Gatsby's Christmas Letter

Because of our impromptu trip to Cleveland, we're late at getting our Christmas cards out. We're aiming to get them done this weekend to get them in the mail on Monday. In our house, Brian is responsible for writing the letter and then I edit [READ: rewrite] it. ;-) We were laughing the other day about how funny it would be if Gatsby narrated our letter, but we thought it would probably be too over the top to do it and that everyone would think that that we are strange.

Well, we are.

So we decided that Gatsby would create an e-missive for the blog because, well, our life needs some comic relief right now.

***

HEY GUYS!!! IT'S ME, GATSBY SAMUELS LeBLANC!!! THIS WAS THE BEST YEAR EVER!!

[EDS. NOTE: Master LeBlanc would prefer for his letter to continue in ALL CAPS; however, we realize that's a pain to read.]

In January, we went to visit Miss Ellie and Mr. Jay at the beach. But I didn't know what mom and dad meant by "the beach." It just looked like another house to me except it was cold and windy there. The best part of the trip was when someone dropped a bowl of popcorn and I ate it all off the floor. It was the best trip ever.

We also went back to their house later in January and that was when mom started talking about NutriSystem and ordering food. She kept talking about portion control and that seemed like a bad thing for a doggie because if she had "perfect" portions then there wasn't gonna be no extras for me. Man, I was right. It was the worst trip ever. In fact, I got so mad that I snuck off into Miss Ellie's room and peed on her comforter when nobody was looking. HAHA! I SHOWED THEM!!

February, March, and April were pretty typical cold doggie days. I woke up, ate breakfast, slept by the fireplace, ate dinner, and then played with my dad when he came home from work. I also watched all these houses get built behind us and we got a next door neighbor. His name is Ranger and he's an old dog. I like to bark at him and try to pee in his yard, but mom and dad won't let me. He doesn't really play with me. I also figured out that I like to sit up on the upstairs bed and watch the little kids play in our cul-de-sac. I wish I could go out and play with them, but mom and dad won't let me. :-(

In early May, we went back to Miss Ellie's house and I got to find out what everyone meant by the "beach." It was sandy there and there were lots of other doggies to bark at. That ocean thing is weird though, I wasn't really all about that. It kept chasing me. Jerk. In late May, my Aunt Callie and Uncle Clay got married and mom and dad ABANDONED ME. They took me to this place called Suite Paws that's a 5-Doggie-Star Hotel for an ENTIRE WEEKEND. I thought it was really going to suck until I realized that there were other doggies there and I got to play with them at daycare and mom and dad got me a cool suite with a TV. I got to watch Animal Planet all weekend and mom and dad watched me with something called a webcam.

June was hot.

In July we went to another beach (how many are there?!?!?!) and it was a FULL house. Lots of people and Aunt Callie and Uncle Clay brought my kitty cousins too. The kitty cousins stayed in another bedroom, but I saw them through the window. I just wanted to play with them, but the boy cousin Brewer hated me for no good reason! He kept hissing at me. Little jerk. The girl cousin Bama seemed interested in me, but Aunt Callie wouldn't let me play with them. She's a meanie head.

Before everyone came, I was just there with mom, Miss Ellie, and Mr. Jay and the best thing ever happened. Mr. Jay wasn't fast enough with the sliding glass door and I ESCAPED. I went for a run and everyone kept chasing me to play. Boy, those dumb old humans are SLOW. I had to keep stopping and waiting for them to catch up and then I'd take off again. They kept talking to me all nice-like and Miss Ellie even got in her car to come get me. Eventually I decided to get in and go for a ride with her. My mom was MAD and she stopped talking to me in that nice tone of voice. It sure was fun though.

I can't remember anything else that happened for the rest of the months except for the best thing ever that happened today. I was voted "ALL-STAR BOARDER OF THE WEEK" at Suite Paws. I mean let's be honest: there really was no other choice. I wasn't surprised at all. I AM the best doggie in the world. I don't know if there is an award for ALL-STAR DOGGIE OF THE YEAR, but if there is, I'll probably win it. If you want to send me a present, you can.

I hope you guys have a good Christmas and a good New Year. I'm tired and I'm going to take a nap.

Love,

Gatsby

PS: Please send me a pepperoni pizza (hold the pizza). Here is my address:

Gatsby S. LeBlanc

Gatsby's House

THANKS!

The Cleveland Report

Cold. Gray. Windy.

That is all.

:-)

Although we went up there under very sad circumstances, we did have a good trip. Brian and I left super, super, super early (left the house at 5 a.m.) Monday morning in a cloud of fog (evidently right after we left there was a ground-stop in Raleigh). We were at our hotel in Cleveland by 10 a.m. and then we pretty much took the day by storm. We went with Mike and Barb to run some errands and take a tour of all the Henry and LeBlanc hot spots. It was most excellent for me to get the real tour with super narration.

That evening, Brian and I went out to a swanky dinner downtown at the Cleveland Chophouse. Holy moly, it was good! I had the salmon with a sesame-apricot glaze served over a bed of fresh sautéed spinach and rice pilaf and Brian had a bone-in ribeye. For dessert, we split a crazy-yummy chocolate ganache thing with raspberry syrup. After dinner, we went to check out some Christmas lights at Nela Park on the East Side. It was was kinda scary getting out there (it's not in a very nice area!) and the lights were underwhelming, but we had a fun drive and Brian got to see a very cool redesigned road. After that, we drove about 300 blocks west to meet up with Brian's parents and their friends in Westlake. We hung out there until it was time to go pick up Kevin at the airport (his airplane was super late)!

On Tuesday, we had to meet up with the minister and make arrangements for the funeral. We also did a little bit of shopping [Brian and Kevin both forgot their belts--are they brothers or what?!] and then visited with Brian's aunt. Tuesday night, Brian and Kevin went to the Cavs game while I "helped" Mike and Barb create photo collages for the funeral. (If you know me, you know that I am the least artistic human on the planet, so I basically helped distribute double-sided tape and provided words of encouragement!) The collages looked really fantastic and it was awesome to see all the different pictures. We were all laughing about what a fashionista G was. In one of the pictures, she was decked out in a gorgeous dress and pearls while holding a two week old Barb!!!

