I'm back! With pictures!

I'm finally back after a much needed few days off. I had a great week spending time with my niece and family. It was great, but also exhausting!!! I feel like I need another day to sleep! lol.

One of the days last week I took my niece to the beach. It was the first time she had ever seen the ocean. She loved it!! It was a great day. It was my mom, me, my aunt, two cousins and my niece. We had so much gear because of my niece! But once we got settled, we enjoyed the day!



In her little bathing suit!



Playing in the water!



Me and my cousins

After the beach, we went back to my Aunts showered and had some lunch. Then we headed to the boardwalk! (It was a really long day). My niece was able to go on some of the rides. It was so cute to watch her.



Loving the boats.



Hated the fishy. lol

It was the nicest day! I had a blast, but we were all exhausted afterwards. My niece even slept in the next day!! The rest of the week, I took her swimming a few more times at people's pools. The kid just loves the water! I am so happy about that. I can't wait until she's old enough to learn how to swim!

Now it's back to reality. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning yesterday to drive down to Maryland with my mother to drop off my niece to her mother. We met about halfway between each other. It was a long drive and I was so sleepy. My niece will be in Virginia for the next two weeks and then she'll be back up in NJ for a few days before taking back off for India. I will be so sad when she leaves. I probably won't get to see her until next summer! I hate that they live so far away.

Weekend Snapshot

This weekend was a blast!! I had so much fun with my friends who came up to visit! It was just what I needed.

Friday I saw Harry Potter and I may or may not have cried during it. lol. It was great!!!

Saturday spent the day at the beach, playing in the ocean. Afterwards my friend had a BBQ and some drinks. Where I played flip cup terribly. Then we went out for the night and I danced my butt off!! It was so much fun!

Sunday we went back to the beach for a few hours. I was sad to have my friends leave, but so happy they made the trip up the NJ. Plus I wasn't too sad, because I have my niece to play with for the rest of the week!!

Seriously, I can't even take how cute she is!



Enjoying some yummy pasta!

Now I just have to make it through work tomorrow and I get the rest of the week off!

Longest week ever

Always around this time a year I get antsy. I just need a break from work and relax!! It seems everything and everyone is getting on my last nerve. I hate being snippy like it. I try to go on vacation to recharge my batteries but that just wasn't in the cards for me this year. Instead I'm doing a mini staycation next week!

First up this weekend two friends from college are coming up to visit. My BFF's friends from college are also coming down for the weekend. In total there will be about 15 people! I cannot wait to see everyone! My bff friends are my friends too. We've gotten to know each other really well over the years. Last year we had a similar gathering and it was a blast. I hope this will be a repeat.

Most people aren't coming down until Saturday. One girl is coming Friday and the plan is to go see the Harry Potter movie together. Which has been our little tradition together.Saturday will be beach all day, followed by a BBQ and then going out for the night. Sunday if we are up for it, we'll hopefully go to the beach for a few hours before everyone heads home.

Then I have to work Monday and Tuesday. Boo. Then I'm off Wednesday through Friday! My niece will be back up for the week. I can't wait to spend time with her. I plan on taking her to the beach for the very first time. I also plan on taking her to this kiddie water park that's nearby. She just loves the water. Which is amazing for someone who's just 13 months!

Hopefully this weekend and those few days off will be just what I need! Until then, I'm counting down the days and hours until Friday!

Weekend Snapshot*

My view from the beach this weekend!

*Do you like this weekend snapshot thing? This is the second time I've done it. I think it's a good alternative to just recapping my weekends, which can seem redundant sometimes I think.

I can see the finish line!

Since my birthday, I've been indulging a little too much with food than I would like. Even though I've lost a lot of weight, I'm not quite where I want to be yet. I would like to lose about another 40 pounds. It's frustrating to basically lose a whole person and still have to lose more weight!

To get myself back on track I've set up some mini goals to hit. The first is to lose 20 pounds by September 10. Me and three other women at my gym came up with this together. We figured it was a decent period of time and September 10 is the date of a local PBA beach party that we are all going to. So the party would be our reward for a job well done. Well my trainers found out about our pact and ran with it. Now there are I think 12 of us doing this 20 pound challenge. Whoever loses 20 pounds first, the gym will buy our ticket for the party! Now that's some really good motivation! Plus it actually boggles my mind that when I lose this 20 pounds, I'll be smaller than when I was a senior/junior in high school!!

I would like to hit my goal weight, by Thanksgiving. Which means if all goes according to plan, I will need to lose about 18 pounds after September 10. I know I can do this! I just need to buckle down again and stop going out so much! The past few weekends I've been going out way to much and drinking more than I should be. I've become a social butterfly since losing all this weight! lol. While I love that I have a much more active social life, I need to find a balance.

Now my only problem is I don't have a reward for when I finally reach my goal weight by Thanksgiving. I'm thinking it needs to be something big! I mean it has to be! By Thanksgiving if all goes according to plan, I'll have lost almost 140 pounds!

Here's what I've been thinking about what I should do.

1. A trip somewhere with friends. I've never been to Vegas and I'm dying to so that would be the first place I'd want to go.

2. A new tattoo. I really want to get a tattoo of a Phoenix. I love the symbolism of rising from the ashes.

3. A huge shopping spree (like $1000 worth) ala "What not to wear" style.

What do you think? Do you have any other ideas?? What would you do?

Snapshot of my weekend

This pretty much sums up my weekend. Lots of sun and fun. One day at the pool with my pups and the next day I was at the beach all day. It was the perfect lounge in the sun weekend.

Bonus, I got very little sunburn!! SCORE!