I found a super cool blog a few months ago that’s about all things Jax. It’s called Somewhere in the City and they highlight people, food and places within the city. As a Jacksonville native who doesn’t know near as much about this city as I should, I like learning about new local people and places.
They put a call out for guest bloggers recently and I answered! My guest post on my new IRL friend & fellow blogger, Erin, is up today!
Ch..ch..check it out….
I’ve gotten a little too comfortable being sedentary lately. Sure I got back on the workout wagon recently, but like always, I get distracted and workouts fall by the wayside.
My eating has also been horrible. So bad that I can count the number of meals I eat at home during the week…on one hand. Yikes. That is no bueno! So, I thought a 30 day challenge might help me get back on track. *the image below is just for the image, I’m not following that 30 day challenge. My challenge is outlined underneath.*
30 days of moving :: Instead of aiming for 3-4 workouts a week, I want to be doing something everyday. Walking, running, weight training, dancing, rock climbing, yoga…anything goes! At least 30 min of fitness a day!
30 days of tracking my calories :: This one is harder than the first. It’s just a pain in the buttocks to weigh your food, look up calories and input them. But, I know that it works to keep me accountable and it’s a great tool for seeing how much you’re actually eating. I’m going to give myself up to 4 freebie days. That is approximately 1 each week. I don’t want to use them, but this isn’t my first rodeo. I know that it’s hard to keep track of calories and sometimes you eat something that you have no idea what calories are in it.
30 days of more water, less caffeine :: I have been drinking far too little water lately. I rely mostly on coffee in the a.m. and then unsweet tea with water coming in last. My goal is to get at least 60 oz of water a day.
I want to challenge myself, but I want to be realistic too. I know I won’t eat at home every meal, but I’m shooting for at least 3-4 dinners a week at home and less breakfast trips to Panera (their roasted tomato & feta souffle is SO delicious!). I’m not really going to berate myself too much if I don’t stick to this as long as I can count my calories and stay around goal, I’ll call it a win.
I’m starting tomorrow (no time like the present!), October 28th. Which as it so happens, is exactly 31 days before Thanksgiving so I can get through my 30 days and then eat my little heart out the next day. It couldn’t have lined up any more perfect for my little OCD/perfectionist mind!
I desperately NEED some accountability, which I’m hoping to get just by blogging about it, but I’d also love to have some company during this 30 days! Either in spirit, or by sending me a message or leaving a comment and letting me know you are joining. Even if you start late, you can still join in!
*We all have different things we need to work on. This is my personal 30 day challenge. Joining me doesn’t mean you have to follow my same challenge. You can choose only part of what I’m doing or completely make up your own! Doesn’t matter what you follow for 30 days, we can still be each others accountability partner! 🙂
Tools to keep me on track…
myfitnesspal :: an online tool and also a mobile app to track calories. If you haven’t used this site, I highly recommend it. Makes counting calories a little less painful.
lift :: an iphone app and online community to track how many days in a row that you work out and offer support in reaching your goals
Waterlogged or Plant Nanny :: iphone apps that helps you track your water intake. Waterlogged is a clean/simple design and it’s free in the app store, but if you’re looking for a cute/whimsical way to keep track of your water, Plant Nanny ($.99) may be the way to go.
Polar HR monitor & Polar Beat app :: I love seeing how many calories I’m burning. Nothing like instant gratification! If you don’t have an iphone, there are many other Polar HR monitors that work with their watches to keep track of your calories burned.
C25K & Sign up for a race :: I started the Couch-to-5k challenge again when I got back on my workout wagon, but since I need some accountability to keep me on my C25K schedule I am going to sign up for a 5k or 10k (depending on how far out the race is and what the local race schedule looks like).
Meal/Workout planning :: I’m not a huge fan of planning, but I know that when I schedule something, I usually get it done. So, much to my dismay, I’m going to plan my workouts for the week on Sunday and plan at least a few days of dinners. Of course, I know that I won’t always be able to stick with the plan and sometimes I’ll have to improvise, but at least I’ll have an idea of what I’m doing most of the time and I can schedule the rest of my day with fitness included instead of my workouts being an afterthought. I plan on using something similar to this to schedule my workouts/dinners. Simple is best. I just need something to write what’s for diner and what my workout is going to be.
