Sunday, January 23, 2011

Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred

So, I will be the first to admit that I really, honestly DESPISE working out. But it has to be done. I have allowed myself to start getting lazy again and it just can't happen. One of my goals for this year is to really put some effort into getting fit and taking some weight off so I figure why not start here. In high school when I was dancing, my weight averaged about 117. I was very happy at that weight, and was also a lot more toned. At my thinnest, I was 112, and honestly I would love to weigh that again, even though I think that's sorta unrealistic at this point. After high school (it started senior year, really) I just gradually started putting on a little weight. I wasn't eating as healthy and after graduation especially, I became much less active. Around Christmas of '09 I was up to 144. That's the most I have ever weighed. I know that's not a ton or anything, but for me and for my frame, it was a place that I was very unhappy and uncomfortable with. My health was also at it's worst around that point.

It was then that I realized if I wasn't going to dance on a regular basis anymore, I had to work out. I started working with a trainer and got down to 132 last September, and that's about where I'm still lingering. My trainer moved away and I got pretty lazy again but I'm not going to allow myself to go back in that direction again. I want to get down to around 120 and stay there. 12 pounds is not a whole lot of weight and I know I can do it. I have trouble with staying motivated when it comes to this sort of thing, namely because I do eat pretty healthy and track my calories pretty closely, but I just don't much care for exercising. Regardless, I am going to make myself stick to this for 30 days- I did my first workout tonight- we'll see where I am at the end of this. I will track my progress!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Living Room Concept

So here is a sort-of rough draft of an idea for the finished living room. Some of it are things we already have, some of it are things I would like to get. Our sofa and love seat are very similar to these ones. We have the Ikea Dudero floor lamps which I'm pretty much in love with. We have some gorgeous paper in a similar color palate as these framed behind the sofa. I got the frames at a secondhand store for a steal. The slanted bookshelves from Target were my product shelves when I was at the salon and now they house Ethan's old encyclopedia collection along with some of our board games. I bought a whole bunch of the Joel Dewberry Antler Damask Fabric in Peony last year with the intention of making curtain panels for the living room window, but I haven't taken the time to figure it out yet, and now I have my eye on these ones from West Elm, so that gorgeous fabric might get used for throw pillows or something instead. We shall see.

We also really need a new living room rug. I had a really lovely and giant red flokati shag rug but it shed sooo much that we just had to get rid of it. We were finding what I called "elmo fur" all over the apartment and it was driving me bonkers. Now I just have a little jute-type rug in front of the sofa but it doesn't quite match everything and I want something bigger that feels nice underfoot. I really love this Pebble Rug from West Elm in the heathered gray shade. We need some sort of slightly larger, easy-to-clean rug to go by the front door, also. Especially this time of year, we track in so much junk and try to take our shoes off when we come in that it would be nice to contain it in one area a bit more. But really, once the curtains are up, the rug situation is taken care of, and we get a couple nifty accessories like this snazzy porcelain antler piece up on the shelf above our pellet stove, I think the living room will be looking pretty great. Can't wait to finish it!

Living Room

Monday, January 3, 2011

Christmas re-cap

So, Christmas was loads of fun for me this year (or last year, now). It was mine and Ethan's first Christmas living under the same roof and that made decorating much more exciting. Now, I didn't go all out and decorate the whole apartment or put lights up outside or anything. We just had a really small, simple tree- but it was gorgeous, if I don't say so myself!


I was already set on doing a white tree and was going to buy one that was around 4 or 5 feet tall, but then I found this little gem out in our garage in some stuff my aunt left for me when she moved. It was only 3 feet tall, but I think it was perfect. I decided to do pink and gold ornaments with white lights. I even found gold glittery "E" and "L" letters. I used a gold curtain panel that I had in my linen closet over the chest the tree is sitting on as a sort of skirt. I also did up my gifts in matching wrap.


I made gift tags using card stock, rubber stamps, scrapbooking letters, and paint sample cards.


And now I'm already thinking about next Christmas. I really like this silver Retro Tree from Grandin Road. It would be really cool with with red, green, and baby blue ornaments and corresponding paper like this vintage-style free printable paper from Mae. We shall see! I have plenty of time to figure it out. :)