What's with the socks

If you are my facebook friend then you saw this pic of me

And I will say that I felt like a BIG dork. Here is what happened.

When I leave in the morning I have my gym bag with me and it has EVERYTHING I need in it. So right after work I hustle over to the gym to get my twerk on. So I get to the gym yesterday and get all "gymed" up and start to look for my socks when I remember that I didn't pack any. OH CRAP!!! Folks, it was over 100 degrees yesterday and you better believe that I was wearing sandals to work therefore no socks to even begin with. DOUBLE CRAP!  So I look in my bag one more time and find my compression socks that I bought for my shin splints. Now I have a decision, do I wear these goofy looking socks (with my capri compression pants that go down to my knees!) or do I call it a day and go home. I sat in that locker room for probably 5 minutes trying to make up my mind. And then I said to myself "Self, who in this gym is really going to give a rats ass what you look like?" and the answer was NO ONE. So I put on those ridiculous socks and I did my work out. Yes I got some funky looks and I'm pretty sure I made a couple of girls laugh, but you know what?? I feel a lot better today knowing that I did my workout yesterday. I don't feel like a bum today!

Also, I am about 99% sure I had those socks on backwards.I think the red line is suppose to go on the back of my calf.  Yeah, I pretty much rock the gym fashion world. Maybe Nike is looking for a new model??

And that is the story behind the socks.

On other related news my child is feeling better. He kept down his dinner and is at day care today!! YAY!! Well maybe I shouldn't get too excited yet, it is still early in the day. But he slept really good last night and he only threw up once yesterday and that was in the morning.  And yesterday evening Jed got new glasses.  The glasses thing is a freaking miracle. Jed's glasses looked like they were from 1970 and made him look goofy. Actually I think Kip from Napoleon Dynamite might have stolen Jed's style.

So needless to say, Jed needed new glasses. I will need to remember to take a pic of him wearing his old glasses and then a pic of him wearing the new ones so you guys can truly understand what I have been dealing with for the past 2-3 years!! Oh, he does have contacts so he doesn't wear his glasses all the time, but believe me he does wear them in public and if you see him today or probably most of next week you will get a good look at those suckers.

Have a good weekend!! We made it through another week, YAY!!! See ya on Monday.

The "I Nevers" that I said before I had a child!!

Today I am blogging from at home. My little guy is sick.  I got myself ready this morning and got him ready and took him to daycare and we weren't there even 30 seconds and he puked all over. I feel so bad for him because he has only done this one other time and he doesn't understand what being sick is.  Sure the kid has had his fair share of ear infections and coughs (which leads to us using a nebulizer every stinking time), but those don't slow him down.  The kid just keeps on kicking, but this stuff has him down. We spent most the morning on the couch watching Octonauts, Superman, and Little Einsteins. He gets really upset after he throws up and it just breaks my heart because he has this look on his face that says "why is this happening to me??" I wish it wasn't, but I guess this is all part of growing up.

I finally got him down for a nap and I immediately got on the computer and bought him these

He is going through a HUGE superman phase right now. And you know what, his mom doesn't really have any issues with that!! 

Before I had R, I always said, "my kid will NEVER wear crocs, especially if I have a boy!"  Well now I am going to say this, there are things we said that we will NEVER do as parents and most of those things we said we would never do; we do them!! There are some things I haven't done that I said I wouldn't and one of them is giving him pop, the kid hasn't ever been giving a pop (soda/coke). I look back on some of those things that I said I would NEVER do and things change once you become a parents.  Sometime you give in because you are tired of their whining or crying. Sometimes you do things because it honestly makes them happy and you really can't come up with a reason to NOT give it to them (example: superman crocs). 

So as my little guy is laying in his bed taking a nap, I thought I will take back all of my "I NEVER" statements and just roll with it from here on out. I love that little obnoxious toddler and I will do what I have to do to make him happy even if it means superman crocs. LOL That doesn't mean I will give him EVERYTHING he wants, but on the things that I can't really come up with a good reason to NOT give him, well he will get those items. The croc thing is MY problem, not his. 

Well I am going to try to get some stuff done at the house while he rests. And when he wakes up I am sure the afternoon will be filled with more Superman, Octonauts, and Little Einsteins, but I am perfectly okay with that, because those things that make him happy and the little guy is sick. FYI - normally we are outside ALL the time and barely watch these things, so today is his day to be inside and watch HIS shows. Anyone have a secret to make him better?? I sure wish I could snap my fingers and have my little guy back to normal. 

See ya on Friday. 

a very crappy picture of the sunset at our house the other day.  The picture does it ZERO justice, but I wanted you to see what I get to see every evening!

R drug this out the other night, he HAD to have it out.  And yes it is the little people nativity scene. Who care that it isn't Christmas.  

HAPPY HUMP DAY, WE ARE ALMOST DONE WITH THE WORK WEEK!!

The weekend - drinking, eating, exercising, blah blah!!

