Dear Friday...

Dear Friday, so glad you're here but seriously, you don't have to take so long next time. I never get sick of you, promise. 

Dear holiday weekend, I think that I'm in love with you!

Dear manager, if you could go ahead and let us skip out of here at noon that would be greeeeeat. Mkay

Yep...just said it like that too

Dear Redbox kiosks at the grocery store, why do you have one movie I want in one kiosk and one movie I want in the other. Now I have to choose which to get because I'm obviously not waiting in that line twice just to pick it up. Maybe me and the Walgreens kiosk can work out a deal.

Dear scale, Do you even know how happy I am with you this morning?? You basically gave me a high five for that boring salad and only one plate of Mexican when it was catered in this week. I hope we are still bff after the long weekend.

Dear Isaac, enough already. We get it. You are big and messy and windy and rainy and destructive. Now cut it out. We want a pretty weekend for 3 full days!

Dear readers, thank you for multiplying like rabbits! Keep that up because I enjoy chatting with ya. Have an amazing weekend!!

Inspire Me Healthy 5

I finally did it. I bit the bullet and pressed that button....and stepped on the scale. For the last month, I've been relying on how my clothes were fitting as my scale. But yesterday as I ordered my boring romaine and carrot salad with a small drizzle of fat free vinaigrette dressing, I decided if I was choosing healthy instead of choosing extra carb loaded, butter added, extra spoonfuls, sucrose full, extra sugar, extra bacon, cheesy cheesy goodness then I needed to see it on the scale too. So today after getting ready for work I stepped on the scale. I wrote down the number, and I tapped "save" on my scale. And that's what I'm going to do each Thursday at least until I hit my goal weight. 
Today marks 36 days until the beach also. I'm in the home stretch to lose as much as I can lose. So here's my plan for this week. Saturday: Nike Training Club workout Sunday: 30 Day Shred workout or Cardio Core Monday: Cardio Core at the gym Tuesday: Yoga/Zumba or 30 day shred workout Wednesday: Walk/jog track during B's practice Thursday: 30 Day Shred workout Now it's your responsibility to hold me accountable! Lora, I'm talking to you! You can make fun of me in person! 
Good luck this week, everyone! You can do it!

Weekend Update

First off, does anyone work in a building where you need to swipe a batch to get in the doors....and does anyone have those mornings where you just can't find your badge....so you just swipe your purse....and it works because it's buried in there somewhere. Yep. It's that kind of morning.

I will just blame that on a busy weekend. 

Friday was pretty laid back. B went to the football game with my sister and nieces. Middle J (that would be my middle sister, yep, we are all J's) said she had a great time and was hanging out with her friends from school most of the time. 

Saturday was pretty much the mom taxi service. B had volleyball from 9-10:30 and softball from 10 to whatever. And yes, those overlapped a little. Luckily or unfortunately, however you look at it, softball was rained out. Brooklyn and her friends loved their first volleyball practice, and they did really great for newbies. 

We headed home and relaxed together for a little while until we got a call that we could come take a pitching lesson with a well known private instructor. There was a group going and we could join in but we had to leave the house right that second. The place we were headed was about an hour and a half drive from where we were. So load up in the mom taxi and off we went. 

Saturday night B went to her dad's house and we had a lazy night at home. Complete with pizza and some eye candy...

We were throwing in "Your car or mine? Have you been drinking? I'll drive" with the little hand motions all weekend. 

We got to be a little lazy on Sunday and catch up on some old Sons of Anarchy episodes until we had to head to the softball field for a scrimmage game. 

That's my baby in the catchers gear. Her Aunt JJ would be so proud. Lil J played catcher throughout high school and is going to school on a softball and basketball scholarship. In fact, today is her very first day of college! Wow I feel old!

It was an all about sports weekend for us it seems, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

'Cado Yumminess

Once upon a time, I said I was going to post a recipe. A week later, I did. And we lived happily ever after. 

The week before last I tried making my own guacamole. I used too much lime and ruined two whole avocados. Sad. This week I decided to try a different recipe for my 'cados and it was a major improvement from our last go 'round. 

I threw mine in the oven on broil real quick before I put on the cheese just to heat them up real quick. Then broil them just long enough to get the cheese melty and you're done. Bam! Just like that. They made a great side and I gave them two thumbs up. Even if I did use the low fat cheese instead of the ooey gooey good kind you see here!

