Birthdays!

Yep, I'm officially 29 as of 6-5-10! We celebrated with our annual trip to Gigglemoor with our closest friends! Today is also my Mom's birthday, so Happy Birthday! I won't reveal her age but I think about 29 years ago I was the best birthday present ever! :)

Things still haven't slowed down a bit. I can't believe it's already one week into June and I can't remember what I even did two nights ago. However, I can remember the fun we had at Gigglemoor this year.

We did our usual drinking on the dock, late night booze cruises, dancing to ridiculously loud music, lots of great food and so on. It was Jodie's first time in Gigglemoor so that was a blast. There were a few things missing this year that I must admit I really missed.

A sign of the times maybe or a sign that everyone is exhausted from the craziness that has been spring and just wanted to relax. We didn't play whiffleball or even attempt a round of water skiing and wakeboarding. My annual cake was missing - however, this was not because Jim didn't order it it, is because the person in charge of picking it up and bringing it down ended up not coming last minute:( So, I will never k now what color my bikini was going to be on the cake because we went to pick it up on Monday and it had been thrown away - BOOO!!!

Chili of course had a blast at Gigglemoor. She is getting much better at swimming and even had a jump off the dock, well a push thanks to Megan! She did do the cutest thing ever. I fell off the dock and she jumped in to save me...swam all the way out to me to make sure I am ok while Jim didn't even get out o f his chair - shows who will take care of me when I'm sick.

All in all it was an amazing weekend and I hate leaving Gigglemoor. I have to wait until July 4th to get back down there but Annie and Amy will be there with us so it should be a blast!

Please note the picture is from last year to show the cake. I have been so crazy I forgot to bring my camera down this year - so pictures to come soon once CJ ever sends them out to us!

Back to Life

I must admit the Bahamas were AMAZING (see view from our room)! It was warm, romantic and beautiful. We pretty much hung out on the beach with a beer, went snorkeling a few times and ate really yummy food! We managed to leave losing about $20 at the casino, which isn't too bad considering we were in pretty bad shape at times!

We did end up participating in a booze cruise and meeting up with a few friends of ours passing through. That was a complete mess and I am beginning to realize I may be getting too old for those type of shenanigans.

Just so you can have some Bahama time the video below is a view from the pool. Every time the US won a medal this man would play the Star Spangled Banner on a trumpet, I caugh him playing wonderful world. Also, you can see the water slide - which yes, Jim and I went down several times and could barely pull ourselves away from it- I am NOT too old to still enjoy water slides.

Baring It All

As part of my 2010 is all about me, I have completed the Widdle My Middle Challenge. I must admit, that it took reading the challenge to get me interested in my abs but now I'm hooked! The main idea is to do a 30 day sit up challenge following her program - which basically boils down to 10 minutes of abs 5 days a week.

Now, I must also admit that this correlated with the start of the two hundred sit up challenge I am doing at work. So, we are currently in week 5 of this challenge and in addition to doing the 10 minutes a day I am also doing this challenge (which right now means an additional 200+ crunches 3x per week).

Back to the challenge. It was not easy to commit to. The first week was relatively easy but then I found myself getting bored with the routine and feeling that it all focused on my upper abs. With that being said, I basically just followed the rule of 10 minutes/day 5 x week. I added in some different exercises to replace some of her exercises I got bored with or felt I had poor form (for example, I am awful putting a balance ball on my feet and rolling it towards my chest - just a fail all around).

I added in more lower abdominal work as this is a problem area for me - things like reverse crunches, leg lifts and bicycle kicks. I would also do oblique twist, full sit up roll downs, oblique dips and oblique side lifts with dumbbells. I also did back lifts every session to make sure that I was also working my lower back muscles (completing the plank exercises was also helpful).Basically, what I am saying is that I did my own version of the challenge and it worked just fine.

