Friday, May 29, 2009









TGIF




Another week down. I am so close to being done with school and the closer I get the more I have to do. I am talking the whole weekend to get caught up on homework. I have 12 ceramics things to paint, 3 papers to write, and a ton of reading. Between homework I have 2 little league games, and 2 birthday parties. It is going to be a busy weekend but I am almost done(can you tell I am trying to convince myself).
I am putting a few pics up of the latest Ali ceramic stuff. I am trying some new things to see what I like. It is sad that after 2 years I still am not sure what to do in ceramics.
Well I weighed in at 180.2 so I have officially lost 20 lbs. Yeah for me. I am hoping to lose 5-10 more before the beach trip in 3 weeks. We will see.
have a good weekend,
Ali




Wednesday, May 27, 2009


Well here is my laptop table so far. The table is the one I am making from recycled materials. When it is done it will be all black with a plexiglass inlay to protect the glass of the window. I am having so much fun in the class. I really wish I had taken it awhile ago. I would love to learn more and have more time to make stuff under a teachers supervision and the advice is the best.
Lets see another good diet day yesterday. I forgot my lunch so ran to the local market and picked a few things up to get me through the day. String cheese and low carb yogurt are my favorites still.
Shawn's friend Jimmy is flying in tomorrow to stay with us for a few days. Shawn and Jim are going fishing in Bishop over the weekend so I get to do b-day parties, baseball, and 3 papers while they are gone. The house is in good shape but I am doing the little thing today like making sure the floor is mopped and the boys rooms are clean.
We are heading to a Quakes game tonight for hotdogs and getting the kidds out of the house so that I don't have to clean it again tomorrow. We love the Quakes games. It is the best time to hang out as a family and the kids really enjoy them.
Ok well I weighed in at 181 today. I am hoping to hit 20 lost by this weekend. I actually had 4 people at school yesterday tell me that they can tell I am losing weight. I hadn't told anyone I was so that was really uplifting.
24 days until I am a college graduate and this means 23 days until we leave for the beach trip Whoohoo.
talk to ya soon,
Ali

Monday, May 25, 2009







Happy Memorial Day.
I knew that I wouldn't have time to post tomorrow so I am doing a holiday edition today. We just got back from our relaxing weekend in Big Bear. It was a much needed time of no plans and alot of laying around and doing nothing. We went fishing on Sat. but for the most part our days were spent in our cabin reading, doing puzzles, and hanging out as a family. I had no idea how bad I needed a weekend away until I was up there with no computer, homework, etc. to keep me off balance. Sunday our good friend Matt drove up and we all went to Thelma's (our favorite little resteraunt) for lunch and then we BBq for dinner. It was nice just to be away from it all.
We packed all of our meals except for one which we knew we were going to go to Thelma's for. I was great on my diet all weekend. I didn't cheat once. I did take the smallest bite of a cookie and then spit it out because it wasn't worth the cheat. Shawn laughed at me but I felt like I was in power by spitting it out. I was nervous to weigh in today when we got home but I did it anyways and was pleasently surprised. 182.2 so down 1.5 pounds from Friday. I am thrilled that I was able to go out of town and out to dinner and still stick to the diet and lose at that.
Talk to y'all on Wed.
Ali

Friday, May 22, 2009


I got my class ring yesterday. It is setting in more and more each day that I am graduating. I tried to take a pic of my real ring but that didn't work very well so I am using this pic so you get an idea. I got it in silver and the stones purple, it says my school name and my grad year. I love it.
My arm is killing me today. Yesterday I worked on my table at school and for a cut that I needed to do on the legs there is no power tool that can be used so I had to use a saw, chisel, and hammer for about 2 hours. My arm is dead today.
We are leaving this evening for a little vacation to Big Bear. We so need a weekend off. I am really looking forward to hanging with just my family. Shawn has some hiking planned and maybe some fishing. I am looking forward to sitting and reading in the sun.
I weighed in this morning at 183.6 so down again. I am feeling so much better already. When I am losing weight I actually want to get dresses each day and try to look cute. It is hard at 200 lbs to feel cute.
Alright well I am off to get packed, clean and all that good stuff. Have a great LONG weekend,
Ali

