Do you know what tomorrow is?

Quite simply, it is the first day of June!!!!!!  When did that happen???  It also happens to be quite the milestone in wedding planning, because it marks 100 days left until the big day!  How crazy is that?!  There are basically 3 months left to get ready for the wedding ::deep calming breath::.  Luckily, at this point, I'm feeling pretty good, and I'm ready!  Here's what's coming up for the month of June:

Personal Creation - And look, I used pretty clipart!

So, like I said, June 1st = 100 days left until the wedding, and I also have a doctor's appointment.
I don't have any projects on the books for this weekend, which means I'll probably put a lot of time into my pearl bouquet and finishing my pocketfolds (they're all assembled, they just need the finishing touches).  Then next Thursday I fly home to Massachusetts because my Massachusetts Bridal Shower is next freaking weekend!!!!!!!!!!  How crazy is that!?  And I'm proud to say I have yet to registry-stalk at all.  Considering I still try to find my Christmas present before Christmas, that's a big deal.  I can't promise that I'll be able to hold out completely though.  Then I fly back down to Pittsburgh Sunday morning.

June 15th is my sister's Birthday (note to self - make a birthday card for Kate to bring home for bridal shower) and on the 16th I have a hair appointment.  Usually I don't schedule hair appointments in advance - I just wait until I want one and schedule it last minute.  But, last time I got my hair cut we scheduled the rest of my cut/color appointments leading up to the wedding (the last one being the Saturday before the big day).

Father's Day is June 19th so I'll have to plan something for Bryan, since he and the dogs got me such a lovely Mommy Day present, and we'll probably have dinner with his parents.

And finally, I plan on spending the second half of the month busting out my invitations.  I don't plan on showing them on the blog until after they're all sent, but let's just say you should be excited because they're going to be freaking awesome.

It's definitely going to be busy, but I'm not complaining - the busier I am the faster time flies!

I never have to make another ribbon flower again...

And thank goodness for that!  Good golly was that a tedious task, but, I'm officially done making ribbon flowers and they have been transformed into pomanders!  Seeing that it's Monday, you can read all about it (and see my lovely creations) on Weddzilla...Happy Memorial Day!

A Bunch of Wedding Related Random-ness...

First up on wedding related random-ness...did you know that my first bridal shower is two weeks from tomorrow!?  My Mother is hosting a bridal shower for me up in Massachusetts, and then Bryan's Mom will be hosting one later in the summer in Pittsburgh.  I'm super excited...and I got my outfit!

Remember how my mom got me that gorgeous necklace and I said I wanted to get a dress for my showers that I could wear it with (if you don't, you can read about it here)?  Well, I found the perfect dress...

It's from Express and I love it!  It even has pockets, which is awesome, and the sweetheart neckline looks great with my vintage pearls.  Please excuse my makeup-lacking face in the last picture, but I plan on wearing my hair back in a bun like that.  Oh, and I can't forget to show off the shoes I got...

I love these even more than I love the dress!  First of all, they are absurdly comfortable.  Secondly, the metallic color is to die for.  And lastly, I only paid $25 for them!  That's right, twenty-five-dollars!  I got them from DSW - the original price was $45 but I used a coupon and a rewards certificate.

On another attire related note, I think I found a dress that I want to wear for my bachellorette party...

Don't laugh, because seriously, when will I ever have the chance to wear an over-the-top mini dress like that again?  I saw it in the window of NYNY, which I usually refer to as the "stripper store in station square" because they sell skanky dresses (much worse than that one) and clear, plastic heels.  MOH Sam and I might have to make a trip down there to try it on...

Next up, some DIY progress.  First, my pearl bouquet:

Look at it grow!  I really don't mind working on this because it's so easy to do while veggin' out on the couch.  I seriously can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished.

And finally, some progress on my DIY shoes:

I've started working on this project during my lunch at work; otherwise I'm not sure I ever would have finished it.  So each picture is about an additional 50 minutes of work - I'll be done with the first shoe in no time!  But then I still have a whole other shoe to do, lol, which I would like to complete before my first fitting...

