LA Weekend Getaway

Nick and I decided that since our anniversary fell on a Monday we would celebrate it later on in the month with a bigger getaway. A couple that we are friends with was going to see the play Wicked up in LA and we decided to join them and make our getaway at that time. We drove up to LA on Saturday morning and checked into our quaint hotel room an hour before the show. We got a hotel only .9 miles away from the famous Panteges theatre, which was where the show was being held. We walked leisurely there and enjoyed a FANTABULOUS show. Seriously, probably the best show i have ever seen. It tells the story of how all the witches of OZ come to be and tells about their lives growing up. I highly reccommend it!! :D After the show we went to dinner with the other friends at Carl Strauss brewery on Universal Citiwalk. It was muy yummy. :)

The next morning we went to Grub-a little mom/pop restaurant located on a sidestreet of LA in a remodeled house. It was voted best brunch in LA several times over. I had a breakfast burrito and Nick got french toast. Then we went to walk around Olvera street and cruised the little shops for a while. Nick had never been and I had 2 times so it was quite the experience for him. Then we hit up the Farmer's Market" for lunch at The Gumbo Pot where I got what else but seafood gumbo! The last stop on our trip was to the Santa Monica Pier where we walked the length of the pier, took pictures, and Nick tried to win me a prize from an arcade game. :)

It was a wonderful weekend away and I was blessed to be able to spend it with my best friend in the world. I am so lucky that I met my amazing husband while still so young and that I get to spend every day of my life with him :)

~Heather

My cute niece

This is totally random, but I downloaded the movies off of my phone and there was an EXTREMELY cute one of my oldest niece, Nevaeh. Seriously, this kid is a ham! I don't know if you guys have seen Hot Rod, but one of the lines in it is "I know, right?" It is being said all the time by our group of friends, and Jessica and I decided to get Nevaeh saying it too. :) See if you find this as cute as I do!

Why so serious???

I saw this in a drive-thru Starbucks on my break at school last week. I don't think the barista knew about it and it didn't last until Saturday when Nick and I went through to get energy boosts for the drive up to LA. I am glad I was able to snap a pic before they put it down :)

Enjoy :)

~Heather

Fishies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I woke up yesterday feeling quite horrible and decided to come home from school after my first class. Nick IMed me while I was in my first class and informed me that he was bringing me home a present. Of course I got super excited and anxious. :)

When Nick got home he had to make 2 trips to the car and came back in with a full aquarium set. He got:
-three gallon aquarium
-gravel
-rock/plant decoration
-pump
-water declorinator
-fish food
-light

I was so stoked and amazed that he made the effort and thought so hard and long about exactly what type of stuff to get me. I must say that he picked out the perfect everything, since I have never seen an aquarium like the one he got. He also got the coolest rock decoration ever. The only thing he didn't get was the actual fish, because he wanted me to pick them out. I sought advice from a friend who works in a pet store and she told me the perfect type to get. I went this morning and picked out 2 zebra danios and a red ghost shrimp. She said that those are good hearty starters and that if I keep them alive for a few weeks I get to get some more kinds. My tank can hold 6-7 little fishies. I want 3 red neon tetras and 2 male guppies and am really impatient... I WANT THEM NOW!!!!! :P

Anyway, I am in love with my fishies and shrimp already. They are definately cool.

Here is the picture of the tank:

And of my fishies:

And of my shrimp: :)

Look for another post in a couple of weeks with ALL the fishies :D

~Heather

My weight loss update

I am writing this in my estinky gym clothes after working out this morning. I have been working out for 3 weeks now, but am tracking from 2 weeks ago, when I had my first formal training session with a professional and they told me exactly what I weigh/what I need to do/how many calories to eat.

I lost 4.5 pounds and 2.1% body fat. WHOOHOO!

More blog posts coming soon about my exiting life, but I wanted everyone to share in my joy! :D

~Heather

Potty Training, the Japanese way!

I found this video while reading about inappropriate kid's shows. I don't know, it seems like it would make the child feel good about themselves and what they are doing in terms of potty training. But, from an adult's point of view it is really really creepy/weird. I mean, when you draw smiley faces on pee and poo it is bound to freak out some people! And at the end apparently it is an advertisement for a potty training aid that they sell over there... watch and see for yourself. Nick and I were dying!

