The Gym and I.....

Back to basics, back to blogging my progress for motivation! 

I'm super excited to be back on track with working out.  I went yesterday and joined Planet Fitness, which is probably the best gym I have ever been apart of and it's super cheap.  Plus, plus, plus!!  I always have a hard time justifying the expense of a gym, but this one is only $10 a month...  SAY WHAT?!?! 

So anyways, I'll get off the fact that I'm cheap and talk more about the important stuff. 

The moment I joined and walked into the gym I had that feeling that I remember from my college days when I used to go to the gym every day for several hours.  I used to be a size 3 and 125lbs in college, but it took a lot of dedication to look that way.  The feeling I am speaking of is that sense of relief/love/therapy.  I knew I was home again.  I missed working out at a gym so much over the years!! 

The reason I typically join the gym is due to the fact that get extremely motivated away from my house.  So much that I can spend hours at a gym and at home I am ready to quit within 30 minutes. 

Yesterday I started with alternating running and walking for 20 minutes, then I did this 30 workout station.  It incorporates workouts from the Biggest Loser.  You do different types of stair steps as your cardio for 60 seconds and then you move to a lifting station for 60 seconds and back to the stair steps.  It has a stop light that tells you when to work out and when to stop and move to the next station.  It was fun!  They also had a 12 minute abs workout that I tried.  There's a ton of flab there, so it's a work in progress at this point.  I wanted to continue working out, but I needed to go home after being away for 2 hours.

I then came home and did a muffin top melter workout that I found on Pinterest and a few other quick workouts.  :)

And today......  I am incredibly sore!  Wow, I am out of shape, but I can't wait to go again today! 

XOXO

Skinny Gal.....  Somewhere.

New Year's Resolutions

2013 New Year's Resolution

 

1. Take a DISTANT trip on my next vacation to a beach!
2. Lose 8lbs a month until Sept....  That's right... 72lbs!!!  It's a VERY tall order! 
3. Join Weight Watchers and attend meetings on a weekly basis.
4. Join a gym and work out in mornings before work.
5. Pack my lunch every day for work to save money and calories on meals.
6. Work no more than 40 hours a week. 
7. Read a book to my daughter most nights before bed.  Some nights I don't get home soon enough before she falls asleep. 
8. Work on baby #2 in fall of 2013.
9. Pay off my 1 credit card and keep it paid off (I like to shop).
10. Blog at least 3X a week again.
11. Get baby #1 potty trained by fall of 2013.
12. Start a college fund for Brynn.
13. Repeat from last year:  Run in a 5K.

Some of it is pretty personal, but I don't mind sharing them.  I am an open book most days. 

 

What are your new year's resolutions?  I gave 13 for 2013.  :)   

 

It starts when the ball drops!

 

 

Skinny Gal...  Somewhere.

2013 is almost here!

Hello Bloggies!

I haven't been blogging in quite some time and I have missed everyone so much in my absence.  In my absence though, I've still had the viewers every day, so thanks to all that keep me in mind.  My profile jumped like 6,000 views since my last post. 

Anyways, I wanted to recap this year and give a sneak peak of my new years resolutions.  Here we go.....

I'll start with Brynnie being a 3 month old.  Here she is taking a bath in Jan. 2012.  She now loves baths so much that she throws a fit when the water starts going down the drain. 

 

Here are some photos I took of her at 3 months old at the beginning of the year.  I love peacock colors, so I went with that look when I photographed her in Jan. 2012.

Not much happened over the spring, I focused on my weight loss and lost 34lbs in 2012!!! 

 

Here is a spring photo of Brynnie Boo.  Man, has she grown up so much since the beginning of the year.  This dress was made by my mother and I. 

 

I photographed my first wedding in the spring of 2012.

 

 

Shawn was in the wedding.  Look how handsome he can be in a suit...  :)

 

In September, we had Brynn's first Birthday.  It was Diva-themed. 

 

 

Look how beautiful my lil' princess is in that photo.  Shortly after her Birthday, we had to give her a SECOND haircut.  I often cut my own hair and I have cut my own hair since I was 15 years old, so cutting Brynn's hair was a piece of cake.  I cut her hair in a bob cut.

 

 

I had my first High school reunion that I attended.  It was pretty lame.  No one had really changed from 2002 and it will probably be the last one I attend.  I did have a good time taking goofy photos with one of my best friends from High school. 

 

 

 

 

A week after my reunion, I got promoted at work.....  Why couldn't it have came just a week sooner?  Just like every person on this Earth, I kind of wanted to brag about my new opportunity.  I'm not quite sure it was the right decision for me, but I'm dealing at the moment.  I got pretty beat up the last few weeks before I went on vacation this year.  Let's just say that I am putting in a solid year of it, then I am going to search for a company that treats it's employees a little better than where I currently am at in the education field.  

 

With all the stress and extra hours at work, I gained 10 of my 34lbs back.  :( 

 

At least I get to come home to this face!  This was Thanksgiving 2012. 

 

 

Taking a jump back a few weeks, I went as Alice from Alice and Wonderland for Halloween.  If you are not a long time reader, then you probably don't know that Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite stories.

 



 

 

 Lastly, I made it past made it through my first quarter as a functional director of our school.  Thankfully, I took an 11 day vacation after the quarter ended. 

 

While on leave I took some beautiful photos of Brynn.  I did absolutely nothing after that other than attend family Christmas parties.   

 

 

 

I am more than excited for the New Year.  I've had a pretty great vacation snuggling my baby Brynn, but I am ready to get back to weight loss and routine.  It's difficult with my job, but I have to try to make it work.

 

Since this is a long post, I will have my New Year's resolutions for tomorrow.  To be continued....

 

XOXO,

 

Skinny Gal Somewhere.





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post from your long lost blogger

Well, it's been about 2 weeks since my last post.  I've missed blogging dearly and the girlfriends I have met on here.  For those that are close to me, add me to Facebook.  I get on there just a tiny bit more than here, but not much more.

I've had many questions about my new job, so I guess I will talk a little about that first.  Obviously, I can't say much about it, but I can tell you that it's going pretty well and I am just crazy busy everyday-all day.  Which is why I am not blogging every day anymore.  I lost an employee last week and now I have two positions to fill on my team.  I spent the week interviewing, putting out fires, and trying to generate leads for our team.  It was a pretty busy week, I put about 46 hours in this week, which isn't too terrible.  My goal is to stay under 45 every week, but that won't always happen. 

On a different note, I am more than excited about today's events!  I have a wedding to go to that I think will be pretty fancy-fun and I have an annual Halloween costume party to attend at one of Shawn's friends house.  We went last year and it was a blast.  I will be attending as Alice in her red and white costume from the Newest Alice in Wonderland movie.

If you read my blog long, you would know that I love Alice and Wonderland.  Two years ago I went as the Red Queen and had a Halloween themed party as Alice and Wonderland.  Here is a photo from 2 years ago.  Get ready, I was about 50 lbs heavier:



We had several people that attended that night.  This is just the 5 that followed the theme (all are my closest friends).  I could not for the life of me get Shawn to dress up in Alice and Wonderland.  He still won't this year.  So, I'm going as Alice, and as of right now he has no costume for this evening. 

Pictures to come.....  Hopefully, on Monday!!!

Mixed Emotions

I've considered surrendering my blog.  I know it's going to be difficult to post daily and even every other day with my new position.  Though, I would miss some beautiful relationships I have built with some of my ladies on here.  I feel like every day I miss in blogging, I become less missed in the community.

Ultimately, I will get back on the weight loss band wagon and I will be interesting again.  I mean I look back and think about what I have already accomplished since I had my daughter.  I lost 32 lbs last year after having Brynn and this year I have lost 40 lbs.  I still have 60 lbs to go....  I just needed a break from it for a while.  I hate to make a commitment that I couldn't keep, so I think on Monday I will start working out again, but no programs that I feel I have to be dedicated to while I get used to my new job.

