Day 31: Recovering from the weekend.

Monday, July 31st

Boy oh boy did I party it up this weekend! My parents hosted a 50th birthday party for my dad's graduating class and about 60 people showed up. There was a ton of food, drinks, and cake. In the evening, we broke out the karaoke and sang the night away. I was soooo hoarse by the end of the night I couldn't sing. Oh yeah, and drunk too. Corey and his girlfriend Sara were there, so it was tons of fun to goof around with them. I think everyone had tons of fun, too! It was great because the weather totally cooperated. It wasn't too hot at all and started raining when the party was all over! Just perfect. My parents throw the best shindigs. Not many kids can say they like partying it up with their mom and dad. Remember that song that goes, "Your Mama don't dance and your Daddy don't Rock-and-Roll?" Well, my Mama does dance, and my Daddy does Rock-and-Roll. How cool is that?!

It was so nice to go down and see people and hang out. Sometimes I feel like I need to do that just to refresh myself. Colby and I went to my friend Heather's house on Thursday and had lunch. Colby played with Heather's daughter Sage and they were too cute together. We also got to see Jesse and Kendra for a little bit. They're so awesome. On Friday we met up with my friends Courtney and Cassidy and their little girls Abbi and Reagan. We went for a long walk, had lunch, and then the babies played in a splash pool while Courtney and I chatted over Diet Cream Sodas. That's my idea of a great time. That's why we need to move back down. I love my friends!

This week I have to do better about exercising and eating. I pretty much pigged out last week and aside from chasing Colby everywhere, did very little physical activity. I can tell too, I feel so blah. Hope everyone has a great week!

To Do:

1. Dishes

2. Laundry

3. Walk

4. Crunches

Day 30: A brand new week.

Monday, June 24th

This is a new week! I hope this week is cooler than last. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sunshine, but I could do with a little less heat. It is impossible to exercise like I want to when it’s so hot. I have had heat headaches one too many times to risk it again. It’s no fun. I need to get out and do my walk in the morning, before it gets too hot. I really enjoyed exercising at night last week, so I want to keep doing that.

I don’t know how I’m going to be with exercising this week. I’m visiting my parents from Wednesday-Sunday, so that will probably throw off my whole routine. I hope my dad and I go for a bike ride or two, though. I really thought that was fun! I’m excited about visiting for so long, because there are a few things I want to do and people I want to see that I don’t usually get to. I’m going down for so long because my parents want me to cook a bunch of meals for them and I have found that it’s difficult to do since Colby has come along. So, I’ll do the cooking while someone is watching him. Plus, our apartment is so small and gets so hot that cooking is out of the question. (Which is why we’ve been eating out for a week now. Shhhh! Don’t tell on me.) It’ll be fun, though. I’m looking forward to it!

I have a lot to do before we take off for 5 days! We’re leaving Clint at home so he can study for the CPA exam, so I should probably be nice and leave him some food, huh?

To Do:

1. Walk
2. Grocery Shopping
3. Dishes
4. Laundry

Day 29: What a great day.

Thursday, July 20th
Too many people miss the silver lining because they’re expecting gold.
Maurice Setter

Today is already a good day. Colby and I got up at 8:30, ate some breakfast and headed out for a nice morning stroll. I thought I was going to beat the heat by leaving by 9:30, but it was pretty toasty out there. So, what I intended to be over an hour walk turned out to be only 30 minutes. This actually ended up being a good thing, because Colby decided to take an early nap once we got back!

Our walk was lovely, despite the heat. The sun was shining and there weren’t too many people out on the sidewalks, so we had it all to ourselves. I played Late Tuesday on my iPod, which turned out to be the best soundtrack for today’s walk. (You should really check them out, they rock. Dana Little, one of the band members, sang and played Nora Jones’ Come Away With Me at our wedding. It was fantastic. But why am I telling you that? You were probably there.) The sidewalks are one thing I’m going to miss about this place. I can literally leave my house and walk for many, many miles without running out of a safe place to walk. I love that. And, to top it all off, there’s a whole shopping plaza within walking distance. Now that’s just awesome.

Yesterday I completely cleaned the kitchen. I mean, I got down on hands and knees and scrubbed the floor. Blech. But, it’s done and beautiful now! I also went for my jog last night, but I think it was more like 15 or 20 minutes instead of 10, so that’s sweet.

I love the routine I’ve started. Colby and I go for a walk during the day, and during his 2nd nap I take care of household stuff. Then, after he’s in bed for the night, I go out and jog or rollerblade or whatever I feel like doing that day. I come home, take a shower, and spend time with Clint! It’s nice, because during the time that I’m out for a jog we both get some time to ourselves and then we get time together when I’m back and refreshed. Since Clint wants to go for jogs too we’re going to switch off every other day. On the days I’m jogging, he’ll stay home and lift weights and vice versa. I think it will work out nicely, and we’ll get buff in the process!

Wow. I think I have actually run out of things to say. It’s a miracle! Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

To Do:
1. Dishes
2. Laundry
3. Walk
4. Crunches/Weights

Day 28: My mini pity party.

Wednesday, July 19th

Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.