I had a great weekend and now I am freaking worn out. Friday started off pretty calm.  We just hung out around the house.  R of course wants to spend ever second outside so we spent most of the evening outside. R LOVES to play with the new kitties that we got a couple of weeks ago and I guess they will fit right into the family because one of them tried to do this:

ummm sorry kitty that is NOT for you! 

R got 3 kittens for his 2nd birthday, but those cats have slowly disappeared. It made me a little sad at first because R liked them so much and it gives him someone/something to play with outside. So we decided to get him 3 more and unfortunately one of them is gone, in my head I decided that he/she ran off. Country living can teach you some cruel lessons, but I am not ready to explain that to R yet. So until then, if he asks we will tell him they ran off. No need to go into anything more than that.

Maybe I should have called this post "catsofinstagram" LOL 

Then Saturday morning I got up and went to the gym. I took my own advice from last week and I wrote down what I wanted to do. It was either stupid hot in there or my workout was an efficient one because I was sweating like I have never sweat before!! Here is what I did.

do you like the emoji next to the calf rasies?  That made me laugh this morning when I saw that. 

I did 3 sets of 12-15 reps of all the exercises (except running and the elliptical). I did everything I listed  on there except for the Abs because I wasn't specific enough on my list and when it came time to do it I couldn't think of what I wanted to do.  So next time I will be more specific. The weighted pour glasses, I have zero idea of what it is actually called, but I think that is what it is called in P90X. It was nice because there was hardly anyone there and I could basically get on any machine I wanted or have any weights I wanted without waiting on anyone to finish up. 

I also saw this one the scale Saturday morning. 

That was a good motivator to get me to the gym!! So after the gym, I came home and took a shower and then R and I headed to Great Bend. Once we got there, we headed to their pool.  Their pool is PERFECT for toddlers, R had so much fun.  sorry no pics, I forgot my darn phone in the car!!

After the pool we headed back to my parents house and we got ready for the street dance. My Aunt and Uncle live in this little town called Albert (about 12 miles from Great Bend) and my grandma use to live there too, so we use to go to Albert a lot as kids. So when we heard that they are bringing back their street dances we thought we should all get together and go this year. We BBQed at my Aunt and Uncles house and let the little kids play.

there might have been a big kid involved at times!! Poor Sean!!

I ate pretty decent that night, I have some grilled chicken, fruit, a VERY small spoonful of baked beans, and one deviled egg. Not too bad. After we ate we headed down the street for the festivities. 

R played on the 3 wheeler for most the night until the very end and that is when he wanted to dance. 

Ohhh son, don't take after grandma in the dancing department! LOL 

The kid had a GREAT time and so did I. It is so nice to be surrounded by family and we genuinely like spending time together. I love nights like this. The next morning we decided to go to Vets (little lake in Great Bend) and fed the geese and R wanted to play. So he did a little of that.

Then we went to lunch in a little town called Aldean and they had a pretty good buffet.  And this is where I ended my good eating for the weekend.  The night before I turned down funnel cakes and a deep fried Oreo, but I couldn't turn down good home cooked fried chicken. To be honest I don't feel bad about that, it is the other crap I ate with it that I feel a little guilty about. Here is the after math.

Then add some good chocolate cake and yeah I abandoned my wagon yet again. And you know it wouldn't have been bad, but I ate like crap the whole day after that. I had chips, a sandwich from Schlozsky's, and a Dr. Pepper (I can't remember how long it has been since I had pop!).  It was all tasty, but not worth it.  I feel like I am having a food hangover today. But I am back on track. I had oat meal for breakfast and brought some grilled chicken with me to work for lunch. I did NOT weigh myself today because I already felt guilty about the food I ate, there is no reason to make myself feel worse. So back to my weekend.  I headed back home after my HUGE lunch. Once we got back to Salina, it was like it all finally hit me and I was exhausted. It took me everything I had to get through the day. And like I said I am still exhausted today, but it was totally worth it.  WE HAD A GREAT WEEKEND!! I hope you did too.  

If you have any questions about my workout just let me know and I can explain it a little better in an e-mail or if you are really lucky maybe I will take a video of me doing some of the moves!! 

Have a good week folks!! And if you are near Aldean, stop by Reece's cafe because they have some pretty yummy food, but don't stop if you plan on eating healthy. It is one of those places that you have to leave your healthy eating at the door! :) 

Jessica vs. Technology

So I posted earlier this week how I was trying to get my playlist updated from when the cave men walked the earth (okay not THAT long ago, but it freaking feels like it). Remember how I didn't get that accomplished before my race, well I decided that I would try again last night. But let me back up just a little bit. This week I have been running on fumes, I haven't been sleeping the best and EVERY single night this week I have said, "I am going to bed early tonight!!" But then laundry, dishes, projects get in the freaking way and I am up later than I normally do.  So this brings me to last night, I decided I would go to bed early, but then I saw my lap top and I thought "well, I will play with it for 15 minutes and then go to bed." HAHAHAHA, yeah right.