Wednesday, May 20, 2009


I am starting to realize that in 31 days I will be graduating from college. I am starting to get nervous about it now. I will pass on my classes so I am not worried about that. It seems like I have spent the last 13 years in college trucking towards the goal of graduating andd now I am here and I have no idea what to do next. They do not prepare you for being a college grad. I feel like have the skills I learned aren't real world skills and on the other hand I still feel like I have so much that I have not learned. I have 4 1/2 weeks of school left and at 2 classes a week that is 9 classes. Totally freaking me out. Ok well now that I have vented on with my life.
Life hasn't been any unnormal lately. We are doing the school, baseball, and normal house stuff. I am excited because we are going on a mini vacation this weekend to Big Bear. I totally need a vacation. I am however going to be taking all my books and computer to work on some papers but life wouldn't be complete without having to lug my 2000 page art book around. So Shawn is planning some hikes for us and other who knows what activites.
Diet is still going awesome. I have people telling me now that they are starting to tell that I am losing so that is awesome. I weighed in this morning at 184.2 so down another pound. I feel like I have so much more energy finally and feel like I just want to keep moving which is one of the benefits of low carbing. I seem too averaging 1/2 a day and with 31 days until our family beach trip and my college graduation I am hoping to lose 15 more pounds for a total of about 30 pounds before the big events. I did however have to break out my smaller sized jeans yesterday which was cool I put on my old ones and they are getting so big in the butt and waist. Yeah!!!

So I don't have a green tip today so I decided to share my stupid useless art knowledge. I think everyone on the planet has seen the above picture by Van Gogh titled Starry night. Well did you know that art historians went back to the year that they know it was painted and have looked at astronomical records and they have pinpointed that is was painted in Sept. because the stars in the sky are in the exact allignment in the sky in the picture as they were in Sept. of the year it was painted in the real sky. So he wasn't just painting, he was painting exactly what he saw.
Ok well I am off to take Garrett to his 12 year old physical this morning.
Ali

Monday, May 18, 2009

This is the first weekend in forever that I make it through and did really well and lost!!!
I weighed in at 185.4 down from 188 on Friday and down a total of 15 pounds in 3 weeks. I swear I am eating non stop and good stuff and losing. We went to a Quakes game on Sat and I ate a philly cheese steak but not the bread and Sun we bbq in the backyard. We had marinated chicken that was super yummy and I will post the recipe soon. We also had bbq ardichokes with a tomato relish and roasted garlic mayo, and watermelon. The kids and Shawn had rice with spray butter and fresh parmishan cheese on it. We had a great dinner and I even had a beer while we were relaxing in the back yard with the kids. How is this a diet? For dessert we had sugar free jello with whipped cream on top.
I took my cset teaching test on Sat. I already passed one part of it and had to retake the 2nd part because I didn't pass the first time by 5 points. I think I did much better this time. I don't find out until July but I am not as worried as last time.

Ok so a new green tip of the day.
An easy way to clean green is to turn the dial on your washing machine to cold. Most loads don't need hot water, and 90% of the energy used by washing machines goes into heating. The higher the water temperature, the higher the cost to you and the planet. We have been doing this for awhile and it is true, most loads get just as clean in cold water. I still do however wash sheets, towels, and bleached loads in hot water. One more little tip is to run your water heater at a little lower temp. if you turn it to a cooler temp it isn't running as offten to keep the unused water warm. We did this and didn't notice a difference and it is also safer with kids in the house.

Have a good one,
Ali

Friday, May 15, 2009


I had a really great day yesterday. I got to school at 7:45 for my midterm and on my way to class the teacher found me and told me she wanted to talk about my art history paper that I had turned in a week before. I started freaking out in my head because I thought oh no what did I do wrong. She could tell I was freaking out a little and said " no, I loved it, it was fantastic." She lliked it so much that she is going to use it as an example of how to do the assignment for future students. I was the highest grade in the class of about 200 people. How cool is that.

