Window Shopper

You have ZERO idea how glad I am that it's Friday. Work has been nothing less of hellacious this week and I am very much looking forward to two whole days of relaxation, even more so than usual. Rather than relaxing I wish I was shopping, to be quite frank with you. Since we've deep dived into renovations, I have tried made a conscious effort spend a little less dough when it comes to matter of the wardrobe. It's not fun, but it's the least I can do. But it always seems that the minute I tighten the reins on my wallet, I come across the things that I simply must have. By the way, Pinterest does nothing to help in this matter. I mean my heart literally breaks at the idea of not being able to spend. :( So instead of purchasing, I am going to do a little sharing. Here are a few of my favorite fashion pins.

I have been searching for Nude pumps and these I could handle!

Seeking Man Boots.

Who doesn't LOVE a shirt dress?

Flutter sleeves make my heart melt.

Striving to mix mix fun colors and patterns.

This would make me feel so manly, in the most feminine way possible.

These could curb my gladiator addiction.

Classic.

This could make me a Rebel WITH a cause, fo sho!

So there you have it. This is where all my money would go, if I had the  option of spending it. What do spend your moolah on?

*All picture credits can be found on my Pinterest page, while you're there, FOLLOW ME!

The Sad Truth

I've come to the sad truth today that this...

is the body I want to have, I mean doesn't everybody!!!?? But this...

is how I would like to obtain it. Dilemma found, now how do I solve it????

Baby Let Me Be Your Motivation

Back so soon, can you believe it! I found this dress today and it not only screamed "buy me!" but also screamed "Get off you a$$ and DO SOMETHING!". Nothing like finding the right motivation to keep you me moving. If only I could convince my husband that buying said dress, that is not available in my today size, but will one day soon be worn in my one day size, is a mighty fine idea. Regardless, this lovely piece of drapery needs to be hanging in my closes stat. Here she is ladies, bask in her glory...

What motivates you ladies????

ERMAHGERD!!!!

You poor faithful followers follower. I can't imagine how disheartening it is to pull up this blog on a daily basis and constantly see nothing from me. Believe me, it saddens me as well. Life has been hectic to say the least. The month of May kept us very, very busy. We celebrated 2 year wedding anniversaries, birthdays, Mommy's day, family reunions, the buying of a lake house (not ours, don't be too excited) and a wedding! Whew, just saying it again makes me tired. And June hasn't really seen much change. Each week bring another item to throw onto our calendars, but that is usually how the Summers go around here. Not to mention the month of June sends me into a work whirlwind, which is never fun.

Two Years Baby!

Alright, alright, alright...

Baby girl catching some sun.

Mommy's Day :)

Acker's 29th B-Day Shennanigans!

Michael and Mumsy, Stafford Family Reunion

Little man enjoying the water!

Kinsley's I do's.

New Family Lake House :)

Gettin' Chummy ;)

So I'm guessing the burning question on everyone's mind is, how is the eating and exercising going? About as well as our busy Summer schedule I would say. Things haven't really gotten back on course since my April, YES APRIL, work trip. The low sodium has really taken a back seat, but I can report I hardly EVER touch the table salt, not that that's enough. We've been making a conscious effort (by conscious, I mean we know we should, but aren't necessarily, doing) to eat at home, which is helping me stay away from fast food for the most part. But there are definitely slip ups here and there. And up until about two weeks ago, I would say exercise wasn't in my vocabulary at all. The last two weeks we've been taking about 45 minute walks in the evenings. In fact, in was during tonight's hour long, yep you read that right, a WHOLE HOUR, that I reminded myself it was about time I threw an entry onto this bad boy! I'm getting to the point where I don't have to talk myself into anymore, I actually am starting to enjoy them. I'm lucky enough, Vance goes with me, so that helps and today while taking a little break a work, I put together a bada$$ "WALK HARD" playlist! What am I jamming to you ask? Check it out...

The Motto-Drake

Loca-Shakira

Crazy In Love-Beyoncé

We Found Love-Rihanna

Hollaback Girl-Gwen Stefani

Yeah 3X-Chris Brown

End of Time-Beyoncé

Addicted to You-Shakira

Starships-Nicki Minaj

Runaway Baby-Bruno Mars

Give Me Everything-Pitbull

Good Hit-Jennifer Lopez

Run the World (Girls)-Beyoncé

Party Rock Anthem-LMFAO

Wind It Up-Gwen Stefani

Rock That Body-Black Eyed Peas

Cat Daddy-Rej3ctz

Ring the Alarm-Beyoncé

Where Have You Been-Rihanna

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough-Michael Jackson

Give a Little More-Maroon 5

Super Bass-Nicki Minaj

On The Floor-Jennifer Lopez

Rack City-Tyga

Moves Like Jagger-Maroon 5

Dance-Big Sean

Sweet Dreams-Beyoncé

In addition to our daily walks we have had a ton of house progress. Hardwood floors are in and new trim has been laid. We are very excited that things are continuing to progess.So that's life lately. We've been working on Vance's office and will continue to make our way around the house, making it a home. <3

Hardwood!

Office Re-design.

Hopefully I won't let as much time pass before my next entry. What's been going on with you readers????

Just, WOW.

