Day 515 - Foodie Penpal Reveal

❤️Happy Monday friends!!!  We are flying back to Indiana today after an AMAZING vacation in Florida.  I am glad to be getting home, but wish I could stay here as well.  Today my post will be my foodie pen pal reveal.  This is so much fun and I encourage you to participate!

My pen pal for March was Lee Crawford from Texas.  The food box he sent me had a Tex-Mex theme.  My sister and nephew were visiting the day I received the box, so my entire family had a huge tasting party of all the goodies.  We had so much fun!  Even better was the map of Texas so we had fun locating the town Lee was from! Here is what was in the box:

Handmade Chili lollipop - This was SPICY!  We all tried it and then sent it home with my sister to give to her hubby who LOVES spicy food.

Vanilla cream candy - YUMMY, but very sweet and rich

Hazelnut and vanilla cream spread - This was delicious

Pulparindo - This was a fig/chili pepper candy in the consistency of a fruit roll-up.  It was not gross, but not great either.  Quite an interesting texture and flavor

Chinchurritos - These are little air puffed snacks.  They were tasty.  My 3 year old nephew decided they were his favorite and he took the bag to try to eat them all.  They were not too spicy!

After offering him a bite, he took the whole bag!!!

This is Mole sauce.  I have not had a chance to try this yet, so I will update when I do!

These were little snack cake like things with a raspberry filling!  YUMMMMMMMMY, but dangerous to my healthy eating plan!

Ranch Sunflower Seeds - the kids enjoyed these (I think their favorite was being allowed to spit out the hulls)

Mango flavored soda - We put this in the fridge to try and then forgot about it.  We will try it when we get home from vacation and I will update then!

Chili flavored corn sticks - These were a bit spicier, but they were good!

These Conchas were a little puff pastry like thing.  Not real sweet, but tasty!

These are dried chili peppers.  I have not had a chance to try these yet.

These were a chili-lime flavored corn chip.  YUMMY!!!!

Here’s some details about FPP in case you want to join in:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 

-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. 

-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. 

-Foodie Penplas is open to US, Canadian & European residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. Same with Europeans.  

Click here to go to the site.


That is it for today  I will get back to my regular posting this week! Sending you all love and healthy wishes!!!!

Keep Losing,
Kari

Day 514 - Sum it Up Sunday

 



Sending you all love and healthy wishes! Tune in tomorrow for my Foodie Pen Pal reveal!

 

Keep Losing,

Kari

Days 512-513 - Where is your past?

We are still enjoying our time in Florida. Yesterday we took the boys to the Fantasy of Flight. It is an airplane display and museum. It was really cool and we even got to walk through a B-17 Bomber. Here are a few pics:

Flying car- made it off the ground my 6 inches!

Today it has rained most of the day.  We went to the Florida Natural visitor center and watched a video about how they grow, pick, and make their orange juice.  Then we had an amazing lunch and wandered around the mall. I even found a Starbucks!!!!!! I think I was having withdrawal! I even walked extra at the mall to get my activity in today! Hanging out with my family tonight!

Here is my activity for the past two days:

I have been reading the devotion Jesus Calling and the book Let Hope In.  Over the past couple days these two passages have really stuck out to me:

I am really working on trying to live in today! Yesterday is over, I can't change the past.  Tomorrow is never guaranteed. The only thing I can do is live each day to its fullest potential. My past is not nearly as traumatic as some people's, but we all have things that have happened to us, but the past is the past. 

That is it for today! One more full day here until we head home on Monday! Sending  you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

Day 511 - Thursday Weigh-In

Today is weigh-in day.  I found a place down here to weigh in.  I have been pretty on plan this week and stayed active.  I knew I needed to weigh in for the accountability. It is such a mental game for me.  If I know I will miss a weigh in, I tend to veer off course.  So here are this week's results:

I was up 4.8 pounds! Eek! Moving on though and not letting it stop me!!!!!!!!! I could name a bunch so possible reasons, but it is what it is! 

Activity for yesterday:

Activity for today:

We had an amazing dinner out at a place called The Cherry Pocket last night.  I had a salad with their homemade cherry dressing, blackened tuna, green beans, and fresh veggies,  it was soooooo good and I couldn't even finish it all. 

Here are a few pics from our walk through the gardens at Bok Tower yesterday. It is a beautiful place. 

And we even saw this cute baby gator in the canal near my parent's house yesterday. 

Today we had a girl's day. We had a lunch at a nice little tea room and shopped all day!!! I am really enjoying my time here. 

That is it for today. Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari

Days 508-510 - I'm a part of this world!!!!!! And new shirt pic

Hey everyone.  We are still having a blast in Florida! Monday we went to Gator Land. We had beautiful weather and really enjoyed seeing all the gators and birds.  

Even this gator can resist temptation of this bird!

Loved seeing this bird with her babies!!!!

This is my favorite flower!!!!!

My oldest Robbie on a gator!

My youngest Matthew on a gator!

My whole family holding a gator and a snake!

Tuesday we went to Downtown Disney! Again, beautiful weather. I really enjoyed shopping and we had a delicious lunch. 

We ate at Fulton's Crabhouse and my food was soooooooooo good!!!!

Then we did some shopping. Here are a few of my goodies:

New socks! Love that the front says "Hi" and the back says "bye" and they are mismatched!!!! I also bought myself a new phone case with my favorite Disney character on it, Ariel. 

I also got an Ariel coffee mug! Love how the back says "when I wake up I'll be part of that world"

Here is my favorite purchase.  I wanted this shirt 2 years ago when I visited, but I was wearing a 5x at that time and this shirt only went up to a 2x.  And look, I'm in it today!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited and it makes all the hard times along this journey worth it!

They had a running store there!! I actually didn't feel silly walking in still being obese. I bought myself two new pairs of Feetures socks  and a trial of body glide.  Hubby got fitted for some new walking shoes. Everyone in this store was so nice and helpful. 

Last night we had dinner out. They had this red pepper rice vinegar for a salad dressing.  It was soooooo good and only 1 point+ for 2 tbsp. Zero fat!

Still managing it get my activity in. Today we are going to Bok Tower to walk through the beautiful flower gardens. I'll take lots of pics. 

That is it for today. Ready to spend another wonderful day with family!!!!

Keep Losing,

Kari

Days 504-507 and some AWESOME NSV's

   

Hi friends!!!! We have been having a blast in Florida so far!!! We arrived Thursday and enjoyed catching up with family. Friday we relaxed and made a grocery store run. We went out for dinner Friday night and I had an amazing meal of blackened mahi mahi, baked potato, green beans, and a salad.  Saturday I took a 5 mile walk from my parents back into the state park and we had a fish fry that night. Today we went to a flea market and took a beautiful and exciting boat ride. I have been good staying on plan with my eating and activity so far while on vacation.

     

       

 Thought I would share a few pics with you all. 

My two boys and my nephew!

My little family

Me and my momma

Out on the lake this evening. 

I also wanted to share 3 MAJOR NSV's (non scale victories) with you. 

1. On the airplane, I did NOT need a seatbelt extender!!!!!!!!!!

2. We ate at a restaurant with plastic chairs and I didn't freak out or break the chair

3. I spun around and around in a barstool (something I would never do at 402.2 pounds)

That is it for today!!!!! I have limited access to the internet here so I will try to post as often as I can! Sending you all love and healthy wishes!

Keep Losing,

Kari