Happy Saturday everyone!

We’ve had some fun things going on this week.  First off, these two cute kiddos of mine went to Prom last night….

I cannot believe how quickly they are growing up!!!  It is absolutely mind boggling to me.  It hurts my heart. 🙁

This was my daughter’s first formal high school dance and it will be my son’s last.  My son’s darling friend asked my daughter to the dance, so they all went in the same group together.  I was so happy about that!

Oh, and my kids thought those pictures were awkward because they were color coordinated and it looked like they were going to the dance together!  Bwahahaha!  My son’s date’s dress was the same color as my daughter’s.  I, of course, thought they looked darling.

We rented my daugther’s dress (and my son’s tux!) and I was in love with it.  It was such a gorgeous dress!  We’re sad to have to give it back.  I also took a tip and we got her “fancy” earrings at Walmart!!!  Someone told me that Walmart sold pretty, fancy and cheap jewelry, so we decided to check it out.  There were surprisingly some pretty awesome options there.  Her earrings were less than $5 and they didn’t look cheap!  I was impressed.

It was a great night and they both had so much fun.

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We also got our carpet in our bonus room this week!!!  Yay, yay, yay, yay, yay…to infinity….yay!  Just to recap, these are the before pictures (sheets are all over the place because we were getting ready to paint)…

This poor little room has been awesome for the kids, but frightening for their mom!  It’s just been the TV, video game playing, toys strewn everywhere, kids leave all their crap/dishes/trash/food crumbs all over the place room.  The carpet was extremely cheap and the paint was horrid….just cream, flat, low budget paint.

Sooooo, it definitely needed an overhaul!!  I went through the entire room, chucked a bunch of stuff and cleaned and organized everything.  Then, Kev and I painted it and we got new carpet that I looooooooove so much!!!

The coloring is a little bit off in some of these pictures.  The walls are a light-ish grey and the carpet is a grey and brown speckle.  The carpet is so soft and the whole feeling in the room has changed.  It is now a relaxing, inviting, comfortable space to be in and I love it so much.

It is absolutely thrilling.

It was a ginormous pain in the bum though!  We spent many, many, many late nights working on it and we are all tired.  It was so worth it though!  We actually got a new couch delivered yesterday and I looooooove it so much too!  I haven’t arranged the room completely yet though, so I’ll share pictures when I get everything situated.

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I also got a fun package in the mail this week.  Kohl’s recently started carrying Under Armour (Eeeeeeeee!!!!!!) and I couldn’t be happier about it.  I love Kohl’s and I love Under Armour!

Kohl’s sent me this fun package to promote the new Under Armour relationship….

They sent a beautiful duffle bag, a cute running hat and some workout headbands.  I love them!

FYI, I used to be a part of the “Kohl’s Yes2You Health and Wellness Preview Group.”  It was a lot of fun.  I was a part of the group for a couple years and they sent me some packages full of fun products, I ran The Color Run in honor of Kohl’s and they even showed up at my house once and surprised me with a camera crew and a bunch of fun products.

I love Kohl’s and have really enjoyed working with them!!!

Ya know, sadly I haven’t been working with companies for a while now.  I just haven’t had the time to do it and it makes me sad. 🙁  It’s really about all I can do to update this blog once a week!

I loooooove receiving products from companies and I love promoting and sharing my favorite companies and products with all of you!  I hope my life will calm down soon and I can start working with my favorite companies again.

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Well, I’m happy to say that I am FINALLY starting to see some progress in my body this week!  I’ve told you guys many, many, many times about the frustration I’ve had with weight loss/fat loss/toning up/leaning out lately.

It has been tough!!!

I always eat a fairly healthy diet, but I’ve been following a very consistent, very clean, very healthy diet religiously for about 6 weeks now.  I’ve kept my calories right about 1300-1600 every single day.

I’ve mentally kept track of my macros, which I know isn’t as good as actually keeping track of macros, but I’ve been very conservative.  I always overestimate the calories/macros I think is in everything.  I eat a lot of the same things often, so I’m very familiar with the general macro counts too.

I’ve snitched a tiny bit here and there (to keep my sanity), but it’s been very minimal.  I’ve been working out very hard 4-6 times a week.  I’ve sucked at getting my sleep, but that’s nothing new.