Margrart Lee Runbeck

I think I like the whole "checklist" thing. It works for me. If I have a list of things to do and I don’t finish something, it doesn’t make me feel like I failed because I know that it’ll just be on my list of things to do for tomorrow.

Yesterday I cleaned like a champ. Our apartment looks pretty good. Or at least it did until Colby got up from him his nap... Oh well, it isn’t the end of the world. I rearranged our bedroom yesterday and Colby’s the day before. I felt like I needed a change. It occurred to me that I have moved pretty much every year for the past 4 or 5 years, sometimes more than once. This year we aren’t going anywhere and that’s so weird to me. So, I needed a change. I think I like it, though. Both rooms have a lot more space now which is great since Colby is quickly needing more area to explore.

Instead of jogging last night, I whipped out my rollerblades and went about 3 miles. I was flying. I totally forgot how much fun it is to rollerblade. It might not be the coolest thing to do anymore, but it sure is a good workout. Right away I could feel it in my inner thighs and quads. Just where I want to tone up! I’m going to take them out again, maybe with Colby in the stroller this time, but I need to get some new wheels first. Mine are stripped down to the bone on one skate and that isn’t safe at all.

Man, I really can’t wait until we get a house. We are quickly growing out of our 700 sq. ft. apartment. It would be so nice to be able to put pictures up on the walls without worrying about not getting our deposit back, and I would absolutely love to have something other than white paint on the walls. Oh, and a yard would be nice too. I don’t have much in the way of pictures or paintings, and I want to start collecting some. I love black-and-white scenery photos or really any scenery photos. And, I love the paintings that the Kammers do. I think they’re all too talented for their own good. : ) Bare walls make everything so impersonal, so temporary. I guess I can’t wait to have a place that’s permanent. Where I know I can change the address on my driver’s license without having to change it again in a short amount of time. A place where I can have friends and not have to worry about the fact that I might be moving soon. I hope we can move close to our friends and family. I’m feeling lonely up here.

Okay, enough of my pity party. I think I need to change this from being my exercise blog to just being my online journal. That’s really what it has become for me. It’s so nice once Colby goes down for his first nap. I make myself a cup of coffee, turn off the TV, turn on some music, and sit and spill my thoughts here. No matter how blah I might be feeling, I always feel awesome once I write it all out. I get a little "me time" and I’m refreshed for another round of chasing Colby and keeping him from getting into places he shouldn’t be.

To do:
1. Drop stuff off at Goodwill
2. Dishes
3. Walk
4. Jog (10 mins)

Day 27: I have to change something.

Tuesday, July 18th

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing -- that's why we recommend it daily.
Zig Ziglar

This whole blogging thing has worked so well for me since I started. It makes me feel like I’m accountable for what I accomplish and what I don’t. However, I feel like I need to make some kind of new game plan. It’s not that I have completely lost all motivation for exercise, but what I’m doing now obviously isn’t working. I worked out only a couple of days last week after taking an entire week off, and I didn’t do anything yesterday either. I know it is pretty much the same thing, but I think I’ll change my “goals” to a “to-do” list. Maybe that will work better for me. I like checklists!

I don’t know what to do to re-motivate myself for exercise, though. I think I just need to get out there and do it, and I’ll remember how much I enjoyed it before. The problem is (and I’m trying not to make excuses here) that it gets so damn hot this time of year. I don’t really want to be going for a walk, let alone jogging in that heat. So, I thought that maybe I’ll do a walk after Colby’s morning nap, and go for a jog after he’s gone to bed at night, while Clint’s studying for the CPA exam. That sounds all well and good, but I have yet to follow through.

I should probably give myself a little bit of a break, though. It’s not like I sit around the house all day long when I don’t work out. In fact, on Saturday my dad, Clint, Colby, and I took a 16 mile bike ride! It was so nice to get back on that bike again. My ass hurt like nobody’s business for a good couple of days, but that was partially my fault for wearing jean shorts. In my defense, I didn’t realize that we would be going so far.

So, I guess I need to do like my quote of the day says and motivate myself on a daily basis. I know I have come a long way since giving birth to Colby, and I don’t want to give up now. Not before I really feel like I’ve done all I can to lose weight and tone up. I have lost a good deal of weight, but 142 is still pretty high for me. My next weigh-in is at Colby’s 12 month checkup at the end of September (I only weigh myself at the doctor’s office because we don’t own a scale), so I hope to be down to 135 by then (or less!).

I realize that this one is a long blog, but I missed yesterday, so I guess I’m making up for it today. I also realize that lately I have been coming up with all of these crazy ideas of things I want to do with myself like have my own business, learn photography, etc. I have a couple more items to add to that list. First, I think I want to go back to college and finish my minor (or maybe make it a double major) in Russian. I feel like I didn’t learn as much as I really want to. What happened was I had a really excellent grasp on the language and signed up for it at the university. They weren’t offering the 2nd year, only the 3rd, but the professor thought I’d do fine. Turns out, missing the 2nd year made it so I missed a good chunk of the grammar and foundation to the language, so I was pretty much lost in the woods for that whole 3rd year class. And then, I gave up. This was mostly due to the fact that I had only 2 years at the university and that 2nd year class wasn’t offered until my last year there. I didn’t want to stay a whole other year there just to do Russian. I wanted to graduate! So, if I do get myself into this, there are 2 dilemmas: 1. Money, and 2. What to do with Colby. Eh, I guess I’ll figure it out if it’s something I truly want to do.

