Zumba Glow and counting down...

Saturday night, I did something I've never done before.  I exercised for two hours.  TWO hours???!!  Yes.  There was a Zumba Glow down at the riverfront from 8-10.  Natalie asked if I wanted to go -- it was the finale to the free classes they offer all summer long -- and at first, my mind said, "HECK NO!"  But, the more I thought about it, it sounded fun!  It was going to be dark and there would be black lights, so you could dress as funky as you wanted.  I got pretty crazy.  A white t-shirt and a glow necklace.  Ha!  It was gorgeous out and the river made for a pretty view!

Natalie's oldest daughter, Hillary, helped with a routine up on stage.  I think that's pretty awesome because she is only 8 and can dance WAY better than most of the adults there!

It was super fun!  I was surprised with how easy it was to do two hours of exercise...I think I only sat down for one song during the end.  Woo hoo!!

*****************************************************************

This week, Maggie has been my little errand buddy.  She is a great shopper and I love it!

It feels like we have been going non-stop, but I can finally say that WE ARE READY FOR VACATION!!  Bags are packed, snacks are ready to go, van got a new tire........ WHAT??

Yes, Eric was rotating the tires last night and found a big gash in one of our tires.  {Thankfully, his first comment was that he thought he put the gash there the last time he was driving to the gun range!  Shew!  I dodged that one.}  We took the van to Honda this morning and found out our bill was a whopping $500!  We are lucky and have those special tires that keep going for 50 miles after they blow, pop, or whatever tires do.  Because of our special tires, we got a special bill for our new special tire.  Oy.  It's taken care of now, and we are RET TO GO!  Cannot wait!      

In case you're wondering how we roll...for the 54th time...

You know how you have those significant moments that define your life?  For me, getting married, having Levi, quitting my job, having Maggie - those are all things that stand out on my timeline.  There are other moments, good and bad, but those are the significant.  For me, another significant moment was when my bestie moved three years ago.  THREE years ago!  YOU GUYS - that seems like a long time!  Maggie was born and G moved five months later.  Stupid.

Since then, we've been blessed.  Blessed that our friendship has gotten even stronger.  Blessed that we still talk every day.  Blessed that we can plan little weekend trips to kick back and do our thing.  We did that...our thing...this weekend.  And, it was wonderful!

  

I'm so thankful that Eric understands my need to get away and visit with Gretchen.  And, I'm thankful that Paul is okay with me coming to crash for a whole weekend.  We have good husbands.  Really good.  Friday afternoon, I headed out sans kids for BG.  I don't normally like to drive, but when you have peace and quiet for two hours, it's heaven.  And, I was on a mission...some uninterrupted time with this gal...  

Before we got to have some G & T time, G had other plans.  We had to spend some time with these two hoodlums...

And, this big hoodlum...

They had a fall festival and we had to go got to spend time watching the kids play!

After what felt like 16 hours an hour or so, we got the thumbs up from Paul and we all but ran to the car. ;) 

We had dinner plans with this sweetie!  

I don't get to see Brittany a whole lot, but when we do, it's like we've been friends forever.  I love that!  The weather was fabulous the entire weekend, so we made some special time for convo over coffee and tea.     

Saturday morning, we were up bright and early to head to a spin class.  It felt sooo weird because we have never worked out together!  Ever!    

There's a first time for everything, right?  I'm still new at spin so my numbers aren't all that impressive.  But, it felt good to get started for the day with a hard workout.

Workout: done.  Next up? Mexican.  One of our faves.

Ima be honest.  One of the only things that gets me through a workout is thinking about what I can eat next.  Before my workout was finished, I had already planned my next meal in my mind.  

{Here's the deal: when you hang out for the weekend, just the two of you, you get lots and lots of selfies.  Sorry 'bout that!  Hope you aren't BORED TO DEATH yet!}

Bonus for the weekend was sitting outside a lot!  Lunch was perfection.  Mexican outside.    

I know right now you are about to explode with excitement over our weekend!  What else can they possibly have done?  Right?

Pedicures!  You guys...it was wonderful.  Oh, except for the lady that did my feet.  I could barely understand her!  She sat down in front of me, looked at my feet and said, "Ohh, you need extra.  You need the callous reemovah.  It extra.  You need bad.  You have bad heels, need reemovah.  Five dollah extra."  I looked over at G, who was about to die laughing, and told the lady, "Um, okay...?"  Then, she seemed to work on my calloused heels for what seemed like 40 minutes.  Everyone began to stare.  She talked in her language ABOUT MY HEELS.  Okay, not really, but that's what it felt like! 

I'm proud to report that my heels are now as soft as a baby's butt.  ;)

Of course, a weekend wouldn't be complete without a little shopping and dinner out at what has become one of my favorites: Mariah's.  YUM!! 

I would tell you that we ended the evening by hanging out with Paul and making him watch Sex and the City with us, but I won't.  That would be embarrassing.  I will tell you, though, that we had a GREAT weekend and I'm already looking forward to the next one!  I love my girlie time.  A lot. 

It's Friday, it's in the 70's, and it's G & T time!!

There are two pretty awesome things about today: it's FRIDAY and the temperature is cooler!!  Woo hoo!!  

Several people have asked how my diet lifestyle change is going.  So, since it is the weekend and I haven't updated this week, I figured an update was due!

I'm still hanging in there, trying to make healthy choices a part of my everyday life.  Like this:

Besides Alicia, who goes to the store and gets all that?  It still kills me to pass up the cookies... sigh.

