VEGAS, baby!

So, since my parents are awesome, they wanted to have my dad's official retirement party in Las Vegas. We went Mar 2-5. It was a great trip! I hadn't been to Vegas with my parents in about 8 years and that time was the only time I had been with them where I could gamble.

B and I love Vegas. Sadly (or not), it's probably where we've traveled most together as a couple. :) We definitely have the disease. We always think we'll win it back. And we usually do OK. Never a really huge profit, but if we're lucky, we come back with our gambling budget mostly intact.

Since this was my dad's retirement party, it was us, them, my brother, 3 of my aunts/significant others and my grandma. Big trip, tons of fun. My family also, very much has the "disease". We get there at 9, join them as they're finishing up dinner and then they were like...ok, see you in the morning, good luck! And they all spread out to gamble. Even my grandma! They all mostly did slots except me, b, my brother and my uncle. And somehow, they all kept winning. My grandma was up almost $400 on Saturday! From penny slots. Every time I put money in a slot, it was gone. Craps was crappy (haha) luck as well. We finally started winning on Sunday playing blackjack.

Anyway, here are a few non-people photos. It was a great trip, loved being with my family and really had an amazing time with them.

Ok, this is a terrible one of me, but it has a person, so I'll include it. I really thought I might get lucky here:

The Strip

...and last but not least, the always impressive Bellagio fountain. Seriously, I love it, every time!

Progress...

So I posted about my new coke-free (mostly) lifestyle last Friday. How have I done? Well, clearly no cokes on Friday (and I think I had officially stopped Weds or Thurs). Or Saturday. Sunday I did have a morning coke, but didn't even drink the whole thing. I told myself I was allowed a weekend coke. Plus, we were in Vegas. But then Monday morning, on our way home, I had another coke. Again, didn't really even drink half, just got it with my value meal (2 strikes). And that's it!

Honestly, I consider that progress because I was in Vegas Fri-Mon, eating crap food - which usually requires a Coke to go with it. It's harder to not get cokes when constantly eating out.

So, we'll see - I have done well here at work yesterday and today - no cokes. Went to a movie last night - no cokes.

I'll write about Vegas later - was a great trip!!

**full disclosure** I did drink 1 Jack & Coke Sat night - I don't think that counts AT ALL.

Giving up Coke...for the 100th time.

So I recently read a few articles about Coke - soda, in general that have made me decide to give up soda - for now.

I have these types of ideas frequently - for awhile I wanted to be vegetarian - but it was hard to come up with all those meals with no meat (I will be generous and say this lasted 1 week). I frequently say I am "giving up" coke, or fried foods, or fast food - and never really stick to it.

But this article about soda was responsible for my most recent pledge to give up my daily, carbonated joy.

So, a history. My addiction to coke (in Texas we call all sodas coke - so I could be talking Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Diet Coke) began at an early age. We often had it at our house, and I hated water, so what's a girl to drink? In middle and high school, I probably bought a daily coke to go with my lunch. In college - sometimes I'd buy my own coke for our apartment and proceed to drink 2 or 3 a day somehow! And that was all regular coke (no diet).

As I graduated college/moved into the working world, my habits continued. When I started my relationship with B - he helped me to see that perhaps I drank too much coke/not enough water. Slowly, I began to drink more water - but still kept the cokes in. I learned that buying cokes for my house was a big NO - because then I would drink 2 or 3/day.

In my late 20s, I began drinking Diet Coke. This, I figured was fine because there are no calories, no sugar, no anything! Then I started reading a lot of articles about being "organic" and thought - what do they put in here so that there are no calories? Answer: Fake Sugar. I've read plenty of articles that this fake sugar causes me to crave more and more sugar throughout the day. But I am definitely addicted to caffeine - and I don't love coffee, particularly on summer mornings in Texas where it can be 80 degrees at 8am - so I drink coke. I figure one/day can't hurt me. I tried to be more conscious of my sugar intake to combat the coke's fake sugar or high fructose corn sugar - but sugar is another thing I'm addicted to.

So what's so different now? It's well known in my circles ;) that I'm a hypochondriac. The health issues brought up in the article above are just too much for me (I think). I'll outline them briefly, but really - read the article:
1. Weird liver fat - although this first reason applies to regular coke drinkers, I routinely switch between diet and regular...I go through phases.
2. Diet soda belly - gross...so I'll switch to regular. Wait, see #1. :/
3. Caramel Cancer Causers - say cancer and I generally listen (see hypochondriac admission above)- although sometimes ok to dismiss because these days - what DOESN'T cause cancer?
4. Accelerated Aging - as a woman now "into my 30s" (ugh), this matters to me.
5. Water Pollution - eh...I'm a liberal, so therefore care about the environment - but honestly not about this water issue as much.
6. Mountain Dew Mind - I don't drink the Dew - but I'm sure this flame retardant chemical is also in stuff I drink.
*side note - I recently have sworn off Taco Bell and McD's because of gross stuff in their food (silica and pink slime, respectively). So I'm thinking this idea of knowing something chemically gross is in there will help me.
7. Whacked out hormones - because of BPA. Infertility, obesity, diabetes? No thanks - Already have a predisposition for diabetes - why make it worse?
8. Dead Birds - again...I care, but don't feel this is paramount to my resolve of giving up cokes.
9. Unknown side effects of GMOs (Genetically Modified crops) - since a lot of coke ingredients come from corn derivatives, which these days are mostly genetically modified - who knows how that will affect us? This is a good reason for me, because sometimes, I want to be a "natural" "hippie".

