Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The great closet cleanout

Last night I tried on every item in my closet that I haven't worn in the last month, & pulled out everything that didn't fit, I don't wear, etc. Mostly, things were too big & I have a huge stack to donate. I'm a little embarrassed to even share how much I got rid of, but we're all friends here, right? ;-)

  • 31 tops
  • 7 dresses
  • 8 pair of pants
  • 4 skirts
My closet is now remarkably pared down, & I can easily find things. Wow! Love that. But, given that this is the lowest weight I've been at since before I had kids, most of the clothes I have left are pretty old (7-8 years, I would guesstimate.) I'd like to lose 10-12 more pounds, so I'm not clamoring to shop at the moment. Also, I'm trying to save most of my fun money to continue to pay for my trainer (albeit much less frequently than I'm going now), so we'll see how I do on not replacing everything I ditched. :-) It's pretty embarrassing how much I had in the closet.

Outfit:
  • Coral sweater - Forever 21
  • Coral tank (underneath) - Loft
  • Silver necklace - Macy's
  • Jeans - Rock & Republic, courtesy of Costco
  • Silver shoes - Chinese Laundry (Ross)
Workout:
I worked out with my trainer yesterday, & it was another killer workout. I warmed up on the elliptical for 10 minutes before she got there, & then we did 50 minutes of punishing circuit trainer. Ouch. I can tell I'll be very sore tomorrow. :-)

Food:
Yesterday was a pretty good day - I was a little over my calorie goal, but was pretty pleased with my choices overall.

Breakfast - homemade waffle + coffee & fruit
Snack - mini Clif bar
Lunch - protein smoothie & salad
Snack - nuts
Dinner - leftover barbecued chicken dipped in hummus
Snack - fruit + handful of Pirate's Booty

Do you clean out your closet with any regularity? Are you a clothes hoarder like me? :-)

Monday, July 18, 2011

Return of the ugly bathroom photos

I know you've missed these gems, so it's back!

Here's my outfit for today. Yes, I cheated & wore sandals. We're having one sunny day this week, so I busted out my sandals. And, not that I don't have sympathy for those of you dealing with the intense heat. . . but this has been the most terrible summer ever in Seattle. Rain. Rain. Cold. Rain. Ick.

Details:
  • Lilac sheer top - Express
  • Nude tank top - Loft
  • Amethyst necklace - Tiffany & Co
  • Jeans - Chip & Pepper, circa 2002
  • Sandals - Jeffrey Cambell, Ibiza
Workouts:
I squeezed in an extra workout in preparation of my next (and sadly, last) trip to Las Vegas this summer. Let's just say that my glutes were so sore from my trainer workout on Thursday, that going up & down stairs was ridiculously painful. Ouch. Yesterday I closed the week with 60 minutes on the elliptical, 30 minutes on the bike, & a bunch of stretching/foam rolling.

Food:
My eating was great yesterday, until I went out for dinner with the boys. We went to a laser tag/bouncy house party at our gym, and went to the gym cafe afterward. Problem 1 - I let myself get crazy hungry. Problem 2 - I had a huge workout that day. Anyway, I ate my healthy pizza (love this cafe, they publish the nutritional information for their entire menu - awesome!) & after the boys were done, I snacked on their fries, 1/2 a leftover chicken strip, & part of Nick's frozen yogurt. Fail. The scale punished me this morning as a result. Double fail. :-(

  • Breakfast - 2 homemade waffles with 1 tsp butter + fresh berries & coffee
  • Snack - protein smoothie
  • Lunch - peanut butter & jelly sandwich, nectarine, pistachios
  • Snack - berries
  • Dinner - healthy barbecued chicken pizza, followed by french fries, 1/2 a chicken strip, & frozen yogurt
The semi-awesome news is that normally, when I've blown it, I continue to shovel additional food in my face. Last night, as soon as we got home from the gym, I brushed my teeth & put whitening strips on my teeth - a sure fire way to guarantee that I'm not going to be eating anything else. It helped limit the caloric damage. :-)

And, in semi-related running news, yesterday was supposed to be the big 1/2 marathon that I trained months & months for. It was terrible weather (rainy & cold), so I had a lot of sympathy for my fellow runners, but when I was at the gym yesterday, thinking about how it was supposed to be my big day, I was totally & completely jealous of a woman on the treadmill. She put in 8 miles & made it look so entirely effortless. She was speedy, totally in shape, & enjoying her run. My foot is starting to feel better, but it's been so long since I've run, I feel like I'm going to be starting from scratch when I do finally get cleared by the doctor.

