Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Why I Started This Blog

Well, it's been a while since I've written a post. We've been a little bit busy lately which is a nice change. Sports are starting back up where Scott (the husband) works, so from now until next summer we will be busy busy busy with sporting events. Not that I'm complaining; I do love me some sports. 

So. Why did I decide to start this blog? Good question because so far I've not written a post about anything related to why I wanted to do this. Scott and I are trying wanting to lose weight. A.lot.of.weight. We have both tried several different weight loss avenues in the past and had some success, but nothing stuck with us. I read many many blogs about people who have or do use Advocare products and have had great results. I've read up on them, and decided that we should look into it more. I found out there is a 24 Day Challenge that helps kick start the weight loss process by doing a 10 day cleanse followed up by a 14 day fueling phase that is supposed to help your body achieve maximum results. There's of course a "diet", but it's not difficult to follow. I don't even want to view it as a diet but instead as a way to introduce us to a healthy eating lifestyle. The Advocare team that we are working with does not allow gluten or dairy for some parts of the challenge. This will probably be the hardest thing we will have to go through...we love our bread and cheese!!! I'm not gonna lie, I will be extremely ecstatic if we successfully complete it and have some sort of good results. 24 days seems like a long time, but I think we can do it. We ordered the challenge products a few weeks ago and will be starting the challenge Sept. 3. Wish us luck success!!! 

Our Advocare products ready to go! 


One of the main purposes for this blog is to be able to document our progress to keep ourselves accountable and to be able to share our progress and results with friends and family. We will be taking our measurements and weighing ourselves before we start and will only do so two other times during the challenge: after the 10 day cleanse and at the end. I think right now neither one of us are confident enough to share our weight with the world, but we will take pictures of the "before" and "after" to share with y'all. I will also share what some of our meals look like as well as some recipes for the really good stuff we come up with. Last but not least, we will be getting into a workout routine instead of the sporadic workouts we are doing right now. I will share what we do for our workouts and any progress we have with those. We are going to be doing the CouchTo5k app 3 days a week and going to the gym twice a week for weight training...before Scott goes to work. Help me!!! Carolina (our dog) and I decided to go out today in the 90 degree Alabama heat and repeat (for the third time) the first CouchTo5k workout. It.was.hard. I don't know if it's the heat, my lack of being in shape, or feeling like I'm getting a full body workout due to having my crazy dog on a leash, but it was hard to get through the full 30 minutes. 

Left top & bottom: Pre CouchTo5k 
Top right, bottom middle & bottom right: Post CouchTo5k #noshame #sweatglare


Moving on.

I'm the type of person that has to have physical motivators to get things done. For example, seeing the numbers dropping on the scale, checking everything off of a to do list, Pinterest inspirational quotes, or buying a pair of shorts that I can't wear yet and hanging them up as a reminder of why I'm doing this. I remember when I first started dating Scott (almost 5 years ago WHAT?!?) I bought myself some athletic shorts. They weren't that cute but were the only ones that fit. This is the time the Nike Tempo type shorts first came out, and I so badly wanted a pair of those. At the time my butt was just a little too big for them. Now my butt is way too big for them. Therefore, I will be using those too small shorts as one of my main motivators during this challenge and weight loss process. 

My motivation.



Happy Hump Day!
Kelley


Thursday, August 15, 2013

2 Months.

Today is our two month wedding anniversary!!! I figured I'd share a few of my favorite wedding pictures and 10 things I've learned in the past two months. 

1. Times goes by fast whether you want it to or not.
It's probably because we've traveled quite a bit in the past two months and only been home a few weeks here and there, but it really has blown by quickly. These two months have been a blur, a good one, but a blur nonetheless.
2. It's not all rainbows and butterflies.
Yes, marriage is wonderful, exciting, fun, and any other positive word you can think of, but not 100% of the time. It's also frightening, stressful, and confusing. There is no more "my money" and "his money"; it's our money. There's no more free room and board from mom and dad. There's a budget that needs to be figured out. There's a house that needs to be taken care of every single day...laundry, dishes, dusting, vacuuming, toilets to be cleaned, work schedules to plan around, bills to be paid, dinner menus to plan, etc. etc. etc. I've got to figure out how to live with a man. He's got to figure out how to live with me. We have to make big decisions on our own. We've got to figure out when to start planning a family -gasp-. If that' isn't scary, I don't know what is.


