weight loss

Like my mom said...putting your struggles even if they are about weight, on your blog keeps you accountable. Well after feeling hunger, yet knowing I ate plenty and enough all day, I weighed in at work (we have a large package scale) and I lost 4.6lbs! Holy cow! The last couple of weeks it just seemed like I was gaining and gaining and finally some results!

Weight Watchers

I'm sure many of you know what Weight Watchers is or at least have heard of it. Well I joined the online version. It is great! I don't have to go to meetings, and I love that. But the great thing about it is the features that the online version gives. I am able to look up any item and look up the points value and portion sizes and my favorite thing I can do is when I want to make something, say like chili or cookies, I am able to type in my recipe and it gives me the point values and the portion size. Wow! I know that a lot of times when you diet all you think about is food...is this ok?, did i eat too much today? But I am finding that if I plan ahead and stick with my meals and snacks for the day I don't have to worry about it again. I think the main thing that Weight Watchers does for me is makes me realize just how much I eat and what I should be eating instead. Right now I am just waiting for my stomach to get used to not eating such preposterous proportions. :) I will fill you in on my weekly weight loss.

smell

What is it about smell that can bring you back to specific places in your memory bank? Take tonight for example. I was organizing and cleaning up my desk space and everything that was on it, and at the same time I was burning one of those wax aroma things and all of the sudden I thought I was back in my apartment in Grandville. So crazy, and just this week I was in the tanning bed with the fan blowing on me and the combination of the "breeze" and the smell of my tanning lotion and the music playing put me right back on the cruise ship from 3 years ago. I don't know about any of you but there are certain smells that can bring me back to certain times. The certain smell of chlorine brings be back to water polo practices over 5 years ago, and the certain hairspray smell brings me back to camp AO-WA-KIYA, and that goes WAY back in the 'ole memory bank. It's crazy that I'll be right there right there again like it was yesterday. Do you have any smells that automatically put you in a certain place or time?

what a ham!

is this not the cutest picture??! she is so precious. I miss you baby girl. You are going to grow up a handful!

*************snowflakes***************

2 years

Happy Anniversary to me and jason!!! It's hard to believe that it has been 2 years already. And then on the other hand, it feels like 2 years ago was forever away. We are so blessed to have each other and the families that we "inherited." I kept thinking about all the wonderful things I was going to write about our last 2 years together....but it doesn't really matter now. What matters is that we loved and fought and made up, worked hard and sometimes not so hard to get to the place we are now. Jason and I are very happy with the paths we have taken since we started this journey together and we are very excited to see where the next path leads! Thank you to all of our family and friends that lent us an ear, cheered us up, encouraged us, commiserated with us, and most of all prayed for us. We would not be where we are if we had to do this all on our own. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

new layout

As I'm sure you can see, I changed our layout again. If I knew how to make my own layouts, I would be a much happier girl! Enjoy

Marquette Mountain

Instead of our date hike, we went skiing at Marquette Mountian. It's about 10 minutes from our house, but you would never know it. We went out around 2 and come home around 8. It was so flipping cold. I went down the first run with just my glasses on and the tears comin gout of my eyes pooled up in my glasses. I went back to the car to put my goggles on and Jason bought some at the ski shop (his were so old that the foam part was rotting away) after a few more runs we had a few brewskies and some pizza fries and headed back out. It was a fun time. I like skiing down the steep hills really fast...i just always have that picture in my mind of me tumbling over and over and over and i can't stop. I know i'm weird and i have been skiing since i was little, but being a once a year skier still puts those crazy ideas in my head. I also think that the older i get the more i really don't enjoy skiing. I think maybe if there were no other people on the slops...mmmm...my own ski hill...what a great idea.

Getting involved

I am so excited!!! Jason and I are signed up to sit at one of the line crossings for the U.P. 200 dog sled race! It starts on Feb. 16 and ends on Feb. 18. On the map above, the green line is the trail they are going to take. The slebs start in Marquette and end in Marquette. I think it will be really exciting to be at. I don't really know much about what we are doing, just that it will be cold. It's hard to just go to an event like this when you've never been to one...so we will just volunteer, and be a part of the experience instead! Today after I get out of class (yes i'm in class right now...i am a very good multi tasker!) I am going to go tanning and then we are going to Marquette Mountian to go skiing. It's going to be our date for our anniversary. A little early, but It's the best day to go when we will have the most time! I just have to find my snow pants. It's a little chilly today, but the sun has been shinning.

