I'll ride my tractor if I want to

Today was such a special day for me. I headed out of town to go to my nephews birthday party and was so excited to be with all of my family (except for my sister who lives way down South, believe me she was there in spirit). Now this nephew is very special to me because he is my first nephew. Tomorrow  he will turn two and I have to say this little youngster brings me back to my childhood like no one else. My older brother and I are 14 months apart and every time I look at Carter I see my brother. Although I have to say many things that he did today reminded me so much of his mother who is basically one of the coolest :) people I know.

 

 

Now back to the parrtay.

 

The theme was John Deere ( I mean we are in the South, duh) and the cake was basically perfect. (Made by my sister-in-laws aunt, I swear she should start a business. Her cakes are amazing.  

 

 

 

After we all got there, we gave out our hugs and hellos and as we were doing so his Grandma walked in with the pizza. At this time the birthday boy was only interested in eating his pizza. This is how I know we are related. I tell ya we love our pizza. (Although I stuck to my 21 day challenge so no pizza for me)

 

But I have to say one of the funniest things that the birthday boy did all day is what he calls my dad.

PaPAAAA. It is like he is doing a magic show. Now when he talks to my mom he calls her Mimi and just looks like the sweetest little boy ever.

 

It is just so wonderful seeing my parents with their (right now) only grandkid because they just love him so much.

 

 

After we filled our bellies it was of course family picture time,

(minus my hubby, Abbie & her soon to be hubby Josh) (We will get to that on a another post...SO EXCITED)

 

 

The main family picture, they are just perfect.

 

 

Best picture of the day!!!

 

"JUST GIVE ME SOME CAKE PEOPLE"

 

 

Afterwards it was present time. This is always my favorite time at a birthday party. 

Especially a little one's birthday!!

 

The hubby and I got him a John Deere tractor of course.

My aunt- in- law works for John Deere so she helped us find the perfect one. Thanks again Aunt "Frosty"

 

He clearly wanted to ride it.

 

 "What, you want to play with your toys instead of take pictures with you Aunt?"

 

 

Now the end of the party was probably my favorite part. Because my little buddy said...

 

Good Bye Aunt Mel. Hearing him say Aunt Mel just melts my heart.

 

 

Happy Birthday little man.

 

 

21 Day Challenge: Let's get rid of being tired & frumpy

As I was sitting at my desk at work today I just felt tired and frumpy. If you didn't know I have an office job and sit at a desk for 8 hours a day. Some of you might think... I can NOT picture you sitting at a desk or anywhere for 8 hours but hey I do and I actually really love my job. Also to add to this madness I work in IT. Yes this is true I sit at a desk for 8 hours and I work in the IT industry. If you would have asked me 10 years ago what I wanted to do I would have said " I will live in a big city and be a journalist." Oh how the tables have turned. But I have to say I like the side of the table that I ended up on. I truly love the quite life where you can live in the country and basically just live life and not worry about all of the frivolous things in life that I would probably worry about if I lived in the city. But now let me get to the point of this post before I go on and on about something else.

 

Back to feeling tired and frumpy.....

 

This time last year I was in the best shape I have ever been in. I worked out at least 4 days week and my diet was on point. I have to say I had more energy and woke up every morning feeling like a million bucks. I continued doing this up until probably 5 months ago. I had so much going on with the wedding that my workouts just got pushed to the side. Then after we said our "I Do's" let's just say my workouts were pushed to the side again. Then other things in life happened that just pushed workouts and healthy eating out the door completely. But as I was sitting at my desk today I truly thought to myself I can't just keep putting my workouts to the side, I can't just eat junk because all of this in the end makes me feel "tired and frumpy" .

 

So now that I have started up my blog again (this makes me do my happy dance) I am ready to give myself a challenge. So starting tomorrow I am beginning the "21 Day Challenge". How did I come up with the 21 day challenge? Well Thanksgiving is in 22 days and I'm sorry I will not miss out on my daddy's

stuffing and my "Aunt Kay's" squash casserole. 

 

So what is this 21 day challenge going to consist of. Well I am going all in.....

I am going to be cooking more like I used to. This means no more starches, sugar, and fatty meat. Basically getting back to as veggielious as possible.