I've been loving the gym!  Some days, I go and walk/jog on the treadmill.  That is my absolute least favorite thing to do.  In fact, I hate the treadmill.  With a passion.  When I do the treadmill, I try to fit in a half hour of lifting.  My trainer is awesome and showed me very specific things she wants me doing.  I'll admit that it is intimidating to "lift" next to some of these guys that have muscles exploding out of their arms and shoulders.  But, I've caught onto some of their habits.  They load extremely heavy weights, sit on the bench and breathe really heavy, adjust their music on their iProduct, stand up and walk around their machine 5-8 times.  Then, they lift.  Sometimes 5-10 reps.  Then they moan and make sounds that would remind you of a dinosaur dying, and hop up and do more walking around their machine.  I'm not there.  I just do my quiet little lifts, sweat some, and try not to be noticed.  ;)

I've tried a few different classes.  I love Group Power and Zumba.  Then, it was time.  Time for me to try this stupid Spin class everyone is talking about.

The first time I did it, I hated it.  It was uber hard and I couldn't get past my bottom hurting!  Some people didn't care about my complaining:

Every single person told me to go back within three days.  They said the second time would be better and soon you wouldn't notice the butt pain.  I just knew that they were lying...every single one of them!  However, I went back, and it didn't hurt as bad.  I've been three times now and actually kind of like it.  Gasp!  ;)

Okay, so this Friday is special for one more reason!  I'm heading to BG for a much needed G & T weekend!!  I'M SO EXCITED!  So, this is the moment of truth -- how will I handle making "healthy" decisions on my weekend off?  

For the first time ever, I've packed exercise clothes!  YES.  G and I are going to workout in the morning at her gym.  Whaaa??? 

And, I've packed my chai tea in hopes that this will satisfy better than a cupcake.  A cupcake...I can't...

I've also packed some hard candy, gum and an apple for the trip down.  What is this world coming to?

And, instead of stopping for my traditional diet coke from heaven on earth, I packed a water.  WHO AM I??????  

 So, stay tuned, or follow me on IG (dietcokeluvr) to see updates on how horrible life is without splurging and indulging in buckets of chips and queso.....

Motivational Monday

I think I can narrow this post down to three main points:

The good news, the great news, and the bad news.

Bad - As of last Monday, I hadn't lost any weight.
Good - I am meeting with a personal trainer.
Great - I can jog for three minutes (and it sucks!)

That's the short of it!  Because these posts are about my "get healthy" journey, sometimes they are just an extension of what is in my head.  I'm sure they can seem like a lot of blabbering.  If you continue reading for more details, bless your heart.  If you stop, I honestly don't blame you! ha!

**********************************************************

Since I like to end on a jolly note, I will start off with the bad news.  As of last Monday, and a week of getting back on track with my eating habits, I had not lost any weight.  NONE.  NADA.  ZILCH.  I was pretty frustrated, but what I've learned is that it is going to take more than a week or two to be at my goal.  Ha!  So, at the advice of G, I put my scale up.  Decided I am not going to obsess about weighing.  Blah.

On to the good news.  On Friday, I met with a personal trainer.  I MET WITH A PERSONAL TRAINER.  FROM THE GYM.  A TRAINER FROM THE GYM.  Seriously??!  Does that not sound insane to you??  It does to me.  She is a friend of mine from CBS and has offered to train me.  Now, before you get too crazy with your thoughts, this isn't like Bob or Jillian from The Biggest Loser!  She isn't going to yell at me and make me workout for 9 hours a day!  She is simply training me on some of the machines there and showing me what she wants me doing with free weights.  I will continue doing cardio and add in some weight training.  I'm pretty excited about it minus the guys at the gym who workout along side me and look like they have been eating steroids for breakfast.

And, the great news??  On Friday evening, I was on the treadmill and jogged for three minutes three different times!  That is the longest that I have been able to jog without stopping.  My goal is to be able to jog an entire song, but I can't do that yet.

And, that's the long of it!  I've been back to eating right and exercising for two weeks and even though I want to cheat all of the time, I'm trying to remain diligent.  It is an hour by hour decision to make good choices.  If my neighbor asks me to go to the gym, I try to think of a dozen good excuses why I can't go.  Then, I suck it up and head to the gym.  If I see cookies, chips, yummy bread, etc., sometimes I pass on them.  Sometimes, I eat some, subtract them from my calories and try to make healthier choices at my next meal.  Sigh...

So, here is where I am:

Oh, and I got some new kickers to go along with my new gym membership!

One last one -- this is perfectly me! ;)

the gym...again! and some park time

I know that is an incredibly boring title!  I apologize.  I'm just trying to keep track of little things I do at the gym...just for my records.  :-) 

I did it!  Yesterday morning, after getting Levi on the bus, Mags and I headed to the gym and did back to back classes.  I did Group Power and then headed to Zumba.  {I could only do 30 minutes of Zumba because the child care room has a time limit and it was time to pick Maggie up. :-)}  It was actually nice to have a little bit of a cool down after torturing my body doing the strength training.  Though it's only been a few days, I feel like I'm settling into a routine at the gym.  They have so much to offer and I'm excited to try it all...or most of it! Ha!

After the gym, Jami and I took the littles to the park.  I know everyone is talking about it -- THIS WEATHER HAS BEEN AMAZING!  I can't get enough of it!!  Before heading out, the littles wanted to see the fish.  Adorbs!

Did I mention that Jami showed up looking all cute?  She always does!

And then there was me.  Looking all HAWT straight up from the gym, barely able to walk.

Love these little people.

One more thing: Did I mention I'm on countdown??  YUP! ;)  I'm heading to Bowling Green for a weekend with no kids in just 27 short days.  Woo hoooo!  I'm sure you are already anxiously awaiting an exciting G & T post!  Oh, the anticipation...!!!