Reflecting on 20*13

2013 held lots of good things for my family and myself! 2013 also held lots of sad memories for us as well!

This year we lost the greatest dad/grandfather ever in the history of the world-no joke!
Ok, apparently we are going to do this post without pictures. SIGH

In 2013 we lost my Dad, Uncle, Great Aunt, and 3 pets! My dad's dog (literally grieved herself to death), our family pet, and my inlaws family Pet! That's alot to deal with and explain to my lil tots!

Even thru all the grief, lots of great things happened in 20*13

*I got to spend a ton of time with my dad, a big/huge thanks to my husband
*We bought our dream home & my dad got to see it right before we closed on it and approved of it :-)
*We celebrated our boys birthdays (thankfully) every year their big day is soooo special to me!
*We had one of the boys start 2nd grade, which is a HUGE deal-big transition from 1st!
*We had one child start the K4 class-his last year of pre-school at the Christian Academy
*We were able to go on 2 vacations-1 to Jelly Stone Campground, and 1 to Wilderness of the Smokies
*We bought a new minivan for this momma
*We were able to purchase new things for our home!
*I got a promotion at work
*The boys got to go to Neyland Stadium for a game-huge deal for the boys
*One of the boys is playing indoor winter baseball-huge step for him, playing with other kids he had never        met before
*We celebrated Christmas and the REAL meaning of the Season-Jesus' Birthday
*I got to Scrapbook with some friends this year, and I absolutely LOVE every minute of it!
*My photography business was very successful this year, and we are very thankful!
*Our family, stayed healthy, happy, and safe!-This is mine and the boys prayers everyday!
*My hubs was able to work OT-which is always nice, and very much so appreciated!
*All my prayers were answered for daddy to have a safe shift at work, he is a fireman, and I worry                 everytime he leaves the house for work. I know most of the time his job is safe, however, he was shot at       this year while on an EMS run, luckily the bullet hit the ambulance and not him. I do know it takes one bad   run to go to crap very easily and someone is hurt or dead. VERY THANKFUL for him!
*The hubs and I celebrated 8 years of marriage! I can't wait to celebrate another 80 years with that                  wonderful man! :)
*One kiddo played soccer for the 2nd season and had a great time!
*I lost weight, I've been so up and down, I don't exactly know how many lbs I've lost total this year, I will       document better in 20*14, but I have lost 34.5 lbs total.
*This year I have gone down 2 sizes in pants-I will take that!
*This year I added 2 more 5 K's to my "Run like a girl plaque", I typically do 1-5K race a year, this year I      added 2 more.
*Nana has spent alot of time with us, and my boys fell in love with her even more this year! To have a very     involved grandparent is priceless!

I know this can't be all of the great things that happened in 20*13 but it's a great list. There is always more good then bad, and I like to focus on the good!

Today happens to be my great Aunt Eleanor's birthday! I know she and my dad are having a great time in Heaven and are awaiting our arrival!

We are ending our year, healthy, happy, and safe! For that I'm very thankful!

Updates

I was hoping to do a reflection on 2013, but it won't let me upload pictures for some reason, so I will go with plan B!

I fell off the diet band wagon one week before the final weigh-in, I did great, I lost 8 lbs, any loss to me is great, but I know had I not screwed up the week prior, I would have won 2nd place. Lots of people quit the challenge after Thanksgiving, and I did great thru Thanksgiving, then Christmas parties and such hit, and life got busy with shopping, wrapping, cooking, and planning, that I didn't even go to the gym!

So now I'm making up for that 5 lbs weight gain, I've lost 34.5 total pounds, so if I fluctuate between up 5 and down 5, I'm really ok with that.
I've lost 4 pants sizes, and plan to lose 1.5 more sizes, so I'm good with that!

The next weight loss challenge at work is to lose 10% of your body weight in 12 weeks, which is really hard to do, but a very attainable goal. So that's what I'm shooting for! The initial weigh-in is Jan 8th, but I have already started my diet and exercise plan today. I ate around 1550 calories today, that's a little more then I want to eat each day, I'd like to see each day around 1300 total calories, but being the first day back on, I will take the 1550. My fridge is stocked and I'm ready for this week, lots of veggies and fruits, and low cal things!

