Sunday, April 19, 2009

Verdict, Changes, Plans

So as stated below we were going to break our plateau and Wii 4x during the week... we both weighed in on Friday and Nicole DID break her plateau and is at a total loss of 5.5lbs and I am exactly the same I was last week; total loss 4.5lbs. Not up, or down, the freakin' same! I worked out REALLY good 4x last week and at a salad for at least 1 meal a day for 4 days and my other meals were very light (we calorie count)... I couldn't believe it, but it is better than going up I guess. Nicole worked out 2x last week, but did SO much walking yesterday and will be working out today so that will total her at 4x. I did start taking my Fiber pills again and we're going to repeat this plan, so hopefully something happens. Not to mention my Starbucks drink has completely changed and is SOOO much better for me. I was drinking a Venti-Iced-Mocha which the way I loved it was 305 cals.. sometimes I'd have this twice a day. NOW, I am hooked on a Venti-Iced-Coffee w/5 splenda and light cream.. roughly 170 cals (hard to determine cals for half and half, but we do our best). So, there are plenty of things we're both doing to help cut our calories, but our bodies are stubborn! We're going to keep at it!

The last few days have been Free days aka bad days or eat anything you want days lol...Friday we went to the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Sac and fell in love with the place, just not the price, but we're still trying to find a way to a.) Make it work b.) Barter the price and\or c.) Look at other locations... lots of good stuff on the Ceremony front! :) Danielle's suggestion to shoot for a Friday night is definitely a hit! We've got a couple dates in mind.. for lunch we went to Azul - highly recommended Mexican place! (We skipped dinner b/c we were still full after the late mexican lunch)

Yesterday, we woke up at 6am and drove down to SF for the WSI Sample Sale - had a ball and didn't spend too much dough! Nicole is adorable at these things, I just love it. She can't get enough and gets all into it! We went to our favorite Toaster Oven for lunch - best sandwiches EVER. Drove home and took a little nap.. then we went to B\C's for dinner - amazing home cooked lasagna (my favorite home cooked meal) - and the best chocolate cake for dessert too! (BAD BAD, but so GOOD GOOD) We watched the fights and got home about 1230am. I had way too much on my mind after such a busy, go go go, fun weekend that I wasn't ready to sleep although I was tired. We watched SNL - hilarious and about 115am I got smart and took a half dose of NyQuil so I could sleep knowing I'd be waking up at 6am for work today! Needless to say, I'm exhausted today, but HAD A GREAT WEEKEND! Luckily, Duncan was at his other house this whole day! Both he and us are very lucky and grateful to have such an amazing family!

Today, Nicole is being a lovely housewife! She's got a lot of work to do and I'm working away! Hope everyone is doing well and has had a great weekend too!

~ Jen

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Weekend plans!

So far Nicole and I have both done Wii Fit two nights in a row and we're taking a night off tonight; However we're going to go for a nice walk together after dinner so that will still be exercise. We plan on doing the other two nights (we committed to 4 this week) Thurs and Friday so we can have the weekend off. I like our plan. :) Oh and we're weighing in on Friday to check our progress! I'm sure it will be good.

We have a very busy weekend coming up! It starts on Friday when we'll be going for the first time to check out a potential Wedding location!! I'm SO excited. When she confirmed the date and time I totally got butterflies! Can't wait! Hopefully it works out for us. On Saturday we're going to the WSI Sample Sale - seriously, be jealous! It's in SF @ the Cow Palace so we have a little driving to do, but it'll be well worth it! Then that night we're going to my cousins for Dinner and UFC and of course Wine and a GREAT TIME! On Sunday, I work at 7am and I'm sure Nicole will clean the house like she usually does on Sunday! So, as you can see, we'll be busy, but it will be so much fun!

Hope everyone is having as great a week, if not better, as us!

~ Jen

Monday, April 13, 2009

Kimpel-Sheldon household update...

