4.29.2013

It's a Sunshine Day

"I think I'll go for a walk outside, now, the summer sun is calling my name!"

Know the artist? Probably not, because I'm weird like that and remember lyrics to The Brady Bunch Movie (I bought the soundtrack.... nerd alert). But hey! It was when I was in middle school back when CD's just came out! Come on, man!

But that's truly how I feel today. The sun is shining, it's a beautiful 54 degrees today, and it's not even noon. Not as great as the weekend, but I can't complain!



My Mom and her friend Mark came to town for the Iron Man Bike Race that went throughout the St. Croix Valley area. This was a first for my mom and I, just as spectators! Don't think we did this crazy deal! Mark was bound to do the 100 mile, but settled for just over 70. It was quite windy so that made it tough.

My Mom and Mark
 
Totally random, we had 3 rabbits in the yard today. B's mom absolutely hates them since they kill all of her plants. They run around here in herds.
 

I'm excited to go to my Sculpt & Strength class tonight. I've missed it the last few weeks due to other obligations, so my arms are ready to get a good whipping. I'm also thinking of redoing week 3 of the C25K program. It took me a while to finish that week, and I wasn't completely comfortable running the whole 3 minutes at a time, so I think another week would be good for me. Week 4 looks scary!

I was really good last week on the food that I ate. I only lost 1 pound, BUT i did lose 5 pounds of bloat from eating well and working out even though it's "that time of the month." So that was a great sight to see on the scale!

All in all, it was a nice weekend. Great weather, great to see Mom, and a great fitness victory. Now onto the new week. Hopefully it goes as well as the last to keep me motivated!
 
 
 


4.26.2013

Pampering

Last night I finally was able to pamper myself...well, if you call this pampering....

After working out at RVAC, I FINALLY got to shave my legs, exfoliate, and apply a good layer of self-tanning lotion all over...ALL AT THE SAME TIME. I hate doing this half-assed. Most times I normally don't have time or the patience to do it all, but last night, I had to. I now have a nice sun kissed glow! Except for this...

 
Ugh! I can never get my feet to look good. (Never mind the no polish on the piggies, they're getting a complete rehaul on Sunday with my Mama :) ) They always get streaky, uneven color. I even applied regular lotion to them before hand so that they wouldn't soak up so much tanner, but they decided to do their own thing. Hopefully I can get some of it off so the cute little Asian lady who does my feet doesn't think I look ridiculous!
 
I'm really excited for the weekend! The Twin Cities is expecting anywhere in the 60's and 70's for temperatures! FINALLY!!! It's going to feel like spring and it's about time!
 
Tomorrow is B's dad's official retirement party. Lucky dog...he got to retire young at 57. Only thing, he better find some hobbies to do because he's going to become one big couch potato with all that TV watching lately!
 
My Mom and her boyfriend, Mark, are coming this weekend too! He's actually going to be racing in the IronMan Bike Race around the St. Croix River Valley area, and he's going to attempt the 100 mile! Good luck to him! While he's biking, my Mom and I are going to visit some of the small towns in the area. Good quality time with her while we get in lots of walking time too!
 
Happy Friday and have a wonderful, warm weekend Minnesota!
 

4.25.2013

One Reason Why Weightloss Sucks

FOOD

I'm really trying hard to hunker down and watch what I eat because I know that's my biggest struggle. For breakfast, I normally eat 2 over-hard eggs and a piece of fruit. Well...I open up the fridge this morning and this is what I see:
Now I know some of this picture is dark, but let me tell ya...it's a nightmare. All I saw when I looked at it this morning was carbs...calories...fattening things. The top shelf alone! Leftover gravy from mashed potatoes, cheese ravioli with red sauce, sausage crumbles, heavy whipping cream. AHHHH!!!!

Don't get me wrong, B's mom's food is wonderful, but definitely not healthy in any way possible. She always has lettuce in the veggie drawer for salads, but a salad to me never sounds good unless you have all the toppings in front of you to build it. Shredded carrots and red cabbage, a little cheese (blue cheese is my fav right now), CHICKEN...gotta have chicken on my salads or I wont be interested what so ever for a main meal. A side salad...ok that's fine, but not the main course. NONE of that is here in the fridge. Then salad dressings, it's ALL the fat and calorie loaded regular ones. Of course tasty, but not so much good for my inner tube around my waist.

