The whole trying to lose weight thing

I signed up for Weight Watchers, again.  I'm at an unhealthy weight and I've always seemed to do well on WW.  I thought the fact my parents are paying for it would motivate me to follow the program, but I just had a really off week eating wise. 

Today starts a new week and I'm determined to follow the plan. I will track all of my food and even click off my good health guidelines. I'm just starting to be able to jog a bit during my lunch hour and now I can't wait to push myself further with that.

My mantra for the week will be "Don't waste your parents money." My other mantra will also be "Make your clothes feel looser."

Here's to a good On Plan week.

Accepting the blank space in life

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/hl-devos-mu/~3/eGRhmG2Lg4s/utm.cgi
#Bible http://j.mp/ibSLwN'>Why Cannot I Follow Thee Now -- Tue January 4, 2011 (Devotional)

I love how deep and yet so simple Onward Chambers is in My Utmost For His Highest. Every once in awhile a passage just strikes me, just like this one did. I feel like my life has been on a bit of autopilot for the past three years with a few challenges here and there. I felt God wanting to move in my life but also that He knew I wasn't ready yet. I kept trying to think of ways to serve through our church but nothing really got me going, until I got a phone call from one of the Deacon's wives. She wanted me to start a ministry where members would donate handmade items to the maternity ward at a low income hospital. My first reaction was that I didn't want to give up my precious knitting time to knit for charity. I was also scoffing at the idea that just because I knit I should be making things for charity. And then I felt a bit convicted and started thinking of ways I could make this ministry work. I figured I could dedicate one night a week to charity knitting. I wouldn't have to work on that project any other time of the week. I also thought it would be great to be in a group of Christian women bonding over a Bible study. I love ky Wednesday knit night but have been wanting to join a small group for awhile and none of the current ones fit my schedule. It was at this point that I sent a message to some ladies in the church to run the idea by them and they loved it. I am hoping that this program will be up and running by the end of this month.

I guess in summary the devotional today struck home because it is hard to sit and wait for what God has next, but what we don't realize sometimes is that God is actually preparing us for something big during those blank spaces.

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2011: Year of Changes

I've been at this point in my life a few times before, where I knew that big changes were coming. I knew when I went from a public to a private school that my life would never be the same, and when I went into high school that life was changing, same with when I moved 2 hours from everything I knew to go to college. The biggest change came when I moved even further from the family I grew up with to live where I am now in hopes of better job opportunities. Whether or not the job opportunities have truly been better is up for debate, but I am definitely happy here.

This year brings a big known change, I will be marrying the love of my life. I am super excited to start building our lives together and starting our own traditions and just figuring out what married life is all about, together. Its that together part that I'm most excited about. What I'm worried about is that we are 70 days away from the actual wedding and we still aren't sure about where we are going to live.

There is the apartment complex which has all the amenities we want, but in a location that means Mr. Badango would have to get a transfer to a different store or else deal with a lot of driving and time away from home. Then we have the apartment complex that is in the right location, but has to go through some major planned renovations to get 99% of the amenities we want, just minus the gym. We also have the possibility of being able to move into a house on the same property where I'm living now, but that is only if my uncle is able to get the permits together to make it happen, and at this point I don't see that happening.

Needless to say I'm a little stressed about all of this. I want a decision made before I go back to work on Tuesday and Mr. Badango isn't quite ready for a decision to be made. I guess it will all work out in the end.

In other news there are definitely moths in my current abode and I will be moving my stash into my trunk or into Mr. Badango's current residence for fear that the stupid moths will do hundreds of dollars worth of damage before I am able to get out of this place. It is rather frustrating to be wearing one of the favorite hats you have knit and then to find three giant holes wear the moths have had a field day.

I guess it wouldn't be a New Years post without some goals for the new year.

1) Relax and enjoy life as it comes
2) Show my body the love and concern it deserves by eating healthier and becoming more active
3) Knit some fingerless gloves so my hands aren't always freezing cold
4) Pick up after myself
5) Enjoy married life when it comes

Uh Oh Less than 4 months away...

So about a week ago I got an email from The Knot congratulating me that the wedding is 4 months away. I kind of panicked. I mean 4 months isn't a long time considering that there are 2 months of holidays in there.

