Weekend Recap

This weekend was a pretty normal weekend around our household--or I guess what is going to be a more normal weekend this year.  The end of last year, weekends were CRAZY, so I am hoping for more time spent at home this year and less constant running around from this to that.

I got back to Weight Watchers on Saturday morning--the weigh in after the holidays didn't result in any weight loss but some weight gain--no shock there after the splurging I did over the holidays.  But, this is a new year/new start and like I said before-this is the year that I am finally getting back to that pre-pregnancy weight.  I really have enjoyed the meetings that I have been to thus far.  I think that it is important to find a leader who motivates you and helps you take something away from every meeting, whether you have two pounds to lose or 200.  This week we talked about hedonic eating which is simply just eating for the sake of pleasure--anyone do this?  I find myself in this hedonic eating trap after dinner.  I am constantly wanting something sweet, but I'm obviously not hungry since I have just had dinner.  This week, my goal is to curb that craving time after dinner so I am trying a week of no desserts.  I've made it two nights thus far, hopefully I can make it the week.  It's hard!

After that I hit up the gym for a run on the treadmill and then the centergy class which is a mix between yoga and pilates.  I love it!  The music is good and it reminds me of stretching back in my dancer days.  Then we headed home for a quick lunch and I was right back out to hit the grocery store. 

We had a babysitter Saturday night and went to a movie and dinner/drinks.  I haven't been to a movie since before Kiley was born-yes I said Kiley-almost three years ago.  I forgot how much I enjoy seeing movies in the theater.  Nothing else to distract me and I get two hours to sit and focus on one thing--now that doesn't happen much/if ever anymore.  We saw Silver Linings Playbook-the inner psychologist in me got to come out and there was romance involved so of course I liked it.  I even told Kevin I enjoyed going to the movie so much I might even go with him in a couple of weeks to see Lincoln.  We had dinner at Lincoln Whiskey Kitchen by the mall.  It was good, but really busy and they seemed to be rushing us out of there.  I enjoyed the food, but maybe would prefer something a little bit more low-key for date night. 

Sunday morning we woke up to Madison not being able to walk on one of her back legs.  Ugh, my poor doggy.  Kevin took her to the emergency vet and they didn't find anything so they think maybe she just sprained her leg.  She is a bit better today so hopefully with a few days rest, so will be back to normal.  After they got back, I took the girls to the gym with me.  Got in 5 miles on the treadmill which isn't too shabby since I haven't been doing much running lately. 

Then off to the car wash--I am trying to organize one area a week this year.  The first was my car.  We aren't even going to discuss the nightmare that my car was.  The food that the girls throw on the floor was disgusting!!!  So, a wash inside and out was certainly needed.  I wish I could have gotten a picture or video of the girls going through the car wash, but I was too busy consoling them.  They were terrified.  I thought it would be fun for them--guess not!

Dinner and an early bedtime rounded out the weekend.  A nice low-key weekend that is hopefully a trend that will continue.  With the last crazy couple of years, I'm really looking forward to less on the calendar this year and more time just spent enjoying my family.  With that, I realize I need to get better at taking pictures of ordinary days.  I got a new camera for my birthday/Christmas, and of course I always take pictures of the bigger things, but as this post goes to show, I don't take pictures of everyday life.  My goal for this week (along with no desserts) is to get a picture of ordinary life everyday.  Because, quite frankly, the ordinary moments are the ones that I will probably forget quicker than the others so I need to capture them before I get to the point in ten years where I am like, what did I do with all my free time, ha, free time! 

This is it!

This is it!  The year that I am finally going to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Probably not so much my pre-pregnancy body so much since after delivering two babies, my body isn't quite the same.  But I do plan of finally shedding the weight in time for our 5 year anniversary trip in July.  I have done Weight Watchers in the past, and have always had success for a couple of weeks when I have done it online, but have always found that I do much better when I go to the meetings and am held accountable for weighing in. So, back to the tracking and meal planning I go. 

