People of Walmart...

I happen to shop at Walmart on a regular basis. Usually I feel like I don't belong there when I see the typical  person shopping there. I pride myself on feeling like I don't belong. However, yesterday was a different story:

I had to go pick up some pictures that I had ordered online. I was in a hurry and didn't even think about what I looked like until I was walking into the store. I had Brynlee with me and had just picked her up from my mom's house. She had on a navy blue with white polka-dot dress with a purple puffy vest and black skater shoes. Ha ha. And then I was in black dress pants with a faded black tank-top (I had been wearing a purple sweater, but it was too hot). We were quite the little pair. Embarrassingly I felt like I fit right in, and I prayed that I did't run into anyone I knew.

On to other news.... Brynlee has decided to take the speed track to growing up. She learned how to open the door to the basement, as well as how to crawl out of her crib. Pretty sure she thinks I have too much spare time, so she's kicked it up a notch. I love her to pieces though. :)

Conquering motherhood one day at a time...
 

DO IT....every day!

I am such a lover of blogging, and yet it seems so hard to actually follow through and do it consistently. Half of the time I feel like I am too busy, and then other half of the time I don't feel like I have anything real interesting to say. But as the days slep into months, I go back and wish that I had written more. I know I'm not very old, but my memory isn't what it used to be. It seems like I can't even remember what I did last weekend. So here I sit, writing down the few random thoughts that are coming to mind, simply to update my blog. :)

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do no lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them. Every day begin the task anew.

-Saint Francis de Sales

Sometimes I get discouraged when I go back and read my blog with everything that I have pledged to do, and goals I have set that haven't been accomplished yet. But I have to remind myself that success is a journey, not a destination. It is something that is a continual process.

So my latest feat... trying to train for a 5k with a 1-year-old that refuses to sit in a stroller. :) I'm determined to run this 5k faster than I ran my previous ones, but finding the time to train for it is quite difficult. I know that time should never be an excuse, and it's not my excuse, I just have to find a good way around it. So my options are to either wake up earlier and go running in the morning, or go running after Brynlee goes to bed I think. Some way or another I'll figure it out...

A fresh start...

What is it about moving into a new house that somehow gives you the feeling of a new start on your life. As I've been planning and dreaming about moving into our new house, I've been thinking about the things that I'd like to do....
...Cooking more homemade, gourmet meals
...Exercising every day
...Having a perfectly clean and decorated house
...Working in my garden in the evenings
...Growing fresh herbs for my cooking
...and on and on and on......


I think you get the picture. I thought that I was the only one, this being our "first" house and all. It just so happens that both of my other sisters are buying houses at the same time as me. What are the odds. Lol. But the funny thing is that they are both on the same page as me, dreaming about being the ideal wife, mother, and person.

Although we probably won't stick to all of our dreams of being perfect, atleast we get the chance to "start over." We should be closing within the next couple weeks and I am going to have so much fun making this house our home.

Moving into November...

It's a little crazy how fast October flew by. I can't believe tomorrow is November already. I got quite a bit accomplished this month, and I'm looking forward to just getting better and better. I've weighed and measured myself, and here are the results:

October 31, 2011

Weight: 142 lbs (8 pounds? I'll take it!)

Waist: 29.5" (Half an inch awesomer!)

Bust: 36 

Upper Arm: 10.75" 

Butt: 38" (Ummm.... not sure what happened here. This better all be muscle)

Thigh: 23" (Sadly it didn't change.)

Calf: 14.5" (A little smaller)

I am pretty proud of myself for all that I've accomplished so far. Yesterday I ran 5 miles and it was a whole lot easier than I was expecting it to be. It's so exciting to watch myself improve. I'm not where I want to be yet though. Let's review my October goals and see how close I came. 

OCTOBER GOALS:

• Lose 5 pounds - Better yet: 8!
• Workout 5 days a week - Not quite. I've been doing about 4 days a week.
• Run 3 times a week - I didn't start out the month doing this, but I stepped it up!
• Train for a 10k - How about a half marathon!
• Lose atleast an inch off my thighs - Didn't accomplish this. 
• Tone up my stomach - Nope.
• 8 cups of water a day - Very sadly no.
• Only 1 cup of coffee a week - I'm a coffeeaholic. Definitely need to work on this.
• Read more/Watch less TV - Half done. I've been watching less TV, but not reading.
• Always go to bed with a clean house - Getting better at this, but not perfect yet!

