Trying the diet

So a couple days ago Colin and I decided to go to New Season (grocery store) and buy a few things to start the diet. We bought some almond milk which was the only new thing. We had to buy the unsweetened kind because I can't have anything with added sugar, but I decided to get vanilla thinking it would be better. When I got home I tried a little and it was probably the most disgusting thing ever!!!! Colin's co-worker told him that just the regular almond milk is way better than the flavored kind. But I don't usually just drink a glass of milk anyway, so I think it will be ok in things. This morning I put a little in my coffee and it wasn't so bad. Yesterday I tried to eat according to the diet but that is going to be very hard without doing a total makeover of our fridge/pantry. I had eggs and a banana for breakfast, a spinach salad with a homemade olive oil/red wine vinegar dressing, an apple, & cheese slices. For dinner we had grilled chicken and steamed brocoli. Doesn't sound too bad, right?! But we had our bible study and I had 2 cookies....so yeah. It's gonna be hard. I think it will be easier if I plan my meals out ahead of time and make all my baked goods like every sunday or something like that...

Wedding season is in full swing. My cousin Shannon got married 2 weekends ago, that same weekend we celebrated my friend Sarah's engagement (Sarah and I have been best friends since 1st grade! So happy for her and her soon-to-be hubby!!), then this last weekend I got to be in a wedding for my friend Molly. Molly and I met while working together at the pool during high school, we have a lot of fun memories of spending our summers together working! Her husband, Blaine and I actually went to Pacific together and then she randomly met him through some friends and found out that he knew me, it's a small world!! She made an incredibly gorgeous bride and Colin and I had a fun time dancing the night away at their wedding!

This last Saturday, Colin was doing some bike training and he got hit by a car! This is exactly why I have not started biking, the cars scare me! He was going pretty fast in the bike lane and going past some cars when one of them did not have their turn signal on and decided to turn right, right when he was passing and they collided. Colin was pretty lucky, he just had a few scrapes and bruises but nothing broken and his bike was fine. The people felt horrible and gave him a ride home, it happened only a couple blocks from our apartment. I was on my way home from working for my dad and I see this car in front of me with the trunk wide open and a bike sticking out that looks like Colin's. So of course I follow them straight into our apartments, I had no idea what to think!!! But things could have been a lot worse and I'm just glad he's OK.

My half marathan training has taken the back burner with all the stuff we've had going on lately, I'm hoping tonight I will change that and get out for a nice run! Also, I have been considering doing a complete overhaul on my diet. I have had a disease called ulcerative colitis since I was 8 and I've been on and off medication since I was diagnosed depending on the state of my condition. I recently had to go back on medication and my mother-in-law sent me a book about a diet for people with digestive diseases such as mine, and my doctor had suggested I make some changes in my diet. I have been reluctant to read it because I HATE going on diets, but I have a completly different reason for going on this diet, it's not to lose weight but to better my overall health. So, I might give it a try, but it is very restrictive. Basically it is eliminating all disacharide and polysaccharide carbohyrdates since these require extra breakdown in the digestive tract. These are found in pastas, breads, rice, starches, anything sweetened with sugar (sucrose), no soy, most all dairy (no lactose). So that's pretty much everything I eat...haha. I can have pretty much all meats (no hotdogs or anything that has been processed), fruits, vegetables, honey, juices that have no added sugar, nuts, almond milk, real butter...and lots of homemade stuff. The book has a whole section of recipes, homemade ketchup, yogurt, breads, muffins, etc. So we will see. I think the hardest thing will be getting Colin on board and the expense....but I feel like it might not be that much more expensive if we are making most of the stuff I eat...and I like to cook and bake, so that's good. No chocolate or my sweet coffee drinks, giving those up will be a challenge!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday to all! I am very excited for the forecast for the next week or so, clear, sunny and in the 80's! That's my kind of weather! My goal for today: Go to the gym- run!!! I have been a MAJOR slacker in the exercise department of my life and I need to ramp it up a bit. I'm hoping the sunshine will bring some much needed energy & motivation!

