I've moved.

Hi! I've moved! Come check out my new blog, Jenn and Marek. I'll be closing this one down shortly. Thanks :)

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A little catch-up.

First, a pouting puppy. No, I'm just kidding. He was sleeping the other morning, and I took his picture. But trust me, this is the same Guilty Eyes look he is so good at giving when he is pouting about not getting his way!

So let's see...the weight loss challenge continues, somewhat unsuccessfully. I've been doing okay sticking to my food diet during the week. It's the weekends that are difficult, because my schedule is very different on the weekends (aka non-existent). I'm trying to keep with it though. I've been doing a lot better with the exercising, which is good. Even if I don't lose weight, I've been feeling healthier and more energized, so that's never a bad thing.

MK and I have been keeping busy since last time I blogged. We've been lucky to get to spend time with friends and family.

A couple Fridays ago, MK was in Florida on vacation with his parents, brother, and stepbrother, so I went out with some of our friends. It was our friend SF's birthday recently, so a group of us went out to dinner to celebrate. We picked him up a cake as a surprise (which the host and the waiter both managed to ruin), but it was a really fun night. Here's SF blowing out his birthday candles. [For those in the area, the cake was a Triple Chocolate Mousse cake from Flour Bakery, and was amazing!]

Then last Friday, MK and I both took the day off from work and went to Western Mass - MK needed to get his car fixed, and I went to class taught by my favorite professor (seriously, this guy is so great!). After that, we met up with our friends and went to THE best chicken place you'll ever go to - Wings/The Hangar. This place is franchised now, but the one in Amherst is the original, and by far the best!

Here's our friend CG, enjoying some Wings. I've known CG since college (he was actually my college boyfriend's roommate!), so it was nice to go back to where we met and hang out together.

Here's MK's brother, PK, and our friend JG, who was showing off his new phone (and is making that silly face on purpose).

Then on Saturday, I celebrated my cousin J's birthday with the family. We went to my cousins' house and ate food and played games, and then at night, we headed into the city to go to some bars. It was a lot of fun!

Here's my cousin K and I. We are crouching down, trying to be shorter than the other!

Here's K and I with her brother J (the birthday boy).

This is a "cousins" picture! So it's me, plus K and J, and T and E, who are brothers. I love hanging out with this group - they are so fun! The only sad part about it is that I just met them a few months ago, so have missed out on a lot of other fun I could have been having before!

Lastly, my cousin E and I.

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Weight Loss Challenge

So it begins...

My friend KH and I have been batting around the idea of doing a Biggest Loser-type competition for awhile now, and we're finally biting the bullet and doing it. We both have from now until May 16th to lose more weight (as a percentage of your starting weight) than the other.

I'm pretty excited. I've been trying to lose 20 pounds now for awhile, but between school and general lack of motivation (and probably vanity sizing as well), it's just something I keep talking about. I have, however, made a couple steps lately to pick up the pace.

First, I consulted with a dietitian, who talked to me about my eating habits, and gave me a TON of advice about eating right. The best part is she really tailored the information to my lifestyle and likes and dislikes. No one size fits all suggestions! (If you're in the Boston area and are considering this, let me know! She is amazing!)

Second, I finally got serious about running. MK and I "ran" a half marathon last May. I say "ran" in quotes because it was a lot of run-for-a-mile-or-two-then-walk. Then run. Then walk. It was painful. It didn't help that we didn't train for a good two months before the actual half marathon either. After the half marathon, I would run on and off, and finally in late November/early December got a bit more serious about it - as in, I tried to incorporate it more heavily into my schedule.

When January rolled around, it was time to start training, and I was doing okay for a couple weeks, and then I completely fell off the wagon for 2 straight weeks! I'm back on track though, and even went and got myself fitted properly for running shoes.

The good news is that in the couple weeks since I met with my dietitian and started exercising regularly again, I think I've lost about a pound, pound and a half. I'm psyched about this!

How about everyone else out there? Anyone want to join in KH's and my weight loss challenge?

