Happy Hump Day!

Heehee. She said "hump"!

So much has happened since I last blogged! I'll try to be concise, since I have a tendency to ramble. 

First off, Steve and I got in a workout before we headed to Knoxville to surprise my BFF for her birthday. 

 It was so nice having the Hubs with me! No music, just hanging out and working out. I wish we could do that more often!

After the workout, we washed up and hit the road to KnoxVegas! By some miracle, I talked Steve into going down early to do some shopping. And miracle of all miracles, he bought more than I did!!  

I'm so proud! 

After shopping, we checked in to our hotel to freshen up. 

And by freshen up, I mean to make this gorgeousness happen.

Trust me, the blurriness helps. 

We had the surprise party at my favorite restaurant in Knoxville, Pelancho's. Yeah, it's just your regular ol' Mexican place, but it still holds a special place in my heart. 

I took this picture to show you the position I was in by the end of the night....

Birthday cookie cake! Is there anything better than cookie cake? Not much!

It's Happy Birthday time!!

The best thing about this picture is that Alisa is a bit of a germophobe. Or more accurately, she just gets the willies about strangers and food. So that makes this picture HI-larious!!!

Feliz cumpleanos! Or whatever "birthday" is in Spanish.

The birthday girl and her groom!

This cat balloon is the result of a private joke they probably wouldn't be happy about me posting online. But just know that it was cute of him to get it for her!

Ok. Alisa's birthday was all well and good, but the highlight of the evening was the "Great Claw Machine Contest". One of Alisa's friends had brought their children, and for whatever reason, Steve decides to try to get her something out of one of those claw machines. 

Now, Steve is a Jedi at those claw machines. It's his super power. So, he moseys right up, grabs a little elephant for the little girl, and calls it a night. 

 Steve working his magic.

So, again, for whatever reason, our friend Michael decides he wants to win her one, too. He has a blue Snuffleupagus thingy in his sights, but about $5 later, it's still in the machine.

Cue every male in the building accepting the Snuffleupagus challenge! I wish I had pictures of everyone's attempt, but I don't. 

#bloggerfail

And here's the Pelancho's employee giving it a try.

And just look at the sweet little girl hoping that Snuffleupagus gets outta there!

All the excitement starts to draw a crowd...

And finally! Success!

Pelancho's has a very affirming bathroom....

After Pelancho's, we after-partied at a new (to me) place called Drink. It's really a cool place, and if you are ever in the Bearden area of Knoxville, I highly recommend it!

Gigi, yours truly, and Alisa (the birthday girl)

Andrew really enjoys drinks with lots of citrus fruit. 

Sunday involved lots of Goody's powders and one baby shower.

Look at these adorable fruit sculptures!

There were a ton more of these things, and I thought I had pictures. Oops again. Apparently this baby is craving buttloads of fruit, because there were watermelons and cantaloupes all over the place.

My potuckered out baby after a hard-playing night with Meme and Papaw! 

Hey, Jack.  Eating Moon Pies and Popsicles for 36 hours is exhausting.

That sweet sleepy baby had a bit of a runny nose on Monday, so I didn't want her going to the nursery at the gym. I ended up doing Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 again. 

Tuesday started an emotional train wreck for me. Caroline had to go for her Kindergarten testing.

She's got that pose down pat!

I wasn't allowed to go in with her, but the teacher came out all grinny and said she did fantastic! Gave me a big thumbs up, so I know my girl blew their socks off! I'm proud of her, but I'm still devastated at the thought of her starting big girl school. 

And to top that off, today she had cap and gown pictures made at preschool.

Doesn't that just melt your heart???? 

I swear, this has been tough for me! The thought of her last day at preschool makes my stomach churn. Am I weird? Do other mothers go through this? Seems like most others have no problem with it at all. I just want to keep her in my little bubble for a lot longer than this!! My baby is growing up too fast!

Anyway. I guess I'll survive. She's certainly proud of all these "big girl" milestones, and I have to say that I'm pretty proud of her, too. 

Today's workout, courtesy of Fitness Barbie Lauren Gleisberg

Song of the workout:

This song makes me remember why I'm doing all this! Summer time is almost on us, and I have to be in a bikini in 62 days. It's ON! 

I have to share one last thing before I go. I never really finished those "shopping spree" posts, so I thought I would try to share things as I get them in the mail. This was today's mailbox happy! 

As part of my effort to spruce up our front porch (OMG- I never posted about my new door, did I?), I bought this new garden flag from the aDOORnaments Etsy shop.

Isn't it beautiful?? I'm in love with that burlap bow. Now I want one in every color so I can match my holiday wreaths! 

I definitely recommend this shop if you're looking for a cute new accessory for your home. She ships fast and does great work!

