2019 in Snapshots

January 8, 2020January 10, 2020Leave a comment

This one is purely for me. A 2019 year in review:

January

I finished my second ever crocheted blanket! (Husband asked for a looonnngggg blanket, so I delivered.) Oh, and I started off the year as a red-head… I love my red hair, but this was the second worst hair decision of the year.

February

We also had Valentine’s sushi and I tried my hand at Amigurumi. The sushi was delicious, but I stopped crocheting after exactly one amigurumi ball. It’s a cute ball, though.

Look at all that lack of husky hair! Ahhhhhhhh.

March

Husband got back to work on his 67 Mustang this month! Look at that engine. ❤

I also got my blonde back! Hurray! And I tried my hand at making bread from scratch. 2018 was the year of pies but I tried to diversify my baking skills in 2019.

April

Back to the races we went! How can you live in Kentucky and *not* go to Keeneland?
(Actually very easily… With all the track problems in California and now here, it makes me nervous every time we go. But I digress.)

To end the month we rekindled our youthful spirits and went to see Avengers: Endgame… At 3:00 in the morning. **Yes, 3 AM.** I haven’t stayed up until 3 AM since college, let alone to go to the movie theater! It was fun, though. And now I can say I’m still not old.

May

In May we had a visitor. That is a groundhog. And he’s coming up through ~~our patio~~ what was our nice, completed, not-broken patio. *sigh*
(Chair-cage so the Husky won’t eat Mr. Groundhog, even though he probably deserves it.)

Also in May:
I added to my tattoo collection! That makes 8 total now.

Lola ate a really big bone, and I dreamed about vacation.

My mom, sister, and I went strawberry picking! (An annual tradition.)

And we ended the month by seeing Coheed & Cambria in concert. No person in that venue had as much fun as we did that night. I think this solidified Coheed as our favorite band.

June

…but the flight was so worth it. We had a balcony room on the most beautiful ship.

We snorkeled in an underground cave in Mexico, and Jacob swam in the ocean with sea turtles, and we ate the most delicious conch fritters ever.

But our favorite part and the highlight of the trip was hiking to some of the Mayan Ruins in Belize and climbing to the top of Lamanai.

And on June 20th we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.
(Hence the romantic vacation!)

But then we had to say goodbye to paradise…

…and we came home to a Husky pupper with a couple very bad hotspots.

July

We fixed our patio, and got our fence stained, annndddddd had an accident involving a very hot grill and some very melt-able siding… All is well though, no major damage.

I reached peak adulthood as far as gift wrapping is concerned when my niece turned 12.

And then I reverted directly back to my own childhood when Kiki’s Delivery Service came back into theaters for one weekend only. I was the nerdiest one there, complete with my Kiki shirt, red bow, and Jiji tattoo.

August

and my husband’s birthday on the 3rd!
Unfortunately for him, it’s usually the same weekend… But we always carve out time to celebrate anyway, and we always have a party later on in the month to make up for it.

This year we decided on a LAN party for Jacob’s birthday!
(But we forgot to take a group picture until after I had already gone home and gone to bed. Oops!)

September

At least this pretzel protects us from Turkey Vultures, though. Whoever said that dogs don’t look up at the sky, did not know what they were talking about.

September was a big turning point for me internally; this is the first time in my life that I had the confidence to wear a crop top. Maybe that sounds silly, but it was something I had always wanted to do but never felt like I could.

we had to buy a new dishwasher in September! Which was very adult and very exciting.

And then we flooded the kitchen, which was much less adult and definitely not exciting. But after a couple days and a couple dozen trips to Lowe’s, we finally leveled up our “Replacing Large Appliances” skill in our Adult Skill Tree.

My nephew turned 15 in September, and I had my very first hummingbird in my flower garden!

And for the very last weekend of the Summer months, me and the girls hung out all day on the patio and soaked up all the sunshine we possibly could.

October

And then I got sick…
Sick isn’t so bad, though, when you’ve got cuddly doggos, and Zelda to keep you company. Also, with Alka-Seltzer brain you come up with meals like Pancakes and Chicken Tenders. I ate that meal for about 3 weeks straight.

By the second weekend, the Halloween festivities had officially begun! I went as Ciri from the Witcher and Jacob went as Inigo Montoya from the Princess Bride!

This year we had two different costume parties and my family’s pumpkin carving party.

I don’t fully dress up for the Pumpkin Carving Party, but I at least stay in spirit with fun makeup.

Even though distance leaves us missing one of our group and adulthood leaves us missing a few others, I’d say this was our best Halloween Party so far.

November

We ate lots of food, spent lots of time with our families, and shopped the sales, but mainly my November consisted of decorating for Christmas!