That's really all for now.  Do you take progress pictures of your long, labor intensive DIY projects to keep yourself from losing your mind like I do?  Because seriously, if I wasn't taking the pictures of that damn shoe, I would probably be convinced that I'm not getting any closer to being finished!

Have a great weekend everyone, I hope you have awesome weather like we're supposed to here in Pittsburgh!

Fitness Recap Friday!!!

It's Friday!  And a better Friday than usual since I have a three day weekend this weekend!  Woot!  And MOH Sam and I are going to be busting our butts on wedding projects even though it's finally supposed to be nice out...

Look at that lovely forecast!  Looks like we might be making pomanders on the back porch...haha

Any way, back to my recap.  And you guessed it, I did Turbo Fire!

Monday - Fire 30, Stretch 10

Tuesday - Fire 45 EZ, Stretch 10

Wednesday - Core 20, Stretch 10 and I officially finished my second month!  In case you missed it, I have some progress pictures posted here!

Thursday - HIIT 15, Sculpt 30.  Holy cow, let me tell you, my abs were sore from the core workout on Wednesday and then doing a HIIT workout (which is basically workout at a kill-yourself level for a minute, then recover for a minute) and then do a resistance workout...I was pooped!  Needless to say, I slept like a baby last night!

Tonight I'm going to try and get myself to workout, we'll see though...

Did you have any good workouts this week?

Edited to add...

I really like today's Skinny Bitch Calendar Quote, so I have to share it with you all:

That is so true!  In Turbo Fire, Chalene is always reminding you that you have to push yourself to the next level if you want to see your body change; you can't just go through the motions.  If you want to be fit, you have to start being fit!

Now I'm done with this post for real, Happy Friday!

...And The Winner Is...

Sorry I completely forgot to post the results of my "happy 50th follower to me" give-away...

I had an incredibly scientific way of deciding the winner...I looked at how many comments I had and had Bryan pick a number (he picked 8) so the winner is Lyn, author of Tara Getting Married!

So, Lyn, if you could send me an email (through this link) really saying anything you want because all I need is your email address, lol (Starbucks is so fancy), I can get your prize to you!

Thanks again to everyone who reads my blog!

Progress Photos!!!

I've officially completed the first 2 months of Turbo Fire - woohoo!

I didn't feel ready to take photos after the first month, but I did take measurements, and here's the change from May 1st to today:

	5-1-11	5-25-11
Chest	34	33
Right Arm	10.5	10
Left Arm	11	10.25
Waist	28.5	28
Hips	36	35.5
Right Thigh	21	20.5
Left Thigh	22	20.5

Not too bad, if I do say so myself!  Luckily, I did take pictures on the day I first started Turbo Fire, which was March 19th (not March 11, like it says in one of the pictures...I'm just too lazy to go change it, hahaha) and here are my before and afters (so far, that is):

You can't really see that big of a change, except for in my back!  Apparently kickboxing rocks out your back muscles!  And you can see that I got another tattoo, lol.  That would be my lovely Gabby's pawprint!

My post for Weddzilla today isn't going up until 9 pm, so I probably won't link to it until tomorrow.  But if you're just dying to read it, I'm sure you can figure out how to find it on your own!

Skinny Bitch Advice...

I happened to like yesterday's "Skinny Bitch" calendar advice, so I figured I'd share it with you:

Personal Photo of Skinny Bitch Calendar

Recap - fights depression; cool, who wouldn't want to combat depression?  Boosts energy; seriously, when you're busy planning a wedding, working, living life, etc. who doesn't want more energy?  Helps burn fat; enough said.  Prevents heart attacks, maintains good cholesterol levels, aids in digestion, combats PMS, helps prevent premature labor, and keeps teeth strong; who wouldn't want any of those thing!?

And, if you remember, I'm taking a hefty vitamin regimen, so I decided to check it out to see if it had any of this anti-stress mineral, and how much:

Picture of the label of the GNC Be-Wholesome Vitapack

Bam!  63% of your daily value.  And I eat a lot of green veggies (broccoli..yummmm) so I'm probably getting the other 37% in my diet.  Not gonna lie, I was kinda hoping I wasn't getting enough, and then I could make an effort to get more and I would miraculously have more energy.  Yeah, I know, that isn't how that works, but a girl can dream, right?

