Retail Shop Therapy

My first wedding dress fitting is in two days. I thought I was ready for it. When I purchased my dress they had two sizes at the store, the size above mine and the size below. Since it was a discontinued dress and since it was "the one" I decided to go with the size above mine and have it taken in.

I bought the dress about 10 months ago. Since then I have tried it on a few times since it's been at my parent's house this whole time. It's fit every time, usually with a little bit of wiggle room.

I decided to go try it on again tonight to mentally prepare myself for Thursday's dress fitting. I know that I have gained a little weight recently (thanks to having zero self control), however I don't know exactly how much since I am currently boycotting the scale.

Well, not only was it tight but I also managed to break my wedding dress. Somehow the little strap that holds it up on the hanger got caught in the zipper. At first I couldn't unzip it, but was finally able to get out of the dress. Now it won't zip up. This is the complete opposite of awesome-sauce, and so not what I needed right now. Also not sure how much it's going to cost me to fix it, and since we're almost over budget I'm stressing like no other.

So my two options were retail therapy or food therapy. Believe me, I could have gone for either one. But I decided that I'd rather regret spending money than eating too much food. You see, I can always return the clothes...

Thankfully, we decided to go shopping at Marshall's and I was able to find cute clothes without burning a hole in my wallet. I'm really glad my mom was there too. She's honest when I ask her her opinion on clothing which is helpful in situations like tonight, otherwise I would have spent a lot more than I did. I am also really glad that Isabel was there. For some reason she had a lot more energy today than she normally does. Plus she hates shopping (the one thing she did not inherit from me), meaning my shopping time was limited.

Here are the tops I found:

Probably not the best use of my time or my money, but I had an excuse... My dress for success options were getting pretty limited. Hopefully I can put some cute outfits together in the next few days. I could really use the self-esteem boost right now after the dress fiasco.

I'm hoping that the dress will fit on Thursday and that they will be able to fix the zipper easily. I know they will need to take in the bust, but as of now the rest fits, well I guess perfectly since it doesn't need to be altered. That may be a blessing in disguise (less alterations=less money to spend). They're for sure going to be adding a bustle and cap sleeves. I'm going to ask how far in advance they need to make any last minute alterations. The wedding is just over 10 weeks away. It's time to get down to business.

Patrick and I just started Monday with eating better and exercising more. I'm hoping that if I continue to put my all into it for the next few weeks I will be able to have it altered a few weeks before the wedding if need be. If not, then I need to realize that I have a beautiful wedding dress, I'm going to be a beautiful bride and the only person who sees anything wrong with my body the way it is, is me.

Why is so difficult to just accept myself the way I am and allow myself to be happy?

Dress for Success- 7/30 & 7/31

Cami- New York & Co
Shirt- Kohl's
Jeans- Kohl's
Shoes- Bass

Shirt- New York & Co
Jeans- Kohl's
Shoes- Bass

So I pretty much forgot to take a picture yesterday and then ran out of time this morning before I went in to work. However, I did try my best to put together cute outfits, but I feel like I failed these first two days back to work after being on vacation all week last week.

Tomorrow's outfit will be better. I plan on putting something cute together tonight and rocking it tomorrow. I could really use the confidence boost that usually comes with a cute outfit.

Morning Workout

Well, I did it. I made a plan to get up this morning and go for a run. The course I mapped out is 3.12 miles. Just slightly over a 5K.

Patrick and I walked the course a few nights ago, but we went a little further.

I ran the course last night by myself and it felt really good. I decided to make it a part of my daily routine, getting it done first thing so that I don't have the option for as many excuses.
This mornings run started off slow, at least slower than last night. But I got out and did it and that's the important part.

Workout Plan

Patrick suggested about a week ago that we both start working out and eating better. We've both been slacking with both of these and with the wedding about 11 weeks away we need to start some sort of a routine.

Patrick works in retail and his schedule changes weekly. This makes it a little difficult to have a set schedule for workouts. We're going to sit down Sunday nights and decide on when we are able to workout each week. We've found a few different quick workouts that we both can commit to. I'd like to workout 3-5 times a week with these workouts as well as adding in some running and/or walking.

At this point anything is better than nothing.

This week Patrick works:
Sunday- 6-330
Monday- 7-330
Tuesday- 130-1030
Wednesday- 2-1030
Thursday- off
Friday- 11-730
Saturday- off

This weeks workout schedule:
Sunday- Walk
Monday- Short Workout
Tuesday- Rest
Wednesday- Rest
Thursday- Ab Workout
Friday- Butt Workout
Saturday- Weekend Workout

The following are the workouts we found on pinterest and are planning on using to not just get into wedding day shape, but to become healthy and hopefully good role models for our kids.

