Free Julep Box Coupon Code!

Julep is a nail polish subscription box service.  They have such great colors and each month the selection changes.  One thing I like about Julep is that you can preview the nail polish choices for that month and choose to order one of the sets or skip the month.  It gives you a bit more freedom in ordering the box.  I just ordered my very first box!

I'm stoked. I got a FREE...yes, folks, I said FREE Julep Maven subscription box!  Actually, I paid $3.99 total for shipping.  What a deal.  I'm super excited.  If you want to grab your own free box go to Julep's website and order a subscription box.  The coupon code you want to use is FREEBOX.

Will today FINALLY be the day that my glossybox finally arrives?

Happy Friday everyone!  I hope ya'll have a super great weekend!

Randomness

I've been MIA for a few days....I went to Seattle over Memorial Day weekend to visit family.  It was FAB!

Some things going on with me right now:

I'm so very impatiently awaiting my first ever glossybox to arrive in the mail.  I am NO good at waiting.  I'm super excited to get that cute box in the mail.  I'll be sure to post my review once I FINALLY get it!

I'm also waiting for a package from Little Black Bag.  I am SUPER excited about what's in there.  It's not a surprise, as I ordered and traded for what I want, but I also can't seem to remember what's in there so it will be a bit of a surprise.

I'm starting Nutrisystem tomorrow.  I already have the box of food here at my house.  I've actually had it for a while now but haven't started yet.  I will have 23 days on Nutrisystem before I go on my vacation to the Oregon Coast so hopefully it will be enough time for a little bit of shrinkage.

I'm tired and want to take a nap.  But I can't because I have to work.

The end.

Finding Motivation

I do, and always have, struggled with motivation.  I was always looking for THE thing that would motivate me to work out and eat right.  Almost everyone I knew had something that kept them going or made them start.  I didn't. Until now.

Last year I purchased a Nike Sports Band.  I didn't even use it until a couple weeks ago.  Let me tell you, it's motivating to me to see the actual calories I've burned on there and to see the actual distance I've gone.  When I'm done with a workout, I plug it into my computer and it keeps track of all my workouts in one place.  I can log on and see how many miles I've gone and how many calories I've burned.  When I'm at the gym and I on the treadmill, I can see that I've burned, say, 380 calories.  Why not keep going to 400?  Or 450?  If I have gone 1.8 miles, why not go 2?  Or more?  Finally, finally, I've found something that motivates me!

Do you have a Nike Sports band??

I only slept 3 1/2 hours on Tuesday night.  I was EXHAUSTED yesterday.  All day.  I was dreaming of a nap.  I worked all day.  Came home and declared that I was too exhausted to work out. And then I did the impossible (for me anyway).  I got off my arse and headed to the gym.  Yep.  I felt like a rock star. 

Ipsy Glam Bag May 2013

Ok...so I don't know where I've been but I have just very recently discovered that there's such a thing as subscription boxes...mystery grab bags, if you will. I LOVE beauty products. I do not wear a lot of makeup and I never wear anything flashy or crazy (although I wish I did) but I still love to try, look at, and buy makeup and such.

I have, in the past few weeks, subscribed to ipsy. It runs $10 a month and you get a new cosmetic bag full of beauty products. How fun is that? And seriously, super affordable!

I got my first ipsy bag today. I was too excited to bring it home and take pictures of the official unboxing, like many of the cool bloggers do. I ripped that sucker open in my car at the post office. No self-control.

I was really excited about what I found in my bag. First, it came in a nice shiny, pink bubble envelope. I would show you, but, no. It's ripped to shreds and in the trash. Inside the pink bubble wrap was the fun bag of goodies!

 

This is really quite a lot of stuff for $10!  And there's no tax and no shipping.  So it really is jut $10!

 

A beakdown of the booty (is that how you use that word?  Other than referring to your butt?)

 

First off is an awesome full size nail polish by Zoya.  The color is a beautiful pale pink (it says Gie Gie on the bottom...yeah, I know, I'm dumb.  Don't know if that's the color name or not).  It has a nice sparkle to it.  I like sparkly, shiny things.

 

 

Next is a roll on perfume from Pacifica.  The scent is Tahitian Gardenia.  I double heart love this.  It smells super good and I LOVE perfume.  This is a perfect size to stick in my bag.

 

Next is a full size lipstick by Mirabella.  The shade I got is Ballerina...it's a sheer.  It looks so pretty in the tube.  In my dreams I can wear pale pink lipstick.  I think I'll keep it for Ally's stocking. It's a perfect lipstick for a 13-year-old.  Mostly just a shine.

