There's no place like home.....

I'm lucky enough to have the luxury with my job to be able to work virtually from anywhere. This week I am working from my parents house and I'd have to say.... it's quite humbling to be here.

It's been quite some time since I have stayed at my folks place. I honestly CAN.NOT. remember the last time that I spent the night here. It was well before Christmas. Keep in mind - I used to come home quite a bit... but then you grow up and life happens and it just doesn't happen as much.

Normally - I don't really enjoy spending time in my small town. There are some inconveniences that I don't enjoy that generally I take for granted in a big town. Such as, the grocery store closes at like 8:00 PM in a small town but where I live I'm used to it being open 24 hours, the bank closes at 3 - when I'm used to it closing at 9:00 PM, and there is no place within 30 miles that you could run to to get things you may need - such as, labels. (Trying to get invitations sent out for my parents 40th wedding anniversary - YES - 40 YEARS!!!! and still sooo in love).
However; I've been extremely anxious lately - over little things that I shouldn't be feeling anxious about - and it's been a nice change of pace to be home for the week.

I've enjoyed coming to a town that is slower paced, seeing familiar faces when you go on a walk, to the bank, and to the grocery store. Familiar SMILING and FRIENDLY faces. There is definitely perks to living in a small town too - that I often forget. It's been surreal spending time in my old room, in the house I grew up in, eating a home-cooked meal, taking trips down memory lane by looking at high school photos and prom dresses, etc.

This evening - I went on a walk with my dad to get my 10,000 steps in. We walked this trail and saw deer, rabbits, birds, etc - it was peaceful. Not only that - but I had some quality time chatting with my daddy. I'm a daddy's girl and a mommy's girl. Not to mention - I'm ALSO the favorite child. =)

That's NO joke. My siblings may disagree - but they may also AGREE with that statement.

I don't like to use the word 'spoiled' - I prefer the word 'well-loved'.
When we got back though - we DID find a tick on my dad and we even wore hats!!! GROSS!!! I'm so NOT about things that crawl (unless it's a human baby).

There is DEFINITELY no place like home.

SO VERY BLESSED.

Life IS beautiful - count your blessings ---- I know I am tonight!

Work hard, play harder

I.LOVE.LONG.WEEKENDS.

Granted, I worked a lot of the weekend - but when I wasn't working - I was playing! Probably playing a little too hard. But - it was a holiday weekend and that's what's supposed to happen, right?

It didn't help that I was having a pity party for myself - because generally on a holiday weekend you will find me on a boat, in the sun, on the river, with a drink in my hand and surrounded by the people I love the most. It's my definition of "heaven on earth."

And this year - was the first year that I didn't go for a couple reasons. Number 1 being my job. It consumes a LOT of my life. Numero Dos - I have recently moved and now the drive is 3.5 hours but I would still make the trip if it wasn't for reason number 3 - the weather was CRAP. All weekend long. Therefore - I didn't go and I wasn't all too thrilled about it to say the least.

I ended up making an unexpected trip to see the boy on Saturday night instead of Sunday afternoon and we went out with some friends. Long story short - the drive back home on Sunday was a LONG ONE.

One awesome thing about weekends - NAPPING! When we got home on Sunday - I laid down at about 2:00 and slept HARD for a good 2 1/2 hours. It was one of those naps where you wake up and think you've been sleeping all night - and you are in a cold hard sweat. Gross, I know - but true!

You know what I'm talking about!

Then it was back up and at em. We grilled - and of course - you can't grill without a few brews. From there, we played a couple childhood games, that we turned into adult games with beverages. We played PIT and TROUBLE.

TOO.MUCH.FUN!

All in all - even though I had a pity party for myself - It was a GREAT weekend!

Over and out and as always - remember that...

Life IS beautiful - Count your blessings!

All in or all out

I struggle greatly with working out and eating healthy. I.LOVE.TO.EAT.... plain and simple and I don't tend to find working out to be very fun. The IDEA of it sounds amazing - but a lot of the time my motivation is just not there. However; when I make up my mind that it's time to get serious, then I am ALL IN. I can't miss a day of working out - or then it's RIGHT back to all out and I just give up.

In the past, I have tried lots of different work outs - zumba (SO.MUCH.FUN), extreme fitness (kickboxing, strength training, cardio, etc), couch to 5K (never completed), and so on. The thing that has held me back quite a bit with all of those things is my back. I'm 24 years old, folks, and I have a herniated disk in my back and it's a royal pain in my arse. However; I have found that I CAN still workout just in ways that don't hurt my back - such as biking or walking. I also do ab exercises on my stability ball to help strengthen my core - which in turn, helps to strengthen my back. 

So, now that it's already swimsuit season - and I'm the farthest from ready for that!! I have decided it's TIME to get back on track. I have made a purchase that I.HEART. -- It's called a FitBit Ultra. There's a lot of different kinds of FitBit's - but I liked this one specifically because it tracks my sleep. I always knew I woke up a lot in the night - but now I get to see it in a graph. Does knowing how many times I wake up at night help anything? No. Absolutely not. BUT - it's interesting! :) How many times do I wake up in a night? Anywhere from 16 - 25 times a NIGHT! That is sooo outrageous! No wonder I always feel tired. WHOMP WHOMP!

It HAS however; made me do a little bit of research on it - and I think mostly it can be contributed to the fact that I drink WAY.TOO.MUCH. caffeine. Tell me something I didn't know - but Spark and Diet. Mt. Dew are my drugs of choice - they keep me wired and focused on my work all day. However; I've read that even one cup of coffee in the morning can still cause you to wake up at night!

Tough choices... tough choices.

ANYWHO - back to the FitBit. It tracks how many steps you take each day, miles you go, stairs you climb - and then when you sync it to your computer it gives you graphs/charts of averages like when you are the most active in the day, so on and so forth.

I have a goal of 10,000 steps a day. It might not SOUND like a lot - but I have a desk job where I do not move much at all throughout the day - I mean like HARDLY AT ALL. So this little thing - forces me to go to the gym everyday to get my steps in - even if it's 10:00 at night - you best believe... I AM THERE! It also gives me little motivational sayings. :)

I truly heart this little thing.

Life IS beautiful - count your blessings!

To blog or not to blog....

I've been debating for quite some time now whether I wanted to start a blog or not. I follow a couple of different blogs that I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read.... I'm borderline obsessed - or maybe full-blown obsessed. Either way - it's really motivated me to want to start writing something of my own. Most likely - this will just be a journal for myself - and that's cool. I don't really have anything in particular that I plan to write about - probably just about my everyday life.

ZZzzzz... I know - though I hope my life is not THAT boring.

Today is my boyfriends birthday - and unfortunately I don't get to spend it with him. He is such an amazing man and I'm so glad that I get to call him my boyfriend and my best friend. Ok, enough of that mushy stuff - but for real... I love the dude. Anywho - he's off working the special olympics and then of course - partying like there's no tomorrow. Me? I'm sitting at home on a Friday night - watching T.V. and drinking a Redd's Apple Ale.. alone. Side note: My favorite beer is Busch Light! Yup... I said it... BUSCH LIGHT. However; now that I'm 24 - I'm TRYING to expand my alcoholic beverage options - so recently I have found that I really like the Redds Apple Ale. Give them a try, folks! SO YUMMY. The bad thing is - they are like 165 calories vs. the 95 calories that the heavenly Busch Light is. Oh well - I will walk it off later. Heading to the gym right.... about... NOW! Gotta try out the new kicks I bought. :) WOOT WOOT!

Life IS beautiful - count your blessings!