{hanging in there}

*I make a bad habit of starting these posts while at clinic and have a bit of free time during lunch and then not finishing them or posting them until days later... ooops! This post was started on Monday (or Tuesday, because honestly, I cannot even remember) and it is Friday now, hoping to get this posted tonight...*

It's been a couple of days since I last posted and not all that much excitement has been occurring at our house. It was more of a low key weekend, which was nice. Well, I helped photograph another wedding on Saturday so that kept me busy for that entire day. And then on Sunday, Jay and I went to Darboy to do a little bit of shopping, while Ayden stayed at my dad's house to play with Alexis.

Jay was a party pooper while we were shopping and it kind of soured my mood. Next time I will be sure not to bring him with me and bring a girl friend instead. I didn't think he would be so uptight about stuff. Sunday afternoon I went out and rollerbladed 4.25 miles and then took Ayden and Alexis swimming. Both of them were jumping off of the diving board and doing a great job at swimming back to the side. I treaded water for 40 minutes out by the diving board just to make sure that they could make it back to the side each time. Yes, I am a paranoid mom (and sister) like that. They had a blast and I was so proud to watch them continue to jump off the board. However, the pool Sunday night had to be about 60 degrees because it was freezing cold! Ugh! I wish they would keep it a little warmer sometimes! Haha, like that is going to happen!

I have been doing semi okay on my eating and working out these last couple of days. (Okay, so today has been a super bad day for me... as in I cannot keep my hand out of the bag of chips from Chili's! They may only be super thin tortilla chips, but 15 chips adds up, and I've had WAY more than 15 today! Oops! Bad Ashley, bad bad Ashley, haha!) I did not work out on Saturday because I was at the wedding, but I was on my feet quite a bit that day taking pictures, so I think that sort of balance it out. Plus, I rollerbladed, swam, and did my workout Sunday night. Then I busted ass at boot camp yesterday morning despite not wanting to get up and go to it. I am always glad that I do go and I felt good afterwards, though, so that helps!

I doubt I will get a good workout in tonight. Sadly, Jay's great grandma on his mom's side passed away over the weekend, and we are attending her funeral tonight. Pretty much the second I get home from clinic today, we are dropping Ayden off at my dad's house (yes, again, the perks of living right down the street from him) and then heading to the funeral and probably won't get home until 9pm or so. I would love to work out at 9pm, but then I most likely will not be able to fall asleep. You know, working out has a way of doing that to you! Or at least to me! On a semi bright note about Jay's great grandma, she did have a good long life (she was 94) and although she will be sadly missed by many, she is back home now. In all honesty, I am not looking forward to the funeral, okay, so no one looks forward to funerals, but because I never really had a relationship with her per say, the loss of her life has definitely not impacted me the way it has the rest of Jay's family and so I feel bad for not feeling worse about her passing. I don't know, it's complicated. We will go and be there for Jay's family though, that is all we can do.

Ayden has been super sweet these last couple of weeks. He, of course, has his moments, but over all he is mommy's sweet love bug. I feel like I haven't seen much of him these last couple of days though. I was gone all day Saturday and he ended up sleeping over night at Jay's parent's house and then when he got home on Sunday he pretty much headed over to my dad's house until late afternoon when I took the kids swimming. He was home the rest of the night Sunday. Yesterday, when I got home, Ayden and Jay headed out to help someone with a deer food plot and I had the house to myself for a little while. That was nice because I got some homework and photo editing done. By the time they got home though, it was almost bed time for Ayden. And then today, like I mentioned, when I get home, we will be leaving for the funeral. Guess we will have to hang out tomorrow night and Thursday because on Friday, Jay and Ayden are leaving for Cub Scout camp thru Sunday night.

I am definitely looking forward to having the house to myself for a couple of days. I have plans with a friend for Saturday, but I am looking forward to having Sunday be just a relaxing day to myself... watch TV... not worry about getting anything done. I need a nice long relaxing weekend. Heck, I need a nice long relaxing WEEK!!!

Like I said... it's Friday now...