Now for the results - I must admit that I usually don't focus much on my abs beyond my once a week ab class so this was a big change for me. I don't like to diet, love cardio but have a love hate relationship with weights and abs. After completing this challenge I will definitely stick to working my abs cause the results were worth it. I probably won't be as extreme, but enough to keep what I worked for. I believe that abs are a gift from your genes, we all can't have Jillian Michaels abs and as long as I feel great I am happy. So, with that being said here are the results:

• I lost 1 inch off my waist (smallest part of your midriff)


• I lost 1 inch off my hips (different for everyone, but where your hips are)


• I lost 1/2 inch off largest part of waist (basically around your belly button)

Onto the hard part - THE PICTURES! It was also part of the challenge to take a picture of yourself before and after. You are not allowed to flex or suck in so that your stomach is at rest in the pictures...cause when you measure you don't suck in! The before pictures make me sick! I also think I made a mistake not doing both in a bikini....I realized I should have done that about halfway through. Anyways, here we go as promised, but I am not happy about doing this.

And...just for giggles, I tested a sucking in pose on the side shot to see what Bradly Cooper will view if he walked past me on the beach - cause everyone sucks in on the beach unless you are a few deep!

I don't know, maybe you can't see the changes or not but I can and I notice them. Not only does my core feel stronger, but I see the indent in my waist more clearly. The before photos just look jiggly, loose and gross. It's weird, before I never felt my waist was super fat or as gross as this, but maybe it's the lack of a tan and the angles/clothing I don't know. But I definitely see a difference and you all better appreciate I posted the photos - cause that wasn't easy:)

Now, the exciting news! My reward, well gift, was a fabulous weekend getaway with my lovely boyfriend to the Bahamas. Cincinnati has just been pummeled by snow, leaving people like me without 4 wheel drive stuck in our homes and all around just frustrated. We just needed some time away and alone time so we booked a last minute trip to the Bahamas just yesterday! I can't wait, 8 Days and counting!

Whirlwind Weekend

Wow, the past week has been such a blur! Coming off the flu and heading to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for Morgan and Mindi's wedding! However, let's focus on the Mexico trip as the flu and cold stuff is soooo behind me.

So, we left on Wednesday, October 21st at the butt crack of dawn. We had a nice journey down there except the part where we had to land and sit in Guadalajara to wait out the rain. Hurricane Rick caused quite a bit of rain on Wednesday and we had to wait out the storm to land. But once we did, party time!

Wednesday night we had a great dinner with everyone who was there. There was about 10 of us and we ate, drank and laughed ourselves silly. They have this fabulous desert drink called Mexican Coffee (or sexy coffee). It involves lighting tequila on fire and pouring it back and forth so it's a big flame and then lighting your cup on fire and serving you coffee. It actually tasted like hot chocolate but the presentation is worth it. After dinner we enjoyed some late night cocktails and off to bed.

Thursday we hung out at the swim up bar, the beach and Jim and I went on a zip line/canopy tour in the jungle. It was so much fun. We zip lined over the river, through the jungle and saw a lot of cool stuff. We were about 700 feet up zip lining across miles of the jungle. The guides were amazing and so funny, we had a really good time. Afterwards we got to hold monkeys which was awesome but we also got to hold a giant boa constrictor...well we = me cause Jim was afraid of it.

That evening we went into town for the rehearsal dinner at a local tapas restaurant that overlooked the city. It was a cool restaurant and view but the food was so so. Then a few of us checked out the local scene downtown and headed back to the hotel. Since the hotel was all inclusive it was hard to justify spending more money on drinks out on the town. We ended up hanging out for awhile and retreating to our room early that night.

Oh yeah, our room was so nice. We had our own private balcony that overlooked the sea. Our bed was positioned just so when you laid in it the window could be open and you could hear the waves and see the ocean. It was just amazing. The bathroom was great and the shower was all glass and tile, I just love tropical showers. We would spend a lot of time just laying in bed and relaxing and enjoying the view with an ice cold cerveza.

Friday came and it was just a beautiful day! We spent all day swimming in the ocean and relaxing leading up to the wedding. It was the most amazing sunset ever when they got married (see pic to left), you couldn't have asked for anything better. The ceremony was amazing and they were both so happy. We continued the party well into the night with lots of dancing, tequila and laughter. Our server Rosalio just loved to keep bringing us tequila so that lead to a pretty fun night.

Saturday Jim and I took a snorkeling adventure that was so fun. We cruised out to our snorkeling spot and spent about an hour or so checking out the fish and swimming through caves. We then continued to our lunch location, which was a local beach nestled up against the jungle. The boat ride was amazing. Our friends Sarah and Jake also did a boat cruise and ended up getting engaged on theirs! Woo Hoo- her ring is amazing and we were so happy for them!

