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!!! 

Blogtober day 26 : who would play me in a movie

Well well well, here I am, back again.

Sorry for my absence yesterday, I was busy being lazy, cleaning my house, and burying my face into the pillows after the most embarrassing loss in the history of football. You know that geeky guy in high school that doesn't do too bad and manages to stay afloat for awhile and then ends up totally crashing and burning and trips with his lunch tray and then gets stepped on? Yeah, that's essentially what my alma mater did yesterday in the game of football. We're bad, and we've been bad before, but wow. Wowwwwww. 

Anyway, I'm moving forward and am back for today's blogtober prompt: who would play you in a movie.

In high school, I was approached by strangers and told that I look like these two beautiful women:

I can't really see it, but I'll take it! I've heard I beat some resemblance to them both, but they are not who I think would represent me best in a movie. Nope. 

I'm super weird, awkward, and try to make everything a joke, typically while embarrassing myself in the process. I'm not sure what movie would ever be about me (see previous paragraph detailing my daily activities) but if for some reason there were one, I would definitely be played by her:

I'm definitely not claiming her looks, but I feel like our personalities are pretty similar. Plus, she's awesome.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Blogtober day 10 - I never thought blogging would...

Blogtober day 10 – I never thought blogging would…

…suck me in so easily!

I made it pretty clear from the beginning that I didn’t know how far I could make it on this blogging train. I guess I’m growing up though because I’ve totally followed through on my commitment! Here I am, way over a year later and I’m blogging a LOT. I’m almost at 200 posts! I can’t even believe it.

(make sure you check out my new about me page!)

I’ve learned that I love the creative outlet that blogging offers. I love how I can’t wait to sit down at the computer and get my thoughts out or share something I’m proud of, be it my house or my etsy shop, what have you. I love the ways in which I stumble upon new bloggers that are eerily similar to me, or those that are so different yet so intriguing and I just GET them. I love that blogging has pushed me to do more with my life, more with my time, and it’s held me accountable from day to day. I’ve been inspired to upgrade to a DSLR, get out of the house, break out the ‘big’ camera, and live more fully. I’m dyinnggg to get my hands on a new MacBook so I can be even more advanced and flexible with my blog! (My 7 year old iMac is slowly dying)

check out my blog buttons and all my side ventures!

It sounds super cliché and kind of scary, but I think my blog has turned me into a different person. I’m more detail oriented, more in love with our ‘home’, more invested in life in general. I never thought blogging would do that for me!

I can’t wait to see where I am after 5 years!

Join us here for #blogtober14!

Blogtober day 9 - Best/Worst Halloween Memory

Today’s prompt: best or worst Halloween memory.

I’ll be honest, I’ve been super #blessed and can’t think of a bad Halloween memory. That doesn’t exactly make for great blog content, though! Oh well, I’ll still share some of my best memories!

-In sixth grade, I dressed up as a witch and went to a friend’s house. We were WAY too cool to trick-or-treat but not too cool for me to go sit on her brick mailbox and pretend to be a statue. I seriously thought I was SO realistic but really…come on! And that’s when I knew I was a weirdo.

-Two years ago, I ordered my girlfriends to buy some candy, dress up, and come over to our apartment. It was when we lived in Winnetka Heights so we were the one rental house in the neighborhood. We grabbed our lawn chairs, sat on the porch, and watched as THOUSANDS (not even exaggerating) of kids, teens, and adults (really, people?) invaded the neighborhood. We had lots of laughs and the candy was gone SUPER fast. It was so fun though!

(this was pre-iphone!)

-Last year, Mark and I made a point to keep it low-key. I wanted the ultimate trick-or-treating experience in our new house. The house was decorated, candles lit, and we watched Hocus Pocus as about 20 kids came by. It was honest and simple and fun! Growing up isn’t so bad after all. J 

Join us here for #blogtober14! 

Blogtober day 7 - best/worst vacation

I’m not sure I have a worst vacation…I feel a little ungrateful saying anything bad about the opportunities I’ve had!

The one thing that comes to mind would have to be our trip to New Orleans last fall. Honestly, we had a really good time and I dream about the beignets from Café du Monde every day (#omgyum). We saw lots of beautiful things and the wedding we went to was gorgeous and a BLAST!

parts 1, 2, and 3 here!

The ‘worst’ part of that vacation would have to be the 7 hour drive that took us 10 hours because of POURING rain (seriously, we couldn’t drive faster than 30mph for a solid 2 hours), the complete middle-of-nowhere feeling we had on that stretch of highway before hitting New Orleans, the rain that lasted all weekend, the stench of Bourbon Street, and the weird, dirty infrastructure that we found everywhere in town. It was mostly the city of New Orleans/Louisiana that we didn’t like. Plus we got a red light ticket (that we didn't pay). BUT it was a great time!!! Have I made that clear?!

I think the award for best vacation is kind of a tie. I LOVED our honeymoon on Kauai (again-post coming someday on this!), it was gorgeous and we had a blast, but our hotel wasn’t everything we had hoped for and we were still jittery from wedding stuff so I couldn’t totally relax. The other contender for best vacation would be our most recent trip to California. Our awesome hotel with all it’s perks coupled with our good planning, budgeting, and happy-go-lucky attitudes made it for a pretty care-free and awesome trip. It wasn’t Hawaii, though!

