Salt Lake City-and-Friends

Going up for Duncan's graduation was a huge blessing in that we were able to see some friends that we really care about and that we haven't seen for a long time.

We had breakfast with Ben Stair. We met Ben in Cullowhee when Nick was going through school. We had a Sunday tradition going where Ben would come over and we would watch Firefly or Echo (Dollhouse). Those were the good ole days when I was transforming into a nerd :P Our camera took a lot of picture in a row and Nick was the only one to figure it out.

Next we went to the aquarium with Jessica Humphrey and her four kiddos, three of which we hadn't met before. It was so great to meet them and get to know their personalities. It was overwhelming for me because I hadn't seen Jessica in such a long time, and yet it felt like time hadn't passed at all. The only thing that was missing was Peeper and his smile and loud laughter. These memories are for you man. We miss you!

After the aquarium we went to lunch and met with my friend Steven Wiggill (Mr. Wiggills) and his wife. Lisa didn't make it into any of the pictures because of work. She came later and left early :( Sorry Lisa!

It was so great catching up with all of these guys! We know we missed some other friends and family, so please don't be upset! We love you too.

Salt Lake City-Duncan's Graduation

Graduation is a great excuse to see family, definitely better than a funeral that's for sure. Family came from Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and different areas of Utah. Because Duncan only had tickets for a few of us we had an after party. Duncan graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor's in Medical Laboratory Science. His graduation ceremony was long and full of interesting speakers.

 Devan, Lon, Maddie, Jennifer, Uncle Paul and Grandma Bunny

 Nick, Lauren (Me), Aunt Anna, and Uncle Fred

After graduation finding your graduate is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Once we got our awesome and talented Duncan we took off to the reserved room for the after party. Devan, Duncan's wife, worked really hard to get everything ready for the party. She made these awesome degree themed cookies!

We ate pulled pork sliders and a bunch of other yummies.

We took a ton of family photo's because who knows when we will see each other next.

Mug shot!

Homemade Caramel Popcorn

Our new family tradition is to eat popcorn for dinner on Sunday.

We tried out this recipe and took pictures so I could share it because it turned out DELICIOUS!

We had tons left over and it has kept well in a ziploc bag.

First, Pop your popcorn in your air popper. We did half a cup of kernels and it was the perfect amount.

Second, gather your ingredients.

* 10 cups air-popped popcorn
*1 cup packed light brown sugar
*1/4 cup light corn syrup
*1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
*1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
*1.2 teaspoon salt
*1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Third, Preheat the oven to 200 Degrees Fahrenheit.

Put your popcorn onto two baking sheets.

Put the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar, and salt into the sauce pan.
 (DON'T ADD THE BAKING SODA YET)

Fourth, On medium-high heat, stir your ingredients constantly and bring it to a boil for about 5 minutes. The color of the sauce will change from dark to light.

Fifth, Remove from heat and QUICKLY stir in the baking soda. Then pour the caramel over the popcorn and gently fold until all the kernels are coated.

Sixth, Put it in the oven and bake for 1 hour stirring every 20 minutes.

Finally, Allow it to cool on the pan and break the larger chunks apart if you wish. IF you have leftovers put in a ziploc bag and it will keep for up to 2 weeks.

My Weight Loss Journey

Since I could remember I have always been heavy, fat, big boned, thick, whatever you want to call it... I was "it."

I was a busy child/teenager. I played softball for 9 years joined the track team in the seventh grade and in high school I did color guard. I would like to think these activities helped some, I don't know.

I joined the Weight Watchers program a total of three 3 times during my late teens and twenties and each time I lost weight. However when I stopped going I gained it all back plus some. I didn't have the money to keep it up but I loved the group support it offered me. 

My breaking point was moving to a foreign country where fatness is looked at like a disease. Strangers would touch my belly, squeeze my arms, and look at me with crazy eyes. These things really didn't bother me much because I'm pretty comfortable in my own skin, but I wanted to change. I wanted to live a healthy lifestyle. 

I started a Taekwondo group class that was for the teachers at the school I taught at. My first class was on my first full day in Korea and I loved it. Finally an exercise I liked doing... Kicking, punching and more kicking. Not to mention that it has a reward system. You work hard and you get to move to the next color belt. I started a new healthy habit, four days a week for one hour was my workout routine. Slowly but surely my body started to change. I had more energy, more stretchiness, and less fat.

