Runza

I know I didn't write a blog last weekend like I said I would try to do, but I didn't have anything to write and I didn't want to force it.  I was flipping through twitter today and I came across a tweet from Runza (pretty much my all time favorite restaurant) and I realized what I should write about.

I love Runza.  I don't know if it's because of the childhood memories of going there with my family many, many Friday nights and spending what felt like hours playing on the playground at one of their locations, or the association with the Cornhuskers, or just the fact that the food is so fantastically delicious, but I would eat there every night and never get tired of it.  This is something of a problem considering the fact that it's a whole bunch of calories that I don't need and supporting them because they are a huge supporter of Cornhusker athletics isn't a great reason to eat there (even though in my mind, it totally is).  Proof that it is a problem: as I was writing that sentence, I realized that Matthew and I have tickets from the Husker game we went to that include a free offer from them and thought that would be a good reason to go there.  Yikes.

In any event, with my goals to lose weight and eat healthier plus not spend as much money on pointless things, eating out is something (seemingly) easy to cut out that will help in all areas.  I've done just fine for the most part.  There are a whole bunch of restaurants I would love to go to that I have no problem in the world saying 'no' to.  But when Matt and I are at home looking at the semi-thawed chicken that we don't really want to cook for dinner and we both kind of just look at each other silently daring the other person not to say it, it is almost impossible for me to deny myself the opportunity to have a gloriously delicious cheeseburger (ketchup, mustard and pickle are fine, but no onion please), crinkle fries with a side of ranch, and a lemonade.  (I'm so predictable it's pathetic.)

I'm fortunate that even with my far-too-frequent indulgence in Runza I haven't put on any weight.  I just haven't been losing as much as I should be because, as you might imagine, fast food (even the super-fresh and extra delicious kind they serve at Runza) has a lot of calories and other bad things in it. Since I obviously have a problem (for example, all this post is doing as I write about how terrible it is that I eat there all the time is making me want to eat it more), I need some motivation from somewhere to make myself stop.

I was thinking about it the other day on the way home from work and I decided that I'm going to give Runza up for Lent, as it would obviously be a great sacrifice for me a great test of will.  The only problem with this decision is that Lent is still a couple of months away and I would still like to lose almost ten pounds before Christmas.  The obvious solution is to give up Runza for Advent.  Matthew and I are going to be making several changes in our spiritual lives for the upcoming season but I thought it would be appropriate to make this change as well.  It'll take a lot of will power and some divine intervention, but if I could give up soda and almost all other restaurants plus make the decision to start going to the gym multiple times a week, there is no reason I can't cut this out of my diet.  It'll probably be way more of a struggle than it should, but I can be very, very stubborn if I want to be.  As a reminder to myself, I'm going to make a bunch of notecards that have my next goal weight on them and put them places I'll look whenever I think about going to Runza or eating anything I shouldn't.

I also have to remember that doing the exercises Matt's trainer planned out for him will be of no use if I continue to consume 1460 calories (SERIOUSLY? HOLY CRAP. YIKES YIKES YIKES.) in one sitting.  I should have looked that up a lot sooner.  Maybe instead of writing my goal weight, I'll just write that number all over the place.  Wow.  As much as I love their support for Nebraska football, it's more than a little difficult to continue to blow my daily calorie count on one meal.

Even though Advent doesn't technically begin until Sunday, I am going to attempt to find a way to control my desire to eat Runza for every meal for the next 25 days.  If I do make it through the 25 days, instead of immediately going out and getting Runza, I've decided to reward myself by buying this:

Instead of rewarding myself by making it through the majority of December without Runza by immediately going there and eating nearly 1500 calories in one sitting, I've decided to reward myself by buying this guy.  Manner is my favorite treat from Austria and it's not easy to find in America.  It's also something that I can make last and won't regret indulging in, bits at a time.  I'm sure I'll find my way back to Runza sometime in January, but I think I'd rather have this instead as I've had my eye on it for like, a year.

Hopefully my strength of will and the prospect of a giant bag of Manner Schnitten is enough for me to make it through the next month without Runza. Wish me luck!

Good Day

I've been to quite a few Husker games at Memorial Stadium and Nebraska has always won.  They have all been great experiences.  There have been more exciting games that I've been to, like watching Alex Henery kick a 50-something yarder to go ahead of Colorado only to watch Suh pick off a pass and RUN OVER the CU quarterback/coach's son for a touchdown to seal the win.  But today's game was far and away my favorite game.