We're planning on breaking our plateau's!! We have been the same weight for about 6 weeks now and are desperate to drop pounds! We are planning on a soup or salad for at least one meal a day and LOTS OF FRUITS. We went grocery shopping for tons of veggies last night and also got a ton of fruits at Costco the day before.

Along with that, we're going to try to Wii fit 4 days this week! We can do it!

Nothing else new over here in the Kimpel-Sheldon household. Although we're starting wedding plans....... :) Very exciting! We both want it to be here already! We are looking at a few different places and a couple different dates, 8/28/10 and 8/20/10 - so we shall see! We are planning on nailing that down soon!

~ all for now, gotta get back to work!
Jen

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Fun day tomorrow!



Jen and I are both off work tomorrow!!! Yay!!! We are going to sleep in and then head to San Francisco for the day. We are going to attend a seminar at the University of San Francisco about the midwife program that I want to get into. It a few years off but I want to get all the info early to make sure that I get all the qualifications done. Plus I would like to know how competitive it is, should I start doing volunteer work to up my application, that kind of thing. Hopefully its informative and inspiring! Its in the evening so during the day we are going to just hang out in sf and NOT go shopping in Union Square! LOL


Jen is making us "Killer Artichokes" for dinner right now and they smell sooooo amazing! I took some pictues of the chokes when she cut them. They are a very pretty food. LOL Dinner is almost ready so I am outta here! More tomorrow about our SF adventure!


~Nicole









Monday, April 6, 2009

Nicole is taking a shower and I'm crest whitestripping it up so I have a few minutes to write and there are some things on my mind.

This weekend and today work has just been nuts. I absolutely love my job and the challenges it gives me on a daily basis, no really, daily basis. Every call is different, every tone in everyones voice is different and every situation has it's own set of rules and policies in place. I take calls everywhere from "I can't login to my benefits!" to "My stores network is completely down, we're not getting credit auth!" It's nuts. I could go on and on.. anyhow, this weekend, Saturday in particular was a special event for me LOL! Literally, Severity 1 Event! It was my first Severity 1 event that I did solo (No Seniors or Supervisor working at the time)! The only other time I did one was with my Supervisor guiding me through it, so this was a huge test. I followed the entire process, from Escalating the call, to putting up the Bulletin (my voice is on the 866 number before the phone options eek!) to sending a voicemail to all the "big wigs" on a Saturday afternoon. In the moment, my cheeks were red, but I actually stayed calm by talking myself through it. At one point we had 15 calls in the queue and two guys answering phones, but I had to get this stuff done so I couldn't jump in to help out (not like me, but it's what has to be done). It was INTENSE! Once it was all resolved I felt relieved and then I just felt like I nailed it! Last night was a different story. We went to bed after doing finances and watching a little TV say around 1030 and I had to get up at 5am. All of the sudden the fears and bad thoughts start.. "Oh my god, I forgot to update it, or I missed something; I had convinced myself I did. What is Tamara (MGR) gonna say as far as feedback is concerned!" FREAKING OUT, my heart is pacing and I cannot get comfortable.. Meanwhile, Nicole is OUT like the lights in our bedroom. I toss, turn, doze off, wake up and do it all over again... I look at my phone as the frustration starts to wear on me and it's 1230.. Okay, Jen you have to wake up in like 4.5 hours, SLEEP! Another hour passes, my heart is ready to jump out of my chest! Finally 1:24am I gently wake Nicole up and tell her I can't sleep, she rubs my arm a little and then I got some Aleve because I don't know what I was thinking and as I walk in the room she asked me "Did you take a half dose?" I said "of what?" she said "Nyquil.." I said.. "I hadn't thought of that, but I will now" so I did and then my alarm went off at 5am and off to work I went.

Bet you're wondering what kind of feedback I got today... LOL Tamara emailed me and CC'd my Supervisor and it said, " Jen, Great job with this Severity 1 event! Your notifications were timely, well stated and complete. Keep up the great work!" I friggen lost sleep for nothing. I guess my worry-wort perfectionist-self got the best of me last night.

