Day 76 - Meet Joe

It's Monday night, and that means Body Attack class.  I got the this class because it's a great workout, I get to see and catch up a little with CC, and I love our instructor.  Everyone, please meet Joe

Joe makes CC and I laugh and I'm pretty sure that we do the same for him.  This class is a sports-inspired cardio workout for building strength and stamina, and it kicks our butts.  I have said many times that if Joe didn't teach this, I'm not sure I'd go.  He has missed or had someone teach with him a couple of times, and it's just not the same.  I really do enjoy the workout, but I'm extremely thankful to have Joe as an instructor.

Day 75 - Easter Basket

I worked from 11am until 1:45am, and I had to get up and go back again today.  There was a brunch for the guests that stayed in the hotel.  I only had to be there for an hour, but I was not pleased about having to wake up to an alarm clock.  (Side note - one of my favorite things in life is getting to sleep in and wake up whenever my body decides)  I was tired this morning when I stumbled out of my room, but my day got better when I saw this

Even though I'm thirty years old, my mother still makes me an Easter basket every year.  Last year when I was in Michigan, she even mailed it to me.  She's pretty awesome. The tin shown in the picture is my Easter "basket" from when I was a kid.  It's cool that mom still has this and uses it.

I'm not big on Holidays because of all of the merchandising, but Easter is one that I still enjoy for a couple of reasons.  1. It still holds its meaning.  People know that we celebrate Easter as the resurrection of our Lord and Savior who died for our sins so that we could be forgiven. I hope that we all take a moment to let the magnitude of this set in. We are blessed everyday because of the sacrifice of Jesus.  Christ our Lord is Risen!  My next two reasons are very shallow, and pale in comparison to number one, but for blogging sake, I will still mention them.  2.  My last name is Lamb, so I have lots of lamb items.  But, lambs are not the easiest animal to find.  Except at Easter.  Since Jesus was the Lamb of God, marketing people use Easter as a time to sell lambs.  And for people in my family, we buy right into it.  As you can see in my "basket', I have a lamb activity book, a stuffed lamb (which actually has handles and is a purse), and a lamb that I told my mom about from Hobby Lobby that I want to some day put in a baby room.  I know that at that point I won't have the same last name, but as I explained to my Nana today, I will always be a Lamb.  3) The candy!  I laugh even typing that, but it's true.  There are certain candies that only come out at Easter, and they are my favorites.  I bought extra to put in the freezer and ration throughout the coming months.  I had a great Easter with the family, and I hope that you all had a lovely and blessed Easter as well.

Day 74 - A real, live elephant

Today was day 2 of me working the wedding celebrations.  The guests were eating lunch when I arrived, so I jumped in and helped with last minute details.  I was talking to Hala when I heard someone mention that the elephant was here.  Elephant?  I knew that it must have been there for the Baraat (the entrance of the future husband), but I had never gotten to witness one done with an actual elephant.  I took a second to run outside and snap a picture.

People were posing with it before the event started, but I just wanted to see it now because I knew I wouldn't get to watch much of the Baraat.  And, I knew that there would be people everywhere so I wouldn't get a good shot of Christy, the elephant.  The rest of the day was LONG, so I'm glad that I stopped to enjoy this. 

If you have time, go check out http://gregblomberg.com/.  The pictures from this weekend won't be up for a little bit, but he has an entire section of just Indian weddings so you get an idea of how amazing they can be.

Day 73 - Mehndi

As I mentioned, not only did I go home for Easter with the family, but I also had a wedding to work.  I started working weddings for HS about 5 years ago.  She does all kinds of weddings, but has built a name for herself in the area of Indian weddings which is no small feat.  Shameless plug, http://www.eventsbyhala.com/ These events are typically several days long and included different parties and ceremonies.  When I arrived Friday evening for the Sangeet, a couple of ceremonies and celebrations had already take place.  Thursday was the Mehndi party for the bride and her guests.  So, even though they had already done this, she still had a couple of Mehndi artists on hand for tonight's event. 

I am so amazed by the beauty of this kind of art work and the speed at which they do it.  If you ever have the opportunity to get this done, DO IT!  I will warn you that you have to let it dry on your hand for about 4-6 hours, and if you get it on your clothes it will stain.  But it looks beautiful on the skin and lasts for a week or so. 

Tonight's event was really cool.  It is a party for the upcoming wedding.  There are speeches and singing and dancing performances by the family and friends of the bride and groom.  This particular couple decided to do a Bollywood them complete with a red carpet and movie posters that had them as the stars.  The kicked off the performances with hired fire dancers which was neat to watch.  All in all tonight was a success, and just a small peak of what tomorrow holds.

Day 72 - Patcher Poo

After work today, I made the journey home for Easter and wedding weekend.  I had just gotten to my mom's house when I looked over and saw this

This is my kitty cat, Patches.  I lovingly call her Patcher Poo.  She is HUGE.  Part of it is that she's very fluffy, but for the most part she is just fat.  I got her for Christmas my senior year of high school from my boyfriend at the time.  My mother is NOT a cat person, but she allowed me to have the cat on the condition that when I went to college, the cat would go to live at my boyfriend's house.  Well, that didn't happen.  So, for 12 years now, Patches has lived at my mom's house.  Every time I go home, my mom and step dad try to send her back with me, but I haven't lived anywhere that I've been able to bring her.  She is a laid back animal that just wants to be fed and occasionally loved on.  If I could have her live with me, I would, but since I can't, she'll have to stay a mom's.  Thanks mom!

Day 71 - Free Towel

I mentioned last week that CC talked me into going to a cycling class with her on Thursday.  Well, we couldn't do the Thursday class this week, so we went on Wednesday night instead.  The class was pretty small and the instructor had some extra gifts for members since it was a launch week.  Right before class started she handed each of us one of these

I have never been so excited about a towel.  I have said to myself several times that I need to buy some cheap, white hand towels to take to the gym, but I never seem to remember it when I'm at the store.  So, now I have the perfect sweat towel, and I definitely put it to use tonight.  That class kicks my butt, but it paid to go today, in more ways than one.  Thanks Gold's!

Day 70 - Bertolli

I made myself go to the gym after work today.  During my workout, I was thinking about what I was gonna do for dinner.  I didn't want to stop and get something because I would be gross looking and wouldn't want to negate the work I had just done.  Then it hit me that I had one of these in the freezer.

I have tried a couple of different types of Bertolli frozen dinners, and they are all pretty good.  And, they only take about 10 minutes to cook.  That was exactly what I wanted/needed - yummy, quick and easy!