O's and Twins

Happy Monday.  I hate Mondays, so very much.

A little weekend recap for ya.  Friday's HHH, I'll be honest, it hasn't happened in a while.  People are busy, including myself.  Those are gonna be few and far between I have a feeling, but hopefully we can pick back up in a couple weeks!

This Friday was the best though!  The bro got us all tickets to the Orioles game and we took my dad as an early Father's Day celebration.  The weather was perfect and the company was even better!  A hot dog, soft pretzel, some drinks and some fries got me through the game.  O's beat the Red Sox and  the worst part about the evening was this creepy fucking lady that sat in front of us and listened to everything we said and tried to jump into our conversations.  Way to make things weird, miss Marlboro reds.  Oh and thanks to dad for the Davis shirts – we're pretty badass.  Needless to say, we had an awesome time, but here are some pictures if you need proof!

My dad is cooler than your dad.

On Saturday we FINALLY met the twins.  Not the ones up there ^^^^ but actual twins.  My oldest friend and her hubs were blessed with these little dudes last month and this was our first opportunity to meet them.  Don't let the pictures fool you, Ben and I are not naturals and we were both definitely panicking when the little guys were crying.  We pretty much felt like a million bucks when they finally fell asleep though!  So those smiles you see, they're smiles of relief and accomplishment, and hope…hope that they wouldn't wake up again!  Someone take my temp, the baby fever is through the fucking roof.  Congrats buuuuddy, you have some adorable little men and I can't wait to spoil the ever living shit out of them.  After returning the babies to their parents we felt the need to sip cocktails and patio sit, while we still can!

I stole this pic from Chelsea.

Sunday, the old man had some business to attend to so the hubs and I just had a productive day so we could be lazy in the evening.  We took the dogs for a hike and went to the shooting range.  It was a nice little day!  Didn't forget dad though.  Thanks for passing along your cleverness, creativity, your sensitive side, thoughtfulness, best intentions, your fiery temper, sense of humor and most of all, your love.  Can't imagine life without you and am so proud to call you my dad and my buddy.  Te quiero mucho, that's Spanish for I love you, lots.

Hope you have a nice little Monday, do something good this week.

WIW + Badassness

We meet again Wednesday.  It's been a less than stellar week, but I'm feeling like I have a little more pep in my step today.  I did manage to wear a wet sports bra to to the gym (forgot to put that sumbitch in the dryer) and lock myself out of the house, but it's all uphill from here, right?

Ah the ol' weigh in.  I wasn't too sure what to think about this week but it worked out alright.  Minus 1.3 from last week!  My weekday eating has been great, but weekends tend to rip me a new one.  Luckily I've been going pretty hard in the gym so I guess it worked itself out.

So, confession…

When my biggest loser contest ended I got a little lazy.  I'm not sure why, I guess I felt a little bit of a sense of relief?  Well, I don't like it.  So I'm making an effort to kick things up a notch.  I'm trying to step up my game on my eating and to maximize my time at the gym.  Body pump, dear sweet body pump, why can't your scheduled times wreck me more often?  I wish I could do it a few days a week!

Basically I wanna increase my badass factor.  I recently had a conversation with a friend about what stuff I still want to change about my body.  I want a flat stomach (I know I know everyone does) and I wouldn't mind if my arms looked absolutely absurd in a tank top. 

This happens when no one's around at the gym.

It's pretty much time to make the gym my bitch, wish me luck.

What kinda goals do you have?

Colorful Stuff

This morning I blew my nose and it came out purple.

On Saturday I ran (jog/walked) my first 5k with Bran.  She had agreed to do my first 5k with me.  I'll admit I was pretty nervous.  I went into this hungover knowing I couldn't run 3 miles and feeling like a million hundred dollars.  It was in DC and crowded as all hell.

There was a decent amount of waiting around and we ended up getting sent out with the second wave of people.  Oh, it wasn't timed, and I didn't time it, oops.  We jogged the first mile or so, did a little walking, jogged some more and walked some more annnd before I knew it, it was over.  We did see my (soon to be) sis in law and finished right around the same time as her, made for some nice photo ops with the bro, for momma.

My thoughts on the race:
• I wish I would've run more of it.
• I felt like a bitch getting passed by little kids.  One kid would run a few steps, then jump, then repeat.  I'm pretty sure he finished before me.
• I'd like to find the dye powder throwing motherfucker that hit me in the mouth with green.  My teeth and gums were green for a good few hours.  Also, judging my the pictures, it appears as though I may have been nailed square in the forehead with some pink.  Bastards.  I wish I could've gone all Farva and said, "It's powdered sugar, it's delicious."

