November...Thanks it has been real.

With 6 days shy of a Kardashian wedding November is coming to an end. I made my first turkey as a wife, well first.ever.period. The day we celebrated Thanksgiving was also the 2 month mark for our wedding. So I'm sure we will beat KK and The Hump. Anyway back to the turkey, it turned out pretty decent but turkey in and of it's self isn't its all it's cracked up to be. At least mine wasn't. Matt made mashed potatoes and we cheated with some boxed stove top stuffing. The downfall to our first ever Thanksgiving was that I couldn't imbibe in any adult beverages of the sort! : ( I had to work wed night, then pretty much straight through Thursday afternoon. After work I headed to Amanda's to see her new house, the baby, and to spend some long over due QT for a few days.

So we, as in the ladies of the family, also took a trip to Atlantic City, NJ to celebrate Aunt Eileen's 60th birthday. It was everything I imagined a November New Jersey would be, nonetheless still Brooke and I drank our faces off and had fun. I think that bender was somewhere around 12 hours. I suckered some dude to allow me to follow his bets and made a whopping 200.00; baller for me and my lack of gambling skills.

The house inspection was also the same day as A.C. I'm happy to report that it went over well and that we are moving to contract! Yay!

We FINALLY got wedding pictures back. I'll post a big AW on that later. I am so pleased with how they came out. And me being the photo Nazi, who seeks approval after a pic is taken, could not be happier. Seriously, you know when you get your pic taken and it's all....eww delete, repose, and snap again, well you can't do that at a wedding. And there is not one photo where I don't like how I look (I realize they are edited but still) yay!

I work out!

Girl look at that body
I-I-I I work out
Girl look at that body
I work out

Sept 2009 I entered the police academy at 157ish and probably got in the best shape of my life. We ran and ran some more. My longest run was almost 9 miles. I could hammer out push ups, sit ups and log a few miles. The DI's used to yell, "I will PT you until you die." It was a psychological game that I totally fell for at the time. At the start I fricken HATED it and come time to graduate I started to like it. Ok maybe like a love hate relationship with it.  I probably only dropped about 10 lbs, 147ish but I looked great and felt good. Well after graduation I entered the rainbow. Its a effed up work schedule where you work all types of shifts over the course of a week. Some days I feel like zombieland and I am just going through the motions of shift work. Sometime after Feb 2010 to Dec 2010, I gained the 10 back and then like 7 more. FOR FUCK SAKE!!! 167. I wanted to cry, stick my finger down my throat, seriously considered anorexia, whatever would make that number go away. Well at any rate I took my ass to the gym. I remember when the treadmill said 5.0 mph and I was dogging it. I felt like I couldn't do it. Like 20 minutes was the end of my life.  That was in December 2010. I got a gym buddy, actually two, and we went to the gym a few times a week. It turned into me time and a 40 min gossip session.  In March Planet Fitness opened and I joined. I am proud to say that I have consistently worked out since it opened 8 months ago. I started seeing the numbers on the scale go down. Like down to pre academy weight and then like post academy weight, but the skinny one, and then like down some more. Its a great feeling. I have a small obsession with the scale. I weigh myself several times a day. Its psycho and bad for your mental health, I know. I have come to the point where I can run at 6-7mph for about 40 min with no problem. This week I have hammered out 14.6 miles and strength trained 3x for a period of 20-30 min. I have moved on to the second to last hole in my duty belt which makes me all smiles. I.will.not.be.a.fat.donut.eating.cop!  I am dying to participate in tough mudder and even get the totally awesome tattoo, which may be tacky but I find it pretty bad ass. I would love love love to do the princess marathon in Disney in a tutu, because that's just hysterical. I want to keep going. I think I may have turned into a runner. And while my magical number has not yet been reached I feel pretty damn good so I'll just have to keep at it. Like 10ish more lbs and then I will maintain and maybe try to have a baby although H says and I quote, "why would you try to loose weight if your just going to get fat from a baby." Really???? And just to put things in perspective.

This was taken at our engagement party Sept 2010. Blissfully happy but so unaware of how much weight I had gained. My bf told me one day, "you are getting fat." Honestly I was hurt by her comment but I knew it was true so in the long run I am thankful for how outspoken she is. haha  And how come you never notice until its too late?

Bach party June 2011. Just 9 months later and 17ish lbs less. Same fricken dress, much better fit now. And my arms look smaller! and I think my boobs do too? I do wanna say though, if when I have a baby, since that was apparently just 9 months prior to this pic, if I am looking like the chick above I will be elated. However vain or weight obsessed I may be, I have to say that honestly its about being strong and healthy and those last 10lbs. haha Seriously tho, I must do a tough mudder and get that bad ass tat in 2012 before getting ku!