3. Laundry and dishes never stop needing to be done.
Referring back to #2. does.it.ever.end?! No. The answer to that is a big fat no.
4. Communication is important. 
He may think his day is boring and uneventful. I still want to hear about it. I may be upset about something and want to keep it to myself. He wants me to tell him what's wrong. Before marrying we lived in different cities and didn't see each other every day. Our communicating consisted of lots of text messages and random phone calls talking about nothing in particular. Now that we're married it seems our conversations are still the same. Having a real conversation with no distractions is something we try to work on every day.


5. Living with my husband is like living with a child.
I only have one sister. I only had to share a bathroom with one girl growing up. I never had to share a bedroom with anyone. I never had to pick up after anyone but myself. Being married I have to share a bathroom with an overgrown boy. 'Nuff said about that one. I have to share a bedroom with the same overgrown boy. I have to pick up after once again, said overgrown boy. It's a completely new experience and something I am continually having to learn about and navigate through. Talk about gaining patience too.
6. The husband's annoying habits have only multiplied, and they are going no where.
This goes back to #5. I will just list a few: he sprinkles when he tinkles only for me to step in it later, he leaves the toilet seat up for those nights I have to pee when I'm half asleep, he leaves his size 16 shoes in the middle of the floor for me to trip on, he leaves his dirty socks everywhere for me to have to hunt down to do laundry, and he leaves cabinet doors open for me to get aggravated about. I admit I'm a little nit picky about these things but c'mon!!! (Disclaimer: I know I have my own annoying habits too)


7. We are both addicted to technology and social media.
There's never a day where either of us doesn't have our nose stuck in some sort of technology whether it's the cell phone, lap top, iPad, Nook, or tv. We need to learn how to actually spend time together without being preoccupied. For example, I'm writing this blog post, and he's checking out football on the internet while we're both watching a movie.
8. I keep learning things about myself. 
I think I have learned more about myself in these last two months than I have in a really long time. It's hard to put in words, but I just know I have realized some things about myself, good and bad, that I hadn't paid attention to before.


9. He truly is my best friend and #1 supporter. 
I know without a doubt that I married my best friend, better half, true love, soul mate, whatever you want to call him. He is there for me physically and emotionally whenever I need him, and I know that he always will be. He pushes me, motivates me, encourages me, makes me laugh, and is by my side through everything; he's my rock and my happy place. He is my left hand man. (that's a reference to a Josh Turner song. Look it up; it's good)
10. I love him more and more every day. 
The day we said I do I thought I was on cloud nine. I thought that there was no way I could ever love somebody as much as I loved him that day. I was wrong. I love him more today than I did yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, annoying habits and all. I am proud to be his wife and proud to have his last name.


Here's to many many more months Mr. Moyer!!!

Photos courtesy of my awesome photographer Dona at A Digital Reflection.




     







     
                                                                              
                          



Friday, August 9, 2013

The Boys of Fall

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT TIME IT (almost) IS?!?!

Yep, it's 'bout time for probably the biggest thing in the south next to God and sweet tea...

FOOTBALL -insert happy dance here-

Now, I like me some baseball, and knock on wood, my team is doing pretty darn good right now. Go Braves! But, I looooooooove me some football. Being born and raised in the south it's pretty much a given that your Saturdays starting in August will consist of a few adult beverages, junk food, obnoxious opposing team fans, and the greatest sport ever invented.

In Alabama, pro football is no where near as popular as college football...that may or may not be due to that little school in Tuscaloosa that has won a championship or two in the past few years...but anywho, the hubs grew up in North Carolina for a while where he became a huuuuuuuuge Carolina Panthers fan. I never really followed pro football until I met him, so naturally I became a Panthers fan too. I mean their colors are so pretty, and number #59 is just plain pretty to look at. Hubs is participating in a fantasy league this year, and I've always been curious about them but have never done one. Then I stumbled across this:




I saw this and immediately thought..."hey that's cool. no way I'm doing it though because I'd totally suck." Then I told myself that if I didn't do it this time, when would I finally do one? Next year? Probably not. So why not now? I talked it over with the hubs and asked him how it works, what you do, etc. and he encouraged me to do it. So, here we are. I'm gonna do my first fantasy league!!! I'm kind of a little excited about this...now I've just got to come up with a creative team name and figure out my strategy :)

xoxo, Kelley

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

In a Funk

Y'all I am just in a funk lately, and this post is going to be a bunch of random thoughts going through my head right now. 