Will I run another 5k?  Probably.  Am I gonna stop running on the deathmill to try and do better?  Absolutely not.  This morning I beat my 20 minute record and ran for 25 minutes straight after a 5 minute warmup walk.  I was pretty pumped.  Makes such a big difference to be thinking about what someone said to you when you consider quitting.  Pretty amazing how your mind can tell your body to just keep going.  This morning when I finished, I actually DID feel like a million dollars and it was such a great sense of accomplishment!

The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back.  We took our dogs to a sweet swimming spot and got attacked by flies while they swam their little hearts out.  They're so damn adorable.

Dammit, guess I have to start looking for another 5k to run.  Anyone know of any in the MD area or done any particularly fun ones?

Minus Ten

Ok ok, so I lied. I think I'm going to keep up weigh in Wednesday. Not because I'm obsessed with that number, but because it holds me accountable. I'm still lifting though, so I imagine my body will be changing shape a decent amount at the same time, but that's ok. And maybe the number part will eventually fall off, but for now I haven't quite reached my goal so I want to keep it up. What's my goal you ask? Well, my initial goal was for my stomach not to jiggle when I brush my teeth. That shit STILL happens, so I'll be working on that. As far as a weight goal, I'm thinking 135(ish). So I've got ten to go. Wish me luck!

Last year, around the same time of year I bought a pair of blue pants (size 14). At work, they were deemed my "hot pants." They're a little smurfy and I loved them, a lot. At the same time, my BFF bought the identical pants (yeah, sometimes we match) umm like 5 sizes smaller (size 4). Because Bran is the best, she lent me her littler smurf hot pants so I'd have more wearable to work outfits. This morning when I was getting dressed I found the big'uns and took some pics to compare them to the little'uns. Pretty crazy to think I used to fill, and I mean fucking fill, the big'uns. That must've been a lotta smurf blue.

In other news, I've been insanely sleepy lately. So much so that I started dozing off last night and couldn't finish some work I needed to do. So I got up at 4:45 to do it this morning. I was forced to skip the gym but told myself I'd go after work (which I hate doing). I have to run for 20+ minutes today, we'll see how that goes. Oh and I quit coffee! Why?!?!?! Because my ass was getting addicted to it. I think there was a day I had a total of 4 shots of espresso from Starbucks. Espresso = delicious = doll hairs. Since I don't have extra doll hairs and I don't want to rely on something to perk me up, I'm quittin. I'll still have an occasional iced coffee because, let's be honest, they're tasty as all hell. Now if only I could do the same thing when it came to booze…

Happy hump day!

Got Me a New Sis

This long awaited weekend was spent down in the mountains of Virginia for my brother in law's wedding. The hubs was the best man and I was a bridesmaid so when I say long awaited I mean stressfully anticipated!  Not in a bad way, just in a, "Oh shit I hope we don't forget anything crucial!" kinda way. I'm happy to say that the weekend went off without a hitch, well, one, but whatever, you know what I mean.

We headed down at the crack of dawn on Friday (I got up at 3:45) and hit the road around 5:30.  By the time we got down there was a list of chores for the hubs and some time for me to paint my toes and get ready for a bridesmaid brunch. Not too sure what to expect and I spent a little while stressing about what to wear, but it turned out alright. I rode with my mother in law and step mother in law, yeah it's weird, yeah I'm gonna glaze over this awkward detail. Brunch was classy as fuck. Luckily, that means that when you make eye contact with some guy named John he scurries over and promptly refills your polished silver cup with a fresh mimosa. At one point I had 3 drinks in front of me: a mimosa, a glass of wine and a cup of coffee. That's pretty much all the food groups. Needless to say, the drive home with MIL squared was painless due to my efficient alcohol consumption. The brunch was really nice, food was delicious and I met some very kind and sweet people. Lots of laughter and a very excited bride to be!

Next on the agenda the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Cue outfit change, lucky for me I brought down another one piece outfit and changed into that sumbitch. Rehearsal went great, dinner was outstanding and I was in bed by 9 after a marathon day and a solid afternoon buzz.

For the big day I had a leisurely morning. Helped the hubs practice his speech, which he ended up delivering flawlessly! Got ready with the bride and her sisters at her parents' house and headed to the wedding. The day was glorious and the spot was perfect! The youngsters ended up camping while the older generation headed home. We set up our tents and were in bed by around 1am. A bunch of hippies stayed up until about 4:30 and I was wide awake around 6. The hubs was suffering from an I'm-almost-thirty hangover so I packed up our shit and brought us home.