Hmm. I think that’s all the apps/tools I’ll be using, but I’ll add to the list if I think of more. Sorry that they are mostly iphone apps. I’m an iphone user so those are the apps I use, but I’m sure there are similar ones on other platforms.
It’s finally fall-ish weather here in FL and it’s got me craving comfort. This is what I wish I was wearing today even though it’s not nearly chilly enough to justify the beanie.
Ugh. It’s October 24th and I have not put up one single Halloween decoration.
Actually, I take that back.
I was at Target yesterday and bought this cute light up pumpkin for the entryway.
I think I’ve mentioned before that I have a bit of a one tracked mind, so for 10 days of this month, I ate/slept/breathed zombie & dancing to get ready for the zombie flash mob. Then I crashed for a couple of days and got caught up on housework and everything I let fall to the wayside while my focus was elsewhere.
I used to put a fair amount of decorations up, but over the years I got tired of the clutter so I cut it back until there wasn’t much of anything up. Last year I dressed up the mantle and I loved it. It wasn’t the most spectacular display, but I was happy with it.
Good news, I guess, is that the kids’ costumes are bought and pretty much complete except needing to get shoes for Caitlin. So, other than decor for the house, I’m ready for Halloween!
Well…unless you count the need to go to the pumpkin patch for pumpkins that we are going to carve in 2 days.
Yep, just look up the definition for procrastinator and you’ll see a picture of me. 😛
At this point I don’t even know if it’s worth it to put up decorations, so I’ll just stick to admiring awesome decor online, like this…
And drooling over all the yummy/spooky/fun foods like this…
This week I came across a pretty awesome website. It’s called Sevenly.com. Sevenly highlights a new charity each week and for 7 days, they donate a portion of the proceeds to the highlighted charity.
With [seemingly] a new teen suicide story every week, it’s heartbreaking that these children are hurting so desperately that they feel suicide is the only answer. To Write Love on Her Arms is “dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide”.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IOmU0NUhC0&w=420&h=315]
With one kid just entering teenage-hood and another on the cusp, I think a lot about the teenage years. I know I’ve had it easy up until now. I know that their hormones are going to start raging and they may turn into little people that I don’t recognize. My girl, once filled with self love and confidence, may let the words of others tear her apart. My shy, sweet boy may give in to peer pressure and feel like he needs to do some out of character things to fit in. Doubts fill my mind. Have we done enough? Do they have what it takes to make it through the teen years with minimal scarring? Will they be bullied? Will they stand up for themselves…for others? Will they come to me or their father when they are hurting or will they keep it bottled inside, convinced they are alone in their fight?
Depression is the most common mental illness in America and when left untreated, it’s the leading cause of suicide. TWLOHA is not only bringing awareness to a very real problem, but also providing help and encouragement to those who are suffering. My favorite line in their vision statement is…
“You are not alone and this is not the end of your story”
Check out TWLOHA and/or Sevenly.com to donate to a cause while also buying cool stuff. From now until Monday, when you make a purchase at Sevenly.com, they will donate $7 to TWLOHA. Here are some of my favorite items from both.
P.S. my little blog is not even remotely big enough for anyone to pay me to say any of this. Mental illness is something that is close to my heart, so when I found these websites through FB, I wanted to spread the word.
It all started with a decision to be in a zombie flash mob…
then, came the overwhelming obsession with everything zombie!
By the time I decided to participate, I only had about 10 days to learn the 8 min long routine. After getting more than half of it down pretty well, I was able to start wrapping my head around how I was going to dress. I mean, we’re going to be performing in front of a large group. I gotta be zombie’d up!
how awesome are these undead nails?!
I was racking my brain on costumes and finally just decided on something that’s already in my closet. I hate to buy something only to ruin it by ripping it and splattering it with blood.
Next, I started combing Pinterest looking for make-up ideas. I want something simple, but effective. I’m thinking more like Warm Bodies dead, not super gruesome-eyeball missing-dead.