And based on those, here are my current goals for this month:

NOVEMBER GOALS:

• Lose another 5 pounds
• Workout 5 days a week (running 3 of them)
• Sign up for a half marathon
• Lose an inch off my thighs
• Tone up my stomach
• 8 cups of water a day
• Always go to bed with a clean house
• Eat a good breakfast every morning
• Slowly cut out coffee by the end of the month
• Read one book this month

Do you have any specific goals you want to meet this month?

Keeping on keeping on...

I am pretty darn proud of myself! I have been doing so good at sticking to my running plan. I haven't missed a run yet. I know I'm only a week and a half into it, but still... It's been 3 months since I had a baby, and I'm feeling pretty good. I ran 4 miles on Sunday (a personal record).

My sweet husband has been running with me every step of the way.

Enough bragging on myself. :) I've decided to post some progress pictures so that I can see my improvement. I should have taken some pictures at the beginning of this month, but I didn't so I'm starting now. I plan on seeing some awesome improvements in the next year.

                                  

Check back in a couple days to see how well I did this month with my goals and how much I weigh now. And also stay posted for my goals for November. 

Slimmer by the minute

Well we are over half way through October and I have to say, I haven't been very good at keeping my goals so far. But I am not giving up on them.

To help me stay motivated to run, I've decided to run a half marathon in December. That is leaving me 8 weeks to train for it. Not ideal, but definitely doable. Hopefully it'll kick my butt into shape. :) I mean, if I'm running that much, I'll just have to drop the pounds, right? Maybe I'll be back to my pre-pregnancy weight by Christmas...

I still need to buy a scale so that I can do my weigh-in at the end of the month. Not sure how I'm doing, but hopefully I'm getting smaller by the minute. :) Going running after work today...

I want my body back...

After your belly stretches out to the size of a very large watermelon, you start to wonder if you will ever have a normal looking body again. It was honestly one of my biggest fears when I was getting into the home stretch of my pregnancy. I realize that I will never go back to exactly what I looked like, but I plan on getting pretty darn close. It's been about 2 months since I had a baby, and I'm ready to kick things into high gear to get my butt back in shape. I've been motivating myself by reading fitness blogs and I'm ready to stay accountable and hopefully inspire someone else to get into shape as well.

Pre-pregnancy weight: 135 lbs

 I took measurements of my body a week before I delivered so I could see just how fast I could shed this weight afterwards and get back to looking and feeling fabulous. Here it is:

July 21, 2011

Weight: 181 lbs (I ended up gaining about 45 lbs)

Waist: 42"

Bust: 38.5"

Upper Arm: 10.5"

Butt: 41.5"

Thigh: 23.5"

Calf: 15"

After 6 weeks, I weighed myself and I was down to 151. Thirty pounds in six weeks? I'll take it. Of course, most of that was baby weight, but I did have to work off some of it. For now, my goal is to get down to 130. That's 20 more pounds to go. I'm going to try and set monthly goals and keep you posted on my progress. It's going to be a fun and exhausting journey I'm sure and hopefully I'll see some results very soon. I've already run a 5k, which I am very proud of myself for.

October 1, 2011

Weight: 150 (sadly after I dropped the 30 pounds, I've kinda plateaued...) 

Waist: 30" (ha ha, 12 inches thinner... oh yeah!)

Bust: 36" (probably where some of my weight is chilling)

Upper Arm: 11" (i'm buffing up from carrying that baby everywhere)

Butt: 36" (5.5" smaller, I'll take it)

Thigh: 23" (this definitely needs alot of work)

Calf: 15" (same ol'....)

OCTOBER GOALS:

• Lose 5 pounds
• Workout 5 days a week
• Run 3 times a week
• Train for a 10k
• Lose atleast an inch off my thighs
• Tone up my stomach
• 8 cups of water a day
• Only 1 cup of coffee a week
• Read more/Watch less TV
• Always go to be with a clean house

What are your goals?
**Special thanks to my amazing older sisters who both have rocking bodies after having babies and made me believe it was possible! :)