We couldn't be happier for the happy couple! One brother-wedding down, one to go (next May).

In other news…I have a 5k on Saturday. Apparently they're gonna throw some color on this bitch. I ran for 20 minutes on the treadmill this morning! And if this damn shirt wasn't $28 I'd buy it.

Happy Monday!

Share Your Generosity!

"Follow through on all your generous impulses."
- Epictetus

For some reason that quote's stuck with me over the years. The idea of following through on a good thought really made sense to me. Maybe it's because I grew up with kind and generous parents that would do anything for anyone. Maybe I just like the feeling I get inside when I do something nice for someone. Big or little, it's an amazing feeling.

So I've had people text me, email me, comment on instagram posts, etc. to tell me about their generous impulses. I feel warm and fuzzy every single time and I love being the person they share it with. So what's the problem? It stops at my inbox, my phone, my instagram. I was thinking the other day about how I can get it to keep going. I brainstormed with my #1 fan (Ben!) and talked about a way that I could get people to share with each other. What if there was a place to post these "generous impulses" so that others could see them too and holy shit, maybe even be inspired by them?! If there was a problem, yo, I'll solve it.

I created a little online bulletin board that people can access anytime using the "Share your generosity!" button over there on the right. Share whatever you want! How you've displayed your generosity, how someone's made your day, ideas you have for making other people's day, whatever the hell you want! I moderate it, so don't try to get all crazy on me.

How to post:
1. Double click anywhere on the background.
2. Enter your name or the post title.
3. Share your generosity! Write a little story, scale your post box and drag it around.
4. Once you click off of it it'll give me the ability to approve it, then boom! It's there!

Bottom line is, everyone has the ability to make someone's day. Whether it's a friend's or a stranger's. Sometimes it's something as silly as telling someone to have a great day!

Have a generous impulse? Do it. Share it. Repeat.

The Longer They Are, The Shorter They Feel

The longer they are the shorter they feel.  Weekends, I mean, obviously.  I feel like you always cram so many plans into a long weekend that you run around the whole time like a chicken with your head cut off trying to make it from one appearance to another.

Friday night consisted of a little bit of pizza and a lotta bit of beers.  And Saturday morning I somehow miraculously woke up feeling fine and ready to do some yard sailing with my partner in crime (who's secretly an old man).  He scored some tools, I scored a green mini cooler and we bought some life jackets that happened to come in handy later in the weekend.  Oh and I was rewarded with a tasty breakfast out for being such a good sailing buddy.

I wanted: chocolate chip pancakes dammit!!
I got: an italian omelette with veggies (it was ok but lacked chocolate chips and pancake batter)
Fuck. Now I want chocolate chip pancakes again.

Saturday afternoon we started getting ready for our dear friend's wedding when the hubs ran up in a panic that the basement toilet was spewing out all of my warm sudsy deliciously coconutty smelling shower water.  I still had conditioner in my hair and hair on my legs, not awesome.  Surprisingly enough, we still made it to the wedding on time, didn't look horrific and had a lovely time while trying not to think about the disaster at home that we had cleaned up but not addressed yet.  We saw a sweet sweet couple eagerly exchange vows, ate some delicious food, had some very powerful drinks, looked ridiculous while dancing and spent some quality time with the BFF and her hubs.  Congrats to Kristin & Gordon!

Sunday started with some toilet trial and error – more errors than anything.  We're not plumbers, although I did have on a pretty awesome outfit for the adventure.  Never thought I'd stick a shop vac in an overflowing toilet and vacuum it out…never say never.  You do some gross shit when you own a house.  We abandoned all toilet remediation and got ready for our day's appearances.  Cookouts and crabs.  If you eat crabs you know that there's no possible way to take pictures of eating crabs while eating crabs due to the large amount of Old Bay infiltrating every crevice of your fingers and hands.  So you'll just have to use your imagination on that.  They were delicious, especially when paired with some coronas.

We ended the glorious weekend with a little Memorial Day canoeing trip with Chelsea and her husband.  I'm no expert, but I know that hitting rocks is bad and if in a panic I can typically steer us away from them.  Typically, not always.  It ended up being a relaxing trip, despite the late start and lack of planning (we decided Sunday night that we were going).  It'll happen again, hopefully with more preparation, intoxication and most importantly, sunshine.  Best thing about it, by far, was the company.

I'm spending the day here trying to avoid liquids at home while I wait for the plumber to arrive.  The joys of being a homeowner!  I have some ideas bouncing around in my sluggish brain that I'm excited to share!  Stay tuned, but give me a minute.  This weekend slowed my brain down juuuust a little.

Enjoy your short week!