I think I'm beginning to go stir crazy since I'm not working right now and pretty much stay at home all day except for the occasional grocery store, Wal-Mart, or gym trips. I usually like going to the grocery store and just wandering the aisles looking at and touching all the food and random stuff I don't need (but thankfully don't buy most of the time). It's weird, but it's a stress reliever for me. However, I don't feel that way in any of the grocery stores here. No matter where I go I leave more stressed out, angry, aggravated, irritated, and every other negative word you can think of than when I went in. I am trying to come up with alternative places to go that will have everything I need in one stop and also be that source of stress relief I'm seeking, but none I've tried have really been any better than another. 

Looking for a job is stressful. I absolutely despise filling out job applications on the internet. What happened to good ole' paper applications you picked up at businesses?! I don't know why, but I would much rather my hand fall off from writing my information over and over again on paper than fill out applications online. I think it's also very impersonal. I may be shy, but I would at least like to say hello, introduce myself, and personally hand my application to a real person. It's also disappointing when you fill out app after app and don't hear anything back. Here I am sitting with a BS in chemistry and no job. Talk about feeling worthless and like a failure. Right now I really don't have much motivation to get out of bed before noon, and I think it's starting to wear me down. 

Living in a new city (much less, a college town) is also stressful. From needing to get directions to everywhere, to not knowing anybody (except my husband & a few of his coworkers), to having no idea what fun stuff there is to do, to constantly being surrounded by college students, to just plain not being in my comfort zone really sucks. There's no other way to put it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for my husband's job that brought us here, and I'm so glad he got a job back in Alabama, but it just doesn't feel like "home" yet. All of these things added together have made me become more of a homebody, and I don't feel like leaving the house most days. 

My days feel like that Groundhog's Day movie...I feel like I do the same things over and over, but at the same time I feel like I don't do anything at all. I wake up, check facebook and email, eat breakfast/lunch, do dishes, do laundry, pick up here and there, check facebook again, read my daily blogs, figure out what's for supper, check facebook again, work on some kind of craft project, etc etc etc. I don't see how stay at home moms stay sane! I need a little variety over here!

Now that I've probably bored you in all of my self-pity thoughts, here's how I plan to make these things better.

I'm going to keep searching for a better place to shop, figure out what time is the best time to shop. (i.e. when do the shelves get restocked? when are the least amount of people there?)and try to go in with a better attitude instead of beginning the shopping trip with a negative one. 

I will keep filling out those applications and pray! I know I won't get anywhere unless I put in the work to get there or without asking God for help! Remember that these things take time. Rome wasn't built in a day, and I've got to start somewhere. As far as getting up earlier, I need to start going to bed earlier for one. I also need to schedule as much as I can in the mornings so I have a reason to get up early. The hubs and I are also toying with the idea of doing our workouts in the morning once his work schedule starts to pick back up.

Scott and I are in the process of finding a church home. I'm banking on this to be one of the main places that I get to know people and make friends. I'm slowly learning my way around town, but need to venture out more on my own so I can learn more. I need to do more research of things to do around here (I think I've found a place to go in a couple weeks!) and find where the locals hang out...not the college kids! This place not feeling like home yet is probably normal, since I've been here full time for less than two months, but I'm praying that I get used to it and it becomes comfortable to me and finally starts to feel like home. 

Lastly, I need to make doable to-do lists. Instead of listing every single thing that needs to be done on my to-do list for let's say Tuesday...I need to only list what can be achieved in a single day. I think I'm one of those kinds of people that needs to set small goals instead of huge ones that seem like they can never be reached. I need to come up with a schedule that has me doing laundry on one day only if possible, bathroom cleaning on one day, vacuuming on one day, etc. That way I'm doing something different every day, and it makes time to add in fun stuff like a craft project, or a trip to Hobby Lobby or whatever cranks my tractor that day. Maybe I can make myself go for a walk outside instead of walking on the treadmill at the gym. This fix will need a little creativity, but I think it's manageable. 

&& just a little Pinterest quote to sum this post up

xoxo, Kelley