Things that are keeping me from watching the Olympics 24/7 like I want to

This is how my life is right now

1. Alex and Aly's upcoming wedding! This was the whole reason I started this blog - to hold myself accountable so I wouldn't look gross in the wedding pictures. I actually feel pretty good about my progress. I am down 18 pounds and a bunch of inches. But who's counting? Oh yeah - ME!!!

Seriously. How cute are they?!

2.  And speaking of weddings, Erin and her Tim just got engaged! We have looked at two venues this week, one in Omaha and one in Des Moines. We're not even done with the first wedding and we're planning another for next summer. They are both such happy occasions!

Tim not only has good taste in women, but in diamonds as well!

3.  This half-marathon training plan: I am proud to say that I have not missed a "run" (and by run I mean walk/jog) yet. I was prepared to just coast last weekend as our friends were here from Chicago for the annual Member-Guest tournament at our club, but Kathy is an avid walker and didn't give me an excuse to sit around. We did a two-mile walk, a three-mile walk, AND a 7.5-mile walk. Go us! As a reward, we ordered some wine and peanut butter / bacon bruschetta with a honey / hot pepper flakes dipping sauce. OMG. 

4.  And since I mentioned golf... While I have been getting out there, I have been playing like absolute crap. The only reason I am mentioning it is that it consumes far too much time for such awful results. To take up even more time, I am playing in the State Senior Open in a few weeks - just because it's with girlfriends and I've done it for the past three years. I'll have to see how I do in the bottom flight, which I'm sure is where I'll be. So let's see: a game I'm not loving right now, that I'm PAYING to be humiliated in, and spending three days away from home the week before my son's wedding. WTF.

5.  Our Hotel for Wayward Cats. Emily is doing quite a bit of traveling this summer, so she asked if we'd watch Chloe and Charlie. As our two don't mind sharing their home with others we happily agreed. Omaha Chloe and Charlie are much nicer that Des Moines Chloe and Charlie. But still naughty:

Ours can't even get up here anymore. Nothing is safe with these two.

Because four cats were not enough, we decided to add one more. Erin and Tim brought their Martha home with them last week, and it turns out that Martha does not play well with others. She had Charlie cornered twice - and both times he was so scared that he pooped himself. Literally. Martha got to spend the rest of her vacation in the basement, but don't feel too sorry for her. She got the coolest part of the house, and had her own food, water, litter box, TV, and comfy couch.

6.  Pinterest. If you're on it, you know. I did find this little tidbit to help keep my feet moisturized and looking good. They are always so raggedy because I'm barefoot a lot, but this is a nice solution. Just cut the toes off a pair of socks that you don't like anymore, lotion up your feet, and put them on. Your feet don't get hot this way. You're welcome.

Thanks for the pedi, Emmy!

7.  A few months of craziness. As Dwight said the other week, "I feel so normal around you!"  And I wasn't even offended! My friend Nancy said I should say I'm "biochemically challenged". After playing around with different combinations of drugs, I think I'm fixed. Or at least not as broken as I was.

So here are just a few of the things I've been eating:

Just a chicken sandwich and cherries, but check out the cool bike dish towel I got from Aly and Alex

Look how beautiful our raspberry-infused vodka is! We are getting down to the bottom of last year's batch...

And my new favorite low-calorie mixer 

Mushroom, spinach, goat cheese, and tomato omelet

I needed something healthy: almond-coconut milk, protein powder, banana, peanut butter, and spinach

Ta-da! A green monster! (You seriously cannot taste the handfuls of spinach in here).

Lunch yesterday: whole wheat tortilla, 2 T almond butter, one sliced banana. And G2.

Easier to eat this way.

Breakfast this morning. Just mix these two together.

Seriously delicious. And filling.

Lunch today at Centro in Des Moines: a Centro salad with salmon added. I forgot to tell them to omit the onions.

So that pretty much brings me up to date. I have an 8-mile walk scheduled for tomorrow, and you can bet it will be early. It has been so god-awful hot here. When Emily called me right after my walk yesterday, I had to hang up because I was afraid I was going to pass out. I called her back once I was lying on the floor under the ceiling fan; I figured I wouldn't have as far to fall that way. She said she was just as sweaty after trying on Spanx at Von Maur.

Okay, time to watch me some Olympics!