The funeral for Jay's great grandma went very well. It was so nice and sweet. Everyone went out for a drink in honor of Grandma afterwards, but Jay and I didn't end up staying very long. We both had to work in the morning and still had to pick Ayden up from my dad's house that night. Apparently, despite my best effort, when I'm often deep in thought about something I had a pissed off look on my face. Jay's uncle pointed it out to me. Oops, guess I really didn't think about that. Or maybe it's just him reading into things too much, haha! You can't smile 24/7. And to be honest, when he pointed it out to me as we were leaving, I was just tired, deep in thought, and ready to go and didn't really care what the look on my face portrayed. He'll just have to deal with it I guess, haha!

Wednesday night after I got home, I went for a nice long walk with my bestie, Victoria. The one I've been doing lots and lots with lately. Our get-togethers are truly good for my soul! Seeing her more often definitely makes up for having to move back to Chilton, lol!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{the one?}

On my day 'off' yesterday... (I use quotes because for the last couple of weeks, my Wednesdays have been busy and haven't really been a day off, but more a day on the go getting things done), my bestie, Victoria, her son, Parker, and my little man, Ayden, and myself all went mini golfing in the afternoon.

My morning was filled with things like sleeping in, only until 7am, so it wasn't really sleeping in, working out (yes, I am going to kick my butt into gear and although it has probably only been water weight, when I stepped on the scale this morning it back back to 117.2 instead of the 121.8 it was just a few nights prior... so I was happy about that and no I didn't starve myself to lose the weight... apparently you can fluctuate five pounds in one day anyways), washing clothes (not folding... there are still four loads of laundry that need to be folded and put away), going to the bank, picking some things up from Walmart, taking Ayden to swimming lessons, and then eating lunch before heading out. So, we didn't exactly have a low key morning either.

This was my first time taking Ayden to swimming lessons during this session and he is doing great. He is in level 2. I think I preferred the lessons in Point better where they had the kids all swimming at the same time than these ones. For the majority of the class the kids are sitting on the side waiting for their turn with the instructor. Ayden has the attention span of zero when he has to wait and its freezing cold out of the water (although not much warmer in the water), so he is often in the water talking and/or playing with a friend while waiting. I had no problem with this and I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to be sitting on the side either for the whole class. Anyways, slowly but surely he is becoming a better swimmer and I am proud of him.

Mini golf with Victoria and Parker was a blast! The kids did great and they are at an age where they can play with each other and have fun together and Victoria and I could catch up. I LOVE that we live close to each other again. We have seen each other more in the last few weeks than we have probably in the last few years and it is GREAT! And I will probably say over and over again how much I love living close to her!

After mini golf I asked Victoria if she wouldn't mind running over to this bridal boutique that my supervisor had told me about that was running a sale on sample wedding gowns... up to 40% off and I really couldn't pass it up. So, we took our little boys to a wedding dress store, haha! Props to the boys, they behaved AMAZING while we were in the store! Unfortunately, I didn't really care for any of the sample gowns and they were really all WAY too big for me, but while we were there I thought it wouldn't hurt to look around some more at the other dresses they had, so we did. The place is small and run by a mother and daughter and actually, the daughter went to the same high school as me and graduated two years before me. I found four dresses in my price range that I wanted to try on. If I would have looked a little closer or longer I probably could have found more. But then the daughter walked out with one and I immediately fell in love with it on the hanger.

Now, I know I have tried a few dresses on before... like three or four at a place in Rapids that I didn't really care for any of them. And then a few more at a upscale boutique in Minnesota. I loved the one that I tried on in Minnesota but it was over twice the highest amount that I wanted to spend, so it was definitely not going to happen. This place... it had lots of dresses in my price range. I tried the first one on and I really liked it. It was the style I was going for, kind of, but the fabric was so light and airy... it was a good contender. Then I tried two more on and they were both big 'no's... I didn't really care for the fabric on one and the other one wasn't poofy enough. I didn't want super poofy, but I didn't want just a skin tight straight dress either. I kept the one I really super liked on the hanger for the last one to try on... and I am glad that I did. I LOVED it and I REALLY REALLY think it is the one. I would have bought it on the spot had I already gone dress shopping with my mom and sister, but I really wanted to go with them as well. So, needless to say, we will be heading back to the boutique with my mom and sister in the coming weeks so they can see me in the dress. I am flirting with the idea of not showing anyone the dress until the wedding, besides those two and Victoria who was already there. It fits the feel that I want for the wedding perfectly!

