tips online, printed them and began using it for my own cardio sessions. (If there is anything you want to know, ask me.  I am known as the 'Google Queen' around my house. 

I also ordered Jackie's book "This Is Why You're Fat..." online for cheap ($14) and will begin to implement her diet and food strategies as soon as the UPS guy delivers it. 

No doubt about it, getting fit is hard work.  Staying fit is even harder.  Jackie is a no nonsense, shoot from the hip type of trainer and that is the kind of message that will motivate me.

Three days in and I feel better already! 

10.05.2010

HOME ON THE RANGE

I'm on my own for a few days while Bruce is traveling to far away countries.  I'm exaggerating.  He's not really in far away countries.  Just another state.  He is in Virginia.

That is also where my youngest son, T is currently stationed in the Navy.  On Monday night, T drove up to where Bruce and a friend/co-worker are staying and they had dinner together.  Two retired Navy dudes and T, who is an E4. I am sure there was a lot of colorful Navy lingo zinging around that table! 

Here, at home it's me, the big dog, Kona and two cats. We do a good job of holding down the fort, so to speak.  I handle feeding the animals, making sure the doors are locked, taking the trash out, setting up the coffee pot for the next day (critical) and setting my alarm (equally important).

Kona takes care of all the patrolling, roaming, growling and alerting me of skunks, racoons, rats and strangers.  It's her job. 

The cats on the other hand simply watch both of us from a distance (in awe, I am sure). That's their job.

Well, that and sleeping.

And sometimes, sneaking a piece of dogfood out of Kona's bowl.  What's up with that?  Does anyone else's cats try to eat dry dogfood? 

I think I have just been blessed with odd cats.

I would love to continue to chat, but it's late and I have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow.  Ummm, make that BEFORE the crack of dawn.  Anyway you slice it, its too darn early.  And it's past my bedtime.  G'night!