My eating habits also changed, partly because American food was so expensive, and partly because Korean food is so healthy for you. At the supermarket meat (Beef) was expensive but the fresh fruits and vegetables were not. Our cooking in the home became a lot cleaner and we used a lot less fats. We ate a lot of rice, Mando (potsticker), chicken, and lots of fruits and veggies. Another thing that changed was our portion sizes. We didn't realize how big they were in the USA. 

The other teachers that I worked with were huge into fitness and losing weight. We did a lot of group weight loss competitions and worked out together in our Taekwondo group and at school. I was by far the heaviest person and I never won any of the competitions because my weight did not fall off that fast. They introduced me to MyFitnessPal and I was hooked. Instead of points I was counting calories and the phone app can scan barcodes. It was a life saver! When I started logging my food is when I really started losing weight.

In the two years living abroad I lost 70 pounds!

When we got home I was determined to keep going because I have goals and I wanted to prove to everyone that it wasn't because of the Korean food, or my awesome easy schedule. It was because I made time, I had motivation, and I had determination.

I got home late November 2014 and now six months later I have lost 15+ more pounds!

THAT'S A TOTAL OF 80+ of these....

The weight loss tips that worked for me.

#1 Find a group, a friend, some kind of support system

#2 Determination and motivation, you gotta have it if you want to lose the weight and then keep it off

#3 Find an exercise that you love 

#4 Make exercise and living healthy your goal 7 days a week not just 5

#5 Make and set goals, Focus on small goals until you reach your main goal

#6 Take care of your skin. 

#7 be careful and aware of self shaming

#8 Every bite/sip counts in the calorie world so count them

#9 Look up what your target heart rate is supposed to be, MONITOR IT when working out

#10 Find great shoes
#11 Ignore people that tell you, "oh it's your birthday," "It's a holiday"....... and so on. They have no idea how hard you've worked and how much of a set back eating horrible can cause.
#12 treat yourself from time to time.. I'm addicted to sweets! I don't deprive myself of them but I eat them sparingly
#13 Stop being lazy and walk as much as you can
#14 take the stairs (as much as I hate them)

I have not hit my ultimate weight loss goal yet so there is still work to be done. The current weight loss program I'm following is here. I'm at the gym everyday or I walk/Jog outdoors because the weather has been so nice lately.

What would you look like if you lost the extra weight you are carrying around.. Click here and find out.

Also this website is good because it's real people. http://www.mybodygallery.com/

Working out STINKS!

So my life lately has been rough because losing weight is no easy task. I have three places that I visit almost everyday. Of course my actual home is at the top of the list but a close second is my new job and then the gym. I work out everyday.... I know the names of the people at the front desk and have conversations with the old men who wear short shorts, basically underwear, with the weight belt around their waist and nothing of a shirt.

If you workout at the gym regularly you get used to the smells. If you are lucky the person next to you is wearing deodorant or better they cover their stink with perfume. If you are unlucky you hop on your favorite machine, start peddling along and then have no choice but to get off because of the stink coming off the dude next to you. This experience happened to Nick and this stink was unbeatable. Nick left to walk on the treadmill and when the man got up from the bike Nick tried to go back but the smell was still there.

People who are working out at the gym are usually trying to eat healthy right? This means lots of fruits, vegetable, protein, and I guess they eat a lot of beans?!?!?! I say beans because the more you eat them the more you fart... FARTS THAT STINK!!! These people are the worse to work out next to. One minute I'm cruising along on my elliptical watching my favorite show and then the next minute I'm choking on gas. I'm the person who makes that crazy face and starts waving at the air. I have even covered my nose with my shirt so I could smell my own sweat instead of the deadly toxins in the air.

When I first started my job, there was a stomach virus going around. I didn't realize my stomach was upset until I was working out on my elliptical. When I felt the rumble I knew this was going to be a fart of ages. Looking around I noticed some previous offenders and decided that rather than excusing myself from my machine I would take out my revenge. Holding it in until it could no longer be stopped, I eased out the noxious gas. Being careful not to make a sound so that I didn't reveal it's origin. I stifled a wry smile as I glanced over to my companions and notice their belabored breathing and the movement of cloth toward noses.. I knew my revenge had been exacted.

Pet Sitting in NYC

Nick and I enjoyed a few days break from our freezing Boston apartment to stay at my sister's not so freezing apartment in the upper west side of Manhattan. Can you believe that the temperature varies that much? Neither could we.

Our adventure started out with a 5 hour ride on a double decker bus from Boston to NYC. We had some of the best seats and were able to see everything from the top deck! We loved driving through NYC and thought the bus driver was crazy for driving right through Times Square, but it made for some FANTASTIC sight seeing.

