I went to an everlast shadowboxing class after work. I noticed my shoulder isn’t hurting has bad anymore. I hurt it while tripping and falling against a wall several weeks ago and was in incredible pain. Now it just feels sore. I need to do some shoulder workouts this week to strengthen it.

Anyway after shadowboxing I did 15 minutes of abs and then decided to stay for the dance class for 30 minutes.

So basically I burnt 800 calories yesterday, and ate 1400 calories.

Even though my family is here, I don’t think I will be breaking my diet since they all eat relatively healthy. But we’ll see about that…

My next goal is to get better about taking my vitamins.

Yesterday was a failure. Not only was it weigh in day, which I did not lose but gained, but I also didn’t work out. My excuse was I had to go pick up my car from the dealershp, and by the time I was near the gym it was already 6:30. I was close, but Brian talked me out of it because he was hungry. So instead we had pizza because I was too lazy to cook. Of course I woke up this morning with a bad tummy ache. I tried to do some video at home, but it was already 9:30 and I wasn’t feeling it. It’s hard to be motivated when it’s hot.

So today, I am back on track and will make up for it. I’m thinking of doing two classes today, Shadowboxing and some dance class. I might skip the dance class and do some weights.

Brian and I have been trying to get healthier. I know we talk about it all the time, but this time we’re pretty serious. He and I bought lost 12 lbs each. I’m doing the biggest loser competition at work and so far I’ve managed to get 3rd place. My coworker friend and I have been working out like crazy over the past 4 weeks. I can definitely tell my endurance is getting better since my heart rate isn’t as high when I’m doing plain cardio. I need to start mixing in more weights so that I can increase my metobolism. We’re also trying to eat cleaner and have the appropriate serving. The only challenge with eating is finding the time to cook the proper food since I don’t get home from the gym until after 7 and sometimes 8. I think once our weekends slow down, I can probably try to plan it better. I have been consuming lots of fruit since it’s in abundance. I told Brian that if I reach my ideal goal, I should get a new car. :-)

Speaking of car, my check engine light is on again. Grrr. Hopefully whatever they find tomorrow isn’t a big deal.

Leah and Reesey are doing well. Reesey spent 2 weeks with her grandparents. We went and picked her up over the weekend after visiting with Brian’s new nephew. Baby A is tiny by the way. Congrats to the new parents.
Speaking of kids, we still haven’t made plans yet, but we keep going back and forth with baby names. It seems our first choice has gotten too popular. My mom keeps pressuring me to start but we both still feel so young. Everyone should check back in a couple years to see where we are with that thought.

Work is still the same. Nothing new for either of us. I’m still very grateful that we’re both in a good position both financially and with our jobs.

In other news, we finally booked our big trip to Europe. 11 days in Rome and Paris in Sept. This is our anniversary gift to each other I suppose even though it’s a few weeks after. I’m super excited, but I guess it hasn’t sunk in yet since it’s still far out. Of course this is the first of many trips.

My next goal is either Japan or China. But I think we may have to make a trip to Cambodia and Thailand since that’s where I’m from and all.

I’ll be sure to blog our excursion while we in Europe.

Other than that, that’s all I’ve got. I’ll try to post more, and hopefully I’ll have interesting things to talk about.

I leave you with pictures of us at a Central Market cooking class enjoying a souffle we help make. I totally recommend their courses. Very entertaining and the hands on aspect is well worth it.

As for my other resolutions, I haven’t done a great job of those. I guess it’s more of a wish list than a resolution list ;-).

I am cooking more at home and eating in more often at work. It’s progress…

I’ve also start reading the new Malcolm Gladwell book - Outliers: The Story of Success. The first chapter was pretty interesting, but I haven’t had a chance to dive into the book since by the time I’m ready to read, I’m passed out asleep. Maybe I should commit an hour or two a week to do some quiet reading. I need some intellectual stimulation.

In other news the talk of the economy is everywhere these days. Every magazine we get has a headline of “Recession” this or that. And it seems like every day you hear an announcement about companies laying off thousands of jobs.

I have to say that we have a blessed life and we should never take our jobs for granted. I’m definitely thankful for that.

Even with our jobs being secure at this moment, we need to watch what we do and how we spend. It’s definitely not something that Brian and I have planned for. Now I’m not saying we should live like hermits, but I guess we’re going to have to rule out any big trips this year and take smaller ones, hold off on my furniture, and doing any major renovations. I think we can live without another sofa set in the house ;-)…except maybe the fence. It looks like the west side of the fence is about to fall. We’ll see what happens this spring when we get any wild storms.