The funeral was Wednesday and everything went very nicely. Brian and Mike both did readings and the service was held in a small chapel at the Lakewood Presbyterian Church. There was a fantastic pipe organ in the small chapel and the flowers that Barb picked were so gorgeous. (I wish I would have taken a picture of them!) After we went to the cemetery, we had a phenomenal late lunch at Pier W. They had the most incredible bruschetta on the appetizer sampler and I had the "Vegetarian Tasting" for my entree: Breaded Eggplant Parmesan, Braised Escarole, Sundried Tomato Gnocchi, Marinara Sauce, Reggiano. Brian had a burger. Oh my goodness; it was sooooo good. For dessert, I had miniature chocolate truffles. After lunch, we went back to Brian's aunt's house for a while. Later that night, we hit up Malley's, which is a local chocolate candy store and ice cream shop. (Yes, I had dessert twice in one day and it was SOOO good!) All-in-all, it was a fantastic celebration of G's life. If you're interested, the obituary that ran in the Plain Dealer is online.

Thursday, we hit up Skyline Chili (one of Brian's favorites) before heading to the airport. I had never been before, but it was pretty good. I was impressed that they actually had nonmeat offerings.

I think we are all completely exhausted. Other than hitting up the grocery store today and picking up Gatsby, I've been so lazy today and it's been very, very nice to have some downtime.

Speaking of Gatsby, our little doggie did so good at Suite Paws! He was the "All-Star Boarder of the Week" and we had the best time watching him on the webcam (at daycare and in his little room). He's also been completely exhausted all day! This was the little bulletin board that they put up for him:

We took a few pictures while we were up there that are up on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/ClevelandInDecember. The ones that Brian and Kevin took at the Cav's game are really cool. They had phenomenal seats; like 10 rows off the court for super cheap!

Running and Weight Loss Update

Things continue to go well on my weight loss journey. It's hard to believe, but on January 26 I will have been at this for one year. The pounds lost rate has definitely slowed down, but I know that's because I'm moving closer to my goal weight. Eating on Saturdays during football season and during the holidays has been (and will be) challenging, but I feel really confident in my ability to do this. Basically, I know that even if I overindulge one day, I just jump right back on the ship the next morning and keep going.

It also helps that I'm staying really active. I'm exercising five to six days a week. I'm usually running three of those days and cross training the other two or three (elliptical trainer or a cardio/strength training DVD). I feel confident that this is something that I can maintain for the long haul. I've actually discovered that I tend to "crave" exercise. (I know you're thinking, "yeah, right, lady!", but it's true!)

Running is my absolute favorite exercise. When I run, I can't think about anything except for my breathing or like a four to five word mantra that I just repeat over and over in my head. Plus, when you're out running, people don't bother you or ask you questions or talk to you. It's just completely "me" time. I really, really enjoy it (that's probably the introvert side of me). I also like how I can challenge myself to improve.

On Thanksgiving morning, I ran the Gobbler's Run 5K in Wake Forest. It was a lot of fun. It was chilly, but a good race. I ran it in 29:26 (9:28/mile), which is the fastest multiple-mile run that I've ever done. I have also done a single mile time run at 8:46, but I also thought I was going to die when that was over. :-)

I really like doing races because it helps keep me motivated. In fact, I like it so much that I'm going to run a half marathon in Raleigh at the end of March. I started training for it right after Thanksgiving. The training schedule is surprisingly not too demanding. I do two 30-minute runs during the week and one longer run on the weekend (today was 4 miles). I try to push myself hard during my 30 minute runs and then keep a steady, slower pace on the longer runs. If you're interested, I'm using this schedule (www.jeffgalloway.com/training/half_marathon.html). I'm really excited about it.

I wish I travelled more because it would be really fun to get to run in lots of different places (I'm jealous my dad gets to do this)! Last weekend, my family was in Richmond for an App. game and my dad and I went running together Sunday morning. My poor dad had to slow down so that I didn't puke, but we had a really good time. We ran on an island in the middle of the James River that used to be a Civil War POW camp and was also a horse racing track during Colonial times. Pretty amazing history! Here's a picture:

http://tinyurl.com/ykn82tf (you can see the running trail in between the quarry lake and the river up at the top). It was a cold run, but it was really cool to experience it with my dad.

*****

Weight Loss Numbers

I'm 2.2 lbs. away from being in a "normal" weight range for my height and it's taking me FOREVER to get there! Even though, the weight loss is slowing, I can tell a difference in clothing sizes. Yesterday, I was at Kohl's looking for an outfit and I'm now wearing size 6 pants and small or medium shirts. In one brand, I fit into size 4 pants, but those people must be smoking crack because their sizing is obviously crazy wrong!

Here's a cute pic of me and mom (who is a total hottie!) in Richmond:

And a picture of me after my Thanksgiving 5K (I was pretty proud, I'm not gonna lie!):

Brian's Grandma

I can't believe it's has been almost two months since my last post. We've been incredibly busy!

Unfortunately, I have some sad news. Last Wednesday, Brian's grandma passed away. She had been in ailing health for quite some time, but it was still quite a shock to everyone. We are flying to Cleveland early Monday morning and staying there until Thursday afternoon. This is one of my favorite pictures of Brian and his grandma that was taken before our rehearsal dinner in May 2006:

We were all really lucky to get to spend a lot of time with G (the nickname that Kevin came up with) in the past few years after she moved down from Cleveland. We saw her about once a week and I know Brian was really excited when he found out that she was moving down here. When we were in college and would plan spring and fall break trips, Brian always made sure to incorporate a stop or an entire visit to Cleveland to see his grandmothers.