Do you make an effort to get all the recommended vitamins and minerals throughout your day?

The Joys of Home Ownership

Well technically I don't own the home, Bryan does, but it's our home for sure.

Owning a home is great - you can do what you want with it, you aren't just pissing money away in rent, no one can tell you how many pets you can or can't have, but it's also a lot of work.  Being springtime, a lot of that work has been out in the yard.  I've been able to get out of a bunch of it because of all the wedding projects I've been working on, but if there's one thing I couldn't make Bryan do by himself, it's weeding.

So, this past Saturday I agreed to help him out in the yard...

Image from Google Maps, enhanced by yours truly in Paint

So, yeah, that's our property.  As you can see, we have a pretty big yard, and Bryan has done an amazing job fixing up the lawn after the dogs managed to turn it into a mud pit.  But the flower beds and the entire perimeter of the pool were full of weeds.  It was BAD.  But, it isn't completely our fault it had gotten that bad considering it has basically rained every single day in 2011 (and that's only a slight exaggeration).  So Bryan got to work around the pool, and I got down and dirty in the flower beds.  I actually did this wearing a bathing suit because last year I got the most horrific tan lines while working on the flower beds and I refuse to have racer-back tan for the wedding, but that's beyond the point...look how pretty they are now (yes, I'm a horrible blogger and forgot to take "before" pictures - envision a jungle of dandelions and prickly weeds):

Personal Photo

Personal Photo

I don't even know what the purple things in the second picture are called, but we planted them last spring and they have blown up since then!  Apparently pretty purple things do well in the horrible clay like soil of Pittsburgh!  And I've already planted petunias in the empty flower bed, but I'll take pictures of that once they spread a little bit!

Have you been doing any yard work lately?

Big Fat DIY Fail...

It has officially happened.  I 100% failed at making tissue paper pomanders.  Even my cat was ashamed of them.  But, while Charles the cat teased me about my massive DIY failure I came up with a new idea...and you can read all about it on Weddzilla!  Happy Monday all!

Fitness Recap Friday!

So, the beginning of this week started out a little shaky and completely messed up my Turbo Fire schedule.  I didn't work out at all Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, and I was getting sick of having to jumble around the "official" schedule because seriously, who wants their rest day to be on a Tuesday?  That's just stupid.  So, I kind of did my own shortened version for this week, and I plan on working out tonight, and then tomorrow I will have my rest day that should have technically been on the Tuesday of the last week of the second month (did you follow that at all, lol?) and I'll go from there.  But anyways, here's what I did do...

Tuesday - Fire 55...nothing new or special to report on that.

Wednesday - Fire 30 (I'm getting kind of sick of Fire 30, not gonna lie) and 20 minutes of Sculpt 30 - I just got too exhausted to finish (it's been a rough week at work).

Thursday - This is where I really mixed it up; I did Fire 45 EZ and Stretch 10.  Fire 45 EZ isn't actually on the schedule at all for this month, but I think it's my favorite workout.  I also have no idea why it is called "EZ" because in my opinion, it is one of the hardest workouts in the program.  It might be because there aren't any "fire drills" (minute long segments where you're supposed to push yourself to the limit) but since there aren't any fire drills, there also aren't and 1 minute recovery periods - which I think is why I find it to be harder then the normal Fire workouts.  That's 45 minutes without stopping.  Ever. 

Tonight I plan on doing Fire 30, Tone 30.  I know when I get home I'm not going to want to, but I would feel much better about my week fitness wise if I did, and that's what I have to keep reminding myself as I try to come up with excuses to not workout.

Oh, and remember a few weeks ago when my shoulder was killing me? I still think part of the problem was over-exerting myself in my workouts, but I just realized something else that may be contributing...that's the arm that I always carry my laptop bag with.  And my laptop bag is effing heavy!  I've tried to switch between arms, but it just feels awkward on the other arm.  Not sure what I'm going to do about it, but if my shoulder starts hurting like that again I may have to force myself to carry my bag on my other arm...stupid work computer!