My mom is in California right now with her friend Amy...I called her the other night because my boogers were freezing and she told me she had been sitting on a bluff over looking the ocean...there was no sympathy at all. I couldn't believe it. :) Just kidding, i'm glad she's having a good time, and relaxing. I hope she buys me the T-shirt she saw that said "SAVE THE TA TAs" It was a shirt for breast cancer research....I think it's great. Have fun MOM!! I love you.

Well I had better pay attention for a little while :)

second semester

School started on Monday. My first class was at 11:00am, which of course i woke up early for...yeah right. I was sitting in my first lecture and the girl in front of me passed me something and knocked my coffee mug off of the desk. The lid fell off and ALL of my coffee spilled out. So I spent the first part of class mopping up my coffee...and i didn't even get to drink it :( The rest of the day was fine though. It's going to be a little hard trying to figure out a new schedule with classes, homework, working out, and work, and maybe a little fun time and quality time with jason! I did get home from work last night and had energy to kill so i took my reading with me and went to the gym and read my book while i sat on an exercise bike. So I'm still working out and I have a swimming class this semester which i am very excited about.

Jason had his first days of classes on Monday and Tuesday...he is taking a Fiction writing class and a Theory English class. He is excited to start writing stories again. He is also working Mon-Wed in the mornings and working out as much as he can.

A side note, but a very important side note....our 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY is on Monday. I will write more about this later, but it's something i have been thinking about.

Have a good rest of the week.

date hike update (week 2)

From now on you will be getting the weekly update about our hikes. We are going to try and go every week on either thursdays or fridays. This week we drove about 10 miles from our apartment, parked our car, then hiked 4 miles there and 4 miles back. That is a total of 8 miles! We started on a trail that went next to Little Garlic River, up and down, through the woods, and then back up and then back down. We were in the woods for 4 hours and only saw two people, 3 very big dear, a couple chickadees, and some fat squirls. it was so peaceful and jason and i really get a chance to talk in a way that doesn't happen when we are at home in our daily routines, and we are able to work on our doughy physiques!!! -stacey

the river had a thin layer of ice over almost the entire surface, except for small traces in the middle where the water lapped over the ice and made the sort of flowing crick noises that some people record and put on cds to help busy people relax. the falls at the end were a bit lackluster to our expectations, but beautiful nonetheless. the series of 3 to 4 foot falls were completely frozen over but the water flowing underneath casted mysterious shadows through the thin ice that reminded me of standing in govan, saskatchewan very late the night before i was to record my drums for the blue star album, watching the northern lights. the water underneath the ice, like the northern lights, seemed to have no rhythm, but shifted silently and finitely, ready to transition once again, announcing spring.-jason

yes this is my bottom, it was a little slippery and this is me sliding down the hill

me

enjoying our coffee that jason made with his new java jet boil before we head back 4 miles

wow, look at that hair! :) That blue mark is called a blaze. Almost all hiking trails are marked with blazes on trees or stones, so you are able to find your way (a very good thing)

jason

this is little garlic falls, like we said not that impressive, but beautiful

hikers leave these stones piled for other hikers, we are not sure of the meaning, but mostly as a hello for fellow hikers
ice stalagtites or stalagmites, not sure which one it is


water running underneath the ice chunks


jason's new jet boil...it can boil 3 cups of water in about 5 minutes AND doubles as a coffee press

jason setting up the jet boil

for the North Park Olson girls

I don't know about you girls but everytime I play tetris, i can'tnhelp but think about Olson and staying up til all hours of the night, and when you finally stopped playing, your eyes were blurry, sneaking into Sarah and Kristin's room while they were sleeping to play. Most of all when I play now I am disappointed with the quality. There are no spinning screens....ahhh, how dissapointing! I love you girls and I miss you. There's nothing like memories!