Victoria and I also perused the bridesmaid dresses and I found two that I want my sister to try on. I am flirting with the idea of having all of the same bridesmaid dresses or having the bridesmaid chose a dress of their liking from a certain designer so that the color can all be the same. I guess I will have to see when my sister comes with us.

On a different note, I have successfully gone two days with pretty good eating and working out. I restarted my Chalean Extreme program (I made it through Day 3 before taking a few days off and just decided to restart it) and I cannot say how much I love it! I mean, you all know how much I love Turbo Fire and Chalene Johnson herself. This program is just what I was looking for and I am only on Day 2. I went and bought myself some 10 lb weights because the 5 lb ones I had were too light for me. I thought about getting 8 lb ones too, but decided not too and after I progress past the 10 lb ones, Jay has a pair of 15 lb dumbbells I can use. I know I am not burning as many calories as Turbo Fire right away and I am not walking away drenched in sweat, but let me tell you, have just a 40 min workout with weights, I am feel it. Today was a big arm workout and I tried to use the heavier weights as much as I could and I can definitely feel it in my arms. People... I can do TWELVE, yes TWELVE SLOW push-ups IN A ROW!!! That may not seem like a lot, but doing things slower really makes it harder. I may still be doing the push-ups on my knees, but I am building my arm strength, that is for sure! Back a few months ago I couldn't even do THREE push-ups on my knees and now I can do twelve! I could probably do a few more, but with this program Chalene does stuff in groups of 12. And the 40 minutes just flies by! I am going to try my darndest (yes I made that a word) to get through at least the first month without flaking out! Help keep me motivated!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{skipped boot camp}

*Started Monday*

I made the conscious decision last night to purposely skip boot camp this morning and I only feel slightly guilty about it. I know I should have gone and that I would have felt really good afterwards (I always feel better after a good workout), but my head and heart were just not in it last night. I am dead tired right now. Our weekend was busy busy busy, well my weekend was busy busy busy. I spent all day Saturday helping photograph a wedding and it took a lot out of me. I expected to have some of Sunday to just relax and recoup, but that didn't really happen.

The wedding was beautiful and the pictures went well. I continued to be amazed at the work the main photographer does. I mean, I already knew she was pretty awesome to begin with... but each time I see her work I become more enamored and wish our wedding was tomorrow. Being at the wedding this past weekend has really gotten me into wanting to plan our wedding and start wedding stuff. I was becoming really overwhelmed with the thought of wedding planning and everything that goes into it just last week, but now I am excited about that sort of stuff. Of course, my thoughts on that may change again once I start getting more into it.

*Continued Wednesday*

Tonight I feel more guilty about skipping boot camp on Monday. I stepped on the scale after I got home from clinic and was cleaning the bathroom and the first words I said were ‘puke in my mouth’… people it was THAT bad! Shut up, please, yes, I know I am over exaggerating, but still, it was six pounds MORE than I want it to read. Yes, SIX WHOLE POUNDS! And YES when you weigh what I weight, six pounds takes MUCHO MUCHO hard work to lose! It took me almost two months to lose six pounds last time. Okay, yes, I know I cannot lose six pounds in a week if I didn’t gain it in a week unless I starve myself and it really would only be water weight I was losing. And I know I didn’t gain back these six pounds over night. It has happened gradually since we moved and I stopped working out every day. People, it is SO hard to get yourself to work out when it is over 90 degrees in your house and you’ve been working all day. And yes, I am making an excuse! Excuse me while I wallow in self pity right now. I am the only one at fault. Believe me when I know that. And believe me when I say I am wallowing in self pity and may have eaten a king size snickers bar tonight. Tomorrow I am kicking my ass into gear and I am going to start counting calories like a nut job again. People, we all know I am on an endless cycle of working out good for a few months and then not doing so good for another few months. Well, it’s that time again, time to kick my ass into gear! Because I want to look hot for my honey! Because damn he looks hot for me!It’s just too bad that he doesn’t have to work at it so hard like I do because he is doing physical work all day long. Granted, he could definitely work out with me and get into better shape, but he is definitely at a good weight now and I am proud of him for getting to it. At this point he could probably eat all day and not gain anything because he is literally walking the entire day for his job. Damn men, haha!

