Finding time to be fit

It shouldn't be that hard.  An hour work out 3 times a week should not be that hard to fit in. Right?  My schedule is just off kilter enough to make it frustratingly difficult to get into a workout routine.  Every other aspect of my life is schedule and routine to the minute but some how this pocket of workout time escapes me.  If i worked closer I could use what was my commute time as gym time.  If Kylie stayed up later (or really, if I didn't feel so guilty for taking her to the gym's kids club in the evening) i could go after work.  If the weekends were not like the sacred two days with my husband, as a family, I'd have my but up there Saturday and Sunday.  What this sounds like to me is a bunch of excuses.  None of the circumstance make it undoable, exactly, just hard.  I have access to a gym at work, and I can always take up lunch time work-out, they are pretty effective, but I keep holding my breath that something will change in my current situation but I know that's not the way to do it.


I've been looking into the Couch to 5k running program.  I hate running and it actually hurts me to do it, but this program keeps coming back to me...calling to me.  Maybe I need to give it a go? I've always enjoyed seeing the benefits of my labor show up on my frame and I miss it. I miss sweating it out and I miss my step class and I miss how good I can sleep when I've had a good workout.  After admitting that, it still doesn't beat hanging out with Kylie and it doesn't out weigh the guilt of choosing it over Kylie for an hour.
Its a constant balancing act..that I have yet to figure out.  As much as I'd like to think that I'm getting closer to making it work, something slides around and throws it all off kilter. There has got to be a way to "do it all" and feel good about it. Right now its more like I'm doing just enough to get by.

Birthday report

All my creativity and productivity juices are about extinguished after the festivities this past weekend.  Before, I was holding my life together with lists and weekly budgets that kept me on the straight and narrow.  Things to do, money to spend, and now I'M FINALLY FREEEEEEEEE! The party is over and I feel like the heaviest weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  I am happy to report that it was successful and all went out with out (any major) hitches. Fun was had, food was eaten, cake was smashed and presents were opened.  For all the crafty folks who may be interested in how I let the DIY projects get a little out of hand with the party,  here is a quick recap of what I did and how.

Decorations-

I bought the Cricut Expression with so many of these projects in mind.  First up with the theme cupcakes and it just took off from there.  I used the a combination of Plantin Schoolbook, Accent Essentials, All Mixed Up,  Alphalicious and Sweet Treats.  I cut out flags and letters and shapes to spell out "Happy Birthday Kylie" and "Look Who's 1."  I wasn't sure what I was going to hang this on or how I would attach it..until on a quick trip to Hobby Lobby it came to me: feather boas! Here is the birthday girl coyly sporting the idea.



The finished product was pretty cute. (If I don't say so myself.)  I tied each flag to the boa with white satin ribbon.

I knew I wanted to do a candy buffet lite set up with the favors.  I had ordered ices cookies from the bakery who was doing the cake and later on I found cupcake pops that I just HAD to do for the occasion.  (More on those later.)   Again, on a trip to HL I found these purple wooden apothecary style urns that would be prefect for the cupcake pops and a clear glass jar to hold the color coordinated candy.  I used leftover strips of the invitation paper to make belly bands for the jars and finished it off with a textured cupcake sticker and  circle cut out.

Our great friends at Birdie Baby Boutique cooked us up a 1/2 dozen of ornamental cupcakes to round out the decor.  Created to match the plates and napkin color scheme these little "nuggets" were a wonderful finishing touch! Kylie made them her toys immediately after her party.  They are good because they are durable and whimsical rolled into one.  She was also awesome enough to make Kylie custom bows to match her birthday dress that she got to wear for all of about 10 minutes.  The bows have yet to make their debut.



Invites-
Using the Sweet Treats Cricut cartridge, I cut out a layered cupcake in several different shadow colors.  All with chocolate icing and iridescent, textured scrapbook paper for the cupcake wrappers.  I found a cupcake print 12x12 scrapbook sheet as the base, matted the text paper with a coordinating piece of card stock, assembles and...ta-da!

 I even added a little pizazz to the enveloped bus using the Stampin Up roller stamp to the outside - no pictures.  It was a nice touch..at that point I was in over drive and I couldn't stop....

Now, I didn't take any up close pictures of the cupcake pops, that looked pretty beginner baker, in my opinion...but they tasted damn good!  I followed the recipe on Bakerella. If I could find a way to make the purple chocolate a little thinner, they'd have been perfect, but it was harder to work with than I expected.  Nevertheless, they were incredibly edible and highly addictive.  I coordinated all that with purple, pink and silver chocolates in the clear jar.  