Then while I was at rehearsal over the weekend some of the ladies were talking about last year’s zombie flash mob and what they wore and someone mentioned colored contacts. I immediately thought, “YES! I need spooky contacts!” That would totally stand out and make me look a little more freaky without having crazy make-up.
**Let’s just ignore the tiny fact that I’ve never worn contacts in my LIFE and I had less than week to get them ordered, delivered and learn how to put them in! That’s not really important, right? Nope, I didn’t think so either.
I was immediately on the hunt…researching where to buy them…what color I wanted…how to put them in…
until I got the smackdown…
In wanting to make sure that I get legit contacts that won’t scratch my cornea or ruin my eyesight or anything crazy like that (important stuff, yo), I found out that apparently it’s illegal to sell contacts without having a “prescription”, even for zero correction lenses. Booo! Not cool. I’ve never been to an eye doctor. Like ever! I know, I’m 35 and I should have had an eye exam, but yeah, just haven’t made the time. My vision has always been fine (even though my husband has been insisting for months that I needed to have it checked). Sure I can’t read as well as I used to and the headlights at night on a dark road are kinda blurry, but I thought I was pretty normal for 35. Nevertheless, I had planned on eventually getting an eye exam, but this whole “getting cool contacts for a costume” thing, was getting out of hand. I mean, firstly, they are not cheap at around $30 for 1 lens. Then add on super fast shipping, and NOW, an eye exam! Oh, and apparently getting fitted for contacts is a whole separate fee from just getting an eye exam. Ay yi yi!
I find out all the eye exam stuff first thing yesterday morning. I debate it at first, but my amazing hubby who supports me in my crazy obsessions tells me just to do it because I need an exam anyway. Next thing you know, I’m headed to the eye doctor!
My stomach is doing somersaults and my pits and palms are dripping with sweat. I have no idea what they’re going to do, if it’s gonna hurt, or if I’m going to go through all this and end up not being able to get my cool contacts for whatever reason. Then comes the paranoia….What if I actually need a prescription for glasses/contacts? What if they tell me something horrible?
When I get called back to the room, I am babbling like an idiot to anyone who will listen. Telling them my life story. That’s what I do when I’m nervous, ramble and fill in the quietness. Saying things like,
“this is my first time”
“I’m just trying to get cool contacts for Halloween”
“my husband has been harassing me for months to get my eyes checked. I think they’re fine! But, I guess everyone says that, huh?”
The doc finally comes in after what seems like an eternity of me staring at the posters on the wall and looking at the scary eye contraptions.
I breeze through my letters tests. Sweet, this is going well! My palms are still sweaty, but I’m less anxious now. Then the doctor tells me she’s going to put some drops in my eye to numb my eyeball. What the what?! “Numb my eyeball?!” I’m looking at her like she’s about to pour acid in my eye and she’s explaining that it’s just drops and it won’t be bad. Lady, I’m not worried about the drops, I’m worried about why my eyeball needs to be NUMB! What the heck is she gonna do to me? Turns out I was freaking out for no reason (as usual). Whatever she did, didn’t hurt at all and since I wanted to be fitted for contacts she said she wasn’t going to dilate my pupils this time. Woot!
Diagnosis: 20/20 vision with a very slight astigmatism in my right eye
Now it was time for my contacts fitting! They sit with you, tell you how to put them in, how to take care of them, yada, yada, yada. Then, they want you to put them in while they stare at you. Awesome. As if I wasn’t nervous enough about sticking something on my eyeball, but now someone is gonna be watching my every move.
Wellllll, not to brag or anything, but apparently…I’m a natural! Oh yeah. Nailed it!! Got them puppies in on my first try. Took one out (so she could make sure I did it right) and then put it back in. Booyah!
I was looking through the glasses while waiting for paperwork to get finished. Can you tell I have blue contacts on in this photo?
I came home and immediately ordered my zombie contacts. Hopefully they ship today so I don’t have to stress about it, but I paid for 2-day shipping so even if they don’t ship until Wednesday, I should be golden!
Whoops. I started to write a Five on Friday post today and realized that my last post was one of those. Where the heck did the week go?! I haven’t really been THAT busy, but just preoccupied I guess.