What's made you jealous lately?

Friday, July 15, 2011

The blue dress

I'm in love with this dress. I saw it at Nordstrom over Memorial Day weekend, & fell in love.

The hair is courtesy of the Encore salon - we all know I can't achieve that on my own.
My dress - Nordstrom
Shoes - Ivanka Trump (I only  have one pair of dressy shoes that I can wear at the moment)
Necklace - Jcrew

My mom's dress - Express
Shoes - Michael Kors

And, a close up of the hair, which I'll be trying to convince my sister to recreate next weekend. A girl can only afford so many salon visits, you know. ;-)


In this picture, it looks a little bit like the dress is holding on to my chest for dear life. . . it's not normally that low, I promise.

Fitness
I've been sticking to my 5x/week workouts, & my trainer is kicking my trash all over the place. I bought a trainer package a month ago, and have about two weeks of workouts left with her. It's been amazing to have someone push me so hard. We're currently meeting two times/week (one in the pool, one more focused on weights) & I've noticed a huge difference. I hope I can push myself as hard as she does once I'm on my own.

Food
Food has been good lately. I know I'm going to be wearing my bikini next weekend surrounded by a sea of hot 25 year olds. (Seriously, I swear every young woman with a 10 out of 10 body heads to the Encore pool in the summers).

Here's my recap from yesterday
Breakfast - fruit, coffee, spinach + egg on a bagel thin
Snack - dried fruit/nuts
Lunch - salad + protein smoothie
Snack - mini Luna bar
Dinner - Greek salad (ate just under 1/2) with gyro meat on it (heaven) + 7 fries. Seriously, I counted, because the Greek fries have shredded feta, lemon juice, & oregano on top, & I can eat the entire plate by myself. It's all about containment with those fries.

My weight is up about a half pound from my last trip, so I'm hoping to bring that down by next week's trip, which is totally doable!

What about you lovely peeps? Any big fun summer plans this weekend? We're taking the boys to soccer practice & a Star Wars themed birthday party. :-)

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Anniversary Trip with the parents

I'm back, with pictures! We took my parents to Las Vegas for their 40th anniversary, & it was an excellent time all around. We stayed at the Encore, had amazing rooms, spent a day by the pool in the cabana, shopped (just the girls), did a full spa day (my parents first time!), & wined & dined our way through Las Vegas. Yummmmm. . .

Can you believe this beautiful couple has been married for 40 years?!

And, yes, my mom is wearing zipper heels . . . she's very trendy. :-)
Here are a few other pictures

My dad, mom, myself, & Michael. I'm wearing a black bandage dress (Express) + a Jcrew necklace & black Ivanka Trump heels. I have a BCBG clutch. My adorable mother is wearing BCBG & Michael Kors. I'm sure you're dying to know that both of the guys are wearing Hugo Boss suits.

The ladies, at the Wynn before dinner at SW.

More to come tomorrow, but I'm back and hitting the gym hard to unwind the damage from the trip. I did manage to work out 2 of the 3 days we were there, so it wasn't all bad. And, of course, I have my last Las Vegas trip coming up next week (a girls trip - absolutely cannot wait!), so I still have heavy bikini incentive.

Question for you:
What is the best meal you've ever had? Be specific!

For me: we had the most amazing meal at SW. Steak, seafood tower (see slightly awkward picture, below), beet salad, asparagus, and a chocolate souffle. Add in a fabulous bottle of wine, & it was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. . .


And, the dessert at Botero? Died & gone to heaven. . . those are ice cream cake pops & a chocolate mousse "ice cream" bar


Or, if martinis are more your speed, I highly recommend the blue cheese-olive stuffed massive martini at Olives. It will knock you off your feet. ;-)


Viva Las Vegas! More pictures tomorrow. . .

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Hot outfits

The hot outfits continue. Particularly annoying because there is a very short sandal/skirt/dress window in Seattle, & I'm unable to partake, due to my awesome shoes. :-)

Outfits:
Me, last week during training. Yes, I cheated and wore flats one of the days.

Details:
Navy tank top with small crystal beads - Gap
Sheer white sweater - Loft
Dark jeans - Dojo/Seven
Silver flats - Chinese Laundry/Ross

And today, I'm rocking *new* sneakers. I know, please try to contain your excitement.

Details:
Silver & white striped shirt - Nordstrom
Dark jeans - Dojo/Sevens
Black sneakers - New Balance
Tired look - courtesy of the weekend

And, for fun, here's a picture of the boys, after a bouncy house/swimming event.

