Fancy Dress Friday

I was sick the week following Valentine's so I didn't post my pictures from the dinner and dance.  Hope yall don't mind me posting them a bit late.  (Forgive the duplication, those of you who have seen them on facebook already.)

As if you couldn't tell by looking at them, the handsome couple on the right is my parents.  Okay maybe "handsome" isn't the right word for the Possum (my father's mustache) but we're a good lookin' crew right?  My mom found both of our dresses the week before at JC Penny for under $5. 

Seriously.

Here is my goofy friend Kristi giving someone the what for, and Maria smiling for the camera.  My parents went on and on about how funny Kristi was that night.  Thing is, she's always that funny.  That's why we keep her around.

Callie is one of the reasons the dance exists.  The other reason is her little brother Cale.  They both have Cystic Fibrosis.  The Valentine's Dinner and Dance (along with other fund raisers hosted by Cure Finders) raises money to fun research for a cure.

The event was a success!  As with most every year, all the tables sold out.  In fact, they had to make room for some extras.  Sounds like a great problem to have if you ask me!

What would a charity event be without a silent auction?  Typically Jay buys me a Valentine's gift at the auction to try and cover for his procrastination.  This year, since we'd decided we weren't purchasing gifts, he set his sights on a gift for my Dad's 60th birthday.  I came down to the wire, but we ended up getting it!

As you can see it was a great night.  Service usually doesn't look this pretty.

A few things...

I've got some Shrinking Jeans housekeeping to do.

First off its True Confessions Tuesday:

My confession:
I'm totally off the weight loss wagon and don't see any sign of getting back up on.  I'm not all that motivated.  I eat like crap then run my butt off.  Its amazing I haven't gained even more weight.


Vote, Vote, Vote

I'm one of 5 holiday vloggers up for an awesome prize pack.  Check it out and be sure to vote.  Its even okay if you don't vote for me.  I'm in good company - I love those ladies!


Holiday Hoedown

The Shrinking Jeans Ladies have asked us to talk about 3 ways I'm going to do to stay on track this month. This is a little hard because eating poorly wouldn't exactly be "getting off track" for me.

1. Keep up with marathon training. 
   
   This is my only salvation right now. 
2. Focus on others.
   I hope to outline it in another blog, but fast food has been a major weakness of mine lately.  I'm going out practically every day for lunch.  As a result, I'm literally eating up all of my personal spending money.  I have $125 budgeted every month to spend on whatever I want.  And apparently what I want are bigger thighs.
   
   I want to start picking a charity of the month to donate part of that spending money to.  Maybe with this face starring at me, I can keep myself under control.
   
   
3. Really look within myself.
   Superficial BS isn't going to cut it any more.  Why is it that I want to be smaller?  What am I hoping to accomplish?  Until I figure those things out, I can't get jump started again.  I've shared the quote before that discipline is remembering what you want and right now I haven't the foggiest.

That's a pretty simple look at things, but its where I am.  Next up - finding my motivation to decorate for Christmas whilst workmen make my house filthy.

Shrinking Jeans Holiday Tradition & Recipe Vlog

I mispoke, but since I had taken several different takes I wasn't ready to have another redo.  In the recipe its either balsamic vinegrete OR balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Your ingredients:
fresh spinach leaves
strawberries, capped & diced
crumbled feta cheese
sliced almonds
balsamic vinegar
olive oil.

Nutrition information varies, based on how you make your salad.  I go easy on the oil, relying on the vinegar to coat the salad.  I love feta so I probably put a little more on my version than most people.

I had to work quickly to get all my chatter in 2 minutes, take one was almost 5 minutes long!!

PS - I forget that I have an accent.  Seriously, compared to the rest of my family I speak "normal.