This year though, I have a few habits that I really want to kick for good in the way of nutrition.  One being to dreaded pop habit.  I don't really drink a lot of it, but every thing I read always says how bad it is for you, so I question why I still drink it.  I have tried a couple times to stop drinking it and like anything, I am good for a couple of weeks and then it slowly creeps back into my diet.  Then I came across this in Health magazine--which by the way is an awesome magazine if you are looking for a motivational magazine, packed full of info, not fluff. 

66 days.  That's the average time it took people to form a new habit, according to a recent study at University College London--so be sure to give yourself enough time (and don't be hard on yourself if you're still slipping up one month later).  The date to check in on those resolutions? March 7.

So, that's what I am aiming for--I am committing to following through on my point tracking and no pop until March 7th at the earliest.  You know I always have these lofty goals, but this year I am really trying to stick to them and make this my healthiest year yet.  Not so easy for a sweet addict like myself!

So, in keeping with the trend, blog posts may be more health and fitness related for the time being, but don't worry you will still get your dose of kiddo, family, dog, crazy life stories to sprinkle in. 

Here's to a healthy weekend!

Facebook break

It's hard to believe that a few years ago we didn't have Facebook or Ipads--and even when I was in college, we didn't even have cell phones.  My friends and I joke that it was so much harder to get a hold of people in college and we really had to work to run into the guy that we wanted to see on a Saturday night.  We joke about how college kids have it so easy these days.  Well, with that ease--it also takes you to a place where you don't have to work to hard to connect with people.  While this may seem like a good thing, with the advent of Facebook, for me I think that it is a detriment.  I fully admit that I have become a lazy friend.  I rarely pick up the phone to call someone, I don't send a lot of personal emails, I don't write letters or cards--all of these things I really enjoy getting from others so why don't I do more of it.  I spend time on Facebook looking at people's updates that I haven't talked to in years and probably won't ever talk to again, but I don't spend enough time on the people that really matter.  That is definitely an area that I need to improve on this year.  This was brought to my attention a couple of times this week so I have made a decision to take a little break from relying on Facebook to keep me up-to-date on people's lives and put in a bit more effort myself.  Life isn't about status updates-it's about real relationships--face to face ones, not the ones we initiate or try to maintain on the computer.  While I may not have a ton of time--I have time to write a quick note every once in a while, instead of a quick text, I can put in a phone call.  I've read numerous studies saying that it's good for the body and soul to really connect with friends and family--the key words there are to really connect.  So in 2013, I am making strides to really connect and try to not be such a lazy friend, sister, daughter, mom, wife. 

"Wanna come out to play"

So after getting to bed at 12:05 on New Year's Eve--hey I made it to midnight and that is an accomplishment in itself, I was awoken at 5:15 by crazy barking and howling.  Of course the dog lover in me immediately is concerned.  I try to look out our upstairs windows but couldn't see anything, but the barking continued and sounded so close, so I ventured downstairs to get a better look.  I look out the laundry room window and see something behind the bushes--off to the mudroom for a better look.  I see the barking "dog" which is right by our driveway behind the bushes.  I decide to knock on the window to see if he will come out--of course he comes out and it is no dog but a lovely coyote just barking away wondering if Morgan and Madison want to come out to play.

My first instinct is to check to make sure the dog is locked because we all know that coyotes can turn knobs and walk into your house :)  Then, of course, I had to get Kevin up to verify that this "dog" was indeed a wild animal and I should not go out to try to rescue it from the cold.  Yep--after making the trek downstairs begrudgingly, he agreed we should not go out to pet our new friend.  Instead, he decided that in order to get the coyote to leave and stop barking--he would just open the window and ask the coyote to leave.  Who knew that coyotes actually do listen and away he ran.

Ugh,  I did not know that Morgan and Madison were running with some a "wild" group of friends.  I am definitely going to have to sit them down and talk to them about their choice of friends--and also that 5:15 in the morning is not an appropriate time for their friends to stop over for a visit. 

Happy Birthday Papa!