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A thought for today

When your office neighbor tells you his chili is hot, believe him. (Especially if you don't have the highest tolerance for spicy things.) There will be a habanero pepper in there, and it will burn your mouth.

And it will hurt. A lot.

And you will regret it.

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Valentine's Pretties!

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day to you all, or, if you'd rather, Happy Presidents' Day!

MK and I aren't really ones to make a big deal about Valentine's Day. In the past, it has actually led to arguments (but for a different reason), but I wouldn't say we have any traditions or do anything really special. We usually set a price limit on gifts (which MK usually breaks...like the year the price limit was $20 and he got me the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer!), and try to have a nice dinner together.

This year I decided to take MK to IHOP for breakfast/late lunch. We left the house around noon, and were hoping to avoid the Sunday morning/church crazies that flood our local IHOP on Sundays. No such luck - I think we waited about half an hour? And on top of it all, I smashed the corner of the car door into my face as I was getting out the car. Ouch. We were at IHOP for 2 hours (yes, 2 hours!), between waiting for our table and our food, but MK enjoyed himself, so that's all that really mattered!

After eating, we headed to the "big mall" to do some shopping. MK had just come back from an overnight winter hike on Saturday, so we went to REI and I got him some hiking gear.

This is an "ice axe leash" or something like that. Used to keep yourself attached to your axe.


These are "points" or something. They are used to cover the spikes on crampons.


And this is a little camera/device bag. We picked this up after MK dropped my camera and it went sliding down the mountain! Luckily it is okay, but I got him this cute bag to prevent future trips down mountains. :)


I also got MK a new watch to take hiking with him (this is probably the 5th watch I've bought him in the entire time we've been together). We got a nice, sturdy Timex at Target, but I can't find a picture of it online. It's digital, with the basic Timex features (timer, alarms, stopwatch, indiglo, etc.). MK managed to set the alarm on it while he was trying it out, so we walked around Target with the alarm going off every minute until I figured out how to turn it off!

After REI we went to Tiffany to get my present! I had seen a ring in the Tiffany "catalog" that I liked, so MK had said he would get it for me for Valentine's Day. I looked on the website, and found a couple other rings, so sent them to him and told him to pick one out (that way it would feel more like it came from him).

The first one is this "I love you" ring. I didn't really care for it in person. It's much smaller in person (as I've been finding to be the case with Tiffany online pictures vs. real life), and I didn't like it as much. Interestingly, this was the ring I had initially wanted, but it was the one I liked the least in real life.

The next ring was this one with Xs and Os around. Again, I didn't really care for it that much in person, but I liked it a lot better than the first one.


This one below, the Modern Hearts ring by Paloma Picasso, is the one we ended up getting. It was my favorite, and also MK's (although it was like pulling teeth to get him to say which one he liked the best)! Like the other rings, it's not nearly as substantial in person as it is in the picture, but it's still very pretty, and I love it!



Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day/Presidents' Day weekend!

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Living the good life

MK went on an overnight hike last night (check out his new blog here!), so I was on my own for dinner. I was going to get McDonald's, but due to logistical reasons and a pain-in-the-butt dog, I ended up getting fries and chicken nuggets and making them at home. Very fancy stuff!

And yes, those are dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets!

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Riddle me this

Oh, Allure magazine. What are you doing?

I had to get an oil change a couple weeks ago (and a new battery, too, boooooo), and I walked over to the local supermarket to get some reading material while I waited. I don't normally read Allure, but I already had that month's Vogue, InStyle, and Glamour waiting at home, so I went with Allure.

Later on, while pulling out all the annoying subscription cards, I noticed something very interesting. Allure charges $10 for 12 issues. 10 divided by 12 is .83333 (repeating). That would explain the first card, which gives you a 79% savings, at a cost of 83 cents per issue.


So how come this second card, found in the same exact issue, claims that you'll get an 83% savings, at a cost of just 67 cents an issue? I could see if maybe it said 79 cents an issue; then you might assume it just mixed up the savings and cost numbers, but that's not the case.


It's interesting to note that the third card in the magazine didn't mention any percentage savings or cost per issue; it just said save on the news stand price (still at 12 issues for $10).

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