I've tried purchasing my own food to help myself stay on track, but that's nearly impossible to do in this household. My food either gets shoved to the back, or there isn't any room so it goes in the basement's fridge, to then get forgotten about. It's just a waste of money for me to do my own groceries. This is another reason why I can't wait to be on my own. Whatever food I buy, will be things I want to eat healthy with, not the crap. No temptations. If B really wants that box of Little Debbies, he's gotta buy them for himself and keep them in the truck or at work.

I really don't want to blame anyone about why I can't lose weight, because I'm in control of my own body. But it sure doesn't help when things like this are around me all the time. (Did I mention that the counter had 2 pans of bars and leftover cupcakes from an event earlier this week...HELL...) B's mom is always so interested in losing weight herself, but she cooks for her husband and B, the 2 people in the house who could give a rat's ass about weight loss, so she cooks the comfort food for them, thus the rest of us ladies get fat.

Story of my life...


4.23.2013

Winter in April

Well...it snowed again...and it's April 23rd.  Gotta love living in Minnesota!

Our backyard this morning at 5:30am
 
 
Yes, it's very pretty, but at the same time it's not very fun waking up at 3:30am finding out that the power has been out since midnight and it was still out when I woke up to get ready for work at 5:00am. Luckily my hair wasn't too much of a mess that I could throw it up in a ponytail and make it work!
 
 
I talked with B the other night about creating a list of things that we want to accomplish before we turn 30 (in 3 1/2 years). I saw on another gal's blog from MN that she has a 30 to 30 list of things to accomplish, and I thought it would be fun! B thought it was kind of crazy to list 30 minuscule goals and focus on the top 10 things you'd like to accomplish. I argued the whole meaning behind it, accomplish small goals helps makes a person feel better and more willing to achieve more, but he wasn't buying it. So I settled with a top 10 PLUS 5 goals that we have for each other. So far, I have the following:
 
  1. Lose 50 pounds
  2. Wear a bikini in public
  3. Travel to a new state outside of the Midwest
  4. Run a 5K
  5. Be debt free (minus a future mortgage)
  6. Be comfortable with my income/job
 
These are obviously after the obvious 2: buying our first home and getting married; and the possible 3rd: being pregnant/have our first child. Wow... I think that was the first time I'd ever typed that. I felt a rush of excitement! But we've got a ways to go for that one.
 
 
I don't have any goals yet for B. He's going to be tough. I have to be practical for him, but also give him something that will push his limits just a little. He's very comfortable with his life right now and how he does things. I just think if he opens his mind to new ideas, he'll really enjoy it.
 
I basically brought this up to him because I thought it would be fun for our relationship to find out where each other would like to be in a few years. We rarely talk about the future in that kind of way, so it will definitely open up any held back feelings of where we want to be. I'm excited!
 
 
Well that's it for now. Hang in there, Minnesota. We're expecting 70's this weekend!!

4.18.2013

April Showers Bring....

a whole lot of snow!!

This winter has not gotten any better here in Minnesota! Today we're expecting anywhere from 4-9 inches of snow in the Twin Cities, on April 18th. Spring is almost over in Minnesota terms! Typically I think the first day of Summer is Memorial Weekend, and that's just over a month away!

So I realized today that I'm really slacking on the weight loss front. I haven't logged into MFP for almost 2 weeks. I've been going to the gym, but not really feeling it, so I'm definitely not pushing my hardest. Is it the winter depression? Do I feel that I'm never going to achieve my goal, so why even try? I have no idea. I just know I need to get on the band wagon pretty damn soon because I'd love to be prancing around in a swimsuit top at Wefest this summer! Not necessarily does it need to be a bikini, but I just want to have to not worry about wearing a top that doesn't cover me just right or shoes a little bit of skin.

What do you think of my new blog look? I love it! I worked kind of hard to make it look more sharp. I'm getting my highlights redone tonight, so I'm hoping to get a better picture of myself on here by the weekend!

Happy Thursday, and drive safe out there Minnesota!

4.16.2013

SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

Sorry about the mess of my blog! I'm really trying to make it look cleaner, so bear with me, it will be up and perfect to my standards by the end of the week!

