Home sweet home!

We are finally home! I had a great time in Florida... but happy to be back in Tennessee!! It was SO hot in Florida! August in Florida is always the worst month weather-wise! It was TOUGH getting back into work, though! I had pretty much NO motivation! I wanted to be hanging with my little girl all day long. I got used to being with her all day long this past week :( You can bet I was bolting out the door to go pick her up when work was over!

It was definitely a week of mixed emotions... Happy for my brother who is now a married man - still can't believe it! Sad for JR's family with Granny's passing and trying to adjust to a "new life".

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for JR's family!

We drove last Wednesday down to Florida and made it in great time, thankfully! Maddie survived the car trip up and down. I was really afraid that she would go nuts in the car for 11 hours straight... but thankfully we kept Taylor Swift playing on the IPod and plenty of books and My Little Ponies to keep her happy :)

I had almost a full afternoon with one of my closest friends... we have been friends since middle school! Her daughter is only a DAY younger than Maddie. Crazy, huh? She is one of those friends that no matter how long it's been since we've talked or seen each other, we pick right up where we left off... she's amazing! Our girls had lots of time to play this trip!

My eating was not great, though. I normally can balance vacation eating pretty well... but not this time around. Along with my "monthly friend" showing up TWO weeks EARLY (what the heck is up with that mother nature?!?) and a little bit of family stress over the trip... my eating was pretty off for me. TONS of sugar - I mean tons, tons, tons! I normally splurge on a trip... this was kind of beyond. And since we were on the go from the moment we got up until we went to sleep each night (we drive an hour each way between visiting our families... sometimes two or three times a day!), I had no time to fit in a work out! I thought I would jump right back into healthy eating today... but I think my body got so used to gorging on sugar, that it was craving it BIG time! I'm thinking I may need to go cold turkey or close to it to ween myself off of it!

But enough of that... Here are a few pictures of my brother, Justin's wedding...

Justin and our Dad....

Maddie was the flower girl :)
Justin and I

First kiss as a married couple!
My baby sister Ashley and her boyfriend George (I have the most gorgeous sisters!)

JR & I
All four of us kiddos....I swear I'm the oldest! They all outgrew me =P

And this was TOO cute...Justin and his wives daughter, Katelyn... who is now 7 months old... was so worn out from the wedding, she crashed and they put her out on these pillows... adorable!

As for food today - it was not the best! I have a pretty empty fridge due to being gone for a week! Dinner tonight was pull out whatever is in the freezer! I had some frozen leftover grilled chicken breast, some Arnold's Thins in the freezer... pulled those out... then grilled up slices of pineapple, swiss cheese, Annie's smokey maple bbq sauce... loved it :) Crispy fries on the side...
totally veggie-less :( Oh well... I'll do better tomorrow on that one. We got our CSA delivery tonight!

We got 1 yellow squash, some grape tomatoes, a patty pan squash, 2 corn on the cobs.1 green bell pepper and a cantaloupe (all for JR... not a big cantaloupe fan here!)...

Any ideas on what to do with our produce?

Go, go, go Saturday!!

Hey everyone! How's your weekend shaping up so far?

Heading back to last night - we had some home made pizza. We used a whole wheat premade dough from Whole Foods... my side was grilled chicken, green peppers, red onion and tomatoes with part skim mozz cheese. JR's was the same with some added some pepperoni. I had a yummy glass of Shiraz on the side!
Today has been busy from the start! I got up at about 6:30 to be sure and squeeze in my work out before Maddie woke up and before my crazy cleaning adventure today. I have been itching to do my Firm work outs... so I did one of my all time favs! Total Muscle Shaping!This one is about 45 minutes long, which can be very convenient on days that I do not have a lto of time work out! It also has lots of combined movements, keeping the hearat rate up. You have bicep curls while doing leg presses on a 14 inch step, lunges with an overhead press, dips and hammer curls, etc. Today for most of these, I used 10-12 lbs weights, depending on the exercise. You also do some step aerobics using 6 inch step or using the step on an incline.

After, I was crraavvviiingg some yoga! I popped in The Biggest Loser's Weight Loss Yoga DVD. Now I LOVE this DVD for many, many reasons - one because I adore Bob (and LOVE having ANY excuse to post pictures of him doing different yoga poses... haha)...Two because I love the fact that this work out is broken up into three different time segments! You have the 5 minute warm up - then you can choose between doing a 20 minute yoga routine, 15 minute routine or 10 minute routine. Today, I did the warm up and the 10 minute routine. Just what I needed! I burned 444 calories today.