Next was the midterm, I was nervous that I hadn't studied enough but I am pretty sure I did fantastic.

Later in the day we had our critiqe for our cutting boards in my wood class. In a critique the teacher and students tell you what they liked and dislike about your work. I got nothing but great feedback and my professor loved it. He wants to put the board in a display by the museum for people to see. Another cool.

So for the diet I had another greaat day. Cheese has become my new best friend. I eat a ton of protein (shrimp, chicken, lunch meat) and yogurt, cheese, and veggies. We had the best recipe last night for roasted veggies and I will post it at the bottom. anyways I weighed in at 188 even today. I can't remember where I was on Wed.. so I know it is .8 from yesterday.

Pj is sick and has a terrible cough so we are going to spend a day home and a little cough time to try to mae him more comfy.

Have a great weekend,

Ali



Roaster veggies

in a large bowl mix


2 red bell peppers cut into thick strips


1 sweet onion cut into thick strips


1 zucchini cut into circles


1 yellow squash cut into circles


1 lb. os asparagas chop off ends and cut remainder into two parts.


4 teaspoons of olive oil


4 teaspoon. balsamic vinegar


1/2 t.easpoon basil


salt and pepper


toss everything and lay on a baking sheet


put into a 450 degree oven for 30 min.


Super yummy and the veggies get sweet and soft.

*next time I am going to add 1 pack of mushrooms*

1 c. = 1 POINT

Wednesday, May 13, 2009


I had an idea that I thought was green and kind of cute. Instead of giving a gift in a gift bag what about giving it in one of the reusable grocery bags you see everywhere now. The bags come in every pattern from leopard to flowers and the person can reuse the bag over and over. The best part is many stores seel them for $1. I did this for my sis in law and everyone thought it was a great idea. Try it out.


Ok so on to life. Yesterday was another long day of school. I did great and packed my lunch. I had a taco salad with ground lean turkey. Yummy.


Today I am studying for a midterm that I have on Thursday. I am so thankful thaat I am almost done with school. I also loked mt my schedule for credentials next fall and it is going to be rough. I will be going 3 nights a week but I will be off during the day and only go nights which is nice.


I have taken up a new hobby of reading. Megan got me turned on to the book series Twilight a few weeks ago. It is a teen book series about vampires and love. I started reading it about 2 weeks ago. The series is 4 books all of which are 500-750 pages a piece. I actually am not a big reading fan. I however loved the series I finished all 4 books, 2500 pages in 2 weeks. It was easy reading and I am now looking for what I can read next.


So I weighed in at 189.4 this morning. I am officially in the 180's again and have lost about 11 pounds. Wow, that is alot of weight when you think about it. I still have alot to go just to fit into my last years summer clothes but I can do it.


Ok well I am off to study. have a great Wed.


Ali

Monday, May 11, 2009

I ate terrible this weekend for Mother's day and it was so worth it. I gained 3 lbs. and I don't even care. with that said I am going to be switching up the diet a bit and see how it goes. I am tying to do low carb weight watchers. My body loses best on low carb but I will be smart on the calories and not lose my hair this time.
My weekend was really good. at I woke up at 8 and drank mimosas (champagne and oj) while reading for a good 2 hours. It was so relaxing and what I really needed. We had baseball in the afternoon and the kids took me to Chili's for Mothers day dinner a day early. We came home and watched a movie.
Sunday we were going to go to church but I felt a little under the weather with a cold and had taken a few to many night time cold meds to get going in the morning. We got things ready to head over to my Mother in laws house. For lunch we went to Tommy and had chili cheese fries and they were awesome. We went to a bbq over at my in laws house with all the family and enjoyed an afternoon of company and relaxation.
I ate way to much but have made a deal with myself that starting today I will be 100% good until the day we leave for the beach trip on June 19th. I think that gives me 6 weeks to lose and feel better before graduation.
Well I am off to study, yet again.
Ali

Friday, May 8, 2009


Feeling hot, hot, hot...

