Saturday, March 24, 2012

All Stitched up... and LUCKY?!?

Hi all!

So things have been progressing on both the GAME ON: MN style front AND the crafty front as well.. here's the update!

  • GET LUCKY 7k...DONE!! I completed my first 7k (4.3 miles) race on St. Patty's Day alongside my dear friend and dynamo-doula Stacy Nathan!! It was a personal best for me on several levels- the longest race I've ever run/completed and the best time  (10:39 min/mile!) I've ever done!!! It was tough, but it felt AWESOME... and it was a blast to see almost 8,000 runners in their Irish duds and hear Irish music along the way!! It was also pretty perfect weather-wise at a balmy 60 degrees- in MARCH.... Here is a "before" and "after" pic of Stacy and I!
 Here is our "before" pic!!
And our "after" with Sir Cooper (our official mascot in his "Kiss me I'm Irish" t-shirt!!)

  • As for GAME ON: MN style- Despite my running "high" I've hit a plateau with my weight loss. We are almost done with round 2 and I've maintained my weight loss of 6 lbs. total, but I've been pretty disappointed in my motivation to take things to the next "level"to really move my weight loss along. So I'm preparing for round 3 and hoping to really PUSH myself to lose another 5 lbs and edge close to my goal!!! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
  • On the crafty front-I think it's *official*- I'm tiptoeing into "quilter" territory!! My friend Jill has been helping me with the initial stages of constructing two duvet coverlets with "quilted" tops for our new lake home guest beds. I've gotten pretty gung-ho about it and I'm excited to see the finished product! Here is an "in progress"photo as I sew the pieces of my squares together! Expect more updated photos of my squares later this week!
  •  So I also signed up for a beginner quilting class at a nearby quilt shop. We'll see how it goes, but I figure at least it will offer me some pointers on how to use my sewing machine a bit better and give me a taste for what quilting is all about! 
  • Alright, last update here... I just have to throw this in... as you may remember, my husband and I were able to purchase a lake home in Biwabik, MN (near Giant's Ridge ski area) and we've been busy painting up a storm, hunting down furniture and trying to make it our sanctuary away from the craziness of suburban life- so my OTHER crafty projects (distressing/painting picture frames, making "ski" and "paddle" coasters, etc.) have been centered on the cabin-more on those later!! But here is my HUBBY'S project (I'm a proud wifey!) from last week, still in progress!
 No, he didn't build the kitchen, but he DID install the "airstone" backsplash! It's actually a styrofoam product that looks like stone-it's his first attempt and I thought he did quite well!! It gives our kitchen a great northwoods feel!!! Oh, and here is a view of outside.. 70 degrees.. in Northern MN.. in MARCH!!!


Ok, and here's just one more cute photo I had to share! My sweet pup koopa snoozin' a few nights ago... Alright, that oughtta catch you all up for a bit!


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

UPDATES...Birthday Party Pins & Craftiness!

Since my last post was quite lengthy, I'll try to keep this brief, but here are a few of the "pins" I've attempted the last two weeks! Check it out!
 So my mom and I had fun "inventing" a new cupcake recipe! We took "Chocolate Butter Moist" cake (by Duncan Hines i believe?) and make large and mini cupcakes (we put vanilla icing in the middle of the large cupcakes as well!) and we added mint chocolate flavoring to vanilla icing and topped them with chopped mint M&M's. They were DIVINE!!! We coupled this with After Dinner Mint ice cream and they were a hit with everyone!!!
 Here are the mini cupcakes-they were SO moist, and the mint frosting/M&M combo was scrumptious!
 So this is my impromptu "Elmo" cake for my son Cooper's 1st Birthday. I had hoped to do something more complex-but time got the best of me. I had to use what I could find for the face pieces-so I would definately try other options next times, but for the 4 minutes of time it was photographed before being smashed to bits all over my sons face I'd say it worked out just fine!
 A little "pinterest" idea I used! We celebrated my father's 77th and my niece's 7th birthday as well- and a few stinkers were stealing candy from the jars-but they were fun table centerpieces anyway!!!
A few random "pins" include decorating Cooper's high chair with balloons and crepe paper, as well as our "monster themed poster" complete with felt monsters! (Elmo was the theme, but he is a monster after all! :)
My baby boy turned 1!! How did the time go by so fast!!

