Monday, December 6, 2010

New low, concert high and a little Auburn football!

Enjoy some pictures from this weekend!

The wonderful Mr. Dave Barnes!

Dave Barnes again :)

And again...Mr. Fantastic!


Lauren and I after the big win!!


My friend, Megan, and I! War Eagle y'all!
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Friends! Happy Sunday night/Monday morning! Its 1:00 a.m. in my neck of the woods but I cant fall asleep so let's do a little post :)


Oh, real fast! Thanks so much to those of you who gave me some feedback on the Bodybugg! ( I think that's how you properly spell it? Maybe?) All your comments were super helpful! I am definitely a type A personality on most levels. I love to be organized and write everything down and keep up with it. So I think having the bodybugg and being able to track my food intake and calories burned will make me happy. So thanks again.


So...let's see...what has been going on with me. First things first...got to give a big shout out to my Auburn tigers that make me proud and oh so happy! We beat South Carolina (well crushed and conquered is more appropriate but "beat" sounds a little nicer) this weekend to win the SEC Championship. We are headed to Glendale, Arizona January 10th to play Oregon in the National Championship!! AHHH!! This makes me so happy...makes my heart sing! I cant wait! My parents got tickets to the game and said they had the best time enjoying the gameday atmosphere and celebrating the big win! My parents are also looking for tickets to go to Arizona for a few days and go to the big game in January. But seeing that game/hotel/airfare packages are around $2,500 and up per person...Unfortunately I think my brother and I get to stay home this time. Don't worry, my brother and I have repeated tried to beg to go with them and even offered tha it could be our birthday/christmas/birthday again presents for the next few years, but that didn't work. It's ok though...we are lucky enough to have parents that have provided us season tickets to Auburn games our entire life so they deserve to go and have a great time. So long story short, War Eagle.

Umm...what else. Oh yeah! Saturday night after the game, my cousins, my aunt and I went to the Dave Barnes and Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors concert here in Birmingham. Do any of you absolutely LOVE Dave Barnes like I do? Ok...LOVE HIM! I have always wanted to see him live because I am a big fan. He is adorable, hilarious and has such an amazing voice! If he comes to your town, you should totally go see him. And check out his new Christmas album! Love it!

Lastly, yesterday I hit my all-time lowest low since my surgery....213.4 pounds! My lowest weight before now was 213.8 I believe. That is about 47 pounds lost total from my highest weight and 44 pounds lost since my surgery. Hey, I'll take it. A sweet blogger told me...slow and steady wins the race. Right? Haha.

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Here are a few tentative goals I have set:

By Christmas--Be at or below 210 pounds
(Is this unrealistic? I didn't think so)

By my birthday in April--Be under 200 pounds
(This means losing about 14 pounds total in the next 4 months)

By my 2 year Bandiversary, October 23, 2011--Lose 87 pounds total
(That puts me at 170 pounds...which means losing 43 more pounds in the next 10 and a half months)
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Just some weight loss thinking I have been doing. Pretty fair? Unrealistic? Anyways, hope you all have a fantastic Monday!! Christmas countdown: 20 days!! Love this time of year! It's the best :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Back from my 10-day blogging hiatus! The fun never stops!

These are a few pictures from Kyndal's wedding last weekend! This post would be entirely too long with all my pictures from this past week so I here is a little preview if you will. Enjoy :)


Jessie and I made time for a little photo op before the wedding began!



Kyndal and Kyle at the reception!



My mom and dad came to celebrate Kyndal and Kyle's special day

Kyndal and I just minutes before the ceremony began!



Kelsey, Kyndal's sister, and I getting ready for the rehearsal dinner!

Me with Karly and Kelsey, sisters of the bride :)

Always having fun! Of course...who wouldn't be excited after getting your hair done?!


Some of the bridesmaids...Karly, me, Kelsey and Magan

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Oh my goodness...where to begin!

Well first things first...Happy (late) Thanksgiving to everyone! Better late than never, right? We did it big here in the Redmond house...as always. Hope everyone was able to enjoy themselves and be surrounded by the ones they love. I want yall to know...I am thankful for you, all of you!! We are all a family here to support and care for each other. How awesome is that?!