4.11.2013

Fine Touching Blog


I'm trying to figure out cool ways to customize by blog today!

I figured out how to add my social media buttons, a favicon, and I'm contemplating recreating my photo header to clean it up a little. Maybe!

Oh! And I need to create a button for my blog! Hopefully I can get this all done here in no time :)



4.10.2013

Big Dreams


Now I haven't talked much about my big dreams, as such noted in my website URL. Sometimes I feel like the dreams are attainable, but then I think about how long it could possibly take to achieve them and it upsets me. How long is it going to take? Will I still have ambition?

My biggest dream right now is my first home. I have been ready mentally, basically financially, but the actual idea of doing it scares me. Is B really ready? He says he is, but he worries me too. He doesn't really like to talk about it because he doesn't want the idea to upset us if we don't qualify for enough money at the bank or if the reality of how much things are going to cost will put a burden on us.

I'm ready to take the leap. To be a "grown up." I'm so sick of living in the basement of his now RETIRED parents. And it's not really the basement, it's our bedroom. That's it. Nothing else. We get to have a bedroom to claim as our space and that's it. It would be different if we could have the whole basement to ourselves, but that has never even been an idea because it would never fly with his parents. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO PRIVACY.

It ruins my other dreams and hobbies. I love to do crafts and art projects. Like painting. I'm not great, but I like to do it. If I were to paint at their house, I'd have to pick up everything like it never happened. You can't do that with projects like this! It would be so time consuming and it just wouldn't justify the hobby.

I want a pet. I'd LOVE a cat, but B is really allergic to them, so I'd be happy with a mutt of a dog. Not the pure bred types, I want a good mix that will be adopted from a shelter. Those are my favorite, and they seem to be the best dogs too. Can we have a dog at B's parent's house? NOPE.

I want to learn how to play guitar. Loud music after work and the gym around 8:00pm? NOPE. NOT HAPPENING.

I want to have friends again. I know this sounds sad, but I feel that my relationships with friends are weak because I can never have the chance for them to come over and hang out. Awkward, right? Yep, it's not happening at this house.

This is just the beginning, but you can see that I have walls to climb to achieve these goals. It's going to be hard, but I'm hoping it will come soon. I think once B and I take that Home Stretch Workshop it will really get us focused and on the right path to get that dream to become reality.



4.05.2013

Home Stretch Workshop

Happy flippin' Friday!

It's the first Friday since September that we don't have bowling league!! Yay!! I'm so done for the summer and don't want to pick up that 14 pounder until September.

So I had told B that we need to take a Home Stretch Class in order to apply for a FHA loan for a mortgage (someday). What is this class you say? It's basically Home buying 101, everything from the loan process, realtor search, signing the deal, home inspection, and post purchase expectations. It's required for anyone who is wanting to apply for a first time home buyers loan, which I hope we can qualify for! The interest rates can't be beat.

It's bothers the crap out of me, though, that B will not follow through on picking when we're going to do it. I found all the class dates and times that would work for us with our busy schedules this Spring, and to no prevail, he still hasn't figured out which one he wants to do. He even had the guts to tell me he think he lost the paper of all my research!!! GRRRRRR!!!!

I told him he needs to let me know so we can get signed up because classes fill fast. But then he comes back at me "But I don't even know what these classes are about. I want to look into them first." This TOTALLY goes against what he said to me about wanting me to take care of the research and he'd pick the date and tag along. I just don't get it. I'm hoping he figures it out after this weekend otherwise I'm going to get my angry eyes on.

Speaking of this weekend, B has the fire department's annual "Booya" weekend. It's where all the guys get together and make this stew with old meat, wild game, found on the side of the road roadkill...basically whatever they can find and make a stew out of it for the former volunteer firemen that were on the department. They've been doing it for years. It's just a one afternoon event, but the guys make it a whole weekend of shenanigans and drinking like mo'fo's. Drives me crazy, but I've learned to deal with it. Last night I told B that he could call me if he needed a ride. Surprisingly, he did text me at 1:30am for me to pick him up at the Holiday gas station. He never does this! So, being the wonderful girlfriend that I am, I picked up his drunk ass and our friend Andy's ass too, and brought them home. He's lucky I didn't have to open the bank the next morning! And that's just the beginning to the wonderful weekend...

Have a great weekend everyone!