Man is it warm outside. 100 degrees today should be fun from my air conditioned house.

So I had another cheat last night. I ran into my friend Nicole and we ended up going out for a drink and some food. I had 2 light beers and we shared a plate of fried appetizers. I had been good all day so I was close but still over on my points for the day.

I am currently takeing woodshop and I love it. I am posting a picture of my almost finished cutting board. It is maple and walnut and the best part is it has a counter overhang so when you cut on it it will not slide forward on the counter. Next week we are starting some kind of furniture most likely a table. I am excited and really want to keep going even after the class is done.

So instead of a recipe today I am going to share a Green living tip for all of you.

Did you know that the best cleaner for your house is vinegar. Typical cleaners are bad for the environment and also cost a ton of money. So fill your bucket with water and add about 1/2 c. of apple cider or white vingar and scrub away. 1 gallon of vinegar will last for months and costs about $5.

Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's day.
Ali

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Weigh in day....
I weighed in at 190.4 down from 193.something last week. I was hoping to get in the 180's but next week I will be there. I don't mind losing slower because it is so much easier to stick with. I guess I can't have it like last time and lose all the weigh really quickly without learning how to eat to keep it off.
School is going really well. I feel a little overrun by it but I just keep think I only have 6 weeks until I graduate from college. Cool just to type it. I am feeling overwhelmed because Tues I go from 8am - 9pm with 2 10 min breaks. It is a really long day and it drains me. I have been doing well and packing good foods. I do have a microwave and fridge in the ceramics studio so I do take a lunch break during class so that I get to my points for the day. I just realized that I write about school an aweful lot and I have never posted any pictures of where I spend all my time. I will have to remedy that soon.
Well I am off to write a paper and hopefully get time today to hit the market and clean up the house a little.
Ali

Monday, May 4, 2009

Well we made it through the weekend. We went to two baseball games, fishing, and two little league games but we made it through while being diet wise. I love weight watchers because I was able to eat three meals a day plus extras and still stay on track. We went to in and out, coldstone, and McDonalds and still made good choices.
So let see what other things have bbeen going on in our lives. Shawn has been sick with a bladder infection. He had an ultrasound of the abdomine and a bunch of bloodwork done to make sure it was nothing more serious and the only thing they found was that he had a bladder infestion and that he recently bruised his spleen so he needs to take it easy for a few weeks until that heals. The only thing we can think of is that while plaaying hockey with his brothers a few weeks ago he ran the stick really hard into his stomach in the same area where the spleen is. He hasn't been able to run or exercise because he has been in pain and the doc told him to take a little time off for his spleen. He is still losing but I am not allowed to say how much in case the poeple he is competeing with at work are reading my blog.
I am in midterm and my life is crazy. I have papers like crazy to write and unfortunitly at the same time have senioritis which makes me not want to do ay of it. I am spenind the day today in my jammies catching up on homework.
Lets see our new food find for the weekend was italian seasoned turkey meat. We got it at Stater bros in the meat section. It is pre flavored raw turkey that is ground. We cooked it up and threw marinara sauce over it and then put it on whole wheat noodles. It was super yummy. The other thing we keep buying is apple dippers from vons. They are pre sliced apples in individual pouches with a little bit of caramel to dip them in. The best part is they are 1 pt and a great sweet snack.
Well off to do homework, Look for my weigh in on Wed.
Ali

Friday, May 1, 2009

Good morning.
What a great day I had yesterday. I won a radio contest on 104.3 and got 4 tickets to the aquarium of the pacific. Yeah we get to go to the aquarium.
I had a bit of a cheat yesterday. I did great all day but ran out of time to eat before garrett's baseball game so we ate at the game. I had a cheeeburger and friess for dinner. Not the best choices and I went over in points for the day but I am back 100% today.
I have a ton to do today so I will leave and say have a great weekend.
Ali