Well, on the last day of 2008 begins the first day of my 30th year of life… in honor of my birthday… I had to share the funniest card I received…

The Truth About Turning 30

The Myth:                                                      The Reality:

Youth Officially Ends                                        Denial officially begins

Favorite music now “Old Fashioned”                  Favorite Music now “Retro”

No relief from effects of Gravity                        Can you say “Loose-Fitting Jeans”?

Fewer Wild Nights on the town                           But Check out that Home Entertainment Center

Still 25 at heart                                                Still 25 on the Internet

Success, Fulfillment, and the respect of              Okay, I’ll give you that one. 

everyone who knows you-

even those annoying Twenty-Somethings

Happy New Year everyone!!! Wishing you the best in 2009!

I debated posting this here or on my personal blog, but I figured, I’d be held more accountable here :)

2009 is going to bring about some changes for me. I hope some big changes. I’m determined to lose at least 60 pounds this year. I’d love to lose more, but I’m trying to be semi-realistic. I’m going to try to do this the old fashioned way, diet, exercise, and whatever else it takes. Let’s face it, a tummy tuck would be nice, but it wouldn’t change my lifestyle much. I want to learn what’s going to keep me healthy, and prevent me from gaining weight all over again. 

Growing up, I was pretty active. I took my Phys Ed classes seriously, and had Tae Kwon Do as an after school activity. I went 3 times a week, at least, and over the years, got my 2nd degree black belt. Yes, I could kick just about anyone’s bootie :). I worked, all in places that did not require me to sit down all day, Lifeguard, Laser Tag Marshall, Retail Stores, etc. I went to the gym every day after work. I did a lot to stay healthy. 

Once I got married, and moved away, I also got into a routine of not so good habits. I stayed at home for a bit, took on jobs that were behind a desk, and forgot all about going to the gym. Well, I didn’t forget, but I sure made lots of excuses to explain away why I didn’t go. It was bad. After 4 years of marriage, I had gained around 30lbs. Then we moved over seas. 3 more  years of working behind a desk, sporadic visits to the gym, and lots of yummy Japanese food. Another 20lbs gained. Next was moving home, pregnancy with twins, and another 30lbs gained. I’m more overweight than I ever wanted to be. It doesn’t show too bad in photos, because I’m good at hiding behind things, or people,  but I see it. I know it. I know that I’m not living the best way I can, and I need to change things, not just for my sake, but for my children. I want to be around when they’re older, and I want to teach them how to live a more healthy life. 

Anyway, I’m going to track my progress on here with a monthly post. I’ll let you know what I do, what works for me, and what doesn’t. If anyone has any advice, suggestions, encouragement.. or even if you’d like me to review any exercise or weight loss products, by all means, please contact me and follow me through my journey over the next year. Thanks everyone!

PS. There will actually be a couple of other moms that I know of that will be sharing their weight loss journey this year as well. With their permission, I’ll add their links to this post later.

Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas! 

Well, we asked and you answered!!! The names have been narrowed down, and we’ve come up with 4 finalists. We thank everyone who gave us names. 

We’re very excited about getting closer to finally knowing what to call our Blog Talk Radio Show!!! 

Please take a moment to vote for your favorite name for our show, and let all of your friends know to come vote too!!!

I’ve never been much of a coffee maker until now. We purchased the Breville Café Roma Espresso Machine a few weeks ago, and I am hooked! The machine is very easy to use and makes some awesome espresso! I’ve even looked up some recipes online to try out. So far, I’ve almost recreated a Gingerbread Latte, and White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha. I love the holiday season! I also love that I can find all of the syrups and flavors at my local restaurant supply store!

Like I said, the Café Roma Espresso is very simple to use! It comes with 2 filters, one for single shot, and one for double shot. We pretty much just keep it on double shot all the time. I put my cups underneath the filter, and turn the dial to brew. When I have enough espresso, I turn the dial to off! It actually comes with a milk frothing pitcher, so I fill it with milk, turn the dial to steam, and use the steam wand to heat up the milk and make a little foam :). It’s awesome! 

I did find Gingerbread flavored syrup at my local store, so I’ll add a little bit of that into my latte, and voila! A Gingerbread Latte! YUM! 

I wanted to mention that I did have one issue with my machine. The pump for the steam wand went out within a couple of weeks of us getting the machine. I was so sad! I need my coffee!!! I called Breville customer service, and was greeted by a friendly CSA. I explained what noise I wasn’t hearing, and what was happening when I tried to use the frothing wand. She offered a couple of trouble shooting options, and when they didn’t work, she told me that the pump was indeed out. She told me that I would need to send my machine back, and that when they received it, they’d ship out a replacement machine. The funny thing was, like clockwork, my girls started fighting in the back ground. Embarrassing, yes, but she took sympathy and changed the rules a little bit. Instead of waiting until they received it, when my package was scanned in by FedEx, they’d ship out the replacement so I’d receive it faster. I thought that was very cool, and she wasn’t kidding! My machine shipped out on a Wednesday, and I had a new one on Friday. Yes.. a new one! If it was a refurbished model, I couldn’t tell. It was pristine AND it came with all of the pieces the previous one was missing! 

Now that I have a working machine, I’m a Latte makin’ machine!! 

I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in an espresso machine to take a look at the Breville Cafe Roma! It’s a great Espresso machine, that’s easy for anyone to use, and I can attest to their awesome customer service!!!

For those of you that don’t know yet, I, along with Christine of From Dates to Diapers and Beyond have our own Blog Talk Radio Show. We did a couple just as a trial, and have had so much fun, we decided to make it a weekly show.. but we’re having a difficult time trying to think of a name for our show!

We’ve decided to open it up to suggestions! We promise to have prizes to whomever chooses our show name!

Here are a few criteria:

We’re moms. We both have a set of identical twins. We both love to blog. We will talk about mommy things, saving money, and how we plan to “live better” throughout the new year. We will also talk about sales, freebies, and happenings across the blogosphere. If you can think of it, we’ll probably talk about it :) Oh, and we’ll even be having giveaways on the show!

Hopefully that’ll make it easier to come up with names…

So, here’s what you have to do:

Please leave a comment with any name ideas you have. If you need some “inspiration”, check out our first two shows on Blog Talk Radio, or just browse around here at Mommy Brain Reports and at From Dates to Diapers. 

Suggestions will be accepted until December 22nd at 5pm PST. Our finalists will be announced on our show on December 23rd, and then the final judging will begin!

We look forward to seeing what you come up with!