Beef or Turkey?

I have put on a few pounds recently....  With all the events, birthdays, and events going on, I have been a little too carefree on the booze and greasy food.  Since we finally booked our flight to Chicago and Milwaukee today for Mark's cousin's wedding, I now have a clear goal in mind: losing a few pounds before the wedding...especially since I am going to be meeting lots of Mark's family for the first time.  The wedding is the weekend of July 16 so I do not have much time.  Two weeks to be exact.  Yikes.

Today, our office is ordering lunch out in honor of Donna, a very special co-worker whose last day with our company is tomorrow.  I thought our office was going to order lunch from Jason's Deli.  I was very happy with that since there are many nutritional options (my plan was to order a garden salad with grilled chicken on top).  However, I was just informed that Donna decided on MOOYAH.  Great....  Burgers.  Fries.  Temptation.

Thankfully, most food establishments are now putting all of the nutritional information about their menu items online.  This is good for people like me so that I can put my favorite fattening foods into perspective and make better choices for myself.

I would normally order a regular burger on a whole wheat bun with American cheese.  Most of the time I also order a small or regular fries on the side.  At MOOYAH, the difference between a regular burger and a Jr burger are the patties (two patties on the regular and one patty on the Jr).  I started thinking I should probably do the Jr burger instead of the regular burger.  Here is the difference in nutritional values (with a whole wheat bun and American cheese on both):

	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Fiber	Protein	Sugars	Sodium
JR	441	25.5	26	1	25	2	971
Regular	672	43.5	26	1	41	2	1262

I started feeling more guilty about ordering a Jr burger with beef once I saw an option for turkey.  I know they turkey burgers don't taste as yummy, but with all the veggies, maybe I won't notice the difference?  Once I looked up the difference in nutrition, I knew I had to choose the turkey burger:

	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Fiber	Protein	Sugars	Sodium
JR	441	25.5	26	1	25	2	971
Turkey	380	15.5	26	1	32	2	760

Now for the fries.  My boss, Shelly, asked me if I wanted to split an order with her.  This is a much better option than ordering my own so I said, "sure."  We decided to split an order of regular fries.  Then I started thinking....  Maybe we should just split a small order?  Done.  I ordered a small for us.

I know this is pathetic, but for someone that loves food (especially fatty foods), this is my thought process.  I am patting myself on the back now.  Hopefully this is the start to a successful run on losing a few pounds in the next couple of weeks.  Wish me luck!

Donna McCright, our former benefits account manager

Dallas Mavericks: The New NBA Champions

What an emotional, well-deserved championship victory for the Dallas Mavericks.  This is the first championship for the Dallas Mavericks (who have been around since 1980).  They defeated the Miami Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with a final score of 105 - 95.  This is the first title of any kind for a Dallas sports team since the Stars won the NHL championship in 1999.  What a great victory for the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Mark Cuban, the city of Dallas, and all of the loyal fans (including Mark, the biggest, die-hard fan).

Our star, Dirk Nowitzki, did not have his best shooting game last night as he finished the night shooting 9 for 27 (at one point he was 1 for 12); however, Dallas just showed the world that they are a complete, versatile team as everyone else stepped up their game and contributed to the win.  The victory happening on Miami's home court made the win even sweeter as five years ago, the Heat defeated us in Dallas.  Redemption.

Owner March Cuban said, "Everybody in the world was calling us the one-and-done boys, but this team has so much heart and so much determination." 

Dirk Nowitzki was named Finals MVP.  "Just this feeling to be on the best team in the world is just indescribable," he said.  "We're world champions.  It sounds unbelievable."

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten tweeted, "I love how dirk just walked off the court!  13 yrs of going to work everyday perfecting his craft!  It was all about the journey for him!  Congrats mavs!  Amazing to see the hard work they put in pay off!  They weren't about the talk, instead exhausting all efforts to winning!"

I love this from Jason Terry, "City of Dallas, we're coming home...this team has the heart the size of Texas.  Champions - that's all you gotta say."

The Dallas Mavericks are clearly the better team.  They know how to play the game.  They are humble.  They are poised.  They are well-deserving.  They were hungry for the Championship title.  They dominated.  They are the champions.

Here are some of my favorite pictures (taken from the Dallas Morning News):


The Dallas Mavericks celebrate with the trophy after winning game six of the NBA Finals

between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Arena

in Miami, Florida, June 12, 2011.



Dallas Mavericks shooting guard, Jason Terry, and Dirk Nowitzki
embrace after the fourth quarter.

Dallas Mavericks power forward, Dirk Nowitzki, holding the MVP trophy, and Dallas Mavericks
point guard, Jason Kidd, with the Larry O'Brien Trophy share a hug
on the podium after winning the NBA Finals.

Dirk Nowitzki shows how he drinks his champagne with his right hand after he was asked

if he had any problems holding the bottle in celebration after winning in game six of the NBA Finals.



 Dirk Nowitzki drinks champagne as he is escorted to another interview.

Now, for those of you that do not know, the hubbs is the BIGGEST Dallas Mavericks fan that you will ever meet.  In fact, he actually mentioned to me yesterday that this was more important to him than the Dallas Cowboys winning the Super Bowl.  WHAT??!!  Anyway, he wanted to have a watching party for the game.  He invited a few of his friends along with his family over for swimmin', grillin', and watchin' the Mavs in the final game. 