After that, it was seriously breakfast time! I don't know why... but I was desperately craving my oatmeal pancakes!

Today's combo:
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tbsp protein powder
1 tbsp cottage cheese
1/2 smooshed naner
a couple of cut up frozen cherries
1/2 cup egg whites

Allllll of those ingredients to give us this (and I took like six shots of this and NEVER got a clear picture! I'm so sorry!)I topped one pancake with 1/2 tbsp PB Loco's Jungle Banana PB and the top pancake with 1/2 tbsp PB&Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams. I also sliced the rest of the banana up and sandwiched it between then. Perfecto!

The cleaning started after... I had to get my clothes situated in our room. Shamefully I have to say, our room was a mess. And it's about 85% my fault! I still think I'm a kid sometimes and um... my clothes kind of end up on the floor. So then it gets so bad that we can't walk in the room... and yes, I'm saying this in public! Embarrassing but true! Maybe it will help me change things! Probably not, unfortunately! My hubby is shaking his head while he's reading this, I know it! :)

Anyway while going through and hanging up clothes and putting them away in drawers, I also went through my closet to try to reorganize things a bit. I haven't wanted to face the closet for awhile now. Knowing that most of my clothes don't fit me at all because of my weight gain has made it hard to stomach looking at some of my fav shirts or jeans that I can't get into! I divided things into two sections... what I can wear now and what I can't. At least that way, I know exactly where to go to in the closet to get stuff out for the day and won't depress myself by going through all the others! Here's to hoping!

I got rid of some things I don't wear anymore. I've had things in the closet for a few years now saying I'm going to have them altered that haven't been touched. Out they went!

Did anyone tune into the live streaming of the Healthy Living Summit at all today? I thought it was awesome they made that available to us! I had problems with the sound throughout some of it but thought it was pretty fun to listen to and be able to get to know the personalities a bit more of the ladies there. I thought Zesty's part was great info! He mentioned getting your own domain if you plan to blog for awhile... I'm not sure if I'm ready for that - nor can I afford it right now. I do hate that I feel so limited in what I can do with my page right now, though. I want to add extra pages with before and after shots (which by the way, if you are interested you can check some out here), an info page, etc.

They also talked on the importance of photographs, which I agree with. As y'all have seen, I am definitely NOT the best food photographer at all. I am still working on that! The worst part is that as many windows and lights as we have in our house, there is NO light. I fight with that daily! So... need to figure out that angle. Thanks guys for hanging in there with me on the photos!

Finally had lunch around 1:00... I knew I needed to use up the rest of the turkey I had and a pear sitting in the fridge. So I "peared" (haha... okay maybe not as cute as I think it is) on a sandwich!

I mixed some light mayo and dijon mustard... put that on the bread with some thin pear slices. Added the turkey, swiss cheese and pressed it in a pan for a few minutes. Presto lunch! I served it with the rest of the pear, some strawberries and a few blue corn chips.
I also had a square of Ghiradelli intense dark chocolate that I found wayyyy at the bottom of one of my (many) purses while cleaning it out. So yummy!

Okay, I am off to get ready for some more errands! Gotta head out to Target and Walgreens...dinner will most likely be pizza (and wine) leftovers.

Thanks everyone for the comments on the dress! I have to say I loved the dress on in person... but when i saw the pictures, I almost cried. I haven't seen pictures of myself since gaining weight. My face is so much fuller and I'm just not as toned as I once was. But I made myself post them anyway... I need to be proud of where I am regardless! It's been a struggle today... putting on a dress tonight and knowing how it used to fit... I am trying to stay positive!

Just curious again on taking photos of food.... anyone have some great advice to pass along to make it more appealing to the eye?

Day of rest....

Today is my day "rest day" from working out... and rest is exactly what I did! I don't know that I have really moved much other than playing some with Maddie... doing a bit of her what she calls her "exercise movie" with her... and going to the grocery store! I have been so lazy!

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers for JR's grandmother. They tried to stop the bleeding... but were not able to. They also found out that her liver has completely stopped working. So now it's just a matter of keeping her comfortable... she will be home under hospice care tonight. JR's Uncle's flew in this morning and his Aunt lives here... so please say a prayer for his dad and family!