I've blogged about California WAY too much, but in case you missed it, here are the recaps! 

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

I try to make the best out of any trip, and love squeezing everything good out of them!!! What was your best vacation??

Join us here for #blogtober14!

Blogtober day 6 - 5 things I told myself when I started blogging

Happy Monday! I'm back for day 6 of #blogtober14. Check my two older posts for days 4 and 5 over the weekend! :)

I’ve only been blogging a little over a year, and I can’t say that I told myself a variety of things, it’s just that I had some crazy broad ideas. So I’m going to narrow this down to the 5 things I told myself when I started blogging:

-5- 

I’d blog every day with good content about DIY projects in my house with breakdowns of cost and time. Y’all, that is a LOT to keep track of and keep up with! I’ve definitely had my share of DIY projects and how-to’s, but I can’t stage every project and break down the cost of everything because that takes time and frankly, I’m super impatient!

-4- 

I’d make a ton of blog friends. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve corresponded with plenty of you guys, but so far, no blogger meet ups! I’m not counting Kendi, because I wasn’t blogging when we met. Oh yeah, on the night of my engagement. :)

-3- 

Sponsors would be dying to PAY me to write for them. Bahahahaha! Yes, I’ve been contacted by sponsors, but I’m definitely not close to quitting my day job.

-2-

I’d be Young House Love famous in a few years. Well, I hear there might be an opening in the market, so I’m not totally writing this one off yet… (don’t leave us YHL!!!)

 -1-  

     HTML was so super easy to learn (it’s not the hardest thing ever, but it can be challenging!) I was literally stuck for about 3 months because I had hit a glitch on blogger and I wasn’t able to update my page or profile. I finally did some serious googling and figured it out. It was so frustrating!

yikes.

I will say this - I've learned a ton during my short stint at blogging and I love what it provides for me, monetarily and emotionally. I love reading stories and I love documenting my simple life and reading back to see where I've come from. I'm so glad you're reading too! 

Happy Monday! 

Join up with us here for #blogtober14!

Blogtober day 2 - dream job

Today’s #blogtober14 prompt : “dream job when you were little/what it is now”

Honestly, I’ve been wracking my brain and I cannot think of something that I wanted to be when I was little…I remember playing house and doctor and school a lot, but I can’t remember having a career goal in mind. Maybe my mom or sister might remember…if so, y’all chime in now!

My job now is pretty dreamy. Dreamy in the sense that it fits my needs perfectly and I enjoy going to work each day! Really! It took me awhile to get to the good place where I am, but it has been worth it! I went to school for Interior Design and I’m currently working for a furniture dealership as a designer. The company I work for is awesome, treats us like we are family, and we have fun while working!

I don’t really talk too much about my job on here, but I’m happy to share this insight into my life! Basically, we work with sales within our company to meet with our clients which are typically large commercial firms (think AAA, FedEx, Fossil, etc) within the DFW metroplex. They come to us after they have secured an architecture/design firm (like my husband's company) for new projects like their headquarters or a large office. We assess their needs, sometimes bid on a project (this is required for most large public companies) and then do our best to find office furniture to meet their needs. The designer does a lot of the space planning and finishes, along with writing the specifications for what the client eventually signs off on. That means we draw in CAD, color, draw elevations, sketch, render (color) on the computer, and use a pricelist to put all the components together. Many times, the client needs to see what they are getting in many different ways, so we send them plan drawings, elevations, and 3D or isometric drawings, sometimes rendered in a special program we have. Then the sales team orders the product and facilitates the delivery. We have a team that installs the product and we typically oversee that as well. Once that is all done, we breathe a sigh of relief, party, and then move on to the next project! There are usually lots of follow up orders for the same client to tweak things as time goes on and they expand, etc.

I’m super happy where I am at the moment and really can’t imagine doing anything else, except maybe sitting on my couch and/or sleeping all day. Because that’s super realistic.

Linkup for #blogtober14 here! 

Blogtober day 1 - If you won the lottery, you'd...

I’ve decided to join up with one of my favorite Dallas bloggers as well as my favorite Chicago bloggers for a linkup during my FAVORITE month : #blogtober14. Our hosts have graciously provided a prompt and we are going to attempt (together) to blog every day in October! So, here goes!

Today’s prompt is : “if you won the lottery, you’d…”

I’m going to think small and say we’re ONLY winning $5 million. ;)

-pay off our house and all of our debt

-buy a new house, maybe something like this? And then budget about $140k for remodeling (because all the fun is in making it your own!!!)? 

….and rent out our current house for some extra income!

-donate $1 million to charity

-put $2.5 million in a high yield savings account

-replace both of our cars with something new that will last a while, but nothing fancy! Maybe stay around $75k total...

Mine!

Mark's!

-take a trip around the world - $50k

-go on a $5k shopping spree

-*maybe* gift some to our immediate family (start sucking up now! It couldn’t hurt…)

Now I’ve just got to start playing the lottery so I even have a chance…right?

Join in with us on #blogtober! Even if you can’t blog every day, I’d love to see what you have to say!