So, I finally made an appointment to go try on wedding dresses next month with my mom and sister and I am so excited! So excited to the point where I want to go already tomorrow to try on dresses. Each day is one day closer. No longer is my wedding two and a half or even two or even one and a half years away! It is real in my head now. Jay and I have started a guest list of just our family so far and there are already over 200 people and that is just immediate family. We haven’t extended it to second cousins or anything like that yet. Obviously not everyone will show up, but my guess is we will be inviting at least 300-400 people. However, that includes everyone and their children. We had thought about not inviting the children of Jay’s older cousins since there are a lot of them, but I am inviting my younger cousins and sometimes having kids at the party makes it more fun! Plus, I enjoy seeing all of his cousin’s kids… a bunch of them are close to Ayden’s age. Really, it is just going to be a big celebration, tons and tons of fun!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{bay beach}

My child has been to Bay Beach countless times in his short seven (almost eight) years so far and yet none of those times happened to be with his momma or daddy! Can you believe it?!

Well, we remedied that this week and Ayden and I joined some of Jay's family members on a day trip to Bay Beach. For those of you reading this not familiar with Wisconsin or what Bay Beach is... it is a small amusement park in the Green Bay area. The majority of it is geared towards younger kids, but there is definitely a fair share of rides for the older kids as well... plus a new wooden rollercoaster.

Little man and I went with Jay's mom, his grandma and grandpa, two aunts, and their three kiddos and we had a great time! Jay's grandparents paid for the tickets and I think they only spent $20. We are talking 25 cents per ticket, with most rides costing only 1 ticket. I mean, we got to ride on the Scrambler for 50 cents. Who can beat that? Like really!

The last time that Ayden was at Bay Beach he didn't go on the Zippin' Pippin' which is the new rollercoaster, but I told him that he needed to go on it with me this time and as we were waiting in line he was getting pretty nervous. I was anxious about him enjoying it as well because he really hasn't grown to love rollercoasters as much as his mom and dad just yet (we are working on that, hehe). He had previously gone on a metal rollercoaster down in Wisconsin Dells that was smaller and he seemed to enjoy that one so I thought he might like this one... plus it was a ride that I could enjoy too. Most of the rides at Bay Beach just go around in a circle and my stomach can only take so much of that. 

During our first ride on the coaster I couldn't tell if Ayden was laughing or crying through the whole thing. I was hoping for the first and was excited to hear him say 'that was awesome, let's do that again' as soon as the ride stopped! He may take after his momma and daddy more than we think! We rode the coaster once more and during the second time we sat in the second row. We could have sat in the first, but Ayden wasn't quite that brave. He loved it just as much the second time as the first! I cannot wait for him to get older and for all of us to get to go to Great America together!

Jay's younger cousin, Quinn, was my best buddy yesterday. I think it was mainly because I was the only one willing to give him a piggy back ride, but that's okay. I'll take what I can get, hehe! It's so great to see him and Ayden play together now. There is a four year age difference between them, but the older they get the smaller that gap actually is and it is so refreshing. We don't get to see Quinn, his mom, dad, or brothers too often because they live in Iowa, but when we do it is always a treat! They came over to our house last night for a while after we got home from Bay Beach and the boys played together. I love watching Ayden play with his cousins!

It is no different when Ayden and his cousin Baden get together. We saw him and his family a couple of weeks ago (they live in Madison, so we don't get to see them all that often either) and Ayden and Baden picked up like they had just seen each other the day before when in fact they probably hadn't seen each other since Christmas time. They are too cute together. Baden is actually exactly two months older than Ayden. And I love that their names are so close together. Ah, family... guess I picked a mighty good one to marry into! I hope Jay feels the same way about mine, although we tend to see his family a lot more than mine... which for the most part I am okay with.