I have ZERO patience when it comes to my computer!

I open my lap top and I update my itunes because it says I need to and most of my music is missing. So I figure, if I update it then all my music will magically return. IT didn't!! UGH!!!!!!!

So what is a girl to do??? OH GOOGLE HOW I LOVE THEE!! So I googled all my problems and I tried a few things, but nothing was making it better. STUPID LAP TOP, STUPID ITUNES!!

Iphone, same freaking thing!!

Fast forward to an hour later and I'm still googling crap and I'm still not any further than I was when I began this project. I finally find something that says I have put some stupid word in my administer thing (it looks like gibberish and the place I have to type this gibberish at is scary because it is all 1980's looking and I have ZERO idea of what the hell I am doing!). But I do it and I cross my fingers that I didn't give my computer the worst virus ever. And.............................................. IT WORKED!!  My music was back!!!

But wait there is more!! So how do I get my new music from my phone to my itunes on my computer so I update my playlists??? Hummmm..... so I return to good ole Google. Let me remind you, that this is at about 11:50 p.m. So I think I figure it out (because google told me) and I give it a try, but it is scary because I have to take transfer the music to my itunes on the computer (which I hate and don't trust), this will then REMOVE all my music from my phone, but it should be on my crappy computer!! So after I do that I will then make my play list on the computer and THEN sync my phone to my computer which should return ALL my music and updated kick ass play lists to my phone. UGH!!!! who comes up with this crap, don't they know it is 2013 and this shit should be easier by now!!! So I do it!! and guess what happens next?????

TA DA!!! I GOT IT!!! Now I have a work it out play list on my phone and I can lift like a boss now!!! Well, at least now I have the music that should help me lift like a boss. AWWWWWW (angels singing!!). I felt like I had won the lottery.

That was short lived because shortly afterwards Jed comes in and tells me that I have a hole in my tire and that I should STOP running over shit!! womp womp. One day, I will have everything go my way!!! LOL

Enjoy your weekend. Have some fun. Oh and look what color my toe nails are!! I am NOT a big pink (not the singer, but the color) fan, but I saw this color the other day and I thought, what the hell. I am not super excited about it, but who cares, it is just pink polish, it will come off if I really don't like it after I get over the shock of having pink toenails.

they are hot pink, but they look kinda orange in this pic. 

Also, I saw this on the scale yesterday (totally forgot to weigh myself this morning, it could be that I AM TIRED!!)

Have a good weekend and I will be back on Monday!!!

What happens when you don't make it to the gym??

Okay so I just wrote a BIG ole blog post and it sounded too preachy(I think I was trying to preach to myself more than anything!!). So I am starting over.

Let me start by saying, I did NOT workout yesterday and I was feeling pretty shitty about it. I went to Hobby Lobby and the grocery store instead. It put me in a funk yesterday evening and I was still pretty grumpy about it when my friend came over in the evening to help me with some baby shower invites.  But then we got to talking and that feeling went away. We didn't really talk about working out or eating healthy, we talk a WHOLE lot about other crap. We did talk shortly about working out and eating healthy, but for the most part we talk about being a mom, wife, employee, etc. And it made me realize that life goes on when you don't make it to the gym. I am a mom and a wife and just because I didn't make it to the gym, they still need me to be the mom and wife they know and love.

So this morning I woke up and the first thing I thought about was how I didn't make it to the gym yesterday, but then I immediately remembered my conversation yesterday and I came to the conclusion that even though I failed at working out, I succeed at being a friend, mom, and wife yesterday.  That is a win in my book. I need to take my own advice and move forward. Today is a new day and I will get to the gym today. I also ate bread last night and some chips. I really felt like a failure after dinner last night, but why? I am human and I make mistakes. Once again today is a NEW day and I will eat better today. And if I don't then I need to evaluate why I am not eating better.

As I am writing this, I realized why I get so grumpy about missing my gym days or eating crappy food. It is because I am constantly scared that I will go back to my lazy/unhealthy ways. I don't want to be THAT Jessica any more. So when I miss one of my normal gym days I get all panicky that I am going to just quit. I don't want to quit again.  I have quit soooooo many times before. I guess that is why in the back of my head I keep thinking that there will come a day when I say "remember when I use to go to the gym all the time and eat healthy." I DON'T WANT TO SAY THAT ANY MORE!!  I want that sentence to NEVER come out of my mouth.

Sorry for the super serious post, but it is what is on my mind today. So if you are down on yourself for NOT making it to the gym or eating crap, STOP. Go do something about it. Go outside and go for a walk, go to the gym, put a work out video in, eat an apple stead of that bite size candy bar, eat at home today instead of going out to eat, etc. Just do something about it!!!! The more your fret about it, the worse it will get.  Take it from the master fretter!!

AND NOW FOR SOME RANDOM PICTURES!!

My baby is no longer a baby. Isn't he such a cool kid. :) 

we had a little visitor at our house yesterday! 

my mom playing trucks with R this last weekend. This is one of my favorite pics. R is very lucky to have such loving grandparents. 

