Port A 2014

This past weekend we went down to Port Aransas to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday, and my sister-in-laws 31st birthday. We have 4 pairs of birthdays that are within weeks of each other, so it's always fun to have these celebrations. This one was extra special, given the milestone birthday of my mom (even though she'll only admit to being 45).

Birthday cookies for my mom and sis

Everyone met down at a rental house on Friday, and we enjoyed 3 days of pure relaxation. The "children" had worked on splitting up meals and coordinating food, and of course we ended up with way more than we needed. But it was nice to never have to get dressed and go out- we ate at the house the whole time (I don't even think I fixed my hair or face for the entire trip- hence no pictures of me.)

We set up camp on the beach both Saturday and Sunday, and enjoyed mild temperatures and just enough wind to keep us cool. Other than a bunch of yucky seaweed on the beach, it was perfect! Georgia and Blair had a blast playing in the sand- or in Blair's case, just eating it. And the adults played games, relaxed, drank and attempted to surf in the water (it's so much harder than it looks!)

Georgia and Blair on the beach

On Saturday night we had the birthday dinner celebration followed by a really fun dice game called Left Center Right. I highly recommend playing this game with 3 $1 bills instead of the coins that come with it (my sister's brilliant suggestion). It certainly ups the competitive factor!

Birthday Fiesta

Overall it was a fantastic getaway, and couldn't have come at a more perfect time. Work has been nuts, and it was nice to just be in the car with Hank for 4 hours with no other distractions. We're rested and relaxed, just in time for a holiday weekend.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

All in the (Jeep) Family

This past Saturday started like any other Saturday. Early morning run followed by breakfast with friends at Taco Deli. I have needed to get my oil changed for weeks, but have been too lazy to drive south to the dealership to get it done (for free). So after breakfast I made the trip to motor mile to get it done.

 Long story short- I have always leased from Nissan because a friend worked there. He recently moved over to a new dealership, and I was concerned about being penalized on miles when it came time to turning in my Rogue. So after my oil change, I hopped on over to the Jeep dealership to say hi to my friend Daniel, and chat about options.

And then this happened:

Hank drives a Grand Cherokee, and I have loved it since he first drove it into our garage. My very first car was a Jeep Cherokee, and I loved that boxy little thing. So it was nice to test drive the new and improved body style, and I absolutely fell in love. The numbers worked out, and it was a nice little change after a long history of Nissan cars (which I still absolutely love). It's only been a few days, but I swear it's one of the most comfortable cars I have ever driven. The seats are real cushy, and the interior is laid out in such a smart way. We're taking my car on our upcoming beach trip, so we'll get to test out the cargo load as well.

Here's our cute little Jeep family now:

21 Day (Plus) Fix

"A huge part of losing weight is believing you can do it, and realizing that it's not going to happen overnight."

I can't continue to whine and complain about my body if I'm not willing to do something about it. Weight loss is hard, end of story. I've given partial effort at a few different things, so it's no surprise that I have nothing to show for it.

My friend and neighbor started her first 21 Day Fix in February, and I have watched in awe as she has become healthier and more fit. It didn't happen overnight, but that's not really how it should work in the first place, right? I am impressed with her, to say the least. She's a busy mother of 2 young girls, but I could see the dedication and determination she was putting forth. Her hard work has been paying off, and she's lost nearly 15 inches in three months.

When I saw the opportunity to join a new round at the beginning of June, I knew I had to do it. With a beach trip on the calendar, and continued decreasing of self-confidence around my body image, I knew it was time to make some changes.

I liked that fact that there was a group support aspect of the plan (we have a private Facebook page), and that the primary focus is to clean up your eating and build a more consistent workout routine. The most important thing for me is to establish healthy habits that I can sustain for years to come. 40 is lurking right around the corner, and I know that making changes to my body only gets harder with each year. I want to be the healthiest, fittest I can be!

In a nutshell, the program includes color coded containers for food, a series of 30 minute work-outs on DVD, and Shakeology drink mix. Depending on the range of calories you fall in, you get x-amount of containers each day. For example, a green container= veggies. On my plan, I get 3 of those a day. There are also containers for protein, fruits, carbs and healthy fats. I use the Shakeology mix for either a breakfast (followed by a heavier morning snack), or for an afternoon snack to fill that usual afternoon hunger pang. I bought the chocolate, and can easily say it is the best tasting protein mix I have ever used- and I have tried a lot!!

This program is both easy and hard. It's easy because you know exactly what you have to do. Work out every day, and eat clean/whole foods. The hard part is all the planning and prep that goes into making sure you have all that good food ready to go. I spend about an hour on Sunday mornings planning out every meal for the week, another hour going to the grocery store, and usually another hour doing some food prep. Doing all of this ensures that I stay on track, and make better eating choices.

