Getting into Shape ~ Day 1

Goals for Day 1
1. Only 4 cokes a day (sounds like s lot but that is cutting way back) ~ Only had 1 Coke and shared it with Cori ~ 
2. Walk 30 mins each day ~ Walked 30 mins and burned 116 calories ~ 
3. No sweets! ~ Check ~
4. Only fruits for snack ~ yes, a grapefruit and banana ~
5. Drink more juices, Gatorade, and maybe some water ~ no juice but 1 Gatorade and 1 glass of water ~ 


Yesterday was a success in my book. I was only hungry as I went to bed last night.


I lost 2 pounds since yesterday but we all know that was the easy 2 pounds!

Getting into Shape - week 1

Today starts my new workout, exercise and better eating week. Nate just started a new diet and workout routine and has politely pointed out all of my bad eating. He is right. I (and everyone who has met me) knows that I drink a lot of cokes and very little of everything else....So it is time for some changes.

Before I start my story, everyone reading this stop before telling me I don't need to lose weight and that I am not fat. I know I am not what society would call fat. However, not being able to fit into clothes that I have worn the past 5 years make me feel fat and not happy with myself. Thus the changes and my story.

2 years ago some of my family decided to walk a half-marathon together in honor of Nate's grandparents. In preparation for this 13.1 mile, 5 hour walk I started walking every day. For 6 months I trained for this marathon with fast walking and running. I started to see my body change, slim down and be more toned and fit. I loved this new me. At the
Marathon, I ran most if it and finished in 3 hours 3 mins.

2 months after the marathon we moved and the stress and new lifestyle started to hinder my workout. Over the last year I have just worked out periodically and not taken care of myself.

Time for change is Now!

For the next week, I am starting a new workout/healthy eating. Baby steps and small goals are what make changes possible. It's not about a diet but a change in lifestyle.

Here are my goals for the next week and I will let you know how I do.
1. Only 4 cokes a day (sounds like s lot but that is cutting way back)
2. Walk 30 mins each day
3. No sweets!
4. Only fruits for snack
5. Drink more juices, Gatorade, and maybe some water

My ultimate goal is to fit back into my shorts and swimsuit and lose 7 pounds.

So this post is more for me than you but if anyone wants to make 5 goals and change with me....post a comment with your goals and we can do this together.

New Pj's for Joel

Since I have dusted off the sewing machine and started making clothes, my kids are sending out requests. I have made 3 pairs of boxer shorts for Cori in different fabrics. Joel had his first sleepover last Friday night and asked to have some new pj's. He picked out flames so that is what I made. Luckily we cut his hair after this picture was taken. 

Trip to the beach

Yesterday we had a very fun afternoon. I took the kids to the Santa Monica Pier and beach. We have a beach right by our house that we usually go to but we have never been in the ocean at this beach before. One of the cool things about the beaches in Southern Cali is that all the beaches are different shapes, more or less shells, and different slopes into the water. The kids had a blast playing in the ocean. Both of them swam up to their shoulders and played in the sand.

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We went to the pier because my friend Shay Reed (from Birmingham) was visiting her sister in Orange County so we met for lunch. We ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp and had a great couple of ours of fellowship and good food. Thanks to Ruthie and Shay for driving out to Santa Monica for our short visit. 

Pressed Pennies

The Book

Joel has started a new collection....Pressed Pennies.

Close-up of some pennies

A lot of different tourist spots, restaurants and stores have these penny presses in them. This lets you press out a penny with different designs. Joel has a penny book and is collecting pressed pennies from all over the US. Some are from family and friends that have mailed them to him and others are ones we have collected from our different visits.

Joel's collection so far......

Pool Time Again!

We are almost thru June and thankfully "June Gloom" is over. That is the sun will actually come out before 2pm each day. I have had the last 4 days off, so we have all had time to catch up on our tanning and pool time. I have spend at least 2-4hrs each day at the pool with the kids, neighbor's kids and pool rats. It has been a lot of fun and thankfully I now look like I live at the pool and beach.

Less that 5 weeks till I will be in B'ham!

Joel is at his first "spend the night" party since we moved out here. It is really weird for him to be gone from home tonight. The kids use to be gone all the time to family and friends houses but here not so much. We will see how he does by the morning time. Thankfully he is only a couple of blocks away.

Graduation Party!

The Graduate

Me and My Hubby!

On Tuesday Night, I went out to dinner with some friends for graduation. My mother in law had mailed me a lei to wear and I did. We went to Huntington Beach Pier and ate at Fred's Mexican Restaurant. The place was packed and that just made dinner more fun. Andrea brought me flowers and Cayla brought me new earrings. We had drinks, laughed, ate, and had a great time celebrating.

