The Pink Growl: March Challenge - 30 Miles in 30 Days

So on my journey to commit to health, I have decided to join up with Nikki on the 30 miles in 30 day Challenge! Life can get out of control. Sometimes we just need a place to start. Won't you start with me?

The Pink Growl: March Challenge - 30 Miles in 30 Days

If only we could wiggle our nose and transform our bodies as easily as Samantha on Bewitched. But unfortunately we can't. I tried it. It can't be done. Poo! I want to go back and change whatever I did to get here. To smack whatever I was going to eat out of my hand. Alas, it is not to be. We can't go back. All we can to is go forward from this point on. I love this quote.

I am making a brand new ending. I am committing to this challenge. I am sure this saying will be my mantra daily. But I am sticking it out.

Any motivation, encouragement, congrats, or butt chewing you can give would be oh so appreciated. I know I am going to need it! Help a sista out and help yourself: join and partner up! I already have the aspirin ready!! (click here for my thoughts on why the need for aspirin). 

Random thought: Why is it when I hear the word aspirin, I think of the movie Birdcage? LOL

I survived the Birthday

So sorry I have been away! It has been a hectic week. Y'all know I celebrated my birthday last week on Wednesday. No I am not going to say how old I am. I will do a shout out to my parents for giving me the gene to look younger than my age! Woo Hoo!! Anyhooo, LT had to work on my day. It happens every year. I have learned to deal with it. But don't cry for me, Argentina. This allowed me to extend the celebration out to the weekend! So let's break down the celebration.

On Wednesday, the big day, all my students wished me happy birthday! Now this is a pretty big deal to me because they are high school students. It really set the tone for me. My day was awesome! That night I got to spend it at my book club with some amazing, influencing women. Then to top it off D, my sister, gave me surprises! I love surprises, don't you? Here is what I got:

Yummy Turtles and other chocolates from my great friend and co-worker (I still have some left!)

D found a gluten free bakery and got me cupcakes: Red Velvet,  Chocolate, Vanilla)

OMG! I can't believe I got this! An iPad mini! 

Lt's gift to me is the case for it. Waiting for it to come in today.

What did I do with Lt you ask? Well, we went to one of my favorite Mexican restaurant on Saturday night. Then on Sunday we headed for a road trip up north to a zoo. We just love going to the zoo. It doesn't matter the size, they are all awesome! I wish we could have gotten their early, early for the giraffe feeding. That would have been an experience!! 

My birthday may not have had a big party or lots of presents, but it was perfect for me. I want to end this post with a little wisdom I have learned. I thought when I turned 30 (yes I am older than 30), I had to become "an adult". Boy was I wrong! Age is a number. I am totally young at heart and that in turn keeps me young. My lesson: the older I get, the better it is. Live life my friends! You can always take Advil afterwards. LOL!

I'm the Kinda Girl Who...

Hey y'all! I am linking up with Running In Stilettos today!

So, I am the kinda of girl who...

...always has a picture with either my mouth open, a wild pose, or both!

...can rationalize anything!

...obeys the rules (except for speeding) and has the nickname "The Rule Monger"

...wears mascara everywhere even when exercising!

...loves to read but will skip to see how it ends then will go back and finish reading the book

...will pick an action or comedy movie over a chick flick anytime

...will make you laugh

...doesn't have to stop every few miles to go to the bathroom or stretch on a car ride. Let's just get there people!

...is a confirmed shoe-aholic and not ashamed of it

...thinks my Westie, Gavin, is my child (closest I'll ever get to kids) and totally smart and adorable 

...makes a running dialogue with Gavin. LT and I will even call each other and start a sentence with "Gavin said..."

...can watch the same movie over and over and over (such as The Birdcage, Red, Transformers, Iron Man...you can tell I love action and comedy, huh?

...will give up my own happiness to make sure you have yours.

...rocks out to 80s music. 

...counts down to my birthday-1 more day people!!