Yes, Sam styled his own hair. :-)

Workouts:
And, on to the fitness element of this. Yesterday was my rest day, but I had a hardcore, 70 minute pool workout on Friday, a quick cardio workout on Saturday, & 30 minutes on the elliptical + weights on Sunday. Followed by a family bike ride. All in all, I'm on track for my 5/week workouts, which is my goal.

Food:
Eating was good, but not excellent. I was highly motivated by my looming vacation (we leave on Thursday), which helped keep me in check despite the holiday weekend. I had dinner with friends on Sunday, and we ate late, which means I'm starving & have less self control than if I eat at my normal, early-bird special time of 5:30. (My kids get hungry at that time, and starving children are like untamed animals.) I did super well yesterday, but then ate some completely unnecessary candy. I wish I would have blown the calories on something more fun, like a homemade strawberry shortcake at our street fair, but I'll survive.

I love reading random trivia on all of your blogs, so here are 10 things you may not know about me.

  1. I'm a Washington (state) native. Except for one brief year of college in California, I've lived here my entire life.
  2. My favorite candy is Starburst. Yummmmmm.
  3. My kids are 13 months & 1 day apart. I found out I was pregnant for the second time on my first day back from my maternity leave. Yes, we were using preventative measures. No, they clearly did not work. My OB was shocked, as were we. :-)
  4. I'm obsessed with salt & pepper pistachios.
  5. We do 95% of all of our grocery shopping at Costco. The average weekly bill is around $100, and a typical list looks like this: spinach, mixed greens, grape tomatoes, roma tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, a melon, apples, pears, mandarins, cucumber, baby carrots, bananas, milk, eggs, and whatever other non-weekly items we're out of. We're produce freaks.
  6. I'm extremely anal & list-oriented. For example, I have a running inventory of both of the kids clothing (how many shirts, shorts, etc) in my purse, along with anything they need (size, color, etc) so I can always be on the lookout for a deal when shopping.
  7. I get pedicures year-round. I try to do it myself, & I'm tragic, so I shell out the money to have it done.
  8. When I went back to work after having kids, I hired someone to help us clean the house. We cut other items out of the budget, and this is the best money we spend.
  9. We have a beach house at the Oregon coast. Going there is incredibly relaxing, and my favorite thing to do.
  10. I played the following sports growing up: soccer, swimming, tennis, volleyball, track, softball (one very sad & pathetic season). I grew up in a small town & you could be on any team you wanted. :-) I used to be referred to in my family as "Jack of all trades, master of none" :-)
And now, please share random trivia about yourselves. I love hearing more about you guys!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

having a great day

Here are the reasons why today is awesome:

  1. My kids are ridiculously into the 4th of July. Our house looks like a party store has exploded inside of it. Decorations. Everywhere.
  2. It is gorgeous in Seattle. First nice 4th of July weekend in five years. It was 85 degrees outside today.
  3. Our neighborhood has tons of festive events for the holiday weekend, and I took the kids to see a clown today. He was both creepy & hilarious, as clowns often are. ;-)
  4. I'm at the fittest I've been in at least six years. My clothes fit, I have energy, & I feel great.
  5. I'm going on vacation on Thursday! Las Vegas with Michael & my parents. My parents are incredibly excited, & I'm so happy we can do this for them. We are spoiling them with a totally over-the-top, fancy, vacation - on us.
  6. I'm going to be rocking my bikini next week, & feeling fit & fabulous.
  7. I've been working out 5x/week, meeting with my trainer, and I'm actually losing weight - despite the broken foot. Will wonders never cease.
  8. Last night, I discovered a pair of gorgeous shoes that I can wear on our vacation that don't hurt my feet. And, they are not sneakers. Because, I just can't rock sneakers with my little tiny Las Vegas dresses, no matter how *fancy* they are. ;-)
  9. I had one of the hardest workouts of my life yesterday. 70 minutes in the pool with my trainer. I came home & laid on my bed & didn't move for like 30 minutes afterward. It made that 12 mile run in the freezing cold rain feel like cake. The pool is vicious! In a good, body destroying kind of way. :-)
  10. And, the kindness of blogging friends. This lovely lady sent me a care package today, & it made my entire day. Plus, magazines + gummy bears are perfect for my flight next week. Seriously though, the support of this group has helped me stay focused and not lose myshit when dealing with a very long & painful injury. You have no idea how much I appreciate you!
Plans for the big weekend? Fill me in!

I don't have any pictures from today, but here's Nick last year on the 4th, with my sweet father-in-law. And yes, that is a firecracker/USA headband he's wearing. He's very patriotic.