Did you have a better week workout wise than I did?

I hate my skin...

Let me begin by saying I had the clearest skin ever through middle school and high school.  While everyone else was being awkward together and having pimples, my skin was flawless.  When I went to college that changed.

My skin isn't that bad.  I get a lot of little, under the skin white heads that no one can really see (but me), and I occasionally get big, painful, cystic pimples that basically develop a mind of their own and sometimes get to the point where I can actually feel my pulse in them.  Then I lose my mind trying to pop them and end up piercing them with a needle to get all the horrible-ness out.  Then I COVER it in heavy duty acne medicine and after a few days of looking like a scab, it goes away.

You would think I would have scars on my face from all the popping I do, but I don't.  Either I am an extremely skilled popper, or it is just genetics or something.  But, needless to say, after the pimple heals there is no sign that I had brutally attacked it a few days before.

Well, you may remember, a few months ago I started going to a dermatologist.  First it was a pill, face wash, and a cream - but I was only supposed to be on the pill for a short period of time while we got things under control.  That kind of helped with the big, painful guys but I still had all the little, under the skin ones.  So we changed the cream but kept the pill and the face wash.  That cream dried my skin out like woah.  I couldn't use it every day, but if I didn't use it every day it didn't really work.  Then I ran out of the pills (that I wasn't supposed to have to be on long term) and everything came back.

I am not okay with the idea of being on a pill forever for my skin.  I don't think my body should be constantly exposed to an antibiotic like that.  So I'm taking it into my own hands...and I threw down a pretty penny on a bunch of Murad Products.

Up first, Murad Clarifying Cleanser.  I use this twice a day.



Then, I spot treat with Murad Acne Spot Treatment.  This has salicylic acid and sulfur in it.  I am also using this twice a day.



Then I put Murad Gentle Acne Treatment Gel all over my face.  This also has salicylic acid in it, among other things to help heal and shrink pores.  Again, this is a twice a day type of deal.



And finally, I wrap it up with Murad Skin Perfecting Lotion.  This I only use at night, in the morning I use my Lancome First Signs of Aging Moisturizer.



But, I didn't even stop there...I already use Bare Minerals make-up, and I decided to invest in Bare Minerals Blemish Therapy, which you use to cover up any blemishes (and it covers them up really well) and has Sulfur in it to help fight the pimple.

I've been using all this for almost two weeks, and I really think it's working.  I won't make a final judgement until I get my "monthly gift" while still using this stuff since that tends to be when I break out the worst (stupid hormones).  And seriously, I'm just hoping that I can get my skin under control before the wedding.  Nobody deserves to have a massive, pulsing, painful, tumor-like pimple on their wedding day!

Have you changed your skincare regimen to prepare for your upcoming nuptials?  Do you have any recommendations?  Because if this doesn't work, I'll take any advice I can get...

And don't forget to head over to my post, "Happy 50th Follower to Me" to enter into my give-away...I'll be selecting a winner tomorrow!

Help Me Decide on Pocketfolds!

I'm being indecisive about how to finish my DIY pocketfolds...and I hate being indecisive.

But since it is Weddzilla Wednesday, you can see what I've narrowed it down to here!

And, don't forget to enter yourself in my give-away (on this post)

In Love With New Hair Products!

So, I have really weird hair.  Really weird, and really thick.  Really weird, and thick, and really coarse.  It takes forever to dry.  I refuse to blow dry it when it is warm out because it takes so long and I end up sweating.  So, when it's warm out I depend on a turbi-twist to suck up as much water as possible, then I sleep on it, and it's almost dry the next morning.  In the winter I still shower at night because even though I don't mind blow drying it, doing so makes it ::poof:: so then I sleep on it and it become manageable enough for me to straighten with a flat iron.

I don't think I've ever found a hair product that I absolutely love for when I'm letting my hair air dry.  See, some pieces are really quite curly, some are dead straight, but the majority of it is just quasi-wavy ready to frizz out at the first sign of moisture in the air.  That is, until recently...

