5 years = 1,826 days

My dearest Andrew,

Five years doesn't seem like all that long ago, time has gone by so quickly.  It's hard to believe that you were 25 and I was 22 when we met, we sure didn't seem that young.

I knew then that we were meant to be together and over those next three years our relationship really grew and blossomed.  You bought a house, we moved in together, we not only feel deeper in love but we developed a great relationship with each others families, something I've always dreamed of having in a relationship.

You helped me reach my goal of finally graduating from college, you took me camping for the first time, taught me how to fish with a bait caster, made fun of me for not being able to walk up an ice covered hill, let me cry on your shoulder more times than I can count and finally one day you asked me to be your wife.  Second to meeting you and our wedding day, that was one of the best days of my life.

You've been there for me through some of my darkest hours (my dad loosing his job, me hating my job, school, my grandpa's two years of cancer treatment and his slow decline till he passed away) as well as some of my biggest joys (finally finishing school, getting a job where I could use my degree).  I just can't believe it's only been five years and we have accomplished so very much.  You can make me laugh when I am ready to loose my mind, listen to me when I sound like a fool and make me feel good about myself when I am far too negative for my own good.

This weekend we will go back to the place where it all began, that cute little cabin in Hocking Hills.  It was that dreary March weekend that I knew I wanted to marry you one day and now I am finally your wife!  So here's to a lifetime of joy and happiness together.  To our love and watching it grow and blossom as time goes on and to the years past (year 4, year 3, year 2 and year 1 which I never wrote a blog about.....my bad).

With love always,

Amanda 

Recent favorite quotes about love:

Sometimes love isn't firecrackers, sometimes love comes softly.

I have always known it was you.

 

My brother, my best friend

My brother cried more than I did on my wedding day.

His nickname for me is Sandbag because he say's I'm as useless as a bag of sand.

I know when I need someone to talk to, he is always there to listen.  When I need to complain about something he doesn't care how much I cuss and he totally understands how insane our family really is....

He adores Andrew.

He will make a total fool of himself with me, like when we sang a duet to Jackson at my wedding reception.

He's hilarious.

I spent a lot of time with Adam this weekend, he just closed on his first house and I am so proud of him for all he has accomplished at the young age of 23, almost 24.  He's getting married in May and it still seems like yesterday that we were just little kids.

An update in pictures

There hasn't been too much excitement around the Welcome to My Life house but here are a few fun updates in pictures.  

We had a small snow storm on Friday and I finally got to use the snowblower!  Please also take note of our ugly camper in the background, I hope I can talk my dear husband into selling it come spring.  It's more of a project than we imagined. 


Bessie also enjoyed the snow, for a little while.

We've also FINALLY hung pictures on the walls in our house after almost 4 years of living here!  My mom and brother did the wedding frames for me and I got the sign that's hanging in the kitchen at an auction about two years ago as a homage to my maiden name.
















I'm hoping that we can do some more home decorating as the winter slowly moves along.  My mom is still working on curtains for my kitchen and I'm hoping that soon we can buy our bed, a TV and loveseat for the office and some other small items to finish off the house.  In the spring we will start our next major project....the downstairs bathroom.

Hope that everyone is having a great week!

Down 2lbs and sticking with it!

Sunday was the start of my third week on Weight Watchers and I'm down two pounds!  It may not seem like a lot, but I've sucked at working out so this is mostly just from eating right.  I've also cut back a good deal on my weekend drinking which I think is helping.  I allow myself a few glasses of wine or a few under 100 calories cocktails and sip them slowly.

I am anxious to get to that first 10lb loss or to see that my clothes are starting to fit a little differently.  I went shopping this weekend and I'm obviously still in the same size but things aren't as tight as they once were.

I've noticed that my cravings for many of my favorite junk foods (chips, chocolate, chipotle, a nice Wendy's cheeseburger) have for the most part gone away.  I have let myself have a WW ice cream bar a few nights a week after dinner, but since they are the size of the palm of my hand and only two points, I don't feel bad about it.

My body is still adjusting though to this lifestyle change and not to make anyone say "TMI" but, my stomach has had problems adjusting to eating so many veggies and maybe a little more fiber than normal.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.

So what is my goal?  I don't think I've really talked about this before but here is the down and dirty:

Starting Weight: 180

Current Pant Size: 14

Current Top Size: Mostly XL

Current Weight: 179

Goal Weight: 145

Goal Pant Size: between an 8 and 10

Goal Top Size: No more XL, I've got some girls so I would be happy to wear a large again

And my current motivation:

So what Wednesday!!

This week I'm saying so what......

• that I'm obsessed with weight watchers, when I talk about it I feel like people around me are getting annoyed.  I'm just so excited about losing weight and making healthy choices!
• if I am once again addicted to pinterest, I have been using it to look up recipes for WW.
• if I have ordered so much stuff from shutterfly lately, It's all been wedding stuff, they had an awesome photo book sale so I got one for my mom, grandma and us!!
• that I'm still not quite back in a good workout routine, I will get there soon.  I keep going back and forth about buying an elliptical but I just can't make up my mind!  For now, I'll keep using my semi-crappy treadmill and workout DVD's.
• that I finally, officially changed my last name!  I got my new license this weekend and I'm in the process of changing it with the bank and so forth.
• if I cannot ever make up my mind about my hair.  I cut a good chunk of it off right before Thanksgiving and never went back for a trim.  Now I have a hair appointment tonight and want to cut it really short but I'm worried that I'll hate it.  I've also decided not to color it for a while.
• if I still have some stuff from Christmas to put away, its mostly gifts.
• if I'm already planning our Memorial Day party in my head and it's four months away.  I am so ready for summer!

What are YOU saying so what to this week?!