This is me blogging in the dark. When I am super organized, I write my blogs at night time. 

I am really digging yogurt these days. I really like this brand too, but my favorite kind is pinapple. YUMM!!

Have a good hump day folks!! I will be back on Friday!! :) 

What a Weekend!!

I was telling Jed last night that it didn't feel like everything we did this weekend was in ONE weekend. We weren't THAT busy, but it just felt like a busy, but lazy weekend. Does that even make sense? LOL

On Friday I went to Great Bend with R and we stayed the night at my parents house because I had the 5K at 7:30 the next morning. We got to Great Bend and had dinner with my parents at their favorite Mexican restaurant and I knew that I would eat chips and dip. I wasn't going to let myself feel guilty about it either. Since I knew that I would have chips and dip I decided to play it pretty safe with my dinner choice and I had a grilled chicken salad with NO dressing.  People I am seriously making progress.  A MONTH ago I would have had chips, dip, a HUGE burrito, or a salad smothered in ranch! Baby steps! I also had a LARGE glass of WATER.  I REALLY REALLY wanted a BIG ole margarita, but I resisted.

The next morning I woke up feeling okay (actually I felt like NOT running), R had slept in the same bed as me and kept moving around and I kept thinking he was going to roll off the bed. Needless to say, I got very little sleep. I woke up and  tried to update my playlist and my laptop was acting all slow and not cooperating. One of these days I am going to be rich and just pay someone to do all this crap for me, I really hate technology some times. I mean it is great that I can even have a play list, but it does me NO good when it is all from the 1st day that I openned an itunes account back in 2006ish (I don't know the exact date, but all my playlists are outdated!!!). So I was pissed that I couldn't get it all worked out before I needed to leave. Also it was about this time that I realized that I AM A MOM! Not only did I need to worry about what I was going to eat for my pre-race meal, what I was going to wear, what music I was going to listen to, or what ever else I was worried about, but I also had a precious 2 1/2 year old to get ready. And let me tell you, when he is at grandma and papa's house, he thinks he rules the house (which he does) and doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do.  Saturday morning he did NOT want to get dressed.  So I had to bribe/convince him to get dressed. UGH, I hate when our mornings start like that.  But needless to say, we made it to the race in time for me to stretch out.

See isn't he cute when he lets me get him dressed!! 

They announced that the half marathon and 5K were about to begin. Us 5kers were starting the race with the half marathoners and it felt odd, but yet I felt like we were all equal. We started in the same spot and ran the same course for about half a mile and then they split off in another direction, it was at that point that I was incredibly happy to NOT be a marathon runner! LOL That first mile sucks, does anyone feel that way?? I told my mom, the first mile sucks and that last mile sucks.  She then asked me, is there any part that doesn't suck and I said the 2 mile is good, I feel like I have a good pace by mile 2! And then mile 3 hits me in the face and I want to quit!! LOL. 

This is about mid-way through the race. This is where my awesome parents met me for the 2nd time!

You can barely see me, but I am running towards the camera. This is the part of the race where I am like "Thank the Lord I am almost done!" 

After the race with R. I am probably trying to hit that darn button.

This race was incredibly special for me because my parents were there to root me on and not only did they see me take off, but they got in the car and met me in 2 different spots. I am so blessed to have family members do that for me. Another reason why this one was so special was because R actually crossed the finish line WITH ME! My parents were standing just before the finish line and because it wasn't crazy busy, my mom and R decided to "race me" to the finish line, but right before I crossed the line I decide to just pick that kid up and have him cross the finish line with me! It was an amazing feeling to cross that line with my favorite little guy! I wish we had a picture, but we don't. I am really hoping some random person will post one on facebook because I saw people taking pics. After I finished the race I tried to hit the stupid button on my phone to stop "Mapmyrun" app, but it took forever. So once I finally got that pushed it said this.

For me, this was AMAZING!

I am pretty sure if I look at the official time that I was UNDER 30 minutes. I wanted to PR, but I never thought I would be able to shave about 4 minutes off my time from April. Also, the lady on my app said at mile 1 that I ran a mile in 9 minutes and 8 seconds!!! AWESOME (please use your high singing voice to read that word!!)  Then at mile two she said something about 19 minutes and it dawned on me that I could finish this sucker in under 30 minutes. Is that possible? Heck yeah it is. Go for it!! So I tried to push myself that last mile and had I not slowed down to run with R and then slowed down to pick him up or had a problem hitting the button on my app, I think you would see something more like 29:30. But that is okay, crossing that finish line with my son meant the world to me! 

After the race everyone in my family was hungry so we went out to eat and I wasn't really that hungry, but figured I had better eat something. So I got an omlette with salsa and it was pretty good. I was proud of myself for not going Carb crazy, normally after the race I want to eat Carbs like they are going out of style, this time I didn't.  Maybe something I am doing is actually working! But I did come home and take a nap. the night before was really catching up with me. 

