Sunday, July 29, 2012

A busy weekend...

This weekend was a busy one.  It was my bro's birthday, I graduated with my Master's Degree, and we celebrated both!

Today was the perfect Sunday for a family celebration.

The weather was nice, and the sun was shinning!  Goose spent hours in the backyard.  This was a new experience for her.  We have had her outside before, but we never really had her out for extended periods of time.  We kept a water dish out, and kept heading out to play with her, but she pretty much wanted to just be outside, relaxing in the shade.
Before all the festivities began, the sis and I hit up the gym for some body pump, and I followed it up with some broccoli and a veggie corn dog.  It was major yumm-o!
We had a great dinner, followed by some awesome cake.  The bro and I opened some wonderful gifts...much more than we deserved and it was just so relaxing.

Then it was time to get ready for the week.  I made sure to pack some good, healthy lunches.  I hard boiled some eggs, cut up fresh veggies, and prepared two lovely looking salads.
Added some cabbage, cheese, cucumbers, and carrots.
Packed my fav yogurt dressing and bbq sauce-I love adding just a dash of bbq sauce to salads...gives them a hearty feel.
Threw the salads in a big ass lunch cooler (thank you hubby-finally getting some use out of that huge lunch sack you gave me a few Christmases ago!), top with a banana and sparkling water, and I am set to go!
I also cut up a special k bar my dad brought in from Buffalo for me...little bite size pieces in a good portion size!  Way better then chowing down the whole bar...and it will last longer!  Woo hoo!
And I brewed a pot of strong coffee which I put in the fridge, and in the morning, I will add the coffee I have steeping in the french press.  Should make for the perfect Monday morning jolt!
 Here's hoping all this prep work will help me start my week on the right foot!  With being ridiculously sick last week, I am ready for a fresh start!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Oh hey!

It's been awhile, eh?

I've been busy, and also not busy.  There's just something about staying on top of stuff over the summer...I just am so much slower with any and all indoor activities.  That includes blogging, and also the fact that we are in the middle of moving and I have no motivation to unpack anything.  And it's not like I spend all my time outside.  Nope!  But I just can't get myself to do little tasks.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I have done a lot of organizing.  I have created a great budget, cleaned up all my email accounts, organizing them and creating folders.  When I packed up our apartment, I packed in a well thought out manner.  Since we are in a short term situation right now, I made sure to pack and label items that don't need to be unpacked.  So there are some projects I am excelling on...I guess we can call it a wash.

My ankle is still being a little bitch, but physical therapy next week should hopefully give me some additional answers and more exercises.  I have been biking, swimming, doing stairs (going up stairs feel great!), and weights.  It feels good to be back in action and trying some new forms of exercise.  I miss running like nobody's business though.  There is just something about lacing up my running shoes and hitting the pavement.  I love the feel of my legs pulling my forward, the sweat dripping down my face, and the feeling of reaching a new distance or goal.  I love pushing myself running and it just sucks not having that in my life right now.

So I'm back.  Hopefully.  I have missed three Wednesday Weigh In's.  One was due to the scale being packed, the second week I lost 1 pound, and yesterday I was hella sick and forgot to weigh myself.  I will get back on that next week!

Tomorrow is my brother's birthday!  Woot woot!  And also the President's Dinner for my Master's Graduation which is taking place Saturday!  Wish me luck!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Happy Monday...a crazy weekend recap!

Happy Monday!

Here's to another wonderful summer week.  Anybody else looking forward to next weekend already?!?!?!  I know I am!  I live for the weekends!  LOVE THEM!!!!!!

This weekend ranked right up there with the day I was born.  I am drastically exaggerating but I think you get how bomb it was.  Friday and Saturday night I went to the Basilica Block Party in the Mpls with some of my best girlfriends. 

These ladies are amazing!
There were a few key take aways that I learned from both nights:
  1. Cheesy pictures in the rain are just that, cheesy!
  2. Cheeseball!
  3. The Head and The Heart is one hell of an amazing band.
  4. Train knows how to rock it, even after all these years.
  5. Sun while drinking vodka can accelerate many things, and my motor skills were not one of them!
  6. Faith truly is a guard kitty!
  7. I can bike with my ankle! (How do I know? *insert post drunk biking to get to the bar after the concert-and never fear, I had sobered up by this point!)
  8. The Basilica is beautiful! (yeah, duh I took a tour)

It was a great weekend...I love when that happens!  Here's to a great week!  I am seriously looking forward to getting some biking in!  Slowly adding more workout options!  YEAH!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th....and a Wednesday Weigh In

Happy 4th of July!