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When I left you last, which was last Thursday I believe, I was about to head to Auburn for my friend Kyndal's wedding and all the other wedding festivites! Everything was a perfect success. Let me say the wedding was one of the most fun, beautiful weddings I have been in or even been to. Like myself, Kyndal loves very vintage, antique, rustic yet shabby chic inspired things and this is what the whole wedding looked like. It was outdoor with huge oak trees everywhere in the backyard of a gorgeous antebellum home. Vintage looking bird cages hung from the tree limbs, antique chandeliers hung sporadically above our heads and the reception took place in an old, beautiful barn transformed specifically for our celebration. I will try my best not to copy her wedding because I loved it all! The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner was so much fun with all the wedding party, the hours leading up to the ceremony was filled with makeup, hair curling and picture taking and the wedding itself was flawless. Saturday night after the wedding, Kyndal and Kyle left for Charleston, South Carolina to enjoy their honeymoon and I stayed with Kyndal's family in Auburn for the night. They are like my second family. I love them.


Sunday I headed to Atlanta to get Burch (he can't drive because of car troubles...bummer). For those of yall who don't know, he moved to Atlanta about 3 weeks ago to look for a job. He had no success in Birmingham but because he grew up in Atlanta and has awesome friends there, he figured that was the next best option for the time being. So I go to Atlanta Sunday, stayed the night and brought him back with me to Birmingham Monday.

For the next few days we had some dinner dates, spent time with each other and helped mom prepare for Thanksgiving with some cooking and cleaning. Thursday we got up, got ready and headed to my aunt, uncle and cousin's house for Thanksgiving lunch with my mom's side of the family! I love love love family time and getting to see all my extended family! I am thankful God has blessed me with such an amazing, loving Christian family. We all truly care about each other and because I know people who aren't as fortunate to have a close family, it makes me that much more grateful. We had lots and lots and lots of food. I got a small plate (purposely) and filled it full. It's ok. Come on, it's Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving night my aunt and three cousins spent the night at my house like they always do on Thanksgiving night. Black Friday shopping is a tradition with the ladies in my family and we do it big, believe me. We were so filled with excitement of sales and bargains we didn't go to bed until midnight and woke up at 3 a.m. to get ready to leave. We were out the door at 3:30 a.m. and headed to Wally World (Wal-Mart)! Goodness, it was mad chaos but that was expected. We did walk away with some sweet bargains. I got an LCD HD tv and a laptop but those along with everything else I got has to stay with mommy and daddy until Christmas morning. Bummer.

Then we leave Wal-Mart and went to Target then Belk then a few other stores and then finally headed home. We couldn't take a nap because we had to get ready for our big Iron bowl party!! We had about 20 people over for the Auburn vs. Alabama game. As all of you football lovers probably know...it was rough for my Auburn tigers at the beginning of the game but we came back like we know how and WON THE GAME! My house exploded when Auburn won the game. The houses three streets over probably heard the rejoicing. We Auburn fans keep it fun, keep it classy and win the game. We are 12-0, we are officially numbero uno, we are pretty much the most awesome team ever AND headed to the SEC Championship next weekend against South Carolina. Gamecocks...we are coming for you ;)


Friday afternoon was a frenzy of excitement and rejoicing and greatness. My friend Kelsey, who is Kyndal's sister (the girl who just got married), came to Birmingham to watch the game with all of us and spent the night Friday night. After the Auburn game, Kelsey, Burch and I went to the Hoover High School football game (my highschool who is also headed to the championship next weekend which is being played in Auburn ironically) and then to eat at my favorite Japanese restaurant. We had the best time together!

Ok...speeding this up....I sure can get detailed...

Saturday was football, football and more football (props to Arkansas and Oklahoma!!) Saturday night we did Thanksgiving dinner with my dad's side of the family! Love them too! Isn't family great? I love it. My mom wasn't able to go because she had to work so guess who had to make the pies for the family?? You got it. Kristen had to make the pies! Praline pecan pie to be exact! Haha I rarely cook so this was a big responsibility but they turned out great! Just call me Betty Crocker from here on out ;)

I just got home about two hours ago from taking Burch back to Atlanta. If any of you have done long distance relationships you can relate. It is hard and no fun to have to say goodbye. We had a great week together enjoying each other and being around family. All my family has been so great welcoming him in and making him feel like one of us. I am so thankful for this. I am going back to Atlanta in 2 weeks to see him...it will fly by but having to resort to talking on the phone gets old, so old. But it will be fine. We have done it before.

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Umm...can we not even talk about weight loss? Or weight gain rather? Not only was it Thanksgiving and not only did we have a huge football celebration with tons of tailgating and party food...it is also my time of the month. So my scale has gone in the wrong direction over the past week. I am about 5 pounds away from my lowest weight, which I hit about three weeks ago. It's ok...five pounds isn't terrible I guess. Could be worse. I am trying to stay positive so negativity doesn't take over.