After my nap, R and I decided to head back to Salina so I could get some house work done. I didn't get crap done! I ended up taking a much needed shower and then this happened. 

sometimes you just need a beer to put make up on!! LOL 

On Sunday it was father's day and we spent the morning at the Zoo and then came home for lunch and put R down for a nap. Afterwards we were all pretty lazy, but I ended up going to the dreaded Wal-Mart and got a few (thousand) items that we have been out of because I HATE going to Wal-Mart. When I got home it was time for supper and Jed had requested Turkey Ruben sandwiches. I did the best I could and I will have to say they tasted pretty darn good.  I ate the same bread they did and all the other stuff as well, I thought this can be my cheat meal. It was good, but man oh man I felt like marshmallow guy from Ghostbusters. 

And then we went on a 3-wheeler chopper ride. What is a 3-wheeler chopper ride, you are asking?? Well it is this:

Yeah that is right, I got on one of those babies.  It was a short ride, but since it was Jed's day I decided that I could ride one of those suckers for a little bit if it would make him happy.  And from the smile on his face, he was pretty happy. 

And that is our weekend. Man that took forever to write, sorry. Like I said, we have some pretty lazy moments, but then some pretty busy moments. I hope y'all had a GREAT weekend. 

AND THE WINNER IS........

So the first give away is complete.  I drew a name and the lucky gal is................................................................... VANESSA MARQUEZ!!  Vanessa, I will be getting a hold of you SOON!!! YAY, I am so happy for Vanessa. She is a VERY sweet friend of mine that I have NEVER met in person. Vanessa is proof that you can meet some very awesome people on the internet, the internet can be a very good thing. Along with Vanessa I met some other awesome ladies at the same time and I will always remember those conversations that we had and they really did help me calm down during my pregnancy with R. So Vanessa, thank you for being a good friend and for READING MY BLOG!!

So it is Friday and I get to go see my parents tonight.  I am pretty excited, I don't get home as much as I would like. I am sure other people think I am there ALL the time, but the reality is, I don't. The main reason I am going back to Great Bend is to run in a 5K at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

I love getting these confirmations!! They do make me a little giddy. 

I am a little nervous to be honest.  I haven't ran 3 miles since my last 5K in May. I did run 2.37 miles last weekend and that involved hills and I believe this should be a pretty flat race.  So I think I should be fine. I also would like to beat my last time which in the running world means "Personal Record" (PR).  I would like to PR this weekend (that is the first time I have EVER said that!!). I am also excited because this will be the first time my parents have had the chance to root for me at a race. To be honest, I am over the moon excited about this, there is something special about having your parents there to watch you do something that means a lot to you. On Monday I will update you all on how I did.  

In other news, I tried sweet potatoes for the first time and to be COMPLETELY honest, I am not a big fan. BOO!! 

The salad was the best part of my lunch!! 

I wasn't even sure how to eat it, but I put very little butter on it and some pepper and it just wasn't good. Later that night I tried it again and I put spaghetti sauce on it (yeah that sounds gross) and that was much better.  I couldn't even taste the potato for the most part. I am still on the fence when it comes to sweet potatoes, but I will keep trying new recipes with them. If you know any AWESOME recipes that involve sweet potatoes let me know!! 

I also tried this thing call Ezekial bread. It is basically a bread that is healthy for you. It doesn't have any sugar added to it and it is made with sprouts so it is much easier to digest (which I guess is a good thing). Any ways, I like it! I toast it and eat it with my eggs and turkey sausage with a little Siracha. Which makes a pretty tasty lunch. It is in freezer section at Dillons, near the vegan area (I think that is the area) basically in the healthy food section of your grocery store which I have been spending more and more time at. It is more expensive, I believe it might even be twice as expensive :( I will continue to buy it though.  There are some things worth spending the extra money on and I think this is one of them.  But here is my advice, don't buy it if you aren't making other changes in your diet. Eating Ezekiel bread isn't going to make you lose weight or make that big of a difference if you aren't making other changes. 

Well folks, that about wraps it up today. I hope y'all have a good weekend!! Do something that isn't in your comfort zone this weekend. I have been working on that in my personal life too, not just with what I eat or in my work outs. It has been fun to be honest.  It makes me wonder why I stayed within these comfort zones to begin with.  The world has so much to offer me and I can't wait to see what else is out there!! 

And now for the GIVE AWAY!!!

Before I get to the give away, I wanted to talk about motivation and expectations. What motivates you to move or workout? For me it is a lot of things.  I was talking to someone recently and we both decided that it is the little things in our journey that really get us going. For instance the fact that I can do more clap push-ups than I could in March, that gets me excited and keeps me moving. When I run for the first time in a month and I run further than I thought I could and FASTER! When I put on a dress or shirt that I haven't worn in over a year and it fits better than it did when I first purchased it. Or how about when I find a new food that I really like and it is a lot healthier than what I use to eat. If you don't enjoy the little things then you are going to quit and will never succeed. Enjoy all the little things in your journey and when you have a set back let it just be a set back and not the end. 