GAME ON: MN style Update!!

WOW! Have I been a delinquent blogger or what?!?!? After a few weeks up north and a full weekend full of family house guests, I'm just now catching up on everything!! So here come a BUNCH of mini updates for anyone curious about where things are at on this end!!

Game ON!
Well, I am one and 1/2 weeks into round 2 of Game ON! and it's been a bit rougher this time around. I started this whole "Game ON" thing with motivation to drop these last 10-15 lbs. of baby weight and really start to turn around my unhealthy habits, but I've hit some roadblocks that have proven to be fairly helpful reflections on where I need to grow in ALL aspects of my life-not just my physical health.

So for round one, I lost 5 lbs. in the first two weeks, and then my husband and I took a trip together to Montreal. In my defense, the food there is AMAZING (poutine...WOW) and it was VACATION and all, but by the second day of the trip things were on the way down. From that point on I started gaining back the 5 lbs I lost through Belgian Chocolate Crepes and succulent Poutine. Lordy, Lordy.. it was DELICIOUS but as always, I regretted it the moment it left my lips for my hips! (well SORT OF regretted it!)

So I learned a valuable lesson-BE PREPARED! Vacation presented me with some HUGE temptations, most notably the temptation to "indulge...just a little bit" and let myself become lazy. While I appreciate this idea-it's a lot less harmful when you're just MAINTAINING your weight, not trying to lose pounds! I wish I had thought ahead to organize WHAT I wanted to indulge on, and how I would make up for it (exercise, etc.) later. I did that somewhat, but truth is- when the laziness hit, I just let myself give in. Thankfully, while my lbs. starting heading northward, my habits were still going quite well!! My bad habit to give up was biting my nails-and while I don't have a BEFORE picture (think bitten till they bleed-yes, they were THAT bad!!) Here is an AFTER shot! (and they are even LONGER now!!)
Ok, so it's a small victory, but a victory none the less!! I also had a BLAST with my new GOOD HABIT-a "pin a week" and blogging:) and I am continuing this habit as we speak!  In addition, I'm getting used to the water, so I've seen my skin clear up some, and I'm getting better sleep than I have in a while, all in all worth the $40 entry fee I'd say! Oh, and did I mention, I'm running a 7K this Saturday?!?!?

Yes folks, Miss Stacy Nathan-my own personal Doula/Friend/Personal Trainer is kicking me into gear!! We've run together twice now, and I have committed to run a 7k (the most I've EVER RUN... EVER!)- the "Get lucky" race this Saturday. I'm fighting some Sciatic Nerve pain, but if I have to crawl across the finish line.. I WILL... and I don't think I'd be doing this without GAME ON, so again a small victory-but a good one!

So now, I'm 1/2way through round 2, and have battled some sickness and sciatic pain which has been discouraging  and I'm really struggling to get back on the wagon and really work on the weight loss-but I'm NOT GIVING UP YET... and as long as they'll let me play.. I'll keep going!! I am still down 4 lbs. from my starting weight, so it's a start... and hopefully this weekends run will keep me motivated! So wish me luck!!

Thanks everyone for your continued support! OH, and lest I forget.. here are my round 2 goals:

Bad Habit: Being LATE to everything (I'm a wee bit chronic about this!)
Good Habit: Daily Lenten Devotions (I recently began a couple's bible study with  my husband on Sunday Nights and it's truly getting me excited to dig more deeply into my faith!! Yet another small victory!)

My weight loss goal for Round 2 is minor- I would like to re-lose the 5 lbs. and maintain that over the next two weeks... and then prepare to step my GAME up seriously for round 3! Any insights, helpful tips or ideas you have on how to fight the "no motivation- live to eat-I'm never going to get there-lazy and easily sabotaged" demons that plague my journey please share them here!!!

So there you have it-not perfect, but this blog is about my journey, not my perfection, right?

Ta Ta!