I Got Dressed Today

After reading that title you may be thinking....uh ok, so what? Well getting dressed in something other than yoga pants or pajamas is a big accomplishment for me. During the parts of the year I don't work, the only places I go on a regular basis are the grocery store and the gym. Neither one requires anything other than yoga pants and a tshirt!

I also won't lie, and I'll tell you I actually got dressed yesterday....not today. But I'm just now getting around to writing this post. oops.

Scott had to run to work briefly even though he technically didn't have to due to the weather conditions we were experiencing (2014 snowpocalypse anyone?). I was sitting on the couch reading my blogs like usual and thought to myself that this would be a good time to get up, shower, and put something on other than my pajamas. I don't really know what came over me since I knew I wasn't going anywhere, but I just felt like I should put a little more effort into how I looked for once. I also bought some new makeup suggested by Kaitlyn that I had been itching to put to use.

Here's how I turned out:

The makeup...ohhhh the makeup! Where has this stuff been my whole life?! Of the products Kaitlyn suggested, I bought the BB Cream, mascara, and eye shadow. The BB cream was amazing and went on so easily. My skin has been so dry this winter so my usual foundation would look dry and powdery on my face, not to mention it's probably several years old. My skin looked so fresh and smooth, and the color was super even. No more red splotchy cheeks! The eye shadow was a little tricky. I'm not that great at putting eye shadow on in the first place, but this one seemed to dry really quickly before I was able to get it spread out like it needed to be haha. But, it lasted ALL day. My usual non powdery eye shadow would always disappear from the creases in my eye lid after a while. The mascara was nice. Again, I'm not all that experienced with makeup so I can't put my thoughts into words very well. It went on well and spread my lashes out kind of brightening my eyes up. I'm glad I finally took the plunge and bought products that were suggested on a blog. I see them all the time but am usually skeptical and don't want to spend the money on something that may not work for me. I was really pleased with this purchase though.

Here's the products:

BB Cream // Eye Shadow // Mascara

After showering, getting dressed, and putting my makeup on, I really felt good about myself. I didn't feel like the frumpy homebody that I usually do, and I was proud of myself for taking just an extra few minutes of time to put more effort into myself. Plus, I figured it'd be nice for my husband to come home and not see the pajama wearing, messy bun having, barely showered wife on the couch that he usually does. And I was right! When he got home and we were making our plates for lunch, he told me I looked pretty :) He then went on to say that I always look pretty to him and he doesn't care what I wear, but it was nice that I did it for him. He's such a sweetheart, and I really couldn't have asked for a more easy to please husband.

So, after all that, I just want to say that it felt really good to take a little extra time to put just a little bit more effort into how I looked, even if it was just for one day. I think it helped my self esteem a little bit, and made me happier. I felt like a better version of me. And that is one thing that I am really trying to work on this year. If you're feeling some of these same feelings, take a few minutes for yourself to do something you enjoy or something you know will make you feel better about yourself. Just try it. I promise you'll like it and ask yourself why you didn't do it before now.

Til next time,
Kelley

Operation Get Fit

One of my goals/resolutions/whatever you want to call them for this year is to lose weight. Like, a lot of weight. So much so I feel like it will take a lifetime to lose it all. Baby steps though. I have to keep telling myself that all this weight didn't show up overnight, and it sure as heck ain't gonna go away overnight. My steps toward fulfilling this goal were kind of vague (join Weight Watchers again, limit eating out, and get back in the gym blah blah blah).

I joined Weight Watchers again on January 7 and have been to three meetings so far. My first week of being on the plan was the same week Scott and I went to Louisiana for the George Strait & Jason Aldean concert and then my parents' house for the weekend. Needless to say I didn't eat well that week. I am weighing in on Tuesdays so that next Tuesday wasn't a very fun one. I had gained 2.2 pounds....in a week! Fortunately I didn't go in there with high expectations. This week though, after eating well and going to the gym three times for a little elliptical action, I was down 2.4 pounds!!! Overall I'm down only .2, but a loss is a loss. And I lost everything I had gained. Winner winner chicken dinner!

To be a little more specific about my Weight Watchers plan, I am currently following trying to follow the Simple Start program. This program is slightly different than their more traditional program of counting points for every single thing you eat. The Simple Start program only requires you to count your points for anything that is not a power food: fruits, veggies, whole grain breads, fat free dairy, etc. You're allowed 7 points a day of what they call indulgences: full fat cheese, baked potato, Weight Watchers treats, etc. I have done semi-well on this plan so far and will continue giving it a try for a few more weeks. It is definitely EASIER since you don't have to count every.single.thing., but if I'm not successful on it, then I will go back to the other program.

As far as the gym goes, I started out just doing cardio on the elliptical, stationary bike, or walking on the treadmill. I'm currently nursing a knee issue so I haven't been going hardcore. Scott and I did meet with a trainer to get a personalized strength training workout for each of us. We have one leg day, one ab day, and one arm day. Our plan is to go to the gym five times a week: 3 strength training + cardio days and two cardio only days.

Oh yea...the title to this post is Operation Get Fit. Maybe you'd like to know why? I'm linking up with Sarah of Venus Trapped In Mars for a weekly gathering of other bloggers' posts about what they are doing to get fit. I love getting inspiration and motivation from reading other people's posts on weight loss and exercising. It helps me remember that I'm not alone in this process!

Here's my inspiration for the upcoming week:

Being overweight is hard. Losing weight is hard. Choose your hard. 

I'm choosing my hard. Are you?

Kelley

The Beginning of My Moyer Adventure

I took a nap for the first time in a long while yesterday afternoon. Hence why I'm writing this at 1:00 am. So there's that.

Scott and I originally wrote "our story" for our wedding website, but I'm afraid that website may disappear at some point; so I thought I'd put it here on my little space on the internet for the whole 3 people that read my little ol' blog :).

I was in the first semester of my junior year of college. Scott had moved to the same city from North Carolina only a few months before to attend graduate school at the same college as me and work as a video assistant for the football team. Scott didn't really know many people yet except for the guys he worked with, and I was just trying to make good grades. How we found each other is a story for another day, but at first we just communicated through Facebook, and that eventually led to phone calls. After a few weeks of just talking, a "date" was set up, and then I cancelled. More than once. I was totally apprehensive, and he still likes to remind me of it often. However, Scott didn't give up on me. I really wanted to meet him, but I was shy, scared, and basically worried about what he would think of me. His patience with me is one of his characteristics that initially stood out to me.

Picture taken the day we refer to as becoming "official"

So, in October of 2008, I was taking a theater class (totally an elective and totally boring) and had an assignment to attend the play that the school's theater department was putting on. I didn't know anybody in the class, and I didn't want to attend the play by myself so I asked Scott if he would like to go with me. I could tell he wasn't so sure about that, and anybody that knows him knows that he couldn't really care less about plays. Despite this fact, he agreed to meet me up there. I wasn't working at the time, so I was pretty much one of those broke college students...and I had to buy two tickets to the play. We were able to purchase student price tickets, but only one ticket per student ID. My roomate wasn't able to go with me to buy the second ticket at the cheaper price, so I quickly recruited a girl from my physics lab group. It really was a pain in the butt to get that second ticket. Scott and I had already confirmed the plans of when and where to meet, so that night...I go where I'm supposed to and wait for him. He's not there, and it's almost time for the play to start. After many phone calls and no answers, I had to go on in to my seat...and watch the stupid play by myself all the while wondering what happened to him. Did he stand me up? Did football practice run late? Did he get in a car wreck? I didn't know what to think. So after the play, I went straight home, still calling him and getting no answer. I finally left him a not-so-nice voicemail, which is the first time he experienced my feistyness. My roomate was home and of course we had a little talk about how I just got stood up. After I had cooled off and was about to go to bed, I get a phone call from Scott. He apologized over and over again and offered to pay for the ticket he didn't use. He was apologizing for falling asleep after football practice, and his phone was on silent! I didn't know whether to believe him at first, but I eventually did. And after almost 5 1/2 years together, I TOTALLY believe him :) I'm a forgiving person so we made plans to meet the next night. We just watched movies at my apartment (I had 3 roomates, so we weren't alone!), and the next day we met up with each other at the Homecoming football game. From then on out, we were inseparable. We celebrated our anniversary on October 17, and will have our sixth dating anniversary this year. 

This is just the beginning of our story though.

Til next time, 

Kelley

Goal Update

One week into January already. Geez, time seems to keep going by faster and faster every year. I figured I'd do a little update on my resolutions goals so I can keep track of what's working and what's not. Let's start off with the not-doing-so-hot list.

