Race shirt keepsake quilt has arrived!

I received my race shirt quilt a week ago and I LUV it!  I think it turned out nicely.  I went two sizes larger (20 squares, 60"x75" couch quilt size) and it almost covers the top of our queen bed.  Can't wait to snuggle under it this winter!  :)

Race shirt keepsake quilt!

After my friend Amanda raved about her awesome race shirt quilt, I decided to take advantage of the living social deal as well.  I have until August to gather up all my race shirts and decide which ones I want to turn into a quilt.  I'm actually kinda excited about it.  Now I just need to decide if I stick to the standard 45x60 picnic size quilt (12 squares) or upgrade!?

Speaking of races...I haven't run a race since July or Aug of last year!  I need to get motivated and sign up for some races.  Perhaps I should do the Kristi 5K this weekend...

Giving blood, Saving lives

It's been over a year since I last donated blood.  The hubby and I were deferred back in June 2010 because we traveled to Mazatlan (malaria zone) and then of course I was pregnant, those vampire Dr's took enough blood to satisfy several blood drives!  Today was the first blood drive that we were eligible to particpate in at work.  I love donating and have been doing it since HS.  I feel like a better person when I give blood, knowing that I can help save the lives of 3 people every time I donate.

Mutant Virus

I'm not sure what I caught, some crazy mutant virus, but it took me out for 2 weeks!  It all began 2 Monday's ago (15th) with a sore throat and cough.  I went to the Dr that following Wed and they actually said I was fine, that there was nothing wrong with me.  Seriously?  I was coughing like crazy and my throat was red and it hurt to swallow.  They gave me a nose spray but would not write me a prescription for antibiotics.  PFFT.  The next day I practically lost my voice from all the coughing, my throat was worse and my nose started to run.  I was a mess.  All I could take was Robitussin, Tylenol and Sudafed.  By Sunday I was running a 101 fever and my throat was coated in white stuff.  :(  I even started having night sweats and chills, I just wanted to curl up in the fetal position and cry I felt so awful.  Come Monday morning I was back at the Dr's.  They took a 2nd strep culture (even tho first time it was negative) and they took some blood to test me for mono!!!  Holy moly, mono!?  This time they actually prescribed me a z-pack, thank god!  Unfortunately the z-pack didn't seem to help.  By Wed I was back at the Dr's office for a 3rd time.  It wasn't strep, it wasn't mono, they had no clue what I caught, so they took a gazillion more cultures and prescribed a different antibiotic.  Finally by Thursday I started feeling a bit better and by Saturday my throat we clear.  Hallelujah!  I received a call from the Dr on Monday (29th) and all my tests/cultures came back negative.  They still couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, I guess I just had one heck of a virus.  Besides a slight fever today, I seem to be on the mend. 

BLC Conclusion

According to the scale at work I didn't make my goal of 5%.  That scale HAD to be off!  I easily hit 5% according to my scale at home.  I was able to add on another 1% for doing 15 push ups in a row (thanks to The Shred!) at work.  My total came to 4% and my team took 4th place overall with an average of 2.5% weight loss.  Too bad the hubby wasn't in on the challenge.  Since signing up on myfitnesspal he has lost 10 lbs!

*** Update as of this morning 8/19, I hit my 2nd goal of 7%!!! Woohoo!  Work scale be d@mned! ***

Schlitterbahn!

This past Wednesday we took a family trip, sans baby, to the waterpark. 

16 week old Ryland was a bit young for the rides so he spent the day at daycare.  :)

It was a great day with perfect weather.  4 days later we are still recovering!  :Þ

BLC update - Goal #1 Achieved!

I've hit my first goal for the BLC - 5% weight loss!!  Last Friday I weighed myself at home, mind you this was before eating breakfast and sans clothing, and lo and behold I hit my pre-pregnancy weight (14 weeks post baby)!  Woohoo - Super excited!!  Of course then the weekend was upon us, which set me back a bit.  :Þ  No biggie as our final weigh in at work is 8/15, which gives me a couple more weeks to work on my goals.  It's crunch time!

I don't have this book, I just liked the illustration :) 



BLC Update and MyFitnessPal Obsession

Biggest Loser Challenge (BLC) Update:

We had our 2nd weigh-in last Monday (7/11) and I've lost 3%!!!  My goal for work is 5%, and my personal goal is 7%. I'm very happy with my results so far, of course I had baby weight to lose so that helps.  I'm keeping strong with the 4x's a week workouts.  As of this past Friday I started level 1 of Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred.  I had to wait until 3 months post baby before I could do any ab workouts.  Right now I am SUPER SORE as my core is very weak, it actually hurts to walk and sit.  My new workout plan is to replace the elliptical with the Shred, run on the other days and have 1 (maybe 2) rest day(s) a week.

I also have a new obsession that helps me monitor what I'm eating.  MyFitnessPal is AWESOME and it also has an app for my phone!  I found out about this calorie counter from my friend at My Crazy Life.  The website and mobile app both allow you to enter your height/weight/daily activity level and weight loss goal.  From there you are assigned a base calorie intake goal.  My goal is 1390 a day, egads!  What I love about this app is that I can use the bar code scanner to scan in foods with my camera phone, and it even allows me to add calories back into my day from nursing.  :)  SCORE!  I raved about this app so much that my hubby downloaded it and gave it a whirl.  Now we are both addicted.  It's very entertaining watching my astounded husband as he discovers how many calories he consumes.  He was very dismayed over how many calories are in pizza.  I don't foresee very many Double Dave lunches in our future.

