Prior Fat Girl

Family family family. A weekend full of family left my heart so full and, a lingering feeling of sadness for what was missing.

Hours of family on Saturday for my sister, Alicia’s wedding/open house/reception and then dinner at my cuz, Kirstin’s house to celebrate my other cuz, Joy’s birthday.

Kirstin and I

Joy and I

And hours of family on Sunday for my uncle, Dave’s 70th birthday party (okay, it was a few months early but, he was in town and a lot of other extended family was too).

Me and Carlos

When I finally did sit down on Sunday to catch my breath, my mind wandered back to a few moments on Saturday that took my breath away.

Reflecting on those moments with Paul and, the year past, brought tears to my eyes. I could see the hesitancy on his face as he walked into the room for Alicia & her husband, Nate’s celebration; I could see the pain in his eyes from those moments his life changed… from the moment all of our lives changed. The guilt I can only imagine he lives with is not greater, not better or worse than the deepest sadness we have mourning the loss of mom. We all suffered that day and, now, learn to live with results of it. Family gatherings are always bitter sweat. Paul has come to a few celebratory events over the past couple years, mostly as they relate to Colton (Alicia’s son). Colton survived the accident when my mom pushed him & his stroller out of harms way.

Aside from the family & a bit of sadness, I did get some Cinderella activities done:

• Laundry & put everything away
• Swept the floors
• Emptied & re-loaded dish washer
• Washed bed sheets & comforter
• Grocery shopping

Speaking of grocery shopping… I noticed as I was emptying my grocery bags on Sunday how much fresh produce & meat I bought, and how little processed foods I purchased. THREE CHEERS FOR ME!

• Asparagus
• Mangos
• Peaches & nectarines
• Apples
• Cauliflower
• Carrots
• Eggplant
• Red onion
• Mushrooms
• Zucchini
• Sweet potatoes
• 2 types of lettuce
• Eggs
• Tomatoes
• 2 different types of fish
• Steak

Everything above cost about $55 which is actually a little less than we normally spend on weekly groceries. We have some frozen chicken and a few additional frozen veggies we can rely on, plus if we need it, we do have some brown rice. I forgot lemons so I’m not sure how I’m going to cook the fish; I guess just salt & pepper? Or, maybe I just stop being lazy and swing by a grocery store for a few lemons

Monday was one of those days at work where your head spins from the time you walk in until it was time to leave. I’m looking forward to a much more calmer day Tuesday, starting with a sweaty gym session.

But now, it’s time for me to crawl into bed & read a bit before I shut my eyes.

Yesterday was such a perfect day for patio lunches – so loved meeting Liz, another priorfatgirl for lunch. We met at Panera and I got the California Cobb Chicken Salad. One word: DELICIOUS

After work, I met Cindy, Jen and Alexa for dinner & girl time. It was so nice to see Alexa’s face in real life versus just twitter, phone, text and email. Face-to-face is so much better – I love those girls, they are my world.

I got to meet Austin for the first time, Alexa’s little guy. He totally wanted to take some selfies with me.

We had Pei Wei since they are #1 delicious and, #2 have a gluten free menu (Alexa is GF). We ordered the spicy chicken, sweet & sour chicken, Vietnamese rolls, edamame and a Asian chicken chopped salad and then just split everything. I focused on the chopped salad and Vietnamese rolls but took a bite of both chicken entrees to taste them. Yum. Cindy brought macaroons from Cocoa and Fig – my first time ever having macaroons and let’s just say I’m hooked. Two may have fallen in my mouth. No. Let me just be accountable. I ate two and they were worth it.

I was kind of bummed yesterday because I really wanted to get a run in, since the weather was so nice. It all turned out in the end because when I got home, the neighbor girls were outside riding their bikes. When they saw me get home, they asked if they could take Iggy for a walk. We did and then when we finished, they asked if they could chase Iggy in the backyard. We tried to chase him a bit and normally  he runs around the backyard trying to outrun us but last night, he just sat staring at us. The girls asked if we could play tag, so we did for a few minutes. Sure, it wasn’t a serious workout and yep, it was maybe 10 minutes but you know, it was good.

If you are reading this post, that means you are seeing the new layout – you love? I’m so excited! BIG thanks to WP Site Care for the awesome new look. There are a few more tweaks I’ll make in the next day but it feels so much lighter & cleaner.

Also, over the last few months (and weeks) I’ve received a few requests for I’m a PriorFatGirl t-shirts & One Bite, One Decision bracelets so I’ve added a link for those.

And now, let the weekend begin!