One Year Anniversary

Today is our first anniversary. I can't believe how fast the time has gone! It seems like just yesterday we were walking down the aisle and driving off to Lake Tahoe for our honeymoon. :) The year has been awesome, and though many say the first year is the hardest because of adjustment stuff, we didn't have any problems at all :) I can truely say that I fall more in love with my husband every day and that I look forward to being with him literally "until death do us part."

I LOVE YOU SWEETHEART!


Here are my 2 favorite candid shots that the photographer got at the wedding. :) Enjoy! :D

Look how much weight my husband has lost since I met him :)

Pictures speak for themselves. The first is 4 years ago in Vegas when he went on a trip with friends. The second picture is from the end of August this year. I chose these two pictures because they properly show the same pose. The only 2 differences are how much skinnier he is (and he is gonna lose more weight shortly...GOOOOOOOOOO GYM!) and the person he is standing next to is much much much prettier :P

Doctor Visit

Today I went to the doctor again (I went yesterday at 8:45) to get blood drawn. I have been really tired lately, like to the point where i take 2-3 naps a day. Wrong right? I actually just woke up from an hour long nap and that is only because Nick woke me up. I needed to do a paper.

So, the doctor talked to me about all my symptoms and suggested that it may be a couple things. She (as well as the nurse and my mom) think that I have anemia so she wanted me to get my blood tested for that. She also thought it may be a thyroid problem. Both of those things will be revealed by the blood work I got done today. She suggested sleep apnea as well, but I am 99% sure I don't have that. She told me to have Nick watch me sleep to see if I demonstrate signs of it.

I also have been having tingling in my fingertips the last couple of months. She did a few movements with my wrist to see if she could replicate it. That means, she said, that I probably have carpal tunnel. I need to document when they get tingly and what I am doing at the time. Next time I see her we are going to go over it.

Lastly, she wanted me to fast from midnight last night til I got the blood work done this morning so when she tested for the anemia and thyroid stuff she could check my cholesterol and blood sugar at the same time.

I will have results on monday. Pray they find something so they can fix it :)

~Heather

It has officially begun

Nick and I went to the gym today to sign up... we took the step. I freaked out a bit just seeing the bigness of the place, all the new machines, and all the experienced gym goers. But Nikki, the manager of the gym and sister of the owner, showed us around and assured us we had good reasons for going and would love it once we started.

With membership you get 2 free personal training sessions, and my first is next Thursday at 2pm. I thought i was just going to wait til then to actually start going but nooooooooo. My best friend Heather called me right after she found out I got the membership (she has one too) and said that she was going to walk by my house to "pick" me up for the 6am class the next morning. GOSH EARLY! I tried making excuses, which she refuted easily. So yeah, I am going to the gym at 6am tomorrow. Then coming home and showering. Then going to the doctor again (I will update you soon on that), then coming home again and eating b/c I am going to be starving. THEN, coffee with friends! :D After the funness of coffee I have to come home, bust my butt, and write a whole research paper. My goal is to have it done by dinner time, which is when my lovely husband is going to be taking me out on a date!!! :D I am excited.

I will post all the gruesome details of the gym tomorrow hopefully. If not, Saturday late at night!

~Heather

It's a fresh new start!

As all of you guys who know me already know, I am no skinny minnie... in fact I am quite the opposite. I am fed up with being heavy (fat) and I am starting a new way of life. It actually started on Monday but I suck at updating my blog.

I am going to lose weight in a healthy way and keep it off. I am going to eat better, drink more water, and exercise. EXERCISE! :) I have a meeting with the owner of the gym today with Nick and we are getting gym memberships. Woh doggie that is gonna whip my butt into shape! Literally lol.

So, what I am doing is cutting back a lot on calories while exercising so I can burn those pounds off. I am limiting myself to about 1200 a day (between 1200-1300) and making sure to drink more water. I know this seems silly, but even after 4 days I already feel less bloated and more healthy. Probably psychological but whatever... just go with it!

I found out by going to the doctor today that our scale is stupid and weighs really incorrectly (like between 6-10 lbs heavier). So, when I start going to the gym I am going to be solely weighing myself there. And, I am going to make sure my husband makes me stick to only 1 weigh-in a week. I get obsessive...

Anyway, I am really excited! I want to get down to 160 (or 150 if healthy) pounds. This means losing a LOT of weight but I am motivated. Any and all of my friends, please encourage me because I need it and please scold me if you think I am eating something I shouldn't be :)

LET'S DO THIS THING!!!!!!!

