Quick little Monday Weigh-In

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! This time of year always goes by so fast but my family and I had a wonderful Christmas. I will post more pictures later when I have a little more time. I have just a few minutes so I decided I should do a Monday Weigh-In since its been two weeks. I weighed myself last Monday but for some reason forgot to post it. Here are how the last two weeks have gone:

December 13: 214.8 pounds

December 20: 215.4 pounds

December 27 (today): 213.6 pounds

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Not too bad for the Christmas holidays I would say. I weighed myself on the 23rd and I was 215.0 pounds. I figured I might have gained a little due to all the good food but I tried to eat much smaller portions and stay away from all the yummy desserts. 1.4 pound loss...not too shabby.

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I am about to head to some stores with my mom, aunt and cousins to do a little after Christmas shopping! We went to a few stores yesterday and found some really awesome deals on Christmas items and perfume of all things! I found some Burberry perfume for only $14 (regularly $58 in stores!) That was my deal of the day and I am hoping I can find some more good deals today! Good luck to the rest of you shoppers :)

Talk to yall again soon!

Merry Christmas y'all!

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe it is already Christmas Eve! The most wonderful time of the year :)

I'm sitting in the den with my mom, my dad and Burch in front of the fire watching Elf. Love this movie! So Christmas around the Redmond household is non-stop for about 4 days. Last night we enjoyed Christmas with all of our extended family on my dad's side...there were about 40 people there. Food was delicious (I tried to only get a bite of each food instead of a huge spoon full) and we played a mad game of dirty santa.

Tonight we are going to spend Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family. Another game of dirty santa will take place and we are having h'orderves for dinner. Tomorrow my mom is working (she is a nurse and has to work on Christmas every 3 years) so we will be waking up around 5 in the morning to see what Santa brought us! After that my grandparents and aunts and uncles on my dad's side are coming over for breakfast at our house. For lunch we are headed to my cousin Lindsay's house for lunch with my mom's side. And for dinner it is back over to my grandparents for our family Christmas get-together with my dad's side. And of course we finish our festivities by shopping the day after Christmas with my mom, my aunt and my cousins.

Aren't Christmas traditions the best? I know some people that may not live close to their families or may have a small family enjoy a quiet Christmas but it is far from dull in our family! And trying not to eat 3,000 calories a day is always a challenge during the holidays with so much good food everywhere I turn. Until the new year my goal is to try and stay at the same weight and not gain. It may be a little unrealistic to want to lose weight during Christmas but I will be happy if I don't gain. Fingers crossed!

I hope each one of you have a very Merry Christmas. It is so important to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. Family and friends make the holidays special, presents are always fun to give and receive, the Christmas decorations are beautiful but most of all it is the day our Savior was born so long ago. May your Christmas be the best you have ever had and you are surrounded by the ones you love. Merry Christmas!

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These are pictures from our Christmas get-together with my dad's side of the family last night! Enjoy!

Posting pictures...that's what I do :)

Christmas is officially ONE WEEK away! Oh my goodness. This is super duper exciting! Year after year, it comes so fast. But all my Christmas shopping is donzo and I have completed all the wrapping of presents so I am feeling pretty good.

So the surprise for my mom and aunt went fabulously just as we planned. They didn't know the restaurant we were eating at until we pulled up to it. Dinner was delicious and conversations were good as always...love my mom, aunt and cousins...just couldn't live without them. Afterwards we saw "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Alabama Theatre and what a great classic Christmas movie that is. I posted pictures of the night down below.

Last night my cousin Lauren spent the night and we drove around some nearby neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. First we put on some comfy pajamas, slippers and then we were out the door. The Christmas lights were beautiful. Nothing better than driving around in a warm car in your pajamas with one of your best friends looking at all the Christmas decorations! I posted a few pictures of the lights below as well.

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Question:

Just curious. What are some things yall are asking Santa for this Christmas? I can't pinpoint one main present but there are several that I am super excited about. I picked out a new laptop a few months ago because my old one is giving out on me. I can't use my new one until Christmas so I have been sharing with my mom. Secondly I picked out a piece of Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) luggage that I have had my eye on for a while. It's a nice piece of designer luggage and it will be a nice addition to my luggage collection. I am still really wanting the Bodybugg/Gowear fit but we haven't ordered it online yet. Im thinking I won't get that until January...that is if I can decide on which one I want by then! Why does it seem like such a hard decision? Besides the usual clothes, perfume, gift cards, jewelry....you know all the girly stuff...that seems to be about it.

Hope you have been nice this year so Santa will come visit :)

Love you my friends!

A surprise for my mom!

**Read the post first and then you will understand the pictures. My moms computer wouldn't let me copy and paste the words before the images. Weird**

The Alabama Theatre in the 1930's

The Alabama Theatre at night


A view of the stage from the balcony


The lobby of the theatre

Another view from the balcony

More of the interior

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Can you believe Christmas is in 10 days?! Holy smokes...I can't believe it! Christmas is my all time favorite part of the year...the lights, the decorations, family time, Christmas parties, giving presents to the ones I love...I love it all!

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So tonight my cousins and I have planned a little surprise for our moms. Our moms are twins and super close and do everything together. So we thought this would be a fun girls night for all of us and our moms.