The purpose of our trip was to watch this adorable puppy and give her lots of lovins.  We crushed it!

Our first full day we took the subway to midtown and stopped for some cheap pizza. We got two slices and a bottle of water for $2.75. After our snack we found the enormous Toys R US store and had some fun. If you know Nick you know the first area he headed for... Nerf is correct! This store had everything including a Wonka candy store and a ferris wheel. It's a childs dream come true.

After the Toys R US we walked to Times square and we were overwhelmed by how many people were around. Our eye's quickly spotted the large M&M's hanging onto a building.We immediately and simultaneously headed in that direction.

They had everything that you could possibly want coated in your favorite M&M color. We managed to get out of this three story building with only one large bag filled with our favorite M&M's. Of course we had to get some mini's and then the crispy ones (that are no longer sold in stores) and we just couldn't stop ourselves peanut butter, mint, and peanut M&M's followed. Nick's intentions were to eat the M&M's later in the evening while watching TV however, I didn't know his intentions and as soon as the VISA card was swiped I started into the bag. Nick didn't notice until a few blocks later that half the bag was gone. This followed by a horrible tummy ache because I ate greasy pizza for lunch and M&M's for dinner. When Nick finally noticed he was not happy but once he realized I was only eating the peanut butter and peanut M&M's he was kinda glad because that meant his game of russian roulette had lowered it's fatality rate. However, Nick did grab a peanut butter M&M and the look that shot across his face was killer :) no pun intended!

Over the weekend we found out that some close friends from Daegu were in NYC also so we arranged to meet up with them. We met Dyani and her grandmother at the National Museum of Natural History. We walked around the corner to a bagel shop and talked for a while. Then we walked them back to the museum.

One thing Nick really wanted to do while in NYC was to go to the MET. We chose to go on St. Patrick's Day because there was a huge parade and it happened to end right at the MET so we were able to see some of it. Below is the front fountain at the entrance to the MET. The wind was blowing so hard people were walking the long way around it so they wouldn't get wet.

 Nick took this picture of us as we were trying to take a sneak peak at the parade.

To get to and from the MET we had to walk through Central Park. We took a lot of pictures of the frozen ponds and landmarks so I will spare you and just post some of our favorites.

The picture above is of the Shakespeare in the park arena and Turtle pond. Below is a panorama view of a large reservoir. We walked around most of the reservoir on a walking path and it was beautiful at every angle.

Now on to our favorite part about NYC.... the FOOD! First up is the New York hot dog with everything on it. I was nominated to eat the hot dog with everything on it because... well... it had everything on it.

Next up is this meal made for a family of four. After the the baked ziti we talked about dessert but our waitress informed us that there wasn't a dessert small enough for the two of us. As she was explaining an entire cake was being delivered to a table of 5. We decided to pass on dessert here and we walked down the street and found a cute place where we got freshly made cream puffs instead.

Another one of our favorite places was this diner that a new friend told us about. I ordered buttermilk pancakes and Nick ordered a Monte Cristo Sandwich. Nick's sandwich was basically two meals. He had two large and thick (at least 1 1/4" thick) pieces of french toast which he ended up eating with syrup after he finished eating the swiss cheese covered turkey and ham. We left full and didn't eat for the rest of the day.

My new friend comment above is an amazing story that made our whole trip worth it. One day we were walking along Broadway exploring the Upper West Side of Manhattan and we decided to cross the road. As we did we noticed a old lady sitting in an electric scooter and a boy pushing with all his might to get her across the street. Nick, being as wonderful as he is, ran over and began to help push. Now two people were pushing and the scooter was still moving at a snail's pace. Once they got her across the street we talked for a moment and realized this lady needed to get all the way down to 71st street and we were currently on 86th, I think. The young boy was working at the restaurant she had eaten lunch at when her scooter died. They pushed and made it a couple more blocks before a rest HAD to happen. Nick started wondering why it was so hard to push and started to mess with the scooter. It took a few twist and pulls but he soon figured it out and now it could be pushed by the touch of a hand. The two of them were relieved! Nick told the boy to go back to work and that he would push her home from there. We made it to her place and she invited us up for some water. We loved sitting and chit-chatting with her so we exchanged email addresses and phone numbers and arranged to see each other again before we left. A few days later we met up for a wonderful dinner at a Turkish restaurant. Can't wait to see Auntie Claire again!

Our trip to New York was amazing and a great change in scenery. We will definitely be back to visit because there were so many things we wanted to see but we just didn't get around to them. That and we hear spring in the Park is amazing!