I <3 the guitar!!

I'm learning how to play, can you believe it?? I'm so good, too. I can already play "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In". :) I can't begin to tell you how far I have to go. Hahaha.... *nervous laughter*

BUT I have my guitar all picked out!!!! I am SO excited!!!!!! We even went down to the Guitar store and I got to touch it and everything. Here's a picture of it:


I just have to decide on the color now. The atomic pink one, I think, is my favorite right now. They're both super sparkly and have stars on the fretboard. SO awesome. And they're made for girls, so the fretboard is smaller than normal boy guitars.

I have absolutely fallen inlove with the guitar. I can't wait until I can really worship using it.

Which one screams "ANDREA!!!!" to you? (or "ANDI!!!!!" - Whatever :))

I'm so tired.

I'm tired of being fat (that's girl code for: I want to be healthier!!), tired of being tired, tired of busyness. I get into this funk every once in awhile. And today's that day this month! So, this morning in my quiet time, I was expressing this to God when Dan walked in the bedroom as he was getting ready for work. He asked me what I was journaling, and I told him. He's tired, too. We've just both been trying to change our habits for over a year and a half and feel like we've actually gone about 3 steps backwards. Blah. So, we have a plan.

We have access to the Drake Facilities, so we are going to go for at least 1 hour right after work. We're going to run 1 mile to start and then walk for atleast 1/2 an hour. Then probably play raquet ball (our favorite to play together). Our goal is to do go 3 times per week - if not more!!

That's our plan to stay active (I do also have walking tapes by Leslie Sansone which I love, as well as Turbo Jam - the BEST workout I've ever EVER done at home).

Eating. Blah. We have agreed to help each other drink NO pop for at least one month. We're going to focus on drinking just water and milk. We're going to get up earlier each morning so that we can have breakfast together (such a crazy concept, huh? :)). We've been eating Super Suppers - basically healthy meals that I put together at their location once a month and then we freeze them. So, so good - and I don't have to plan, shop, chop or clean up!! I LOVE it. But rather than eating it for dinner, we're going to switch and eat those for lunch every day. For dinner we're going to eat ...... Salad!! Yea! The idea here is trying to re-structure our eating habits. We don't typically eat horrible food - but we do eat way too late in the day. Rather than eating little to no food for breakfast, very light lunch, and a huge dinner - we're switching it around. We're going to try to have our biggest meal be breakfast, a medium lunch, and a light dinner. That way, we're burning up as much of that days energy as we possibly can throughout the day, rather than eating late and sleeping on it all night.

So this is our plan! You know what motivates me a little bit? I'm thinking worst case scenario will be losing about 1 lb per week. At first, I think to myself, "ugh, that's it?? Just 4lbs a month??" Although, if we could be consistent with that and try to make that our average -- we will lose about 52 lbs in one year! Oh, how glorious that would be. That is so much more than even my goal weight. I can't tell you how happy I would be with that.

Now - we're not pregnant yet, but we're not preventing anything. I don't think we're really going to start trying trying until Dan graduates in May and gets a good job. I just want to lose weight so that I can have a healthy pregnancy and not have that much MORE to lose once the baby gets here, you know? I just have to harness that and use it for motivation.

Anybody else out there trying to live a healthier lifestyle?? Any success tips??

Christmas Time Again!

I love Christmas. I love being with family. I love presents :) - both giving and getting. I LOVE being with my baybas (Lauren and Jake Jake turn 1 yrs old tomorrow). Below are their pictures one year ago TOMORROW!


























And my baybas as of late:
























Now, actually, they have so much more hair than in these pictures.... I need some updated photos.. I have some; they just need to be scanned in.

Dan has been saying all week long how much he hates Christmas. He hates feeling obligated to buy presents, he hates all of the chaos, he hates the holiday traffic, he hates spending $$$, he hates having to go to 8 million Christmas parties.

OH MY GOODNESS - I forgot mention. I went to my first bar! Well, in the US. I've been clubbing and to bars in Germany (what's not a pub there?). Emily (Dan's cousin) and Matt (family/childhood friend) wanted to go out after holiday hooplah on Christmas Eve - so Dan and I met them and Bridget at a bar in Mishawaka. Scary. A fight broke out and everything. The fight included the bar owner and his girlfriend. He slammed her into the door and then she proceeded to break everything in the back room. We heard glass breaking for a good length of time (maybe 3-7 min). I didn't drink anything - just Pepsi :). Although, I was carded. We shared so many good stories and memories, it was great. At Midnight, we were asked to leave, b/c the bar was closing - so we went to IHOP until about 2 am. I think that was one of the funnest nights I've had in a long, long time :).

I don't care what Dan thinks of Christmas - I love it :)!


*Pay no attention to the dates on the pictures... I rarely set it to the correct date. The wee baby photos were taken on 12-26-05 and the later ones were taken in August after our trip to Washington D.C. to visit my mom and dad.