This is what my set up looks like at group power. You can't see it, but on the left side there is more weight which means I added weight than what I am use to. Yeah, I was hurting last night, but that is a good thing. :) 

I have tried over and over again to lose weight and it just never worked for me, but I also got so frustrated when I didn't lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks. So why is it working this time?? I think the biggest part of it is my determination to NOT quit. I want to succeed and I want to prove to MYSELF that I can do this.  And the other reason is I have so many friends helping this time and I have a family members that are rooting for me. I look forward to going to the gym because I have no idea what friends are already there. I LOVE THAT!! EVERY TIME I GO TO THE GYM I RUN INTO A FRIEND, THAT IS AWESOME!!  I also get facebook friends and friends that I see on a regular basis giving me advice or encouragement, I can't explain to you what that means to me.  I love hearing from my readers which is one of the reasons I decided to do this give away, I want to know who is reading this blog!! Crickets........I also would like to give something to one of my readers, I know some of you read this blog every time I post something, so I want to give back to you!!! 

Okay, so lets get to the Give Away, This is how I am going to do this. If you comment on my blog page today then your name will be entered (What should you comment about? Tell me what motivates you or your little things that keep you going!! I want to know this stuff!!!)  If you don't have a google account then comment on my facebook page (Jessica Davis, I do not have a separate page yet, maybe one day)  or my instagram photo (@akansasgirlwithagoal)  when I post my blog on there. You can comment on any of those 3 by 12:01 Thursday morning then your name will be entered. If you post a comment on my Facebook page, blog, and instagram then your name will be enter 3 times!!! But only one post per social network. So now the big prize!! 

My good friend Teresa makes these.  She is one of the most talented people I know.  These are envelope clutches and I think they are stinking cute.  I will have to purchase one from her.  But here is the deal, if you win you get to pick ONE of the clutches.  When I first thought about having a give away, Teresa was the first person I thought of.  She made my diaper bag for R and it is still in great shape and looks so cute. Plus it is really durable and I can wash it. I really do recommend to you to stop by Teresa's place Here or Here and have a look at what she can do, you will be impressed!!! Teresa thanks again for agreeing to this!! 

I can't wait to see who the winner will be, will it be YOU?!?!?!?!? 

Running and GIVE AWAYS!!

Well it is another Monday. I like my work week because it means a schedule and routine.  I eat better during the week and I work out better during the week.  But this Monday I am just not feeling it.  I would rather be at home cuddling with my little guy and he was feeling pretty snuggley this morning so the chances of getting extra snuggles would have been in my favor. :(  Oh well. Life goes on. 

This weekend we had a pretty low key weekend at home. I had been sick on Wednesday and Thursday, so by Friday afternoon I was starting to feeling like my old self again and was on the fence about going to the gym.  In the end I went to the gym, but when I went to grab my head phones out of my gym bag this is what I found. 

yeah this is why you don't let your toddler play with your ear buds.  I am missing the black part that goes around the end so it doesn't hurt your ear and frankly sounds better. 

So at this point I was about to turn around and go home. But I was already changed and thought I better just get this done or I am going to be grumpy about it all weekend. So I did my workout. Then I went home and we did some of this. Or I should say I did some of this:

And yes I was the one who did the grilling. Some call me a grill master!! LOL

We grilled up some hamburgers (and yes I had beef) and tator tots and it was a pretty good meal. And yes I was the one who did all the grilling that night. I get tired of relying on someone else to get their butt in gear to grill so one night I turned on the grill and just did it by myself. I didn't burn it and it tasted pretty good, since then I haven't been afraid to grill. Once again comfort zones need to be broken from time to time. 

Saturday we were pretty lazy and had no real plans for the day. So around 11:00 a.m. I decided I would give running another try.  I felt like I needed to do something to get my body moving. I haven't really ran since the Color Me Rad 5K at the beginning of May.  I tried to run before memorial day weekend and I might have ran for 30 seconds and decided my shins hurt too bad.  So I was a little nervous about running this weekend, but my shin haven't been bugging me and the other weekend when I played softball they didn't hurt so I was hoping that they might be rested enough. The nice thing about living in the country is that you can stretch on the road and not worry about people running you over. I walked a little bit and then decided I would stretch and my gut instincts were to NOT do this, but then I thought who the hell cares?? So I stretched on the dirt road :) 

 not to shabby for a person who drank 6 beers the night before!! 

Yep, I ran over 2 miles and my shins didn't bug me at all. So I was pretty darn happy with myself. Running over 2 miles isn't too shabby for someone who hasn't ran in about a month! Also, my first mile pace was 9:38, that is the fastest I have ran a mile since I was teenager.  So when I heard the MapMyRun lady tell me I ran a mile in 9 minutes and 38 seconds I was pretty darn pumped to keep running. I will say that running on gravel is harder to run on than a road, but that is okay. I hope at some point this summer I can get to 3 miles running with jogging stroller too. I would like to be able to take R with me on some of these runs. Speaking of R, this is what I came home to after my run.