We are going to start the night off by taking them to dinner at a cute little restaurant in downtown Birmingham called Silvertron Cafe. The restaurant has been open since the 1980's but the building was built in the 1920's. It has a very warm and welcoming feeling about it. We wanted to take them somewhere quant and cozy, delicious and it's so cute right now because it is decorated for Christmas. They have everything on the menu from steaks to chicken dishes to burgers, sandwiches and salads. The dimly lit interior will make it perfect to enjoy the food and each others company.

Then we are taking them to the Alabama Theatre downtown to see "It's a Wonderful Life"...their favorite Christmas movie. For those of you who have never heard of the Alabama Theatre, it is an absolutely gorgeous theatre that was built in 1927 by Paramount Studios to have a place to showcase their films during that time. It is the only theatre remaining in Birmingham that is from that era and is on the national register of historic places. There are many events that take place there such as live shows, classic movie showings, the Miss Alabama pageant, weddings, concerts and ballets. Every year around Christmas they show classic Christmas movies on their big screen just as you would see at the movie theatre. The interiors of the theatre is covered with gold leafing, gigantic chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and classic art deco designs.

I love this place if you can't tell. I can definitely appreciate the elegance and style of this gorgeous place. I am thankful it is still around for people like us to enjoy and just being in its presence takes me back to an earlier time.

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Our moms don't know where we are going to eat or what movie we are going to see! It should be a fun night to remember :)

Monday Weigh-In. Retail Therapy. Pictures.

Happy Monday friends!

Sorry (again) for being absent from the world of blogging. I have tried to keep up with everyone else's blogs but couldn't seem to find time to update mine. But I'm back!

So I think I should get back to my "Monday Weigh-In" posts. I was good about doing it a while back but I stopped and I'm not sure why. Posting my weight publicly seems to keep me motivated/honest/on target. So here it goes again....

The last two weeks (with the exception of this past weekend) I had two of the best weeks I have had in a long time, as far as self discipline with food and making the right choices. I even got down to 212.0 pounds on my scale and that is my lowest all time weight since my surgery. Ok I celebrated this 212 pound victory for a few days until this past weekend rolled around. I went to Atlanta to see Burch (my boyfriend is living there for a few months) and I always ALWAYS make terrible choices when I'm vacationing! So basically after a mexican meal, a chinese meal and a potluck italian meal with friends...I saw 214.8 pounds on the scale this morning. In all honesty, thank goodness it wasn't more! I take all the responsibility like always but I hate to hit my lowest ever and then follow it with a 2.8 pound gain! Ugh. But for the books...214.8 pounds brings me to a total loss of 45.2 pounds and 42.2 pounds since surgery.

So today I started fresh (again haha) and did really well. I only had about 1,100 calories and got in plenty of water. My stomach is still growling at my if that tells you anything. I still want to be 210 pounds by Christmas...so we will see if I can pull out a 4.8 pound loss in 11 days :)

In other news, my friends Kyndal and Kelsey (good friends from Auburn) came to visit my brother and I last Wednesday and stayed until Friday! We had the best time together! The first night we didn't go to bed until 4:30 in the morning and the second night we didn't go to bed until 2:30! We all stayed up laughing and telling stories...fun times :)

Today I spent the entire day finishing up my Christmas shopping for family, friends and the boyfriend! I am doneee! YAY! Although as you could have probably guessed...I LOVE shopping of any kind! For men, women, kids, friends, myself, boyfriend, department stores, boutiques, morning, night, crowded, Christmas rush....anything, anytime! I truly believe in retail therapy. It's my favorite. Like today I started shopping around noon...went to Target, TJ Maxx, a little boutique in the city, Auburn store....got an iced coffee from Starbuck's and as I was driving through the city looking at all the Christmas lights and decorations, I was having the best "me" day. No one to tell me where to be or where to go, no one to rush me while I was looking, no one to keep up with...I just love it.

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Ok so remember when I started doing the "Photos I Love" posts? I need to get back to doing that because there are so many pictures I want to share with yall. One of the posts should be named "Cafes in Europe" because I am obsessed with discovering quant little cafes and bakeries in cities throughout Europe. Some of the pictures are cafes my friends or family have been to and others I have learned about online. I also have a bunch of pictures of gorgeous houses and some very unique houses I have seen while traveling. Anyways, just started thinking about some of those pictures and want to eventually share them with yall!!

Hope yall have a great week! I have included some of my pictures from this past week :)

Enjoy!

My good friends, Kyndal and Kelsey, came to visit me!!

Mirror pictures! Always!

Getting ready for dinner!

Waiting on my brother, Trey, to go eat with us


On the way to dinner :)


Trey, Kelsey, Kyndal and I! Spend the night party!


The next morning...getting ready to go to lunch with my mom!


Japanese food is the best!


Kels and I...shopping at a little vintage consignment shop in downtown Birmingham!


One of my favorite mexican restaurants! Adorable isn't it?


After Kyn and Kels left to go home, I headed to Atlanta for the weekend to visit the boyfriend. His friends he is living with has 8 little 6-week-old puppies!! So freaking cute!

Little Porter! Love this little girl!

Playing with Thatcher...he wasn't so happy at this point....

But it got better....

Love him!

Porter and Thatcher :)

Brother and Sister!

He wouldn't do my pose...oh well.