The best gift of all is the one Nate gave me....a ticket home to Alabama in 5 weeks.

I filled out my diploma request today and it will be in the mail soon.

My Girls!

My Flowers

Father's Day Weekend!

Nate started his 1st week out of training last Monday. With that he started off with 2 days of overtime. He has also found a guy in his department who lives less than a mile from us. They have started carpooling a few days a week. Everyday they carpool, they each get $2 each from Blizzard which is just an added bonus. He is loving this new job more and more everyday!

On Wednesday night, I cooked Father's day dinner of Chicken and Rice, peanut butter cookies and snicker-doodles. We gave him his cards, and little Debbie snacks. All was right with the world.

I worked Thursday day, Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday Day, so not much celebrating going on there. It was a VERY busy weekend at work with lots of Father's day and graduation celebrations. My feet will be hurting for the next few days!

While working last night (Sat) Nate showed Joel how to do some cooking. Joel made dinner for the 3 of them which was Mahi-Mahi, sauteed spinach and orzo pasta. Everyone ate all of it, including Cori!


After work today, we took Nate to Chili's for appetizers and then to see THOR at the dollar theater. It is not the same eating at our Chili's (with bad service and lazy servers) but the movie was AWESOME (a must see) and we laughed and enjoyed the evening.

Lots of fun this weekend and more fun this next week with parties and pool time. We have been stuck inside more of the week because it was only in the 60's...boo. But the warmer weather is on its way!

College Graduate! Yep That's Me!

I am an official college graduate. My last class was Monday and I just got my grades in today. I finished my last class with an A and have a GPA for the 2 years of 3.56. I am really happy with this accomplishment and these grades. I did all of this while raising 2 kids, working at least one job full time (somethimes 2 jobs), taking care of the house and motherly responsibilites, moving across the country and just being ME! (not to toot my own horn....LOL!

I am going out with a couple of friends and Nate on Tuesday night. We are having Mexican and I will be wearing my lai that my mother-in-law sent me in the mail. I want to thank everyone for the words of congrats and encouragement, as well as cards and money. I am using my money to fly home the last weekend in July. Less that 6 weeks away. So super excited. I will post pictures and update after Tuesday night.

Program: BSB/A-024

Degree Progress

100% completed

Current GPA:3.56

Total Credits Required:	120
Completed Credits:	66
Transfer, Waived & Assessed Credits	54
Remaining Credits:	0

iPad2 Giveaway!

Check out this Awesome ipad2 giveaway. Spread the word about this giveaway and this blog http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2011/06/13/ipad2-giveaway/comment-page-49/#comment-82169

Turbie Twist ~ As seen on TV

The Turbie Twist! 

Back in high school there was a commercial for Turbie Twist. This is a light-weight towel that you use instead of a regular towel to dry your hair after a shower. I fell in love and ordered one online. It was white and I have had it ever since. (at least 15 years). I have never replaced it because I could not find another one just like it. There were other brands but none of them dried your hair like this one did. Mine has the seam ripped out at the head and the elastic band that holds the towel on your head is almost gone. I have even bleached it to help keep it clean.

This is what mine looks like now

Last night I found a new one! They are the Turbie Twist brand and everything. I just had to get it. I found them at Bed, Bath and Beyond if anyone wants one for themselves. After coming home and seaqrching online. I have found that this product is making a comeback and they are selling them online and in other stores. I love this towel and so will you! 

My new one! And it is Pink!

Lightweight, super-absorbent and dries my hair in half the time 

Back to the Sewing Machine

My friend Ilia has started writing a blog about how to be awesome at everything. Reading about all her new awesomeness has encouraged me to get back into sewing, that and the fact that I am done with school and have more time for sewing. Check out her blog about sewing awesomeness  Awesome Sewing. 


Today, I dug out the sewing machine from the back of my closet, dusted and cleaned it off, oiled it and got it ready for the day of sewing. (well a couple of hours of sewing). I pulled out my big tool box of sewing tools (scissors, elastic, pins, bobbins, buttons, ribbons, biase tape, needles and more), my box of threads, my box of patterns and extra fabric. It has been almost 2 years since I have done a sewing project. Once I started school full time, there was not any extra time for a day or week of sewing. This is also because I can't just sew for an hour, I take on a project and have to get it done right away. 


After picking out a couple of patterns and noticing how low my supply of fabric was, off to JoAnn's Fabrics I went. This is the only fabric store in the area, and I have to drive 30 min across Huntington to get there. Once I walked into the store, a giant sign "CASH ONLY" stared back at me. What? I don't have cash on me for fabrics. I know I am a server and should always have cash and I do, just not enough to shop for fabric. (which I can rack up real fast). Off to Target to get "cash back" then back to the fabric store. Now Cori has been with me this whole time and I am driving her crazy and she is BORED! 