Tonight I'm going to bed at 10, in hopes of drifting off to sleep by 1030, cause I don't need to wake up until 6am tomorrow!

Well, these strips have got to come off and Nicole just got outa the shower, so I'm done for the night!

~ Jen

Friday, April 3, 2009

Stay true to yourself...

I went to Starbucks and spent about 3 solid hours with my Cousin Christie. We do this often and I cherish each and every time we do. This time it was particularly special. We both had a LOT to talk about. Our conversations are amazing and both so good for each other. This time she asked me, "What about you and your mom??" and so it went... I think this part of the conversation was about 1.5 hours long or so it felt. She asked the whole "God forbid something happen, but if it did how would you feel??" I quickly responded with "Well that would suck, but I'm okay today and today is what matters!" I thought I knew what I was talking about, but then suddenly I wanted to take it all back. It's not okay. I'm not okay with being on "not speaking terms". It's ridiculous and it's just not me. Another thing she said that really made the decision for me was "Just stay true to yourself, you're the loving, giving, caring, happy person...". That hit me. Ya know why? Well I'm not the fighting, hateful, resentful type. I'm a lover, not a fighter and it took this situation for me to realize I was being someone I'm not.

Christie has instilled in me how to handle these types of situations. To be submissive and to just be myself. I'm generally not one to attack and I truly believe the reason I did was because it directly affected my family (Nicole and I) and my sister (Kerrie). I think it's human nature to respond in the manner we all did, but I realize now I'm cannot change who I am nor will I change who I am because of someone elses beliefs even if that includes my parents. Just because our "Engagement" became a "REALITY" for them doesn't mean it became a "REALITY" for me or us. It has always been this way from us, since day one. I used to be fearful that someone or something could change us, but this situation is a true test of our relationship and we sailed through it with flying colors. So now, I'm way more confident in who we are as a couple and who I am as a person. What other people think doesn't matter, not even my parents. We all want affirmation and approval from our parents, but sometimes we don't get it right away or ever; Or in my case, we had it and then they reniged; however we're still the same. We're moving forward with our life in a positive direction and I choose to include them in that.

Getting back on topic here... after my coffee time with Christie I didn't stop thinking about it. I came home and I told myself without looking at the schedule, if Jon had a game tonight we were going to go. Sure enough, he did. So I respectfully sent a text to my Mom to ask if it were alright and she responded nicely back and said Wow, Jen he'd really like that and we went. It was weird at first, but Dana was there to soften the tension if you will. Plus, I had a 3rd Starbucks which was my crutch!! haha Midway through the game my Mom got up to go to the snack bar and Nicole and I had to use the restroom. So, she went and it was about 5-7 mins later we followed, not thinking we'd see eachother, but not really thinking about it all. Then I wanted BBQ seeds and Nicole wanted a hot chocolate and there she was at the counter with 2 hot chocolates, a pretzel and a hot dog. I said "How are you planning on carrying all of that back by yourself? Do you know if they take ATM/VISA?" She said.. "YOU CAME! (meaning I could help her) and no I don't think so, but what do you want?" She bought us our stuff and we started walking back......... She said... "Nicole honey, can you hold this?" Set some of her stuff on the ground and gave Nicole another hot chocolate to hold and Hugged me for a good 3 mins.... kissed me on the cheek and I could feel her starting to cry. I said "It's good to see you, don't cry" and she said "good too see you too" but not able to hold it back... then she said.. " You too, Nicole - come here honey" and gave her a good hug also. It was peaceful and nice. Just the way I had hoped it to be, but not the way I expected it to be. I had completely shattered all of my expectations and told myself whatever happens, happens.

It was amazing and I'm sure there's plenty more moments to come through this healing process, but we got the first step over with. It had been 5 full months, almost to the day, since I had seen my Mom and I hope it doesn't have to be that long again.