This week's weigh in went good.  I still need to reign in a few areas but the results are something to be happy about!

Down 1 pound

Down 8 pounds since March 21st

Moral of the story....I can do better!  But beating my self up doesn't help.  Moving forward, and changing some things up will!

Today I broke a major sweat and moved a bunch of things over to the D. Lo's.  I also ate a lot of fruit, including almost half a watermelon!


I lifted some weights, did some stretching, iced my ankle, and cuddled with my man.  Now after a nice dinner, we are sitting watching the Capitol 4th of July special on tv.  It is just too damn hot outside for an outdoor firework show!

Happy 4th of July!  I am beyond proud to be an American!  I feel so blessed with the life I have been given, in the land of the free!  Here's to another great year-and a big one politically!  

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Happy July....

I had one of the most wonderfully relaxing and fun weekends!  I visited some friends in Moorhead, and spent some time with my sister.  It was truly a blast-the whole weekend!

The weekend was go-go-go...but in a good way!  I played some bar bingo, card games, ate ridiculously amazing pizza, and ridiculously amazing Fro-yo.  I went for a leisurely tube ride down a river with the sun shinning down and a cold one in my hand.  I took some down time and relaxed in an incredibly nice hotel!  If you ever find yourself in Moorhead, Mn, for whatever reason you might, the Marriott is INCREDIBLE!  I know it sounds unbelievable, but one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in.  And I have stayed in quite a few.

And now it is back to reality.  For two days that is!  Then it's the 4th and I am stoked to have the day off.

I feel rejuvenated by the fact that it is July 1st!  We are 6 months into the year, and 6 months out from twenty 13.

June really was a great month.  Chaz and I got to spend some wonderful time with his parents.  Way more time than we usually get to in a year.  Simply wonderful!  Not only am I blessed with amazing parents but I got damn lucky in the in-law department too!

We went to Alaska and visited Laine.  We have enjoyed great weather and some lovely outdoor meals.  Father's day was a blast with both sets of parents being in town.  That rarely happens anymore!

June however did have it's downsides.  Dealing with my ankle definitely depressed me from time to time.  I imagine the fact that my physical activity has dropped way down due to my injury really doesn't help.  But July is a fresh start.  July allows me to set some mid-year goals and just start getting some shit together.  Ready for this?!?!?!  I know this is a long post but hopefully it will inspire you to make some mid-year goals too!

In regards to the good old ankle:
  1. 30 minutes of stretching/exercise daily
  2. Make physical therapy appointments
  3. Ice bath 5 nights a week
  4. All of the above contingent on physical therapy appointment but I got an x-ray last week and nothing is broken!  Holla!!!!
In regards to life:
  1. Make more meals at home
  2. Clean litter box daily (that shits a bitch!)
  3. Start a savings account simply for vacations
  4. Start intensely funding our "Life" savings account
  5. Pay off the credit card we used to fix Chaz's car emergency last month-did I let y'all know that his catalytic converter was stolen right off his car?  In the middle of the night?  In our parking lot?  And that our deductible was $500 and the repairs came in at $475 (duh?  isn't that how it works?) and we just decided to be grown ups and get his brakes done to?  $700 dollars later and we were ringing in summer! 
  6. Pack lunches and breakfast daily.
  7. Buy coffee only once a week (back to treating myself on Friday's only)
  8. Daily planned physical activity.
  9. Go to bed earlier (trying to shave 1 hour off!)
  10. Make the effort to call my CO grandma once a week...I suck at talking on the phone.  I am either not by my phone, or I always feel busy.  I need to make the effort because it's worth it!  She brightens my day!
  11. Create an intense budget and keep it up monthly
    1. I think this will provide piece of mind and 
    2. allow us to really save money and track it. 
    3. This will also provide an easy forum to allow discussion about future plans.
Chaz and I are moving out of our apartment at the end of July...we only signed a 6 month lease and thank the dear Lord because this place is just too run down and after having parts stolen off of Chaz's car, it's just not worth staying longer.  We are moving back in with my grandma and taking the next few months to discuss some long term goals and hopefully make some decisions on where we want to settle for a while.  Not settle for good, because we like a little adventure in our life, but we want to make some concrete decisions!

Wish me luck!  I am looking forward to the second half of Twenty 13!  Hopefully you are too!