M.I.A.

Wow. I completely fell off the wagon. It's been over a month since I posted. Woops!

Let me explain. Back in July, I was prepping for my parents' mid-August arrival. My brother Rob with wife Crystal and son Asher were coming too. I had been keeping a running list of projects to do while they were here, but then realized some of them I could just do myself. So I tried to get as many of those smaller projects done before they came so that I wouldn't feel like the list was overwhelming. Here are a few teasers:

That, on top of cleaning everything.

Basically, I got so busy doing projects, cleaning, hosting parties, hosting family, etc that I stopped blogging about it. And the day my parents left, my computer's hard drived died. Completely. ...I wonder if it had anything to do with Jason squirting about a tablespoon of hand soap on the keyboard last month.... Luckily Dave had made a backup image a few months ago, so most of my stuff was saved. PHEW! He put the image on my new hard drive about a week ago. And here I am. Writing this catch-up post. And here you are. Reading it. Much obliged.

It was so great to have them all here. We went from 2 in this small house to 7! Mom & Dad slept in my room, I slept on the futon in the playroom/front room, Rob & Crystal slept in the living room on a big air matress, and Asher slept in a borrowed pack-n-play in the office/craft room. In other words, there was someone sleeping in every room of the house. Except the kitchen, of course.

Jason and Asher had a great time together and even took their regular naps, despite all the extra activity and noise in the house.

Even though these aren't good pictures, I love some of their expressions.

 

Trying to give each other a high five:

It was about 10 days of projects, projects, projects - taking down my dangerously precarious wood fence, installing a vinyl fence, replacing two light fixtures, making a third light fixture, a couple trips to Ikea, several to Lowe's and Home Depot, putting together two more chairs (so everyone could sit around the dinner table), and hanging a mirror. Wow. On top of that, Rob, Crystal, and Asher took a trip in the middle of those 10 days to visit some of Crystal's family a few hours away in Roosevelt/Vernal. And while in the Vernal area, he also did some concrete work for Crystal's grandparents - repairing a concrete slab in front of their house. And on top of that, Rob was trying to study for a final that he had to take during their stay. An engineering final. Not just some easy-peasy class final. 

This is what my garage looked like at the height of project-ing.

But being the amazing brother that he is, he even squoze (that's the new "squeezed" - it's better, don't you think?) in a game of Zilch. That was probably the highlight of the whole visit. We all played (even Mom!) and had so much fun teasing each other and laughing laughing laughing. Mom and Crystal laughed so hard that they started to cry! It's a great feeling to make people laugh that hard. And my brother's agree - there's something sooo great about being able to make your parents laugh. I have the best family!!

Oh, and we also went out to dinner with the cousins for my birthday (Ashton & Jen, me & Jason, Tiffany & Peter, Dad & Mom, Crystal & Asher) ...

... and met up with some old friends from Toledo for ice cream another night. Yuuuum. (LtoR: Brandon & Lisa Jastel, Jason, me, Ashlynn Jastel, Mom, Ashley & Dan Reyes-Cairo.)

Double Oh! The night my parents were coming in, I hosted a birthday/going away party for Brandon & Lisa and their little girl Ashlynn (she was turning 3). That was a lot of fun too. A few other old Toledo friends showed up for that - Dan & Ashley, Tom and Lovetta Reyes-Cairo, Mike & Rachel Benner. And Jason made sure to walk by the huge double chocolate Costco cake as much as possible so he could swipe the frosting as he passed.

Workout Schedule & printable

I try to workout just a little bit every day. I'm talking like 5 minutes. Obviously, that's not a lot, but it's do-able and it's better than nothing. And sometimes I just do 10 lunges from my bed to the bathroom before I get Jason in the morning - that's more like 15 seconds of workout. But I'm trying to do just a little more.

I typed up a workout schedule to remember what to do which days.

It's hard to read in this format, but if you want to print it, it should be clear as day. (You could always convert it to a pdf or word format with THIS site too, so you could read it before printing.) I didn't write down how many reps or sets so that you can personalize it to what you want or can handle. And I didn't want it set in stone paper for myself either, that way I can increase reps/sets without having to cross off or erase or reprint.