I think my favorite memory of G was the first time I met her. Brian and I had been dating for a few months and he invited me to his mom's master's degree graduation party. I was INCREDIBLY nervous because it was the first time I was meeting most of his family and I was driving straight in from Hickory. As I was on the way, Brian called me to tell me to take a different route because the traffic in Chapel Hill was bad. He told me to take [and I quote] "85 to 147 to 40." What he failed to mention was that "147" was a highway (i.e., the Durham Freeway) and not exit 147. So anyway, I got lost (remember I had only lived in Raleigh for like a year and a half and most of that year I was without a car) and was running late and I was incredibly mortified. Because I was coming from Hickory, I was wearing casual clothes and planned to stop to change into something nicer, but I was running so late that I didn't have time to stop, so I ended up changing while I was driving (yes, I realize this was probably not a wise move)!

So, anyway, I finally made it to the party (completely harried) and met Brian's family. (And 11ty thousand of their closest friends--I still meet people who say "oh yeah, I met you at Barb's graduation party." Yeah, I have no memory of any of these people. Sorry.)

Brian plopped me down on the couch next to his grandma and introduced us and then proceeded to abandon me (for the rest of the party). I am not kidding. He and his brother were glued to a radio because the Canes were playing in some playoff game.

G was my savior. She sat on the couch and talked to me the whole time and kept me company. She told me stories about Brian and asked me lots of questions. People would come up and talk to both of us, but fortunately I didn't have to do the whole mingle or stand against the wall alone thing. She was just so incredibly nice.

Interestingly, a few year's later, Brian and I got engaged in her living room in Cleveland after she thwarted Brian's grand-engagement-plan by tagging along with us on a ride to this part of Cleveland where you can see all these cool bridges downtown. :-)

Camping Addendum

We also saw some critters on our trip:

A family of deer Friday night

A snake on Saturday (maybe a copperhead?)

A baby raccoon Saturday night (it came right up to our campsite and then climbed a tree to stare us down!)

*****

I completely understand what people mean by "smoke damage" now. I had to shampoo my hair five times (and condition it twice) to get most of the campfire smoke out...I'll probably have to wash my jeans 10 times!!!

Camping!

This weekend I went camping with some friends from work. We went to Hanging Rock State Park--left Friday after work and got home Sunday afternoon.

This was the first time I've ever really been camping and actually slept in a tent. I absolutely loved it!! I'm hoping that we'll go back more now that we all sorta have the stuff that we need.

It was definitely COLD! (Upper 30s in the morning/middle of the night and 40-50 during the day). But not too bad if you dressed in mad layers and stayed close to the fire at night and in the morning! The temperature was actually perfect on Saturday for hiking! Friday night it rained some and Saturday night it was CRAZY windy.

We hiked up to the top of Hanging Rock and stayed up at the top for about an hour looking around and taking pictures (2.6 miles round trip). Then we hiked to Lower Cascades Falls after lunch (0.8 miles round trip). And, finally, we hiked to Window Falls (1.2 miles round trip).

The distances weren't too long, but we definitely had some crazy elevation changes throughout the day! I had the best time crawling all over the rocks and going off the paths to see the different views. Completely gorgeous!! I was soooo glad that I bought hiking shoes!

We also had the best food that was cooked over the open fire:

Dinner Friday - Precooked ground turkey, rice, veggies, and cheese cooked in foil packets.

Breakfast Saturday - Bacon, eggs, and Bisquick mixed with water, coated with cinnamon sugar and panfried in the bacon grease (completely NutriSystem approved!)

Dinner Friday - Precooked ground turkey, taco seasoning, lettuce, tomatoes, and Fritos

Dessert Friday - S'mores! (Except I had a banana, graham crackers, Hershey's bar, and marshmallows cooked inside a foil packet [SO good!])

The tent that I was sleeping in was like the Taj Mahal! It was HUGE and even had a little vestibule in the front to leave your shoes! So nice to keep the tent floor clean. The park had bathrooms and showers, though I didn't dare to attempt a shower--too damn cold for wet hair! :-) Everything was really nice and clean for as cheap as the campsite was!

I'm now definitely a huge fan of hiking and camping (esp. when going with people who know what they're doing)!!

I took a lot of pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/CampingHangingRock. Most of them are just of scenery (and lots of duplicates), but it was really super pretty!

It's raining, it's pouring ...

We must be in Boone.

Yes indeedy!

Friday after work, I dropped Gatsby off at Suite Paws and then waited for Brian to come home. So, we set off around 6:15 and it was cold and rainy.

We stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Burlington for dinner and it was cold and rainy.

We got to Hickory and drove past our old house in Falling Creek and it was cold and rainy.

Saturday morning, we woke up and it was cold and rainy.

We drove to Boone and went to the game and it was cold and rainy.

We drove home to Raleigh Saturday night and it was cold and rainy.

We woke up this morning with nowhere to go and it was sunny and beautiful.

Go figure.

Despite the crummy weather, we had a FANTASTIC weekend! Saturday morning we went to breakfast at Cafe Gouda, which was awesome, per usual. Brian had Belgian waffles and mom, dad, and I had pumpkin-stuffed French toast. Everything was delicious!

Afterward, we headed up the mountain and stopped in to the bookstore to get a few things. Dad had to exchange out a cycling jersey for a different size, Brian wanted a hoodie, and mom and I were looking for hats to wear to keep the rain out of faces during the game.

We had lunch in the Yosef Club room catered by Panera Bread. Because it was so chilly and rainy, in addition to sandwiches they also had soup. Their broccoli and cheese soup is DELICIOUS.

The Yosef Club room was the perfect staging ground to get set for the game. Dad got us all these cool, see-through rain suits to keep our clothes dry:

You can't tell in the pictures, but they also have pants! We were very happy to have them and tons of people kept asking us where we got them.

The game was a good one and App. looked strong. They won 20-7 over Samford in a conference game. Yay, Apps!

There were two highlights of the game:

We were all garbed up in our waterproof gear and all of us had some tunnel vision going on with our hoods and hats. As we were walking in, mom, Brian, and I somehow got separated from my dad, but since we've had the same season ticket seats for the past FOUR seasons, mom, Brian, and I just kept moving along because we all knew where to go. We got to our seats and got our stuff settled and got comfy and enjoyed watching the team warmup. We chatted a bit and said hello to all our fellow fans. After a few minutes, mom and I started wondering where dad went. "Hmm...maybe he saw someone he knew?" So, after about 20 minutes, mom turned to me and started laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe:

Mom: "I know what happened to your dad."

