Week 7 Day 3

I just finished Week 7 Day 3 of Couch to 5k.  It was 5 minutes of walking following by 25 minutes of jogging and a 5 minute cool down.  When I started the jog, I automatically thought I wasn't going to be able to finish.  However, after about 10 minutes I think I settled down into a rhythm and finished it out.

As far as diet goes... well, it hasn't.  I did really well my first week and lost 5 pounds!  I don't know what's stopping me from continuing past one week but something's blocking it and I resort right back to my old habits of sweets and sodas.  It's really, truly frustrating and I know that I'm the only one that can change it.  I still think about it daily and will keep updating on here to try to keep accountable.\

In other news, I sent out our Christmas cards this weekend so I can now share the picture that was on the card:
 

This year she really appreciates Christmas lights and will just stand and admire them or start squealing and yelling "lights!".  Last week we took her a local Christmas lights display and as we're driving through she just had a constant smile on her face.  I am loving that she's old enough now to interact more with us through all of these experiences.

My attempt at being fit

Most of you know that I have started a program called Couch to 5k.  This is designed to help couch potatoes, like me, get up and running to the point that you can successfully run a 5k.  For years I have detested running and always said that the only way I would run is if somebody was chasing me.

This past May, Mom and I decided to sign up for a local bootcamp.  This has been great for me because it has gotten me out of the house and moving 4 days a week.  After all of this time in bootcamp, I have decided that it just wasn't enough.  I wanted to be fit again like I was back in high school!

I had heard of this program from tons of people and usually laughed at the idea.  When it was brought up to me again a couple of months ago, something in my head clicked and I immediately signed up.  It's 9 weeks long and you only run 3 days a week.  You start off by mostly walking with short intervals of jogging thrown in and slowly work your way up to running/jogging the entire time.

I just finished Week 6 Day 2 and I can proudly say that I have been able to keep up with the program :-)

I even signed up to run my first 5k in January and it makes me nervous but I am confident that I will be able to run the entire race.

Why am I telling you all of this?  I need the accountability!  Also, I figure someone out there in cyber space might read this and think maybe they can do it as well.

I am also thinking about posting my before weight and progress along the way.  I am currently trying to figure out some kind of reward system for myself so that I have goals to meet and something to look forward to.

If I decide to do all of this, you all will be the first (maybe 2nd) to know.

Wish me luck!

Oops!

 I am SOOO sorry!  I can't believe I haven't posted since Sam's 1st birthday.  We've been super busy as we've been adjusting to having a full blown toddler in the house.  She's into everything and loves every minute of it. 

I'm adding a few pictures of things that have been going on around here:

 

1st Birthday Party

Sam's 1st birthday party was this past Saturday and I ended up having it at a local park right off of the lake.  It was very hot outside but the breeze coming in from the water helped a ton!  We had hot dogs and hamburgers and so enjoyed getting to see all of our friends and family again.  Sam even got to meet some cousins for the first time!  I spent a lot of time planning this party and it was perfect.  I don't think I would have changed one single thing.

First, there was the cake.  We had strawberry and lemon cupcakes and Sam's smash cake was lemon with red and black polka dots and a fondant ladybug on top.  I got cupcake toppers from Etsy and cut those out and glued them to lollipop sticks.

For Sam's dress I found something at Kohl's that was PERFECT!  I know I had originally posted a poll about which dress from Etsy to order, but when I found this dress for $8, I couldn't pass it up.  To match it I also found a ladybug barrette on Etsy on sale for $1.  The bloomers I actually bought when Sam was only about 2-3 months old because they were just so cute and I couldn't resist them.  She had never worn them before her party and they matched her dress perfectly :-)

My baby loves, and I mean LOVES, balloons.  Especially the big, shiny, mylar kind (definitely not the cheap kind).  Because of this, the one thing I truly cared about having around for this party was some awesome balloons.  You would be amazed how difficult it is to find decent ladybug balloons somewhere in town.  I eventually ended up ordering a set off of Amazon.com for $15.  It included 5 red latex balloons with black dots, 5 black latex balloons with white dots, 2 round ladybug mylar balloons and 1 huge 30inch sparkly ladybug mylar balloon.  I then had to take them to Party City and have them inflated.  Not so bad and they ended up being super cute and she was fixated on them throughout the entire party. 

Also, as kind of a keepsake, I purchased a signature mat and put Sam's picture in the middle.  I will eventually have this framed and put in her room.

Sam with her daddy and pointing to her balloons

Again, trying to reach those darn balloons

The whole set up before guests arrived.

When it came time for Sam to eat her tiny little cake is when it truly got interesting.  We had a very small #1 candle on the cake and wanted to light it briefly and have it blown out.  So while I tried to get a picture of her and her cake with a lit candle, her Memaw and Pepaw were holding her arms to keep her from grabbing the flame.  When Memaw blew the candle out Sam started to scream!  What party is complete without the unhappy baby picture?  We got her to calm down by giving her a spoonful of cake and it didn't take long before she figured it out and went to town.  She ended up getting so much cake and icing in her ear, her hair and on her face that we ended up taking her down the boat ramp in the lake to rinse her off.  The wet wipes and paper towels just weren't cutting it.

We had so much fun and I know that she really did too.  How could she not love all of that attention?  By the time we got home she was wiped out but when she woke up from her nap she sure did love playing with all of those toys.  Thank you to all of our friends and family that helped with the party, drove all the way out to see us and wished Sam a happy birthday.  You were all so important in helping to make this day special for Sam.

