Is it me, or is Clyde sporting an Ironman symbol under the white hairs of his chinny chin chin?

Date night with youngest godson observations: 1. Children are incapable of sitting like normal humans. #lookscomfytho 2. I must REALLY love my godson to allow him to do that to my hand towels, my OCD has a headache right now. 3. I am far too literal to enjoy painting wooden masks. #adventuresinbabysitting #childrenareridiculousbutfunny #zzzzzzzz

Have you heard the news? I'M IN LOVE! I'M IN LOVE! AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT!!! There is a beautiful lady dog who just moved next door. Her name is Sadie, she's a big white fluffy Samoyed and I get all silly and googly-eyed around her. I want to eat spaghetti and meatballs with her like Lady and the Tramp! 🍝❤️😍 #andtheycallitpuppylove #dogsofinstagram #chihuahua #dachshund #chiweenie

Easy weeknight dinner idea! -bake a spaghetti squash -pull out yer squash -put yummy stuff in there like spinach and cheese (or whatever you have!) -stuff it all back in yer squash shell, top it with cheese (I ran out of cheese so I literally used peeled string cheese) -toss 'er back in the oven for a few to melt that delicious cheese

I didn't get a ton of pictures, but this weekend I did the most fabulous thing I've never thought to do. Rather than get together to drink or have lunch, three friends, my mom and me decided to explore a new trail together! It started out with two friends, then we grabbed a few more throughout the week and made a group of it. We were all different fitness levels, and all more than happy to wait as a group when we hit some unexpected elevation and needed breathing breaks. With five of us, it was such a great opportunity to keep switching spaces, catching up and chatting while cheering each other on. I brought Clyde, and my friend Annie brought Clyde's BFF Buster. They are both "only dogs" who bark at other dogs but get along awesome together. Perfect weather, a waterfall, great friends and exercise!

I've been trying the Atkins diet for a week. Not hating it at all, and feeling much better in general!

Happy first day post time change. 💤💤💤 #buttswirls

So here's the deal. My doorbell rang around 5:30. It was a nice man (presumably one of my neighbors) holding this GINORMOUS piece of cake. He said his daughter's birthday party was today and they had tons of leftover cake. I took it from him mainly because I was so surprised, but I've been walking by it and staring at it obsessively for 3 hours. I want it. I want it a lot much. I know it's probably a terrible idea to eat this cake because it could be poisoned or whatever, but...LOOK AT IT. It's like it has a water color painting that has either fluffy clouds or sparkly unicorn poop on it (in a good way), and there is a layer of strawberries in it!!! Seems to be a princess theme, and I love princesses! Let me also just say again for the record, it is SPARKLY. Ok, I've decided. I'm eating the cake, or at least a slice of it...the specifics are still to be determined. The little mystery birthday girl would want it to be so, I'm sure of it. Good talk, thanks for the support, y'all. 👑🍰🎂🦄

I did two Daily Burn workouts this morning (365 and True Beginner Cardio Kickboxing 1), both barefoot. In the 365 workout especially, I was constantly reminded to be aware of the feeling of my feet on the floor, and to pay attention to my body as it balanced itself. It was a really nice way to start the week, and to be appreciative of this machine I call my body. This machine that I stuffed ice cream into last night, which wasn't really fair to it. Also, nice to get grounded before I go to work and get pulled in a zillion directions.

Marriage, basically.

The drama level involved with getting this one out of bed in the morning is off the charts.

SO. Anyone feel like having a six hour in-depth discussion about the banana-chocolate chip-bacon pancakes I got this morning? Because I could probably talk about them all day. #perfectcombo #foodporn #filledalltheneeds

Awesome weekend, particularly since our weekends of late have been spent hibernating for most of the time. Like, seriously A+ in terms of activities, emotions and eating. Friday night: met friends visiting from NC at Legal's for dinner, reservation not until 8:30pm. This is essentially like eating at 3am for me but I did it! I had one delicious dirty martini, didn't gulp it or follow it with wine, and stuck to grilled fish with kale (along with a roll and some bang bang cauliflower), and I left feeling full but not gross. The group was fun and the laughs were plenty. Saturday: started my day with The Daily Burn 365 workout, which happened to be a barre-inspired workout. I've never done anything like that, and although I found it incredibly challenging, it felt great! I have been working out in some fashion every single day for about two weeks in the morning, and it feels awesome. I'm glad I've been able to establish a pattern. After working out, Marc and I ran some errands, grocery shopped, went to Target (see ya later, paycheck), and then I came home and made the beautiful delicious vanilla fruit trifle you see above. Totally forgot the pudding, which luckily I didn't realize until this morning and no one seemed to notice and/or care. Also, got Handsome Clyde a new bow tie and collar, which he was oh-so-happy to model for me. Last night we hung out with two other couples for a dinner party, and they happened to be two couples that I enjoy very much. There are a few somewhat shy people in this group that sometimes get swallowed up when we hang out as a larger crowd, so it was really nice to enjoy some deeper conversations and to gain some new perspectives. Today: Started the day with church, and the theme was psychologically reframing your life story and experiences in order to not paint yourself as a victim or into a negative corner. It was interesting, relevant and inspiring. Marc and I decided on a whim to go out for breakfast and continued the conversation without cellphones or any other distractions in hand. This is the type of thing I have been lacking in my life lately! We then saddled up Handsome Clyde and took him to the lake for a nice long walk where all the other doggies were. I came home, took a shower and an epic 2 hour nap, woke up to a nice healthy fish/rice/Brussels sprouts dinner and decided to class it up with my Happy Llamakah sweater because I am so cool like that. Finishing up my eve with some chamomile mango tea and some work, and tomorrow it's back off to the races!