I have to say that sometime last week we went out to my grandma and grandpa's house for a fish fry supper and a lot of my aunts and uncles were there and I really had a great time. That is something I definitely missed living in Stevens Point, those spur of the minute family get togethers... the ones that never seem to happen on my mom's side of the family, but are always occurring on my dad's and both of Jay's sides of the family. Not that it means my mom's side of the family loves each other any less, but I think anyone who is reading this that actually knows me in real life will get what I am saying. It's just kind of how it is. 

I am having a Lia Sophia party tonight and the number of people in attendance is going to be quite low, but I suppose that that is okay. I tried to invite a lot of people, but apparently everyone has something going on tonight, lol! I love when 'sorry I cannot attend' really means you don't want to attend. I get that they are being polite and I'm okay with them not coming, really I am, because there have definitely been times where family members have had parties that I didn't want to go to and thus didn't. For the majority of it though, I had an easy out because most parties were held during the week and were an hour and a half away from me, so it was harder for me to go... not to mention costly gas wise. I'm just excited to be helping my friend start her business and to see a friend and classmate that I haven't in a while! And to buy some jewelry too!

This weekend I am helping photograph a wedding with the lady who is going to be photographing our wedding and who does our family pictures. I am in LOVE with her style of photography and am over the moon excited for her to take our wedding pictures. I am also excited to be helping her out with a few wedding this summer and one in the winter as well. Then on Sunday I have a family photoshoot to do as well. Actually, I have photoshoots this weekend, next weekend, and the weekend after that. Pretty excited! I have one booked in August right now and then another wedding on September. I don't know that I will book anymore in August, just because the other weekends are already pretty booked with fun things, like camping, more camping, and then Ayden's 8th birthday party. Eight years old, ugh, don't want to think about that right now.

I'm still try to get some pictures uploaded from camping and our Bay Beach trip, just like with boating, hopefully soon!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{to do list}

Time is becoming a limited commodity at our house, more specifically my time. And the to do list just keeps getting longer and longer. And all I want to do at the end of the day is crawl into bed, watch some TV, and go to sleep. Life sucks. Okay, so life doesn't really suck, but like almost everyone else I know, I wish there were more hours in the day or that I could function properly on fewer hours of sleep. I like my sleep and like to get at least eight or nine hours of sleep a night. I know, that doesn't always happen, but when it does, I am in a much better mood. For me to get nine hours of sleep a night, I would need to be in bed and sleeping by 9:00pm... that is just not very reasonable right now. I am usually in bed by 9pm (most nights), but I like to watch an hour of TV to just calm and and then fall asleep.

Yesterday, I left clinic at 4:00pm to go to an eye doctor appointment. I stopped at ShopKo and Piggly Wiggly on my way to the appointment to pick up a few things and by the time I was done at the eye doctor and got home, it was already 6:00pm. I picked up a little bit, put a few things away and then sat down at my computer to get some homework done. I was at my computer doing homework until probably 7:30pm at which point I made myself stop to get a few other things done. I put a few more things away and told myself that I was going to be in bed by 8:00pm because I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and I was up at 5:00am yesterday morning for boot camp. I think I turned the television off by 9:30pm and was fast asleep after that.

On the agenda for tonight (I'm writing this during my lunch break at clinic), is to finish editing a photo session from two weekends ago. I give myself two weeks to get the pictures done. I think that that is an okay amount of time, especially given the fact that I am now working full time. I would also like to upload some pictures to Facebook from camping and boating and need to organize a few things in the house for my Lia Sophia party on Thursday night. On top of that, there is more homework that I need to do (boo on that), clothes that should be folded and put away, a table runner that I want to sew before Thursday, and a workout that needs to be done. And... I probably won't get home until 5:30pm or later tonight... ugh. I know, I know, I need to stop complaining about how 'rough' my life is. But remember, my blog, hehe! Sometimes it just helps to get it out of my head.