I'm excited to get our house back in order from Christmas, I hope to work on that tomorrow. I did go thru some of the boys clothes, and I have 3 bags of stuff to donate, which is nice to help clear out the clutter, and I know a family that could use them, so a win win situation for all of us!

Tomorrow is a special day, it's my Aunt Eleanor's Birthday, this year she will celebrate in Heaven with my dad, and lots of other special people! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELEANOR!!!
I will be thinking of my cousins tomorrow too, I'm sure it will be a hard day for them, reflecting and thinking about their mom!

Tomorrow is also Ashley's Bday, which we will celebrate on Wed, with spaghetti dinner at the in-laws!

I'm looking forward to 2014 and more so looking forward to losing an additional 20 lbs!

I hear there may be a wedding announcement on my husband's side of the family in 2014, and I want to bust out a super cute dress for the wedding, 2 sizes smaller then what I wear right now! Wish me luck!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRIENDS...................

I am super blessed with these 3 ladies in my life! Ali Ray and I have been friends for around 12 years now, Rachel and I are cousins and we have been close for years, and Crane is my newest of the three friends, who I see the most, everyday Mon-Fri!

I missed Ali Ray's bday celebration, and I'm sad about that, always a good time, but I'm sure we can make up for it soon!
Crane's bday lunch is tomorrow, so I'm excited to take her to Mexican for lunch, (hey it was her pick) we have agreed to share the nachos, no side dishes and have limited ourselves to 15-20 chips a piece, that should put us around 700 calories. So tomorrow I have a date with the elliptical until I burn 400 calories on that bad boy!
Rachel's bday is Friday, and I don't think we are going to get to meet up, but possibly on Sat. we shall see!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL 3 OF YOU!!!!!!

I'm blessed far beyond what I deserve to be for sure!

Just a lil update, our weigh-in is over Tuesday, so I may have plans to hit the gym a couple times a day this weekend, I really want to be able to drop another 4 lbs, but we shall see! The reward in my clothes is awesome and the cash reward will come in handy for Christmas!

I will post results as soon as the final weigh-in gets here! Right now I have lost 5% of my body weight, so I really can't complain!

Tonight was a hard night, my boys chose pizza night, so I ate a Mcdees salad and one piece of pizza, followed by a Miller Lite, I call that an awesome night! :-)

Now it's time for the WILDCATS to come on! I'm ready to watch some basketball with my boys, make popcorn, and watch the season finale of Chicago Fire!

Weightloss update for December

Has it really been a month? Gosh, time really does fly when you are having fun, huh?

So, I need to do a little catch up post! I was doing great up until the week of Thanksgiving, then I hosted a party at my house, just a lil girls night out of shopping. It was an Initial Outfitters party and we had a great time, and I got 110.00 bucks worth of free stuff, something at 70% off, and 3 half-off items! Thanks to all that came!

So I ate at the party, and I have been keeping my "free" day on Saturdays, every Sat evening, I'M MISERABLE, I have never been that way before, and when I say free day, I don't eat 4K calories, but I do eat. Here is an example, this past Sat. we went to DQ for breakfast, I had biscuits and gravy and a hashbrown, yes I know fattening! Then I was planning a light lunch and dinner but my mom has been sad with all the holidays so she wanted the local buffet, I got a tablespoon of about 6-8 side items and one piece of cornbread. By the time I got home, I thought I was going to yak, this has happened for the last 3 Sat's in a row. Needless to say, I'm going to re-do my free day! I'm going to allow myself and extra 1K calories to eat whenever, spreading it out throughout the week, or saving it for something like a milkshake, but eating whatever I want all day on Sat is over. It is so not worth it!

So I've been back on track and I now weigh the same as before T-giving, which is great! This week, my plan is to drop 2.5-3.5 pounds, I know I can do it, an plan to! :-)

The Biggest Loser contest is over next week, on Tuesday I think, so I'm hoping to be in the next set of 10 category lost, I'm 3 lbs from dropping into the next set of 10's! So 4 more lbs by the 17th will make me one happy girl! That will put me smaller then when I met my husband, after 13 years and 2 children later, that makes me one happy girl!