7 inches shorter

Well, I finally did it!  I cut my hair!!  I went to a new place called Trashy Roots, they specialize in curly hair, and cut 7 inches off!  The stylist gave me a DevaCurl cut/style.  The Deva cut is a customized, indivudalized cut for curly hair - the hair is cut dry, as each curl falls naturally it is sculpted/snipped at the correct location.  She did a slightly modified cut for me as I also like to wear my hair straight.  I really like it, my curls have never looked so great!  Can't wait to see what it looks like straight.  :)  The stylist told me if I like the cut that we could go even shorter next time!

DevaCut 6/30/2011



7 inches cut off!



Straight hair 7/2/2011

I ♥ Purple Trainers!

My new Nike Lunar Trainers in purple. 6/15/2011

After seeing my sister-in-law in these shoes I just had to have them.

LUV the color, and they were on sale!

They are for running and cross training. 

BLC Update

Biggest Loser Challenge (BLC) Update:

I'm happy to say that I've been consistent with my workouts, making it to the gym 4x's a week.  I wish I could say the same thing about my diet.  I manage to eat healthy for 1.5 days before breaking down and eating junk food.  :(  Nursing helps burn calories but also has me jonesin' for chocolate and cookies (FAIL!).  I'm going to have to cowboy up and get serious about what I'm eating if I want to lose weight.  ~SIGH~ 

You can follow my workouts here:  Tina's Dailymile

Biggest Loser Challenge

Today my organization at work started the Biggest Loser 11 week challenge.  Weight loss is based on the percentage of weight lost, not actual pounds.  My goal is a 5% weight loss (trying to be realistic here).  This is good incentive for me to get back into my workout regime!  I haven't really put much effort into working out as of late...granted I had my baby 7 weeks ago, but I was cleared by the Dr for exercise 2 weeks ago.  :^/  Now I have some competitive motivation to put my running shoes back on and hit that pavement!  Not to mention I'd really like to wear my cute bikini's again at the pool.....

The nurse at work is keeping track of our weight loss to keep us all honest.  :Þ  Let the pain fun begin!

My new toy

We finally upgraded to smart phones!  :)  Here's my new toy, the HTC Inspire 4G (like the EVO).  Malek got the LG Phoenix.  I'm loving it so far.  It's ridiculously intelligent, so the learning curve has me cursing left and right.  :Þ

Princess Bride Quote-along

#93 - Attend a sing/quote-along at the Alamo

Finally can knock this one off of my lingering 101!  Malek actually found this event (to my surprise) and so we decided to check it out.  Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies from my childhood!  When we arrived at the Alamo Drafthouse they gave us some props for the show: plastic sword, bubbles and a bell.  You used the sword to fight with your neighbors during the sword fights, you rung the little bell whenever there was a 'love' scene, the bubbles were for the marriage ceremony with Prince Humperdinck (boo), and of course whenever Vizzini said 'inconceivable' you had to slap your forehead.  :)  Tons of fun!  Emma enjoyed it as well.

In Spirit at the Cap 10K

My friends are so thoughtful.  They knew I was sad to miss running the Cap 10K this year, I've been running it since 2005, so they found a way for my pregnant self to be there...in spirit of course.  After the race I always make them take a photo at one of the booths.  Here is 'our' shot.  :D


Cap 10K 3/27/2011

They left room for me to photo shop myself in!  Feeling the luv.  ;)

New Toys

Finally!!  We purchased a new washer and dryer this past Saturday (Lowe's had a great sale).  The ones we had were 9 years old and it was time for a change, plus the dryer squealed like a banshee.  We managed to sell our old washer/dryer on Craigslist in one day (crazy!).  Sunday we cleaned up the laundry room, painted and sealed the tile.  The new units arrived Monday afternoon - they're so pretty!  We wanted a top loader because we've heard so many people complain about the moldy smell of a front loader.  I can't wait to try them out!  Just in time for baby too.  :)

Our new washer and dryer! Whirlpool Carbio

We also decided to purchase a camcorder to capture life's amazing moments.  ;)  This piece of equipment is pretty sweet!  Not only does it take video in HD, it takes pictures as well.  Get ready for lots of videos of baby (no birthing videos!!)!

Canon VIXIA HF S200



Date night with TXRD

We had a pretty busy Saturday this past weekend.  First we had maternity pictures, followed by lunch at Home Slice Pizza, then later in the evening I took Malek to his first roller derby!  The doors opened at 6pm and the bout started at 7pm.  We figured when we arrived at 6:15pm we had plenty of time to find seats....uh NO!  All the seats were filled!!!  We ended up standing for the first half until we found some seats at half time.  Despite the seating issue we had a great time.  I think Malek really enjoyed the bouts and scuffles.  Heck, even Boba Fett was there!  We'd go again, but this time we'd bring cash and make sure to get there before the doors open.  FYI, the bout lasts until at least 10pm. 

the cheer team

You animal!

Meet the newest addition to our household, the Dyson DC25 Animal!  I found a steal of a deal on Craigslist for this baby (brand spanking new to boot!) and Malek brought it home today.  I'm actually excited to vacuum now.  :)

Snowmageddon!

ATX received 2-3 inches of snow last night!  That means the majority of Texans are freaking out and staying home.  The doggies weren't sure what to make of the fluffy white stuff this morning, but soon Josie was out there running around like a crazy dog...while Sarah said "no thank you!" and preferred to stay inside.  The kids are loving it. 

These pictures are all from 8am....because as of noon everything has pretty much melted. 

Snow in TX - 2/4/2011

snow angel fun

I want back inside!

play time

Tripod for my camera!

Everyone knows I LOVE taking pictures.  In fact, I have honed and perfected my 'taking one handed self portrait photo' skills.  ;)  However this Christmas I found in my stocking a pocket size universal tripod for my elph!!!  I tried it out for the first time tonight, LUV it!  The bendy legs are awesome.  I can't wait to try and wrap it around a tree branch or something.

Look!  No hands!  :)