Our Vacation (part 1)

Friday after work we headed out and stopped in Rocky Mount, NC. This was only for overnight but we did make a Wal-Mart run to pick up a few things.

Saturday we arrived at our hotel in Maryland around 3:30pm. It would have been sooner however traffic had other ideas.
That night we took the metrorail down to the Smithsonian and saw a few minutes of the National Book Festival. It was raining so we walked around a bit and then headed back to the hotel.

Sunday we slept in and then left to go to National Stadium for the Baseball game between Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals. We had great seats, up high and front row. Our Braves won!!!!!! YEAH!!!!
Afterwards we took the Metro back down to the Mall. The metro stops in the middle of "The Mall" so we walked down to the Washington Memorial and then on down to the WWII Memorial and then on down to the Lincoln Memorial.
It was a beautiful afternoon and turned into a beautiful evening. We took alots of pictures.
When we arrived at the Lincoln Memorial there was some filming going on. I recognized the actors immdeiately. It was Bill Paxton (Bill) and Chloe Sevigny (Nicky). There was a third actor, Nicky's daughter, however, I'm not sure of her name. It was fun watching the filming and we were able to get a few pictures also. Afterwards we hiked back toward the Metro. We stopped by the Washington Memorial again and a lady on a bike rode by and said "you just missed your president". I wasn't 100% sure what she said and just noded. A few minutes later she came back and said "you did hear he was here, right?" I then figured out that I had heard her correctly and said No. She said he'd just left as we got up to the top. (She'd been just ahead of us getting up to the top of the walkway. ) Wow.. we just missed seeing President Obama by mear minutes!!!!!
The rest of the treck back to the Metro wasn't very eventful.

Monday we spent the day at the National Zoo. Part of the day was very frustrating as they were doing renivations on several of the exibits. The bears were sleeping inside and others just weren't out at all. But what we did see was great. The renivations will be awesome. The Elephant house will be amazing and HUGE!!! State of the art for sure.
The metro station for the zoo is about half a mile from the zoo.. all UP HILL. The zoo itself is on a hill.. by the time we were back at the hotel our legs were killing us. But it was a great day.

Tuesday we started in on the Smithsonian exibits. We started at "the Castle", this is an informational stop but has a few exibits in it and a short video. In the very middle of the entrance is a display of the trasure that you see in the Night at the Mesume 2. It was fun to walk around it and see what all you could identify. There was Archie Bunkers chair sitting at the top of the heap, a computer keyboard, a light bright box, and alot of other fun items.
Next came the Mesuem of Natual History. This building is huge. It took us 3 hours to do about 2/3 of it. And that was passing up alot of things. Here we got to see the Hope Diamond. WOW.. this thing is beautiful. We also saw dinasours and other fossels. A giant female squid and other various under the sea creatures. Next came the Mesume of American History. This was what I was waiting for.. I'd been reading about Julia Childs donating her kitchen to the Smithsonian and was very extcited to see it. It's pretty cool. Very very very originized. She sure knew how to keep a perfect kitchen. We also saw the real Archie Bunker chair, Dorothy's ruby slippers, Kermit the Frog and R2D2. We took about 3 hours here. We did stop for lunch on the ground floor. Talk about expensive!!!!!!!!!! But it was good. Afterwards we came back to the hotel to rest up for tomorrows adventures. So stay tuned in a day or two for part 2 :)

Go Gamecocks

Even our fur babies get in on the action of supporting our local team.. USC, University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

4 month appt..

Dr. Strickland was very pleased with my progress yesterday. I've lost 63 since surgery and 120 from my highest. I'm very pleased as well. I don't go back for 6 months.

Yeah!!! - Labor Day Weekend

Guess I broke thru my platue, I'm down 4 lbs this week. WOOHOO!!!!

This past weekend (Labor Day weekend) Chris and I went to Spruce Pine to visit with family. What a wonderful time we had. On Saturday we went to a family reunion and enjoyed visiting and watching Austin play. It was a beautiful location.
(Reminder: Click on the pictures to view them larger)





Austin (my nephew) had a wonderful time on the play set at the park.


Then Saturday night we had a birthday cookout for my Aunt Lula. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.


The most beautiful Mama in the whole World!!!!

Before and Current Pictures

Day before Surgery - May 11th '09




Almost 4 months later.. Aug '09

Email Issues.. solved

hopefully my email issues have been solved.

Today I was down a little over a pound, thats in 2 weeks.
I need to do better about tracking my food and getting out and walking more. I know that's why I haven't lost more these past few weeks, but its ok. Slow and stead is much better than fast. I'm pleased with my progress so far.

Today I'm going to share a recipe with you. :) We had this for dinner lastnight. It was very tasty. Served it with homemade salsa and fat free refried beans.
The recipe comes from BariatricEating.com

Chicken Chili Rellones Rolls
Moist, spicy, cheesy...and fairly quick! Serve with a bowl of cool pico de gallo and some Spanish rice for your family.

Vegetable cooking spray
3/4 pound chicken breast halves (4 pieces)
Kosher salt and black pepper
3/4 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese
3 tablespoons finely minced onion
3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon Susan Maria’s Cancun Chili Mix or chili powder
One 4-ounce can diced green chilies
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 fine dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon Susan Maria’s Cancun Chili Mix or chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet or shallow baking dish with vegetable cooking spray and set aside.
Rinse chicken and pat dry. Between two pieces of plastic wrap pound each chicken breast half to 1/4 inch thickness. Lightly sprinkle one side with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine shredded cheese, onion, cilantro, chili mix or chili powder, and green chilies. Divide this mixture evenly over flattened chicken and spread to within 1/4 inch from the edges. Roll up chicken, folding in the edges. Secure with toothpicks if needed.

In a shallow dish combine the egg and milk. In another shallow dish mix together the bread crumbs, flour, chili mix, and salt. Dip the chicken rolls into the egg mixture and then into the crumbs. Placed on prepared baking sheet. Brush or drizzle olive oil over the rolls. Bake, uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Makes 4 regular servings. (WLS serving is 1/2 a roll.)

Per WLS Serving: 141 Cal; 18 g Protein; 6 g Tot Fat; 4 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 1 g Sugar; 276 mg Sodium

Email Issues

If you have sent me an email in the past month and I haven't responded.. well its because I am using outlook instead of outlook express and it isn't sending all my email. I've yet to figure out why. I've followed all the directions and I am still being told "your message wasn't sent" GRRRRRRRRRRR
This is royally ticking me off!!!!!!!!!!!

ok.. off to work on other projects so my computer doesn't go flying out the window.