Avoiding barriers. That’s what I need to keep doing. “Excuses” happen.

I think it was Tuesday when I was changing into my workout clothes over lunch and realized I had forgotten my socks. So, a sockless workout it was. Because I deserved a workout.

 

Last night, I went to my sister, Heidi’s house, to do a little crafting. Crafting for my sister, Alicia’s, wedding reception present. She got married in Vegas in January and is having her reception now that the weather is nicer and we can all be outside. The crafty gift turned out so well and I wish I could show you but, she peaks at the blog every once in awhile and I don’t want to risk it I’m kind of tempted to keep it myself and just give her a gift card to Target – ha!

I got home around 9pm and Carlos asked if I wanted to watch a movie with him. I’m usually not one to start a movie at 9pm on a work night (I’m old & like to be in bed early) but, I knew he had been wanting to watch it so we curled up with some popcorn that Angie’s had sent us. {Giveaway coming soon!}

Yum. It was good – a very light movie popcorn taste, which I preferred. Carlos wanted to add butter but, he is also the person that takes the salt shaker from the counter into the theater with him when we go see movies. I didn’t end up getting to bed until midnight, which is way later than usual and, because of it, turned my alarm off this morning at 5:30am. Didn’t even snooze the alarm, just turned it off. FAIL. I wanted to get a run in before work. I’m okay missing a day because that’s life but, I was really looking forward to a run. Such a good realization for me that my decisions last night effect my decisions today; if I really want to get an AM run in, I shouldn’t stay up later than usual.

I’m meeting Liz, another priorfatgirl, for lunch today so can’t sneak a run in over lunch. And, I’m having dinner with my bestest friends Alexa, Cindy and Jen tonight, which means no activity then either. A day with no activity is okay, just means I have to make sure I’m fueling my body correctly. I started my day with eggs cooked in BUTTER and a banana. Good balance of PFC there for me: protein (eggs), healthy fat (butter) and carbs (banana).

I just submitted final changes for the new layout so check back even later today or tomorrow for the new digs – I can’t wait to get rid of the pink background! Also, I’ve had multiple people ask me in the past few months (and more so in recent weeks) about PriorFatGirl shirts & bracelets so I’ll put up ordering information tomorrow.

Catch ya later!

Starting is the easy part. Keeping it up? Now THAT takes dedication, work and consistency.

Stating (June 2nd): 178.0lbs

Current (June 11th): 176.8lbs

Total weight loss: 1.2lbs

I’ve been digging simple food lately. I don’t know what happened but I lost my cooking mojo. It’s been almost a month and I’ve just had no excitement to make anything elaborate. Here’s a glimpse at what I ate yesterday:

Totally balanced, right? Protein + carbs +fat = YUM

I took yesterday off from working out but actually plan on getting sweaty TWICE today, because I want to. I want to get in about 30 minutes over lunch, just a warm up + weights and then tonight, I’m doing a Summer Barre Tone workout with Cassie tonight. The Summer Barre Tone workout is actually a 6 week class we are taking through community ed and I’m kind of nervous because it involves grace and, well, I don’t have much of that when we are talking workouts. The class description reads:

Combine the grace of ballet with a series of other forms of aerobic exercise. Adapting exercises from the dance studio with elements of Pilates and Yoga, Barre Tone Workout will improve your strength, endurance and flexibility.

Pray for me, that I find grace before tonight, ha! I felt like I was moving in today at work – I had my purse, snacks/lunch and workout bag with me:

This morning, I started the day with 2 hard-boiled eggs and a kale/blueberry/avocado smoothie. Well, those were the 3 main ingredients. I also added a splash of POM Juice, a bit of water and a spoonful of Dynamic Greens.

I bought Dynamic Greens a couples weeks ago and love the flavor it adds to smoothies. I anticipate questions about what it is so here’s a few sentences:

It provides a “super blend” of 100% natural fruit and vegetable extracts, vitamins, flax lignans, ionic trace minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and symbiotic intestinal flora. It contains no added sugars—only a touch of stevia (a plant-based sweetener.)  This dynamic blend supplies your body with improved energy, metabolism, fat-burning, digestion, detoxification, immunity, repair, recovery, revitalization, and longevity!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to plant this baby:

 

What is it you ask? It’s a COCONUT! One of our employee’s brought it up from Florida and gave it to the HR team here – it’s already sprouted and so now, I just need to plant it. I’m not sure what to expect out of it, here in MN. We’ll keep it inside and I think it’ll just be a tree, I doubt it’ll ever produce coconuts. Has anyone ever grown a coconut tree inside? Tips or tricks?