I got my hair cut and colored about a week and a half ago and my hair dresser said they had a product she thought would be great for my hair when I'm not straightening it.  I get my hair cut at Ulta, so anything I buy I have 60 days to return if I don't like it, so of course I bought it...

Personal Photo

They are Redken Curl Wise 14 Defining Cream and Redken Nature's Rescue Radiant Sea Spray.  I don't know how they're doing it, but it is gross as all hell out and my hair isn't a giant poof ball (or pulled back into a bun due to it becoming a giant poof ball).  I have, like, the perfect amount of "beachy" waves that it looks styled with an acceptable volume given that it isn't 1985 anymore!

And I came across these heavenly hair products just in time for hair-poofing season!  If anyone out there struggles with thick, coarse, kinda curly, kinda not, completely un-manageable hair, I totally recommend you try this stuff out!  I put the cream in when my hair is wet, and still wrap it on up in my turbi-twist.  Then I sleep on it and spray it with the "radiance" spray when I'm getting ready in the morning, give it a little scrunch, and I'm good to go!

Does your hair start a rebellion when the humidity rises?  Do you have a favorite hair product to tame your mane?

And don't forget to go enter yourself in my give-away!

in case you missed it...GIVE-AWAY!

Considering only 1 person has commented in the past days, I figured I'd re-post about it.

I'm doing a give-away, but you have to go and comment on this post to entered!

There are 2 days left to "enter" the contest!

Yesterday's Weddzilla Post

...just a little late (again)!

I made some serious progress on my Pearl Bouquet this weekend, and you can read and see it here!

Happy 50th Follower to Me!

To some, it may seem like a really silly milestone, but to me it actually means a lot.  Wedding planning is stressful and time consuming and exhausting - and I love having a place to go and talk about all that, or to celebrate when something goes really well.  Whether it is a DIY Project, a Fitness Goal, or an awesome vendor, I know that there are people out there who don't even know me, but will be equally excited that something is going well.  And when things kind of suck, there's a bunch of impartial outsiders to give their opinion.  And I want you all to know I appreciate that you follow along on my wedding planning journey, and I love getting your comments and feedback along the way!

So, as a little celebration, I'm going to do a little giveaway!!!

If you leave a comment on this post in the next 3 days (say how you found my blog, link back to your blog if you have one, and tell me what your favorite kind of post of mine is {DIY, fitness, Weight Watchers, ranting about nothingness, anything that you like} and in 3 days I'll randomly choose one of the people who left a comment for a Starbucks gift card - because whether you're planning a wedding or not, we all need a little pick me up now and again!

Again, thank you - for putting up with my craziness and making wedding planning a little less stress full!

...Yes, that really is me...I really am as crazy in Real Life as I am on my blog, hahaha!

I enjoy making cards WAY too much!

This past Saturday we went to Bryan's parent's house to celebrate his cousins Birthday.  She just turn 9, and I adore her; she totally reminds me of myself when I was 9.  I had WAY too much fun picking out a present for her (we got her 2 of my favorite books from when I was around her age - and yes, she actually enjoys reading, which I love - a friendship bracelet making kit and a purse decorating kit) and then had even more fun wrapping the present and making her card!

I used my Sweet Treats cartridge for my cricut and based my card off of this lovely video:

And here is my final product:

I LOVE IT!  And, what I love even more is that after she opened her present, she pulled that fabric flower off the ribbon and attached it to the headband she was wearing.  Not only did it match perfectly (completely by coincidence) but it looked effing adorable!

If you like making cards, I would 100% recommend the Sweet Treats Cartridge, it has so many fun shapes and card cut-outs!

Did you make any fun crafts this weekend?

Some Pearl Bouquet Progress!

So, you may remember from this post (when I said I had fallen in love with the idea of a pearl bouquet) and this post (when I started working on it) that I've decided against a traditional bridal bouquet, and instead I'll be carrying (and DIYing) a pearl bouquet!

I finally got all my beads last night.  I scoured ebay for pearls and crystals ranging from 6mm to 10mm in cream, dark purple, light purple, and red looking for the best deals.  Most of the best deals were from sellers in China...awesome prices, but they took a while to get here.  Well, I officially received my last package yesterday and that motivated me to work a little bit more on it...

Personal Photos

In case you couldn't recall, this is how much I had done before yesterday:

Personal Photos

So, yeah, I didn't make that much progress....I don't mind twisting the beads onto the wire; it is really mindless and easy to do while laying on the couch watching TV.  But after a while the hand that I grip the bead with (my left hand) starts to hurt.  More specifically, my thumb feels like it is getting bruised and my pointer finger feels like it is getting raw.  I'm considering getting some sort of gardening gloves to wear while I work on this...what do you think? 

But yeah, that's really all for now.  I'm planning on working on some Tissue Paper Pomanders this weekend, and hopefully a little more on my shoes (that is one crap-tastic project, let me tell you) or if I procrastinate on my shoes I'll probably do some more on the pearl bouquet!

Do you have any wedding planning plans for this weekend?

It's Friday, and That Means...

Fitness Recap Friday!

This week was almost identical to last week for my Turbo Fire Schedule, but I'll break it down for you anyway...

Monday - Fire 55 EZ

Tuesday - Fire 30 and half of Sculpt 30.  My sculpt/tone DVD started skipping really badly.  I completely forgot about it until last night I went to do Tone 30 and it went bonkers.  So, today I bought one of those CD repair/cleaning kits, and hopefully that will fix it!

Wednesday - Core 20

Thursday - Fire 30 Stretch 10 (since I couldn't do Tone 30).

Pretty boring, I know...but I'm hoping to get some before and after pictures to share with you soon!

Happy Friday!

Belated Weddzilla Wednesday!

Sorry guys, I forgot to post the link yesterday!  My post can be found here!

Its about being a bride with tattoos, and how to compromise with my mom who would prefer I cover them with make-up for the wedding.  In case you didn't realize, I have quite a few tats - you can see my largest one in my before and after pictures here!

4 Months!?!?!?

Four Months from right this very second I will probably be running around like a mad woman with MOH Sam reminding me every 3 minutes that I have to eat something - because four months from today is our wedding!

I honestly can't even believe it.  Yes, I've had wedding supplies building up in our spare room and basement for months and months, but I can't believe it's getting this close!  Before I know it, we'll be sending out invitations, and then getting RSVPs, and then getting married, and then on our honeymoon!  Eeek!

And with the wedding in T minus 4 months, I got a lovely Michaels' coupon in my email this morning!  It's for 20% off you entire purchase including sale items!!!!  And because I love my readers so much, I'm going to share with with you! (It can be found here)

Also, today's "Skinny Bitch" calendar is really hitting home with me, so of course I'll share that with you as well:

It is simple - I need to workout.  Not only because my wedding is 4 months away and if I stay on track I'll be wrapping up the entire Turbo Fire program right as it's time to get married, but because working out really does make you feel better.  And let's face it, planning a wedding can be stressful!  We can use all the natural endorphins and feel-good opiates we can get!

How's wedding planning going for you?  Are you having trouble realizing how fast time is going by, too?

I've been at it again...

And by "at it" I mean being an overly-visual-borderline-crazy DIY bride-to-be...

And since it's Monday, you can read all about it on Weddzilla (but you already knew that, didn't you?)

Mother's Day Fun!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the Mommies out there!  I figured I shared my crafts and creations for the day we all spend appreciating the most important women in our lives!

First up, cards.  I made all these using the "Wild Card" cartridge for my cricut (highly recommend that cart, it is really fun):

This one was for my Mom:

This one was for Bryan's Mom:

And these next two were for Bryan's Grandmothers:

We went to dinner at Bryan's Uncle's house, and for that I made brownie pops!  Both delicious and adorable!  I used this recipe for the brownies, then cut them into small brownie sizes and rolled each into a little ball.  Then I dropped a ball in the chocolate ganache (from that recipe - it says to pour it on top, I skipped that so I could cover them at this point), shoved a lollipop stick in them, and propped them up in some styrofoam to solidify:

Then I decorated them with nuts, sprinkles, colored chocolate, or peanut butter, and put them in the lovely little structure I made (I used cardstock for the box base then wrapped ribbon around it and used my cricut to cut out some flowers.  Then I painted a sytrofoam cone purple for the pops to be stuck in):

And then I wrapped the whole sucker up in plastic wrap for the trip to Byran's uncle's house.  They were a huge hit!