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QUESTION FOR MY FRIENDS:


Ok lastly, I have a question for all of you!! Do any of you have the body bugg? You know, the infamous things they wear on their upper arms on the biggest loser. I am contemplating whether I want this for Christmas. If you don't have the body bug, do you want one? What do you know about them? Good things? Bad things? Would I benefit from it? I figure yall might know some things about it from friends or personal experience! I appreciate the feedback!!


Until next time, have a fabulous night!!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Fun weekend ahead: Wedding edition! And NSV!!

Hey friends! Just wanted to post a blog and say hello before I leave for my long weekend in Auburn (again haha)! I am in one of my best friend's wedding this Saturday and all the festivities are starting bright and early tomorrow morning! I am about to hop in the shower, head to the tanning bed for a good ole' spray tan and head to Auburn! Tonight some of the bridesmaids are going to dinner and tomorrow morning we are all going with Kyndal, the bride, to get our nails and toes done! Yay! Then we have the rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner and the fun just keeps going and going! Her wedding is at 2 p.m. Saturday and hair and makeup starts at 7 AM!! I am not a morning person but if it means getting up and getting makeover, I am there!

I am so indecisive on what to pack for the rehearsal dinner haha! So instead of bringing one dress to wear, I have like 5 packed with all different shoes so I can try them on! Goodness gracious, I wish I were more decisive. Anyways, I will be home late late Saturday night so I just wanted to say hey to my friends!!

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Also...

I have an exciting NSV for myself. I am officially, in every sense of the word, a SIZE 16!! When I started my lap band journey I was wearing a size 22 pants/jeans. Since about March I have been a size 18 in pants, jeans, dresses, you name it. About 2 months ago I bought a pair of size 16 jeans that I love and I squeezed myself in them but they sure were t-i-g-h-t! I have been holding off on giving away my size 18's just in case. But for the past week, every store I have been in I have asked for a size 16 and.....they all fit! Not just in one store, not in two stores, in all the stores! All the 18's seemed a little too big in the waist and legs so no thank you....bring on the 16's! For a fashion lover like myself, this is super duper exciting! Doesn't everyone want to be able to shop at any store and be able to wear the clothes? I know I do. Before my surgery I made a super long pro's and con's sheet and up there at the top was being able to go into any given store and wear a "normal" size. I still have a ways to go but I will take size 16 over 22 any day :)

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Hope yall have a fabulous weekend!! I will bring lots of pictures back to show you! Love you guys to pieces!! I leave you with pictures of Kyndal and I :)


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Me with the bride-to-be back in 2007




Me with the bride-to-be a few months ago! We have both shed a few pounds and are much more healthy versions of ourselves! I love this girl :)





Monday, November 15, 2010

I love weekends in Auburn! *Picture Post*

I am home from my fabulous weekend in Auburn! I just can't say enough about how much I love that place :) For me, it is one of the best places there is. Let me tell you a little something about Auburn, Alabama...

It is a charming and quaint little college town that was voted one of the top 10 best cities to live in the United States. I say it is little but it is also the fastest growing metro area in the state of Alabama. Since I was born pretty much, I have spent every football season in Auburn. My parents have had football season tickets since 1984 and I am fortunate enough to have shared so many wonderful experiences there. I also spent my college days in Auburn for four and a half years and those were some of the best times of my life. When I think of Auburn I think of family, pride, spirit, sophistication, dignity and a whole lot of love! And game days at Auburn are unlike any other. Coming from fans of South Carolina, LSU and Clemson, Auburn fans were the nicest and most welcoming people of any college town they had been to. We love our town and the people in it. During football season, the aroma of tailgating and cookouts fill the air and the town is crawling with people dressed in their orange and blue. I wouldn't trade it for the world!

This past weekend we beat Georgia making our team 11-0! It was a rocky start but we got it together in the second half. We secured the spot for the SEC West and we are playing in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta against South Carolina!! I am so proud of our boys! They have a week off and then we go to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama!! The Iron bowl...our biggest rival....our biggest game of the season!!

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So Friday night was Kyndal's bachelorette party! We had a delicious dinner and then headed to the lake house! Kelsey, Kyndal's sister, and I had gone earlier in the day to decorate. We spent the night playing crazy games, opening lingerie gifts, dancing to blaring music and taking tons of pictures!

Saturday we got up bright and early for breakfast. Then I had to get ready and head to our tailgate on campus. The game was a little stressful towards the beginning but it got better. We beat the dawgs and sent them on a long bus ride home! After the game, everyone stayed in the stadium and celebrated for about 45 minutes! All the coaches and players were running all over the field celebrating, the student section was going crazy and music filled the air...it was our last home game of the season. But what a fantastic way to end the night!

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Enjoy my pictures from the weekend! Love you all!





































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