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Around Valentine's Day, I came across the cutest thing! Heart shaped paper clips! Now these aren't something that you need to buy. They are something you can make with your everyday, run of the mill paperclip.

Here's a website to one of the places I have found with instructions. But what really helped me, was seeing a video of how it's done. This video actually helped me even more!

I have these all over my desk now! I have them clipped to my calendar at work, attached to pictures, in my drawer in case I need one for something. I have also shown a couple coworkers how to make them and they thought it was really cute! The one thing we agreed on was that we would be sure we didn't attach them to anything that went to our boss!

Have fun making these and leave one for your sweetheart on a note!

Posted by Andrea on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 5:05pm. | Permalink | Add new comment

Last weekend we made a quick trip to Lutsen for some skiing. We went with Chuck's coworker and his wife. We planned it the weekend before when we went skiing with them in town. We had a lot of fun.

We left on Friday after work and headed up there. We stopped in Duluth to get some dinner. Then after dodging about 100 deer on the way up, we made it to the resort. We checked in to our room and quickly hit the hay. No one got a very good sleep because throughout the night the temperature in the room kept fluctuating.

Then at 4:30 or so in the morning, the fire alarm went off. Chuck went to scope things out and no one else in the place was around. Shortly after, the alarm went off and we started falling back asleep....only to be woken up by a maintenance guy trying to get into our room. We aren't sure what he was trying to do to get into our room, but our friend got rid of him and we finally were able to get back to bed.

We woke up and got out on the hills by 9:30. Not too bad considering how tired we were. We skied and skied! It was such a nice day. Lots of sun and warm temperatures. With this weather, though, we ended up having sloppy slopes by the afternoon. Chuck and I stayed out skiing until about 3:30. I think our friends went in about 2:30.

After skiing we hung out in the hot tub for a while and then got ready for dinner. We decided we wanted ice cream first. So we took a drive to a town about 30 minutes away and got some ice cream. After that trip, we returned to the resort and went to one of the restaurants for dinner. When we got back to the hotel, we were all so tired we decided to go to bed early.

We woke up and hit up the breakfast buffet. YUM! Then it was off for some more skiing. We were skiing by 9. We stayed out there until about noon and then packed up to head home.

Chuck took our friend, Scott, and I down "The Plunge". He went down it on Saturday and I chickened out. I shouldn't have. I guess the conditions on it on Saturday were WAY better than when we went down n on Sunday. It was really icy and dark back there, so I had a hard time seeing where I should go. Scott and I sent Chuck down part way first so we could see how he went. It didn't help. I went sideways down part of it and then made a couple turns. I could have stopped myself had I put my skis slightly more uphill, but instead I bailed and went down. Nothing too bad. Nothing came off and I got right back up. After standing with Chuck for a second, he told me to go the rest of the way down....and really...this wasn't a very long hill.....I had just freaked myself out. So he told me that I have done steeper than this and I just realized "Hey...yes I have" and took off down the rest of it.

I guess Scott fell on it, too. There was a ski patrol that came over at the same time we did and told Scott there was a friend of his that had multiple injuries on that run last week. NOT the thing to tell a person who is already uncomfortable to go down it. I guess Scott fell once (like I did) and then got himself back up.

It was nice to know that I did it, but I wish I would have gone when the conditions were better and not waited until Sunday. I will know for next time!

On the drive home, we stopped in Duluth for dinner at Grandma's. I love that place. Our service was terrible, but the food was tasty. Andrea (Scott's wife) and I decided we wanted ice cream. So we found a McDonald's on the way home and got a couple Shamrock Shakes with oreos in it. It was SO good! I am going to really have to fight the urge to get another one of those in the near future!

We got back to their car to drop them off and headed back home. We were back by about 7. It was a fabulous trip and I am so glad we were able to put it together on such short notice. We also made some new friends in Scott and Andrea and I look forward to hanging out with them again soon.

Sorry there aren't any pictures. Scott said he took a couple and I am waiting on those. But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you!

Hope you had a great weekend and if you are in Minnesota, I hope you were able to enjoy the gorgeous weather we had this weekend!

Posted by Andrea on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 10:32pm. | Permalink | Add new comment

Today I woke up feeling like crap. Probably from all the junk I ate yesterday. We went to a breakfast buffet because it helps hangovers! My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach.

I had some pretzels during the USA vs. Canada hockey game and root beer.

Then dinner time came and I wasn't real hungry, so I didn't end up eating anything for dinner. Probably not the best choice.

Posted by Andrea on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 7:37am. | Permalink | Add new comment

We went skiing (planned last night at happy hour) today with Scott and Andrea at Welch Village. It was loads of fun. I was starving before we went, so we ran into McDonald's for breakfast.