PS I fell in love with this Chipotle sauce shortly after these pictures were taken. I used it in place of salsa last night in another recipe. Yummo! 

Adapted from this recipe.

Inspire Me Healthy 4

It's week 4, guys! A whole month give or take some days. Wow. I'm a little disappointed after putting that in writing actually! 

This week was a little bland. I increased my water and kept the calories down by packing lunch everyday....say what? Yep, everyday this week! I still need to get a consistent workout schedule. I have been slacking there. 

But the ish just got real this week. I checked my beach countdown and we are leaving for a week of sand, sun and bikinis in 43 days! I have to really push myself more for the next 42 days. "You can do it" is constantly going through my head today. 

Happy almost Friday!

Acky Khaki

Is it just me or are khakis super cute....until you put them on. They work for everyone else except me it seems. Today I was running out of options and decided to reach for my one pair of khakis that fit. I assess the wrinkle situation and it seems ok. Ok enough to pull off. I put them on, look in the mirror, and ACK! Hate it. But I was running out of time so they had to do for today.

After thinking about it today, I think I just don't like any of my shoes with my khakis. So, what's a girl to do? Buy some new shoes of course!

How cute are these boat shoes?

How about some glitter?

Or maybe a nice pair of wedges?

I guess I'll have to take myself to a shoe store and really see what works...oh I just hate that {sarcasm}

G-day...

G-day, mates! No, I'm not Australian {but how cool would that be?!}. It's G-day....Giveaway day! 

This month I sponsored Reese over at The Importance of Being Reese. So if you are stopping by from her blog, welcome! Thanks for reading. Hope you kick back and stay a while. 

Starting today, Reese is giving away a $25.00 Forever 21 Gift Card + Maximum Exposure Ad Space for the month of September with The Importance of Being Reese to one lucky winner. This contest will end Wednesday August 29th at midnight. The winner will be announced on Reese's blog, twitter, and facebook pages. Make sure you are following her blog, my blog, and the other sponsors to win. 

Good luck, yall! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Inspire Me....no really, inspire me!

Wow, week 3? Really? Are we sure it's week 3 already?

This week I conquered the food part of being healthy. I even recorded {some of} my meals in myfitnesspal app. I am really good about putting in my breakfast and lunch and then I don't see the app until the next morning's breakfast. I blame the app. Just because. I went back and added the last two nights' meals. Gold star for being way under calories last night [slightly over the night before but that's ok]. 

I do think I am making a difference though with some of this muffin top excess fat. Tuesday I put on a shirt with full intentions of wearing a cardigan over it because it usually makes me look like....well, it's just not flattering. I put it on, went to brush my teeth and noticed it looked normal. Or I looked normal, whichever it was. So I tossed the cardi back in the closet, grabbed a necklace and went with it. I am not weighing daily/weekly so this was basically like stepping on the scale and being 5 pounds lighter to me. 

Next week I need to keep this up but add more exercise. I have only made it to the gym once this week. That's just shameful! I'm thinking of just getting dropped off at the gym on Saturday so I can't chicken out of staying for two classes instead of one. We will see how that goes. 

Hope everyone participating in the Inspire Me Healthy posts had a very successful week! See ya on week 4! Check back tomorrow, I'm working on a recipe post from a great meal I found on SkinnyTaste. 

So what!

I'm linking up with Life After I Dew for So What Wednesday
So what if I thought it was Thursday until about 20 minutes ago. I'm always skipping over Wednesday for some reason.
So what if I bought food for a specific crockpot recipe last night....and still forgot to put it together this morning. {that's why we also have hotdogs} #momfail
So what if I haven't put on workout clothes so far this week. I have been watching what I eat though.
So what if I keep coming up with great craft projects but never doing them....wait, that's not cool. I must finish a creative project this weekend or I'll be mad at myself. Deal, self?
So what if I couldn't see the powerpoint at my daughter's parent orientation this week. Note to self, make eye appointment right after that crafty stuff this weekend. 
So what if I was late for the first day of carpooling. I still made it to work on time. #8:05stillcounts
So what if I write and talk in hashtags. #donthate 
So what if I figured out how to make a blog button all on my own. And so what if that was just a lie. I made one for me and my BFF this week and I'm pretty proud. Check 'em out! Now I just have to find blogs to swap with and to sponsor. 