night riding

on my bike ride tonight I took my camera with me. It was almost dark and just before I got to the big hill, I saw four doe feeding in the woods. i just stopped and watched them, and they didn't pay any attention to me. I was almost home and I just had to take these pictures. They sky was perfect. They pictures are of the railroad tracks that take the iron ore to the boats. No snow yet, but hopefully for later this week!

hiking

In honor of the new year Jason and I have not "resolved" but "decided" to be healthier. We are eating better foods, smaller portions, and making sure we exercise. Jason has walked through the woods in presque ilse park, riden his bike and taken a run. I took a bike ride in the dark through the snow and the puddles and we both have lifted weights on jason's new weight bench. Today we went hiking for a few miles, it is so mild out, that it is hard to believe that it's january. We're going to try and find a new trail to hike on as many friday afternoons as we can.

I don't know why we had to wait for the new year to start being better healthier person's....but it is WAY over due. Don't wait to do something good for yourself!

My man!

That's my new pink Tigers hat jason got me for Christmas! So cute.

Oh and my new coat, which i LOVE

why do my glasses always have to fog up? (you call that a smile jas?)

angels

i have to tell this story, it's a good one.

jason and i were on the way home on suday night and were about and hour and a half from home on M-77 going north and i was going about 73 mph. and if you have ever driven on a stretch of road with no other cars, it's hard to drive 55 or even 60 (73 is slow for me). Well, i saw a car drive by and hit it's brakes, i've been pulled over to know that i might as well pull over now. sure enough, it was a state cop and i was trying to find my licence and for the life of me it was not in my purse anywhere, i dug and dug and pulled stuff out and looked again and it was NO WHERE!!! i did have my old licence with my maiden name (from 2 years ago) and he took that and went back to his car. now here is why i know he was an angel, i have never heard of a state cop not giving a ticket and not even comenting on the fact that i gave him the wrong licence. he just told me to slow down and watch for deer and drunk drivers.

about 15 minutes later on M-28 i was cruizing along at 60 and there she was, a HUGE doe, right in front of my car. I was able to stop in time and just grazed the deer. there are no scratches at all on my car at all. If I hadn't been pulled over I would have been going 80 or so and wouldn't have been able to stop in time. God knows that it takes a little bit for me to listen (like cops)

the other thing that happenedl, is that jason and i got into a HUGE argument that stemmed from me not ever know exactly where my licence is. we needed to have that argument, it was just one of those thing that has to happen in order for growth to happen in our marriage and for us to understand each other.

God has a great sense of humor because after unpacking and putting a few things away i went through everything i thought my licence could be in and finally i tried my purse, i went through all of my pocket and then pulled out my planner on my lap fell my licence. So funny...it was in there the whole time.

not bad for a trip home. i just have to share...God will use anyone and anything to let us know he is still there and he knows how to get our attention, so keep an eye out!!!

i know you want to know

well, if you blinked, you missed us. we drove into GR on Christmas Eve and spent the week hanging out with our families. i loved being home, but it went by soooooo fast. we had a great time with everyone and our families were very generous with Christmas gifts. THANK YOU!!! family is so important, and we are so blessed to have amazing families.

well, in no time at all we are back at home in marquette. it was nice to sit and not have any plans on new years eve. we watched a movie and had a couple of cocktails, a kiss at midnight, and then bed (we are getting SO old) the plans this week are very exciting, work, work, laundry, knit, organize, knit, work, work, knit some more, etc. I'm sorry if we missed you while we were home. I'm not sure when we will be in the area next, but hopefully sooner than later. Have a HAPPY new year....i'm serious be happy!

awww....

andrea, tim, joe, megs sue (at the troost progressive Christmas party)

riley, sam, meghan, katie, olivia

denny and debby playing guitar hero (only the BEST video game EVER!!!) this was jason's Christmas present, if you've never played it before, come up to marquette and i'll show you the ropes! (OH, and there is a great video of these two playing that i will post later)

she loved the wrapping paper, who cares what is inside

so beautiful

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!