And, because I have the best fiance ever, my babies (aka my dogs and cats) got me this lovely Mommy Day present:

I love pearls, and I absolutely adore this ring!  Most definitely wearing it when we get married!

Did you do anything special for Mother's Day?

Fitness Recap Friday!!!

Woot!  I did pretty well this week, if I do say so myself!  I continued with my Turbo Fire schedule and honestly I think I'm realizing more and more if you don't enjoy the exercise that you're doing, you are going to find excuses not to do it.

It was one thing when I was actively losing weight.  My motivation came from knowing that I was going to weigh in at my Weight Watchers meeting that Saturday and I wanted to get to goal!  After I hit goal, I did okay maintaining my workout routine for a while, and then fell completely off the wagon.  I didn't hate the workouts that I had, but I also really didn't enjoy them.  Jillian Michaels, Jackie Warner, and Jari Love all have great workout DVDs.  If you do their workouts, you will for sure see results.  But I didn't look forward to doing them, and I would get bored during the workout.  But I would stick it out because I had a goal in mind (losing weight).  Now that I'm just trying to maintain it's a damn good thing I found a workout that I actually enjoy doing (I honestly look forward to it) or else I'm not sure I would ever have anything to recap for you!!!

Saturday was my day off.

Sunday I did Fire 45 and Stretch 10.  And I don't know if you recall, but I worked hard.  Seriously, I didn't even know I was capable of pushing myself that hard (you can read about it here).

Monday was Fire 55 EZ and even though I was still a little tired from my workout the night before, I was able to give it about 95%.

Tuesday was Fire 30 and Sculpt 30.  I really like the Fire 30 workout; it is short, but it's intense.  You do the same "fire drill" twice, and at the end of that drill my heart is pounding, I'm panting like I've never exercised a day in my life, and the sweat is dripping off me.  And I don't think I have to tell you again how much I enjoy the resistance training in this program.

Wednesday I did Core 20.  Not much else to say there! lol

Last night was Fire 30 and Tone 30.  Tone 30 and Sculpt 30 are both resistance workouts, they're not the same workout, and I like them both.

Tonight is supposed to be Fire 55 EZ.  Bryan has to do some work, so we can't go out, so I'll probably do it.

I ordered the advanced DVDs on Ebay, and I should be getting those soon, although they don't actually come into the schedule for a few months.  See, the first month of the schedule is an intro and HIIT 1.  Month 2 (which is what I'm at now) is 3 weeks of "cardio" (which is just the "fire" workouts, no HIIT workouts) and then a week of recovery.  Month 3 is HIIT-2 (which is more advanced than HIIT1) and then a week of recovery.  And then Month 4 is "advanced cardio" which used the Fire workouts you already have as well as the advanced DVDs then a week of recovery.  And month 5 (the last month of the program) is HIIT 3 which uses the HIIT workouts and the advanced resistance workouts.  Months 4 and 5 look pretty hardcore, and if I stay on track I should be finishing up the program in the end of August, just in time for the wedding!  How perfect is that (I totally just realized that, lol)!

Well, if that isn't motivation to stay on track with the schedule, I don't know what is!  Because let me tell you, I plan on looking mighty hot in a bikini on my honeymoon!  And Bryan just started doing P90X - we're just gonna be a couple of newlywed hotties loungin' on the beach!

How was your week fitness wise?  How do you stay motivated to workout?

Rykas are the best thing that ever happened to my feet!

So, in this post, I told you all that I had ordered new sneakers to work out in, and let me tell you I don't know how I've been doing aerobics in running sneakers for so long!  These suckers are really the best thing that ever happened to my feet.

All photos stolen from zappos.com

I had never noticed how little support I was getting from my running sneakers while doing Turbo Fire until I did Turbo Fire wearing these.  If you're doing aerobics in running shoes, I 110% recommend looking into getting trainers that are specifically meant for aerobics, and I promise you won't regret it!