I went to the grocery store to get stuff to make a couple of meals for JR's parents. Hopefully this will give them one or two meals they don't have to worry about! For some grab 'n go breakfast options, I am making some blueberry muffins and maybe a coffee cake. Then for dinner, I am making them our favorite lasagna. My in-laws are always there for us... so I hope this will take a little bit of pressure off of them!

Rewinding back to dessert last night... No picture... but I made some chocolate banana soft serve!! YUM!! Just took my frozen bananas and added 1 tbsp dark cocoa powder and 1/2 tsp cinnamon... good stuff!!!

So I have to share how proud I am of my hubby... he has actually done the 30 Day Shred on his OWN... without me nudging or anything the past two days! Wha??? Who is this man??? Maddie decided to join him last night... and I had to share with you what she used as her "weights"...

Yes, that would be a pair of SOCKS... haha!

Another workout shot of Maddie doin' the shred...
Gotta love it :) Jillian would be proud!

After dinner, Maddie and JR had a jam session in the living room.... Maddie was sure to grab her barbie guitar!
Video to come later! :)

As for today, I stayed home again with Maddie... it's been pretty low key here!!

Breakfast was pumpkin pancakes... Just took my usual oat bran recipe... this time, I had 1/4 cup oatmeal and 1/4 cup oat bran... and added in 1/3 cup pumpkin and some pumpkin pie spice... kept everything else the same :) Topped them with some Mighty Maple and some TJ's almond butter!

I had a small amount of my new Trader Joe's trail mix mid-morning to snack on... and then this yummy sandwich and a nectarine for lunch...
Not really sure of a snack just yet... or dinner at this point!

Before I go... I have to share with you the other "kiddos" in the house. I feel like such a bad mama! I haven't even mentioned them yet!!

Meet Lady and Scooter...


Scooter is part Jack Russell Terrier and Italian Greyhound... he's everyone's best friend :)


And there's Lady... she is all diva ;) She's part long haired chiuiua and miniature pincher

Do you have any pets? I can't imagine my life without ours!

Time to finally get moving! have a good night everyone!

Two days, One heck of a long post!

So did everyone make it through Monday?? It was kind of a tough one for me... thankfully it's over and we're one day closer to the weekend :)

I absolutely did NOT want to get up to work out yesterday! I did anyway - after the hubby actually nudging me a few times... which is usually the other way around! We did Level 2 of the 30 day shred... I used 3, 5 & 8 lb weights throughout the video... I burned 200 calories Let me tell you - my.ass.hurts!!!! Holy cow!! I am sore!! I think the yoga on Sunday very much contributed to that, too. Bob's Yoga is not for wimps!

Yowza ;)

A quick food recap for Monday...

Breakfast -I tried to make an almond butter french toast type sandwich... with Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin bread... it was a great idea - but the bread seemed to break easily! I want to try this again with a sturdier bread - which you would think the Ezekiel bread would be... but not so much!

My mid-morning snack was a homemade trail mix... some Kashi Honey Sunshine and Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with almonds, cashews, dark chocolate chips and golden raisins... I had already had about half this bag when I remembered to snap a pic!

Lunch is somehow without a picture... I swear I took one! Just a simple turkey burger in a wrap with mozzarella cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion... with leftover veggies from dinner last night.

No pic of my next snack either.... Maddie and I ran over to Target and she wanted a juice from starbucks... it was SO hot out and I couldn't resist getting a tall light frappuccino!!

By the time we finished up at Target and the grocery store... it was 7:30!! I came home and threw this together for dinner... and downed it two times faster than it took to make!!
Tuna mixed with smart balance mayo, mixed greens, onion, tomato and arnolds thins with some sabra's hummus!

That's about the most excitement that went on for me on Monday!

As for today, it has been a little crazy! I woke up to my alarm but my body would NOT give in today! So I decided to let myself sleep in... I was supposed to go to a Zumba class with our best friend Lisa... but unfortunately that didn't happen :( Anyway - I got up, got ready for work... made some seriously quick eats on my way out of an Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin english muffin with 1 tbsp of PB on each side, a banana... and I stopped at Starbucks... Yes - AGAIN. Seriously - I did not realize that was 3 days in a row! I'm cut off for the rest of the week!!! Yeesh! Anyway, I got a non fat cinnamon dolce latte...