So - long story short, I need to give up my daily soda. Every morning at work, I pop open a can of Coke Zero(my current phase) and drink it along with my super sugary breakfast. I only allow myself one per day, most days - but it is definitely a daily staple. My pledge is to eliminate my daily work coke. I think this will be a big step for me. If I don't drink coke at work, I won't at home (because I don't buy them). I may still if I go out to eat during the week(but usually I just drink alcohol at that point, which may lead to a different addiction post in the future), but mostly it will eliminate 5 cokes from my weekly average. I guess I'll still allow weekend cokes for now. But since I rarely drink more than 1/day for the past 3 or so years - that would mean cutting down from 7 cokes/week to 2. And that's my goal.

Now my reader, Katy will most likely scoff at this, as she has seen and heard these things from me before. But as I get older and worry more about death, unhealthiness and looking old - I'm slightly more serious. And, I have this post to remind me of why I want to do this.

We'll see! Enjoying my iced tea this morning!

Catching Up...

So it's been quite some time since I've blogged...I'll do a quick summary of what's gone on since mid-August.

NADA.

;) I kid. Let's see - September was a fun, busy month. One of my best friends got married in Seattle and it was an awesome, 3-day affair! Both B and I were part of the wedding parties, and we were in Seattle from Tuesday-Sunday. It was a ton of fun, super busy and great learning more about Soni's Indian/Hindu culture! Here's a pic of B and I in our wedding day Indian outfits:

After we returned from that vacation, we had ACL, which was fun, per usual. Stevie Wonder closed out Saturday night and even though the sound was a little off, it was amazing to see him in concert.

I think October was mostly uneventful. I went to another reception for Soni in her hometown of Dallas and that was a really fun night. I can't really think of anything else that went on.

In November, I took advantage of a work trip to jump start a vacation for B and I! I guess I could detail the trip in another post. We went to Boston/Montreal and had a great time!

Boston!

We came back and the holiday season started - beginning with our nephew's first birthday right before Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving was great, it was B's family's turn this year so we got some great food and great times with his family and grandparents.

December was a rush, per usual. Got a great visit with my fave little cousin, Miranda (& fam) - who, incidentally is not so little anymore. Had a fun ACGNOE (Annual Christmas Girls' Night Out Extravaganza) complete with delish food and AWESOME karaoke. And ended December with a wonderful Christmas with my family in New Mexico (complete with SNOW!!) and Bran's (after Christmas).

Ellie LOVED the snow!

New Year's was a fun pot-luck with friends, I had a chill birthday in January (32 years OLD) and that pretty much brings us to present day. :)

Another year...

Decided to update the blog's appearance and perhaps post again. I can never get my banners quite right but it's not too bad! 2011 was a great year, perhaps I'll do another Year-in-Review...though I have some catching up to do on here since August.

Anyway - just a nibble now, will try to really post later. Happy New Year!

Summer: blah, blah...

Hello reader... :)

Here we are already in mid-August! Summer has been fun - if you call 30+ days of 100+ degree days fun...which I guess you might, for at least a few hours a day.

May and June were pretty busy. Had a trip home (yay!), a trip to Portland and a "staycation" in San Antonio. We spent most of July at home in Austin which was really nice. We did take a quick trip to Houston July 4th weekend to visit the nephew...he is getting more adorable by the day!

I read the Hunger Games trilogy, maybe I'll post a review later. I enjoyed it quite a bit! I'm a little concerned that lately the books I love the most are meant for "young adult" readers. Does that make me immature? If any other person reads this blog, besides Katy - and you have good book suggestions, let me know! Katy - of course I appreciate your book suggestions, but my guess is you're a little busy with your newborn. Oh yeah! So late July (July 28, to be exact)our baby shower girl, Katy had her little Miles James! He's an angel and I'm so excited to be his auntie! (I made myself his auntie, he has real ones, but whatev)

At the end of July, we took on a good old fashioned home construction project. BTW, it's not as fun to do home projects as you may think it looks on HGTV. It's not free, you're not on tv and no one looks like the hot guys on those shows (no offense, B). My dad came up to help us. Between figuring out if we had ordered the right door (out-swing door), then deciding we hoped it was wrong and was in fact an in-swing door, then back to wanting what we originally wanted; all the while my mom was "researching" online to further prove us wrong (or right) - we finally installed our out-swinging, french doors. Out-swing is not the norm, but we like it for our house. And if we ever get rain, we'll find out if the door was installed correctly.

No door - an "open" concept - not so good for bug control, I guess.

Getting it in - one step at a time.

All Done!

Still need to paint the door...we'll see when we get to that. Currently, it's taped, ready to paint - so that's one step.

Baby Shower!

So this post doesn't have much meat to it - per usual - but wanted to post some pictures of the shower I hosted (with 2 other friends, Tracy and Rita) for our friend Katy. She is having a baby in late July. This was my first true hosting of a party with more than 20 people - at my house, including people my parents' age. :) This made it a bit more stressful than your average dinner party.

I think it went really well. Katy had fun and got some great stuff!! We can't wait to meet little Miles!

The living room - onesie banner made by Tracy!

Close up - did I mention I got a new camera? It takes GREAT pics!

The spread...

I only posted this pic b/c I made the cupcake toppers! It was simple - just stamps...but my most creative art project to date.

Guest of honor! Got a "Sophie" which apparently is a must-have for babies.

My "artistic" shot of the Miles suckers...