Superbowl turns Superbad!

I got a great opportunity to help raise money for my cousin's softball team for her college during the 2011-2012 Superbowl. We were so excited to be apart of this epic tradition and just could not wait until the day arrived. That all changed when we walked through the doors on Superbowl day.

We got to Lucis Oil Stadium at 8 am that Sunday morning after driving 2 hours from my cousin's house. We jumped on the Bus and headed to the Convention Center where we had to check in. We stood in line waiting for our credential's and when my name was called they said my picture wasn't clear enough so I would have to go stand in another line and retake my picture. (I had already stood in line for an hour) So, I told my Aunt and Cousin to go ahead and get to our station where we were going to be working that day. We were thrilled to be working at the VIP Pre-bowl party as well as the VIP Post-bowl party! Maybe we will see stars galore....NOT.

So, it is now 9am and I'm waiting in line to retake my picture. The line was long. Very long. We are now at 10am and I'm still waiting in line. My shift has started! Crap! This is not good. Will I get in trouble for being late? Am I fired?

10:30 rolls around I finally make it into the "room" where I will retake my picture (It looks like a DMV room). They take my name and I have a seat. 4 HOURS LATER they call my name. Yes, 4 hours later I retook my picture. (Nothing to eat, can't go to the bathroom because your afraid they will call your name while your gone). It is now 2pm and the VIP Party is starting! I run to Lucis Oil Stadium and get to the party. I found my "boss", one of probably 10 and we went to get my uniform. White long sleeve shirt, black vest, black pants, black shoes. Definitely not my style!

She gave me a run down of what I was going to do. My job was to walk around and pick up plates, cups, and trash off the tables. It was a lovely party. Ice sculptures everywhere, an ice skating rink, fancy food, bands, cheerleaders dancing, etc.

Ok. Party is over! It's now 4pm and it's clean up time. Kick off was at 6:30 and we were hoping to catch it. I find out a little later that we are not alowed to leave the ballroom. Period. Now granted, we are right across the hall from the Visitor's locker room and probably 20 steps from where the players run out onto the field. (You have no idea how badly I want to just run out the door and into the locker room!).

It is almost kick off time and I am starving. I haven't eatten since 5:30am and need food. We haven't had a break yet. Each employee recieved a pass to get 1 FREE meal, 1 FREE drink, and 1 FREE snack while we were at the stadium. If we can't leave the ballroom we sure as heck can't get food now can we? So we ate the left overs from the party. This made me feel like a dog getting to eat the scraps after the humans were finished with their meal.

We end up sitting around until half time comes around. There are 2 massive TVs in the room so we were excited to see the half time show. (I'm thinking to myself this is so insane that I can't walk 20 steps and see it in real life...I have to watch it on a big flat screen). Oh well. At this point I don't even care where or how I see it. 2 minutes into the show a chef walks by and says we need to go help someone move a table. So we did; (after not so kind words to each other).

The Giants win the game and now it's time for the After Party. I was in charge of the desert table. (There is only 1 desert table and I'm going to be feeding 500 people). The boss lady tells me that I will be the only one serving at this table. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Everyone knows that the first thing most people do is go get desert because they are afraid that it will be gone by the time they eat there main course. It was hard. I had to go back and forth getting new trays of Sugar Cream Pie Shots, Deep fried Cheesecake, Lemon Bars, Grilled Pound Cake, and Fresh Fruit. I had 10 minutes to memorize what was in each desert and the fancy names before the party started.

The party is over. Long story short we left at 1am, got home at 3:30 am and I was headed back to Arkansas at 8am that morning. We were not allowed to buy any souviouners, eat any stadium food, and took 1 break for 20 minutes after the first party was over. From being at the Convention Center at 8am and leaving the Superbowl at 1am, I was there for 17 hours with 1 break. We didn't see a single celebrity because what celebrity would go to a party with 500 people and eat at a self serve buffet? That's what I thought.

I am a huge football fan and was so excited to take part in the Superbowl. After that experience, I will never do anything like that again. I'm glad I helped raise money for my cousins softball team but that is it. No good memories came from it. Except maybe a picture of the stadium.

Losing weight

Like many women, the thought of dieting sucks. Knowing your going to have to change up your diet and start working out never intrigued me. Until Weight Watchers.

For the past 4-5 years or so, I have been wanting to loose somewhere around 20 lbs. Every time I would tell my husband I'm going to loose 20 lbs, he would say in a very low tone voice "You always say your going to loose weight but you never stick to it." He was also right every time.

When I first met my husband I weighed 118 lbs and felt pretty good about myself. I never worried about what shirt was going to cover my stomach to hide the forming roll and didn't really worry about weight in general. Now granted, I was also 18. I am now 25 and before starting my diet I was weighing in at 155. Yeah, that hurts. It was New Years Eve, 2011 when I told my husband for the last time, "I'm GOING to loose 25 lbs."

January 1st, 2012 I started Weight Watchers. Wow! The first 3 days were torture for sure. After figuring out a routine, I had lost 5 lbs my first week in! PRAISE JESUS! It's working! What great motivation I had to keep on doing it. Weight watchers is a point system. Based on my weight and height, I have 26 daily points I can use. For example, a regular peanut and jelly sandwich is 9 points. Yeah, that puts things into perspective doesn't it. After being on the program for a couple weeks, I realized what I used to eat was so awful and I'm very suprised I didn't weigh heavier. I sat down one night and figured out that I was probably taking in 3,000 calories a day. Now, I take in about 1,000. It does not sound like much, however I eat a ton of fruit that does not contain many calories and keeps me full in between meals.

Here is what I eat on a normal day:

Breakfast: A thin round all wheat bun with extra crunchy peanut butter. (No jelly because of high sugar content)
Mid Morning Snack: Banana and sometimes an Orange too
Lunch: Tuna Can with 6 wheat crackers (I LOVE TUNA!) and a Fiber One bar
Mid Day Snack: Another Banana
Dinner: A small portion of whatever we fix for dinner EXCEPT no fried food or dessert.

It's dieting. I've learned so much from dieting and I'm loving it.

When it comes to working out, I'm not insane by no means. I work at a place that keeps me on my feet most of the time so that helps. I've rode my bike a little. I feel I'm at a stand still with my weight loss so, tomorrow I will be getting a gym membership at the Fayetteville Athletic Club! I'm so excited!! I plan on taking these classes: Body Pump, Aqua Aerobics, Cardio Tennis, and Body Combat.

As of today, I have lost 12 lbs! I'm losing about 2 lbs a week and I think that is a healthy and exciting thing!

Praise Jesus!