Weekend Workout:

(complete 2 rounds)

20 jumping jacks

20 squats

20 push ups

20 jumping jacks

20 high knees

20 alternating lunges

20 push ups

20 sit ups

20 squats

20 mountain climbers

20 stationary lunges

Short Workout:

(complete 3 rounds)

10 push ups

20 sit ups

25 squats

20 lunges (10 per leg)

80 jumping jacks

60 second wall sit

Ab Workout:

50 jumping jacks

50 crunches

50 squat jumps

60 second plank

25 crunches to left, 25 crunches to right

60 seconds high knees

25 reverse crunches

60 seconds jump rope

20 leg lift crunches

25 mountain climbers

25 crunches

25 skaters

Butt Workout:

30 jumping jacks

20 lunges

10 squats

10 plie squats

20 side lunges

20 glute kickbacks

15 short bridges

10 side leg circles (each leg)

20 glute kickbacks

15 squats

10 plie squats

20 jumping jacks

Intense Workout:

(complete twice)

100 jumping jacks

10 crunches

10 squats

10 push ups

10 bench dips

10 second rest

30 second plank

10 second rest

30 second wall sit

10 second rest

75 jumping jacks

10 bench dips

10 push ups

10 squats

10 crunches

25 jumping jacks

Hopefully this is something we can both stick to. I did one round of the weekend workout on Saturday and it was pretty intense. We may need to make some adjustments to work our way up to these workouts. I'm just excited that it was Patrick's idea and that we are both serious about this. I just don't want us to get burned out like we have in the past. I guess we won't know if we don't try.

58. Hit a bucket of balls. Check!

I don't know why it's taken me so long to complete this item off of my bucket list. There are two golf courses very close to where we live. There really is no excuse other than pure laziness.

I am the queen of excuses. If someone asks me to do something or go somewhere I can come up with 5 excuses before the question is finished. I don't know why I'm like that. I just enjoy being at home. However, when I do go out I almost always have an amazing time. I really need to get out more often. It would be good for me.

Patrick and I had an empty house tonight. Since we both have to work early tomorrow my parents are watching Isabel over night. This way she doesn't have to wake up early when we leave for work to drop her off at my parents. Normally Patrick and I will discuss having a date night on these nights, but nothing ever comes from them. I usually make excuses, such as we both have to be up early so there's no point in going out or neither of us can think of anything to do.

Tonight Patrick asked if we could go hit a bucket of balls. At first I said no because I had wanted to get a run in tonight and I also wanted to go grocery shopping. But then I decided that I can go grocery shopping tomorrow after work. Patrick agreed to go walking with me, so I changed my run to a walk. We walked 4.06 miles and then went to the golf course.

I'm not very good at all, but I had a blast! I can definitely see myself going back again. It was very inexpensive ($11 for 100 balls) and we were able to stop by his parents house to pick up some golf clubs to borrow for the evening.

I'm not very good, but I had fun.

Patrick, hitting the ball really hard and far.

Me, with bad form.

Patrick and me.

Running Recap- 7/28/12

Mile 1- 14:30
Mile 2- 14:36
Mile 3- 14:32
Mile 4- 13:57
Mile 5- 13:50
Mile 0.41- 5:25

Total Miles- 5.41
Total Time- 1:16: 53

Our training is back on track after coming home from vacation. Although we did stay active in Mammoth (including a 6 mile walk/run and a hike) we did not do as much as we should.

It feels good to get back into a routine.

Yesterday was a 5.41 mile run, which we finished in 1:16:53. We did really well in staying within our 14- 14:30 minute mile pace.

This run felt really good for me. Even with the dreaded hill we had to run up. I don't know why it felt so much easier this time. I think I tried to hold back and go slower like it is suggested we do on our long runs. I also think I held back on the hill. I always try to get hills done as fast as I can and that ends up hurting me. I usually don't fuel on a run under 6 miles, but I decided to fuel this run and I definitely felt a difference.

I am ready to start putting my all into my training. I've been slacking and although I've been trying to get the miles in for the month, I've been getting them in by walking alone. I'm planning on sitting down today with Patrick and a calender and writing down our workouts and sticking to it. I think this will help me get in my weekday runs.

Running Around the Outfits

I recently decided to start dressing my best in order to work on my self esteem. In working on that I found the website polyvore.com and started blogging the outfits I created. My sister told me that the purpose of my original blog was becoming lost in the outfits I was posting and suggested I started a new blog to post outfits to. And so Running Around the Outfits was born.

My Official Before Photo

I never officially took a "before" picture when I decided to lose weight this time. In a previous post I do have a before/after photo, but that was after losing the majority of the weight.

Not taking a before picture and not taking my measurements are the two things I regret the most on my weight loss journey. I'm a very visual person and I would love to be able to look back and see the changes.

