Gift Ideas, Home Decor, and Get Lean for December!!!

Happy December 1st!!  I have lots to talk about today.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break.  It was busy leading up to the big day but then we took off to St. George to relax and take a break from reality for a bit.  I was able to host the big feast this year!  Everything turned out perfectly.  We had 55 people that includes our usual family bunch of aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, and sisters etc…I love this time of year when we have several family get togethers.  It was different being in charge.  I stayed on watch of the food more and didn’t really “enjoy” the conversations as much, but I loved it!  I love having my home full of family, friends, and food.

I mentioned I was in need of a few decorating items!  Knowing I was hosting Thanksgiving I popped online and ordered a few things.  Everything worked perfectly.  Here is my collage of home decor!  Whoops!  I just noticed I messed up the writing a bit.  Oh well!  You can’t see my little silver penguin too well but he’s a cutie!

 

 

Next!!  I have a birthday along with Christmas like I do every year of my life (:  I love it and make a bigger deal about my birthday than I should!  I thought of a few great gift ideas for the holiday season.  From top to botttom:  Red penguin jammies from Victoria Secret, the sweetest NIke running outfit ever (Nike Pro hyperwarm embossed pant and NIke Pro hyperwarm engineered hoodie), any pair of TOMS, Pandora bracelet (I love the idea of getting a personalized charm.  You could get a new one every year!)  So there you go!

 

Lastly, I updated the pic. from Thanksgiving.  The yellow sweater was this year and the green was last year.  I had to have my daughter in the pic. again too.  This might be a silly picture tradition I’ll keep carrying on!!

Well!  I gotta jet to a workout class.  Sorry I didn’t say much about lean December!!  I’ll have to come back in a couple days and discuss that!!  I have great workouts to share, eating tips, and I read an article about the biggest fitness trend for 2015 I want to talk about!  Have a beautiful day!!  Time to get Christmas UP!!!

The sunniest day!

I am planting a small garden today!  I have a spot in the front on my house that has been an eye sore for too long.  It’s a nice flower bed encased in a brick wall.  Some of the tops of the wall are falling off.  It needs some help and will look so beautiful with many different plants and flowers and cascading flowers over the top to cover the falling apartness!  I need to spend some play time with my kids first and then I’ll be off to the garden nursery.  My goal will be to post the before and after shots TODAY!!  I love this perfect yellow flower in the rain*  Happy First Day of Summer!!!

I also want to install flower boxes on a couple windows at the front of our house.  Here is one I like.  I’m going to do the research and even learn how to do it myself!  That ought to be a funny site to see me on a ladder taking a drill to my newly painted house!

AND….my last decor item of the day is to color my front door!  It has cucky brass handles that I don’t like, so hopefully we can swap those out.  I want to do an orange shade.  This front door is Benjamin Moore rust.  Pretty.

Diet update this week.  I had a hectic week and found myself skipping meals and not eating enough.  Being stressed out makes me want to eat treats.  Sticking to a diet is not easy.  I don’t like the word diet.  Sticking to healthy choices is not always easy.  I still feel a little weird and not quite myself from the shingles.  I don’t like that word either.  I do like the words smile, warm, flowers, air, run, fresh, and smells (:  I’ll be honest, I’m going to have a short 24 hour break from strict eating this weekend and get back at it Monday.  I’m not done with my 9 weeks and I have a happy reward when I hit 129 again.  I will be there SOON!

To end on a healthy NOTE, I found a low calorie treat that is heavenly.  I will survive if I can have one of these a day!  SOOOOOOOOO  good!!!  Have a GREAT weekend.

 

Something is missing from the DIET food list!

You know the song that goes something like, “Your love, your love is my drug?”  I have a few drugs in my life * that bring me euphoria!  And…don’t be surprised, one of them is EXERCISE!!!!!!  Today was a day to get things done.  It was also the day to review all the things that have not worked properly or have broken at our house in the last little while!  To add to that list, the washing machine went out and the water softener fix it man said our water softener is 25 yrs. old and we should really get a new one ):

The 5:00 o’clock hour rolled around and I hadn’t worked out either.  Usually at that time of night I don’t even want to go, but I got myself together and went to the gym.  I did bi’s, tri’s, abs, and sprints.  I felt better and better as every sweaty minute rolled by.  As I was driving home the song came to me, “Your love, your love, your love is my drug,”  Hence, the gym is my drug!

O.k. and to top the evening off even better I made the BEST, soft, white, french bread ever!!!!  I think it needs to be added to the SUPER FOODS list!  White bread is FOR SURE never on the “food to eat” list.  I hate that!  Oh well, a couple of slices of homemade white bread and a protein shake isn’t that bad for dinner?