Basically, I do lunges (10) right away every morning. And every day I do calf raises (2 sets of 20) in the shower (that way I'm not taking more time away from Jason). And then I alternate days for push-ups (10, the girl-kind) and sit-ups/crunches (50). And since my thighs are what really need some toning, I do one extra thing every day to work on them. That varies every day so that hopefully every muscle group in my thigh gets a little attention each week. Some of those aren't obvious as to what they are, so at the bottom I put the website - the one I used to choose those extras - in case you want some explanation or a reminder.

One, however, you won't find on that website, and I don't remember how I came up with it. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my own idea though. I call it 4-square lunges. With your right leg, you do one lunge in front, then one to the side, then one backwards. Then with your left leg, you do one backwards, to the side, and then the front. So it's kind of like you're making a square. Or maybe a circle? Anyway, I do 5 rounds of those.

Philosophy: I love running, but I always come up with an exuse not to do it. I know it'd be good cardio and good leg-toning, but it just doesn't happen. But if I can do something in the house, without equipment, before I shower, I'll do it consistently. And I believe that a lot of times the trick to weight-loss or muscle-toning is to get your body used to exercise, even if it's just a little bit each day. I think it takes our bodies a while before they figure out, "Oh! I'm supposed to be burning fat!" They're just slow at "getting" it. But once they do, you actually start seeing a little progress.

Of course, you gotta eat healthy too. Other than eating well-rounded meals, I avoid soda pop and candy - pure sugar turns into pure fat. I love dessert, though, and have to have something sweet after dinner. I think desserts are a million times better than candy or pop b/c even though they have sugar, it's not concentrated sugar and it usually has other good ingredients that your body knows how to use - eggs, flour, salt, cinnamon, cocoa, fruit, milk, etc. Oh, and if you eat dessert pretty soon after dinner (like 30-45 min), at least two good things happen. 1 - Your metabolism is still working hard and your blood-sugar levels won't spike. And 2 - the saliva in your mouth is still working hard, which means you won't be as prone to cavities. Yay!

I'm no expert, by any stretch of the imagination. Those are just things I've picked up in reading or through talking to my dentist. (He also suggested if you're drinking pop to not sip away at it because that just means the sugar is sitting on your teeth longer, giving it more time to eat away at those pearly whites. I'm sure the same goes for any sweet - don't eat a bite here and there over a period of time. Just eat it!) They're also just things I've philosophized over the years. :) So, you know, grain of salt, k?

Erin (#1)'s Wed. + Wall Art

As I recently mentioned, my friend Erin (or as I lovingly call her - Drin ... thank you text autospelling) got married in sunny San Diego. Stephanie, Erin, and I met in September 2001, our freshman year, in DT, 'T' hall, 4th floor :). Then sophomore year we all lived in The Colony apartments, along with several of our other friends from the 4th floor.

Emily (another 4th floor friend) + bun in
the oven, Steph & baby, Erin, and me

Obviously, we've kept in touch over the last decade, and Stephanie & I were so excited to hear she was getting married. We HAD to be there.

Erin w/ the new hubs. He BAWLED through
through the sealing. Aww!! :)

And luckily, even though San Diego down to the Mexican border lost ALL power the night before, they got it back on in time for us to fly in the next morning and for Erin to get married without ever knowing about it :).

A CARAMEL fountain!!

There HAD to be fruit - it's California!

Wedding favors - cupcake-esque cake balls

The hottest trend - a cupcake cake!

Steph with her baby, and me.

Such a beautiful gown.

Their reception was a BLOCK AWAY FROM THE BEACH at Laguna Bay (I think). Thank you! So Stephanie & I changed into our suits and walked on down to the coast :). It was a bit chilly, actually, as it was September and the sun was setting. But it was still so so relaxing. I fell asleep with the sound of crashing waves all around me. :) Ahh.

On our way back to the reception center, I saw this cute little beach shop and snapped some photos through their closed-for-the-day glass doors for a few diy ideas:

Love that last one-
You have my whole heart for my whole life.
Love You Madly