Valentine's Day Thoughts

Valentine's Day is a few days away. LT has been asking me what do I want (a ring...hello?!).Maybe this year we don't do anything on Valentine's Day, but do something another day, maybe the 15th. My thought is... Wouldn't you rather

        a) be romanced more than one day a year?

        b) put all that energy into your birthday celebration a few days after Valentine's Day?

        c) save your money for a spring break trip (or a ring...hint hint!)?

        d) all of the above

If you chose D...DING, DING DING, We have a winner!! Sorry, I don't have any prizes to give out, just tips. Disclaimer: I am not a relationship expert. I have no degree in psychology. I do not profess to be knowledgeable in love or relationships. This is my personal opinion that reflects my life and what LT and I work on to work on us.

Tip 1: Plan a monthly Valentine's Day. Just a day for you and your other in which you can show your love. This could look like dinner out without the kids (sorry Gavin!), an adventure/day trip, a picnic at home, or maybe even finishing up the honey do list that has been neglected.

http://thumbs.ifood.tv/files/images/editor/images/romantic-dinner.jpg

Tip 2: This is silly, but LT and I do this, please don't judge. When we are out hiking and it starts to snow, or we are viewing a Chihuly exhibit at the Arboretum at night or even when we are playing putt putt (yes, I usually win), we will say "A kiss to remember this!" and just do a little peck. It's silly, I know! And he will be mortified if he know I put this here! Shhhh, don't tell.

LT and I

Tip 3: Appreciate each other! Tell each other what you appreciate about them. Whatever it is, no matter the importance, remember to appreciate your other. I feel this is another way to show your love. You are focusing on the positives and not the negatives. It is easy to look at the bad or to say what is wrong. Put your energy into the positives.

http://trueagape.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/words-of-affirmation1-1024x927.jpg

Tip 4: Find out each others "love language" and work on talking their language. LT and I are working on this. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to speak the others "language" and not get upset because they don't speak your language? Think of the less stress you both will be under, the more positive you will be to each other, and the more energy you will have focusing on your moving your relationship forward not tearing it and each other down.

Take a love survey at http://www.5lovelanguages.com

So as Valentine's Day approaches, just enjoy being with each other, your family, your friends. Life is what you make of it. LT has to work this year for Valentine's Day so we have to more creative because we can't spend that day together. Does it mean we don't love each other any less? No. It means you show your love any where, any way you can. 

This year I will be celebrating the day of love with Gavin. We will be hanging out at home and I'll treat myself to dinner out. I wonder what LT has planned for our time?

So what is your Valentine's Day going to look like? Or even what is your most memorable Valentine's Day? 

To the Cleaners and Walk Update

Happy Sunday, y'all!

Hope your weekend was amazing! I FINALLY got Gavin to the cleaners on Saturday. Boy was he icky, stinky, yucky, but oh so lovable. It has been a couple of months since I have had a chance to get him in to the cleaners. So Saturday was the day. Here is a pictorial of taking him to the cleaners at 9:00 a.m. and picking him up at 3:00 p.m.

Gavin loves his car seat! He is such a great car rider. He'll sit in his seat, then lay down and the sides will expand out cause he is a chunky monkey and sleep.

Come On Mom!

Fine, but I don't have to like it.

I am so handsome, everybody will love me.

Need to rest up before I get home and get dirty again

Walk Update:

My goal was to walk at least 15 minutes Thursday through Sunday. Here is how it broke down...and I am being totally honest here.

Thursday: Walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes and ran for 5 minutes for a total of 20 minutes.

Friday:      Walked and ran for 10 minutes by alternating each. Then a 2 minute cool down.

Saturday:  Watched "Here Comes the Boom" with LT and did not walk at all.

Sunday:    Walked in the neighborhood with LT. Check out how I did below! Made up for yesterday!        