Thankfully, my fastie friends want to run 15 miles tomorrow 0:!!  You’d think they were training for Boston or something!  I’ll try to hang with them as long as possible and maybe burn off the white bread!  I’m hearing rumors though that we’re getting 2 feet of snow tomorrow. Hmmm…I might need to get some snow shoes and take off up this trail.  Actually, I see snow mobile tracks.  That would be even more fun!

Lastly, my house thoughts for the day!  I found a chandelier for above my stairs!  It’s at Pottery Barn!  I love the lantern look.  So pretty~

Next, I’m thinking of this accent chair for my great room.  What do you think?  It’s from West Elm.

We’re also thinking of new bedding and I’ve changed my mind (that happens often) to this from Pottery Barn!  So cozy!  I need to go to bed!

Have a beautiful Saturday!  Dream of Warm, Happy, Outstanding, and Summery thoughts *

Stay on Track for Weekend Happiness

Does anyone else have a hard time sticking to good eating habits on the weekend?  I hate to admit it, but I’m an emotional eater.  I won’t ever let it beat me, but I know when I’m stressed or I want to relax, I like to eat yummy and mostly unhealthy food.  So, how do you Stay on Track for Weekend Happiness?  Here are a few tips:

• Keep a schedule.  When I don’t have plans, I fill them with eating!  Make a list of what you want to get done for the day and get after it.  You’ll find yourself happier and won’t be thinking about food.
• Exercise.  Of course I’m going to say that.  Slacking in the exercise department leads to falling off the healthy eating wagon.  
• Stay hydrated.  Drink water.  Many times our brains mistake hunger for thirst.  Always drink a big glass of water before every meal.
• Do other things that bring happiness.  Read a book or magazine, take a NAP (yes, I love that one!), work on a project or hobby you enjoy.
• Make and eat healthy alternative foods.  The web is full of healthy options.  I like to make recipes from Oxygen, Runner’s World, and Cooking Light magazines.
• Keep produce stocked.  You’ll be more likely to go for the greens and fruit if they are fresh and there!

I do have a couple “cheat” foods that I go to.  If I’m in a munchy mood I’ll pop popcorn.  I really like kettle corn and it’s not as sugary as you might think.  I like my ZONE bars too.  I have one every day.

Most of all, remember how good and happy you feel when you are being healthy.  It’s worth it!  Save a splurge after you’ve reached a milestone or you have a special occasion to celebrate.  Sometimes that’s everyday for me (:

This weekend I’ll be purchasing a few items for the home.  I really like Ballard Designs.  This would be for over my stairs.

And this one will be over my kitchen sink!

Every day and week we get closer to a finished and complete house.  I still need to paint several interior doors and set up my kids lockers!!  I’ve been dying to do that one!  I’ve been looking at a few pillows for my great room too.  I NEED color.  I found Pier1 to be the BEST!!!  They have so many I like that I’m having a hard time narrowing it down.  Here are a few I LOVE.  One can never have too many pillows, right?

I’ll stick to my 127# goal weight all weekend and post where I’m at on Monday.  Just saying that will keep me on target.  Hope everyone has a relaxing and fun weekend.

A whole lotta decorating dreams

I LOVE finding the perfect decor piece for my new house!  I’ve wrestled over rug options for quite some time now and I think I found what I want!   First off, a few photos of the house.

My kitchen is coming along and I am in LOVE with it.  Today, all appliances are working!!  Tomorrow night will be our first REAL meal in the new house.  What a party!  I’m lacking barstools, but I found an example of one I like!  It’s from a website called hayneedle.com.  Lots of stuff for everything in the home and reasonable prices too.  Now, I just need 6 of these!

  So, two spots in my home need rugs right now.  The first one is in our piano section of the great room.

This is what I found at rugsusa.com for this spot!

Next, I have an awesome formal entryway.  I’m being a little more daring here!  I love color and this is perfect.

I found a really pretty green entryway table that will look perfect with this too!  Down the list a ways I’m looking for an accent chair.

I found these at hayneedle .com too.  Last, but certainly not least is the search for new bedding!  I found what I wanted at Crate and Barrel and then I read they were unavailable online ):  I might need to keep searching.  So cozy!

I’m happy it’s the weekend.  I’m getting sick of the cold and REALLY missing green and flowers and warm, fresh air.  I might rebel a little and run on the treadmill tomorrow.  At least I have my Tunes and my Thoughts * Sweet Weekend House projects are fun to do!