Me: "What????"

Mom: "He's over there ------> in the wrong section."

Yup, dad rolled in and went to the wrong section and stood there for a good 20 minutes, never realizing that he was on the 30 yard line, rather than the 45 yard line where we usually sit (and have sat for the past 4 years)! It was absolutely hilarious. Even funnier was that dad was listening to his radio and mom had to stand there screaming at him for 45 seconds before he noticed her.

Dad said later that he couldn't figure out why in the world mom, Brian, and I were being such wusses and staying under the stands to be out of the rain. :-)

The second highlight was a PHENOMENAL play by Armanti Edwards to elude Samford's defense. Even if you don't like football, I think you can appreciate how cool this was:

http://www.vimeo.com/6772819

Go APP!

More photos from this weekend: http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/AppVsSamford.

Weight Loss Update | Bye Bye Hair!

Things are going really well!!! As of Saturday, I've finally lost 50 lbs. (30 more to go)!

By the numbers:

I've gone from size 16/18 and 1X to size 9/10 and medium. (I've found that it's best for me to buy jeans in the juniors department because they have smaller hips and the height sizing fits better than petite. It SUCKS to be short!!) I actually bought a small, long sleeve App shirt last weekend, which was really, really exciting! (But, also kinda scares me...will there be clothes that fit me when I'm 30 lbs. lighter? Obviously, yes, but I've read some stuff about how much of a problem vanity sizing has become!)

I am really pleased with my progress in 8 months and I'm still as enthusiastic about it today as I was when I started.

I am 100% confident in my ability to meet my goal and maintain. I now know exactly what works for me and what I need to do.

Exercise-wise, I am still running. I'm usually running about 5K per run (3.1 miles). The fastest I've run is 10:58/mile for 3 miles. Once in my parents' neighborhood (at 5:20 a.m.!) and once in Hickory (at 7:15 a.m.!). It appears that I'm faster in the mornings! Probably because it's cooler and I've just woken up and haven't had too much going on to make me tired. My next goal is to get to 10 minutes/mile.

I'm planning to start P90X in October!

I haven't taken any pictures in my "standard outfit," but I do have a good picture of me, mom, and dad at the App/ECU game (and an old picture for comparison).

Before | In-Progress

***

And, finally, I chopped off all my hair yesterday, because I was totally over it.

Picture isn't the best, but you get the idea! So far, I love it!

The Great Computer Disaster of 2009

In the past two weeks, I've had the worst computer luck!

On Labor Day, I stood up and tripped over my computer cord, which was plugged into my laptop. It yanked the computer cord out and destroyed the power jack on the laptop.

When we got back to Knightdale, we took the computer to Best Buy to see if they could fix it. They were absolutely no help and told us that we needed a new motherboard (~$400-500) on a 2-year-old computer. (Heck no!)

So, I got online and found a place in Cary that could fix it for $149. I took it over there, they fixed in 2 days, and I picked it up last Monday.

Yay!

Last Wednesday, I set a cup of mango green tea down on our coffee table right in front of Gatsby, who promptly knocked it over and spilled it all over my computer.

Awesome.

So I dried it off and everything looked OK.

And then the keys started sticking and the screen turned all sorts of colors and it started beeping incessantly.

Not usually a good thing.

So, I pulled out the mini screwdrivers and started taking the thing apart. I dried everything off around the motherboard, rechecked all the connections, popped all the keys off, and checked a lot of other things.

Brian helped me check all the connections and we got the screen working again, but the computer wouldn't boot.

So, I pulled out the old laptop and took out its hard drive to see if it would fit into this one.

It wouldn't.

Through a lot of trial and error, we figured that the hard drive was working, but completely wiped clean. Decided to reinstall Windows to see if we could get it to work.

Put in the Vista CD. ("We're sorry, we can't find a copy of Windows on this hard drive and this is an upgrade, so we're not going to install. Haha, suckers.")

Put in the XP CD. ("We're sorry, we can't find a copy of Windows on this hard drive and this is an upgrade, so we're not going to install. We hate you and since you've already paid, we don't care.")

Put in a Windows 98 CD (from 3 computers ago). Finally got it to start to install and then the install corrupted, so I then put in the XP upgrade to see if that would work now that Windows was "sorta" on the drive. It did work and I got XP up and running.

But the wireless card wasn't found and there was no power to it.

So, I took the whole computer apart again. Checked all the connections and everything was connected, so we figured that the card was short circuited.

And then the screen started messing up again.

Clearly, there were still hardware issues.

So, I got mad (still pissed at Microsoft and their lame "upgrade" CDs), went to Best Buy, and bought a Mac.

Very, very pleased with the Mac! Will never buy a Microsoft OS again.

Computer Disaster '09: A Photo Montage

Gatsby

It's hard to believe, but he's now been living with us for a year!! This past year has flown by, but it's amazing to think about how far he's come.

The most noticeable difference is how much healthier he is. He had a yearly vet checkup on Saturday and weighed 22.5 lbs., which the vet said was perfect for him. He is completely up-to-date on all his vaccines and the vet was very impressed at how healthy he was.

Pic from last year | Pic from a few weeks ago

It's amazing what a difference 3 lbs. can make on a dog! His coat is very soft and shiny now!

Temperament-wise, he's still a bundle of energy and timid of men when he first meets them. However, he's calmed down considerably and is now very good when playing with other dogs. He's gone to Suite Paws three times and has played in the doggie daycare each time he was there. He's also played with some neighborhood dogs a few times. He LOVES going for rides and is much calmer in the car. Once we hit the highway, he lays down in the back pretty quickly and goes to sleep, but as soon as we stop or slow down at a stop light, he's up and sticking his head out the window to look around. :-)

I would estimate that he's 98 percent potty trained. He knows that he's supposed to go outside and he's good at telling us he has to go (even when we travel to mom and dad's house, he will go to the door to let us know that he wants to go out). It is very rare that he has an accident, but if he does, then we usually realize that it's our fault that we missed a cue from him or he's sick.

