|Virtual| Coffee Date

If we had a coffee date this morning, you would have been at the park with me and the kids. I would have a tall, non-fat misto. This is my new favorite type of coffee. I know this is a shocker to some, since I usually only drink iced drinks (even in the snow and rain). 

Amariah yelled uncontrollably if I tried to take away the coffee cup.

In between chasing my kids and saving them from the top of the monkey bar ladder, I would have told you:

Moses got stuck up here. Of course I took I picture before I helped him :)

I am so tired. Actually, I probably wouldn't have needed to tell you, I look really tired. Why didn't I get a bigger coffee?! The past couple of days I haven't got a whole lot of sleep. Moses had some sort of sickness that caused crazy problems with #2 and Amariah got her six month shots yesterday and has been running a fever. She is super fussy and tired, but can't sleep well. Everyone says that one day I will miss these days, and I am sure I will, it just doesn't feel like it right now.

I really appreciate my husband and all the ways that he helps me. He was gone a couple of days last week at the Catalyst Conference and it was a little crazy around the house. I am happy to have him home and it was a great reminder to be thankful for all the things that he does. 

I struggle with anger. A lot. This is something that I am working on and seeking the Lord to help me with. If you think of me, please pray for this. 

I am in love more like obsessed with ganado print items.... 

Speaking of clothes, I have been given the opportunity to start my own online clothing store. My hope is that it will do well enough one day, that I can own an actual store. I am really excited but I have a lot of work ahead of me. The goal is to provide quality, affordable, and unique pieces of clothing to people that don't have access to them. All items will come straight out of Los Angeles' Fashion District. There will be a lot more to come about this soon but I am REALLY EXCITED for the day when I get to share my website with you all. 

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! 

Monday {Weigh Day}

Well friends, I am happy to say that I lost two pounds this week. That puts me at 183, which is 8 pounds away from my second goal of 40 pounds lost.

This actually shocked me since I didn't work out much this week and I ate horrible. When I say horrible, let me paint a picture for you...

I ate an entire bag of Twizzlers in one sitting. Not the big bag, but the king size bag. That is still really bad though. I ate pizza three times this week! I am a stress eater and we had a crazy week, so it was a bad equation for me. 

I only exercised three times, but I made them count. I was really proud of myself for pushing harder than I thought that I could go. This quote makes me laugh but motivates me to workout and I do mostly wear black:

So I have focused a lot of the weight loss part of my journey, mainly because I am a data minded person, but I really want to focus on the part that is super important to me for a minute, being healthy.

I feel amazing and have so much energy. I have grown in confidence and am super happy.

|Virtual| Coffee Date

If we had coffee this morning we would have been sitting in the lounge chairs in my hotel room in Las Vegas. The blinds would have been open so we could look at the the strip while chatting.

I would tell you that this week has been busy but so fun. Earlier in the week I visited a friend in Orange County. We ate a wonderful lunch at a Japanese Restaurant. I left feeling refreshed and encouraged. It is always good to catch up with people you care about and this was no exception.

We would talk about how catching up and eating were the themes of my week. On Wednesday the kids and I headed to Las Vegas to visit my Aunt who was there on vacation. We caught up over an amazing meal at BURGR which is one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants. I had an Asian Salad that was to die for. It was fun to catch up with my Aunt and have her meet the kids.

The last thing I would tell you is how much fun I had taking the kids to the M&MS store. They were so excited to see everything and I had the opportunity to spoil them a little. The looks in their faces were priceless and it will be an experience I will remember for a long time. I even bought myself a little treat: a yellow M&M coffee mug and my favorite sweet treat, gelato. This particular kind was hazelnut chocolate.

What are some of the things you would tell me if we were having a coffee date?

{Monday} Weigh Day-A Day Late

Hello Friends! Sorry I missed yesterday's weigh  in post. When I got on the scale this yesterday morning  it read 185.0 which means this week I lost 1 pound this week. That is a total weight loss of 30/75 pounds putting me at 40% of my goal. 

I just wanted to share a few thoughts that I had this week regarding my progress:

Once again, I was a little disappointed when I stepped on the scale. I exercised 6 days this week and ate healthy. I found this quote though, which really encouraged me:

|Virtual| Coffee Date

So this is something new for my blog but I thought was super fun. A friend of mine does this on her blog and I loved the idea. Weekly I will do a segment called Virtual Coffee Date. The idea is that if we were sitting down having a chat over a cup of coffee these would be the things that I would share with you. Since I LOVE coffee this seems to suit me well.

If we were sitting down having coffee this morning our conversation would be competing with the background noise of Cars 2 and a chiming princess castle. I would be drinking Vanilla Nut coffee out of my favorite coffee mug. (Pictured on the right)

I would tell you...

That life has been incredible and challenging all at the same time. I absolutely adore being at home with my family, but it has put up a constant mirror into my heart. There are a lot of things that I need to work through. I know that God is so much bigger and I am thankful for the light that has been shed into these areas and the grace that is so freely available to me.

That I have found a new passion for the Bible. I attend an amazing Bible Study with some incredibly wise women on Mondays and it has changed my life. I always leave feeling so encouraged and challenged.

I have fallen in love with running and hiking. I am able to process through things and clear my mind. It is carved out time in my schedule for me and I am so thankful that my husband is supportive of it.

Monday {Weigh Day}

Hello Friends! It is Monday which means it is weigh in day. When I got on the scale this morning it read 185.8, which means this week I lost 3.2 pounds. That is a total weight loss of 29/75 pounds putting me at 38.667% of my goal. 

I just wanted to share a few thoughts that I had this week regarding my progress:

When I stepped on the scale I was super disappointed to see that I only lost 3 pounds.  I worked really hard this week and ate very good, so it felt super defeating. I really began to think about it though and my attitude changed. I realized that it took a lot of small choices, over a long period of time, to lead me to the weight that I am today. With that being said, it is going to take a lot of small choices over a long period of time, to lose the weight that I want to. Three pounds is a small number in a much larger equation and a step towards my ultimate goal of becoming healthy. Also, I was reminded by an awesome friend that this journey doesn't define me and that my value should be found in Christ alone. Such a great reminder of truth. 

I am committing to not obsess over the scale and only weigh myself once a week. 

The other major factor in my journey right now, is that I am nursing my six month old daughter. I need to be careful not to lose too much weight, too quickly. I realized this week that I was not getting enough calories to nurse well and lose weight effectively. I ate more calories the week prior and lost 6 pounds. It seems a little backwards to eat more and lose more weight, but after doing a lot of research, I found this is common with people in my situation. 

The last thought was this amazing quote I read this week:

Thanks for those who have been encouraging in this process. I am not an expert, nor do I care to be. I am just a girl making positive lifestyle changes and sharing them with people as a source of encouragement. 

Family Hike

I absolutely love where we live, it is beautiful. It makes it really easy to get outside and be active. My husband has been very supportive of my weight loss journey journey and has included himself and our kids. The past two weeks we have done a hike together as a family, which has been really fun. Today we hiked to Inspiration Point, which is a really easy hike that is located at Forest Home, which is where Jarrell works. 

Here are some pictures:

Moses and Daddy coming up the trail 

Exploring

View of the canyon

Photographer in Training 

What are some of your favorite activities to do as a family? 

They Fit #3

Many of you may have read my They Fit or They Fit #2 Post.

Up until a week ago, I hadn't made any progress since my first goal, which was to lose  the weight that I gained with Amariah. 

To be honest, I didn't make any effort after I lost the weight because I was waiting for x, y, and z. The short end, I was making excuses to continue on in my bad habits.

I am ecstatic to announce, that I am ready to make the changes necessary to lose weight and get down to my goal weight. There were several things that led me to this point, some good reasons, others vain.  At this point my two main reasons are for health purposes and because I love cute clothes!

I have a low tolerance to glucose which pretty much means eventually I will get type 2 Diabetes. If at all possible, I want to prevent that by eating healthy and exercising regularly. The second reason that I mentioned is a little more vain. I love clothes and always have. Lately, I have only been putting on clothes to cover up. This makes me really sad, because I love dressing in ways that help me express myself, but feel super uncomfortable with my weight.

I have made a decision to lose the weight and this time I am determined. What am I doing differently? I am eating as clean as possible w/a small cheat everyday. I know that if I don't have a little something that I love everyday, I will end up overindulging or quitting. The second this is exercise. Everyday I run, hike, do pilates or a combination. 

So if you are just joining me in this journey here is a quick recap of my goals and progress.

#1- To lose all the weight that I gained with Amariah 

#2- To lose my weight gain following the birth of my 2nd child

#3- My Goal Weight

Before I was embarrassed to disclose my starting weight and end goal weight. I have come to terms with these numbers, knowing they don't define me. I want to be as specific as possible, so that I can encourage myself and others. So the updated goals look as follows:

#1- To lose all the weight that I gained with Amariah- 215 pounds to 195 pounds (20 pounds)

#2- To lose my weight gain following the birth of my 2nd child- 195 pounds to 175 pounds (20 pounds)

#3- My Goal Weight- 175 pounds to 140 pounds (35 pounds)

So for those of you who don't like math, that is a goal of 75 total pounds. This number intimidates me, but I know that it is possible. So far I have met my first goal of 20 pounds. In the past week, I lost 6 pounds! That puts me at a loss of 26 pounds total and 14 pounds away from my second goal. I am 35% of the way there. When I reach my second goal, I will post before and after pictures.