Wedding season has officially begun! Tomorrow we will be celebrating with my Dad's side of the family for my cousin Shannon's wedding! I am so excited for her and her soon-to-be hubby, Nathan!!

I am next on the list to choose the book for my book group! I need suggestions!! One book I've heard is good is, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, it's written from the perspective of an autistic boy who loses his dad on 9/11. Has anyone read it?

New Things

So Colin and I have been asked to lead a young adults group through the summer for our church, I have been helping with a women's group and we decided to go co-ed through the summer and Colin is our men's leader! Last Wednesday was our first one and Colin was the only guy, so he got to hang out with about 8 girls! He's a good sport :) Last night 2 other guys came, which was really cool, it's hard to get young men to go to a church group...so we are working hard on reaching out. And Colin is great at that, he really is able to connect with people and make them feel like their job or their major in college or whatever they do is awesome. I am excited for the accountability and growth this will bring in our relationship with God.

Each week we will have a memory verse, which is great because I haven't done this since high school youth group. The girls and guys will break off for connection and prayer time and then we will come together and do some type of activity; play a game, go to the park, do a service project etc.

Memory verse for the week: "Each time he said, 'My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.' So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Exhausted!

It's Monday again (it always comes too fast!) and we spent the weekend in the Seattle area for Colin's first triathlon of the year...and I am absolutely EXHAUSTED!!! I need another 3 day weekend to make up for it! Friday I took the day off of work and we headed out of the house around 9:00am and made it to Kirkland around noon. We spent the rest of the day registering Colin & his friend Brian for the tri and then stopping at a couple triathlon stores..that was tiring, it would be like Colin having to tag along with me and a friend while we shopped for clothes and home decor! So I was tired, then Saturday was the big day we got up around 4:50 and got ready to head out by 5:30. At least the weather was nice! But there were torrential down pours the night before so it was SO muddy!!! The running course had to be re-routed due to flooding in the park where they were suppose to run, but I guess it worked out all right. The water temperature in the lake was 59 degrees, which is pretty darn cold!! Usually it's warmer but since it has been such a cold spring it hasn't had time to warm up. The water temp slowed Colin down in his swim, but he still did great! He had a great bike time and a great run time! I am proud of him :) It did make me want to do one...someday...when I get a bike. For now I will swim & bike at the gym and hopefully it will stop raining so I can do some outdoor running!


Colin and Brian after crossing the finish line. Nice work, boys!!


Colin and I after his finish

Lately it feels like we have been spending money all over the place and we haven't made much progress on our debt so we decided to purge a few things and make some extra cash! We posted 2 mountain bikes (that seriously never get used), our leather chair, our TV stand, a wine cooler we have no place for and dvd/surround sound system to sell on Craig's List. So far we have sold 1 of the bikes, the chair, the tv stand and the wine cooler, for a total of $400 extra dollars to go towards paying off our car. Yes, we are crazy!!! But it's all just stuff and someday we can buy all that stuff back when we aren't in debt and actually have cash to pay for it. And our apartment feels much bigger now! It's kind of a good feeling not to be attached or feel like the stuff we have defines who we are.

Ok, so now I am going to talk about some stuff...haha. Below is my shoe pick for the month of June. I haven't even gotten them yet and I'm already re-considering. I saw a pictures of girls who got them and they were SO cute, but they are a 3 inch heel and I am starting to get the sandal bug.

What do you think!?

Here are a few other options I could exchange them for if I'm really not feeling them when I get them.

These ones are a little different, but I kinda like them....



And these are cute too...but I'm also not sure about spending $40 for sandals. I found a really cool website, www.urbanog.com they have some really cute sandals in styles that I have seen for really expensive, but they are cheap! Which may mean cheap quality as well. Wow, the desicions I have to make in my life!!!