I have also chosen to wake up at 5am to get my workout in. When I get home from work, I usually walk the dogs with Hank, and get started on dinner. I knew there was no way I'd want to come home and work out. I really thought I would struggle with getting up 45 minutes earlier than usual, but so far I have only missed 1 morning out of 12 days. I have also continued to run a few days a week (including Saturday morning long run), and I'm trying to convince Hank to do the yoga video with me on Sunday. The mix of cardio, weights, and pilates play a significant part in this program, working to help shape those muscles and lose inches.

The first 5 days were hard. I've been eating less calories, and there was most definitely an adjustment period. Afternoons were probably the worst, so I made sure to have a small container of grapes or carrots to munch on to help get me through it. This week is remarkably better, and I'm starting to feel the changes taking place with my body. I've lost 4 pounds, and my jeans fit a little looser. I haven't taken my measurements yet since doing it on the first day, and I think I'm going to wait until the last day. I'm not expecting to reach my total goal in one fix- I think it's going to take 1 or 2 more to get to where I really want to me. My ultimate goal is to run in a sports bra by August, and not feel embarrassed about it. Hank and I also have a weekend getaway trip planned in late July, and I would love to be able to wear a bikini by then, too.

These are my "before" pictures (I'll spare you the bikini ones). Hank took these pictures, and I swear he found some magical angle that makes me look thinner than what I see when I look in the mirror. I'm working hard to firm up my middle, but also to whittle away my arms and legs. Really- I'm looking to lose inches overall.

If this program sounds like something you would be interested in doing, please let me know. The next round starts on July 7th, and you can join in the "fun" from anywhere in the US. It has been such a supportive, non-threatning experience for me, and I am so happy with progress I'm making. Looking forward to checking back in next week when I wrap up my first round of "fixing".

What I'm Listening to Wednesday

New (good) music has been hard to find lately, but there are a few songs that I've heard recently that I thought were good enough to share. What are you listening to lately? Please share any good finds- I'm always in the market for new music.


First up is sure to be a popular "summer" song, and probably isn't that new to anyone. But it's catchy, and has certainly grown on me.

"Rude" by MAGIC!

The second song has made its way on to my running playlist, and I have yet to grow tired of it.

"Giants" by Bear Hands

I can't do a music post without including a band that has ties to Austin. They have just released their album, and will be touring the rest of the year. Expect to hear lots of buzz around these guys.

"Out on the Street" by Spanish Gold

Last but not least is a slow tune by a female artist who is totally new to me. I have loved listening to this as I wind down on my way home from work.

"Youth" by Daughter

Baby Talk, Take 2

I first posted my feelings on babies (and the pressure around having them), shortly after Hank and I were married. Some things have changed, and some things haven't. I still have days where I think-why in the world would we want to change our perfect little life together?! We get to do what we want, when we want- and it's really a nice way to live.

Then there are the days that we get together with family, and I see Hank playing with my niece and nephew, and know that it would just be wrong for us to not give parenthood a shot. Sure, there will be some bumps in the road, and things that we give up. But I have no doubt that the two of us would make an awesome parental team. So we've been trying. And trying. And trying some more. And it just hasn't worked yet.

Talking about making babies doesn't seem to be much of the norm. Neither does talk of miscarriages, and other things that go wrong. But I know I'm not the only one who gets sad each month when I'm so rudely reminded by Mother Nature that it hasn't worked again. It still blows my mind every time I read how someone gets knocked up totally by accident. If only it were that easy for everyone.

I turned 38 this past December, and that certainly doesn't help the situation. So I recently went to visit my doctor to see what's going on with my lady parts. After a few unpleasant tests, I got back some positive results. My eggs aren't all gone (yet), and all the plumbing appears to be working correctly. Barring any issues on Hank's side, there doesn't appear to be any serious reason why it shouldn't be working. SO WHY ISN'T IT ALREADY?!

The world of taking temperature, checking ovulation, and having to plan out something that should be much more fun and spontaneous, isn't exactly what I had in mind for my first year of marriage. But it's a necessary evil if anything is ever going to happen, so we'll just keep taking it all in stride.

I know that stressing out about it doesn't really help much. We have pretty much decided though that if it doesn't happen by the time I'm 40, that we won't continue trying. I know plenty of women who have babies after 40, but the higher level of risks and overall aging process makes me feel like we need to determine our threshold for this process. So when people nudge me and say "when is it your turn?", not having any idea how much we would like for it to be, I can't help but get a little angry, and a little more sad.