December

…but a LOT of bad happened this month, too. Luckily I have a supportive husband who will hold me when I cry or take shots with me on random Tuesday nights.
(But he can’t talk me down when I’ve got hair-cutting scissors in my hand… We’ll need to work on that one…)

*(This picture interrupts my train of thought, but I couldn’t not include it. She’s gone full dork.)*

And we closed out 2019 by entering the new year in true 20s style. I think Gatsby would’ve been proud.
It was a wonderful night with my favorite people.

There’s no better way to remember the closing year and celebrate the new.

A Full Day of Healthy Eating

January 3, 2020January 3, 2021Leave a comment

It’s 2020! To celebrate the new decade, I’ve been doing what any amateur adult would do and I’ve been eating all the bad food. And by bad food I obviously mean the most delicious food that is the worst for your body. I’m talking pizza. I’m talking taquitos. I’m talking all the chicken nuggets. Add all the soda pop and alcohol I’ve been consuming to replace all the water I haven’t been consuming and it’s safe to say I need to replenish some nutrients here.

So…

…this is my full day of eating when I’m being extra good to myself while also eating in a deficit.

(Actually it’s a combination of what I ate Monday and what I ate yesterday, but don’t tell the food police. I eat basically the same thing every day so it’s fine.)

Breakfast

My easiest meal. Mostly because it’s the same thing every day of my life.

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Jimmy Dean Delights: Turkey Sausage, Egg White, & Cheese English Muffin with Coffee (elixir of life) and my First Liter of Water

They’re easy, they’re healthy, and they’re delicious. I eat the same thing for breakfast every day. Listen, breakfast was always hard for me because as much as I try to make myself be a morning person, I am not a morning person. So I found something that works for me and that’s what I’ve stuck to for the past couple years. And of course I add Tapatios hot sauce. Only Tapatios.

Lunch

Lunch is the hardest meal of the day, in my opinion. I work at my husband’s business and if you know anything about owning a business you understand me when I say sometimes we don’t get to take lunch. If the phones are ringing off the hook or we’re short-staffed in the warehouse, we all jump in and help keep everything running smoothly at the expense of our “break-time.”

So here are my typical lunch options for busy days vs normal days:

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Busy Days (Monday): Subway Steak & Cheese Salad with their Chipotle Southwest Sauce and Sweet Onion Sauce for dressing

According to my metabolic type and personal research, my body functions best on higher protein, lower carb foods. (I am not one of those people who can have a cup of white rice for every meal and lose weight. I will bloat until I look like Violet Beauregarde.) So when I can, I opt for no bread. Our subway also has a drive-thru so on busy days I swing by there and eat at my desk. This is what I had on Monday.

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Normal Days (Thursday): Bird’s Eye Veggie Made Rotini Alfredo with Broccoli

This is still a very easy meal… but hey, I do have to stick this one in the microwave. Honestly, I don’t have time to cook at lunch and I even if I did, I don’t want to. This pasta is great and I usually throw in some leftover veggies from the night before; today was broccoli.

Dinner

As a rule of thumb for my dinners I try to make them:

Little to no carbs
A good source of protein
A full serving of vegetables
As little processed ingredients as possible

I already showed you my turkey scramble recipe, but I also love to make fish:

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Marinated Salmon with Steamed Broccoli

That sounds very fancy, but it is not at all. I get individually frozen salmon filets and a 30 minute marinade. When I get home from work, I thaw my salmon in cold water, then stick it in the fridge with my marinade for half an hour, then saute it in a skillet. Literally that easy. Oh, and I get steam-in-the-bag frozen broccoli so that gets popped in the microwave while I cook the salmon. Ta-da! A well balanced dinner.

And that’s basically it. A couple things to note:

I try not to snack on a daily basis because I can’t control myself around a good snack. I mean honestly, who can though?

I don’t count calories or macros anymore simply because I know the nutrient breakdown of the foods I eat regularly because I have counted calories and macros for so long. It’s redundant and doesn’t give me anything by writing it down anymore. I highly recommend it, though, if you don’t already have a good idea of what you’re consuming calorie and nutrient wise.

I drink 3 liters of water every day throughout my day, and a cup of decaf green tea before bed

Voila! A full day of eating. I’m slowly but surely putting together a blog about how I figured out how to eat healthy and how I make my “meal plans” so if all of this sounds like something you could get on board with but don’t know where to start, keep an eye out for that blog. It took me about six years to figure out how to eat healthy on my own so if you’re struggling, I feel you. The best advice I have is that the slower you start off the easier it will be to maintain changes. Give it time.

But okay, that all sounds very bloggy. I’m going to go now.

Did anyone else celebrate going into the ’20s by partying like Gatsby? First I took a drink, then my drink took a drink, then the drink took me.