Now those are some work gloves!! LOL Jed said he (R) saw those in his room and decided that he needed to wear them. That kid cracks me up! 

On Sunday we debated about taking the RZR to the river in Great Bend (my home town) and do some riding, but by the time anyone could make up their mind it was too late.  So we stayed home and the plan was to get some work done around the house.  Instead we did this:

It is always nice when friends and family stop by for a quick visit and end up staying for supper and a ride!! So we didn't get as much done as we were wanting, but we had a good time. I got in some running and riding this weekend. Not a bad weekend if you ask me. 

I Do have some good news for y'all before I sign off. I will be having a GIVE AWAY on Wednesday. I am tagging up with a friend of mine and she agreed to give away some of her awesome stuff.  I will have more details on Wednesday (the day you can sign up).  So make sure you stop back by on Wednesday, you won't want to miss out on this opportunity!! 

HAVE  A GOOD WEEK FOLKS!! 

Dirty little secrets

So I got sick on Wednesday!! I had some kind of stupid stomach bug. I was not feeling the best.  I had a bad stomachache and a REALLY bad headache. So I have not been to the gym since Tuesday and I feel like a slacker. Plus when I am sick I have a hard time staying away from my comfort food which is grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream. So of course this meant I had both of them, but that is okay because I haven't gained any weight. This brings me to my secret/confession. I pretty much weigh myself EVERY DAY. There are some days that I completely forget about it, but for the most part I weigh myself every day. I know this is NOT the healthiest thing to do, but it helps me stay accountable. I do have to say that I have a much better attitude when it comes to the scale then I use to.  I HATED my scale before I started this blog and in fact I hated even after I started this blog. I hated that I had to tell ya'all what my weight is, (I still can't believe the whole world can know my weight at any given moment) and how it wasn't really budging and it still isn't budging at the pace I would like it to move. But with all that said, the scale is just a scale now.  It doesn't dictate my mood for the day anymore. It is JUST A NUMBER!! It is a number that I like to see go down, but I also know that on any given day it could go up!!! It going up isn't the end of the world either. It can go up for many reasons, bloating, muscle gain, not enough sleep, rest days, etc. The other thing that the number on the scale tells me is how I am doing with my workouts and it ENCOURAGES me to push it harder. So what if that number is higher, the next workout I will push myself a little harder or it reminds me that I can't be so fickle with my eating (I don't like to say diet because I don't think I will go back to the way I was eating, EVER). I used to turn into the INCREDIBLE HULK if the number on the scale went higher.

My hulk days are behind me. Well when it comes to the scale any ways. If you don't use your blinker when you are turning, well you might see this in your rear view mirror. FREAKING USE YOUR BLINKER!!

Back to that scale. I am luke warm when it comes to my scale now. If that number goes down then that is great, but I realize that when it goes down that it is still just a number.  What really gets me going is my clothes.  When they fit better than they use to, that is great. When they are too big that is the most awesome thing in the world (when it comes to weight loss). I would like to see myself in the 150's, but if I don't make it to that point this summer that is okay. I would rather have all my clothes be too big and have to find a whole new wardrobe (my husband will not be excited about the $$, but he will be happy that I met my goals).

So how did I come to this realization about the scale? Well I got tired of being mad at the scale, it isn't the scale's fault that the number wasn't moving or that it was going up. It was my fault and that is a good thing because it meant that I could do something about it!! For too long I blamed my weight gain on too many factors: my husband doesn't want to eat healthy, eating healthy is too expensive, there is no time for exercising, I have a 2 year old, I have a job, etc....... People there are a million excusing, but what I am learning is that none of them are good enough. Make the time, I promise you, you will feel better afterwards. If you don't have the money for a gym membership then do push ups, go to a play ground and do pull-ups, search the internet for a at-home-workout. I let excuses take over my life for too long and I'm done with it. What happens to my body from here on out is my responsibility. I am NOT perfect and I don't pretend to be. I am not a health nut (not yet any ways!!), but I am doing my best to make improvements. I still like my beer and like I said at the beginning there is nothing better than a grilled Cheese sandwich or ice cream, but I don't have those every day any more. Beer is a weekend thing now (even on a beautiful day, I keep beer for weekends only) and Ice Cream is something I have maybe once a week or sometimes once a month. And grilled cheese, well I gave them up completely when I tried to eat "cleaner" except when I am sick, gosh darn it, they are the only thing that make me feel better.

Some people like to break up with their scale because weighing themselves makes them too grumpy, but not me. It just helps me realize that I am either doing things right or that I need to change something up. Maybe down the road I will need to break-up with the scale, until then it is just a reminder that I am either doing something right or that I need to change it up. It may also mean that aunt flo is right around the corner, but I won't go into that!! LOL

Have a good weekend.  I am actually going to try to hit up the gym this weekend and get an extra workout since I missed Wednesday and Thursday. Once again, I am going to leave you with a picture of R.