Aside from it being the last home game of the season/Senior Day it was also Tom Osborne's 500th game in official capacity for the University of Nebraska, and his last home game before retiring at the end of the year.  For those not in the know, Tom Osborne is basically the definition of college football in the state of Nebraska.  He was an assistant coach before he was the head coach for 25 years and led his team to a bowl game in every single season.  He never won fewer than 9 games in 25 years.  He led the Huskers to 3 national championships and one of the most dominating stretches in college football history.  During the 1995-1996 season, for example, Nebraska won every game with the closest one being decided by a margin of 14 points and the national championship by a margin of 38.  After retiring in 1997, he went on to be a 3-term U.S. Congressman, lost a gubernatorial race, and then became the interim-turned-full-time Athletic Director in 2007.  There's hard to find one bad thing to say about the man.  I think it's best summed up by this story: a state legislator for Nebraska wanted to make the point that the general populace is a bit sue-happy so he tried to bring a lawsuit against God.  When the courts said he couldn't sue God because he couldn't be served, the legislator sued Tom Osborne instead, stating that he was as revered as God by the people of Nebraska.  Needless to say, we take our football seriously here.  But Tom Osborne really was and is something else.

I'm sure he was absolutely mortified when they told him this game was going to be a tribute to him and his career, but for everything he's done, he deserved it.  They changed the tunnel walk video to focus on his achievements, had him lead the team out onto the field (!!!), had several "Thanks Coach" videos recorded by various individuals, and had a halftime video full of highlights and people talking about how he impacted them.  One of my favorite clips they showed was this one - especially the part where Lee Corso talks about his record vs. Tom Osborne.

Aside from that, it was also just a hugely dominant effort from everyone on the Husker team.  The game was a fun one to watch, a nice break from the cardiac kids in the last 5 weeks - there's only so much coming from behind to win on the final play a person (or fan-base) can take.  To see all the seniors step up was great.  Only way it could have been better was to have Rex Burkhead back.  It was at least nice to see him suited up for the game as opposed to in street clothes.  Even Matt had a great time.  I think he was hoping I wouldn't notice him cheering and clapping and jumping up and down every time something good happened. :P

Things got interesting after the game though - as we were walking back to our car from the stadium, we were crossing one of the major streets when we had a walk signal when Matt almost got hit by a car.  I mean, this car came probably within two feet of us.  When I turned to look at the car and say some not-so-nice words, he honked at us.  Because it is definitely our fault that we got in the way of his car when he was trying to make a right hand turn even though a) we were pedestrians (who always have the right of way as it is) and b) had a walk signal.  After that super exciting experience of practically seeing my husband run over by a car (not an experience I recommend, by the way) I noticed a random cell phone sitting in the grass halfway down the next block.  Naturally, I picked it up and called the kid's mom (thank goodness there was no lock on the phone!) who got me in touch with her son.  He was a nice kid, but blissfully unaware of any streets/locales outside of Bellevue.  After getting off the phone with him, Matt and I were crossing another street with another walk signal when we almost got run over again.  Apparently no one in the city of Lincoln knows how to follow traffic laws.  I guess I missed the memo where making a left hand turn when there are pedestrians in the cross walk is totally legitimate - no big deal if you almost run them over.

Anyway, so we got back to our car and went to the gas station where I suggested that we meet the kid who's cell phone we had.  I called his girlfriend to let them know we were there and he apparently thought we were meeting in Omaha.  I guess my saying 84th and Cornhusker wasn't clear enough even though I said, "It's on the way out of Lincoln, about halfway to Waverly."  We ended up having to double back because the on-ramp we tried to take was closed and go seriously out of our way to get the kid his phone.  We were a little aggravated the whole time because we were just trying to do the right thing and it was causing way more drama and stress than it was worth.  Of course, when we finally got to where we were meeting in Bellevue and gave the kid his phone back, the look on his face made it all worth it.  Knowing how much he appreciated it and the fact that he had some really treasured pictures and things on there he hadn't gotten a chance to transfer off the phone yet made me glad that I was the person who found the phone.  It made all the hassle completely worth it.  It just felt good.

I got to spend a fantastic day with my wonderful husband (who I appreciate so much more after the way-too-scary traffic fiasco) celebrating a college football legend and watching the Huskers put up a great win in addition to really helping someone out.  Plus, I was wearing my skinny-day jeans today and they were loose.  I'm just going to add 16 points to the Win column for today.  I don't think I can find anything to complain about.

And just for fun, a few pictures:

 Post first-score balloons floating into the sky

The view from our seats - surprisingly good!

Husker game number 3 together!