This used to be my go-to meal when I was eating really healthy and running, but after I started dating Marc I stopped eating it as much because he doesn't like mushrooms or onions( that's another problem for another day). I decided to go back to it, and I forgot how much I LOVE it. One onion, maybe a cup of mushrooms, some chicken and sliced Roma tomatoes on the side. Topped with smoky salt and pepper. So filling, plenty of texture and flavor, and so low in calories! To really make the experience worth it, I like to eat with chopsticks which slows me down.

You're supposed to ask your kids these questions. It's a great way to get their perception of you. (I don't have kids so I asked my husband...basically the same thing) Name : Marc, 38 1. What is something I say to you? "I love you" 2. What makes me happy? "Wine" (Aw, he DOES know me!) 3. What makes me sad? "When there's no wine left and dead kitties" 4. How do I make you laugh? "Making fun of people with me" 5. How old am I? "Is this a serious question? 39" 6. What is my favorite thing to do? "Laugh" 7. What do I do when you're not around? "Eat spaghetti and clam sauce" (I didn't realize he knew that) 8. What am I good at? "Catching me lying" 9. What am I not very good at? "Not nagging me" 10. What do I do at my job? "Drug safety" 11. Favorite food? "All of the above" 12. What do you enjoy doing with me? "Everything! No, wait...I enjoy you going to get me a drink while I wait here." Annnnnd now he's snoring. Just another day in paradise.

Daily Burn with a surprise ending

Have you heard of, or are you using, Daily Burn? I remember sometime last year seeing someone on tumblr raving about it and how it was free for the first month, so I signed up. I LOVED it, but my iPhone was crappy and kept messing up the AirPlay function, so I could never really get it to work with my TV in the living room like I wanted. Since technology frustration is basically the most angry I can get (think Incredible Hulk transformation level), I stopped using it and gave up my subscription to save money (it’s $12.95 per month, but that was money I was throwing away).

Now that the New Year is here, I have 30 (new) extra pounds as little jerk friends all over my body, and Daily Burn has conveniently begun advertising on Hulu while I’m trying to be a couch potato (ruuuuuuuude), I decided on a whim the other day to sign up again. It was late on Monday night and I was still at work. I pulled up the website on my computer at work and watched a couple of previews, got inspired and immediately went home and did my first workout. It felt great to take charge, and this is a good way to workout in the morning in order to prevent any excuses kicking in after work (they are endless and I’m an expert at them). I haven’t been able to get up early and go to the gym every day, and I had been loving the working out in the morning. This seemed like a great option…wake up, put some clothes on and go downstairs. Done. 

When you sign in, you can do several different things. You can manually pick a type of workout you want, the time you want to work out, the trainer you want, etc. Another option is to do the Daily Burn 365, which posts a live 30 minute workout every morning at 9am, but you can watch it at any time until the next one posts. In 365, there are different workouts every day with different trainers and they interact with the people watching live, which is nice if you like the team effort mentality. A third option is to pick a whole program (there are so many), which will literally plan your month for you. Every day it has a workout or rest day for you to do. Super easy. It shows you how many minutes are left in the workout and how many calories you burned at the end (for the people who love stats).

Since I’m done being delusional about my fitness level and size, I picked the True Beginner program. The trainer is this cute little fella, Justin.

If I thought it was going to be “Truly Easy”, I was wrong. It’s doable but definitely challenging! Justin is always positive, supportive and constantly reminds you that you are meant to be there and you are making an amazing choice for yourself. Although I do respond well to a Drill Sergeant type of coaching, this is what I need right now and I really enjoy it.

This morning I started with the Daily Burn 365 workout from yesterday. It was my first time trying (I was a little intimidated), but it was great! They gave lots of options for different fitness levels. After that 30 minutes, I visited my new friend Justin and did the daily workout there…Strength and Cardio 1, 25 minutes and 444 calories. 

Here’s the surprise ending. At the end of his cool down, the first time I had worked out for a full hour in a long time, Justin was saying how great this is and how proud we should be and how you can let things go and take this feeling with you into your day. Out of nowhere, I started crying. Ugly, big sobby crying right there in my living room. I think I was just so relieved to be treating myself to some much needed self love and doing something positive for my body instead of hating it. I know this is going to be a very slow road, but by continuing to focus on the positive impact that being healthy can have on my mind I can continue on it.

p.s. Besides 2 glasses of wine on Tuesday night, I have gone over a week without drinking, coming from drinking daily. In the first week alone, I lost 4.4 pounds! I know it was mostly bloating but it felt great. I am also sleeping better and waking up feeling a LOT better. For now, that’s enough motivation to stick with it.