      The cake I can't take credit for, except that I knew where to go to get it. haha I sent Nick to go get it, and even though he just about had a nervous breakdown driving it home from the bakery, it made it in once piece with only the fondant circles sliding down the cake from being out in the heat. It looked great and had just the response I wanted it to! La Victoria Bakery does an amazing cake if you are up for the drive and the big bakery cost.  Their prices have increased since the last time I ordered from them, but the never fail to deliver a GREAT tasting cake with the ability to impress based on taste and presentation.  Rosie did me right, and for that, I thank her.

 ok, I have to post this not...I've been messing with this post for far too long!   

the year of Kylie

At 2:48 this aftternoon, I was holing Kylie in my arms, about to put her down for a nap.  I realized at almost exactly this time on this date last year they were handing her to me for the very first time.  Her eyes were wide open and she was so alert for being, oh, 20 minutes old.  She looked up at me, and it was love at first sight.  This was who I had waited so long to meet.

A year later we know she is undoubtedly her father's child. No way he can deny this little girl! She a spitting image of her dad and has also inherited his, stubborness, temper, and daredevil tendencies.  She's a natural leader and she takes the spotlight where ever she goes.  She is the apple of my eye and the heart of my heart.  I cannot wait to see what the next year brings.  It has been my absolute pleasure being Kylie's mom, she reminds me how lucky I am everytime I look at her.

Happy 1st Birthday Kylie! Mommy and Daddy love you!

a year ago..

At this very hour last year I was sitting in my room up in St. Joseph's hospital staring at the sad dinner tray of all liquids that I was expected to eat (drink) that night. Bummer. Nick was sacked out and starting to fall asleep in the world's most uncomfortable chair/foldout bed ever.  I was listening to the sounds of the large Mexican family that had taken over the room next door.  The contractions hadn't really heated up yet so I was still arrogantly confident that I was gonna be able to handle this no problem.  I was so close to meeting Kylie.  What an experience...adventure. The anticipation for tomorrow is more than that of my own birthday.  Tomorrow my sweet, adorable Kylie Louise turns one.

my 3 day diet craze

At work I'm hosting a Biggest Loser competition, that is set to end this Friday. It was a "mini" competition (9 weeks long) with the goal of losing 10% of your weight. Everyone pays $15 into the pot for the chance to be the biggest loser and win the pot, equaling $285! I for one, can be motivated by $285, especially since that kind of money is harder to come by these days. My results were lack luster for the first 4 weeks...then I joined a second gym, here at work, that offered classes during lunch.  Inches were coming off, but that is not what the Biggest Loser is supposed to lose. The weight barely budged. About that time I was introduced to the 3 day diet. It is one of the more bearable of the fad/crash diets, boasting a loss of up to 10 pounds in 3 days! Ok, enough said....I'm in. Maybe I'm a sucker for sketchy diets and quick weight loss, but who cares? I could almost feel the money in my wallet when I ate my two tablespoons of peanut butter for breakfast the first day. By day three I wasn't as hungry as I was totally sick of tuna fish. Those three days, put me in an early lead in the competition. (Thank you for small miracles.) With a grand total of 6 pounds lost that week I was on top of the world. I even sucked it up and went for another 3 days, loathing tuna a little more each day. This time the loss was not so amazing, but I suspect that a few pounds had snuck back on since I had last stopped. My lead slipped to second...then third...now fourth - if I'm lucky. I'd say its outside the realm of possibly for me to win at this point (I'm up against some pretty big losers) but I still had overall decent results with the diet. In my opinion, if you are devoted (or demented) enough to see it through, its worth the results...as fleeting as they may be. As a vehicle to jump start of loose a quick few pounds, this diet is effective. It could also be a very good way to screw up your metabolism.  Its amazing what I'll turn a blind eye to if it meant I can see my magic number on the scale.  With that said, I do not necessarily promote the use of crash diets because they do more harm than good if used over long periods of time, but this one has a special little place in my heart.




Here is the diet as I followed it-
1st Day:




BREAKFAST:


Black coffee or tea

½ grapefruit

1 slice of toast

2 tablespoons of peanut butter


LUNCH:


½ cup of tuna

1 slice of toast


DINNER:


2 slices of any mean (about 3 oz.) - I ate two hot dogs.

1 cup of string beans

1 cup of beets

1 small apple
1 cup of vanilla ice cream




2nd Day:


BREAKFAST:


1 egg

½ of a banana

1 slice of toast

Black coffee or tea


LUNCH:


1 cup of tuna or cottage cheese

5 saltine crackers


DINNER:


2 slices of meat

2 cups of broccoli

½ cup of carrots

½ of a banana

½ cup of vanilla ice cream


3rd Day:


BREAKFAST:


3 saltine crackers

1 slice of cheddar cheese

1 small apple

Black coffee or tea


LUNCH:


1 hard-boiled egg

1 slice of toast


DINNER:


1 cup of tuna or cottage cheese

1 cup of beets

1 cup of cauliflower

½ cup of cantaloupe

½ cup of vanilla ice cream


DIRECTIONS:
When you are on this diet, you may not use any other seasonings EXCEPT for salt and pepper. Also, you may drink either water or diet soda or tea with artificial sweetener. However, make sure that you drink at least 9 glasses of water per day in order to aid the flushing process that your body will be going through. Also, DO NOT SNACK throughout the day. Also, you may substitute tuna for cottage cheese or vice versa.


