Little tidbits

My blogging ideas this week are basically long gone, so I hate to say this, but I'm stealing another blogger's ideas.  But it's not to say I won't give credit for the idea.  The other day, Katie, over at Marriage Confessions wrote a post called Nuggets of Truth.  When I read it, I thought "this is a great idea!."  So thanks to Katie for giving me one last blogging idea for the week.  Here's hoping this weekend brings me some kind of epiphany and a flood of blogging ideas will suddenly hit me.

 

 

I sometimes eat salad with my hands.  I do this mostly because I can't get the lettuce and croutons to stay on the fork.  It irritates T. 

 

 

Every day when Aubrey and I get home, I take her out of the car seat and go to the backdoor and open the blinds.  It's our routine.  We then go lay on the family room floor so she can kick around and stretch out.  It's one of my favorite times of the day.


Eating healthy sucks.  I'd call it dieting, but really it's me changing my lifestyle.  And dude, it's tough.  I'm not a big veggie person so it is taking some effort on my part to eat more vegetables.


I get really excited when I hear an Asia song on the radio. 


We haven't ordered prints from Aubrey's six month pictures, and we're already one month later.  Bad Mom....


I absolutely despise talking on the phone.  I'll screen my calls.  I know my family thinks I don't call them often enough, and it's not anything against them.  It's just I don't feel like spending 30 minutes or more on the phone.


I sometimes regret the decision to go to law school and sometimes I wish I had a job that wasn't so emotionally taxing.  I know all jobs have stress, but as an attorney, people put their lives in your hands and expect a lot from you.  And some days, I just want to hide.


I am in need of some new, healthy recipes, because I think both T and I are growing tired of the same stuff every week.  Crock pot ones are preferable so that we can maximize the amount of time spent with Miss Aubrey.


The wedding we went to this last weekend was for a same-sex couple.  They're very close friends of ours and are two of the sweetest, most genuine people ever.  And they are so obviously in love.  The ceremony was touching and beautiful, and I'm so happy for them. 


I know that might turn off a lot of bloggers out there and not everyone will agree with my views on it, but....I don't really care. 


I didn't talk about it on my blog at first because I'm not one to get too political, but I felt like I was hiding something by the way I phrased when we went to the wedding.  And I'm not cool with that. 


That being said, the one song I request at every wedding is "PYT" by Michael Jackson.  Don't ask me why...


This post has turned into another random one.  My apologies.


I can't believe October starts Monday, and you bet I will be taking out the Halloween decorations.  So excited for Aubrey's first Halloween! 


I am in a dilemma about how to handle the Halloween candy situation.  Must...practice....self...control...


Ok, I'll end this - have a great weekend, everyone!

 

 

 

 

     

What should I blog about?

So the other day (Tuesday night), I sat and started at my blank computer screen thinking "I need something to blog about."  At a loss, I vocalized my concern.  T, using his Butthead impression said (in answer to my "what should I blog about" question) "My butt?"  While yes, his butt is something about which to blog...I think I'm going to leave that one untouched.  So here it is Wednesday night, and I have no better of an idea about what to blog.  Ah. 

 

 

So we're going with random.  Sorry! 

 

 

T's Beavis and Butthead impression has me wondering...when is this show coming back?  I know there's a second season approaching.  And it's like Christmas morning when that show is on for T, so I do hope it comes back.  But, then at the same time, with the return of the TV show comes an increase of impressions.  But it's the price I must pay for T's happiness. 

 

 

 

Because MY show is back - Dancing with the Stars All-stars!  I couldn't be happier.  The question is - who is going to be my favorite?  There are just too many I love!  I have to say...I'm not too unhappy Pamela Anderson is off.  And politics aside, I'm not a Bristol Palin fan either.  I could care less who her mom is.   Her personality grates on me, and well...she's not as good.  But that's just my two cents on it.

 

 

So on Facebook, I have read from many of my FB friends about a girl who graduated just a year behind me who lost her long-fought battle with breast cancer this week.  I vaguely remember who she was, and from the tributes everyone has left for her, she sounds like she was one amazing lady.  She left behind a husband and baby girl.  And she was only 30.  It makes me want to hug T and Aubrey just a little tighter.  My heart goes out to her family and friends.  I couldn't even imagine.  I'm not sure why this has hit me as hard as it did.  I guess it just hits close to home.  She was only 30.  It's just not fair.  Cancer sucks, people.  It just sucks. 

 

 

Speaking of cancer, this Saturday, T and I will be running in a 5k in awareness of ovarian cancer.  I'm not sure if I talked about this on my blog before, but this cause is close to my heart.  When I was 12, my buddy and aunt, my Aunt Linda, died at 34 from ovarian cancer.  She was a wonderful woman, such a childlike spirit, and it's hard to believe that it's been....let's see...1994...so that makes it 18 years?  Dear God, that seems so far away.  It doesn't feel like it was that long ago.  But anyway, we'll be racing in awareness of this awful disease.  And in honor and memory of my Aunt Linda.  Cancer sucks. 

