What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Hump Day, y'all! Here are a few things I am lovin' on this delightful Wednesday.

1.) I'm loving that Spring Break is only 7 work days away!

2.) I'm LOVING that I will be headed to Chicago for the first time ever 2 weeks from tomorrow :) I am going for my cousins Bachelorette party, which is conveniently the same weekend as St. Patricks Day. It's going to be a blast!

3.) I'm loving the fact that my brand new furniture is going to be delivered Saturday :)

I got the sofa, matching chair, and my favorite part - the cocktail ottoman!

4. I'm loving the fact that I have officially been asked to be a bridesmaid in all 4 of my dear friends' weddings coming up this year :)

Can't wait for this year of love and celebration!

5.) As always, I am loving my sweet puppy! We have been enjoying a lot of dog park dates lately thanks to this crazy weather, she is definitely not complaining about it!

Love my sweet girl :)

5. I'm loving the fact that I am going to start investigating becoming a home owner this year. This is still a very pre-mature thing, but after thinking I absolutely did not want to do that, I have had some second thoughts and decided it is at least worth looking into :) We will see how this goes!

What are you loving today? Happy Hump Day!

Fill in the Blank Friday

1. The love of my life is: Guess I should say David here ;). We may not be married, or even engaged... but after 3 years I can say he is one of the best people to come into my life.

 2. Falling in love is: Awkward, nerve-racking, frustrating, scary and really amazing all at the same time. Awkward because you never know how to go about that whole "love" talk, especially as a girl because you don't want to seem crazy! Nerve-racking, because you never want to do or say the wrong thing in fear it will make that "love" in your life think twice about why they are with you (more in the early part of a relationship). Frustrating, because love is not always perfect. Scary, because you are taking a risk at having your heart torn our of your chest and destroyed anytime you are or feel you are in love. Really amazing, because when you finally find that person, everything else in the world is just a little bit easier.

 3. Marriage is like: I have no idea because as I stated earlier I am not married and never have been. I have a few years before that happens. I am on Whitney and Cory  time hehe :)

4. The longest relationship I have ever had is: The one I am currently in with Dave. 3 years and still going strong.

5. The key to a good relationship is: communication, trust, appreciation

 6. I feel loved when: you take the time to make me feel loved and appreciated. It doesn't have to be extravagant, just something as simple as a nice text or saying "I miss you" if you haven't seen your significant other in a while. Love has nothing to do with the amount of money you spend on someone, it is all about being appreciated and showing the other they are appreciated as well.

7. My favorite quote about love is: One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love. - Sophocles

Final Boot Camp Update

Well you guys, I successfully made it through 6 weeks of boot camp. We had our final assessment today and I definitely can't complain about my numbers in that area. However, I found myself quite discouraged at that fact that I have somehow managed to gain 3 lbs and only lost 1/2 an inch in my waist. Talk about a mood killer. I don't know what I am doing wrong, I am eating SO MUCH better than I was 6 weeks ago, like really watching what and how much I eat (but not starving myself, I love food too much to do that :) ) and I am working out 4-5 times a week. I don't know what else I can do. Weight loss or not though, I have signed up for 12 more weeks of this camp. I have seen an overall improvement in my health, energy, mood, etc. Whether I lose weight or inches is not nearly as important is being active and doing something to better my overall health, which this is doing. So bring on the next 12 weeks! I will continue updates throughout those as well (for the few of you who care). Here are the final results of my boot camp, all number up except 1, so that is one positive. Here are results from all 3 assessments:

Week 1, Day 1: 
Mile - 10:16
Push-Up - 20
Crunches - 46
Sit-Ups - 20
Plank - 1:06
Squats - 41
Squat Jumps - 38
Hell Burpees - 7


Half-Way Mark, Day 12
Mile -*We only did this the first week and last*
Push-Ups - 34
Crunches - 61
Sit-Ups - 30
Plank - 1:30
Squats - 50
Squat Jumps - 51
Hell Burpees -12

Week 6
Mile -9:16
Push-Ups - 41 (overall increase 21)
Crunches - 72 (overall increase 26)
Sit-Ups - 37 (overall increase 17)
Plank - 1:40 (overall increase 34 seconds)
Squats - 52 (overall increase 11)
Squat Jumps - 46 (clearly was not feeling these today, so we will go with last week's number and say an increase of 13)
Hell Burpees -15 (overall increase 8)

All-in-all I think this was worth it, and I can't wait to see how much I have improved by the time I finish all 18 weeks. My only hope is that I eventually start losing some weight and inches these next 2 sessions.
 

Boot Camp Update 2

Alright you guys, I started week 6 of boot camp today. Man oh man, it has been a tough 6 weeks, but I am definitely seeing some differences. While I have not lost a single pound - I have lost some inches, and I have seen some serious improvement in my numbers from 1st day assessments. We will have our last assessment Wednesday, so I am very anxious to see how much more my numbers go up! Here is what has improved so far - it may not sound like much to some people, but believe me, for me it is a huge accomplishment! We do each of these exercises for 1 minute, get a 30 second break and move to the next (other than the mile of course, we just run that and try and improve our time, and the plank is just how long we can hold it, up to 5 minutes)

Week 1, Day 1: 
Mile - 10:16
Push-Up - 20
Crunches - 46
Sit-Ups - 20
Plank - 1:06
Squats - 41
Squat Jumps - 38
Hell Burpees - 7


Half-Way Mark, Day 12
Mile -*We only did this the first week and last*
Push-Ups - 34
Crunches - 61
Sit-Ups - 30
Plank - 1:30
Squats - 50
Squat Jumps - 51
Hell Burpees -12

Now, like I said, we are doing our last assessment Wednesday, but we ran our mile tonight - and HELLO! I shaved an entire minute off of my first time just 6 weeks ago. I ran it in 9:16 tonight, and I must say, I have not been this proud of myself in a while. I know that is not a crazy good time to run a mile by any means, but to see so much improvement in such a small amount of time is very rewarding. I will blog a final update Wednesday with my final numbers in all the other exercises. Can't wait to see how much they go up (hopefully) and share with my few followers :)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Today is my grandpa's 96th birthday! I can't imagine what is like to be that age, and all of the things he has seen and experienced in his life. It is truly amazing. I am so blessed to have him in my life still, and to be living in the same city with him where I have been able to build such a wonderful relationship with him. I'm also fortunate to have him be a part of so many milestones in my life, I feel not many people are that fortunate. We celebrated last night, his 3 daughters all drove in town and my dad (his only son) were all there to be a part of it. It was a very special night. Happy Birthday, Grandpa. I love you!

This is from Father's Day a few years ago. My grandpa, dad, and me :)

Celebrating my college graduation May 2011. I was the last of his 9 grandchildren to graduate, so glad he was there to celebrate with me! (I am the youngest by 4 years)

Blog Spotlight

     I have never done any kind of blog spotlight, in fact, I just could not come up with any type of title for this post, and this just popped in my brain.

     I just read this blog post and thought it was too good of a message to not share with others. This blog is written by my old Greek adviser at Memphis, Leslie. I had the pleasure of working with her when I was a Gamma Chi my last year of school. She is such an elegant, genuine individual, and I am so glad I was able to meet her and get to know her through my Gamma Chi experience. I love keeping up with her blog, and this post was perfect today. I feel as though sometimes we can all get a little caught up in things we want, that our ability to differentiate a want and need becomes disabled. It is important to take a step back and really think about what is best for yourself, family, and future. Great post, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

Walking In Memphis - Wants and Needs