The second crazy idea of mine isn’t that crazy, I guess. Clint and I really want to go to Europe. This was brought on because his older brother Mike just got back from 2 weeks there and seeing his pictures and hearing all of his stories made us want to go so bad. I have never been to Europe, only Russia. We want to go to Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, maybe France, but we want to backpack it, not have any strict schedule as to where we’re going to be at any given time. I realize that a European vacation will cost us a small fortune, so I don’t expect us to go any time soon. In fact, it probably won’t be until we’re all done having kids and they’re a little bit older. But that’s fine, as long as we do it eventually. I thought it would be really cool if we spent most of our time in, say... Italy, that we go through a crash course of Italian so we have a basic understanding of the language. That would be awesome. I took some Italian lessons from my friend’s grandpa years ago, but sadly I didn’t learn what I should’ve because we spent a lot of the time eating her grandma’s awesome Italian food!

I don’t know why I’ve been thinking up all of these things to do with myself lately. Maybe it’s because I’m at home and seeing as how Colby isn’t that great for conversation yet, I have lots of time to think to myself. I am definitely not bored at home and absolutely love what I do. I love my job of being a mom, taking care of the house, and holding down the fort! It’s relaxing (but not always) and rewarding all at the same time! And best of all, I get to watch my baby grow up! He’s just weeks or maybe even days away from walking and I’m glad that I get to experience all of these milestones first-hand.

Anyway, enough of my gabbing. Congratulations if you made it through my lengthy blog! You get a cookie.

To Do:

1. Drop stuff off at Goodwill

2. Do dishes

3. Straighten up

4. Walk

5. Jog 10 mins

Day 26: The woes of motherhood.

Wednesday, July 12th

You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.
Shira Tehrani

I guess I must be getting back into my workout routine slowly. I have reduced my goals from 3 in each category to 2. I’ll try to work myself back up to 3 for sure. Yesterday I didn’t blog because my cousin Crystal was here for the day. I don’t get to see her very much, and it was great to hang out and chat! She’s getting to the end of her pregnancy and she looks fantastic. Who loses weight when they’re pregnant? Lucky woman. : )

Monday I didn’t walk, but I did do abs. I did the laundry and ran errands, so rah!

My baby is growing up waaaaay too fast. People told me over and over to cherish the little baby moments because they’d be gone before I knew it. Sure enough, that happened to me too. I don’t think I took a single moment for granted, but it still flew by. I continue to cherish every moment because I can already tell that my little baby is going to be a big boy before I know it. I think that Colby is starting to lose interest in breast feeding. This makes me sad because I love those moments where I get to scoop him up into my arms and have a guaranteed 15 minutes with him. But he has places to go, people to flirt with, tupperware to throw around the kitchen. It is much quicker and faster to just drink some formula from a bottle or sippy-cup. None of this “waiting for the milk to come down” business. So, I think we’re going to start weaning. I only planned on breast feeding until his first birthday anyway, so if we start now that will probably work out well. That whole turning one thing? That’s a whole other story. I get a little misty just thinking that in a couple of months my baby will join the ranks of toddler-hood. Why didn’t anyone tell me that it’s so emotional to be a Mom?! Oh wait, they did. Nevermind.

Home:
1. Laundry
2. Straighten Up

Exercise:
1. 30 min. Yoga (it’s a rainy day)
2. Triceps

Day 25: Getting back into it.

Monday, July 10th

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

Japanese Proverb

I guess I took a week’s vacation from exercise, huh? I did absolutely pitiful last week. I’m not joking, I literally ate chips for lunch at least twice last week. I’m not talking a chip here, and a chip there, I’m talking I don’t want to eat another chip for the rest of my life. Gross. But I’m back, and pumped and ready to continue my weight loss goals. It’s like the lyrics in Chumbawumba’s Tub Thumping says, "I get knocked down, and I get up again..." (I can’t believe I just quoted that song.)

For whatever reason, I have had this strong urge lately to try and start up my own business. I feel like I’m a pretty talented and knowledgeable person, but what could I do? More importantly, what could I do that would still enable me to be at home with Colby? I would love to learn how to do web developing and stuff like that. It would also be great to be able to learn how to take awesome photos and sell them, but everybody and their mother is doing that these days. A friend and I were talking this past weekend about how cool it would be to start up an espresso stand. I think that would be a lot of work, but so much fun. The problem is that it’s fairly expensive, not to mention difficult to find a place where there aren’t already a gazillion other coffee stands. What to do, what to do... I don’t know why this has hit me all of the sudden. I don’t, by any means, want to go back to work and put Colby in daycare. I think I’d be miserable if I did that. There must be something I could do... Anyone have any ideas?

Anyway, onward and upward! Lets hope and pray this week is better than last!

Home:
1. Run errands
2. Laundry

Exercise:
1. 30 min. walk
2. Abs