Charity, Relaxing and Soft Food

This weekend was filled with a charity event, relaxing and plenty of soft food.

Saturday
Our friend Kristin (Tom and Karen's daughter) is involved with the Scottsdale 20/30 Club.  This club puts on charity events throughout the year and on Saturday night they held their annual Viva Las Vegas event in downtown Scottsdale.  Andy went to this event last year while I was in WI for my bridal shower, but we both got to go this year.  We purchased our tickets last week and went with Tom, Karen, Mike and AJ.  They had a silent auction, live band, food tastings and of course an open bar.  All proceeds from the evening went to a charity. 

Andy and I at the event.

Karen and I at the event.

Sunday
This was a great day of getting things done and just relaxing. One thing I was unable to do was get up early and run the mountain due to the open bar from the night before.  Oh well, I still go a workout in, but instead I had to do a boring DVD.  I also got in the pool for the first time this year.  It was a tad on the cold side, but once I got in it wasn't so bad.  After lounging around and working out I walked into Andy taking a nap as well.  It wasn't just Andy though as he was joined by Izzy and Captain.  I couldn't resist taking a picture and including it in the blog.  I know I am going to pay for this.

Super Cute!  Izzy, Andy and Captain taking a nap on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I also continued on the soft food diet as I ended the weekend with chicken and dumplings.  I did make this one other time about 6 years ago, but was not a huge fan of it because it reminded me of soup...everything put together in a pot.  As you readers know I am not a fan of soup; however, I may be slowly converting...maybe!  This time around I found it to be very tasty!  The bonus is that I finally got to use the dutch oven we received from our wedding.

Soft Food Diet

Unfortunately I am on a soft food diet for two weeks.  I know it's only two weeks (or at least I hope so), but if you know me well, then you know I have issues with soft food.  I don't like to eat anything mooshy or overly soft.  It's a struggle for me, but I have to do it for a bit so this girl is going to buck up and eat soft food.

I have dealt with my TMJ for 17 years; however, now the pain in my jaw is pretty bad, the headaches are daily and I have been able to notice the jaw swelling in photos.  It was time to deal with it.  I have heard about this TMJ specialist in the valley so I decided to look into him.  He has all sorts of options for treating TMJ so I liked that about him.  I liked that it wasn't a "one solution fits all" approach.  After reviewing all the options on his website I knew the only thing I would refuse to do is to get braces.  Been there done that when I was 13 and I have no plans to go back to that time in my life.  I was glad to hear he did not recommend that option for me because I was in no mood to have an argument with a dentist about why I am refusing the braces.  Instead I am on a three month plan that includes the following things:

1. Soft food diet for the first two weeks to give my jaw a break.
2. Splint for the night when I sleep so I won't clench my teeth.
3. Splint for the day time.
4. Four different prescriptions for one month to controll my stress and decrease the inflamation in the jaw joints so my jaw can start to heal.

Last night was the first time I ever ordered soup for a meal.  This girl does not like soup as everything is combined together and pretty much mush.  If you know me really well you know I think the best invention ever is the plates with the dividers, so soup is not up my alley.  I was shocked though at how good it tasted. 

The night splint looks pretty HOT!  Good thing I snagged a husband before I got this splint to wear to bed.  I am sure Andy is looking forward to it.  I have always worn a nightguard to bed to protect my teeth from grinding, but this is a whole other ball of wax.  This contraption is pretty gigantic and I get mine in two weeks.  I am sure Andy is thrilled!

The day splint is supposed to be for three months and then I should only have to wear it as needed if my TMJ flares up.  It's clear and not noticeable, but apparently I could have a hard time talking until I get used to it.  That will be AWESOME during the week at work.  He did say I could take it out for meetings and other work activities that I have to talk a lot, but it's a must to wear when I am driving, working out or at my desk.  Apparently those three activities put a lot of stress on TMJ.

Lastly, the prescriptions.  Not a big fan of prescriptions.  I hate prescriptions and tend to opt out of any and all precriptions I get from the doctor.  This time I decided to cooperate and get all four prescriptions filled and take as instructed.  I figured I am paying a butt load for this treatment so I need to follow all orders for it to work properly.  Also, for those that know me, it's pretty hard to follow any orders. 

Ugh...it's going to be a long three months!

Gala's, Shopping & Babies

I entered this weekend thinking I had nothing going on and it would be a pretty laid back weekend...nothing new.  I was soon mistaken.

