Introducing...

...the weight loss ticker!

I suck

I'm a really crappy blogger. I was thinking of starting a new topic-specific blog, but, eh, may as well stick with this one.

I hate the drab color of the background, but Brian likes it. I changed in a little while back and he noticed. :P He doesn't even post on here!

I joined Weight Watchers yesterday! Yay for me! And what did I do after the Open House meeting? I went to Mililani Mauka Genki Ramen and had a big plate of beef curry and rice. :P The 10-week program doesn't actually start until next Wednesday. I'm indulging while I can and will probably have a "Last Supper" of sorts on Tuesday night.

I've never done anything quite this formal, nor public, when it comes to my weight. I've tried losing on my own a few times, but always fell off the wagon. I decided to take the plunge with WW because my employer's wellness program is sponsoring it. Meetings are right after work, AT WORK, every Wednesday. My health insurance takes care of a portion of the program cost. I only pay $63 total for this first 10 weeks. How could I NOT give it a chance?

I'm hoping the meetings help. I've worked with many of the WW members in the past and they were so supportive yesterday! I also figure I've got some degree of financial incentive to make this work.

I haven't set an official weight loss goal, but given that I'm currently at my all-time heaviest, I'd like to get back down to where I was 5 years ago. That's 15 pounds! Doesn't sound like a lot, right? Well, it's a lot for my 4 foot 10-1/2 inch (yes, every half-inch counts!) frame. It's so funny though. I wasn't even happy with my weight back then. These days, I long to be where I was.

I've accepted that I'll NEVER be a skinny mini. My goal is to lose a reasonable amount of weight and to feel healthier.

I'm hoping to chronicle my 10-week journey right here! Stay tuned....

"Udgy" (pronounced oo-jee)

Here's the urban dictionary definition of the word, but here's my description....

To me, udgy is when you're walking to check the mail after a long day at work, and a truck full of sweaty Filipino yardmen (or "landscape technicians" as I'm sure they like to be called) slows down alongside you, honks its horn prompting you to become startled and turn around, and then proceeds to laugh and cat call. Yes, that is udgy.

Mini Burgers

Have you seen the commercial for the Jack in the Box Mini Sirloin Burgers? The one with the mini cowboys singing the jingle? Brian loves the song and commercial.


How about the McDonald's Filet-o-fish commercial?


I thought the McD's one was annoying at first, but it was very effective marketing as I couldn't get that song out of my head! I wonder how McD's FoF sales changed as a result of this commercial. I mean, the FoF has been around for years. I wonder if this commercial helped at all.

Funny how the other fast food chains are now playing catch-up to McD's catchy little jingle. Even Burger King has that "square butt" one. Now I find that one annoying and a bit inappropriate. :P

So, the point to all of this was that Brian and I had homemade mini burgers for dinner tonight. I made them using lean ground beef, some stale bread that was sitting in our fridge, an egg, mushroom gravy mix and some garlic salt. We didn't have hamburger buns or rolls so we ate the mini burgers between a Roman Meal bread slice cut in half, along with a slice of American cheese and some ketchup...God I love ketchup.

I've felt a bit pudgy since the holidays. I can't seem to shake the weight I gained. It's a few pounds, but a few pounds on my frame is A LOT! Ugh. I only had 1 mini burger. I planned to have some vanilla ice cream after my burger, but that never happened. It's for the best, I suppose.

I suck at blogging

Geez, it's been nearly 1 month since my last post. I wonder if my crappy blogging habits are a direct reflection on how I view life. I think our life is pretty boring. Perhaps I'm not looking at life with the correct perspective. I'm not really good at making weird, boring or random things seem interesting. I think I need to re-evaluate this whole blog thing....

Our Wedding Teaser

Our 2nd anniversary is this Wednesday! I can't believe how quickly time is flying.

(The uploaded video is so tiny!)

Featured in an Etsy Treasury!

I'm not sure how big of a deal this really is, but I'm just surprised that someone actually stumbled upon on of my items and felt compelled to feature it in an Etsy Treasury. I'm hoping this will be good for exposure. :)

Etsy Store Open for Business!

Finally. Hehe, I've only got 1 item listed, though. :P

I Did It!!!

Well, I sorta did it.

Nothing is listed my store yet, as I still need to set my shop policies and figure out if I'm going to offer international shipping. The thought of international shipping overwhelms me, but the Etsy forums say it ain't so bad. There are so many aspects to this endeavor, which is not good for an over-analyzer like me. I keep thinking of every possible thing that can go wrong and the associated risks.

I went to the store today to buy some shipping supplies, including a 25 pack box of bubble mailers. As I stood in the aisle, considering all the packaging options, I thought, "Crap, am I really going to do this?" I ended up at the checkout line with the bubble mailers so I guess I really am doing this! :P

Thanks for all of the encouragement. I apologize for being noticeably absent from e-mail and other various forums I used to frequent. This, along with work and waiting and waiting for things to start moving with our refi, has been consuming my waking hours.

Need some suggestions

I know I don't have a huge readership, but I'm struggling to come up with a potential Etsy store name! It needs to be memorable, practical and relevant.

I've been using "Handmade by Nicole"...well, that's what my custom rubber stamp says, anyway:


So, we could do:

HandmadeByNicole
CardsByNicole
808Cards
808Embossing
EmbossedByNicole

Yeah, that's about all my fried brain could come up with last night. Haven't given much more thought to it.

Any suggestions???