From my RunKeeper App on iPhone

So I think I have figured out what I need to do. I need to make small, very small goals to meet. So for this week I will do Insanity workout on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I am satisfied with how I am starting out with my exercise routine. To be honest, you have helped me too. How, you ask? Well, I feel that you are my accountability partner and I have to let you know how I did. So Friday, when I really did not want to walk, I thought of y'all and said I had to do it because I had to let you know how I did. Thanks for keeping me on track! If y'all have other ideas of was to keep this exercising machine momentum going, I am all ears!

Confession Time

OK, confession time. I have gone two weeks without being Insane. Yep, I have skipped the Insanity work out for two weeks now. Now, hold on, let me explain. 

The first week I missed, the workouts were switched to different days and I was unable to reschedule things on my calendar. I felt like a slug! So week two arrives (this week) and you would think that I would be all motivated and stuff. Nope. I continued to follow that pattern of not working out. I did walk a little with LT, but then he’d say something like, “Let’s go to Genghis Grill” and I’d be all like “Beat you to the car!”

source Genghis Grill

 Now if you have eaten at Genghis, you know the food is grilled and it is healthy. This is not why I was speed walking to the car. Nope. It is because I really do not like working out. At least not right now. Actually, in my mind, I am fit and workout all the time. I plan when to exercise and what exercise I will be doing... in my mind. Reality: I am a slug and do nothing. 

You know, if you jump on the wagon of not working out, you find it hard to jump off because it is speeding down a hill at warp speed and if you get off you will do more than skin your knees. So you stay on with white knuckles and hope for the best. 

source: Calvin and Hobbes

Well people, get some Band-Aids ready because this girl is jumping out of the wagon! My goal is to walk the everyday for the rest of this week (Thursday-Sunday) for 15 minutes minimum. I will let you know how it goes.

Just keep the mantra going... WE. GOT. THIS!

2013

           

So we are into the second month of the New Year. Everyone starts the New Year with resolutions. Here is my thought on resolution: They don’t work. Resolutions are things you want to work on and usually only last a few months, for me only till the end of January. And if you are anything like me, you just keep repeating the same resolutions over and over every year. Oh, you may switch up the wording or add or subtract numbers so it is “new”, but who are we really fooling? It’s insane! What is the definition of insanity? Repeating the same thing and expect different results? Something like that I believe.  Well I was “insane” for years, but I jumped off that roller coaster last year. Yes, I stopped doing resolutions. Instead I have started to have a title for my year, a word to focus what I want my year to be. It works out so much better than resolutions.

Here is what I did. Last year, I found the word that became 2012. While I was in New York City with my sister D, the word “hope” kept running through my brain. Well you don’t need to hit me over the head much, and I figured out that 2012 would be about…hope. I even bought a cute as a button necklace with a “hope” charm to keep me focused through the year. Why did"hope” tiptoe through my thoughts? Well I guess I needed some hope for 2012. Just a few things that included:

Hope that…

1.    I could get healthy; especially since I found out I have intolerance to wheat and must eat gluten free.

2.    I can exercise more than last year

3.    My daddy will beat Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (and he did!)

4.    My relationship with Lt continues to strengthen

5.    I will have a more joyful life (which I started a Joy journal in November)

So this year is the year of commitment. Why, you ask. Well, for one thing I could not get that word out of my head for a month! I think God was trying to tell me something and I did listen. So here is what 2013 will look like for me:

Commit to

1.    Eating gluten free- which I do, but have found I substitute wheat with potatoes and rice so I need to commit to cutting my starch intake by at least half

2.    A workout regime- I have started to do the Insanity workout after school with my principal and co-workers. And let me tell you it was intimidating to workout with Mr. Principal!

3.    Finding joy- I do a daily Joy journal I follow from A Holy Experience

4.    Lt and our relationship- Do not take our relationship for granted. Every relationship needs to be nurtured, fed and loved continuously.

So as 2013 continues it’s countdown, I am committed to get the most out of life and live in the moment. It will be a struggle, but you will help me stay on track, be my accountability partner if you will.  Maybe my journey will inspire you, or at least make you feel better about what you have going on in your life. LOL. As I told Lt before we started dating…Let’s see where this takes us.