Milestones/Wedding Dress

After another so-so week at the gym (and probably not eating as healthily as we should), Matt and I spent a decent amount of time at the gym on Friday evening.  He started with his new trainer and I did intervals on the treadmill while they were working.  Once Matt learns all the exercises, we'll be doing the workouts together on days he's not meeting with his trainer.  In the meantime, we are way more motivated to get to the gym.  It will be great for us.

Even with the last couple of weeks not being the best in terms of working out, we went to watch the Husker game yesterday with my mom and sister and my mom pointed out that she could tell I'd lost weight when she saw me walk in.  Compliments like these are the best - when someone who hasn't seen you in a while points out that you look better than you did the last time.  I know that I've lost weight because the scale tells me so, but I see myself every day so I don't get to see the changes as much as someone who sees me less frequently which is why it means so much to hear it from someone who doesn't see me every day.

This, combined with the fact that I finally collected my wedding dress from my dad's place and it's just been sitting alone in a closet for 2.5 years, made me want to try on my wedding dress just to see how it fit compared to my wedding day.  I was a little hesitant as I knew I'd put on weight since then.  As it worked out, it fit significantly looser than it did on the actual wedding day.  The cap sleeves were hanging off my shoulders and there was a good inch around my middle.  I honestly couldn't believe it.  It also reminded me why I LOVE LOVE LOVE that dress so much. Here's a picture from the day:

Is it terrible that if I could, I would wear it every day cause it's shiny and pretty and sparkly and princessy?

Even though I have a lot of weight left to lose, it's fun to find ways to motivate myself and to remind myself that I am making progress and a lot of times, the progress I'm making is more significant than just the number on the scale (which, thankfully, continues to drop).  I haven't checked whether I fit into my high school skirt yet, but I have one more goal I'd like to hit before I try it on again.

For a long time, I wondered if I'd ever find the motivation to actually attempt to lose weight.  It's something I've tried to do several times over the years between high school and now.  I always got a good start and then something happened to impede my progress.  I think I've finally gotten to a point where I can be slowed down some days or weeks, but I always get back to it.  Having a partner as amazing as my husband to lean on has made all of the difference.  And trying on my wedding dress today (even if I was only wearing fuzzy socks and not the pretty pretty princess shoes I purchased to wear with the dress) reminded me why I married him in the first place and how happy he makes me; that I am so lucky to be married to such a wonderful man.  I love that this has become a two-person effort. :)

I can't wait to see the end results whenever we get there.  The sweetest part will definitely be knowing that we did it together.

Tschüss!

The Huskers are going to make me die of a heart attack at the age of 30.

I was born in Nebraska.  For those not aware, this automatically means that I am a passionate Husker fan.  The six years I lived out of state made me obsessively passionate.  With that said, the last few weeks have been a little much to handle.  As the title of this post might suggest, the games have been stressful to say that least.  We've become the comeback kids.  I am incredibly happy that we are winning our games; I just wish that we would win them in not-so-dramatic fashion.  It is really hard and really frustrating to keep watching teams roll right over us for the first three quarters.

Today, after the first three quarters and then watching Michigan State run it back for a touchdown (or what I assumed was a touchdown - I turned the TV off before the player crossed the goal line) giving them a 17 point lead, I couldn't take it anymore.  I had so much frustration built up that I was giving myself a migraine (I get them from all sorts of things and stress is definitely a migraine inducer for me) and I just needed a break.  I didn't want to watch a heartbreaking loss after finally having a chance to take control of the B1G Legends division.  I turned off the TV, vented to Matt, and then had an overwhelming desire to go running.  I needed a way to fight the nervous energy and all I wanted to do was workout.  So we changed clothes, went to the gym, and I started running.

In the meantime, I was trying to avoid the game until someone clapped.  I caved and turned on the game to see the "controversial" pass interference penalty in the end zone.  I noticed that we were only down by three with 17 seconds left and I got excited.  I was running my heart out when the Huskers scored and I inadvertently threw my hands up in the air and screamed "TOUCHDOWN".  And then I realized that I was at the gym and not at home so I clapped my hands over my mouth and looked around and the guy on the bike behind me smiled and gave me a thumbs up.  I love this state.

I missed the amazing comeback and I feel a little embarrassed that I lost faith in the Huskers, but instead of channeling my nervous energy into something negative, I turned it into something good - a nice workout.  And while it may sound ridiculous to a lot of people to be this passionate about something as seemingly insignificant in the grand scheme of things as a football team (I know most of my in-laws think I'm clinically insane for this reason), it is a huge deal here.  It unites the entire state and makes you feel like you belong to something bigger.  Besides that, when I love something I do it 400%.  I don't know how not to.

Mostly I'm excited that I turned all of my negative feelings into something positive - a step toward getting healthier.  The Husker win doesn't hurt either.  Go Big Red!