 



 

Getting back to that sweaty stuff.

 

 

 

Getting more protein. Even though it is getting cold, morning smoothies are coming back.

 

More green juices instead of fatty afternoon snacks at work.

 

Salads not wraps and quesadillas for lunch

 

More fruit and veggies EVERY DAY.

 

More SQUATS. This girl needs a little lift :)

 

Morning workouts. It might stink to wake up super early but lets be serious do you hate it after you have a good morning workout? I didn't think so.

 

Healthy snacks is key for me. Remember I work in an office it is ALWAYS someone's birthday. Say goodbye to cake and hello to hummus ha :)

 

Starting tomorrow I will be tracking everything I eat and all my workouts so feel free to join or ask questions. We can do it together. Remember "Healthy is the new black"

 

See you beautiful bloggers tomorrow :) 

Welcome Back to Myself

Yes, it has been two months.

 

My blog has always been one of the things that I could always go to and just speak my mind and get things out that I can't always say. But I found that sometimes there are just some things that you don't always feel like sharing.

 

Then I thought to myself why do I have this blog? I want to be able to reach out to people and them be able to relate and know that they are not alone. When I started this blog it was because I wanted to become healthy and fit. Growing up I always had weight issues and the past two years I have been able to overcome them. But with age I have learned that what you look like shouldn't be something that you always think about. But being perfect is something that is pounded in our heads daily right? Sometimes you just have to walk in the bathroom, take a deep breath, look in the mirror and be happy with yourself. 

 

But then real life happens. Real life is not worrying about your appearances. Real life for a lot of people is many different things. Bills, marriage, family, friends, jobs, I could go on but you get my drift. My life since marriage has been beautiful. Everyday that I wake up to my husband I wake up with joy because I know that someone loves me more than anything in the world. He makes my days wonderful, makes me smile in ways that no one can. But with all that happiness sometimes you have times that you have to truly lean on each other and focus on life. Life is not always fair, sometimes things happen that you truly don't understand but when those things happen you truly learn to lean on the people in your life that mean the world to you. You have to take day by day and really look at yourself and realize that everything is God's plan. If you are new to my blog please know that my faith in God is never broken. Sometimes, I will be honest, recently it has been rocked but I now see the bigger picture. Have faith and family, that will get you through anything.

 

Some might say.....why do you want to share so much about your life to strangers? For me,  I know that sometimes it's hard to talk about things because you aren't sure or you are worried what other's might think. Being able to write things down gives me inner peace and knowing that there is one person out there that I can give peace to is worth letting the whole world know what is going on in my life.

 

After sharing what has been going on for the past few months I of course am going to share some pictures that truly mean the world to me. They aren't in any order because my computer is being weird tonight.

My first and most important...my hubster

 

I got to experience one of my best friends surprise engagement parties. This group of girls are my heart.

 

I have spent as much time as possible with this little man.

 

I remember to look and pray to God and thank him for everything in my life.

 

I went to a fabulous Frozen birthday party to celebrate a fabulous little girl.

 

Miss Motor reminded me to stop and smell the flowers

 

I dressed up like a fox. Please google "what does the fox say"

 

I had an early morning breakfast with my family at the best place ever.

I created a headgehog pumpkin. It was much cooler in my head :)

 

Being home in the mountain during the fall makes me happy

 

My best fran. Being an aunt can warm anyone's heart but he would rather look at the dog in front of him. We will work on this :)

 

I got to enjoy relaxing at my parents home.

 

I went up the mountain and saw snow for the first time this year.

 

I  see how great my husband is going to be as a father.

 

I got to experience my baby brothers first baby shower. (and my sister, they have been together since she was 14)

 

I had a healthy pizza from my favorite place in Greenville. My other wonderful sister in law sent me a gift card.

I finished my weird looking hedgehog :)

 

 

 

I thanked God for all of his creations.

 

I got to spend time with people that make my life complete.

Words can't express with her.

 

I again spent time with my bias for one of my dearest friends.

Again. my husband makes me smile in ways no one else can.

 

After all is said and done. I am thankful for the people in my life and I hope that I can reach out to one person and you know that with ANY issue you have, you are not alone. Life is TRULY what you make it....walk into the bathroom right now and say....I am HAPPY