Don't let this picture fool ya, that is a regular car meant for normal sized people. Jed has had the mini since he was in the 5th grade and last night was the first time he had R and I in it. It was a pretty cool moment if you think about it.  Jed bought that when he was in the 5th grade and now he is able to drive his family around in it. Pretty cool if you ask me!! R thinks it is pretty cool too, I am pretty sure he thinks that it is his car since it is so much smaller than the rest of our vehicles. LOL 

I work out!!

Let me start by saying that I am sore, sore, sore today. On Monday I did a workout and I walked out of the gym thinking, well that was a pretty decent workout.  Boy was I wrong.  It was a KILLER workout. My ass and hips are still sore today. So some of you may be asking, what on Earth do you do at the gym. Well I do a little bit of everything. But what I think what really made me sore was a curtsy squat. 

This is not a picture of me, duh! I wish I looked that good!! :) 

I did 12 of those and 3 sets of them. After I did them I wasn't shaking or even really feeling fatigued, but I must have done something right because they really worked my hip and ass muscles. 

This IS a picture of ME. yeah I forgot to tell you that I turned into a boy over night!! LOL

I have been doing some work outs on a Bosu ball and that has been interesting.  I haven't EVER used that until I started to go to this gym. You basically do crunches on the Bosu and I do use a medicine ball, but I keep it close to my chest, but I am guessing you could do them without a medicine ball and still get a good workout, just make sure you squeeze the crap out of the muscles when come to the top of your crunch. I was told to squeeze like you are expecting someone to punch you, it really makes a difference. 

yep this is a picture of me too!! One day I got a little too much sun!! HAHAHAHA

I add weights to this one, but I would recommend doing a few squats to get your balance and then add the weights. 

And I still do push-ups and I still HATE them. But I am getting better at them. 

I just downloaded Fitness Builder app on my phone and it has a bunch of workouts and you can look up stuff and it will tell you how to do things.  I am going to give it a try today. Or I hope to, like I said my legs are still on fire so I may have to take a day off which really irritates me to take a day off during the week, but at the same time I know that I need to listen to my body too. 

What have you all been doing?? Anything fun and new that I should try.  I am always up for a challenge, it keeps me motivated to go to the gym. Speaking of the gym again, I am still going to group power on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If your gym offers that, I would suggest taking it. I like the music and it really does push me to try harder. 

I also tried a interval training on the elliptical machine and that was fun.  I found that on Pinterest. I love Pinterest, you can find just about anything on there! At some point I will try to take pics of me doing some of these moves so you know that I am actually doing them!! LOL 

Well that is all I have for today.  Thank you for all the positive feedback yesterday. I know that the progress isn't the fastest, but to be honest I really feel like the last month I have made some huge improvements and isn't that what this journey is about. I know I will never be PERFECT, but a work in progress is what I am!! 

Have a good hump day!! 

On Friday I will let you in on a little secret! 

updated pictures......

Well it is Tuesday and not Monday and this post is a day late and a dollar short. Well, not a dollar short, but you know what I mean. I meant to take pictures over the weekend and it didn't happen.  This weekend my motivation to do anything went out the window as soon as I got home from my softball games on Friday night.

So on Monday I took more pictures and well, lets see how they turned out.

Taken on 1/30/2013 - Weighing 176

These were taken 6/3/2013

Can you tell a difference at all?? I mean I feel a lot better and I think I can see a difference in my stomach area and my butt. And on Sunday I got to see this:

yeah it might be time to clean the ole scale.  

So that means I am out of the 170's!! This also means that I am 5 pounds from being where I was when I got pregnant with R. To see 164 will feel like a miracle, but you know what I have no plans of stopping at 164, I really want to keep going. Also once I get to 164 that means that I have lost 20 pounds from the day that I started P90x! It seems weird to think about that because before I started P90X I had never been able to lose more than 10 pounds.  Just seeing that number makes me want to push it harder and watch what I eat even more. And it isn't just about the number, what I really want is for my pants (which most of them I bought last summer) to be TOO BIG in the next month or so.  And I don't mean that they are just a little loose, I want them to be so big that I HAVE to go buy new ones because the ones I have are falling off of me. I also know that I am going to have to put on a swim suit soon and if that doesn't motivate me then what will.

Also did you notice that the difference in the picture is only 7 pounds. That is just odd because I feel a little lighter/thinner. I guess it isn't all in a number after all. Maybe at the beginning of July I will take another picture.  That could be a new thing, the beginning of every month I will take an updated picture. 

Well that is all I have for today. I am going to leave you with a pic of R again! I mean I just think he is too darn cute and to be honest I would still much rather see a pic of him than me any day!! 

At Veteran's Lake in Great Bend, KS

We planted a garden this weekend and he is helping me water it. 

Have a good week. And keep on keeping on. Oh also, "Life's a Garden, Dig it." Had to throw that last one in because we just planted a garden, LOL.