In my morning madness, I walked out without a thing for lunch... and was hoping to find a good wrap at Trader Joe's... which I did not find what I was looking for! :( Didn't matter - I got a phone call from Jr's dad asking me to come get Maddie (my in-laws are awesome - they watch Maddie for us while we work!) ... JR's grandmother has been in a nursing home for recovery from surgeries earlier this month... and they discovered today that she has some internal bleeding going on! :( Very scary stuff! So, I went over and got Maddie...

I was SO hungry on my way to get Maddie, I grabbed a couple of handfuls of this new mix I picked up at Trader Joe's today...

We headed home and at this point, it was 1:30 and I was beyond starving! I scarfed down lunch before even realizing I needed a picture! A La Tortilla wrap with probably about 2 tbsp hummus, grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion and a slice of swiss... with just a couple of blue corn chips on the side for some crunch...

I put Maddie down for her nap (oh how I love nap time!) and got my work out on big time! I did Level 2 of 30 Day Shred (of course) and then did a Firm video... quite an older one - we're talkin' leotards and tights era ;) It's called Super Cardio Mix... lots of step work, 4-limb work, and plyometrics... and then I ended with lots of yoga type stretching. I got 626 calories burned today! Which made up for Zumba not being able to happen... this is about what I burn in a Zumba class!

I went right off to make a smoothie for a snack that I took about five sips of and threw out... not a good combo! I was going to have something else but realized it was too close to dinner and that could leave me some room to have some dessert tonight instead!

So dinner... made some meatloaf muffins with my new bbq sauce as the topping (and some with ketchup for JR, of course!)... leftover mashed sweet potatoes, corn that I shared with Maddie, squash and zucchini and a couple of carrots...

Not sure what we'll end up doing for dessert... but will be back to post that tomorrow :)

Please say a prayer for JR's grandmother! Last I had heard a few hours back, she was still being worked on in the ER...

Off to finish dinner and catch up on blogs... night!

Guys - editing this to add - please keep Jen in your prayers... I know we had a lot of doggie losses this weekend... Jen also lost her mom unexpectedly...you can read about it here....

Weekend Wrap up! :)

How was everyone's weekend? Before I recap our Sunday... I'll finish up our Saturday :)

I did my last day of Level 1 of Jillian's 30 Day shred yesterday. I had planned on doing some heavy upper body work after... but as I was getting my stuff out, I saw this kit that The Firm put out last year that I got for Christmas. I haven't used it yet and thought while I had some extra time, I should give it a try. It only uses a resistance band and a weighted jump rope. The jump rope has 2 lbs weights on the handles. You can either use the DVD as a whole or they break it up into 4 segments that are 10 minutes each.
I'm not sure that I loved this work out. The "equipment" seemed a little cheap. I will say that the cardio portion is TOUGH. It's mainly jump rope... you do two minutes of jump roping - basic jumping, then adding in things like high knees, jumping on one foot, etc.. then you take a break and do plyometric moves... which is HARD after doing two minutes of straight weighted jump roping! Then I did the lower body portion, which uses the resistance band... I'm actually really feeling that today!!! The upper body and abs portion are just okay. I'd pull this out for a very quick cardio boost and lower body add on... but not sure I'd use the upper body/ab parts! All in all, I burned 450 calories...

Yesterday after my post, our best friend Lisa joined us and we headed off to the mall. We grabbed a quick Subway sandwich and baked chips for lunch. Miss Maddie begged to ride the carousel...haha... this is the best shot!!
I did have 1 1/2 pretzel cinnamon stix from Auntie Anne's... yum :) Then went off to the Nike Outlet and picked up my new shoes that I am SO, SO excited about! Of course, had to have some pink on them :) How cute are they?!?!?!
Maddie decided she wanted to try them out, too... haha... I could have told her she had them on the wrong feet... but it was too funny!

I snacked on an apple and some trail mix last night before we had our leftover pizza from date night for dinner! Seriously too good :)

As for today, We had a leisurely day... Okay, I had a lazy day... JR did yard work, vacuumed out our cars... and then Maddie and I helped him wash our cars...
I kind of sat around, caught up on some blogs and did a bunch of nothing! I did plan out some meals for the week... I don't have "set" plans but at least have some options, which is a huge leap for me!

