My Engagement Party

After getting engaged in December, we finally had our engagement party on July 11th.

The evening was amazing but it went too fast! I feel like I don't remember much of anything, but I know I felt happy. It was surreal to have all the people in your life in one room. Joe and I looked rather "Connecticut" as my friend put it. I love the look- I really wanted to look classic, like it could have my grandparent's engagement party in the 1940's.

Me and my Joe

Sadly, I do look at some of the pictures from the event and judge my appearance. I wish my arms looked more toned and that I was about 20lbs thinner. More so though, I wish I didn't have these thoughts at all. I want to love my body more than I do already.

Me and the lovely bridesmaids: (from left) Colleen, Olivia, Me, Kristyn, Sammy, Courtney and Brittany

The handsome groomsmen: (from left) Kevin, Bryan, Joe, Austin and Justin

I don't want to look at any of my wedding pictures and judge my body the way I am right now. Admittedly, I am getting a little fed up with my lax attitude toward weightloss. I deserve better. I deserve the best. I feel content and happy in other aspects of my life and I want to feel the same way about my fitness.

Weigh In and Weekend Update

Boo-ya! I had an awesome loss this week: -2.6lbs! This puts me at 181lbs. I'm seriously excited considering the Panera debacle and the number of times I ate outside my home last week. I ate out for every single meal this weekend (but not all by choice).

It's been really difficult for me to teach myself that eating out is not an opportunity to eat whatever I want. Growing up, my family rarely went out to eat (usually just for a birthday or to celebrate a graduation) thanks to my mom's delicious and consistent cooking. So, going out to eat was always a free for all with my family. I am not lying to you when I say that one time at Outback Steakhouse blood was shed over the Aussie Cheese Fries. This wild event all ended with my father bleeding and my brother proclaiming to my father, "It's not my fault that you have paper-thin skin, old man!"

How many times did I eat out last week? 10 times!
Thursday
California Pizza Kitchen- pizza and red wine
Friday
Rest Stop Convenience store- cereal, apple, coffee, and a special k bar Cracker Barrel- two eggs, turkey sausage, 1/2 order hashbrowns, 1/2 order fried apples, 1/2 piece of corn bread
Saturday
Anthony David's (Italian) in Hoboken, NJ - eggs benedict with hollandaise on the side
Filipino food at a friend's home- puncit, roast chicken, lupia
Ralph's Italian Ice- small spumoni
Wild Ginger (Japanese) in Hoboken, NJ- sezchuan chicken and shrimp with white rice
Sunday
Bagel and coffee from a deli
Margherita's (Italian) in Hoboken, NJ- rigatoni with meat sauce, 1/2 caesar salad

Incidentally, my weekend of eating out ended at Margherita's, which is also the location of my and my fiance's first date. We decided to hit it up after our engagement session photo shoot, which was amazing! Check out the pictures and my weight loss progress here: Our Engagement Session

And a special thanks to Emily at Black Dog Photography for her amazing work.

I'm engaged!

I've been a bad blogger, but I have a good excuse....

My boyfriend popped the question! After 5 years, my boyfriend and I are engaged as of yesterday and I couldn't be happier.

Me (with red teary eyes) and my fiance

I had a beautiful time with my family. This was the first Christmas since my grandfather died that it felt like Christmas. This engagement is the cherry on top of a big ass happy ice cream sundae!