the unexpected domestic

fitness challenge

Ok y'all.  Tomorrow is the first day of November and what better day to start a new fitness challenge.  I found one that I believe will definitely be a challenge but I am determined to do it!  It's also a little initimidating, but I will deal with that when it gets here.  

Looking at these exercises, I think they are fantastic all-over strength building exercises and are really just ones that I get too lazy to do. haha! I also found a "Planksgiving" challenge that I thought I might would do.  But I really really hate planks.  I probably do them wrong because they hurt my shoulders and well, that's why I hate them!  Here is the challenge, I'll decide later if I'm gonna do it or not!

Ok now, who's with me!?!? 

new fourwheeler!

Kevin and I have found something that has been missing from our life in the form of a four wheeler!  Y'all, we are like kids again riding that thing.  As Kevin said, smiles all around!  

We took it to the swamp last night fo the first time and it was so fun!  We picked up some hamburgers on our way and ended up eating them by the river as we watched the last of the sunset.  As we werer sitting there chatting, we both agreed that this is what we've been missing!  Going to the swamp has been a big part of our relationship, ithas been a place for riding around and fishing and just hanging out.  With our new addition we will definitely be spendingmore time there and I cannot wait!

yesterday was crew change day!

On the Tuesday that Kevin comes home, I get the day off from work!  As an offshore wife, crew-change day is both my favorite and least favorite day of the month.  Yesterday, it was my favorite because Kevin comes home!  And, it was a great day!  I look forward to day where I get to wake up and the morning seems to last longer.  I was able to get my exercises in and do the x-stretch from p90x, then enjoy some coffee and do some laundry!  It was so beautiful and cool outside that I opened some of the windows and turned the attic fan on!  

I had just finished lunch when Kevin pulled up in the driveway!  Usually we try to catch up on tv shows we like to watch together, but I always end up talking the whole time until the tv gets turned off and we go outside.  Yesterday we took a nice, long walk wit the dogs and it was just what we needed!  We even got to see his parents and his grandmother and Kendall!  I guess when it's pleasant outside we can't resist going outside.

I'm so glad to find my hubby back home again!

summer kinda girl :)

I love the changing of the seasons and this cooler weather is definitely enjoyable but you know what...I miss summer.  I guess you could say...

beach vacay 2014: part 3 - the exercise

Even though I was on vacation, I was determined to be somewhat active.  The first day we were there it was very cloudy and rainy so I took the opportunity to work out in the gym that was on the first floor of the condo we were staying in.  

It has been over a year since I have used any kind of gym equipment and I was extremely self-conscious as i walked up to the treadmill and pressed start.  I was thankful there were just two other women in the room with me.  So here I am, running along kind of in one place, listening to pandora, when all of a sudden, my right hand swings down and rips the head phones out of my ears.  ugh.  Anyone who has used ear buds knows the pain and the anger that you feel when they get pulled out of your ears.  On top of this happening, my phone gets pulled off the shelf on the treadmill, lands on the moving belt, and is shot backwards.  I was completely embarrassed too!  I wanted to tell those ladies in there that I'm just a field-running country girl from Mississippi. ha!

The next day it was rainy again.  no beach running yet. I ended up doing my leg workout that I normally do at the house.  Katherine-Anne did it with me and we totally used water bottles as weights.  Hey, whatever works right?

Finally, Monday was the day!  I got my run in this morning on the beach and it was awesome!  i found a shell in the sand that I plan to turn into a necklace.  It already had a hole in it and everything so it just kind of worked perfectly!  I really wanted it because it would kind of be something to commemorate my running-on-the-beach accomplishment!

So, now I just plan to keep working on my fitness until we go again next year!  I guess I should set some new goals now that this trip is over :)

beach vacay 2014: part 2 - boating

Last year, we rented a pontton boat and spent the afternoon riding around the back bay.  We all had a lot of fun!  this year, my parents had their own boat that we brought down with us.  We took it out twice  and just spent a few hours each afternoon riding around.  We even had a bolt come loose in the engine or something and had to stop in the middle of the bay to fix it.  It's something that I'm used to doing and we had a lot of fun just sitting out there.

Anyways, I don't really have a big story or anything to talk about boating, I really just wanted to share some pictures of our aternoons!

the ongoing purging project. part 1: clothes

I have a problem that I feel a lot of people can relate to:  I have way too much stuff.  I have been feeling this way for a while now.  I have a whole house that is full of stuff that is solely mine (and Kevin's).  Y'all.  It's just too much.  I don't use or want most of it.  But every time I begin to clean out, it's almost as if I take two steps forward and then one step back.

Somewhere along the way, I found this term: "purge."  Purge: /perj/ (verb): rid (someone) of whatever is impure or undesirable.  This is exactly what I was searching for without fully realizing it!  I wanted to purge my house of all the undesirable junk I was hoarding.  

Then, one of my favorite bloggers, Elise from enJOY it, posted this post about a capsule wardrobe.  It came at the right time, I had been eyeing my side of our closet for a while now and knew I wanted to get rid of some (okay, a lot) of my clothes.  I was constantly putting on an outfit and then changing because I didn't like what I was wearing.  