The January First Song & Dance

December 30, 2019January 3, 2021Leave a comment

Holy moley.

Life really knows how to kick you when you’re down, doesn’t it? I think this has been the most difficult, most confusing, most painful month of my entire life. But you know what?

December is almost over, thank God.

I’ve never wanted to be one of those people that was like “Start the new year fresh!” I don’t know why though, because deep down I’ve always been this person.

I love fresh starts.
I love round numbers.
I try to go into every day with a clean slate, every week with a new focus, and every month with a new goal.

So why do I hate on the “new year – new me” trend every year? Am I so hipster that I hate it just because it’s popular? Possibly.

I think it also makes me sad, and I don’t like being sad. People are so motivated for JANUARY FIRST and ready to start on JANUARY FIRST and excited for JANUARY FIRST and then the other 364 days of the new year are neglected. If we truly want to have a “new year – new me” mindset, then we should all be restarting our 365 day year every single morning.

If we all treated every day like it was JANUARY FIRST I guarantee we would see:

- More kindness and generosity
- Gyms packed with motivated people reaching their goals
- Coffee shops filled with avid readers
- People cooking themselves and their families healthier meals
- More bad habits kicked
- Less money unwisely spent
- Overall more happiness all around

…and all the other popular new year’s resolutions that people keep for JANUARY FIRST and then forget about because it too quickly becomes January second.

So, I know I have winter goals that I’m chipping away at (badly, might I add; I told you it’s been a horrible month), but I do have one New Year’s goal:

I do not want to make any New Year’s goals.

I want to have goals for every season, every month, every week, and every day, and I don’t want them to be limited by waiting for the big sparkly ball to drop at midnight. I think the world would be a better place if every day were New Year’s day.

If anyone reading this has had as shitty of a month as I have, I’m so sorry. Whatever you’re going through: I’m sorry and that sucks. Try to remember that every storm runs out of rain. (Isn’t that a country song? I think that’s a country song.)

And that’s my two cents. See you next year!

I gave myself bangs, guys. That’s how emotionally unstable December 2019 has made me. And yes, I do regret them. Thank you for asking. *sigh*

A Very Merry Leg Day

December 23, 2019January 3, 2021Leave a comment

Good morning, interwebs.

This isn’t a cutesy blog like a couple days ago, this blog will mostly be my own brainstorming; you’ve been warned.

It’s currently 6:43am, I’m barely conscious, but today I’m going to do a lower body day at the gym. I’ll be taking off Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (mostly because I have so many places to be… I love the gym on holidays because no one is there), so I’m going to make this workout a killer.

The title says “leg day” but that was for brevity and word cadence, this will actually be my complete lower body workout for the day.

Stretch

I’ve heard controversial things about the benefits of static stretching lately, but my hamstrings are extremely tight and a nice toe-touch feels good, sue me.

5 minute Aerobic Warm-Up

I walk the track at my gym for 5 minutes usually for my warm-up because it’s easy and machines make my legs feel like they’re walking themselves afterwards and I really don’t need that confusion first thing in the morning.

3 x 10 Banded Side Leg Raise / Banded Leg Kick-Backs Superset

These exercises really warm up the glutes and stretch out the hammies. I typically start with a smaller set of both of these un-banded to correct any issues with my form and address any pains, then I go straight into this superset. I do 10 leg raises and immediately to 10 kick-backs on the same leg before switching sides.

3 x 10 Weighted Back Extensions

I prefer to use the free-weight machine not the one with the plates, but sometimes a girl is lazy. Today I will put this at the beginning of my workout to make sure I have the strength and will-power to use the free-weight one. With this exercise I always have to remind myself not to over-extend at the top; you should be dipping forward as far as you can but then pulling up only until your spine is straight and your torso and shoulders are aligned with your hips.

3 x 10 Kettlebell RDLs / Standing Side Crunches

RDLs or Romanian Deadlifts are probably my favorite lower body exercise at the moment. “But Emily, why not do regular deadlifts, they’re a more composite exercise, you preached about composite exercises…” True, however I have a very weak lower back and very strong quads. Deadlifts are a quad dominant movement that incorporates the entire body; whereas RDLs are more localized in targeting the glutes and lower back while still being a similar move. Ya girl wants to have a strong lower back without her thick thighs getting too much thicker, alright.

And as if that wasn’t a workout enough, while I’m resting my back and booty I immediately do 10 standing side crunches on each side with the same kettlebell. These are the adult version of “I’m a little teapot.”

3 x 10 Leg Press Machine

Again with the controversy, I have no idea if stance matter when it comes to the leg press machine, but I’ve always heard that it does. I use a wide, high, pointed-toe stance. From what I’ve read and felt, this stance helps target the hamstrings, glutes, and inner thighs, and let’s the quads chill a little bit.