We got up and headed straight out to grab the Sunday paper and some Starbucks... I came home and really wasn't very hungry... I didn't have any cravings, so pulled this out for breakfast...
I ended up not wanting the banana... so just had a small amount of PB on the half blueberry bagel and my latte!

I went through our freezer to see what we have for upcoming meals this week... and realized we had quite a few different loaves of bread taking up all of our space! I thought I should have a sandwich for lunch to start using some of it up... I pulled out a couple of slices of this (sorry it's a bit blurry)...I had this with some turkey, Sabra's classic hummus (OBESSED with Sabra's hummus!), lettuce, tomato, Whole Foods honey mustard, Havarti Cheese... a few Sun Chips and some fruit on the side... Good lunch!

I am now 0ff to do Day 1 of Level 2 on the 30 day shred... lord help me get through it! I'm exhausted and wanting to take a nap more than anything else!

Anyone have anything exciting going on this week?

Have a great rest of the weekend!

On the go, go, go...

Hey everyone!

Why is it that every weekend seems to fly by faster than the last? I can't believe July is almost over! It's going to be Christmas before ya know it! Maybe that's why Maddie has been asking about Santa almost every day this week?!?

To finish off our Saturday night, JR and I played a game of Rumy. It's one of our favorites to play together... although, I have to say, I hate losing to him! haha! I had to give in and go to bed around 12:30...I'm such an old lady! But no fear... one more round and I'm sure I'll kick his tail end! We were both feeling snacky when we started our game...so we had this while watching our season 10 DVD of Friends (who else misses new Friends episodes?!?!?!) and playing cards...
That's mine with the added M&M's and almonds! So good!

Maddie woke me up bright and early at 7:00 this morning (while daddy got to sleep till 10am!!)... did a few things around the house, caught up on some blogs...when I finally felt hungry ...I wanted... chocolate :) Chocolate for breakfast? Hey, I'm PMS-ing - it's allowed!! Okay, so really... it looks like mud... but I promise it was yummy!I first microwaved 1/2 cup oat bran, unsweetened Almond milk, water, 2 tbsp liquid egg whites - for some added protein, 1/2 tsp vanilla and agave nectar... then stirred in some dark chocolate cocoa powder... added some chopped cherries, banana and dark chocolate chips! With some almond butter on the side...

Once JR decided to get out of bed we headed to get the Sunday paper and make a Starbucks stop... I grabbed a grande skinny cinnamon dolce latte...

While I was upstairs doing some cleaning, JR and Maddie did some cleaning of their own... going through ALL of her stuffed animals trying to figure out what she still plays with and what we can put up till the next little one comes along! Where's Maddie? HaHa...

Between oatmeal and the latte, I did not want any food until almost 1:30... I was craving a grilled sandwich! I used some Trader Joe's turkey, havarti cheese, lettuce, tomato, smart balance mayo with 1 tsp smart balance light butter to grill it... individual bag of sun chips on the side! YUM! This is really the first time I've had the havarti cheese... I really like it!
Also got some baking action going on today!...I made these Berry Rich Muffins... I needed to use up our buttermilk and also had way more blackberries and blueberries than I think we could have eaten before they went bad... so this was perfect. Excuse JR's fingers in the picture... he's trying to grab one before they've even cooled! ;)

Once we got Maddie down for her nap, we got our work out on! JR worked out with me today! We did Level 1 of Jillian's 3o Day Shred... I used mainly 5 & 8 lbs throughout the work out... and then did some extra lower body work after we finished. I burned 361 calories....after that, I had 1/4 of one of the muffins and probably about a tablespoon of my new Trader Joe's trail mix for a snack... then got dinner ready!

Dinner was easy tonight... I just marinated some lean pork in a teriyaki marinade, some roasted rosemary red potatoes and steamed up an asian veggie medley...
I have been a busy bee all day! I got meals planned out for the week, which was a chore! I felt so disorganized! I haven't planned meals in quite some time and did not know where to start! How do you make out your meal plans???

I then clipped all the coupons I wanted from the newspaper... I was using them faithfully for awhile... and noticed a big difference when I stopped! Do any of you use coupons?

Now I'm heading off to bed... getting up early for some more Level 1 Jillian and some cardio action! Night all! :)