Happy.

New beginnings are good. I'm proud of myself. I've been trying to eat healthier for about a week to a week and a half now. It has been a slow go because I'm still in the process of phasing things out of the house, like white bread, so I can buy whole wheat or multi-grain, and I just finished the 2% milk and bought 1%. I just bought a bunch of canned veggies so we're going to finish those up and then buy frozen or fresh and start steaming our veggies instead. I've been watching my calorie intake by tracking my food on www.livestrong.com/myplate and I pay attention to the percentages and try not to go over my percent daily value of things. I eat between 1100 and 1400 calories a day, I try to stay at the lower end of that range. I've also started working out. I started Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred on Friday. I did four days in a row and today I'm taking a break. It's also a slow go because I had family in town this weekend so we had a bbq and all that fun stuff. I caved one day and had some of the munchies and dinner but the second day I skipped the munchies.

So far, I feel better, maybe a little more energized (as I yawn, haha), and a lot better about myself even though there hasn't been any change yet. Hopefully I'll see a change by Friday when I get back on the scale.

I also started a work-out/weight loss blog. http://journeytoahealthierlife-dee.blogspot.com/. I use it as my motivation and to keep track of how I'm feeling after each workout.

So far, I have received everything that I ordered for the wedding....EXCEPT the Save the Dates. They're supposed to arrive on or before September 28. So I'm hoping they show up today. If they're not here tomorrow I'm going to get very irritated and if they're not here by the end of the week, I'm calling someone. The decorations and stuff I ordered aren't really as important and while I was excited for them, I'm most excited to see how the Save the Dates turned out. I just want them already!

I keep day dreaming that I won the $96 million lottery. I know, you have to play in order to win. I know. But I've already got that money spent on SO many things and don't even come CLOSE to spending all of it. I've always said that if I won the lottery I wouldn't buy a house that I couldn't afford the monthly mortgage for on my own, but I realized yesterday if I won the lottery, I could buy it outright, not take out a mortgage, and wouldn't have any monthly payments. Silly me. Ha.

If I won the lottery I would:
-Pay off Tim's back child support.
-Buy a 2012 car.
-Donate $10,000 to Lollypop (local animal shelter).
-Donate $10,000 to the Ronald McDonald House (place for families to stay when they have a child in the hospital).
-I'd give my mom, grandma and dad some money.
-I'd give like 2k for Jackie as a wedding gift.
-Buy a bunch of non-perishable groceries and donate them to some local food shelf.
-Buy a plot of land, probably 2 acres, and have a house built. Nothing too big. 1500 square feet, maximum. It'd have an amazing kitchen, two bedrooms, a den/office, the master bedroom would have a kick-ass ensuite with a huge whirlpool tub, a fully privacy-fenced back yard, two and a half car garage, wrap around porch, full, finished basement which I would equip with a treadmill, elliptical, a tv/dvd player for my workout dvds....I can almost picture it. :)
-I'd give Tim my current car and get his license figured out.
-We would go on vacation to a Dude Ranch. We want to go on our honeymoon but it's like $3k per person for a week and we just don't have that kind of extra cash.
-I'd set aside some money for a college fund for Tim's son, though hopefully his ex-wife would use some of the back child support to pay the lawyer and get the adoption process started...but I imagine as soon as she found out we came into some money that she'd start pushing Tim to see his son and the adoption would never happen.
-I would not quit my job. Or maybe I would. Maybe I'd take a leave of absence, volunteer for a while, like a year, at various places, and then come back or find a different job in my field.
If you think about it...that'd be MAYBE 2 million of the 96. Maybe. But probably not much over 1, if over 1 at all.

It makes me so excited just thinking about it! But I know it'll never happen.

On another exciting note, the Hilton Apple Fest is this weekend! Lots of food, crafts, vendors...I'm so excited. We don't really have extra cash this month, and I never buy anything except fudge and an apple sausage anyway...but it means FALL IS HERE. My favorite season!