~Heather

Everything (Almost) that happened the last 2 monthes

Hello again guys!

So I said I would stay up to date on writing... and yeah... it's almost been 2 months since my last post. I just am not too good at remembering to update it.

Quick update of what has happened since August 13th (in semi-chronological order)-after writing the blog I realized it is quite long... might take a while to read....

1. I went to Arizona for a big family reunion of Nick's family and a giant "summer" birthday party for 5 people (me included). It took 7.5 hours to get there and we got lost like 5 times and ran over a whole bunch of cute frogs and were in the biggest monsoon I have ever seen at midnight trying to find the house. Yeah... middle of nowhere is an understatement. It was fun because I got to see my nephew and sis-in-law but besides that there is really NOTHING out there to do. Oh, they have super Walmarts... that was fun! Nick's favorite fast food restaurant is Sonic, and there was one on our way home so we made a pitstop to get him some. Here is us at Sonic with the beautiful sunrise behind us, and with Nick's afro tree head.


2. I started school a week after my last post. I am taking all CHDV classes now, which is both fun/interesting as well as challenging. I don't have any easy classes to slack off in this semester...dangit. Here is a picture of my Music and Movement teacher. I think she is like 80 and she treats us like "gifted four year olds." Haha. I also have Introduction to Special Education, Infant/Toddler Care and Development, and Child, Youth, Family, and Community class. Twelve units in all.

3. We also celebrated my Great Grandma's 105th birthday party on August 30th. That was so crazy. I hope I don't live to be 105, I don't want to be miserable and I would rather get to see Jesus sooner. My Great Grandma must have been thinking the same thing, because this friday (October 3) she passed away at 5am in her sleep. She had a LONG good life. Here she is in all her glory. LOL.


4. I went to Magic Mountain with our church youth group as a leader and had a blast! I hadn't been in 3 years and they had a couple of new rides. This is me about to die on Tatzu with a crazy guy named Dave ... I cried...


5. The very next weekend I went to Disneyland with my friend Bree from TN, Nick, and the whole Winters clan. The park wasn't crowded at all and we got to go on a TON of rides. This is me, Bree, and Heather before we got DRENCHED on Splash Mountain. Apparently they made the ride wetter for summer, tho no one told us. I think our log was defective too, since water just poured in the sides at every turn and each drop sent a tidal wave of water (literally) over our head. Fun times.



Still 3 more things... hang in there.

6. We also had my nephews second birthday and he was cute with his cake. I just have to show him off.



7. On Sept 23 we got free tickets to a play at the San Diego Civic Theater to see "The Drowsy Chaperone." I had never heard of it but it was supposed to be good. I think I laughed harder at that play than any other one I have ever seen there. Here is me by the banister, as well as a picture of me with a GIANT chandalier that I love. I am there for size comparison.


8. Last but not least, Nick got free tickets to the Music Builds Concert last weekend for us and my sisters through someone at his old work. The guy is super nice, and when we got there we were surprised to see that he had managed to get us meet and greet passes (which allowed us to see Switchfoot and Third Day and shake their hands/talk to them) as well as All Access Backstage Passes. I have never got to do any special stuff at a concert and my sisters had never been to a concert so we were all amazingly stoked! Backstage was awesome, the bands were really nice, but most importantly there were 4 Christian artists that played and they were all AMAZING. Jars of Clay, Ralph Randall, Switchfoot, and Third DAy. I had a great time worshipping with all of them! Definately a once in a lifetime experience. Here is a picture of me and Hannah being dorks, a picture of Switchfoot's drum cover from when we went backstage, and an amazing picture of the stage/lights during one of the bands. That picture doesn't even do it justice!


9. And finally that brings me to today. My mom, sisters, and I had a girls sleepover last night because my dad is gone at men's retreat. We made GRANDE pollo asada nachos and homemade salsa/chips for dinner. Then we had chex muddy buddy mix for dessert (homemade of course). SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOD! We ate this deliciousness while watching Titanic and all bawled our eyes out. Then we hit the sack and woke up at 6:15am to watch Juno before my sisters had to leave for weekend school stuff. It was fun and I went home and lounged with my love all day.

It was a great two months. I am sure I will have more to tell soon!

PS- If you actually read all this good job :P

~Heather