Ayden and I are going to Bay Beach tomorrow with Jay's aunts and their children. I am excited, but there goes a full day where I could be productive at home doing stuff. In all actuality, the chances of me getting a ton of stuff done at home tomorrow is slim to none. Of course there is stuff that I would have gotten done, but I probably wouldn't have gone above and beyond.

Oh, and to add to the list of things that I want to do... make Ayden's birthday invitations, print off new pictures to put in some of our picture frames, get Jay to hang some more pictures on our walls, finish painting the deck table and chairs. It is never ending!

And nothing irritates me more when I get home and there is stuff laying all over the place. Stuff that I shouldn't have to be the one to put away. It is just so annoying! Why am I the only one who picks things up and puts them where they belong? Seriously! I asked Jay to pay some bills last night. What does he do... he writes the checks out for them and then leaves them on the counter. Really... how hard is it to put stamps on the envelopes and put them in the mailbox? How much longer would it have taken you to get that done? And how many nights in a row do I have to ask you to clean the litter box before it gets done? And is it so much for me to expect supper when I get home at 6:00pm at night and you have been home since 3:00pm (OR EARLIER)? I'm not talking supper every night, but just once in a while it would be nice to walk in the door to something to eat! It's not like we are getting home at the same time! Am I expecting too much?! I mean, even though I hate cooking, when we lived in Point and I was home most of the day during the summer and Jay didn't get home until 5:00pmish, I usually at least knew what we were going to be having and might already have had it started.

Maybe I'm just ultra irritable this week...

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{poem}

Here is a poem I found recently that describes a friendship, or what I thought was a friendship in perfect words.

Quiet Emotions

by Judy Burnette

I always wanted more from you
than you were willing to give;
So now we've gone our separate ways
each with different lives to live.

The bond will always be there
the friendship always intact;
But the time for us has come and gone
and the pages of time, you can't turn back.

I will always be a friend to you
and wonder how you are;
The smiles and laughter I will remember
and our fights have become painless scars.

Sometimes on those busy days
when you've a thousand things to do;
Please let me glide slowly through your mind
and spend some time with you.

In that quiet moment
when you're surprised to find me there;
Just remember even with the distance between us
I am still someone who cares.

It is hard to turn back the hands of time, especially when such mean and hateful things are said. I’ve tried to forgive and forget, but I just don’t know if I have it in me this time. I’ll keep trying though, it just might be worth it!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{camp camp camping}

This past weekend was spent in relaxation at a campground with my honey, little man, and Jay's parents and it was a lot of fun. Jay's brother decided not to come with us at the last minute and he missed out on a good time because fun was had by all. We swam, played mini golf, went fishing, rode our bikes, ate WAY too much, and all around just had a great time.

I am literally sitting in Jay's parent's truck waiting for Jay's dad to finish dumping the waste at the dump station... can't say that I've ever written a blog post in this kind of situation before. The reason that I am waiting in Jay's parent's truck is because my honey unfortunately had to work this morning so he left us last night and little man and I are riding home with Jay's parents.

When we got here on Friday the weather was pretty tortoreous yet... still super hot and humid! Icky! Thankfully, Jay's parents have air conditioning in their camper and sleeping on Friday night was definitely the most enjoyable it has been all week, at least temperature wise. But before we all crashed Friday night... we had to hit up the swimming pond. This particular camp ground actually had an indoor pool, but we didn't even bother going to check it out as I thought we might when I first found out about it. The swimming pond was pretty awesome. The temperature was GREAT... like bath water warm! I definitely didn't mind swimming in that at all! I have to admit, I was slightly apprehensive about swimming in the pond to begin with because I normally don't really care for that type of swimming. Give me a pool and I'll take it, a pond or lake with seaweed, um, no thanks! But this pond was virtually free of seaweed and actually it got pretty deep pretty fast so for the majority, I couldn't even feel the bottom (thank goodness for that)!