After reading her post, I was ready for a change.  I didn't really plan to do a capsule wardrobe, but i didd like her reasons, mainly because some of them were the same reasons I was thinking of getting rid of clothes.  I was tired of wearing clothes that I did not like just because I had them in my closet.  I was tired of looking at a closet full of clothes every day and notwanting to wear any of them.  So one afternoon after work, i went home with a plan.  I was going to remove every piece of clothing from my closet that I didd not wear or want to wear.  It all went into a bag that I am donating to a local thrift store.  

Honestly, I had gotten really lazy about my wardrobe and I wanted to change that, too.  Now, when I look in my closet I see things I want to wear and not things I have to wear.  I never realized how much time and energy I spent worying about what I was going to wear.  Now I get to move onto other parts of my house.  I feel like this is going to be an ongoing project, but it is definitely one that will improve my life.

healthy snacks.

So y'all.  I've been keeping foods in the house that I have to cook in order to eat.  I have a few reasons for this:  I read once that having foods in the house that you have to cook helps keep you from eating junk food!  and I love cooking yummy food so this way I have ingredients.  And the main reason: food that is healthy and good for you does not usually come prepackaged and takes some effort to prepare.

Sometimes I can get hungry, though, since I am avoiding chips and cookies and pop tarts and candy bars, etc.  But you know what, I really don't crave these foods anymore anyway so it's not hard to stay awa from them.  I do have problems keeping fresh fruits and veggies in the house because I will forget about them and then they end up going bad and I have to throw them out.  I think that's something that entices me about having a garden.  I can grow vegetables in it that I usually buy at the grocery store.

Well, to combat my lack of snacks I've been trying to find some solutions.   Of course, one of th best solutions is peanut butter!  Or a protein bar.  I actually keep a jar of peanut butter at my desk at work in case I need a quick pick me up.  haha.  But I've found that peanut butter keeps me awake if I eat it too late in the evening.  Fruit is always a good choice, my favorite is grapes.  Regular or frozen!  An easy way to make fruits and veggies easier to grab for a snack is to prep them for the upcoming week.  Which sounds easy enough, but for a procrastinator like me, it doesn't always get done!

A few weeks ago, Jessica and I made these delicious cookie dough protein balls!  Oh my word, they were delicious!  I found the recipe on Pinterest, but I followed the link to this post.  We used dark chocolate chips and also chocolate protein powder.  Can you tell we love chocolate??  I do not have a picture of them, but they don't really need one because they are so delicious!  I ate all the ones I made in like, a weekend.  

What are some other healthy snacks y'all like?

beach vacay 2014: part 1

Y'all...the beach trip was so fun!!  I love that we are beginning a tradition that will hopefully carry on to when I have kids of my own.  As I'm growing older, I'm really understanding how important spending time with family really is and I crave being together more and more.  I realized this week that we failed to get a family picutre at the beach :( Fortunately, we got plenty of pictures of everybody even if we aren't all in the same picture at the same time!

As mentioned before, I had some goals for this beach trip.  I know what you're thinking, it was a vacation Elizabeth, you aren't supposed to have goals and workout and stuff.  Well, I'm working on a new lifestyle for myself and the way I'm living doesn't change just because I've gone on vacation.  But y'all, I did it!  I ran on the beach!  It was not magical. It was hard.  I was not so naive as to think it would be easy or anything because I have walked in sand before and anyone who has walked in sand knows how hard it is!  Y'all can ask Kevin, I complain about having to walk in sand every time we do it.

 

Yep, I totally ran barefooted.  I wasn't sure how I would feel about it but it wasn't that different feeling once I got going!  Running, surprisingly, is so much easier than walking!  I have no idea why.  Maybe because you're pushing off with more oomph and strength?  I don't know.  Anyways, I ran early one morning, 0.74 miles!  Which is almost a whole quarter of a mile further than I thought I did. I used the Fitbit app on my phone and it seems that I was running on the water.  Haha!  Not really, I just ran on the beach and I am so proud of myself! 

The first morning we were there, I was up early enough to see a sliver of sun but it soon disappeared behind clouds that set in for almost the rest of our trip!  Surprisingly, all of us really liked the cloudiness because it kept us from being sunburnt and burnt out from the sun and the heat.  But, on the last day, I was not disappointed!  I saw the sunrise.  God even provided some clouds to make the colors even more radiant!  I went down to the beach and sat down in the sand and just spent some time watching the skies and marveling at the beauty and vastness of what I was able to see.

Be sure to check back later to read more of our trip! 

getting back to my normal routine.

Y'all I have a confession: even though I exercised 3 out of the 5 days of our beach vacation, this past Monday was my first day to get back to my regular exercise routine. Although, I think that playing in the incredibly rough waves should totally count! At least as a leg workout anyway. It does feel great to be working out again, though! It really makes me feel better and I've even found a different arm program that I love. By the last reps I was seriously struggling to raise those dumbbells up! It's after a good, intense workout like those that I feel it's really important to get a good stretch! We always stretched after all our softball workouts and I've read in article after article to be sure to stretch so I think I'm doing good by doing this.

Jessica and I also got in our weekly p90x workout on Thursday! Working out with a friend is sooo much fun and really makes a difference in the time passing! Friends who sweat together, stay together! On Saturday, we also have plans to go to visit a gym in Oak Grove! Super excited.
I love my new fit life I'm building!