Hope everyone is having a great day! 

XOXO

Shopping Spree, Part Deux

Sorry to cut things short with yesterday's post. I am terrible with time management. 

On to where I left off....

I snapped a picture of me in the American Eagle shorts. I just wish the weather was warm enough today for me to wear them outside today. It is so yucky and gray and rainy here.

After having lost two recent blog giveaways to the etsy shop strongconfidentYOU, I just bought my own. 

Ha! That'll show you, durn Rafflecopter!

Do you remember yesterday when I said I had bought a small in the monogrammed tank and I wish I'd bought a medium? Well, I bought a medium in this tank, and I'm soooo glad I did! It's definitely on the small side. It's snug through the chest and just a little loose through the middle. Just a little, though.

The best part? 

The cute little pink bow in the back! Who can resist a pink bow?!? I sure can't!

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The rest of the purchases are accessories.

JsEverdayFashion posted one of my favorite outfits a while back, and I've wanted a pink bubble necklace ever since. 

I broke down and bought one on eBay awhile back, but since it shipped from China, I just got it a day or two ago. 

I can't wait to put an outfit together with it!

Along those same lines, VeryJane was having a jewelry sale a few weeks ago, and I picked up two pair of bubble style earrings.

Red and Black! Perfect for watching my nephews play football!

You didn't think I'd leave the Minnies out, did you?? 

I have actually bought them several things, but they wouldn't model anything but their brand new jammies. Ella Kate is on a major footie jammy kick lately, and the only pair she has are a size too small. That hasn't stopped her from wearing them, though. Hence the holes in the toes. 

It occurred to me to let her keep wearing them, and maybe she would stay my baby forever. Hubs convinced me otherwise, though. Boo.

Thanks for that photobomb, broom and trashcan. At least you can tell I clean my house from time to time, since there's nothing else in this picture that is evidence of that fact. 

Since I bought new jammies for Ella Kate, I had to get some for Caroline. Her favorite animal is the flamingo (Love that she picked something so random!), and flamingo prints can be hard to come by. Luckily I found these at Kohls, too! And more lucky me, they were a 2fer! Maybe I can get pics of the other set soon.

Oh, I almost forgot. 

Today's workout:
Incline bench chest press
-10lbs 3x25
Flat bench chest press
-10lb 3x25. My 12lb weights weren't where they usually are or I would've used those. Wish I had.
Flat bench chest fly
- 10lb 3x25. Chest flies still kill me.
Cable rope push downs
- 40lbs 2x25. 30lbs 2x25
Cable overhead extensions
-30lbs 4x25

The coverage of the events in Boston was on in the gym, and I'll admit that I stayed fairly distracted. Still got it in, still felt the burn.

 

 

The sad thing is that there are actually more things that I need to post about. Maybe I'll get to that next week. I have a pretty full weekend coming up, so I doubt I'll be posting.

Hope you have a great weekend!

My latest shopping spree

Does this happen to you? I'll go crazy buying stuff, feel guilty and not buy anything for forever, and then turn right around and start over. I can't seem to just be happy with buying something here and there. It's feast or famine around here.

It's feast time, baby!

I've gone a little crazy buying things lately, and I really want to slow down, but I just can't seem to. My shopping list is still a mile long!

Ugh. I think I may be a hoarder.

My most recent (and maybe my mist favorite) purchase is this monogrammed workout tank from etsy. I had seen some like this on the wonderful Marley Lilly website. For whatever reason, I decided to look on Etsy to see if I could find something I liked better, or liked just as much, but with a smaller price tag (not that Marley's are expensive). I found this one in the PoppysandBlooms store, and I am so happy with the results!

Little Caroline photobomb, there.

I bought a medium (8-10). I typically wear a 4, but I wanted this to be a little loose. It turns out that it's made to be a little loose, so I wish I'd ordered my normal size. Just keep that in mind if you decide to order one for yourself.

This is how it stood up to an hour of Muscle Flex followed by an hour of Spin. It's not Dry-Fit, so it absorbs the sweat you give off. I don't mind it so much. It's like a battle wound! I can show that I put in the work today!

I do think it's odd that all the sweat is around the belly. I apparently have a bad case of swamp belly.


Speaking of my workout today, let me go ahead and sneak this in here:

On to more shopping....

I bought these American Eagle shorts when they had their buy 1, get 1 for $10 sale. Steve needed white shorts for our beach pictures this summer, so I bought him some white shorts and these for me. I love them! I didn't get a chance to take a picture of myself wearing them, so just imagine that these are my legs:

Like I said, I typically wear a 4, but I bought these in a 6, and they're still a wee bit snug. yay.