I have to say I'm amazed at how huge on a kink my Florida trip threw into my better eating habits. I left for Orlando on April 16th and was there for work through the 19th. And in four days, just FOUR DAYS, I managed to completely fall off my wagon and have still not been able to completely get back on. Meals were obviously provided all week, so I didn't have much control over what I was able to eat. :( To make matters worse, my Meniere's reared it's ugly head and I got sick the last night of the trip. Needless to say, I was more than happy to get home.

But being exhausted from my trip had me immediately retreating back to my old habits. I found myself eating out, in fast food lines and right back to my dessert binges. An to be quite honest, not much has changed. I haven't really been watching my sodium as I was before and I can definitely tell the difference. My days over the past week or so have been a little fuzzy and borderline dizzy/nauseated. Yesterday I just kept thinking of the down hill spiral I've been on and how I can quickly get back on track and my first thought was to blog about it. My reason for starting this blog was to have an outlet to talk about this journey and the ability to come back and revisit how I felt and what was working or not working. And what I'm doing right now, is NOT working, so it needs to change.

So for this week, I am focusing on getting back in the kitchen and making the sodium appropriate meals I need to be eating. I took a while to get back into the swing of cooking or preparing for every mean, but I really did to start feeling better, so it's time to start it up again. Also, want to be sure and post everyday this week. Even if it's just a short and sweet entry, it needs to be done. :)

That's all I have for today. I missed writing to you guys and hope to make my absences fewer and fewer. What's been going on with you guys while I've been gone? Any suggestions for getting back on the bandwagon?

My Fitness Pal

Had another great food day today. Had a repeat of yesterday's breakfast and lunch. Dinner was grilled pork chops, roasted garlic red potatoes and grilled asparagus. It was very good! Tomorrow I will be attempting to make a low sodium Greek salad, I'll let you know how that goes.

I wanted to talk about my food journaling. My ultimate goal weight is 150 lbs. My Fitness Pal has suggested a daily intake of 1570 calories. I thought that was fairly do-able, but I'm finding out very quickly that low sodium foods tend to be high in calories. So, it hasn't been very easy to stick within in daily calorie goal. :) Foods like mayonnaise, sour cream and cream cheese, which are normally no-no's, are low sodium super stars, crazy huh! I guess it's a bit of a toss up. And of course I could cut out the Nutella and cheese, but with cutting the sodium out of my diet, I need all the help I can get in the flavor department. What the food journaling has forced me to do is measure out servings which helps keep the calorie count down and keeps my portion control...under control!

I have to say in pretty proud of my food progress. And although I wish I had just as great reports on the exercise front, I don't. I'd beat myself up more, but I feel like I have a lot of changes to make and conquering all of those all at once seems a bit overwhelming. So I'm going to stick to my one step at a time program and hope the exercise will soon come in stride! I'm also sort of helping any weight loss that comes along with eating better will only push me to want to do more to continue losing!

I haven't decided on a weigh in schedule yet, any suggestions?

You guys having any difficulties changing your food habits and exercise habits all at once?

What A Difference A Day Makes!

Feels like I've been whistling that song (in my head) all day long, so much so, I'm feeling a little Mr.Roger-ish. Then I slowly start to get creeped out because, well, as an adult, Mr. Rogers is more creepy than cool. Anyway, back to whistling dixie! Today was a great food day! And those, if you've been reading (PLEASE BE READING!) are very hard to come by. I had my usual english muffin egg sandwich with a little butter and jelly (my total GO TO breakfast meal) and even splurged on some Community Coffee last night at the grocery store. That for sure put a little pep in my step for the day. I headed back home for lunch. Lunch is always so hard! The only thing that keeps me from eating a healthy meal at dinner time is me cooking. But I feel like I don't have time to cook something for lunch. And the sodium really limits the usual quick fixes like sandwich and chips, soups and did I mention sandwiches????? So what was on today's menu, a taco bowl!!!! If you are thinking to yourself yum, well, hold that thought.. I browned some extra lean ground beef and seasoned with black pepper, cumin, garlic powder and a hint of chili powder for a teeny, tiny kick. To be completely honest, I didn't even miss the salt!!!!!! I scooped a cup full into my bowl, added a 1/4 cup of monterrey jack cheese (which I could definitely scale back on) and topped it all off with a tablespoon of sour cream. Okay, now you may YUM! It was so delicious and filling and totally stuck to my low sodium needs. I'm still having issues kicking my something sweet habit, so I ended my lunch with a cup of fresh strawberries and 2 tablespoons of Nutella (my new best friend)! Not to mention the icing on the cake that was my awesome lunch, I caught the last 20 minutes of "Save the Last Dance", totally toats my goats. :) A day like like, really makes me think this whole healthy eating is actually do-able. May not be in tip top shape, but we're getting there. I'm not 100% sure what all was involved with dinner as we dined with Vance's Grandmother at her retirement community, but I can't imagine the grilled chicken in a honey dijon sauce on a rice pilaf and steamed veggies was all that bad. And I will leave out the Apple Pecan pie a la mode. Work in progress my friends.

No walking on the agenda for tonight, but it's on the books for tomorrow. I actually have some late night work to attend to, but thought I would share my food day with you guys, aren't you glad!!!

What about you guys, any GO TO meals or great lunch ideas you'd like to share????