AND, my body has stayed the same.

In fact, I have felt poofier than I usually do!  I am very familiar with my body and it has just felt “off” lately.  I’ve had this happen to me before and I’ve learned to not get discouraged.  I’ve learned to just continue to work hard, eat well and the results will eventually come.

Oh and BTW, I love living a healthy lifestyle anyway.  I look forward to my workouts.  I love filling my body full of healthy, nutrient dense food.  I love crappy food too though.  Ha ha.  I don’t consider what I’m doing to be a huge grueling sacrifice.  I find joy in taking care of my body and being disciplined…even when I don’t see a dang bit of results!  I know it’s good for my body regardless.

BTW, one of the stupidest and most frustrating things I hear from people is when they say things like, “I’ve been working so hard to lose weight and if I don’t see results soon, I’m going to give up.”  OR  “I just can’t lose weight because I’m too old/can’t exercise/bad genes (yada, yada, yada.)”  OR “My body stays the same whether I eat well or not, so I’m just going to eat whatever I want.”  OR  “I’ve tried to lose weight so many times and nothing works so I’m not going to try anymore.”

You get the drift.

I promise, promise, promise that if you take care of your body, feed it well, exercise….you WILL see changes…eventually.  It may take a while, it will definitely take hard work and dedication, but it is sooooo worth it!  I can’t tell you guys how many times I’ve worked my butt off for weeks (sometimes months) and have seen very little results.  It is maddening.

BUT, I never give up.

I know that taking care of my body, eating well and exercising is always a good thing….always!!!  I know that my body loves me for it even if my clothes don’t fit like I want them to and the scale doesn’t show it.

FYI, I remember about 12-13 years ago I had my cholesterol and triglycerides tested for the first time.  I was in my late 20’s, I was not overweight and I thought of myself as “healthy.”  I don’t remember the numbers, but I remember my “good” cholesterol was low, my overall cholesterol was just barely under normal and my blood pressure was a little bit over normal.  I remember being surprised by that because I considered myself the be healthy!

The past 10 years I’ve completely changed the way I eat and the way I exercise.  I am committed to living a healthy lifestyle and I love it.  I’ve had my blood taken to test all my stats (cholesterol/triglycerides/thyroid/glucose,etc.) a few times since then and I’ve always had great numbers!  My cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides are always well below normal and my blood pressure and resting heart rate are always low!  It’s very rewarding.

Soooo, whenever I work my butt off and don’t “see” the results, I remind myself that I’m still taking care of my body and there are a lot of “results” going on inside my body that I can’t see.  That’s why I never, ever understand people who just give up on their health!  That’s crazy.

Anyway, with that being said, I’ve finally been seeing some results this week.  I’ve noticed my jeans all feel a little bit looser, the scale finally dropped (about 3 pounds) and my love handle is disappearing!  Woot!

Folks, whenever my body gets wacky (feels “off,” gains weight, bloats up, weird digestion, etc.) I always notice a love handle appears around my middle.  AND, whenever my body decides to kick in and cooperate, one of the first things I notice is my love handle goes away.  Isn’t that weird?

Yes, I can actually see my abs again.  A few weeks ago I could grab a big hunk of skin around my middle.  This week, I can hardly grab anything.  Very, very cool.  I feel leaner and my body just seems to work better.  The changes are minor, yet significant.  I’m hoping the results will continue to come.

Oh, and another thing I decided to do, was to tighten up my diet a little bit more during the week.  For the past month or so, I’ve been doing two low carb days a week.  Well, this week I decided to keep it lower carb Monday-Thursday.  I still start my day off with a regular (not low carb) breakfast, usually oatmeal or protein pancakes with scrambled egg whites on the side, but I keep the rest of the day on the low carb side.  I love it because it helps to keep me motivated and keeps my overall diet that much better.

I’ve still been keeping it healthy on the weekend, but I include more fruit/brown rice/grains, etc.  On Friday I’ve also been having a cheat meal.  It’s perfect for me and I’m loving it.  Sooooo, for now I’m just going to keep on doing it!

Well, I think that’s all I have to share today. I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend!