Motivation after a long lull

Well hello there! I don't believe we've met.  Oh, we have? Oh that's right...about a month and a half ago.  Brian and I have been so busy doing stuff around the house and enjoying summer that July just slipped on by!

Brian and I have been looking into buying a house for a few months now.  We looked at one on Friday that we both really, really liked.  It needs new paint and carpet, but that's the name of the game for every house in our price range at the moment.  On one hand, we want to save up and just pay all of our taxes next year (without very many deductions...) and get approved for a higher priced mortgage.  That way we could find a house that we ADORE.  On the other hand, the interest rates right now are amazing and with the amount we were approved for, it would be great to pay that monthly amount and save up for other stuff. Like paying off debt.  And the car. And then we could do upgrades on the house.

Brian and I have been doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.  It's been great so far!! Teaches you how to budget your money and pay off debt quick, and then start saving for the future.  Brian hates it because he claims he doesn't have any money to spend on stuff he wants. I hate that aspect also, but I'd rather be debt free than buy a bunch of stuff I don't need. Like sewing stuff.  It's killing me but I haven't been sewing very much lately.  Until today.

I love my job, have I mentioned that yet?  Soooo much better than the previous office I was working at.  I got called off today because my patients cancelled, so I figured instead of sitting around the house watching Grey's Anatomy or being a zombie on Pinterest all day (which I totally would be doing) I decided to be productive.  I have this fabric I bought last year hanging out in the closet to make a crib blanket and bumpers and crib sheet (which I think I already made...).  So I busted out the blanket/quilt fabric and got to work on it.  I have basting spray, which is awesome, so I sandwiched the batting and fabric together and got to work machine quilting.  I finished the machine quilting in less than an hour. Go me!!!  It helps when the front fabric has a bunch of squares. Awesome.  Now I just need to plan a trip to Joann to get some binding.  Here's a few pictures:

So that's that.

We've only got 2 more months until we go to Japan.  We've been going to my mother-in-law's house every weekend to practice our Japanese phrases and  learn some of the customs.  It's been interesting so far.  I got Rosetta Stone from my father-in-law so I've been slowly learning some Japanese also.

That's all for now!

Hooray for Happiness!

Hi Everyone!
So the new job is going GREAT. I'm only part time, which kind of sucks on the financial aspect, but my happiness is worth more than money.  I love my coworkers, my boss, and I'm HAPPY.  Today my schedule at work fell apart, so they called me off. Hooray!  It's nice to have an unexpected day off.

So what have I been doing today? Oh, house-wifey things.  Like going to the gym at 10:30 in the morning. And grocery shopping, and cooking, doing laundry, sewing stuff that I've been putting off. And of course wasting enjoying my free time by watching Grey's Anatomy (my most recent obsession) and looking at stuff on Pinterest.

My weight loss journey is coming along nicely.  I'm down to 162 (hooray!) and a total of 30" lost so far since August 2011.  I'm planning on getting to 150 by our trip to Japan in October.  Hoping all goes well!  I'm using SparkPeople.com daily to keep track of calories, working out with my personal trainer every week, and getting cardio in at least 3-4 times a week.  My trainer says my goal calories every day needs to be around 1200, and try to eliminate as much un-natural sugars as possible. It's hard to get rid of those extra sweets that I crave, but I'm doing my best.

Brian and I are taking Financial Peace University through the church right now.  Currently we're at the end of week 2, starting week 3 tomorrow.  I'm proud to say that we've completed baby step #1! Hooray! If you don't know what FPU is, I strongly recommend it. Even for the first couple weeks it's changed our outlook a little bit toward our spending habits.

Websites I'm currently obsessed with:
1) Pinterest
2) Chef - In - Training (TONS of great recipes!)
3) SkinnyTaste (Loads of great recipes that are perfect for my diet)

Until next time!
Lots of Love, Amber

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

I know this is a little late (by like..5 days...) but Tuesday May 29th was my second wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary, Brian! I love you! I can't believe it's been two years already. Time sure flies!

In other news, I've been gardening a little bit.  I have a few pots out on the deck since we live in a townhome. I have a tomato plant, basil, catnip, cilantro, parsley, apple mint, chocolate mint, a strawberry plant, and lots of petunias.  I'm pretty excited to get started cooking with my plants.

I also decided to stop eating sweets as of Wednesday (5/30/2012).  The first day was torture. Everything was telling me that I needed chocolate to survive. Day two was okay...not as bad. Yesterday was day three and Brian and I decided that I could have one day each week where I could eat one sweet thing. That day would be Fridays.  So yesterday I went to a get-together with some girlfriends from church and we had pizza and malts.  I was in charge of making the malts.  I made myself only about 6 oz of malt, and when I was done...I felt no satisfaction at all. I even thought to myself, "Why did I even want that in the first place? It wasn't that great..."  So needless to say I'm pretty proud of myself and my self control! We'll see what the next week has in store for me.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: I got a new job!!! I no longer work at my crappy, horrible, demeaning, toxic environment workplace!  I have a great new dentist that I work for, she's totally awesome.  I am having a blast and I love the people I work with. Everyone is so friendly and supportive and I love it!

That's it for now!

Happy birthday to me!

Okay I know this is 6 days late, but hurrah! I am now twenty-three. I feel like I'm actually in my twenties now.  Maybe because I've had a lot of experiences and such the last couple of years?

I always have terrible birthdays, start from when I was 16. My mom and I got in a fight and she told me that if I wanted a birthday cake, then I should make it myself. Wow. And thus the downward spiral, not ever looking forward to my birthday, began.  It seems like the most insignificant things just become so large and ruin my birthday every year.  This year...was different.  My husband was wonderful as usual (aside from one of the presents he was thrilled to buy me and I didn't like...I'M SORRY honey...I love you!) and I got lots of birthday wishes.  What really pulled this birthday over the top in terms of how wonderful it was...was that I have more friends. I've made some wonderful friends with some girls at the church I'm going to, and I got to spend the day celebrating with them.  Getting a pedicure, going out to eat, getting some plants to plant. I had a great time.

And so all of this week, I've been sending up lots and lots of  "Thank you, Lord!" type of conversations and prayers and praises. I truly am so blessed to be where I am right now, with a job that I love (performing, not going to), and a husband that loves me unconditionally with all my craziness.  What more could a girl ask for?

Exhausted

Well my trip with my mom to Branson, MO was great. The travel day home was not. Needless to say, after being stuck in airplanes and airports for 15+ hours on Sunday, I am still tired and recovering.

My day yesterday was just terrible at work. Things just keep getting worse and worse and I finally just broke down and sobbed the entire way home. A couple of months ago I relinquished control of the situation to God and things seemed to improve a bit after that. But now it's back to where it was before -- my manager is being incredibly...just mean spirited, I guess, and I am so tired of dealing with the negativity all the time. I mean, it's 24/7! I am never given a pat on the back or praise for all the hard work I do and I'm so tired of being treated poorly.

So yesterday I sobbed and sobbed and asked God for his mercy and help. I don't necessarily feel at peace and I still feel depressed, so I don't know what He is going to do. We'll see, I suppose.

The Dress of Fail...

So after my total splurge last weekend I was totally pumped up and ready to make my dress. First dress comes from McCall's pattern 5094 (see picture below). I wanted to go with #D (pictured in purple) but I bought some super cute yellow fabric with outlines of dragonflies on it.

So after I get home I realized that I bought the wrong sizes for the other two patterns. And possibly this pattern. This one had up to size 10, and I've been losing weight lately, and dropped a dress size as of late. So I thought that size ten would work great for me.

I can't even tell you all the problems I had with this. Not only did some of the pattern pieces not line up correctly when sewing them together in the middle (bodice and midriff), I had to do a little creative thinking in cutting out new, larger pieces.  That was big problem number one. Problem number two was total user error -- I didn't realize I needed fabric for a lining. Back to the store I went, not a big deal.  Problem number three was the zipper -- after sewing it together in the back, it didn't line up correctly. Meaning the seams for the bodice/midriff on each side didn't line up together well. I attribute this to some error in the actual pattern that was printed. So I ripped the seam out and did it again. This time it bunched up at the bottom. Ripped out the seam again and sewed it up in total frustration thinking, "this better work!!"  Well the seams lined up the best they could, but the fabric at the top of the zipper did not match up, one was higher than the other.  At this point I was basically ripping my hair out and saying "Forget it! It's good enough! Nobody's going to notice anyway!!"

So, excited that this dress from hell is finally done...what do I do? Excitedly rip my clothes off and try it on. And it's too small.

Now, I'm not a big girl. I'm average size, and I am coming to love my body more and more. So I am totally not thinking I'm fat -- I'm thinking I'm going to burn the dress.  But the more logical side of me is thinking I better just lose a couple of pounds until it fits. Then I'll rock it out with my cute white kitten heels.  Here's the finished product:

Nerd alert!!

So I went to Joann today after working out (never the best time to go shopping considering I'm weak in mind and body, haha) and they had the "Daffodil Dash" sale going on. Pretty much everything you could ever dream of wanting is on sale.

What I originally went in for was a Sizzix machine - as an early birthday present to myself, mind you, and they were all out of the one I wanted. Bummer!  So I meandered around and found some fabric to make more Nook covers. I still haven't mastered the iPad cover so I think I'm going to put that on the backburner for a while since I have a million ideas for covers for the Nook Simple Touch that I have mastered.  Anyway, I found out that McCalls patterns were on sale for...wait for it...99¢!!! How can I pass that up?!!? Answer: I can't. So I picked out three patterns then I mozied on over to the fabric again and picked out some fabulous fabrics to make the pattens out of. I'm SO excited.

Here's a picture of my splurge:

Yeah I'm pretty excited. I totally want to wear a lot of dresses and skirts this summer.  How about the rest of you girls??