The best part was all of the inflatable toys they had for people to play on. I have to say that it was pretty busy for the majority of the time that we were swimming, but it wasn't overly crowded which was nice. Ayden just loved it and with his life jacket on, he had no fear whatsoever. Definitely not good that he is relying so much on the life jacket, but he is starting up swimming lessons again this week. He could probably jump in the deep water and doggie paddle himself over to the edge, but he definitely doesn't know how to swim very well yet... hence the swimming lessons. He will be taking those for years to come yet. Sorry buddy! Mommy had to and you'll have to. At least he loves the water.

He wasn't even scared to go down the huge water slide. He saw it, swam right over to it, climbed up and went down without ever looking back. I was afraid he would be nervous, but he was a little daredevil the whole weekend! On Friday night he ended up slicig his big toe open as we were coming out of the pond and although it wasn't a serious cut, I thought it might hamper him the rest of the weekend. Nope, he was right back in the pond later that night with Jay! His toe is looking much better by the way.

I ate my hearts desire out this weekend and I am probably going to pay for it when I step on the scale tomorrow. Oops! But tomorrow is a new day and it is back to eating healtier again. I needed this weekend to pig out and it felt oh so good. I cannot remember if I mentioned on here that I bought a new workout program. I started that on Thursday night and even worked out on Friday before we left for camping and used yesterday as my day off. I still plan on working out tonight. I didn't think I was going to be sore after just two workouts, but boy was I ever! Add that on top of the sunburn I got from the beach on Thursday and this weekend sucked for me pain wise. We were only at the beach for just about two hours on Thursday and I didn't put any sun screen on and I didn't think I would get burned too bad. I had really bad tan lines on my legs that I wanted to get rid of. Well, when we left the beach I didn't think I looked red at all. In the shower that night I realized just how much of a lobster I really was. It didn't really hurt too bad until Friday midday. My only reasoning for it hurting so bad was that those areas on me don't get sun like EVER! It made for climbing up on the swim toys pretty painful, but I survived. It doesn't hurt as bad today and I am not quite as sore muscle wise. I just moved a little slower this weekend than everyone else, haha! Not to mention my 'friend' decided to make her monthly visit begin on Thursday night. Camping with her is definitely no fun, haha! But I made due. Not that you were asking, lol!

It is back to the grind of my externship this week. I am actually looking forward to it. I had a very unproductive week with the hot weather and overall it just made me crabby and then I missed Stevens Point. I am still going through withdrawals. I'm wondering if they will ever go away.

I am having a Lia Sophia jewelry party this week and my classmate and friend, Katie, is planning on coming. I am excited to see her. We've talked and emailed a few times since we saw each other last, but we are both going through withdrawls. I could never imagine how close we would become when we were in undergraduate classes together and she was just another classmate. Without her support and craziness, there is NO way I would have ever made it though these last three years! We have definitely kept each other sane and going when times got hard! I hope that we continue to stay close even after we graduate.

And now that I am getting all sappy, I am going to end this before it becomes even more sappy!

I'll try and post some pictures from camping later this week!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{h.o.t.}

Hot does not begin to describe what I am feeling right now. I am trying SO hard not to complain about the heat because I know that things could be MUCH MUCH worse in my life and heat should be the least of my worries, but really, its been in the upper 90s this whole week with super high humidity and we do not have air conditioning in most of our house. Thankfully, we do have two window units to put in the bedrooms to keep those cooler at night time to sleep better. I could not imagine trying to sleep without those. So, like I said, things could be much much worse.

I have been meaning to blog a little more than I am (I am always meaning to blog a little more than I currently am), but the heat has left me with little to no ambition this week. I have had the majority of the week off from my clinical rotation. My supervisor took the week off and with no supervisor and no patients scheduled... that doesn't leave me anything to do. The small perk of being at a small private practice. Although, I do know that I will have to make up for those lost hours (not to worried about that).

However, with the heat, I haven't been motivated to do much. I was all set to post a lot of pictures with this post, but I accidently updated my computer and shut it off as I was trying to do something on it and then I didn't want to restart it because I had been on it doing homework for a while already. So, I grabbed my tablet and here I am... on the couch, in the heat, blogging without any pictures.