I have ditched the treadmill, I really, really, really wanted to be a Runner, (my mom told someone the other day I was a runner, and it made me proud) I'm really not a Runner, but I do run. All that to say, that as much as I want to be able to consistently run 3 miles per day without stopping, it doesn't burn a ton of calories, I know once I build up the endurance and the miles add up, I will burn more, but 20 mins on the treadmill at a slow jog, I burn 100 calories, 20 mins. on the elliptical I burn 260, so ofcourse do the math, and you will know why I changed to the elliptical. I'm up to 30-35 mins and burn 400 calories, so on the treadmill that would be 250-300 depending on my speed. So for now I'm doing the elliptical 20 days a month, with some bike, and some weights.

I'm excited to weigh-in tomorrow to see if I have lost anything! I've had a great day today, with my total cals around 1320! MFP says I need to be at 1220, but I'm losing weight when I eat between 1200-1450 so that's the range I try to keep it in!

Today I played hide and seek with the boys, so I'm pretty sure I burned quite a bit doing that!

Until next time...........................

WeightLOSS Update

So today was weigh-in day.........................................

I weighed first thing this morning at home,  and my scales are pretty much the exact same as the ones at work, and they said the exact same as I weighed when we went on vacation, which is great because I had gained 4 lbs while I was gone, well maybe 3 on vacation and 1 when we got back home. So that was a 4 lb loss.

When I got to work I was bummed about weighing in because I feel like the lady that records our weight for our competition is wondering why I'm not dropping much or any weight!
So I shed my boots, and............................................I WAS A POUND LESS then when I went on vacation!

So that makes me the smallest I've been in about 10-11 years, I will so take that! I have given up my afternoon Reese's cups, but have replaced them with a Smores in the evening! Cutting about 70 calories! I love smores, can't wait until they are gone though, ha!

Since I don't have any 5K's coming up that I know of, I'm doing less time on the treadmill and more time on the elliptical, which is burning 3 times the amount of calories! And while that is great on the calorie burn, it isn't helping me increase my overall distance. I'm sure its strength building which does help too!

Yesterday I was on the elliptical for about 15 mins. longer then normal and I added the stair master workout too, and I felt it in my legs today, I was super sore! Funny how changing up things can still make me sore, even though I workout 4-5 days a week!

Losing that one extra pound has definitely motivated me for the rest of the week!

On the menu tomorrow is: Oatmeal packet with PB2 and one tablespoon of mini chocolate chips, about 200 cals, lunch is a stouffer's veggie lasagna with white sauce 400 cals, dinner is spaghetti with marinara sauce. My snacks are celery with a 35 calorie wedge of laughing cow cheese, cauliflower, one piece of cheese with 5 saltine crackers, so my snacks will run about 145 calories for the day. Dinner will run about 400 calories. That shows 1145 calories for the day. That leaves room for a 110 calorie smore before bedtime! I walk on my lunch and that burns around 90-110 calories and walk on both breaks and that burns 50 calories each time, for an additional 100 calories.

If it turns out as planned I may skip the gym tomorrow night and have extra love/cuddle time with my boys! I love to snuggle all 3 of them on a chilly night! Plus I will be eating a ton of carbs tomorrow, so I prolly won't feel like going to the gym! That doesn't mean I will plop down on the couch and do nothing. I will most likely do some laundry and pass football with the boys, and that does burn a few calories. I never count that as exercise, more like everyday living.

I hope next Wed, I have a great report, my goal is going to be down 2 more lbs from today, which almost puts me into the next 10 lb weight-loss range.

According to my work competition, I've lost 10.8 lbs since Sept 24th! Not horrible over 6 weeks that included a vacation!

You know what I love?

I love when I have to buy SMALLER clothes! :)

I have always worn an XL in shirts, at my heaviest I remember buying a few 2X shirts, XL's were a lil snug (which I hate in a tee shirt) but 2X was way too big!
Anyway, back in the summer I had bought a sleeveless workout tank, mainly for running, it has reflective emblems and such on it, I bought an XL, which the tag states 16/18, I put it on tonight to go the gym and it is GI-NORMOUS on me! It's the dri-fit material so I thought it would run smaller!

Oh well, it was a great feeling. I think it made me kick it up a notch at the gym, I actually added in 5 mins. of the stair climber tonight, the machine said it was 10 flights of stairs, I'm not sure if that's accurate. We shall see how I feel in the morning!