Can't hardly wait

Remember that movie from the 90's. Well this has nothing to do with that. So last week, after feeling defeated after learning I could not afford a house with $7, 700.00 in taxes, I took a few days off from hunting. I knew a person selling their house privately and decided to check it out. It was OK. A decent size but nothing I was crazy about. The day before I stumbled on one that I thought could be worth while. I hap hazardly called the listing agent as mine was out of town. Turns out I work with his son-in-law (who once saved my life, more on that some other time). At any rate he was more than willing to show us the house on such sort notice. After we checked out the first, we headed over to the second. We took a tour and decided this is IT! Finally after almost 2 years of perusing the Internet and physically looking at a few houses, we decided to put in an offer. The following day, it was accepted!!!

I can not describe how excited I am and I cant keep it to myself although, part of me feels like blogging about the perspective purchase is bad luck. We still have to have an inspection, which is this Saturday and then move to contract. Closing can be a headache but we are looking at 30-60 days to close. I would love love love to host Christmas, but I was already told no way not this year....we will still be unpacking blah blah blah, but he is right! Still I can't wait to break out Christmas lights and Christmas candles and bake an apple pie. OK, I don't know how to bake a pie, but I do have a pie dish and would like to give it a try. I do however have pretty red champagne glasses that I would be elated to use on New Years Eve in a new house. So this inspection is at the end of the week. Speaking of champagne glasses.....

Friday was Veterans Day, my BF and I had a mimosa breakfast (with some food too) and then headed to the spa. Woodlock spa is A.Maz.Ing. Melissa and I have been there a few times and love going for some downtime. She was originally getting married that day but then plans changed, we both had off already, so what better way to spend the day. Woodloch has steam rooms, hot tubs, and pools...then you go for your treatment and when your done you can use the spa again. God I wish we could go monthly!
Sunday morning I got a package. I participated in a food swap with some other Sept brides from the knot. It was so cool getting a package from someone you don't even know. The details were a 20.00 spending limit and something particular to the area where you live. My package came from Chesapeake, Va and had some awesome goodies. Also the bride is 1/4 Japanese, so we got some delicious Japanese products as well. I can't wait until my Ca Sept bride gets here package all the way from NY. I wish I could have sent her a pizza and some bagels but how does one ship a pizza? And the food had to be sealed, so no creepers could poison you. : (

So with 2 exciting this down this week, we look forward to 3 more. The first is the tentative arrival of our wedding pics. My cousin flew in and saved the day basically, more on that later, all the way from MN. I am so looking forward to seeing her awesome work. Second the home inspection. If there is a God in the world, please dont let his house be a shanty in disguise!!! And third a trip to Atlantic City to celebrate my aunt's birthday with my mom, aunts and cousins. Keep ya posted. Maybe I'll win big or just big enough.

Popping the Blog cherry

Totes: I had no idea what it meant or even if it meant anything at all. Totes is a nickname my Husband has been calling me for 3 years now. One fine afternoon while strolling through Central Park, he says to me stop toting behind. My husband is about 6 feel tall and I am roughly 5'2. He walks much faster than I and tends to always drag me when we hold hands and walk. Totes stuck. Fast forward a few years to the movie, I love you man. Paul Rudd while attempting to make up cool nicknames for his bff says Totes MaGotes. Totes became Totes MaGoats. One night while reading a blog I follow, I want to say it was Blogess.com but cant be certain, she wrote Totes your call!? What the hell is Totes and why are people using this word? or made up word? So I googled. Apparently Totes is short form for the following: Totally- commonly used by valley girls appx 190 times a day, really I missed that in Clueless? Totes- they make umbrellas; Totes-they make shoes and lastly Totes- a bag.

So whether it means something or nothing, its me. Why am I blogging and do I really have anything interesting to convey? I have fallen prey to the blogging world. Since planning the wedding I have become obsessed with Theknot, Pinterest, Real Simple, and random DIY blogs. I also have this urge to start an etsy website for making stationary. I fell in love with that aspect of wedding planning and absoutly adore Shutterfly for holiday cards and photobooks. Now with the wedding over, it was fabulous, Husband and I are on to new adventures. Currently that adventure includes purchasing our first home. Its been a treat so far. I fall in love with things I can't have and we agree on very little. With any luck we are looking at another home tomorrow. I have hope. I plan on blogging about our perspective new homes and hopefully the one we actually buy. I need a place for all those new dishes thanks to the bridal shower. I plan on sharing some DIY ideas and down the road some renovations to that new home. Lets face it, I don't have a turn key budget. So for now I will close this blog with some pretty honeymoon pics.