I love love.

It's Valentines Week, yippy! This year Brian and I decided (okay. I decided) that we would, instead of cooking a nice meal at home, go to brunch at Cafe 501 and then go see Avatar. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to this. No, it isn't elaborate but it is a simple afternoon out and since I'm married to a workaholic, it means the most to me.

I took the weekend to make some Valentine cookies for my coworkers (shameless promotion)

Fallen soldier. - went in my belly. And, oh hey. 2 pounds down today. WOOT. I can happily say I'm back in my size 8 jeans and pants. Not much more until I reach my goal (!) More updates to come.

Everybody loved them! In fact, after lunch there were only three remaining. (and I got an order out of it, so, yay me.)

Wishing everybody the huggiest kissiest Valentines Day from Det Jess.

Stuff

First things first. The diet is still going well - I'm currently hovering around 137. I'm hoping that will be at a solid 136 by Sunday. I've made the decision to finally throw in the exercise starting February 1st. I'm looking forward to the extra energy it will give me and I know I will feel so much better. One day I hope to make it a permanent "lifestyle" change instead of going on 2-3 month exercise binges. It does not come naturally for me to be fit.

At 3 points each and lots of fiber, I'm in love with this boca burger, dijonnaise, and sandwich thin combo at the moment. (I realize this is probably not appetizing to anybody but me)

Adult snow day today! Since we can't see out our back windows (below), this is the rare shot of our front yard/driveway/park. I like how the snow makes everything so quiet and peaceful ...

My house is temporarily covered in a layer of dust..

Because the remodel never stops in the land of the Dets! They started construction this week on the pockets for the blinds that will go in. They draped off the entire back of the house to minimize the dust. But.

We lost our view in the process.

Lastly. Sugar Stache lives! Excuse the orange-y and yellow hue on the pictures, I was working without any natural light. This was an order of cookies we did for a coworker of mine.

Unfortunately, not pictured, are the huge butterflies that made up half of the order along with little butterflies, hearts, and flowers.

Show Boatin'

Brian wanted to go to the boat show this weekend. I was game to go, just to get out and do something. I never grew up going to the lake or had a family that was into motor boats but I can dig it. (my dad loved to sail when I was little and they use to hang me off the side of the boat to run my fingers in the water. I would fall asleep. We have pictures of me in my tiny blue life jacket and blonde curly pig tails snoozing away. I'm pretty sure authorities would be called in todays time if parents do that)

Brian really only wanted to check out the Malibu wake boarding boats and after we got on a couple, checked them out, etc. .. basically, the rest of the the show was a learning lessen for Jess. Inboard, outboard, v-drives, direct drive inboard. Got it.

What was really interesting was the people. God love Oklahoma.

This was the winner - we have certain weight and length (hell, I dunno) requirements in our neighborhood and the boat below was the one that Brian wanted - and also met the criteria that we needed too. - save for the colors ...

I was a fan of the pontoon variety. Lounge, cocktail, sun. That is my speed. Slow.

And then, well, we got on a Sun Tracker Party Barge and I was sold.

Par-tay

My mom, aunt, and me organized a surprise 80th birthday party for my grandmother months ago. I offered up my house for the soiree. Why not, right? Most of the weekend was spent cleaning the house and getting it ready for Sunday.

Important to note. This was Saturday afternoon ... when Tami and I began the long arduous task of cleaning. Notice the rest of the fam taking a snooze on the couch. mmmhmm.

I will let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves below. The party was a hit and everybody had a great time; however Brian was a nervous wreck with wild children jumping off the side of the deck to the boat slip below. God bless him. He had his work cut out for him. Thankfully, everybody made it out alive.

Tami giving children hits of helium. Ha! HaaaHA! Don't flame us too bad, we are totally inept with children and until we get our own, we know not what we do.

Weekly Weigh In/Archive Skinny Pic

(Bachelorette March 08)

Current Weight: 141

I wanted to photograph my scale each week with a different pair of socks on each time but I realized that the when I held the camera and stood on the scale, it added a pound or two. You would have thought I had come to that conclusion last week but ... I'm slow like that. Things seem to be staying on track. It looks like I lost about a pound for the week. Hopefully when I add in the exercise next month (procrastinator) that will speed this up a tad.

I tried the infamous Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken this week. I had been reading for a long time about this recipe and it turned out great. A lot of debate it seems over the use of "cream of" soups but, hey, it works for me. No shame over here. I made a burrito out of it with the shredded chicken and half a cup of rice. It is good just over rice too. This recipes serves six and by my calculations, it was around 3 points per serving.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup salsa
1 package reduced sodium taco
1 can fat free cream of mushroom soup (condensed)
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream (I used fat free)

Directions:

Add chicken to slow cooker.

Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken.

Pour salsa and soup over chicken.

Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.

Serve with rice.

Let Me Introduce You

To Victoria's Secret's latest spawn of Satan, The Cheeky Bum. Don't let the cute name fool you - it lives mock you. It is their new line of bikini bottoms where your "cheeky bum" hangs out of it. When I opened the latest VS catalog, their swimsuit preview, I just about choked when I saw the full page ad for this bikini bottom. A tiny, perky, bottom with sand on it- to boot. As if i needed another reason to be neurotic about dieting.

Which brings me to another point, Brian and I rented a great documentary called America the Beautiful on demand the other night. It really explores the fascination and obsession with beauty in our culture. It was interesting and sad and inspiring all at the same time.

Gimme

Via a Daily Candy email today, the shop that makes the below lovelies came to my attention. I can just picture my svelte lookin' self (lets hope) sitting on the deck with a big cup of coffee in the morning draped in the Kimono Robe. These are available at the Etsy shop Plum Pretty Sugar.

Perfectly bohemian chic. Like I like it :)