One Year Anniversary!

Two weekends ago we celebrated our one year anniversary (yea, yea....I'm a little behind on posting). It's hard to believe that it has been one year already- it literally flew by! We were blessed with the same beautiful weather that we had on our wedding weekend, and celebrated with a fancy dinner out.

On Saturday I had a hair appointment, and then decided to treat myself to some new make-up too. So I got home feeling all fresh and fancy, and changed into the new dress I bought just for our anniversary dinner (got to love a 50% Loft sale). Hank looked all handsome in a blazer and jeans, and we headed out for dinner at Jeffrey's. We had received a very generous gift card as a wedding gift, and had been holding on to it just for this occasion. We love a nice dinner here and there, but this restaurant is a little more than what we would ever spend for a dinner out. Since we weren't taking a trip or anything, we decided it was totally worth the splurge.

I failed to get an actual anniversary picture, so this was from Mother's Day (with me wearing the same dress).

Thankfully, the dinner and experience did not disappoint. The service was impeccable, and the food absolutely divine. We started off with a cocktail and appetizer (Jeffrey's is knows for their fried oysters). Then we ordered a wonderful bottle of French red wine, and moved on to the salad course. Wedge for Hank, and a grilled kale caesar for me. Both were terrific, but the kale caesar with rye bread crumbs was the definite winner.

If you know anything about me, it's that I don't eat a ton of meat. I do love the occasional steak, and it's kind-of hard to pass up an opportunity for a quality tenderloin. So I ordered that for my entree and Hank ordered salmon. We also ordered sides of gnocchi and cheese and green beans almondine. I'll be honest...when you're stuffing your face with meat and cheesy pasta, it's really not worth taking up precious space with vegetables. I could have skipped the beans altogether!

The steak was heaven. I got the garlic/rosemary butter on top, and it took the already amazing meat to a whole new level. I was nice enough to share with Hank, as I knew he was kicking himself for not ordering the same thing. I savored every bite, knowing how long it will likely be before I eat something like that. But that was part of what made the meal so enjoyable. We took our time and really enjoyed each course.

Early that day I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up a small Chantilly Cake- it's one of the cakes we had for our wedding and was so, so yummy! I also had a bottle of Veuve Clicquot chilling in the fridge, so we didn't have plans to order dessert at the restaurant. Some very sweet friends of ours had other plans though. They had called the restaurant and had two glasses of port and a chocolate soufflé delivered to the table. It was the perfect way to cap off a truly memorable meal!

We had exchanged gifts earlier that day, only because Hank was about to start a project that I knew he would want his brand new chainsaw for (so romantic). But he surprised me with 2 canvas prints of our wedding pictures, and I can't wait to get them hung up in our bedroom. The yellow shoe picture has been one of my favorites, and I know we'll love seeing it daily.

Looking forward to all the wonderful years ahead, and so thankful that I have this awesome man to share my life with. He is the greatest gift there is.

A Boy and His New Toy

Greetings all!  So Amy and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary this past weekend.  She will give you all the details in her upcoming blog post.  Since I have not been very good, read: actually quite horrible, about fulfilling my end of the blogging duties, I wanted to take a moment today to feature our latest, spur of the moment home improvement project.  It all started with a gift from my wife for our anniversary.

She gets me, I mean she really, really gets me.  Anyway, from the day I purchased our house the boxwoods in front of our kitchen window had been annoying me.  Excellent screening but I hate the maintenance which was apparent by the over growth.  Unfortunately, I was not able (read: forgot) to get a before photo so you will just have to take my word for it.  We had 6 boxwoods under the window.  While Amy was off running errands, I make quick use of the chainsaw and removed 4 of them.  I decided to hold on to 2 of them but pruned them high to create some height in my master plan.  Here is a picture shortly after I removed all the boxwoods.

Now I was making some serious progress.  My vision for the space was to extend the bed and create a border with river rock to create a more natural barrier.  Then plant some drought tolerant plants to reduce our water consumption since we are in a sever drought.  I made a quick trip to the Home Depot, aka my second home, and picked up river rock, gravel and 2 Firebush plants.  The ultimate plan is to add a few additional plants such as Knockout Roses that will add pops of color and be easy on the watering.  However, I was quickly running out of time and energy to complete the project this weekend.  Here is the picture with the Firebush and half the gravel installed.

My hope and plan is to finish it up this weekend with the additional gravel.  We are also on the prowl for some adirondack chairs that we can paint the same color as the front door.  Since our backyard is a disaster at this moment, I can definitely see Amy and I enjoying this nice feature in lieu of the backyard.  

Cheers till next time!