Sam and I

Happy Family

Happy Birthday!

My baby girl is finally 1 year old!  I can't believe it and it seems like it went by so fast.  We had her party on Saturday and it was a blast!  Sunday we went to church and spent a regular day at home for her birthday.  On the 4th of July we went down to my dad's house at the lake and spent the day relaxing and swimming in the lake.  I don't think this weekend could have been any better :-)

She's 20 lbs .5 oz and 30 inches tall.  She walks everywhere now and is getting to be so independent.  She loves to point at things and have you tell her what it is.  She soaks everything up like a sponge!  She favorite thing to do is play with her daddy and thinks he is the funniest person on this earth.

Getting Ready

So this past week or so and this coming up week I am getting ready.  Not only for Sam's 1st birthday party, but also for my baby girl turning the day after.  I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that she is growing up so fast and getting so big.  I will get over it though...

Here I am 4 days until the party and all I can think of is that there are things to do but none of which I can really accomplish today.  You know, the list of things like make cupcakes/cakes, pack everything up, get food ready, get balloons inflated.  My mantra throughout this whole process has been, "I'm only doing this once, I'm only doing this once."  After this one, we're doing small parties at home where we don't invite the WHOLE extended family.

After the party this weekend I will be sure to post what I know will be hundreds of pictures ;-) 

Family Reunion

This past weekend we got to go to a family reunion in Sand Flat, Texas.  If you don't know where that is...neither do I!  My mom, Sam and I packed up in the car early in the morning and started down and eventually (after getting lost thanks to a wrong fork in the road) arrived.  Most of these people I had never met or are so distantly related to me that I was a little overwhelmed with names and geneology.  It was nice though and on a beautiful family ranch in a gorgeous ranch house.  The food was good and of course Sam loved playing with all of her new friends.  I did get a pic of her trying to get a kiss from another baby.  After a few hours though, Sam was so sleepy and so was I knowing that I had such a long drive back.  We packed back up in the car and snapped a few more pictures on our way out of the ranch.

New Venture

So recently I have started a new business with Initials, Inc.  I am so incredibly excited about this and can't wait to start sharing this with other people!

Here's my starter kit that I got in the mail:

It's a business that specializes in personalized gifts and we offer SO MANY cute products.  I can do parties at your home, work, school, the park, you name it and we can probably do it!  I can also do online/catalog parties as well.

Here's my website if you'd like more information as well as an online catalog. 

http://www.myinitials-inc.com/AshleyNichols

If you'd like to be one of the first shows that I do, please let me know!

Thanks!

11 Months

Since I've failed recently at keeping up my blog, it's time to play catch up!  On June 3rd, Sam turned 11 months.  She has been so busy lately and keeping me on my toes!

She's learned to walk and she talks back when you tell her no.  She's not really saying much other da, dada, ugh, etc.

She's a good sleeper and a good eater.  I couldn't really ask for much more :-)  I take her almost everywhere with me and she seems to love it and meeting new people.

This month I joined a fitness bootcamp and she goes to the park with me twice a week and plays with Grandpa Steve while I get my butt kicked by a trainer.

Renaissance Festival

I remember going to Scarborough Renaissance Festival when I was younger and it was always so much fun!  People dressed up and acting so differently.  It was always like walking into another world.

Last year Morgan, Blake and I went and I was MISERABLE!!  I should also mention that it was in the high 90's and I was pregnant.  Not a good combo!  So, this year we decided to give it another try and to take Sam with us.  We went pretty early as to avoid the larger crowd and also to try and beat the heat.  It was really humid but bearable.  I will go ahead and say that this year was much better.

First thing we did was warn Sam that if she misbehaved she would go straight to the stocks.

We did a round of the whole place first to get our bearing straight and figure out what we wanted to do.  We got several offers for our "midget" or "small human".  After reassuring them that they would want to give her back in a few hours they subsided.

Next, we went to the Birds of Prey show.  I always love these types of shows and watching the beautiful birds.  We were fine most of the time but the poor guy running the show kept asking us to keep our "small animal" very still so that the birds wouldn't try to attack her.  This was NOT working for poor Samantha but she did pretty well.  We finally found one way that she was happy and relatively still:

We eventually found some lunch and we all enjoyed loaded baked potatoes.  Morgan and I had sweet potatoes, fully loaded with cheese, sour cream, bacon and broccoli.  This was a combo that I'd never had before and I wasn't to sure about it at first but it turned out to be pretty good.  Blake had a regular potato with the same fixins.

Next was the amazing turtle races.  We watched these last year as well and the guy that does them is hillarious!  We even spotted a pirate in the audience :-)

The turtles are in the middle circle "getting psyched up"

Spot the pirate!

Turtle Man!

He can fly!

And they're off!

After walking around a while longer we eventually had decided that it was time to go.  It was getting crowded and the sun had finally come out and zapped all of us.  Before we left however, we had to get an Italian Ice.  These are SO good!  It's half of an orange topped with the yummy desert.  We got strawberry and Sam loved it:

This place is THE place to go if you like to "people watch" like we do.  People dressed as elves, wenches, queens and kings, fairies, pirates and we even saw a ninja.  We probably won't go next year as nothing really changes from year to year.  This is definitely something we will take Sam to again when she's a little older.

Which Invite?

Time for another party planning post!  I really need to make a decision on an invite very soon so I am once again coming to my readers for your opinion :-)





Here are the options:

#1

from mlarson17 on Etsy

#2

from seasidepapercompany on Etsy

#3

from uprint4less on Etsy