 

Next we have a clear brow gel.  Um, I have the world's thickest, plushest, biggest eyebrows and the thought of putting anything else on them besides the massive amounts of hair that's already there is frightening.  This will be something that willl be put in a gift basket for someone. Or the girls can play with it.  Still looks fun, though, and it has really pretty packaging.

 

 

I guess I forgot to take a picture of the little concealer.  It's a great color for me and I'll definitely be using it.  It comes in a little plastick thing and it's the size of a dime probably, only thicker.  A good match for my skin.  And i needed concealer.

 

And I love the chevron print bag.  The turquoise and oranges look great together!

I did what it takes!

All weekend long, I did what it takes.  I want to be fit and healthy.  I made choices this past weekend, each day, all day, that got me one day closer to my goal.  I'm very proud of myself :)

I have now gone close to a full week of eating "clean".  All natural, whole foods.  I always know I feel better when I do this, but fall off the wagon all.the.time.  Last Sunday (Mother's Day) I weighed in at 174.6.  Yesterday, one week later, 171.6!  Now that's motivation!

I exercised most days last week.  I went on a nice long walk with friends on Saturday.  I wore my new Nike+ armband that keeps track of distance, time, and calories burned.  I think I FINALLY found what motivates me!  I like to see with my eyes how many calories I burned. I like to see how far I walked, etc.  Saturday's walk I burned 452 calories!  We went almost 4 miles.  That's awesome for me!  Yesterday I did 45 minutes at the gym on the treadmill.  I burned 350 calories. 

I'm going to list my mini-goals and rewards in this blog.  I usually try to come up with something for every 5 or 10 pounds lost, however, I never lose the weight :(  (until now, that is!).  And the scale doesn't usually move quickly for me when I'm lifting weights and working out.  And this is a lifestyle change, to be healthy.  So, my goals will be for time working toward my overall goal!

Even though I have one week under my belt, I am starting these time incriments as of today.

Rewards:

Two weeks working out/eating right:  (June 3, 2013)  - Manicure (which is a big deal for me as I've only had 1 in my entire life. I'm deprived)

One month working out/eating right: (June 20, 2013) - Massage (my fave)

Two months working out/eating right: (July 20, 2013) - Mani/Pedi

Three months working out/eating right: (August 20, 2013) - New tennis shoes

Four months working out/eating right: (September 20, 2013) - Mani/Pedi/Massage (the full sha-bang!)

Five months working out/eating right: (October 20, 2013) - Not sure.  Something Rad.

Six months working out / eating right: (November 20, 2013) - New wardrobe! 

It just so happens that my birthday is November 22, right after my 6 month goal of working out and eating right.  I WILL make that goal!  And I WILL ring in my 37th birthday looking HOT!  Better than ever before!  I can't wait :)

One Day At a Time

I'm tired of feeling out of shape.  I'm tired of feeling fat.  I'm tired of being lazy.  I'm tired of being tired.  Sick and tired, I tell you!

And I tend to obsess about what I want to look like, how I want to feel.  My goal weight and size is far away.  I need to focus on one day at a time.

Did I make choices today that will get me one day closer to my health goal?

Yes, today I did.  I ate "clean" all day and I worked out.  I did a 20 minute workout on the treadmill.  Interval training.  And I did 25 minutes of weights.  I have not lifed weights in quite some time, and it actually felt good to get after it.

Yesterday I did not work out. I had TERRIBLE stomach pains.  Horrible, shooting pains in my stomach.  Not crampy, just pain.  High in my abdomen.  I think I've linked it to peanuts now as it's happened several times.

I went on a hike with friends on Tuesday and burned 311 calories.

I did 45 minutes on the eliptical at the gym on Monday.

So this week has been successful for the most part!

I forgot to mention that I ate some white cheddar cheez-its today.

Oops.

Mother's Day

I look very tired in the above picture. 

Probably because I'm a mom.

To three great kids.

One of which is not living with me right now.  And that feels awful. And not right.  And just plain wrong.  And hurtful.  But moms sacrifice BIG TIME for their children.  We sometimes have to make the tough choices in hopes of bettering their futures.

Two of which are little girls.