_______________________________________________________________________________

I think this is a tacky way to end a post, but I have worked on this in bits and pieces all day, and I still have things I'd like to add. I'd also like to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, so I'm going to cut this one short. TTYL!

Homemade Protein Bars and Weigh-In Wednesday

Yesterday I had the bright idea to make my own protein bars. I ran across this post from Eat Yourself Skinny that gave me a perfect recipe. I made a few tweaks, but otherwise stayed pretty close to her recipe.

 Ain't they purty? 

Servings: 12
Serving Size: 1 muffin
Calories: 124
Fat: 3.8 g
Carbs: 6.9 g
Fiber: 2.6 g
Protein: 16.2 g
Old Points: 2.3 pts
Points+: 3 pts

______________________________

Here are your ingredients:

2 1/2 cups protein powder (I used vanilla, but I don't see what you couldn't use any flavor you like. I plan to try my Nectar Chocolate Truffle next time.)

1 1/2 cups eggs whites (I used Egg Beaters)

3 Tbsp almond flour

2 Tbsp ground flaxseed

3 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk

2 Tbsp water

1 mashed banana (It killed me to add this since I hate bananas, but you can't taste banana in these.)

1/4 cup organic (no sugar added) applesauce

2 Tbsp coconut oil (melted)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

3 tsp. baking powder

Pinch of kosher salt

1/2 cup blueberries (I used all I had on hand. It was a small grocery store container full, plus some of another.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, mash banana with almond milk until smooth.  Add in the rest of the ingredients up to the blueberries and mix well.  Gently fold in your blueberries.

Spoon mixture into a muffin tin sprayed with coconut oil (NOT Pam! It's not strong enough) and fill close to the top.  Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Sprinkle powdered stevia on top and enjoy!

I'll be honest, these aren't going to be the WORLD'S BEST MUFFINS or anything. But, they aren't bad, and they're good for you! Plus, I get some satisfaction in knowing that I made them, and didn't have to open a package when I ate one for breakfast this morning. I've been heating one up for about 20 seconds and drinking a hot green tea with it, since my book says I can't have coffee anymore. Grrrrr!

Today was my first coffee-free day, and it went surprisingly well. Except for the fact that I didn't sleep worth a hoot. However, we can probably blame the Starbie's venti iced green tea I had at 7:30. Oops.  

 ___________________________________________________________

I'm still trying to figure out how exactly to use my MFP calories every day. Yesterday I aimed for the 1400 that Jillian Michaels recommends, and I lost a pound! Maybe she's the plan I should follow. I'll keep reading my book, though, too see if my mind is changed.  

Seeing as it's Weigh-In Wednesday with Erin and Alex, here are my stats for this week:
Weigh-in 4/11: 136.2

Weigh-in 4/17: 135.2

Here's my workout today: It's shorter than usual, but those last sets BURNED! 

Song of the workout: Ms. New Booty by Bubba Sparxx, even though this says Ying Yang Twins. Whoever. This song will put some pep in your step. Take it from me. 

Happy Wednesday, folks! 

The Tragic Side of Fitness

I'm sure by now everyone has heard about the tragic events at the Boston Marathon today. It sickens me to think that there are people out there whose sole purpose is to hurt others. Why? If you're miserable, fine. Be miserable. But why inflict harm on people you've never met and have nothing to do with the sad situation you find yourself in? 

I guess you can't apply logic to messed up jerks like that, but I still wish the world would be a nicer place. I just can't wrap my mind around that kind of anger. 

My heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to those touched by these horrible acts if violence. If you haven't heard about it and are interested in reading more information, HERE'S a link.

On to less exciting talk.

Yesterday I tried Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 video for the first time. 

It's pretty brutal, considering I thought I already had a pretty high level of fitness. You do 3 minutes of strength, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs. The strength wore me out pretty good, but the cardio kicked my tail! It always does. I run a lot, do an hour of Spin twice a week, and I still feel like I get winded easily.

I took a rest day on Saturday, partly because my schedule didn't allow it since there's no childcare at the gym on Saturdays, and partly because I just plain didn't feel like it. I needed a rest day, both physically and emotionally. Not having Hubs with me most of the week was stressful, and my rope was wearing pretty thin. Looking back on it, I sorta wish I had taken some frustrations out on some Jillian Michaels, but oh well.

One thing I want to say about the Ripped in 30 program is that it comes with a free dining plan. This dining plan is at about 1400 calories, with the expectation that you are to do this workout every day. According to my heart rate monitor, I burned about 320 calories. Now, My Fitness Pal allows me to eat 1400 calories even if I don't work out at all, and then expects me to eat whatever calories I burn via exercise on the days that I do. A lot if the muscle building websites say pretty much to eat as much as possible as long as it's mostly meat, veggies, and complex carbs. So what diet theory should we follow? No wonder weight control is so durn difficult!