He probably jumps around too much and we'd like for him not to jump on people when they come to visit, but that's all stuff for year 2! We expect that he will continue to calm down as he grows up.

We adore him and spoil him entirely too much! We have the best time watching him play!

He's also ready for Halloween with his new t-shirt!

Sports

A brief rundown of our teams:

PEKers (our kickball team): 0-3 (including 1 forfeit and 1 OT loss)

Apps: 0-2

Panthers: 0-2

Browns: 0-2

Hurricanes: 0-1 (preseason)

In other words, our teams are batting .000.

Not so good! :-(

Although App has two losses, we've seen two really good games (one in Boone and one at ECU). We also saw the additions to the stadium in Boone, which are really impressive!

Pics from App @ ECU: http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/AppAtECU

Pics from App vs. McNeese State: http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/AppVsMcNeese

On Saturday, App plays Samford in Boone and Brian is going to the game with us! We're going to Hickory Friday night and staying at my nanny's house and then we'll be back in Raleigh Saturday night. I'm really looking forward to it!

It's hard to believe, but it's also time for preseason hockey and Brian is back to covering the Canes. He's doing a lot of cool stuff this season, including a weekly podcast (which starts Monday 9/21).

Be sure to check out his coverage at http://thebigtailgate.com/Canes-Coverage.aspx and you can follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/puckdrops.

Rhet/Comp @ NCSU

http://english.chass.ncsu.edu/graduate/ma/rhetcomp/rhetcomp_grads.php

Doesn't the chick at the top make you want to apply??

OF COURSE SHE DOES! ;-)

NSVs

On weight loss message boards, a lot of times you read about NSVs (or nonscale victories). In other words, cool stuff that happens that isn't reflected on the scale (compliments, etc.).

I had a cool NSV Saturday morning. I decided that I wanted to check my true resting heart rate again (that is, in the morning before you get out of bed). It's best to check it on a weekend day or some other day when you don't have to wake up with any alarm.

So I checked mine (with my heart rate monitor, so I didn't miscount):

46 beats per minute

Pretty darn cool!

The last time I checked it a few months ago it was 66 bpm, so it's definitely come down a lot.

Yet another reason why running rocks!!!

OH YEAH, I also improved my 3[.07] mile time Sunday morning--35:36 (11:34/mile)!

We have our second kickball practice tonight at 9 p.m., so we're pretty much just hanging around until then.

My parents rock!

Just sayin'.

June 2008 @ Jimmy Buffett

August 2009 @ Oak Island


My mom has become a super cyclist and walker and my dad just finished Day 36 of P90X (he's also still running and cycling--he ran 3 miles today at 8:41/mile).

I think it's pretty awesome that my dad is 25 years older than me and is running miles 4:21 faster than me!

Go mom and dad!

There's gonna be a lot more room in the seats at the App. games this year!!

If you're looking for a funny movie and aren't easily offended, Brian and I highly recommend "The Goods." It's hilarious!

A River Runs Through It*

* It = Our Backyard

This afternoon, it rained pretty much the hardest I've ever seen it rain for a good 20 minutes. It was pretty crazy. Once the rain stopped, I was walking by the sliding glass door and happened to glance outside and was surprised to find out that we now have river access from our backyard:

Sorry the footage sucks. That's why I manage content and don't film it.

We have a drainage easement right at the back of our property that we had occasionally notice fills up with some water after it has rained. However, now that a lot of the houses along the back side of the easement have been built, H.H. Hunt (one of the builders in our 'hood) has planted grass seed and covered it with hay. It pretty much sucks for the people who are behind us where the land is significantly lower (especially because a lot of their grass seed washed away today). I'm just glad that our house is up on a hill (kinda like Jerusalem)! None of this flooding was on any of our property. We're not sure what's up with that drain right behind us with the black meshy stuff. We're pretty sure it's just there to keep construction mud out of the drain and that the mesh will be removed when the house immediately behind us is finished. Hopefully that will help reduce the flooding in the future.

We also came across something pretty funny at the grocery store Wednesday night. Smack dab in the middle of the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese was a box of Kraft Dinner (which is what Kraft Mac&Cheese is called in Canada). The box is clearly meant to be sold in Canada because it's half-French/half-English.

We would have bought it but decided not to because we have our own box of Kraft Dinner that we bought in Canada on our first road trip there. (Kraft Dinner is immortalized in a few Barenaked Ladies' songs--namely, "If I Had a Million Dollars.")

Pretty funny stuff!

If you're bored on Saturday, Brian will be hosting a shift at WCPE from 3-6 p.m. (www.theclassicalstation.org | 89.7 FM).

I, on the other hand, will be hosting no one.

I did, however, run my fastest 3.07 miles this afternoon: 37:55 (12:20/mile). The fastest mile I've run is 11:16 (on Monday), but that was only 2.39 miles. If I could get under 30 minutes for 3.07 miles, I'd be ecstatic, but I'm thinking it's gonna have to be about 50 degrees and I'm going to need to be about 30 lbs. lighter. :-)

And, finally, we got our kickball game schedule today. If you ever want to come out and see us, we will probably need fan support! All games are at East Wake Middle School.

Wednesday 8/26 at 9pm
Monday 8/31 at 9pm
Thursday 9/3 at 9pm
Thursday 9/10 at 7:30pm
Tuesday 9/15 at 8pm
Thursday 9/17 at 7:30pm
Monday 9/21 at 7pm
Thursday 9/24 at 7:30pm
Thursday 10/1 at 7:30pm
Monday 10/5 at 7pm

GO TEAM!

Wednesday Night Groceries | Nice People

We went back to the grocery store last night (even though we had just been on Friday) to get back in the same weekly pattern (plus, we were almost out of fruit and some things that we didn't get Friday).

