Blogtober day 31 : Halloween costume reveal and a pretty cute Five on Friday

Happy Friday, y'all! And HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I'm linking up here with April for five on Friday and here with Helene and Taylor for the final day of blogtober. 

-one-

I was super anti-fit bit earlier this year, but I've recently come to see the value in some sort of pedometer. I downloaded this free app on my new iPhone a couple of months ago and I LOVE it! It's called Pacer and you can find it here in the app store. You leave it open and as long as you have your phone with you, it tracks your steps. I also enter my weight so it tracks any weight loss with a line graph. It has a ton of other features like 'couch to 10k' plans and activity graphs, but it is really easy to use if you just want a simple way to track your activity. It is a little weird when I'm grabbing my phone to run to the bathroom or to the printer and back, but I want to make sure everything is accounted for! I think I'm open to a fit bit, now!

(this was very early in the morning!)

Bar graph showing steps for the week...

...Or turn it sideways to get your trends and see activity, calories, steps, weight, and blood pressure graphs for the last month.

Plans available!

-two-

Mark and I are crazy and we signed up for a co-ed soccer team. Little back story: when we were younger, I was in band, Mark played soccer. Clearly one of us has more athletic prowess than the other. On top of that, Mark tore his ACL in his left leg during his senior year of high school. From there, he only played on our college club team and in other rec leagues. It was in a rec league 6 months before our wedding that Mark (unfortunately) tore the ACL in his right leg, bringing back bad memories and a resentment towards soccer. He hasn't played since then!

A couple of his friends play just for fun and they asked us to be in this co-ed team with them. We hesitated but they assured us that it was a super easy league and Mark wouldn't get hurt. Well, we did it. Last night was our first game and it was super fun! I am going to be super anxious this entire season about Mark's safety, but hopefully he is smart enough to take care of himself! We agreed that he would do his best not to play competitively, but I'm not sure that's possible when competition has been ingrained in him since he was 8! 

We ended up tying the game 4-4. Mark didn't get hurt, but he did cramp up and get kicked a couple times, which made me freak out a bit. I also didn't get hurt! I went knee to knee with a guy that had about 50 lbs on me and I took him down! I felt pretty good about myself, even though I later whiffed the ball about 5 times.

-three-

I've been trying really hard lately to save money and eat better and I've found that simply bringing my lunch makes a huge difference in both of those areas. We typically shop at Kroger for groceries but we have a Tom Thumb near our house (part of SafeWay) and I've found quite a few things that I've worked into my weekly lunch routine:

(sorry they don't have images I can find on the website!)

I've found two salads that are pretty similar but they are my FAVORITE! The Santa Fe Style salad and the Southwestern BBQ are soooo good. It is made up of super fresh green lettuce with the components in their own little tray on top. The dressings for both salads are super good, and they both clock in under 300 calories but you feel full after your lunch! Seriously, SO good. 

I also reallllly like their Tuscan tomato & basil bisque as well as their low fat zesty fiesta chicken tortilla soup. Both good, both relatively low in calories, and super yummy. 

And....when I'm tempted to just get fast food because I'm tired of my low calorie meals, I try to instead divert myself to Target and grab a 'treat' with this Panera baked potato soup. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good, y'all. At 420 calories for a pretty big tub, it's cheating a little without breaking the bank. Way better than a Whataburger meal! (find it in the cases next to the deli!)

-four-

As I've mentioned, I'm pretty picky. That being said, I'm trying to change my taste buds and my habits to get the nutrients I need. I finally tried out these Bolthouse Farms juices and lemme say, they are pretty good! 

Berry Boost is my favorite and perhaps the safest, but I also like Tropical Goodness and C boost. I have decided I'm definitely not a big blueberry fan because I bought Blue Goodness and while I can get it down, it's my least favorite. I also bought Green Goodness but I haven't had the guts to try it yet!

-five-

It's Halloween, y'all! We had big plans to stay home and do nothing, but they were thwarted by the offer of free lasagna, free homemade dessert, free candy (if you count stolen as free), and some good family time. We are going to go see these munchkins and hang out with their parents, my parents, and my sister's in-laws for the evening. 

I was going to show you my 'costume' of a working adult, but these were way cuter :)

You guys stay safe and have a happy Halloween!!!