I picked out a new pattern, lots of new fabric and then Cori found some fabric....Ahhhh! She wants some pj's out of this flip-flop material and cupcake material. Back to the patterns for her size. Then to check out. 


Finally home, I start to organize, cut out fabric and sew. This is the first time working in my little living room. Not use to having to stay on a table to cut or not be able to spread out. But I managed to only take over half the house with my project. 

Fabrics and patterns matched together on the table

I was able to cut out and finish Cori's pj shorts. Cut out and partially sew a dress for my new niece... would have finished but forgot to buy a zipper and biase tape for the dress. Guess I am going back to the fabric store again. At lease Wal-Mart carries these products and I don't have to drive around town. 

P J shorts

Modeling with out actually wearing the clothes

I have material and patterns for about 4 more outfits for kids and Cori. We will see how much I can get done in the next few weeks. I will keep you posted on my progress. I am SO glad to be back in the sewing grove...I think!

Cori's Awards Program

Last week Cori got an invitation to her schools award program. If a student was not going to get an award, they did not get invited and could not come to the program. I rearranged my schedule and made it possible to be at this program. This afternoon Cori raided my closet and spent 30 min trying on clothes for the "right" outfit. We got to the program 20 mins early to get seats and then sat thru 2 hours of awards for 6th -8th graders. Each one getting to walk across the stage to receive a certificate or medal. The citizenship award was the most common award given out and the last ones of the evening. As they called the name for this award, which is the one Cori got, they asked the kids to just stand up in their seats instead of coming across stage. So we have 25 6th graders alone that sat thru 2 hours to just stand and get a round of applause. I was very upset but did not say anything to Cori. (She was sitting with the students as I was up in the bleachers with the parents). I actually got a lot of reading on my kindle done during those 2 hours.

As we were leaving Cori was giving me an earful about how upset all the kids (including herself) at the fact they sat thru the entire program just to stand up at the end.

I stopped and got her ice cream at McDonalds to help calm her down.

Cori is the 2nd to last row 4th from the left!

My skirt, shoes, white shirt and curling iron

The end of 6th grade!

Blizzard and Scream!

Nate has finished his first week at Blizzard. He still loves it, like anyone thought he wouldn't.He has loaded all the games he was given on the first day. He installed Warcraft 3 on my laptop for Joel to start playing. This is a different kind of playing than the World of Warcraft and does not have a monthly fee to play. Joel is loving it and already past chapter 5.

Friday, Joel had a beach day field trip with school. They walked about a 1/2 mile to the harbor and played on a beach in the harbor. This was more like a lagoon with little waves instead of the big swells on the beach. He had a great time and brought a friend home to play.

Friday night we did movie night at home. We walked over to Walgreen's and bought popcorn and candies then to Little Ceaser's for pizza. Joel, Cori and I watched Scream (which Joel had not seen yet) then after Nate got home we put on Scream 2. Joel could not handle watching two scary movies in one night. He was really tired and was asleep by 8pm.

Joel has been having a harder time making friends his age and being able to have "play-dates" with them. He has 2 new friends who both were able to come play on Sat and Sunday. I was at work so Nate was in charge of the kids. He was a little overwhelmed with all the boy noise in the house Sunday afternoon. I felt bad for him since he is not usually home when the kids have a bunch of friends over.

Cori got to spend the night with a friend and go see X-Men 1st Class and loved it. We won't let her tell us about it since we want to go see it too.

Saturday night I got my vacation approved and last night I booked my first flight home to Bama for a vacation. I am going as part of my graduation from college. I will be there from July 28th - Aug 3rd. I am so super excited to go home, see family, hug my sweet nephews (all 4 of them) eat mexican, play Settlers, and have fun laughing and chillin for a week. The week long vacation means working extra from now until I leave but it will be worth the trip.

Countdown to being done with school ~ I have 1 more week with 1 paper, 1 team powerpoint, 1 DQ and I will be done.

1st niece on the way!

My baby sister Dawn is going to be having a baby girl, Alice Everett is due in Mid-October! Since it has been way to many years since I had a baby in my house, I don't know all the "must haves" for little ones. Oh, I know the big ones....crib, highchair, walker, boppie, but not the everyday stuff to have. Please comment and tell me what she has to have and what she will want to have. Also if anyone is selling baby stuff or willing to let us borrow stuff for the new little girl, please message me.

Here is a picture of Dawn and her prego-ness at 5 months.....