The List

Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate Granola Bars

Kellogg's Smart Start Cinnamon Raisin Cereal

Ken's Fat Free Raspberry Vinaigrette

South Beach Living Mocha Snack Bars

Healthy Choice Mixers (Ziti with Meat Sauce)

Propel (Grape)

Diet Cheerwine

Harris Teeter Diced Tomatoes

Mrs. Cubbison's Croutons

World Harboro Teriyaki Marinade

Fresh Caught Alaskan Salmon (8 oz.)

Boar's Head Genoa Salami

Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookies

Weight Watchers Chocolate Brownies

Yellow Bananas (3)

Bartlett Pears (2)

Blueberries

Dried Figs

Cucumber (1)

Yellow Sweet Onion (1)

Smart Ones Chocolate Eclairs

Smart Ones Fudge Brownies

Ittibitz Ice Cream

Lean Cuisine Three Meat Pizza

Harris Teeter (Sweet, Frozen) Pepper Strips

Sargento Colby Jack Cheese Sticks

Harris Teeter Fat Free Cream Cheese

Yoplait Light Orange Cream Yogurt

Yoplait Light Strawberry Shortcake Yogurt

Yoplait Light White Chocolate Strawberry Yogurt

Yoplait Light Cherry Cobbler Yogurt

Eggbeaters

Harris Teeter Fat Free Half and Half

***

I've pretty much felt crappy all week. Just kinda tired and generally "blah."

Tonight, when I came home from work, I actually fell asleep on the couch for about 30 minutes until Brian came home. When he came home, he was Mr. Up and At'Em and went right upstairs, changed into his workout clothes, and leashed Gatsby up into his special new walking harness that keeps him from pulling (it works great!!) and they were out the door.

I, on the other hand, was still laying on the couch half awake.

It took pretty much all the energy in the world to motivate myself to get up, walk upstairs, put my shoes on, and go out to run.

Right after I started running, I went by one of our neighbor's houses who we know sorta well (aka, we know their names). He was outside on his patio and gave me the nicest compliment about weight loss. It definitely kept me motivated through the rest of my run. That was the second compliment I had received this week from people that I pretty much just know as acquaintances. It really goes to show how small comments to people can really make people feel better!

It was only 88 degrees out tonight, but it was INCREDIBLY humid. Probably a CODE BLACK ozone day. Fortunately, none of us died, but I think Brian probably thought he was going to die.

Speaking of whom, he's probably going to have to go jeans shopping pretty soon because the ones he has now are getting way too big!!! YAY BRIAN!

TGI(almost)F

Title Image Update

From left to right, top to bottom:

L&B with the Stanley Cup (June 06)

L at the hotel in Michigan right before App. completed the greatest update in College Football History (Sept. 07)

L&B with Sold sign (Feb. 08)

B driving home from Baton Rouge (escaping Hurricane Gustav) (Sept. 08)

L&B at Put-in-Bay, Ohio (Oct. 03, I think)

L&B before a Panthers game (Nov. 03, I think)

B ice skating in Ottawa (Feb. 06)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding reception (May 09)

G on the couch (April 09)

B on our honeymoon cruise (June 06)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding rehearsal (May 09)

L&B at an App. game (Nov. 06)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding reception (May 09)

B with the weedeater (July 08)

L&B at Callie and Clay's wedding reception (May 09)

L in Ocean sporting Callie's App. jersey (June 09)

L&B at L's Master's graduation (May 06)

G napping over Christmas in Ocean (Jan. 09)

Bears | Laura Beth is a Klutz

I think I mentioned a few months ago that every time I lose 10 pounds I e-mail NutriSystem and they mail me a bear.

So my fourth bear came on Friday:

Aren't they cute?

They live on the TV in the exercise room to help keep me motivated.

Speaking of which, I never got out to do my exercise until after it was dark, so I decided to do the elliptical. I don't mind the elliptical, but sometimes it can get really boring and ever since I've started running, it's been really, really hard to keep my heart rate up while I exercise. (Because my heart is getting stronger, it beats less often when I'm not working out as hard, so I have to go really, really hard to keep it up if I'm not running.)

Like, my poor little legs were moving so fast that I got sick of it. I hung around for like 32 minutes and then decided to jump off and just run around the house for the last 8 minutes (up and down the stairs and so on). Well, as soon as I jumped off the elliptical to bounce out of the room, I definitely plowed right into the side of the door. It kinda hurt, but it's all good (nothing broken but my pride). Kept going and ran around for 8 minutes with Gatsby chasing me. (He couldn't hang the whole time though and had to stop for a water break.)

Brian just thought I was insane.

Probably so.

An organized pantry and fun with the rice cooker

Today I spent the day organizing our kitchen pantry (and kitchen cabinets), which was BADLY needed. When I first started NutriSystem, I just kinda threw all the old food up onto the top of the pantry to make space for the NS food and it looked not-so-very-good. In fact, I got hit in the head last night when I was putting up the groceries.

So, if you want to laugh at our lack of disorganization, you can because I took before and after pics of the pantry.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lsleblanc82/PantryReorganization#

I'm not incredibly pleased with the top shelf (we really need more shelves down on the floor), but it will do for now because it's pretty much all baking stuff and other things that we don't use everyday. I tried to organize based on what we use the most (so breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods are on the bottom shelf; snacks on the middle shelf; and other cooking supplies on the portable shelves on the floor).

After the pantry, I was pretty much on a roll, so started reorganizing some of the cabinets to consolidate things and move things around so that they'd be in better places on the counter.

Gatsby pretty much laid on the couch and stared at me and watched the Roomba zip by on the floor. (Brian drove to Wilson with his friend Adam so that Adam could take some pictures for his Web site.)

When Brian got home, we decided to attempt to make fried rice since we've had a rice cooker since February that we had never used. The rice cooker was pretty much the greatest thing ever. We had perfectly cooked brown rice in like 20 minutes and then we each were able to fry it up like we wanted.

Brian's was pretty much just fried rice with soy sauce and then he had some turkey sausage sandwiches. My rice was fried up with some peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and some veggie burger crumbles. Both our meals were DELICIOUS. We were so pleased and it was really fun to cook together. Next time I think I want to put some Eggbeaters in mine.