Anyway. That's confusion for another day.

Here's today's workout. It kicked my boot-tay!! It probably shouldn't have, but by golly, through those last sets, I was ready to hurt someone. Or myself.

No cardio today. Just putting that out there. This is the first time I've ever been to the gym and not done cardio. 

#historicmilestone

Song of the workout:

Howlin' For You by The Black Keys. My iPod really didn't help pump me up, but this song was the highlight of what I listened to today.

I want to do a weekend wrap up, but I think I'll save that for another post. This one is getting awfully long already.

Stay safe, my friends. And hug your loved ones closer tonight. And appreciate your health. And use it to live your best life. And think on those who lost theirs today, and allow that to wash over you and appreciate the life you have to live!

#GodBlessBoston

Jump on the bandwagon with me! ---------->

Have you heard the horrible news? Google reader is going kaput. 

WHY?!?!?! TELL ME WHY!??

Why do things have to change, when they're working so well??? I don't understand.

I guess Mr. Google hasn't decided to call me and ask my input, so I guess this big wheel will keep on a-rollin'. 

It seems like most blogs I follow are moving to Bloglovin' as a follow tool, so I suppose I will, too, until something better comes along, or Mr. Google comes to his senses. 

Come on, push the button. You know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it.

I need a vacation. Or at least a break. Maybe use the bathroom by myself.

Honestly, I have NOT stopped moving today. I just now sat down on the couch to write this out, and I feel like my legs are still moving.

Right about the time I hit "publish" on my post last night, my Daddy texted to tell me that my county was under a tornado warning. 

Which is worse, a warning or a watch? I can never remember. And at 10:30 last night, I wasn't interested in figuring it out. 

I'm never scared of storms (in fact, I love to sit on porches or near windows and watch them), but with Hubs being out of town, I felt like the whole job of protecting the Minnies was on my shoulders. What if I didn't wake up in time?

I knew the chances of something happening were slim to none, but it was still enough to keep me up until at least 1AM. For a girl who is usually in bed by 10, 8:30 this morning came wayyy too early! Thank the good Lord for Minnies who can take care of themselves in the mornings and let me sleep in some!

Of course, I had to head to the gym first thing. It was tough to get there this morning. I was obviously tired, but my body just felt a little heavy and worn down and seriously wanting a rest day. Once I got there, though, I got right into it and felt pretty great! In fact, I decided today to work on lifting heavier. I had decided before to be a low-weight, high-rep girl, but now I'm thinking that lifting heavy might be the way to go (don't laugh that I think a 12lb dumbbell is heavy).

So here's today's breakdown.

Song of the workout: Better Dig Two by The Band Perry. I don't know why this song does it for me in the gym, but it does. It's rather badass, even if it is a love song!

The rest of the day involved cleaning, entertaining the DirecTV guy (we now have the Genie!!!! Squeeee!!!), and doing a little deceiving of the ol' husband while he's in Myrtle Beach golfing his days away.

Our home needs a TON of sprucing up. We have a very nice house, but I'm not the best housekeeper/decorator. So, after being here for 6 years, it's time to start these updates we've been putting off.

My dear Hubs, on the other hand, is perfectly content to leave things exactly as they are. In fact, he's pretty adamant that things stay as is. Maybe cleaned up, but not changed.

One thing I've wanted to change is the front door. Truth be told, I'd tear down the whole entrance and replace with something new. That's more than I can chew at this moment, so I'm just going to have our front door painted. Not only is it just a repaint, I'm changing the color. My house is white, and my shutters and front door are black. Not after tomorrow, though!

I'm painting the door gray. Hopefully Hubs doesn't lose his shizz when he sees it on Sunday.

I was debating on two colors. Keystone Gray by Sherwin Williams, as seen here:

Photo courtesy of houzz.com

And Coventry Gray by Benjamin Moore, as seen here:

Photo courtesy of Centsational Girl (love her!)

You'll have to stay tuned to see which one I chose!

The rest of the night was spent eating out with my neighbor at my favorite local restaurant:

Say hi, little oysters!!

And a shopping trip to Target. We didn't need much of anything, but of course I left there with a $46,526 bill.

I think there's a gremlin inside those registers.

Once we got home, we had a bit of a no-nap-all-week meltdown. And that's when I decided I'd had enough of today and sat down to write this post, eat some ice cream, and drown my frustrations in some Real Housewives (Welcome back, OC ladies!) 

I had to find a pic that didn't include that new girl. Anyone else wondering how in the WORLD that girl landed a gig on a Real Housewives franchise??? Bish, please!

#OCOG

Hope everyone gets a great night's rest tonight! Sweet dreams!