Big, Big Day

Yesterday was a very big day for me...uh, or I guess for Brooklyn. 
Yesterday was the first day of school.
First day of 4th grade.
First day at a new school.
First day in uniforms.

I know it may be too early to form an opinion, but I am loving it so far! And more importantly so is she! Yesterday we revamped our morning routine and it worked out perfectly. We were actually out the door a little too early! {p.s. that never happens at our house}

We pulled into the school drop off line and I got nervous. I graduated from the school that B is going to, but it doesn't even resemble my old school. I drove around the high school and middle school, up to the elementary building and debated on which door she was supposed to go in. What's a mom to do, right? I texted the BFF, of course! Did I mention another big advantage of the new school is B's two BFFs go to school there?! Yep. My best friend's twins are the same age and one will even be in her class this year. Luckily they were only 2 seconds away. 

One more quick photo op [since B really didn't want me to come inside] before we left. Notice there are seriously no other cars dropping off at this time! Never fear though, we made up for it this morning. Apparently 6:40 is too early to leave our house and 7:00 is about 5 minutes too late. We will go for a happy medium tomorrow. 

I cannot wait to see what this year holds for these girls. They are growing way too fast so we just have to enjoy every second of it all. 


*If you haven't already clicked on the little BFF link above, now is your time to do so. So here it is again.... BFF. Seriously. Don't make me cut you....#kiddingkinda

Inspire Me: Healthy Week 2

Let's play the excuses game real quick....

This week I ate like junk because I didn't get home until late on Tuesday because of a meeting at school. I went out to eat lunch twice at work because everyone was going so why shouldn't I? I got home late Wednesday due to my daughter's pitching lessons. I didn't work out because I was tired from all these after work plans. 

Going forward....no excuses. I am just going to have to plan better. Next week we have a parent orientation at school on Monday. My goal is to go to that but still plan a healthy meal that I can make quickly afterwards. Or even a healthy crockpot creation. 

Exercise. That is something my schedule needs more of. This week I am writing the exercise into my planner. If it's in my planner, then it must happen just like everything else. Next week I'm going to come back in here with all kinds of progress! Cheers to a very successful week 3!

*In my defense, I started my {serious} healthy kick when I started planning our vacay for fall break. I didn't just start slacking on week 2 I promise. It's like week 15 or something for me. I just haven't started really tracking the progress until this link up. 

Inspire Me: Healthy

As I was cruising through my blog reader today, I came across a link to Kristen and Raven's link up starting this week. It's a simple one, just post something related to getting healthy. It was perfect!
This year I've been on a real push to get myself healthy. I would like to lose weight but I haven't focused too much on the scales. I am more focused on the little number in the back of my pants. I am not quite as brave as Kristen. I took before pictures but I have kept those to myself. My goal is to look so awesome after I get healthy [and stay healthy] that I feel like publishing the before and after pics. Maybe, just maybe. 
Here are 5 healthy things I am doing this week: 1. Packing my lunch for work everyday. I like to have plenty of fresh fruits and veggies in my lunch. I alternate the main item from sandwiches, to Special K, to tuna and it seems to be working so far.  2. Saying no to chocolate. And sweets for that matter. If I really need something sweet I grab an Edy's fruit bar for just 100 calories.  3. Avoiding fast food. This week I had a slip up with this but it was due to poor planning. After my daughter's pitching lessons, we had Burger King {"You can have it your way but don't get craaaazy" -Bon qui qui}. It was getting late. We had another 45 minutes at least before we would be home. It was necessary unfortunately. Other than that I've been pretty much fast food free for several weeks.  4. Fake it 'til you make it. Ok sounds crazy, but my "fake it" tip is sitting up straight. Seriously. Sitting up straight takes away some of that extra mid tire I have going on. Plus, I'm supposed to sit up straight anyways. 5. Get some kinda of exercise in daily. I confess. This week has not been so good for that. A mix of a two day migraine and busy beginning of the month work schedule got in my way. And yes, it's already Thursday but I'm starting my routine today. I try to make sure even if I don't make it to the gym I at least use my trusty Nike Training Center app, 30 day Shred DVD or my balance ball at home. It helps to get straight into my workout gear as soon as I get home. Even if I don't work out right away, I'm reminded that I have to because I have a sports bra on, haha. 
That's it for this week. I think I'm going to go home and weigh today. Next week maybe I can post that I am down a pound or two :)