Enlisting Exercise Help

I feel like a Weight watcher's failure. I have been on this program for 3 weeks and I have lost a total of 5 pounds. That's it. I think it's because I've been using too many flex points (the points you get in addition your daily points goal) and not enough exercise. I got a Denise Austin dance video from the library and did that for a while, plus a Tivo'd exercise show on PBS and the occaisonal walk in the neighborhood with Erik. Our evening walks are going to become less frequent because at 9:00 pm here in Waco it's still above 90 degrees and the humidity is stifling. Why does Texas have to feel like Hell's threshold in the summer? Anyway, I have decided to buckle down and get serious. I'm no longer going to use my flex points( except on weekends, and in that case, very limited use). I have also enlisted the help of this man:


Billy Blanks and his Tae Bo program are intense. I got a copy of the Ultimate Tae Bo workout from the library and did it this morning. I nearly died. I was sweating, something I hate to do but is necessary for weight loss, within 5 minutes of doing the workout. This big sweaty black man is going to get my big butt into shape! I hope it works!

Strawberry Cake

I have issues with "Diet Food." The terms"diet," "lowfat," and even "healthy" mean one thing to me-missing out. So far I've tried a couple recipes from the Weight watchers website that are pretty decent. This cake recipe comes from a website that catalogs Weight watchers recipes. I must admit I was skeptical when I first read the ingredients, but it was suprisingly good. Give this recipe a try and don't tell anybody it's "diet food." They'll never know the difference.

1 box white cake mix
6 egg whites, freeze your yolks for another time
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup water
16 oz. frozen strawberries, thawed and drained and mashed up
1 packet sugar free strawberry jello powder

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Pour into bundt pan that's been greased and floured (or sprayed with Pam). Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Once cooled I sprinkled powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!

Say What Amazon?!

Note: This post contains adult content. Do not read if you wish to consume food in the next hour. :-)

Today I was looking up workout DVDs at my local library through their online search engine. I came across a DVD titled "Safe and Strong something or other I can't remember the other words." Anyway, I type in this title to my google search to see if this is a good workout video for me. Turns out it's for old people who need low impact, low energy workout. That actually might be me but I think I can push myself harder than that! The first link that pops up is for Amazon.com where obviously I can purchase said DVD. However........(pause for dramatic effect) in the top left corner I see the "People who viewed your product also viewed this" box. The title of that DVD was "A Young Man's Guide to safer Gay Sex." HELLO! Are you kidding me Amazon? I think I'll stick with my tivo'd PBS workouts, thank you!

Adventures in Weight Loss

I'm coming out people. And no, I don't mean that. I mean I have been on Weight Watcher's for over a week now. At first I didn't think I was going to share this with the blogging world because I happen to be a little sensitive when it comes to the weight issue. However, do to the fact that this blog is about the life of the Fuquas and I'm a Fuqua and right now weight loss is my life I decided it would at least give me some material to blog about. I have started out with a weight loss goal of 18 pounds. So far I've lost 3 of those 18. My BMI is on the upper level of normal and I don't have diabetes, but I just feel gross. Everything seems to have migrated to my tush and gut area and that needs to go. When you're around pregnant people all day you see a few preggo bellies. However a first trimester belly ain't cute on someone who's not pregnant.

I have to hand it to whoever does the advertising for Weight Watchers, because they got me, hook line and sinker. I saw a commercial for Weight Watchers Online, a program they have where everything is done on the internet. You weigh yourself weekly, track your points and activity, get recipes, etc. They have a deal now where you can try it out free for a week. Since I successfully lost the 3 pounds in one week I decided to get a membership for 3 months.

I'll try to share my menus, good recipes, and progress as I go along the next few months. I hope I can encourage anybody who wants to get healthy and lose some weight. Here's to accountability!

George Strait concert

On Saturday Erik and I were lucky enough to go to the George Strait concert in Ft. Worth. It was also the first event at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. Let me just tell you, it was awesome. I still can't believe I got to go to this historic event. The bill was Julianne Hough, Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire, and of course, George Strait. The day of the concert Julianne Hough got sick and Lee Ann Womack flew in from her vacation in Florida to come sing. I'm actually really glad this happened because I love Lee Ann Womack, and she was awesome. We had decent seats, but you'll notice most of my pictures are of the jumbotron.


The view of the new stadium from the parking lot. It has the capacity to seat 100,000 and it has a retractable roof.

So excited to be at the concert!

The view from our seats directly across the stadium from the stage.


Everybody on stage looked really small, and our seats were $80! Those floor seats were $130.


Lee Ann Womack still looking good and filling in for Julianne. I would go see her in concert all by herself.





I wasn't really looking forward to Blake Shelton, but he really surprised me. He's a really good performer and he's funny too.





Reba tore up the place with her singing. She is an awesome performer and man can she sing live. Her band was also really good.





In her red dress after she came out to sing an encore of "Fancy."


The stadium really filled up right before George came on. He didn't start playing until after 9:30 pm.


George's backside.




What an artist. He only has 50+ number one's to sing. I think he sang about 13 or 14 songs.


We had a blast. It was a little unorganized with the people checking your tickets, and they ran out of food several times. By the way, the food was outrageous. Five bucks for a hot dog! I still can't believe I was actually there and got to hear these singers live!

In which somebody FINALLY comes to visit us

I guess my title of this post isn't exactly accurate, because my mother has come to Dallas twice and we've hung out with her and my aunt, plus my dad, grandmother, and Ethan stopped by here to pick me on my way to San Antonio. We were so happy Pam got to come and stay and it gave me an excuse to go to Canton. Let me tell you, everyone needs to experience Canton's First Monday Trade Days. It's one of the largest flea markets in the U.S. and it's pure awesomeness. Acres and acres of flea market booths, from crappy stuff you can get at any yard sale to really neat crafts, clothes, antiques, and too much to name. You have to take a trolley to get around all the different areas, it's so huge. At some point I'll post some pictures of what all I got there.

On Sunday after church we ran up to the law school to get on of Erik's books and decided to take some photos.


The building and grounds of the law school are so beautiful, but really all of Baylor is pretty. As it should be when they're charging so much for tuition!

Sunday afternoon I proceeded to kick Pam's butt in Wii sports. It was her first time playing and she did really well.


Crockett is officially 3 months old today and he has been a handful. He's so playful, especially in the morning after he's been in his crate all night. We've had trouble with housebreaking him, and I took him to the vet today for his next puppy shots and got some pointers from the vet. He's gained 3 whole pounds in the month we've had him. He is not the mellow dog I thought he was, but even when he's being bad it's hard not to love him because he's so darn cute!


Roxy has also adjusted well to Crockett being here. He tags along with her, bites her and barks at her, and she seems unphased. However in this picture it looks like she's tell me, "Please do something with this annoying little &^$*(%!"


My first and original baby.



Big smile.


We really enjoyed Pam's visit and wish that more people could come see us and that we could make more trips out to TN. Thanks Pam for letting me borrow some of your pictures.
Y'all come back now, ya here?