Speaking of smaller clothes, I'm in between sizes right now, which is a complete bum! I'm not really complaining, but the size I'm in now, is way too big and looks sloppy, I don't even have to un-button the pants to slip them on and off! A size smaller is miserably tight, and causes a muffin top and we don't want any of that! :)

So what is my fix? Crane and I have set small goals for this month, mine is to shed another 7 lbs, and her's is to shed 5 lbs. I think she is on board with me this time, so that helps so much to have a friend to do it with you! If I can shed 2-3 more lbs, then the smaller size pants should fit fine, and I'm praying that will happen by the end of this coming week! Which also means a shopping trip, I have 2 pair of dress pants in that size, so not much to choose from!

Today I made a flat out pizza for lunch and one to take tomorrow to work, I roasted, cauliflower, broccoli, and celery, after what I ate today I have enough for Monday and Tuesday snacks at work as well! I also found dark chocolate covered strawberries, 4 to a pack for 60 calories, can't beat that either! I cut up celery to take to work also! These snacks will replace my afternoon Reese's or a 130 calorie bag of chips, I like to find ways to cut calories during the day to allow for a "heartier" meal at night!

Weigh-ins haven't been going well since Vacation, I always do that, I go off of my diet (lifestyle change) whatev you want to call it, and it's so hard to jump back on, I had gained 3-4 lbs, by weigh-in time the scales only showed a 1 pound gain, not horrible, the following Tuesday showed another 1 lb gain from the previous week, so I'm 2 pounds up since mid-October, the goal by Tuesday is to have those 2 lbs gone, and back to pre-vacation weight!

FINGERS CROSSED!

I will post an update!

Black Cat-Post Race Report & PAR-TAY

Let me first start by saying: I HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!!

My hubs could come to this race, we were having a date night afterwards, Crane and her family were there running, and the crowd was amazing as usual. The only thing I didn't like was, I was running by myself, which is what I wanted, but man when it was time to slow down for a breather, there wasn't anyone to talk to! I just turned up the Ipod and kept going!
At mile two the timer set 17 mins. which ofcourse starts when the first runner crosses the line, and I knew I was a good minute behind the first runners, which meant I was about 16 mins. in the race! Now that couldn't have been correct by any means, that would mean 8 min. mile for this new runner, no way! :)
I took about a 2 min. walk, and a flight medic/nurse that I use to work with saw me and we chatted another min and she suggested we break out into a run, it was a lil sooner that I had planned, but now I'm glad we did it................................because I REACHED MY GOAL! Thanks Melissa! :)
When we ran thru the chute it said: 40:58, and my initial thought was "crap, I didn't make my time" but then realized that was start time, not chip time. I later learned my chip time was 39:35 and that was a 12:46 pace time. I lined up by the 12 minute pacer, and after that was walkers/strollers.

All in all I'm super happy with my time, I shaved off 4 mins from my 5K this past summer on the Cross Country track, and 5 mins from the same race last year! I wanted a sub 40 time, but thought it will most likely be around 41 mins. I'm still smiling! That's not super fast at all, but I will take it, and ofcourse gives me more motivation to keep getting faster!

There is another 5K here in town that supports the local high school basketball team, so I'm planning on doing that one, and possibly the one on Thanksgiving Day, so fingers crossed I can make both races! Those will probably be colder then last night's. It was around 40 degrees, I didn't layer too much and I was fine!

Here is a post race photo:

I have the cutest hubs for sure! He got a fresh new haircut, which I love :) I'm such a lucky girl!
We went to an awesome Halloween Costume Party, here is a pic of me and the hubs:

Thankfully in this picture, he didn't have his mask on, it was pretty scary looking. I told him to hide it from the kids. I don't need them to start having nightmares, LOL!
This party didn't disappoint, Jacque you are the best hostess! The food table was unbelievable, she is a great cook, but she went all out with the Halloween theme, check this stuff out!

That is a homemade coffin, that is full of Jell-O-shots! 600 to be exact! In syringes, which totally cracked me up! The coffin was lined to keep them cold!
The 2nd picture is a Skeleton with Taco dip in him, she also had her awesome cookies, and a cheese ball that was a "mummy"
If I had the money, I would pay her to do the food at our party, she did a fantastic job and I hope she post them on pinterest, because if you are hosting a party or going to one, you will for sure want to make these super cute things!

We had a lot of fun, and hope to make next year's! We didn't get to stay long at all, and it was after the 5K, and we had to get home to the kiddos!