And it isn't like my other sneakers will go to waste; I still plan on running occasionally.  And it's better to have a specific pair of sneakers for "indoor" exercise and for "outdoor" exercise (your "indoor" shoes will last much longer if you don't wear them outside).

So, thank you Ryka, for saving my feet!

Engagement Pictures!

So, Bryan and I had our engagement photos taken last August, and I'm just finally getting around to posting about them!

I don't know if you've caught on yet, but it's Wednesday, so you can read my post on Weddzilla!

PSA for all Cricut Enthusiasts!

Cricutmachine.com (aka my favorite website) is having a Mother's Day Sale!  Not only are all cartridges $29.95 or less (excluding the Imagine Carts) if you spend at least $29.95 you get a free tool kit!  Even if you already have a tool kit, it's never a bad thing to have extras of!  I just ordered the Home Decor Cart, the Wrap It Up Cart, and a Tote for my cartridges that matches my Cricut Machine tote, all for under $100, plus I'll get a tool kit.  You really can't beat it!

Go to CricutMachine.com Now!

**Just as a disclaimer, I don't work for CricutMachine.com or anything, I've just found that they have the best prices on cartridges (not on cutting mats, if you need cutting mats go to overstock.com) and I like the spread the word when they have good deals!  I don't get anything if you go and buy stuff, you'll just be missing out if you choose not to, hahaha.

Fitness Update, Home Decorating...Basically a Totally Random Post!

Good morning all!  So, as of Sunday I officially finished the first month of Turbo Fire (even though it took me 6 weeks, haha) and I figured I should give a little review of it so far...

1.  I am definitely getting in better shape.  Remember the first time I did one of the workouts (if you don't, there's a quick post about it here) and I almost threw up?  Well, I know longer feel like I'm going to vomit during my workouts.  And I can definitely push myself harder throughout the entirety of the workout.

2.  I was totally surprised to realize I'm getting incredibly more flexible.  Like, I complain that there's only one 10 minute stretch routine, but it must be the most amazing stretch routine ever because I'm seriously getting so much more flexible.  And considering flexibility is 1/3 of fitness, and being flexible helps build lean muscles, I'm pretty pumped about it!  I was never not flexible (I was a dancer for a decade and a half, after that you never really lose your flexibility) but I haven't been this flexible in a while!

3.  I discovered I needed new sneakers.  The sneakers I have are really nice, but they're also running shoes.  Running shoes aren't good for aerobics for a number of reasons.  They don't give you the lateral support that your foot needs, they give you too much traction (so you can't swivel on the balls of your feet - this is bad for your knees), and for whatever reason my feet were going numb halfway through my workouts (no they weren't too small for me, just giving me the wrong kind of support).  So yesterday I ordered a pair of Ryka Cross Trainers.  Since DSW is awesome, and I'm addicted to shoes so I'm a premier rewards member, I get free overnight shipping so they should be here today, and I'll definitely check back in with what I think of them.  But everyone I've talked to loves their rykas!

Since I completed the first month I was supposed to take more pictures of myself but I chose not to.  I'm all bloated and PMS-y so taking "after" pictures of myself just wasn't going to happen.  When I'm done being bloated I will happily take some pics and show them to you!

And some home decorating!  The basement is my lair - my craft arsenal.  It is where all my crafting stuff is, my awesome HP Touchsmart Computer, and all my workout stuff.  It really is my happy place.  Well one of the walls of my happy place was depressingly bare:

The walls are grey, and there are hints of dark purple here and there.  Well, anyway, back to my bare wall.  I found some decals at Marshall's and fell in love with them, so now my wall isn't bare anymore:

YAY BUTTERFLIES AND FRENCH STUFF!  I really like it! (The rest of my basement can be seen here and here)
So, yeah, that's really all for today.  In case you missed it, my post yesterday was freaking impressive, so if you haven't checked it out yet, you totally should!

And is it just me, or is this week going by unusually slow?  I feel like it should be at least Thursday...