Growing in my faith- so yea...Sunday came around after my mom was here all weekend going through wedding pictures with me (that's a post for another day), I slept like crap and woke up feeling like crap. Therefore, no church going for us. It was nice spending a lazy day at home with the husband, but I really really really want to get back to visiting churches and going to church every week. Achieving this goal basically boils down to finding the will power to get out of bed, get ready, and go. I know I will feel better about myself if I just do it. Like Nike.

That whole time seems to be going faster thing?? Yea, my days feel like there's only about five hours between the time I wake up and go to bed. I have yet to sit down with my devotionals and read. I really would like to one day make a schedule of things to do, not just a to do list. I wonder if it would make me more productive to write down specific times to do this and that and for how long. This would require a new planner...sounds like a win win to me. Who doesn't love buying planners or calendars?!

Losing weight- I've decided to not do the 10 Day Cleanse...because of the whole saving money thing. This isn't really a negative, but just figured I'd tell you that I decided not to do it so the three people that read my blog wouldn't wonder where the posts about it were.

Saving money- My name is Kelley, and I have a craft store addiction. Now everybody says "Hi Kelley!"...okay moving on. I went into a craft store the other day looking for something for my mom, and I came home with stuff for myself. Sigh.

Scott and I are going out of town to use his Christmas present (George Strait and Jason Aldean concert, yea I'm an awesome wife!) Money will be spent. But it'll be worth it to see the King on his last tour, ever.

Now to the good stuff.

After our quick little getaway to LA, we'll be going to my parents for the weekend. Therefore, we'll be going to my old church Sunday morning. Woop woop. I also joined an online Bible study group through another blog (will post on this later), and I've already purchased my book! We'll be reading and studying A Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study by Jen Hatmaker. I'm kind of super excited about this and am itching to get started. We don't start until January 27 though. I joined Weight Watchers (again) and am super pumped for this too. I started counting my points on Sunday even though I hadn't changed my eating habits yet. Yikes! It was ugly, and the sad thing is, I didn't feel like I ate "that" bad. Monday I counted them again after making better food decisions that day, and the results were much better. Not great...but a lot better. Scott and I have also been to the gym two days in a row, and scheduled a meeting with the trainer at the gym to get a personalized workout for the both of us. Lastly, I started the 52 week money saving challenge that has been floating around on the internet...that one where you save $1 week 1, $2 week 2, $3 week 3, etc. So far so good since it's only been a dollar. ha! Starting about week 20, it's gonna get a lot harder! If When I complete it, I will have saved $1378 in one year.

So there we have it. I think I've done pretty good so far, and am looking forward to next week to see what else I can accomplish!

Till next time, 

Kelley

2014!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!

It has been a hot minute since I've posted on this little space of mine. Between working out of state for about six weeks, lots of traveling, two deaths in the family, Thanksgiving, sickness, doctor's appointments, Christmas, and life in general, my blog as well as lots of other things (most importantly, my weight loss journey) have been put on the back burner.

But guess what!!! It's a new year. A new me. A chance to start over. So I figured I'd write a little about what I'm HOPING to do this year..aka my resolutions. I actually don't like making new year's resolutions because I seem to forget about them after January, but this year needs to be different. This year I need to accomplish things, big things. Last year, the biggest thing on my mind was my wedding, getting married, and moving to a new city. This year needs to be focused on a lot of little things that will eventually add up to big things. So here goes my list of resolutions (the big things) and a few little things that will help me achieve each goal.

1. Grow in my faith
-Find a church home
-Join a Sunday school class/small group/Bible study
-Pick back up reading the Love Dare and doing our own Bible study at home with Scott
-Pick back up reading my daily devotional book and having my own quiet time, even if it is just a few minutes

2. Lose Weight
-Join Weight Watchers again
-Do the Advocare 10 Day Cleanse
-Limit eating out
-Get back in the gym

3. Save Money
-Limit my purchases on craft stuff to only things that I need for a current project
-Limit eating out (I know it's a repeat, but it will help with saving money also!)
-Find things to do with Scott that aren't expensive
-Pay with cash more often so I can put my change in our piggy bank
-Only buy things on my shopping/grocery list

I believe all of these things are totally achievable as long as I take one step at a time and don't put too much on my plate at once. Here's to a new year, a new me, and hopefully good things to come!!!

Til next time,

Kelley