My dinner:

Brian's dinner:

Oh yeah, I also had a veggie omelet again this morning--does anyone know the best way to flip an omelet? I seriously screw it up every time. At least it tastes good, even if the presentation sucks!

Tonight's grocery list

This week we had to go on Friday night instead of Wednesday night. We also had a lovely meal at Kanki with Brian's parents and grandma. My sushi was delicious: salmon nigiri; half mary roll; half scallop banzai roll!

The Receipt

Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi Fridge Pack

Hanover Chick Peas

Ocean Spray Craisins

Bounty Paper Towels (with pretty designs)

Cascade Gel

Kikkoman Low Sodium Soy Sauce

Crystal Light (individual and family size packs)

Peter Pan Reduced Fat Peanut Butter

V8 Low Sodium Vegetable Juice

Propel (Black Cherry, Kiwi Strawberry, and Grape)

McCormick Sesame Seeds

Harris Teeter Raisins

Harris Teeter Diced Tomatoes and Chilis

Harris Teeter Mushrooms

Harris Teeter Black Beans

Harris Teeter Paper Plates (100 c)

Harris Tetter Purified Water

Lundberg Brown Rice

Tsang Hoisin Sauce

Snyders of Hanover Mini Pretzels

Diet Sunkist Fridge Pack

Purafilter

Genoa Salami

Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookies

Plumco Plums (3)

Yellow Bananas (3)

Red Seedless Grapes

Pink Lady Apples (2)

Red Pear (1)

Green Leaf Lettuce

Hot House Tomatoes (4)

Orange Habanero Peppers (2)

Kashi Turkey Sandwich Pocket (2)

Smart Ones Brownie a la Mode

Smart Ones Cookie Dough Sundae

Healthy Choice Portabella Marsala Pasta

Bocca Garden Vegetable Burgers

Green Giant Baby Vegetable Mix

Harris Teeter Green, Red, and Yellow Pepper Strips

Sargento Reduced Fat Provolone Cheese

Breakstone Fat Free Cottage Cheese

Yoplait Orange Cream Fat Free Yogurt

Harris Teeter Yogurt (pina colada, key lime, lemon, vanilla, banana cream, blueberry, cherry vanilla)

Fage Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Silk Light Soymilk

Harris Teeter Skim Milk

I kinda like typing everything out--I think it's a good way to realize if you really need everything you got.

First kickball practice was Thursday night. Lots of fun and our team should have a super good time. I actually got on base a few times. Next practice on Monday night--most likely a scrimmage.

My Delicious Dinner!!

3/4 cup whole wheat pasta

4 oz. ground turkey

1/2 cup cooked (previously frozen) spinach

3/4 cup diced tomatoes

1/4 cup sliced mushrooms

1 clove garlic

onion powder

oregano

black pepper

Boil pasta.

Cook ground turkey in a large pan.

Mince garlic.

Cook frozen spinach in microwave.

Once turkey is cooked, move it to a plate and clean out any excess grease in the saute pan (there probably won't be much.)

Add diced tomatoes, cooked turkey, mushrooms, garlic, and spinach to the saute pan. Season with onion powder, oregano, and black pepper and stir until everything is warm throughout. Toss with cooked pasta until everything is nice and mixed.

DELICIOUS! I also garnished with a teeny amount of parmesan cheese.

Not too bad for an entire meal:

Calories - 328

Fat - 9 grams

Carbs - 30 grams

Fiber - 7 grams

Protein - 32 grams

I would have preferred to make it vegetarian and use chickpeas, lentils, or some yummy beans, but we didn't have any and we had plenty of frozen ground turkey in the freezer...

The Battle of the Great Cupcakes

Because I'm a planning-type person, I had my list ready to go Wednesday night for our grocery shopping endeavor. (Score 1, Laura).

Of course, I forgot the list. (Score 1, Cupcakes)

However, because I have a good memory, I remembered everything I needed and didn't forget anything. (Score 2, Laura).

I also raided our cupboards to see if we had a cupcake pan. Couldn't find one--although, I really thought we had one. Oh well, couldn't find it anywhere--guess I was thinking of the cookie sheets mom gave me for Christmas.

So, Friday night, we went shopping and I got a cupcake pan at Kohl's (with the gift cards I had and 15% off coupon [Score 3, Laura]) and then went to Target to get a vessel in which to transport the cupcakes to Durham.

Saturday morning, I was up and at'em and decided to make an omelet for breakfast. It was an awesome omelet! I sauteed up some peppers, onions, and mushrooms and combined that with some EggBeaters and a little bit of cheese. SO, SO, SO Yummy. [Score 4, Laura]

After I ate my omelet, I started peeling a grapefruit (thanks, Laura, for teaching me that you can eat a grapefruit like an orange!!!!!). And, then, it dawned on me that I had to zest a lemon for my cupcakes. However, we had no microplane, cheese grater, or anything. Looks like I'm going back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond!!! [Score 1, Grater]

Not a huge deal because I had plenty of time. To be smart, I completely read through the recipe to make sure I understood it all and had everything I needed. "Hmm, wire cooling racks. Yes, we have those." OK, actually, we have one because the second one broke during a Christmas cookie baking expedition. [Score 1, Wire Cooling Rack] "No biggie! I've got to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond for the microplane, so I'll just get more cooling racks." [Score 5, Laura]

"Hmm...what's that buried near our one cooling rack? Oh look, it's the cupcake pan that I knew I had that mom gave to me at Christmas." [Score 2, Cupcakes]

So, at this point we have three cupcake pans (because the cupcake transport vessel also came with a cupcake pan). Good thing, Kohl's is right by Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I'll just pop-in and return it.

So, I hop in the car and head over to the shopping strip in Knightdale and head to Kohl's. I return my cupcake pan; however, I get $3.57 on a gift card back that expires Sunday. (Remember, those handy dandy coupons. Well, they expired Sunday as well, so my gift card also expired.) (Score 1, Kohl's)

So, since I was there, I scoured the sales racks and found a cute pair of capris and some running shorts and only paid like $6 total. (Score 6, Laura)

Then, I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and got my microplane and cheese grater with a 20% off coupon (Score 7, Laura).