For lunch, I had sprite and nachos. REAL healthy, Andi!

After skiing, we went to Scott and Andrea's place and they had chips and salsa out. I can't pass those up. I had a Mike's with the chips and salsa. Then we went to dinner. I got fajitas (YUM!) and a margarita. Of course, there were more chips and salsa there to consume!

We went back to their place to sit in the hot tub and I had another Mike's. Apparently this was a drinking weekend for me. This was more than I had to drink in a long time. We did have a great time, though! And sometimes it's ok to splurge. (I seem to tell myself this quite frequently!)

Posted by Andrea on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 7:36am. | Permalink | Add new comment

Let's see. I didn't eat much at lunch. Just a small meal. We ended up going to happy hour with some of Chuck's coworkers and I got dinner there...buffalo chicken sandwich and fries. I also had two beers. Not terrible considering I didn't eat my whole sandwich and I had eaten a small lunch.

Posted by Andrea on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 7:35am. | Permalink | Add new comment

I threw a fit today at my computer and remedied it by eating goldfish crackers and a fire jolly rancher. It made me happy.

For lunch, I tried a new soup by Progresso - Light Zesty Santa Fe Style Chicken. It was really good. It had rice, beans, corn, chicken, green peppers and onions in it. I couldn't eat it fast enough. I will definitely get it again. And the whole can was only 160 calories. Bonus!

On the way home from class our bus broke down. Thankfully they got a new one out to us quite quickly. When I got home, Chuck had made a new kind of really yummy pizza and some Cheddar Potato soup. Both were delicious, but I surprised myself by not eating very much. I just wasn't all that hungry. Very strange for me! And surprisingly, I wasn't even hungry a few hours later. Miracles do happen! :)

Posted by Andrea on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 7:34am. | Permalink | Add new comment

Holy cow, I have been bad at this. I will start by saying that I don't even WANT to log my food today. I have been snacking like a mad person. And decided to have my 310 calorie lunch to try to keep me full longer. It didn't really work.

Chuck has rejoined the Loseit bandwagon with me. I have been given permission to make him log his food and be a pain in the butt! Ha!

I really need to set time aside to make and plan more meals. I would like to bring more lunches. This is cheaper than buying food for the week on Monday. It's a lot of dedication to food to pack a lunch. I know Chuck will appreciate me doing it, though. All too often, he fails to eat a lunch during the day because he is busy. If I make him something, there is a greater probability of him eating something. (Crap...I am starting to sound like a programmer!)

I have also learned about "bento" recently. It's something done in Japan where they prepare portion controlled meals and usually make characters, faces, shapes, etc. out of the food. There are many websites about this and I think it's a really fun way to spice up an otherwise boring lunch. It can be done with anything from salads to fanciful healthy foods to making smiley faces on cheese on top of your leftovers.

Now if I just had the time for this. But maybe it's time to make the time.

Chuck sent me a message before I left work and wanted me to meet him at a pizza buffet for dinner. It was delicious, but man, I did NOT need those calories. I just ate what I wanted and decided I would start fresh tomorrow! Sometimes it's healthy to splurge...right!? :)

Posted by Andrea on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 7:33am. | Permalink | Add new comment

Today was another treat day at the office. I had to hold myself back from the bagels. There are just too many calories in them. Plus, I want to save my calories for dinner tonight!

For lunch, my 200 calorie WW Smart Ones Slow Roasted Turkey meal. YUM! I might splurge and drink my Dr. Pepper with it! :)

For dinner we are going to the Christensons' house! I haven't been there in a while. The last time we planned a dinner at their place, their household got sick so we had to cancel. But not this time! I love hanging out with them and their kiddos! Plus, some drinks may be involved, so I needed to save up some calories for that!

Posted by Andrea on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 7:32am. | Permalink | Add new comment

I was pretty good about not snacking today. I did drink a bit more water today, too. I hit my 4 bottles that I have as my goal.

I had a mini class crisis while at work, so I worked on that while I ate a quick lunch.

When I got home, I was welcomed by the most fabulous smell EVER. Tacos! Chuck was cooking tacos! So delicious! So I ate those until I hurt and then we watched Zombieland. It was a good night!

Posted by Andrea on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 7:31am. | Permalink | Add new comment

No class tonight, but I had to finish up my homework. I felt like binge eating tonight. So I made a box of Rice-a-Roni and ate most of it. I did share some with Chuck, but mostly I cleaned it all out of the pan by myself!

Not too much snacking today. I need to drink more water. I have been slacking a bit.

Posted by Andrea on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 7:30am. | Permalink | Add new comment