Through all the ups and downs of my journey I don't regret any of it. I've learned a lot about myself throughout this process and I'm finally at a point in my life where I feel so different about it. It could easily be a phase where I am ready to put my all into it. I could easily fall off the wagon for the billionth time. I could easily fail. I could also easily succeed.

I just recently finished reading "Feel Good Naked" by Laure Redmond. If you have the opportunity I highly recommend reading it. I finished it quickly, and although not all of the points pertain to me or to what I want to follow, I am planning to start to incorporate many of the steps into my daily life starting Monday.

My first attempt at weight loss was when I was a senior in high school. I lost the weight I had gained and then some. I felt great and was at my lowest weight that I could remember.

Then I got pregnant. I went from (what I considered to still be "fat") 145 pounds to over 220 pounds in 9 months. I gained about 80 pounds, give or take. I used the "eating for two" phrase to my advantage. I was happy because I was pregnant and there was a reason for some of that gain, but I was unhappy and frustrated with myself because there was no reason for that much of a gain.

I stayed away from the front of a camera for some time. There are very few pictures of just me after having Isabel.

So here is my before picture. At my highest weight of 220 pounds. Yes, I realize that I was 9 months pregnant at the time, but I think it helps me to see that even though I'm not at goal yet, I'm on my way. I could have chosen to do nothing after Isabel was born, but I did. In fact I made it back down to 145 at one point.. Then back up, then down, and up... No matter what happened between then and now I'm on my journey and I'm ready to make a change.

Mammoth- Days 5 & 6

Wednesday July 25, 2012

Wednesday was another packed day. We started with horseback riding and ended with a Gondola ride to the top on Mammoth mountain.

Two years ago we went horseback riding for the first time since coming to Mammoth. We went on a tour around the lakes. This year we decided to do the Panorama Dome trail. What an amazing view..

Two years ago we also went on the Gondola's for the first time. It was on my mom's bucket list of things to do. Again, an amazing view. This year Patrick and I took Isabel and Emma to the top.

Ready to horseback ride.
Shirt: Old Navy
Sweater: New York & Co
Pants: New York & Co
Shoes: Kohl's

Patrick (on Clark), Rachel (on Geronimo), Me (on Uno) and Emma (on Billy)

Horseback trail view.

Horseback trail view.

Patrick and me on the Gondola on our way to the top.

On our way to the top.

At the top. Elevation 11,053 feet.

View from the top.

View of the lakes from the top of Mammoth Mountain.

The small amount of snow left.

We left on Thursday July 26th. I cannot believe how fast the time went. It seemed like we had just arrived and then we left again. The drive home was uneventful and boring. I guess sitting in a car for 6 hours is more exciting when you're going somewhere. Now all that's left to do is pay the bills that arrived while we were gone and to do a bunch of laundry before heading back to work on Monday.

Shirt: Kohl's
Shorts: Kohl's
Shoes: Kohl's

Mammoth- Day 4

Tuesday July 24, 2012

The weather completely changed from Monday to Tuesday. It went from raining most of the day to not a cloud in the sky. It was perfect for a hike and a boat ride on the lake.

We have gone on the Devil's Postpile and Rainbow Falls hike a few times. I always forget how difficult the hike back out is compared to the hike in. It's worth it though. The sights are amazing, and of course the opportunity to see a bear in the wild cannot be passed. I have yet to see one though, and can't help but feel relief.

When we got back from our hike we had a quick lunch then took the girls on a boat at Lake Mary. My dad let the girls drive the boat, which they loved. Patrick, my dad and I each got some fishing in and each caught a fish. (My dad and Patrick had already caught 5 the previous day).

It was a busy day, but it was so much fun!

Hiking attire.
Shirt: Marshall's
Shorts: Kohl's
Shoes: Kohl's

The beginning of the hike.

Devil's Postpile.

Close up shot.

Directions.

Another close up.

Big tree.

Patrick and me.

Rainbow Falls. The sun wasn't in a good spot to make a good rainbow, but there is a small one there.

Chipmunk.

Me and Patrick at Rainbow Falls.

So true!

Close up.

Me fishing.

My fish.

On the lake. Here fishy, fishy, fishy.

Me with the fish.

Yeah.. I don't know why.

Mammoth- Day 3

Monday July 23, 2012

Monday was another day of rain. In fact it poured for a good portion of the day.

We decided to spend part of the day shopping so that we could get out of the condo. Isabel bought two books and I found a small journal to start tracking food in. It's really cute and small enough to fit in my purse.

We also drove around the lakes. We weren't able to get out of the car at each lake like we did two years ago, but it was still nice spending time together for the drive.

Shirt: Kohl's
Pants: Kohl's
Shoes: Bass (these are a pair of my new shoes from Mammoth)

Stop... Hammer Time!

Twin Lakes.

Hillside.

Twin Lakes (from the top).

Rain, rain, go away...

Blue jay.