Uncategorized

January 17, 2014

Friday Faves

Who else is pumped for FRIDAY?!?!

If you have been following along with my posts, this week has been a little nutso.  However, the sun is shining, my brother is healing, and I have a day of pampering… spa, lunch with a friend, hair cut and color, an afternoon with two of my bff’s and an evening dinner with 10 Biker B!tches.

Friday, you have never looked so yummy.

Friday Sexy

Friday Faves

1) Eat By Date

For anyone that knows me well enough also knows I am a FREAK when it comes to food sitting out.

And prepared food that has been in the fridge for more than a day?  Forget about it.

However, with my busy weeks, I wanted to do food prep on Sunday’s so I can just grab and go (like I already mentioned).  In order for me to come to terms with eating a piece of chicken on Wednesday that was cooked on Sunday, I needed to call in the reinforcements.

Ladies and Gents, let me introduce you to this little gem of a website:  http://www.eatbydate.com/.

Eat by date

Those internet fairies are MY new heroes.

I should probably mention that I take their suggested eat-by dates, and subtract a day.

I know….. Give me a break.  I still need some control over this, people!  😉

 

2) Scheduling Blog Posts

Say what?

First, there is this heavenly word called DRAFT.  I can start drafting a post and save until later.

Second, there is this cool calendar that I can set to publish a post at certain dates and times and like magic, it happens!

I am using this tool a little more lately in order to manage my time wisely.  This also requires me to be a little more proactive in preparing blog posts.  The ones I can start drafting early (like stories and recipes) I get started and edit as I go along, that way I am not trying to do it all at once.  As a person who runs a tight schedule, this little feature is a big fave of mine.

See?

scheduling blogs

Magic!

And time management awesomeness.

 

3) My Beachbody Peeps

I was supposed to attend Insanity Certification last Saturday in Lenexa, KS with the GREAT Sara Easley, but had to cancel my trip due to my brothers illness.  All I had to do was text Sara briefly what was going on and she immediately called Beachbody headquarters (they own Insanity), told them my deal, and within 3 days I had a full refund.  What an awesome company!  What an even cooler trainer and coach to take care of me from afar.   Sara was first my TurboKick Trainer and has since become someone I would call a friend with all our  communication that has happened since I met her in September.  THANK YOU, Girl!

turbo_punch

PS.  I am slated to now attend Insanity Certification on Saturday, February 1st with Danielle Katz!  She is a regular in Insanity videos.  Oh boy!  I am ready for an ass kickin’.

 

4) HSI Professional Flat Iron

This baby just showed up on my doorstep yesterday.  Made my hair smooth as silk.  YAY for new beauty products.  Now I can keep a flat iron at home and keep one in my gym bag at all times.  Score for efficiency!

hsi

 

Wherever you are, and whatever you do, make today a great one!

 

Chestbump-Friday

January 3, 2014

Friday Faves- A Random Sort

These are a few of my favorite things….

You just sang that, didn’t you?

1) Celebrating Friends

One of my besties recently became engaged over Christmas.

So incredibly excited for her! 🙂

Cheers to happiness, the bling bling and enjoying Cloud 9, my friend!

funny-engagement-ring-guys

2) Fridge of Fame

Our fridge is from the dinosaur age. I refuse to buy a new one though until it dies. I’d rather buy clothes, of course. So, I jazz up my fridge with pictures!

20140102-203748.jpg

20140102-203802.jpg

3) San Jacinto Candles

This is my sisters company. Her candles are hand poured with 100% all natural sparkling palm wax. My favorite scents right now are Hot Apple Pie and Dickens Christmas.

Link to her website is above. Her Facebook page link is here!

san jacinto 2

san jacinto

Isn’t she cute? 🙂

  4) Minus the Leather Jacket –Express

A Christmas present to myself. Cute fake leather. Sold.

minus the leather

5) Vegas Dreamin’

5 weeks until VEGAS!!!!!  It will be my first time out there and we are going with a group of friends to celebrate a Birthday!

I plan on zero sleep from the time we land at 10AM Friday morning until we leave at 11AM on Sunday.