When you do this diet, you will be "on-diet" for the three days, and then you will take three days off, and then repeat the process until all your excess body fat has disappeared. MAKE SURE you take those three days off! When you are off of the diet, than you are able to eat anything that you want, however, eat moderately. Also, when you are dieting for the three days, keep your exercise routine to a minimum, due to the fact that your energy level will be lower than normal for the first two days.  As with all diets and weight loss routines, you are going to need to listen to your body. If you are feeling overly weak, or lightheaded, eat something. Everybody is different, so please, be careful with yourself.

to fall in love again

Things have been tense over here.  Some days are better than others but our ju ju has definitely been...off.  With Nick working nights and being off Friday/Saturday instead of Saturday/Sunday with me, we, more often that not, are two ships passing in the night.  I don't even stir when he comes home at night, so when he give me a kiss goodnight he says I just kind of grumble something in his direction. Its been hard to find the time to go out with the intention of giving each other one another's undivided attention.  I think we have both been putting family time before couple time, out of convenience of priority, I'm not really sure. Yesterday was different.  It was a long day.  We had two birthday parties (same location, an hour apart) so we spent a good part of the afternoon at Jump N Jungle.  Kylie was totally pooped and hungry (because I thought it would be a good idea to skip her bottle for some reason and then accidentally show up an hour early for the parties.)  We were able to play for over an hour before signs of a meltdown started to show.  She was asleep in her new Britax Marathon (moving on up!) before we even left the parking lot.  At home she slept for a measly 50 minutes before we were ready to get on over to grandma and grandpa's house for the evening.  We were all greeted very enthusiastically by Jacques, my parent's new-ish dog, we set Kylie up in her chair for dinner and we were off for our date!

The initial plan was to do dinner and a movie.  I haven't been to the movies since I was like 4 months pregnant, and I felt like it was time to rejoin the movie going society.  On a whim we called Cafe Adobe to see what the wait was and it was only 30 minutes! So we got out name on the list, and headed over. My date and I had barely sat down with our margaritas before our pager went off.  Those events set the mood just right...well and not to mention the amount of tequila in those margaritas...dang!  Those things are dangerous!  They hit us both right in the mouth so it sounded like we were talking with a numb lower lip.  As our meal went on, we exchanged wonderful, yet slightly slurred, dinner conversation.  The combination of the child free environment we were in and the twinkle of alcohol in Nick's eyes allowed me to clearly see how much I love him.    After four margaritas neither one of us wanted to sit in a movie theater at this point so we picked up a movie at Best Buy and then stopped at Ben and Jerry's for dessert.  What a prefect end to a great date. So simple, and overall pretty short, but that's all it took to get back into the newlywed state of mind.  We've always been a good match, and I've always felt like a queen because he is go good to me. I feel like the luckiest girl on earth. Sometimes the word love doesn't cover the feelings I have for him.  Enamored, adoration, respect, admiration....just a few varieties of the emotions swirling through my heart.  No one else can give me what he does, and geez, without him there would not have been Kylie and I can't imagine life like that.  She's a constant reminder of how much I <3 him (and not just because she is his mini me.)  We are in a good place, and I owe it all to him.

Giving my bank account some much needed rehab

Lately there has been one phrase that has come out of my mouth more that "I hate..." and that is "I want." I want so many things.  I have wish lists at all my favorite stores, I sale stalk a list of other ones, I have numerous saved searches in my eBay account that help me find exactly the things I really don't need and I live for any excuse to go to Target. I budget myself to a T and I plan each pay check and balance the bills that will come out of each one...yet I still can't catch a break.   

Let me have an aside here for a moment.  I find it hard to talk honestly about money.  I think its a pretty private thing and it shouldn't be any one's business what my financial situation is.  Having said that, by now, my husband would also be shushing me and telling me not to write this because it will give people the wrong idea about us. So let me just be clear that my husband and an excellent money manager. He is great at saving (probably because he is also great at earning) and he has excruciating self control when it comes to saving and spending. He knows when to hold and he knows when to fold.  I have much of that to learn.  So in short, this problem is 100% M-I-N-E.

I've never been one to deprive myself.  If I wanted the shoes, I bought the shoes.  If  Anthro was having a sale, I would just charge what I couldn't pay outright. For gifts, if I'm spending $50, why not spend $75 or $100?  It feels good to give.  Sometime in the last year my eyes outgrew my wallet and I've not been able to get a handle on it.  I never wanted it to get to this, but there are only two things I can do: cease and desist.  I have to transfer my credit card balance to a zero % card and no more buying until my birthday.  A month and a half will give me the cleanse I need and starve the spending demon that lives inside me.  (Won't it??) There, I said it, that is my plan, for everyone to see.   October 9th....you can't come fast enough.