Hop back in the car and I'm navigating the millions of sales-tax-less shoppers in the parking lot.

"Ah crap--I forgot the wire cooling rack." (Score 2, Wire Cooling Rack) So, I whip it into a parking space and go into Target and get a nifty cooling rack three-piece combo.

Head home and start baking. I'm really taking my time to make sure I don't mess up. Reading stuff over and over, measuring twice, and I decide to premeasure out the stuff that I have to add. (Score 8, Laura)

Time to zest!!

No problem. I've got an awesome microplane and a lemon.

I am the ZESTING QUEEN. (Score 9, Laura)

Lemon is completely zested. "Hmm, I wonder if that's enough?"

Ah, yes, I've got about 1/2 tablespoon of zest.

Because I'm making 2 batches, I need 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of lemon zest.

Crap.

Yep, no more lemons. All gone. (Score 1, Citrus)

My dry ingredients are mixed.

My oven is preheated.

My ingredients are nicely set out.

I'm covered in flour and sticky with lemon zest. (Score 3, Cupcakes)

So, back to the car I go to head to Lowe's Foods to purchase 4 jumbo lemons. I get my lemons and head back home. I think I rang up the lemons wrong at the U-SCAN. It had said 89cents/lemon, but I only paid 50cents/lemon. (Score 10, Laura)

Get back home and I'm back on my throne as the Zesting Queen.

"When life gives you lemons, you zest them!"

I get my wet ingredients churning in the Kitchen Aid. Delicately adding them as it says, in the perfect order, and it's looking darn good. Nice and pretty and tastes AWESOME. (Score 11, Laura)

OK, yes, the mixer did throw some buttermilk and lemon juice all over me, but I guess that's the price one must pay. (Score 4, Cupcakes)

Batter is done and ready to rock and time to put them in the little cups.

This is very stressful for me.

My type A personality wants them to be perfect and not get batter all over the pan.

It pretty much takes for-freaking-ever and I still get some on the pan that I have to wipe off and I can't get all the cupcakes proportioned correctly. However, because it's pretty much taken me 4 hours to do the "30 minute prep," I'm definitely over it and what it is, is what it is. (Score 5, Cupcakes--Laura surrenders)

So, pop them into the oven and I make the icing, which also tastes awesome.

While the cupcakes are cooling on the New Wire Rack 6000 that I got at Kohl's, I was even able to sneak upstairs and do the elliptical for 45 minutes. (Score 12, Laura)

Came back down and iced the cupcakes (which also took about as long as it takes me to put the batter in the cups [Score 6, Cupcakes]) and I garnish with lavender.

The cupcakes get to "set" before packing while I get ready and off I go to Durham after trying one.

Very, very, very good and only 152 calories/cupcake!! (Although, mine definitely aren't proportionate.)

Proof of my labor:

Up close and personal:

I scanned in the recipe and put it online at http://tinyurl.com/lemon-lavender-cupcakes. I highly recommend them and I'm sure that it will be far less an ordeal for you than for me.

They were well received at the party and all the extras got gone today at work. YAY! (Score 13, Laura)

Final tally: Laura 13, World 11

The party itself was AWESOME. The hosts brew and bottle their own beer and it was fantastic!! We also had tons of great food. Three highlights:

• Mini-pies on a lollipop sticks (they had blackberry, peach, and banana)
• Small toast things covered in gouda cheese and figs (OMG. These things were to die for.)
• A brie cheesewheel baked in some type of doughy bread with a blueberry compote. (Also phenomenal!!)

Super, super good stuff.

Quickly, I also have to tell you about the yummy veggie stirfry I made tonight. Red and yellow peppers with onion and sugar snap peas, a little bit of a super spicy chile garlic puree, teeny bit of olive oil, smidgen of honey, some black pepper, and roasted red pepper flakes. It was hot and spicy, but the honey provided a nice cooling after effect. SO yummy.

I like cooking more than baking because it's far easier to just throw stuff in.

Shopping With the LeBlancs | WCR Update

After dinner tonight, Brian's mom asked me jokingly (OK, maybe not jokingly) if I was going to be sending Twitter updates from the grocery store. I told her that I wasn't, but that I'd be more than happy to oblige by posting our receipt. So, here goes (in order of the receipt)...

Real Lemon Juice

Kashi Snack Bars (Cherry Dark Chocolate Granola)

Velveeta Shells and Cheese Cups

Bounty Napkins

Hormel Bacon Pieces

Hormel Chicken and Dumplings Compleats

Hormel Beef Tips Compleats

Crystal Light Live Active Raspberry Peach

South Beach Cereal Bar (Dark Chocolate)

South Beach Cereal Bar (Cinnamon Raisin)

Magic Pizza and Pasta Spice

Domino Confectioner's Sugar

Dried Lavender Buds

Harris Teeter Diced Canned Tomatoes

Al Dente Whole Wheat Pasta Blend with Flax (Roasted Garlic Fettuccine)

Runner's World

Genoa Salami

Weight Watchers Chocolate Chip Cookies

Green Pluot Plums

Yellow Bananas

Bartlett Pears

Lemons

Kashi Fiesta Turkey Sandwich Pocket

IttiBitz Ice Cream (aka Dippin Dots)

Fudgsicles

Smart Ones Three Cheese Pasta

Smart Ones Thai Chicken Rice Noodles

Lean Pockets Ham and Cheddar

Lean Pockets Four Cheese

Lean Pockets Sausage Pepperoni

Tropicana Low Acid Orange Juice

Sargento Vermont Sharp Cheddar

Sorrento Reduced Fat String Cheese

Breakstone Fat Free Cottage Cheese

Harris Teeter Yogurt

Horizon Organic Cage Free Eggs

Harris Teeter Organic Soymilk

Harris Teeter Buttermilk

Can you guess who picked each item?

***

Rumor also has it that Brian LeBlanc's Wake County Roads Web site has been updated.

All roads. All the time.

www.gribblenation.com/wakeco/