Cheers to feeling AWESOME for work on Monday!  YA!

vegas

6) My Keyboard

I am loving having a keyboard again in the house. I like to play a little at night. Calms me. I have a pile of sheet music I recently purchased just waiting for me to tackle. Slow and steady.

I actually never took piano lessons, but I know how to read music so therefore can translate that knowledge to the keys. My mom gave me the ultimatum in 5th grade that I either choose piano or a band instrument. I was so mad at her. I ultimately chose the clarinet. Fun fact: I taught middle school and high school band for a combined 6 years.

Um, thanks mom for forcing me to take up an instrument.  I sure do appreciate it now-a-days! 🙂

20140102-205237.jpg7) Eileen’s cookies

Come to momma. If you’ve never had one, then I sincerely pity you.

They are a must. Get the sugar cookie with frosting.

Seriously, please do yourself a favor and go get one.  Make it part of your ‘cheat day’.

eileen

And that, my friends, wraps up my January 3rd Friday Faves!

cheers

January 2, 2014

Goals Not Resolutions

20140102-131213.jpg

Happy Day TWO of 2014!

Have you set any New Years resolutions?

Have you already broken one?

Come on…. I KNOW you said losing weight was #1 on your list.  Out of curiosity, how many leftover cookies have you eaten so far today? 😉

20140102-131432.jpg

The statistics on broken resolutions are pretty entertaining. I think we can all safely say we suck at follow-through.

I believe if we shift our minds from creating mindless resolutions to setting measurable goals, we would be much better off!

Think about it.

Our resolutions always focus on the negative and are far too broad!

I’m going to Lose weight
I’m going to Quit smoking
I’m going to get out of debt

They lack direction, they can’t be measured and they all set you up for failure.

20140102-132904.jpg

So, how do we go about setting realistic goals?   I’ve outline a few suggestions below.

Be positive
Most resolutions you create can be tied back to your level of happiness, do they not?  So, let’s create goals that set us up on the right foot.  Instead of  “I’m going to lose weight”  try “I am going to make changes towards living a healthier lifestyle”.   The first goal just sounds so boring and negative.  The second goal is positive and self-reassuring!

Be specific
“I’m going to lose weight” is neither specific or positive. Change it to “I am going to make healthier food choices each day”. This gives you wiggle room in your diet. So what if you fall off track and have a piece of cake? Did you at least make one healthy choice in food that day? Then you’re gonna be all right.

Make a schedule
Have a plan. Write it out.  Follow through with it.

20140102-133734.jpg
Track your steps
Take the above mentioned plan and track your steps along the way, whether an online food journal like myfitnesspal.com, or on a notepad you carry with you.  However you want to track your progress, do it!  Just make it and follow it.
Be Flexible
What happens if Goal 1 can’t happen?  Say for instance one of your goals was to run a 5K faster then the last race and you are all of a sudden faced with an injury?  Have a Plan B!   So, maybe you can’t run the 5K, but you can walk.  Do it!  Always think about what you can do to alter the goal to make it work for you. 

Repeat: Failing is Not an Option

Right this very moment, where are you at in your life’s dreams and is this where you want to be in a year from now?  Setting goals is all about making a better YOU.   Your goals are flexible, they are not set in stone and you aren’t a failure if you don’t achieve the first goal laid out.  Adjust the goals as you go to best fit the direction you’re headed.  

20140102-133749.jpg

I have goals set for 2014 and I plan to fill you in as we move along.  Looking forward to an exciting 2014!

Remember, Be Present in everything you do.  Live in the Moment!  We only get one shot!

Cheers!

December 8, 2013

Snow Covered Zorinsky Lake

Image

I was up early this morning, so took advantage of the freshly falling snow and drove out to Zorinsky Lake to take a few photos. 

Image

 

Image

 

I am still getting familiar with my camera and have a lot to learn in regards to manual functions, but had a lot of fun pretending like I knew what I was doing. 

 

Image

 

Image

 

The lake was so peaceful this morning.  It is rare to find it so calm and absent of runners, bikers and the likes.

 

Image

Image

 

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend whatever you did and wherever you are!  I had such a full weekend I almost feel like I didn’t have one at all.  Luckily, I enjoyed every minute of it.   Recap coming soon. 

 

Image

 

Image