3 x 10 Hip Abductor Machine

The awkward one.

3 x 10 Hip Adductor Machine

The one that makes you feel like you’re at the gynecologist.

5 minute Cool-Down

Depending on how I feel when I get done I either stretch more or walk the track or hop on a bike with no resistance. Today (and usually, tbh) I walked the track.

Ta-Da! That was my lower body day. Time wise, I aim to be at the gym from 7-8am every day, so for me this took about an hour from the time I put my jacket in a locker to the time I walk out the door. It may take longer if these are new moves to you or if you take it a little easier than I do when I’m jacked up on pre-workout.

I’m sure there are better workouts out there, but I know there are much worse (and I’ve probably done them). If you try this routine or take inspiration from it to create your own, I’d love to know about it! The contact form goes straight to my email so drop a line!

Alrighty, that’s all. And if I get too occupied or lazy to blog for the next couple days:

Merry Christmas, internet!

Yes, my earrings do jingle. Thank you for asking.

Day 28/90: How to Re-Set

December 22, 2019January 3, 2021Leave a comment

Hey, hi, hello, internet.

Being an adult is weird… One moment you’re achieving your goals, blogging every day, hitting the gym, then the next moment your grandmother dies…

My grandmother passed away last Friday so I’ve been on a life-hiatus for the last week. When we lived in Wisconsin, we would drive to Kentucky to visit my Mamaw and Papaw every Thanksgiving. I fully credit Mamaw with my love of nature. Me being the true born city girl that I am, I never really did anything outside… until Thanksgiving. Mamaw would take me four-wheeling into the mountains; we ~~walked~~ waded in the creek for miles collecting rocks (I still collect rocks and minerals btw); we would play in the barn with the newest animals she had or walking across the plank between the two lofts; and she would sing while I played my violin on the porch (very badly as a 5th grader, but she didn’t care). She was 84 but truly acted like she was 14, in the best way. I’ll never look at Kentucky mountain or valley again without seeing her there.

Pardon the crass transition

Without surprise, I’ve fallen off the wagon as far as fitness and health goes for the past week, so I thought this would be a good time to talk about how I re-set and kick my butt back into gear.

How to Re-Set Your Goals

#1 Re-evaluate your goals

People “mess up” on their goals for a multitude of different reasons, most of them not nearly as dramatic as death, but regardless of the reason you need to first determine if it is a you-problem or a goal-problem.

A lot of the time it’s a you-problem (that sounds harsh but stay with me) where you’ve either lost motivation, or been a little too lax on yourself, or maybe it’s the holiday’s and you let yourself indulge, or maybe heavy, adult things smacked you in the face like they did me. All of those scenarios can be summed up by saying:

life happens. And that’s okay!

However, sometimes it’s a goal-problem. Maybe you got injured because your workouts were too intense, or maybe you’re exhausted from too few calories, or maybe you’re truly burnt out from being TOO strict on yourself. You have to be honest with yourself and adjust if your goals are too much to handle all at once.

#2 Let yourself change your mind!

If you need to adjust your goals, allow yourself to do so. This was going to be lumped in with the “re-evaluate” part, but I thought it was worth it’s own bullet point!

People (me, I’m people) get so stuck in their ways sometimes and don’t allow themselves to change their mind. Don’t set yourself up for failure! Adjust your goals so that they are still challenging but attainable.

#3 Be very strict for the first few days, but don’t overcompensate.

Again with the setting yourself up for failure; don’t overcompensate! Do what you would normally do to chug along towards your goals.

Think about it this way, if you push yourself too hard during your re-set you’re more likely to fail again, and then you’ll have to re-set again, and if you overcompensate again then you’ll be more likely to fail again, and then you’ll have to re-set again… You see what I mean? So start fresh. Move on. You can’t change anything you’ve already done, so do better this time around.

#4 Stay positive.

This is probably the most important part of a re-set for any goals. Your mindset can make all the difference when it comes to starting over.

Keep in mind:

You’ll bounce back quicker than before
You’ve already done this part successfully once, you can do it again
Take it day by day.
Actually, take it decision by decision.
- If someone offers you a Christmas cookie and you only get those cookies at Christmas and you really want that cookie… Eat the cookie. But then the very next decision make sure it’s a good decision. That will set you back on track.

No matter what your goals may be or why you need a goal re-set right now, I hope this blog hits the right notes for you.

Does anyone have any other tips and tricks? Motivation? I’ll take it all: Questions, suggestions, criticism, concerns, send them my way please and thank you. I will be starting my re-set tomorrow. The day before Christmas Eve. Because I am a masochistic idiot.

Wish me luck.

Okkkkaaayyyyy bye!

Mamaw