Happy Blog-aversary to Me!

Welp, it's here.  I cannot believe it's been a year since I started this thing.  I know I've said some variation of that phrase far too much in my last few posts, but it's completely true.  I cannot believe how fast time has gone.  As promised, I'm going to do a recap and look at where I was then vs. where I am now with regard to the three goals I had a year ago today.

1. Lose weight and get healthy

I have definitely gone back and forth on this goal, but I think for the time being (and hopefully far into the future) I'm doing well.  My specific goals were these:

• To eat better (cutting out almost all fast food, soda, and junk food)
• To get more (or any) exercise
• To be more informed about the things I'm putting in my body

I'll start with the pros: I have not had soda in over a year.  I don't remember exactly when the last time I had soda was (I want to say it was on the leg of my flight to Europe) but I have stuck to my guns with this one.  I know how many calories are in a can of soda and I've just decided that it's not worth it.  There's nothing good about any of it, so I don't drink it at all - no exceptions for mixers with alcohol or even for something like a root beer float.  It's been incredibly challenging at times, but as time has passed it has gotten easier.  People act like giving up soda is a crazy challenge and impossible to do, and I want to laugh.  Is it hard? Absolutely.  Is it the dramatic, life-altering event that people seem to think it is? Definitely not.  It's so worth it.  I don't even want to think about the calories that I was wasting on sugary drinks.

As far as fast food and junk food, I feel like I've done better with those.  Aside from my being a Runza-holic (which I have seriously toned down in the last couple of months) I have made big progress here.  The last two months have been HUGE in this regard.  Matt and I have seriously limited the amount we've been eating out.  We've been very good at sticking to a menu (or at least improvising with what we have when we just haven't felt like eating what was planned).  As far as junk food, it isn't something we really have in our house and definitely not something we purchase often.  We had a stressful day this past week and kind of vegged out that night with ice cream and all sorts of crazy stuff, but typically I don't eat it.

I've also been pretty consistent with exercise - at least lately (excluding this past week).  The last week was an off week for me, but I will be back at the gym next week and working out with a passion.  I don't like it when the number on the scale goes up, so I am really motivated right now.  With Matthew getting a personal trainer, we are both more motivated than ever.

The cons:  The biggest thing I haven't done that I really wanted to was learn more about what I'm putting in my body.  I had plans to basically go through a food label and learn what each item was, what my daily intake of that particular item should be based on my caloric intake and I have yet to do it.  That will be goal number one for the coming months.  I hope to learn enough that I can formulate a diet for Matthew and myself that really conforms to our goals.

2. Learn fluent German

This goal is pretty straight forward.  I think that I was setting myself up for failure here based on the fact that there was no way I was going to learn fluent German in a year without living in a German speaking country.  I have made huge strides in learning German and I know a lot, but I am not close to being fluent.  I'm still kind of uncomfortable actually speaking the language, but I've (sort of) gotten over my fear of writing in German to native speakers.  With the big trip to Austria next year, I have a timeline and several goals still to accomplish.  I want to finish Rosetta Stone and work on really memorizing the genders of nouns as well as the prepositions and pronouns.  German is an incredibly complex language.  Some days I feel like I've got it down pat and the next day I just want to rip my hair out because I feel like I'll never understand it all.  The fact that I have people who are so willing to help me has made all the difference.

3. Move back home

Woohoo!  Total success here.  Not only did we move to Omaha, we bought a house.  Matthew and I have a conversation at least once a week about how happy we are that we moved here.  We both have jobs we really like with great schedules.  I can happily check this one off the list.

I have some pretty clear goals as far as fitness and German go, and I'm adding one more to the list for the next 12 months: financial fitness.  I'll save the details of this one for another blog post, but when I started this blog I wanted to become a better person and there are so many ways that I can better myself and that Matthew and I can better ourselves as a couple that I don't want to just give up now.

My last goal for this coming year is to write 52 blog posts - one every week.  Maybe I'll fit it into my schedule and have a set day for blogging, but I doubt it.  I like spontaneity.  This way, I can really hold myself accountable and I don't end up with 20 posts that start with "I know it's been awhile, but..."

I want to end with a picture comparison - I haven't lost a ton of weight in the last year (~15 pounds) but here are pictures of me then and now:

Me last year inside an Austrian tank (this may have been the highlight of my life)

Me earlier this week with my favorite food of all time, a Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake

I still have a long way to go, but comparing these two pictures makes me feel like there has been progress made and motivates me to keep going.

Ich freue mich sehr auf das nächste Jahr! (I'm very excited for the next year!)

Tschüss!