Life Plan

For the most part, I'm a pretty Type A personality. I like to have control in all aspects of my life and it gives me some serious anxiety when I don't. 


I, like I'm sure many of you, had a life plan for myself. And for a long time, I was right on track. Married by my mid-20's, had a job in my field, owned a house, owned a dog (plus 1), etc. 


However, I've been recently struggling with said life plan. Because by now? I wanted to be in a managerial position at my job, have a baby and lose the weight I set out to lose so long ago. And guess what? None of the above have been accomplished. 


My weight? Ugh. It's a struggle. I'm not sitting on the couch eating cake. If I was, then I would deserve every ounce of chub I have. Instead, I engage in an active lifestyle (workout 5 times a week), count calories and overall try to make healthy decisions. But my weight? Doesn't reflect that. Hubs is telling me to work harder. I should be working out longer, harder, faster. And perhaps he's right. Clearly whatever I'm doing now isn't helping me lose the pounds. 


My career? I'm just not where I want to be. I should be a manager. I should be making more money. I'm doing none of the above, and I only have myself to blame. 


A baby? Well, that's also directly related to my weight. I wanted to lose weight before putting a baby inside my belly. Because I didn't want to have to lose the baby weight on top of the extra weight I already had to lose. Plus, I know my time will be constricted once I have said child. Hubs and I haven't been "preventing" pregnancy, but we also haven't been "trying" too hard either. I guess when the time comes, it will come.


It's all been weighing pretty heavily on me lately. And in turn, making me anxious and depressed. I guess I just need to accept that everything doesn't always happen as you've planned. 

The No Show-ers

This weekend we had ourselves a holiday gathering. This brings me to a rant, that I've definitely had before on this blog. The RSVP.


For this gathering, people actually RSVPed. And early. We had a head count of 18 people. Checked in with everyone a few days before, to confirm, then went out to shop for food and beverages. And if you've ever thrown a party, you know it's not cheap. From beer, wine, food, etc, it adds up pretty quickly and before you know it, you're spending triple digits. And taking time to make delicious cake pops complete with festive decor, like so:

Saturday comes. 8:30PM rolls around, and approximately 4 people (the old faithfuls :)) are still the only ones nomming on my food and drinking le Miller Lite (and some delightful mulled, spiked cider.) We had a drop in of 2 others, but with a baby, we knew they couldn't stay long.


We got a text from one other couple saying they couldn't make it. And the rest? Just didn't show. That Saturday I spent busting my ass in the kitchen, cleaning my house, making room for nearly 20 people? Kind of a waste of time. Although, our friends that did come had a lovely time and certainly enjoyed my food and drink, I was disappointed and mad that everyone else decided at the last minute not to show. We're all adults here, you know? The days of college parties with a case of Natty Light and a few bags of chips are out the door. We're a little classier in our shindigs.


Hubs was pissed. I was steamy. Sunday, I submitted myself to the couch for a day of Food Network, puppy snuggles and iPhone games. After all, I busted my ass on Saturday. 


The lesson? If you're ever thinking about not showing up to a party that you RSVPed "Yes, Plus 1" to...think about me. 

Fitness Friday

Happy Friday!


This week has been different for me, fitness wise. I decided to focus mainly on the treadmill, getting my cardio in and concentrating on running. Because, guess what? I still have barely lost any weight. After being on the Lose It app tracking my calories for a few weeks, I've only lost 3 pounds. And that goes back and forth. 


Let's take yesterday for instance. I stepped on the scale in the morning, right after my workout. I lost 3 pounds since the last time I stepped on...about a week and a half ago. 


But then, today, I decided I wanted to see that number again, so I stepped back on. Guess what? It says I gained 2.5 pounds since yesterday. Which simply cannot be the case, because not only did I work out for over an hour yesterday, I stayed below my calorie count. And I refused birthday cake...AGAIN...for the second time this week! 


So, if I gain weight refusing the birthday cake, can I lose weight eating the birthday cake? That is, indeed, the question. Because we have birthday cake at the office AGAIN today. For the third time this week. 


Anyway, my week panned out like this:


Sunday: Nothing
Monday: 40 minute run/walk
Tuesday: 45 minute run/walk
Wednesday: Nothing (it was a bad, bad day)
Thursday: Shred Level 2, 45 minute run/walk, and some serious furniture lifting/moving
Friday: 40 minute run/walk
Saturday: This is going to be up in the air. I have a party to get ready for at our house, so I'll either have time to get a run in or be running around like a chicken with my head cut off.


Any advice? I swear, some days I feel like a skinny chick walking around in a chubby chick's body. People would never look at me and think I exercise OR watch what I eat. Le sigh.

Joy Sign Project

What would Christmas be without a little arts and crafts time? Just par for the course in this house. Me and my glue gun...us against the world.