Last Friday was the start of me getting back on the workout wagon so my OOTD’s looked a little something like this…
While this is bad news for my OOTD posts and made me not feel like blogging…on the up side, I burned 2,262 calories this week! 😉
I also decided to join the worst kept secret zombie flash mob! A Zumba instructor in town puts together a flash mob of sorts to perform at the Zombie Fitness Kids run. This is their 3rd year doing it and I wanted to join in last year, but heard about it too late and honestly it’s a little out of my comfort zone. I’m a bit of a commitment-phobe and it requires you to learn the dance mostly on your own. And, of course, I don’t just want to join in at the end of the dance, I want to go all out and do the whole routine! With less than 10 days to practice, I have my work cut out for me! I love dancing though so I knew I would regret not joining in even though it requires a lot of work. Not only do I have to learn the dance, but I also have to figure out zombie outfit/make-up. Here’s last years flash mob…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MARSFs3ydFo&w=560&h=315]
So, I’ll admit to being a blog slacker, but I think I’ve been a fitness winner…this week! Now, let’s see if I can keep up the fitness part and try to get some blogging done too. :oP
I’m off to the gym!!! Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Woot! It’s Friday y’all! Here are some fun/cool/interesting things from this week…
image via maskcara.com
If there are two things I’m obsessed with fashion wise at the moment, it would be prints & oxblood! Actually I’m loving color period. I first saw these pants on Rach over at Pink Peonies, but good fitting pants are such a PITA to find most times so while I loved them on her, I didn’t have high hopes that they’d fit me as well. I didn’t rush out to the mall or anything, but I did pop over to LOFT a couple weeks ago to try on their new line of jeans. I only found one pair that fit me great and they were just okay so I left without them.
Fast forward to last week, I was at the mall looking for booties, but stopped in LOFT to see what they had and was told by two store employees that I came in at the perfect time because they’d just marked down a whole bunch of good stuff. Okay, they peaked my interest, so I dug into the sale racks to see if anything caught my eye. I had actually forgotten about the blog post, but as soon as I saw these pants, I remembered and immediately snatched them up (in two sizes just in case!) and added them to my dressing room pile.
There were some “meh’s” & “cute’s” in the dressing room, but these lovely pants were a “gotta-have-em!” They fit me amazingly well and the kicker, they were on sale for $32! Score!
top :: pants :: shoes (cheap American Eagle for Payless black flats ;)) :: jewelry (Express, Etsy, Charming Charlies)
posed…a little more relaxed…over the top
I keep getting annoyed at myself because I forget to get IN photos with people. I always get so wrapped up in the moment that I don’t take any photos or if I do think about pictures, I get distracted with not so perfect lighting conditions or what I’m wearing or not wearing or how I look/don’t look and then the moment passes and I’m left with zero photos and regrets. So when we got home from a birthday lunch on Sunday, I had the teenager snapped some pics of me & the hubs. The middle one is my favorite, but the third one pretty much sums up the hubs. He’s got the silly gene for sure. Way more silly than I am and I’ll be honest in saying that I’m usually the one to just shake my head at his silliness, but I do appreciate it…most of the time. 😉
Linking up with Style Elixir
Ok, so it’s Saturday instead of Thursday or Friday, but…I’m back with my wedding outfits! I’m sure your weekend just wouldn’t be complete without seeing them. 😛
Rehearsal :: My jumpsuit was the perfect rehearsal dinner outfit. Comfy and a little bit dressy without being too much.
jumpsuit (on sale!) :: sandals (on sale!) :: blazer (H&M)
Wedding day :: I’m so happy I bought this dress. I was a little worried about the underarm chafing me, but I’m happy to report that I was completely comfortable throughout all the wedding festivities. As far as accessories, I pulled in the deep red/oxblood/burgundy color that’s popular right now. I just knew it would go perfect with the navy & teal! Now to figure out a way to restyle it so I can wear it more than once. I’m thinking a jacket & boots maybe?
dress :: shoes :: clutch :: blingy bracelet :: earrings & red bracelet (Charming Charlies)
*please excuse the blurry dog behind me in the pic on the right. That sneaky girl jumped into my pics! lol