I did have clinic on Monday. On Tuesday, Ayden and I didn't do too much around the house. My bestie, Victoria, and her son, Parker, came over for a few hours in the afternoon and the boys played together while Victoria and I caught up. It is really nice to live in town with her again and to be able to do that on the spur of the moment. I've definitely missed her! After they left, we went out to my grandma and grandpa's for a fish fry supper that turned into a bon fire. We were out there until almost 10pm and would have been longer, except that I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Ayden slept over at my dad's house Tuesday night and was there until after supper on Wednesday so that left me with the whole day free. Unfortunately, it was mega hot and humid yesterday so I wasn't in the best mood and ended up laying around, eating too much, and just flipping through the tv channels. Finally, before supper I thought I might be useful and ended up making my sister her Kindle cover and it turned out pretty awesome. I have to say that the sewing machine was much nicer to me this time around than it was when I was making mine. I like how it turned out and I hope that my sister does as well!

Today, I told Jay that after he got home from work that we were going to the beach. I was not going to be stuck in the house again all day long being hot and crabby. We headed out just before noon to the Point Beach State Forest on Lake Michigan and spent a few hours at the beach. It was SO beautiful there, not only picturesque wise, but weather wise. It was a full 20 degrees cooler by the lake than it was back at our house. I got a little sun burned, but it was worth a few comfortable hours on the beach. We didn't do much swimming because the lake was so cold, but it was definitely refreshing! And now we are back at the hot house, haha!

Last week I decided to order a new workout program. I love Turbo Fire a ton, but I wanted something that would give me more muscles and make me more lean, so I looked into Chalean Extreme. I loved Chalean so much in Turbo Fire that I just couldn't leave her. Well, my package arrived today and I couldn't not try it out already. So, in 100 degree heat, I busted out a 40 minute workout. Thankfully the workout was mainly lifting and not cardio. Either way though, I was literally dripping in sweat when I was done. Like, dripping more than I have ever been from a workout. The workout did not leave me huffing and puffing, but I do not think I was using heavy enough weights. The heat in our house definitely contributed to my dripping in sweat, but it felt good to workout again. Lately, the scale hasn't been too nice to me, but I know that it is my own fault for not watching what I am eating more closely and definitely not working out like I used to, so I am hoping with a combo of Chalean Extreme and Turbo Fire, I can get into better shape. It isn't about the scale anymore (even though I still look at the numbers WAY more than I ought to), it is about how I look and feel to myself in my clothes. I KNOW I am 'skinny' enough, I don't need people to tell me that. Even skinny people can be out of shape. And I KNOW, I'll probably never been a size 0 or 2, or probably even a 4... my child bearing hips can only get so small, so it isn't even about a number on the clothes. It is just about being healthy for my family.

And because I am starting to feel the sweat rise to my skin... I am going to end this now and retreat to the comfort of my bedroom with hopes of getting a post in tomorrow with some pictures!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{my life lately via instragram}

Here is a picture dump from my phone! (If you are friends with me on Facebook, you probably seen all of these pictures already because they are all from Instagram.)

Ayden and myself out on the boat for the second time this year and this time we actually were able to stay on the boat instead of having to come back in right away because of stormy weather!My love reeling in a fish with his super awesome farmer’s tan! This picture makes it look WAY worse than it actually is!Ayden and his Uncle Steven trying to bring in a fish!Lookie here, this was what was on the end of the line! Not a super big one, but a keeper none the less!Captain Ayden! He loved driving the boat!Nothing like some toes in the water while out on the lake! The water felt really nice!Pretty sky!Just chilling at the front of the pontoon boat. Don’t worry, he wasn’t left alone there by himself too long, hehe! We are very conscious of boat safety and Ayden knows his limits while we are on the boat.Even prettier sky as we were heading off of the lake!Self portrait on a day before going to clinic one day, lookin’ good?! I think so!Ayden and Alexis getting their fill of some water via water gun on a super hot day a few weeks ago!Fun on the trampoline at Grandma and Grandpa’s house!I am continuing to make progress on repainting my table and chairs on the deck! Hoping to maybe get them done by the end of this month, lol!Pretty sunset!Obsessed much with mirror pictures?!And last but not least, my pride and joy!CIAO! LOVE ME!