In order to calm myself down I wrote out my To-Do list completely and have started marking down when I'm going to be doing what. It has helped me to calm down a bit but in the mean time I looked at how long and when we were going to be gone for the Bachelor/Bachelorette party and decided I couldn't handle having that length of time unavailable to do things. Maybe I'm over reacting, but I would just be much more relaxed knowing that we have that time at home rather than away.

Not much else is going on, we need to start buying all the supplies for the DIY projects. I also need to start on all the DIY projects. My list of DIY Projects Includes:

- Escort Cards
- Center Pieces
- Menu Cards
- Ceremony Programs
- Reception Directions
- RSVP By Cards (since I forgot to put an RSVP date on the RSVP cards)
- Bridesmaid bouquets
- Bridesmaid gifts
- Bride Bouquet

That isn't much, right? I mean I have a little less than 4 months to do all of that. That is basically all I have left to do...kind of.

It's been awhile...

It has been a long time since I last posted and a lot has happened, mainly I'M ENGAGED!!! That's right, I am marrying my best friend. We are very excited to publicly declare our love for each other and to really show how our two lives are becoming one. He is Chinese and I am White American. As you can imagine those are two completely opposite cultures and traditions when it comes to weddings. I feel like our planning this wedding is defining how we will combine the two cultures in our lives together. And let me just tell you, while it has been extremely stressful at times to try to accommodate both cultures it has also been amazing to see the pieces fall into place.

Our colors will be pink and brown because well I love those colors together. We will be serving the traditional ten-cours Chinese banquet at the reception. Our centerpieces will be bamboo. We will be doing the traditional Christian ceremony followed by the Chinese tea ceremony. I will be wearing my gorgeous white dress all day long.

Basically, we are doing this wedding our way and we are paying attention to what we want as the Bride and Groom. We are also listening to both sets of parents for their opinions, but in the end the decision is completely ours. I am grateful the Mr. Mango has been accepting of what I want and has stood up for what I want. This whole wedding planning process is making me love him even more.

I think that is the biggest new thing. Hopefully I'll start posting here more again. I kind of like the process of writing what is going on.

Lavender in the Cottage

So ever snce I became seriously passionate about knitting and about yarn I have had this fear of moths coming in and attacking my stash that is slowly building. I know that I'm careful not to let any into my cottage but it is still a fear. Tonight I decided to do something about this fear. I went to Target and bought some cedar blocks, cedar hanger things, lavender hanger things, lavender candle and lavender wall plug. As soon as I got home I thew the cedar blocks in with my yarn and hung the cedar hanger things up. I also threw one of the lavender hanger things in with my main stash. It is odd but I now feel like my yarn is protected and I think I will sleep easier tonight. Of course I may hate the smell of lavender in a week too. It is really unknown at this point in time.

Ack! Grr! Time for a Yarn Diet

So this year I set out with a huge goal of not pulling money out of my savings to cover for the short falls in my spending money, and also to not have to pay off my credit card. My plan was to have money set aside every paycheck as my spending money and to have to plan out how that was spent. I also was planning on not using my credit card any more. Well then life got in the way. So far this year I have had to get a handle on my credit card debt and pay it off before the interest rates shot up, pay for my 30,000 mile tune up on my car and pay for my registration. I've also had a little bit too much fun spending money on knitting things.

I looked at my savings account tonight, to transfer some money over to my checking so I could pay for my dental bill, yet another expense, and I was saddened by where it would be after this transfer. Now I put money into my savings account every pay check and I have money going into a 401(K). The initial saving of the money isn't hard for me, its the not spending of the saved money that is hard for me. I keep getting frustrated with myself because I'm supposed to be saving money for a wedding and for life after the wedding, yet I can't seem to stop buying things, mainly fiber related items.

All of this is leading up to say that I am putting myself on a yarn diet. I will allow myself to buy something knitting related every two weeks if money allows, but if I'm low on funds then no yarn for me. After all I have enough yarn to last me for quite awhile.

In other news I bought the supplies to start making stitch markers tonight. I think I am slowly building up the skills to start selling things to help support my yarn addiction.