Friday
Andy had plans for a guy night in the M&I suite at the Dbacks game, so I thought my night would be filled with shopping, take out and a bottle of wine.  I was wrong.  On Friday around 4:30, I received a call from my friend Jessica who invited me to attend a Chamber Gala...a work function.  Last minute she found out the firm had an extra ticket and was asked to invite someone. So, on a short notice (1.5 hours in advance) she thought of me.  Actually, her words were "You have been blogging about how you and Andy don't have much going on so I thought you might be available."  Of course I am available.  By the time I got home from work I had 30 minutes to get ready for a Gala.  Jessica picked me up and we headed to Scottsdale where we saw a live bull, orchestra and cloggers.  Yes, all three at the one event.  We left the event and headed to a country bar (not usually my thing) where we shared more cocktails.  I got home "late" for me.  I am glad Jessica thought of me and assumed I had nothing going on because I had a great time and good girl time too.

Saturday
Once I got out of bed from being exhausted from the night before (maybe it was from too many drinks from the night before), I headed to the nail salon to get my toes done.  Then this girl went shopping at Nordstrom Rack where I was receiving text updates on my friends, Amber and Brian, giving birth to their second baby.  Andy and I decided to do nothing on Saturday night because this old couple is unable to go out two nights in a row.

Sunday
We got the joy of visiting the Campbell's and most importantly, baby Briggs Campbell.  We first picked up a gift for baby Briggs, and of course a gift for little Miss Stella so she doesn't feel left out.  We headed down to "Tucson" and visited for about an hour.  Let me tell you, baby Briggs is ADORABLE!  I did hold him too!  Yup, I held a newborn baby who was approximately a day old.  The second time I ever held a newborn, but also probably the third time ever holding a baby.  I am not going to lie, I was SUPER nervous.  I was probably the stiffest person ever to hold a baby.  It definitely did not feel natural at all.  He also was farting the whole time I was holding him.  It was kind of funny.  He is super cute and congrats to the Campbell family.

Welcome to May!

I realized that our one year anniversary is coming up.  How exciting.  We never celebrated an anniversary before since we really never had one.  We could never agree on when we actually started dating, but we do know it's sometime in the October/November time frame.  We will be celebrating our one year wedding anniversary in San Francisco on a family vacation.  When I say family I am not talking about the animals, but instead it will be us, Andy's dad, Shelley, Courtney and her fiance (they live in San Fran), Mackenzie, Ryan and Lisa. 

In thinking back on this past year nothing has really changed from being in a relationship to being married.  I guess our Facebook status was updated, oh, and I gained weight.  They say after the wedding you gain weight, just like the freshman 15.  I never experienced the freshman 15 before as I have been lucky to be blessed with the skinny genes.  Ok, so my skinny genes have depleted once I turned 30 and then definitely after we got married.  Hey, it's not easy being married to Mr. Skinny Man who can eat whatever he wants and not gain a pound.  It's not completely his fault since I have never been one to eat horribly, but I had to learn portion control.  My 20's were definitely more friendly to me when it came to portion size, but not so much in my 30's so this was something I never had to deal with.  I could eat whatever I wanted and in large sizes and it never mattered. 

With that said I have decided to do something about this weight gain.  I don't know how much I weigh or how much I have gained since I do not own a scale, which that is on purpose.  I like to go on how I feel in my clothes.  That is what I base it on and if I can look in the mirror and be happy.  So, my goal is not a number it is based on feeling.  I have been doing this for about a month now and I am finally starting to feel a little better.  Not 100%, but better.  The first thing I had to do is work on portion size. The old me would eat a small breakfast, small lunch and then a GIANT dinner.  I subscribe to the Cooking Light magazine and they provided some tips on portion control.  First, I had to improve my breakfast and not skimp on that, a small mid-morning snack, light lunch, mid-afternoon snack and then dinner.  I have been putting my dinner on a salad plate instead of a dinner plate as this keeps me from over eating.  Also, this magazine has some great dinner ideas.  The first one I tried was a Pork Tenderloin over Couscous with Pistachio-Lemon Vinaigrette.  I was kind of worried at first on how this would taste, but it turned out fantastic and was only 489 calories.  I put this on a side plate to control my portion size and I wasn't even hungry after dinner.  This was the first week of changing everything around about a month ago.

If you want the recipe let me know and I will copy it from the Cooking Light magazine.

I also found this turkey meatball over angel hair pasta with pesto sauce.  This was on Pinterest though and it turned out amazing!  I was worried that Andy wouldn't eat it because of the turkey meatballs, but he actually liked it and used the leftover meatballs the next day for sandwiches.  I don't know the calorie content, but figured it can't bee too bad considering what I put in the meatballs.  Next time I should use wheat pasta, but Andy really does not like wheat pasta.  I figured turkey meat balls was pushing it.

 Next on my list to try from Cooking Light is fish tacos with a mango salsa and grilled salmon with brown butter couscous served with yellow squash and zucchini.

So, I have changed up my eating habits and workout 4 - 5 times a week, so I am now on the road to start feeling better about myself.  My clothes are starting to fit better and I actually enjoyed shopping this past weekend.