 

 

Okay, enough sad stuff...look at this:

 

 

She's a cutie, I know.  I was trying to get her to show her two teeth on the bottom gum.  But she's stubborn like her Momma, so she was holding back.  But she has two little teeth.  And they are cute.  We've introduced the puff things to her, and it's hilarious because the first time I gave her one, she put it in her mouth and made the funniest face like "what the hell is this?"  I can't believe how quickly she is growing.  Teeth, rolling over, trying to scoot...next thing you know she'll be crawling! 


Lastly, the other day, I had a $1000 Day Sale with Mary Kay, and I made $911 in sales!  Sure, I didn't make $1,000, but that's pretty darn close!  Whoo, Nain! 


Okay, I'm going to end this random and rambling post with just one more thing.  T's butt.


(See, T?  I blogged about your butt!)
   

Fan Club

 

 

This week's Spin Cycle brought to you by Gretchen at Second Blooming is called "I'm a fan."  She asked what we are fans of, and I tried to think of one big thing to say "I'm a fan," but I couldn't.  I am a fan of just too many things! 

 

 

Let's see here....TV shows...I'm a fan of Dancing with the Stars.  Seriously, I don't think my smile could have been any bigger than when the newest season of the show with the All Stars started on Monday.  Love, love, love that show! 

 

 

I'm a fan of Jon Stewart.  I've told T since we started dating that, if given the chance, I would convert to Judaism for Jon.  I hope he understands.  I'm a big fan of The Daily Show.  We DVR it every night, along with The Colbert Report, and I always have to get my daily fix of Mr. Stewart. 

 

 

 

Sports?  I'm a Hoosier fan through and through.  Sure, our football team sucks in monumental ways, but I don't care.  We're in a rebuilding year, right?  I mean, it's not like I don't say that every day.  And don't get me started on Hoosier basketball.  It was so nice that I scheduled my maternity leave during March Madness (ha).  Aubrey and I chilled and watched the Hoosiers in action.  She totally killed me with her bracket. 

 

 

 

And now we get all cheesy...I'm also T and Aubrey's biggest fan.  I couldn't be prouder of my little family.  T blows me away every day with how smart and amazing he is, and with each developmental milestone Aubrey meets, I'm right there cheering her on.  And I will always be there and be her biggest supporter, her biggest fan, as will T.

 

 

So that's my fan "spin" for the week.  Check out other Spinners over at Gretchen's blog! 

   

A Night out for Mommy and Daddy

I've had several of you ask me about how this last weekend went, how I handled being away from Aubrey for the night, so I thought I'd give you all a weekend recap.  It was rough at the start, but it went really well.  And it was so great to have some time with just T. 

 

 

I was dreading dropping Aubrey off all morning.  I think she picked up on that because she fussed when we left her with my mom.  I handed her over and she started fussing, looking back at me like "where are you going, Mom?"  I cried the whole way to the hotel.  It was hard.

 

 

Two of our closest friends were getting married, one of which was a former coworker of mine at the Department of Child Services.  So it was kind of a mini reunion of sorts with me getting to see some friendly faces. 

 

 

See?  We clean up pretty well.  Note: we did not drop Aubrey off at my sister's house wearing these outfits. As soon as I got dressed that morning she promptly spit up all over my shirt.

 

 

 

Yes, I checked my phone all evening for Facebook updates and my sister texted me plenty of pictures to show me that she was smiling and even sent me a picture of her sleeping.  It reassured me, but it made me miss her more. 


The ceremony was outdoors at an art museum, and one of the Juvenile Court judges I used to work with was the officiant. It was a beautiful ceremony and brought me back to my own wedding day for just a brief moment. It was so wonderful seeing two people so in love starting their lives together.


After the ceremony came cocktail hour. Open bar. Need I say more? The diet kind of went to the wayside, but it sure did help me relax a little bit. Dinner was amazing - fried chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, biscuits...carbs, carbs and more carbs. But it was awesome. And then came the dancing. I do love me some wedding dancing.

Sure I may have had some beverages at this point.  But I was having fun.  After the wedding, we went out to this bar area called Broadripple (mostly because it was within walking distance, and I was in heels.)  It's this area of town where basically people who can't move past their glory days of college go to drink.  Douche town.  But we just wanted to hang out and have a beer, so we picked a random bar and watched the douches in action.  It was like watching a National Geographic Special:  douches in their natural environment.  We had fun making fun of pretty much 90 percent of the people around me, T got hit on by some random lady who accidentally used the men's bathroom...and I felt old by the end of the night.  But these old folks stayed out until 1 a.m.  Go us!


The next day, though, I couldn't wait to get back to this little girl...