I do love Mother's Day.  Being a mom is number 1 in my life. My children are the meaning of my life.  This blog that I have started is a hope that I will be inspired like many before me to better myself and get healthy.  In "real" life, my world  revolves around my kids.  I spend an outrageous amount of time at basketball games, soccer games, track meets, etc.  I run from here to there every day getting my kids, picking them up, going to work, going to the grocery store, etc.  So I decided that my blog life will be about me.  Seems strange as I have not ever been one to focus on myself. It's definitely time for that now!

However, on Mother's Day, it's all about my kids.  Afterall, without them I would not be a mother!

 

It's hard to tell, but this is the sweet little gift that MJ made me at school.  It's flowers made from papers in a vase.  Lot's of detail and hard work!

 

 

I could look long and hard and I would NEVER find anything sweeter than this little hand-written note from MJ.  Fills my cup. 

 

Straw hats look much cuter on MJ than on myself :( 

 

 

Horrid.  Is that really me? 

 

 

We spent the day in the sun at the park.  We rode bikes, played in the sand, MJ played in the lake a little bit, took a walk, had yummy picnic.  It was a beautiful day!

 

 

 

 

I had Ally take some pictures of me....I am not usually the one in the pictures. I am generally on the other side of the camera.  I am really trying to get some good "before" pics.  I am dreaming of a day when I can look back at these and be amazed as to how far I've come!

 

 

Yep.  This is a good before picture.  I feel sad about my legs.  I knew they were white.  And I knew I had cellulite.  But still.  Come on.

 

 

When the summer weather arrives here in the mountains, I am reminded why this town is great.  During the winter months, and the snow lasts FOREVER, I start to really hate it.  But then the nice weather comes and I can't help but be thankful that we live five minutes away from this scene.

 

Sun. Glorious Sun!

Yesterday was SUNday.  Ha ha!  It was a very sunny Sunday.

The girls and I went to the middle school track to walk.  I walked two miles.  Woot woot!  Actually, I jogged the first lap.   Don't know why, just wanted to see if I could.  And, yes, I could. But it was hard. Really hard!  The track is nice because it's easy to measure the distance, and will be easy to measure the progress too, as I start to get in better shape and have more endurance.

I got a few "before" photos of myself.  Sure can't wait til I have my "after" photos to go with them!!!!

 

And I can look at the pics and be sad about how round my face is, or about how frumpy I have become, but the truth is, I was on my way to exercise.  I did exercise.  I did what it took yesterday to make my fitness / body dreams come true.  That's really all I can do.   One day at a time, right?

 

I like to drink water. I drink a lot of water at work every day.  But to make this more fun, I got a rad water bottle that holds 24 ounces of water.  My goal is to fill that sucker up three times at work.  I'll be 72 ounces down by the time I get home if I do that.  And, I like a yummy cold other-than-water drink in the afternoons.  I love me some diet coke, but the aspartame gives me a migraine.  So I'm going to try these Starbuck's energy drinks, just mix with water.  Full of green tea energy or something.  I'll give a full review soon!

 

 

 

My goal for today is to walk again.  At least one hour.  In the sunshine.  With friends or by myself. Doesn't matter. 

My other goal for myself today is to EAT. RIGHT.  ALL. DAY.

I'm off to work.  Where I WILL be productive.  I WILL be important. I WILL be helpful.  I will NOT waste company time on the computer.  I will NOT spend time wishing it was 4:00 so I could leave.

A Quilt for Cari

I made my fabulous sister a quilt!  It's not a big quilt....let's say, more of a lap quilt.  I fell in love the the Joel Dewberry Aviary fabric.  I bought a layer cake (for you non-quilters, that's a pre-cut set of 10" squares fabric set) from a gal on Etsy and this is what I made.

I had some sewing machine issues.  Major ones.  I usually take the easy way and tie patchwork quilts, and I love the way they looked tied.  Well, after obsessing at other quilter's blogs and looking at their beautiful creations, quilted to all get out all over the place, I decided to try.  I just quilted on either side of all the seams between the squares with brown thread.  My machine was acting like a witch and wouldn't work right.  There were problems that I can't even explain.  Let's just say that there was an ENTIRE line sewn all the way down the quilt that was all screwed up.  I don't even know how to explain what it looked like but I had to take my seam ripper and rip the entire thing out.  It took about an hour.  And I ripped a hole in the back of the quilt doing it.  I threw a fit.  I hated the quilt.  I hated my machine.  I hated quilting.  I hated everything.

So, here's the quilt I'm sending Cari.  It's a homely little thing, but she loves homemade so she will even appreciate the flaws!