Here is a video of the gang when the Mav's clinched the title of the NBA Champions:

Of course, after the game, Mark was very anxious and excited.  He did not know what to do with himself.  What a better way to celebrate and let out his excitement than to go to the watching party at Victory Park with all the other thousands of crazy Mav's fans?!

It was a very eventful night for Mark but he got very sick this morning!  He promised me that he would be back to his normal self soon, and he apologized for his psycho-ness the past few weeks.  Needless to say, it will be very nice to have my husband back.  :)

Here are a few pictures of us at a Mav's game in the first playoff round.

Having a few drinks at the Jack Daniel's club

Mark and his buddies

Angela and Me

Dirk and his free throws

Yes, we had nosebleed seats....

But Mark still caught a T-shirt...crazy!

We ended the night saying hi to Dee at the ESPN suite

Glad I got to at least attend one game during the play offs (Mark was a little luckier and attended another when the Mav's clinched the Western Conference championship...).

GO MAVS!!

A Special Anniversary

Yesterday was my parents' 28th wedding anniversary. My parents are an incredible couple. They are compassionate, strong-willed, incorrigible, spiritual, honest, self-giving, empathetic, and hard working. While their 28 years of marriage has definitely had its ups and downs, I know they wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Having put up with my brother, sister, and me, they can handle anything. I am sure of it.

Here are a few pictures I dug up of my parents back in the day:

I believe this was at their engagement party at my grandparents' house.

This was at another party in honor of their engagement.



This was at their rehearsal dinner - I love how Mom is wiping something off of Dad's face - he is a messy eater!

My parents' wedding day on June 4, 1983.

I want to share a couple of examples of their kindness and generosity.

This morning, we went to mass at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Plano. The sermon was given by a special guest, Most Reverend Edward Burns, the bishop of the Diocese of Juneau (in Alaska). He explained to us the challenges they face in Alaska. While Diocese of Juneau is a very small diocese consisting of around 12,000 people (approximately the same size of the congregation of the parish we attended), it is spread out on land the size of Florida. He went on to say how there are only nine priests in the diocese which means they have to travel in order to get to the church they are celebrating mass at that day. In Juneau, there is not a "church bell" that rings on the hour when it is time for mass to start. Since the celebratory priest has to get to Juneau by a small aircraft that takes off on water (he described it as a VW Beetle with wings) and weather conditions are always a factor in Juneau, mass time is whenever the people hear the aircraft land in Juneau which could be at any time of the day! I found that very interesting. Anyway, after sharing a few other stories with us about the Diocese of Juneau, he mentioned that a second money collection was going to be taken for the Diocese of Juneau since they are in desperate need of money (and our prayers). Once the collection baskets started going around, my dad took out his wallet and threw a $100 bill in the basket. He said, "We better help Alaska." He didn't think twice about donating that kind of money on the spur of the moment to this diocese in need. My parents could have used that money for so many other things. They already give annually and weekly to their parish in Texarkana as well as other parishes they visit. I found this to be so admirable and honorable. This is just one small example of how my parents are always trying to do what they can for the community and help others. They put others above themselves.

Besides celebrating their anniversary, they came to Dallas this weekend to help move my sister into her new apartment in Denton. She has moved more times than I can count on one hand, but my parents are still there for her every time to lend a hand and get her set up and started at her new place (that goes for any of us kids). They are always there if/when we need them.

I could go on and on about my parents, and I am sure I will have many more opportunities to blog about them, so I will stop there. I just hope that one day, Mark and I will be married for 28 years and have at least half of the character that my parents' do.

Having said that, here is a recap of our weekend....

Friday night, Mark and I watched Salt (with Angelina Jolie). It would have been really good if I could only have understood everything! I went to bed early to get a good night's sleep for my Saturday morning activities. Mark greeted my parents when they arrived around 11:00 pm. Saturday morning, I went for a run with a few people in my running class, then I went to play my tennis match for my USTA Ladies 3.5 league. I played line 1 doubles with Wendy Blackwell and pulled off a win. Overall, our team won 3 lines out of 5 giving us a point for Saturday's matches. My parents spent most of the day moving my sister into her new apartment in Denton. That evening, my brother and his girlfriend came into town, and we all gathered for a few celebratory toasts at my house, and then had dinner as a family at Pappas Bros Steakhouse. This was me and Mark's treat for my family in honor of my parents' 28th anniversary.  It's one of our favorite steakhouses in Dallas.  I know it was very special for them since my whole family was there - my parents, my sister, my brother (and his girlfriend, Erin), and Mark and I. We got home late (and miserably full from dinner) and crashed. Today, Sunday, we went to church, did some things around my house, and then my parents headed out to Denton to help my sister with some last minute touches on her new apartment. Mark worked most of the day yesterday, and is working all day today since there is a Mav's playoff game tonight in Dallas. Here are a few pictures from our evening:



Jeffrey arrived late afternoon.  Sonny immediately flocks to him.



My parents outside of Pappas Bros Steakhouse before dinner.

Mark and I patiently waiting for our food.



My parents were SO happy!!



The whole family (plus Jeff's girlfriend, Erin) with a special Happy Anniversary dessert.



The whole family, again, but with our belly's stuffed!!

Overall, it was a very special weekend for my parents simple because the whole family was together.  I wish it could be this way more often, but as we all know, life happens.  Best wishes to all of you married couples out there...may you be married for many, many happy years.