We headed back for our last dinner with the group at the resort. We enjoyed a fine Italian dinner complete with wine, sexy coffee and great food! It was a perfect dinner to end a fabulous trip! Jim and I were so exhausted from all the partying, food and drinking that we hit the bed early. We had an early flight back to the states and just wanted to hang out and enjoy our last night together.

So we got back on Sunday and were exhausted. We really really missed Chili so it was so great to see her at our house when we got home! We watched the second half of the Bengals ass whooping against the Bears and were asleep by about 10PM!

All in all it was an amazing trip and I am so glad Morgan and Mindi invited us to be a part of it. It was a nice break from Cincinnati and also cleared up my allergies getting out of the city- thank the Lord!

I consider myself extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to attend their wedding and spend time in Mexico with some of my best friends. These are the things that make life happy and great:)

Nothing Like Wrigley and Chi-Town

This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago with Jim's family to attend the Reds game and see the city! It was an amazing trip and I can't thank his family enough for inviting me to come along! I put a group picture of all of us in here too!

I was really excited to go to Wrigley Field to see my first game ever there...and it was against the Reds!!!

To make it a true Chicago experience we took the blue line on The El over to Wrigley Field. Once I stepped off The El I was really excited! All the people crowding the streets, the noise, the beer, the smell and it was only 11AM!!

We had awesome seats, right along 1st baseline and about 7 rows up. I loved how the field was open, didn't feel surrounded by technology - but just us and the players! I enjoyed some Old Style's, Chicago Style Hot Dogs, peanuts and ice cream.

We cheered for the Reds, who ended up losing :( Then stuck around for the song that Cubs fans sing if they win...something along the lines of "Go Cubs Go!" We laughed at this, because it totally sounded like a Christian Rock Church Band was playing. But all in all we had a great time at the game and the stadium was awesome, not a bad day to be a Cubs fan!

After the game we went out and partied at some of the local bars around the stadium! We went to Slugger's and listened to the dueling piano players! We had such a great time I would love to get to Wrigley every summer!

I have been very lucky to have traveled a lot this summer and had the best time. I am truly blessed to be surrounded with people who love me and I love them, no matter where we go we have fun!

A Little Piece of Heaven

Last week I was in Sanibel, Florida for my family vacation. Every year we go to Sanibel for a week to fish, relax, snorkel, drink, eat, bike and much more. We go with our entire family, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, etc...each year it can be anywhere from 15-25 people - so the whole Island knows which week we come each year!

For those who haven't been to Sanibel, it's North of Fort Myers and very close to Captiva. Sanibel still has no stop lights, neon lights or chain restaurants on the Island (except Dairy Queen). It is totally removed from reality and every year I'm there it gets better and better.

With 15 people this year we were always on the go. We do our annual fishing trip, which this year landed several sharks, Snapper and a Grouper that was too big to bring in the boat. We also did a snorkeling excursion where some lucky people had the chance to swim with a manatee. We then spend a lot of time at the pool, in the ocean, surf fishing at dusk and pier fishing at night.

We do a lot of eating out and great food - not the healthiest food, but it's vacation so I'm ok with it. We always eat breakfast at the The Lighthouse and Island Cow, which is my favorite breakfast place. They serve these delicious cranberry muffins for free and this year added Funfetti muffins to the mix. The breakfast places are decorated so nice and always have the best juices!

We always eat dinner at Lazy Flamingo and also down a few beers here pretty often. They serve the best steamed shrimp and wings on the island- along with the coldest beer. They also put on Reds games for us when we show up, and this year even the All Star game. We do all you can eat crab legs at McT's, Timber's for the atmosphere and good food, Trader's for Danny Morgan and usually throw in another restaurant here and there, but those four are the staples.

We had a great time and lots of funny stories. I swear, someday someone in our family could write a book with all the crazy things that happen. Between my Uncle bringing home fish and meatballs on the plane to my Grandma requesting no fizz and ice on the side for her pop - we are a lot to handle but always a lot of fun.

I can't wait until next year!