Well, surprisingly, I did make it to midnight and then was woken up extremely early by an unexpected visitor (more on that later-I know such the intrigue), so of course I am a little tired today.  However, with plans of eating apps and watching football all day, I'm not planning anything crazy for the first day of the new year other than enjoy our last day of family time.  But, I did want to stop in and wish the best dad and papa a very happy birthday!!!!  We love you!

 I just love this picture of Papa and his girls.  My girls are so lucky to have a Papa that adores them to pieces--even when they are a little naughty :) 

Oh this picture is just too good not to put up here and completely embarrass myself with--we are two peas in a pod all right, matching sweaters and all (correction--mine is actually a sweater vest with a denim shirt underneath--even better).  Love you dad! Hope you have a great day!

I said "Yes"

Five years ago tonight, I made a choice that changed my life forever.  Now, as we all know, there are few things in life that we have control of, but in this instance-I was asked a question and had full control over the answer.  Now, at that moment, I wasn't really thinking through every detail of my life and how it would be affected by my answer, but I just knew what the answer was going to be.  Five years ago tonight, Kevin asked me to marry him, and of course, my answer was YES.

Now here we are in 2012, spending our New Year's at our new home, with our two daughters sleeping upstairs, two dogs sleeping on the couch, and I will most likely be asleep before midnight while Kevin watches the ball drop by himself--but I (and hopefully he) would have it no other way.  In the grand scheme of life, five years isn't all that long, but for me, it has been the best five years of my life and I can only hope that God blesses us with many, many more wonderful years.

New year, new blog!

I know, I know.  Like I have said before-I really try to maintain a blog and then life gets in the way and the blog seems to go by the wayside.  But as I sit down to reflect on 2012 and make some new goals for 2013, I am really going to try to maintain my blog and then hopefully by the end of the year, I can have a nice scrapbook of the year that I can make into a book (just for me and my family).  I think that has been the problem in the past, I said I was writing for me, and then I got sidetracked by how many people did or didn't read my blog and I got a little "who cares if I write today" attitude.  But, I have come to realize that it doesn't matter if anyone reads this--one day maybe my girls will come across it and they will have this amazing scrapbook of their lives and for me that is enough.  Two readers, years from know is enough to motivate me to really try to keep it up.

So I kind of have a love/hate relationship with New Year's.  Things I love--I got engaged on New Year's 5 years ago, I love making new goals and starting anew, I love new calendars, basically New Year's is like the ultimate Monday--you know how all good diets, goals, etc. start on  Monday.  Things I don't like about New Year's--staying up late (and yes, midnight is late to me), I don't like feeling like a failure when I don't meet my goals or break my diet.  So, of course this year, I have a laundry list of things that I am going to try to improve on so instead of this year listing out my resolutions--I am just going to have a couple of words to live by for 2013.  My words of the year are Improvement, Calm and Energy or ICE. 

Improvement--Things like staying organizing, meal planning, keeping up with my cleaning schedule, keeping up to date on blogs, emails, setting up get-togethers, dates, etc.  All the things that have seemed to fall by the wayside when I don't remain. . .

Calm--I have a tendency to overschedule, get frustrated, get stressed--I hate to say this--but basically I'm not a very nice person the more stressed I get--so this year I am going to try to maintain a sense of calm.  Hopefully some of the things I am trying to improve on will aid in me being more calm--or at least when I am getting stressed I can just repeat ICE, ICE, Baby--and if that doesn't make you smile than I don't know what will :)

Energy--and of course, I must have some goals related to weight loss and exercising.  I certainly want to lose weight before our summer trip so therefore, eating better and exercising are a must.  I have some fitness related goals this year, but in the same sense of maintaining a sort of calmness, I want exercise to be fun and not feel like a chore.  I want to enjoy running, so I plan to just sign up for races with friends and have it double duty as girl time.  Hopefully, I can find some girls that are on board. I also need to give some yoga, pilates, zumba a chance.  You know, really just switch it up so I don't get bored.

So there you have it--the word for the year for me is ICE.  Do you have a word for the year?  I would love to hear it.