The great thing about this position is that it keeps me so busy throughout the day that I eat way less!  I used to eat a lot of chocolate from our director's candy bowl and NOW I have my very own bowl where he provides me all the candy I want and I don't even think about it.  It sits right in front of me and I am not even the slightest bit tempted. 

So, my first week as boss lady wasn't too terrible.  I feel like I have a lot of support from all my coworkers.  I did run into some issues over vacation request, but I got a quick handle on those at the beginning of the week.  I think my boss is pretty impressed and a little ashamed that he didn't promote me sooner.  I was promoted into a role that has been open for 6 months.  I applied when it first came available, but he didn't want to consider me at the time.

Since Monday I am down 6 lovely pounds.  It makes me incredibly happy seeing that I don't have much time to work out.  Here's hoping for another week next week like this one!

I hope everyone had a good week and I'm sorry to be missing in action this week.  I hope to post more next week. 

Girl Talk Tuesday: Always Kiss Me Goodnight

LAYYYYY-DESSSSSSSSS.  My question of the day is......  Is there something that your man does that NO other man in your life has done before?  It would have to be something that would separate them from the rest.

Whether I am exhausted, sick, already in bed, mad at each other, etc.  My hubs always remembers to kiss me goodnight.  It's weird, but WAY sweet.  If I don't tell him goodnight, he will make a point, wake me up and kiss me.  He'll usually say something to the nature of, "You didn't tell me you were going to bed."

Shawn isn't perfect, but really, what guy is, right?  Just us women can be perfect.  When someone asks me why I am with him, I always have to defend him, because he is the sweetest guy I have ever dated.  He's genuine to me and has his moments where I can tell he just gets me.

It's incredibly charming in my opinion.  I have never had a guy care about me so much that they want to end the night with a kiss-EVERY NIGHT.  Gush. 

So, that is mine, what does yours do that just makes you melt?

XO-Skinny Gal...  Somewhere.

Time To Pull Up My Big Girl Panties

It's time to pull those big girl panties again and take charge.  That's right people, I received my offer for my promotion!!  This is going to take me from an Indian to a chief. 

I am VERY nervous. 

Why you ask?

I work for a company that is very by the book on their policies.  I am going to be forced to do things I may not be comfortable with doing for once in my life, but management comes with responsibilities and it's something I will have to adapt to while I am in this role.

Here are my fears:

• My friends/work family will despise me for policies my company writes, even though I am just the messenger
• The elders will not respect me, since I will be their "younger" supervisor.
• Failure.
• Not accomplishing the expectation that has been set for me.
• Not being properly trained.
• Jealousy.

Is this a feeling everyone experiences when they move up to management? 

On the other end, I am on cloud nine right now!!!  Not one other applicant made it all the way through the interview process and they interviewed a ton of people and had about 200 applicants.  I had a total of 4 interviews to get this promotion, which is why I have been missing in action the past week in the blogging world.  You'd think I was taking a position that made 6 figures given the difficulty of the hiring process.  I interviewed on the local, district, regional, and national level. 

I mean...  WOW.  They picked me.  That in itself is a great feeling and I am proud! 

So now I just have to get past my fear, hold my head high, pull those spanks up of mine and take charge.  GRRRRR. 

I had many employees congratulate me and others who said I was nuts, since it is a tough job.  I spent today working on cleaning my new office.  CHECK. IT. OUT.  I am in heaven!  For the first time in my career I have a freaking door!!!  How cool is that?!?

It's amazing how a door can make someone so happy.  Before my gorgeous new office, I was working in basically a closest space room of cubicles with 10 other employees.  Let me tell you, you hear conversations that you sometimes just don't wanna know about.  You also get frustrated, because sometimes your co-workers won't STFU!  :)

Any who.....  I am nervous, but very happy.  This is going to be such a great opportunity for my career and listen to how snazzy this sounds....  Director of Recruitment....  Awwwww....  I'm stoked.

XO-Skinny Gal... Somewhere.