I got myself some letters at Michael's to spell "Joy." I planned to do a similar treatment to that which I did for Halloween...scrapbook paper and Mod Podge.


I had one off letter (a little scissor mishap) while I was cutting, which gave me a fabulous idea. I traced all the wooden letters on holiday scrapbook paper. 

Cut them out and adhered them to another piece of green cardstock using a thick coat of Mod Podge. 

Paint a cheap thrift store frame white and add some Christmas ribbon with my trusty glue gun. 

End up with a cute little sign for the cost of the $1 frame and $2 ribbon! 

Happy Christmas Crafting! 

Christmas Pups

Hubs and I started a tradition long ago, when Wiggles was a wee Pug puppy, to take a photo of him and send it as the Christmas card for that year. 


That first year, he was in a Santa hat. Cute, simple, easy. 


Then we added Peanut to the mix and things got a bit more complicated. We dressed them up in silly Christmas costumes and somehow got them to sit still for a few minutes while we snapped their photo. 


This year was no different. My mom and sister were here this weekend, and my sister was kind enough to help me distract the dogs while I took their photo. Therefore, leaving hubs out of the frustrating process. 


I had many ideas for this year's card. None of which required the silly costumes we've used in the past. The first involved Christmas lights. Fail. Here's an outtake. 

Failed idea. Neither would stay still. And it looked like I was torturing them. 

Here's the winning idea...cropped. I don't want to reveal the card before they're out! I just wanted to show you all that I caught Peanut mid-yawn. Hysterical.

Talk about unflattering photos. If she could talk, she'd make me take that down. And untag it on Facebook.

I'll be working on placing an order with Shutterfly today! Which I'm especially excited for because I won 25 free cards from Cole! 

Fitness Friday

Wow, I've been a bad blogger. Not only did I miss Fitness Friday last week, I just haven't been around much. I guess that's what happens when life gets in the way. I've been busy decorating for Christmas, visiting friends, working, trying to keep my house in some semblance of order.


Anyway, I'm loving the fact that we have the treadmill in the house. It certainly beats going to the gym. I'm still getting used to trying to run on it. It's much different being forced to go at one speed the whole time. 


Hubs gave me another pep talk last night about running. I still hate it. I still suck at it. Even though I want to like it and be good at it, it hurts! My legs are screaming when I'm running and I feel like that will never go away. I guess I can only work harder, right?


Anyway, let's recap this week:


Sunday: Nothing
Monday: Cardio intervals, 30 min run/walk
Tuesday: Shred, 30 min run/walk
Wednesday: Kickboxing
Thursday: Cardio intervals
Friday: 30 minute run/walk
Saturday: My momma and sister are coming for Christmas shopping extravaganza, so I doubt working out will make it into my schedule.


Have a great weekend everyone!

Thanksgiving - The Good, The Bad

Let's talk Turkey Day. Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that's really changed for me over the years since I've been married. 


When I was single, it was a day when my grandmother, Nana, sister, mom, dad, 2 aunts, 2 uncles and 4 kids would gather around the table and dive into my mother's turkey with the trimmings. It was loud. It was crowded. But it was what I knew and loved. 


Enter marriage. Becoming a couple means that holidays now have to be split. So, Thanksgiving is now dedicated to hubs' fam. Christmas is my fam. 


Thanksgiving to me now means:


1. Traveling over 3 hours in one day to see hubs' family. It's exhausting.


2. Gorging myself on hubs' sister's pumpkin roll. 


3. Pouring over all the Black Friday sale papers directly after turkey consumption.


4. Coming home after a long drive and trying to pass out on the couch, while two crazy, cooped up dogs want to play.


5. Fighting with hubs on who gets the leftovers.


6. Debating on whether or not I should muster up the energy to get up at the ass crack of dawn and head to snag some Black Friday deals. Sleep usually wins.


7. Getting out all the Christmas decorations and going to town. By the time I'm done, it looks like Santa threw up all over the house. 


8. Dragging hubs to get a Christmas tree. Making him hold about 10183 of them and "shake them out" so I can get a good feel for what they'll look like in my living room.


9. Starting my yearly tradition of slowly converting hubs from his scrooge-like state to enjoying every minute of the holiday season. This is complete with all holiday activities like cookie-baking, music-listening, gift wrapping, light putting-up.


This year? We're chopping down our own tree. As in, heading to a tree farm, picking the prime pine, hacking it down and dragging it to the car. I can only imagine this trip will end up like a scene right out of Christmas Vacation. 


You know what though? I'm very, very thankful that hubs is back in the country. Because this time last year? He was overseas for work. And I was missing our Thanksgiving and holiday traditions. Now that I'm married, the holidays will always be where he is. <3