Giveaway Winners!

That's right - I said WINNERS. Plural!

Winner 1 - Kimmie of Full Circle. If you haven't been to her blog, please make sure to stop by and congratulate her. She showcases cupcakes...many other things too, but I love love love the cupcakes that come ever Sunday! I visit her blog every day and sometimes twice a day to look at cupcakes. I justify the cupcake stalking by telling myself that it is better to look at them than to eat them. Right?

Kimmie, if you'll send me an email with your mailing address, I'll get the Philosophy set and chasing harry winston sent off to you.


Winner 2 - Brittany Ann of Living in the Moment. Brittany is such an inspiring person. She shares work out tips and is such a genuine person who just cares.

Brittany, if you'll send me an email with your mailing information, I'll get your copy of chasing harry winston in the mail to you!


Thank you all for your entries. I appreciate it. I would highly recommend chasing harry winston for a weekend of lounging or if you're like me & tend to read while you lounge by the pool or at the beach.

Also, for those who have been searching for Shasta, she's back & I must say, may be better than ever! Go share some love with her and let her know you're happy she's back. I'm THRILLED!

Friday Wrap Up

I have been given a few very sweet awards lately & I feel awful that I have not written about them. I'm ashamed to admit that I can't remember who gave them to me or what they were for.

*hangs head in shame*

I'll do better if anyone gives me any more. Pinkie swear.

For a Friday wrap up, I have to share a few things that happened this week.

Big Ticket #1
Remember my co-worker who told me that since I smiled a lot that I was crazy? Well, this week she topped herself. She told me that I'd obviously never worked as anything more than an individual contributor. She also told me that I "didn't get it" either because:

1. I am ignorant
2. I'm playing games to "win the day"

Wow. Doesn't get much better than that. So much for good work relationships with team members. THAT particular goal for 2009 went right down the toilet with those comments.

Big Ticket #2
I hit an all time low in my feelings about myself & my weight. I told Mr. Potts that I didn't want to go & celebrate someone's birthday because I didn't want to be around anyone I knew in a bathing suit. Yes, I went there. I almost let this feeling overwhelm me & intrude on our lives.

I recently began weaning myself from medication which I was told has most likely contributed to a lot of my weight gain. And I've been working out really hard & watching not only what I eat, but how much I eat. I know that I won't see immediate results, but the amount of weight I gained is just ridiculous. So instead of eating these, I'm instead, just looking at the pictures online. Where I can't actually buy one.And I visit Kimmie over at Full Circle. She highlights cupcakes every Sunday. That's a rough one!

So I snapped out of that funk - no way am I going to let this affect what I do - and have been working out even harder & eating even better.

I have read the research that indicates that stress can sometimes contribute to not just weight gain, but also the inability to lose weight.

*Note to self: Must get rid of co-worker*
*Note to self: Not realistic*

Hope you all are having a wonderful Friday & are ready for a long weekend!
If you haven't already, don't forget to enter my giveaway (you can do that by going here). The deadline is tonight at midnight.

A Few Drool Worthy Pictures

**Warning**
If you are hungry right now, you may want to have a snack before you scroll down.
Better now? Ok!

I have been making all these wonderful, yummy dinners for Mr. Potts and myself lately. I've been taking pictures too - just to document that I actually can make roasted butternut squash soup from scratch. I finally, just now downloaded (or uploaded - which is correct?) the pictures. Enjoy!!

Note: If you would like either of these recipes, leave me a comment & I'll be happy to email them to you. I'd post them, but this post is already so long.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Fontina "Grilled Cheese"
The roasting of the squash
The end result
The "Grilled Cheese" Aren't our dishes pretty?

Spicy Chile Chicken Tortilla Bake
Into the oven
Finished productThis is so good, even though it looks really ugly! It has green chiles, a secret hot sauce (given to us by a neighbor), shredded chicken, corn tortillas, cream of chicken & some other things. Kind of like a Mexican lasagna - which is good for me, since I've been craving Mexican food & it isn't really diet/health friendly. At least not what I've been craving.

Side note: I follow Living in Dallas & Loving it! (you should too - she's wonderful!). Kimmie loves cupcakes and on Sundays posts pictures of various yummy ones. She also posted 2 super cute ones for Groundhog's Day. Since she's been posting the yummy goodness, my desire for a cupcake has multiplied 100fold. So yesterday for lunch I went and got one. That was lunch. Oh, and an apple - you know, to make it healthy. These are the cupcakes I picked up (I got one for each of my department members also) - I had the carrot cake (bottom left corner of the picture). I'm going back on Friday for Strawberry. MMMMMMMM
Are you hungry now?