Happy Birthday!

Hey, Hey! Hope you all are having a fabulous Wednesday!    I'm still fighting the allergies/cold (whatever it is) - feeling less achy today, but still tired and worn down.  I walked into work this morning and my work space was transformed over night because as of today I am...

That's right people - I hit the big four-oh today!   Quite honestly, it doesn't seem possible!   I had several people ask me if I felt older or if it bothered me getting older.   It doesn't.  Turning 30 was hard for me - I looked back over the years and felt some disappointment for things I hadn't accomplished that I felt I should have.  The decade between 30 and 40 certainly threw some unexpected surprises and curve balls my way.  However,  I am confident that I am stronger (mentally and physically) because of it.  I'm not sure what the next decade holds, but I promise you I will be climbing up the hill instead of over it.   :)

Spring Fever

The weekend weather was a nice tease for spring!   It's very likely we will have a few more chilly nights and mornings.    I woke up in the middle of the night feeling miserable - my mouth was so dry that it seemed difficult to swallow (this was after downing close to 80 oz of water yesterday).   This morning, I felt sinus pressure and achy all over my face.   I suppose it could be allergies - some years I'm plagued by them and other times it passes right over, so I'm not sure if this is a cold or allergy.  Either way, I came home to a HOT shower and PJs & that helped a ton. It's hard to be still on the couch when it is so pretty outside, but I need to listen to my body!

Are you ready for spring?

Just Do It

Yesterday was a beautiful day!   I woke up to birds chirping, sun shining and relatively warm temperatures.  We went to bed later than usual on Friday night because we were finishing up the laundry room DIY project.  Super-son had stayed over night with a friend, so it was the perfect morning to sleep in!  However, every time I have an opportunity to sleep in - no matter how hard I try - I can't!   I got up around 830a - technically I that is later than a regular work day  :)    Super-husband dropped his car off for service the evening before and around 10a they called to say it was ready.   He wasn't up yet and I hadn't gone for my 2-3 miles yet -- so I decided to do something completely out of my comfort zone! 

I decided I would walk to pick up his car.  I checked MapMyRun for the route and it was almost 2.5 miles to the garage - perfect, I could tackle two tasks at the same time.  I called my friend, Angie, to let her know what I was doing (just in case) and left super-husband a note (he was still snoozing) & out the door I went. 

We live in a relatively rural area - no sidewalks... fortunately, the garage is relatively close to us and I only had to go down one road after getting out of our neighborhood to get there.  I followed the rules of the road (ride with, walk against) and wore my fluorescent pink wind-breaker.  I was on and off the pavement alot - as cars approached I would walk in the grass  (I've seen some folks who don't budge off the road - I'm not one of those).   I did not have my ear-buds in either.  Since this was the first time on a major road (I'm usually in our neighborhood, at the local town square, or a neighborhood around where I work)  I decided I needed to really be aware of my surroundings.  I wasn't sure I could maintain my usual pace (no music, on & off the road), but I tried not to focus on that and just be proud of the fact that I was doing something NEW!

I arrived at the garage slightly winded, but feeling pretty proud of stepping outside my comfort zone.  I was able to keep my usual pace (yeah!).   I returned home and super-husband woke up 30 minutes or so later & mentioned we needed to go get his car.  I told him it was in the driveway (SURPRISE!) -- I think he was proud of me too!   We went out for brunch and then went to the park at I logged another 1.25 miles.   

Are you staying focused this weekend?

Laundry Room - Design on a Dime

While searching Pinterest,  I've stumbled across so many amazing laundry rooms.   It makes me laugh to search for "small laundry room" and have pictures show up with laundry rooms ten times the size of my really, truly, small laundry room.   Anyway,  I created a board of inspiration for our laundry room and you can see it here. This is the mess I was working with (don't judge!) - this is real life  :)

Goodness, what a mess!  Our washer/dryer is located behind two bifold doors.  It's more like a laundry closet.  As you can see there is some attempt at storage, but it fails miserably.  My goals were to complete the project on a dime - spend as little money as possible;  group like items together in a more organized fashion; and give a little sense of style to the room.   My initial thoughts to 2 paint thick bold stripes in the area with leftover kitchen paint & find stylish storage  :)

I started by enlisting the help of my best friends, Sally and Angie.  Our idea of a great girls night out is helping each other with a project.  Angie's basement remodel is on our list, but she wasn't quite ready to tackle it.  We dove in head first - uh in some cases literally - for this project. 

We started by completely emptying the room and cleaning from floor to ceiling.  It's nearly impossible to see everything you are working with unless you do this step!  Purge items you don't need - it's much easier when you have help to discard items - you don't have time to think about "when" or "if" you will need an item in the future.   NEXT,  group like items together - I grouped in the following categories - cleaning, DIY, outdoors, lighting.

And after... you can see each crate has a chalkboard with the items within that crate.  I kept the blue cleaning caddy by itself  because it is used on a regular basis.  The black cube storage piece - we already had &  it contains all of our auto cleaning supplies.   The basket on top of the dryer contains items we use on a regular basis to complete laundry:  detergent, dryer sheets, stain remover, iron, etc.   Overall,  it looks so much better!!   As you can see, I did NOT paint the stripes I initially thought about. The crates came unfinished and Sally had some leftover stain from a project - we used it to give a splash of color to the area.  

The crates were on sale this week at our local AC Moore for under $8.00.  I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by their size and durability.  I bought two and Sally gifted me two for my birthday.  The total cost for this project was under $20.00  I'm really pleased with how it turned out! 

We reorganized my pantry/small storage room too & I'll post it later!

No Posts!

February slipped by without one single post!   I need to try and make at least one blog post a week a priority.  Recently, I've continually asked myself how I balanced going to school full-time with a full-time career as well as being a mother and wife!   It was less than a year ago - how crazy. 

You may be wondering what's new....

1.  Our wellness department at work promotes various programs throughout the year on different aspects of healthy living.  The end of January they started a "Weigh at Work" program.  In some aspects, it's similar to Weight Watchers, but there is no "program" to follow.  It works really well for me as we are required to use My Fitness Pal to log our food daily (which I use anyway), but I've really enjoyed the added aspect of accountability on a "required" weigh-in each week.  We meet weekly on Wednesdays for 30 minutes and discuss various topics -- stress, clean eating, eating out, etc. 

2.  I've finally found my groove with exercising again.  I struggled after hurting my back last year, but I've successfully logged 4-5 workouts each week for the past 6 weeks.  Even though, I'm not running I've been able to maintain an average pace of 4.5mph on my 3 mile route - I'll eventually begin to shave some seconds/minutes off and hopefully be able to pick up the pace without injuring my back.  I've incorporated Zumba, Hoopdio (aerobics with a hula-hoop twist), Pilates, boot camp and a personal training session.  In so many ways, exercise is like therapy for me.

3.  Tonight... sigh, I looked in super-son's bookbag and there was the dreaded middle school registration card.  I am so.not.ready. for this next chapter.   We've been blessed with such a wonderful elementary school experience - could not ask for better administrators, teachers, and staff.   However, time waits for no one & we must move on.  We are fortunate to have a great middle school.  We are still hoping he gets into a magnet school we selected, but we are currently number 24 on the waiting list so are odds are not very good.

Over the next couple of weeks,  I'll try to share my fitness goals for 2013, some new recipes I've tried from Pinterest, and a DIY project or two!