1. Brian got a new car.
2. Dad got sick and was hospitalized for 2 weeks.
3. We got puppy Leah.
4. I traveled to Richmond for work.
5. Both my parents health has been stabilized.
6. We went to San Diego for vacation.
7. My maternal grandmother passed away. Click here to see neat a mausoleom my mom’s family built in Cambodia.
8. We bought a dining set (my half of the deal since Brian got the new Macbook). Only one more room to fill - formal dining room.
9. We threw a holiday party.
10. Took a much needed vacation where I did absolutely nothing.

So here’s my personal resolution for 2009. I know it’s silly to make resolutions especially when they’re broken in about 2 months, but hopefully, just maybe I keep these resolutions.

1. Workout 4-5 times a week
2. Learn how to meditate
3. Read at least 1 book a quarter
4. Eat more veggies
5. Eat out no more than once a week at work
6. Cook more
7. Blog more
8. Wake up earlier and begin a morning routine (ie. do chores, walk the dogs, eat breakfast, chill, then get ready)
9. Organize our closet
10. Do more gardening
11. Read the news more
12. Organize the stuff in our cabinets
13. Fix the hole in the ceiling of our dining room
14. GO TO EUROPE

I think all of these are attainable, with the exception of the last one. We’re hoping to plan a big trip for the fall, but I haven’t even begun to do my research. I was hoping I was going to get some that research done during my holiday vacation, and I suppose I still have a couple days left, but the task seems to be overly daunting. Maybe I should just call the travel agent that a friend recommended.

Happy New Year everyone!

Anyway, I love this weather and can’t wait till I get to pull out my sweaters. :-D

The other weekend, I put 3 shelves together, no thanks to Brian.

Last week he tried to fix the guest toilet but failed miserably. I wonder, if I try fixing it myself maybe I’ll actually get it done right….

I should probably go read but it’s hard to concentrate with the game blaring on tv. I’m currently reading two books. The Host by Stephenie Meyer and The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. They’re both good books, but I’m struggling with The Host only because it’s a bit slow in the beginning. Other than that, nothing much going on this weekend.

Anyway, the reason for this post is pictures. I haven’t featured much pictures since I’m too lazy to sort through. There’s always the link to flickr on the right side of the screen.

Here’s some from last weekend, at Linda’s wedding.

Even worse, according to people at work, calling and canceling the Dallas Briefing accomplishes nothing. It just keeps being delivered. Even after three phone calls it keeps showing up everyday.

Why would anyone want this garbage? It’s called the Internet people, look you’ve even got your own site there. Let the print newspaper die already. DIE!

Tomorrow is our 2 year anniversary! I’m not sure what we’ll do to celebrate, but probably something low key like going to PF Changs. I hate having some big hoopla during the weekday. Now that I’m writing this, have we completely lost the romanticism in our relationship that we have to plan dates for the weekends? I think Brian and I need to live life more spontaneously. It’s more fun that way. Unfortunately though, I feel like I’ve lost much interest in a lot of things that I enjoyed doing while we were dating. Everything was so new then. I mean don’t get me wrong, we spend time with friends and go out for dinner and shop together, but there’s so much else out there that we can be doing together. So going forward, I will do much of the planning. More plays, musicals, concerts, interesting dinners, trips, and road trips. I’m hoping our 3rd year will be filled with many adventures to talk about.

Anyway, regardless of what we do together, I am happy that we have a full life ahead of us, and I absolutely appreciate everything that we have, and truly love my husband and all that he does for me. I really really do feel very lucky.

So what have I been doing lately since my birthday? First off, I never got to blog about it. All I have to say is that I am now 27, and it kinda stinks. I just feel like life is passing by way to quickly. I don’t want to grow old. *pout*

I spent the last 2 weeks reading the Twilight books. It’s the series written by Stephanie Meyer. There are 4 books in the series. I feel like a little girl since the book is aimed at teenage girls. BUT, who doesn’t like a vampire, werewolf story with romance mixed in. It’s not the best written book, but it’s still very entertaining. It’s good enough for me to read through the 4 600+ page books in two weeks. I can’t wait until the movie comes out :-D It makes me giddy!

Anyway, I need to post pictures of Leah.