 

(Note:  this picture was taken during a different weekend, but I still love it.)  I was so happy to see my little girl that next morning and kiss all over her.  But all in all it was a good time out, and a much needed one at that.  AND we all survived!  So I think, maybe, just maybe, we can do this again.

       

Motivation Monday time

It's Monday again, and I'm not going to lie....I'm feeling a bit grouchy this morning.  I'm not really wanting to do much, it's cold, my bed was warm, and we weren't home at all this weekend.  So that equals one grouchy Nain.  (And T and Aubrey, actually - I don't think any of us were feeling it this morning.)  But oh well...another week, here we come!


I actually did manage to get out of bed at 5:30 this morning (despite Aubrey's crying at midnight) and jogged for 30 minutes.  My motivation this week is to burn off the damage done this weekend.  We went to a friend's wedding on Saturday, and well....I didn't eat too healthy, and there was an open bar, sooo....so yeah.  And yesterday we were at my parent's house, and despite my best efforts, it's never all that healthy when we eat there.  So I'm getting back on the wagon today and have started my day off with a smoothie, and I'm doing okay so far. 


Last week I was actually down a total of eight pounds from my starting weight, so that is encouraging.  I'm getting to the point where my preggo pants are falling off.  I am scared to try on my pre-pregnancy pants or dresses because the last time I did that, it was so disheartening.  But maybe this weekend I need to take that leap and see how they feel now. 


Oh, and yesterday I was going crazy because I was feeling not so well from our night out (open bar), so I was staying away from the sauce.  And that resulted in me getting "are you pregnant?" questions.  No, people.  I drank the night before, so of course I'm not pregnant.  God, could you imagine?  I don't think I'm ready to head back down that road for a bit.  Let's just enjoy life where it is now. 


So I'm getting of course here, but that's my motivation for the week...what's yours?  Here's to a not-so-bad Monday!  And a quick week, too!
  Ali at A Coffeqween's Life       

Spin Cycle time!

 

TGIF, everyone!   So glad it's finally Friday but still, very very nervous about not being around my little girl tomorrow night.  I'll be sure to let all of you know how I survive next week.  I know it'll be fine, but this is tough for this new momma. 

 

 

Anyway, I will distract myself for now with this week's Spin Cycle brought to you by Gretchen from Second Blooming.  This week's Spin is on hometowns.  You know, I don't really have one hometown with which I identify.  My childhood was pretty much evenly split between two different locations.  So I kind of consider both of them my home base.  One of them I remember more than the other, but still. 

 

 

When I was little up until my 10th birthday I lived in Huntsville, AL.  Yep, I was a Southern girl.  I had such an accent, which is funny because it's completely gone now.  It only seems to slip out every now and then, and every time it does, T finds it absolutely hilarious.  I loved it down there.  We lived in a neighborhood which was directly across the street from NASA's Space and Rocket Center.  It's kind of sad because the neighborhood has really gone down hill recently, but I loved my neighborhood when we lived there.  My best friend lived in my neighborhood so we hung out all the time, and we were always outside playing in the yard or riding bikes down our street.  My Mom taught P.E. at my school, so after school I always got to hang out in the gym and use the equipment and just play around.   Honestly, I don't have a negative thing to say about this place.  I hate that I don't remember everything, and as I type this I'm trying to think up details of growing up there but coming up short.  My brother and sister will talk about it and say "remember this?"  Nope.  I was relatively young when we moved, so I guess that's just natural.  But it was a great place to grow up. 

 

 

 

When I was in 4th grade, we moved up to Indiana when my Dad changed jobs.  My siblings and I were, of course, devastated.  It was a tough adjustment because the schools were so different, and I was the new girl who dressed differently and had a strange accent.  It took awhile for me to make new friends and adjust, but I eventually did.  My parents still live in Noblesville, and it's only 45 minutes away from where I live now so I go home frequently.  So I don't really get the chance to "miss" my hometown per se.  I don't really have much attachment to it, actually.  It was a great place to grow up, too, but I do have some not-so-great memories from that place.  But that's my hometown.  It's where I grew up and graduated high school.   But the thought of ever living there again?  Um...no thanks...

 

 

I don't really want to do that to Aubrey as she grows up.  I know that with T's job there is always that chance for a transfer, but I want her to have a hometown with which to identify herself.  I want her to grow up going to the same church, having a good group of friends, and a sense of home in a town.  Sure, she might want to get the hell out of there when she graduates high school, but I would like to provide that to her.  It's why T and I built our house where we did.  We have every intention of staying here and growing our family here.  It's my "new" hometown. 

 

 

So that's my spin...stop by Gretchen's blog and see what others have to say.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

 

 

Random random

My apologies for the lack of a new post yesterday.  I'm having a hard time as of late in coming up with post ideas...I've thought about writing down ideas as they come to me, but then that would involve finding the time to write that list.  So that just brings me back to square one.  So today...you get another random, rambling Nain post.  Yay! 

 

 

So this weekend T and I will be leaving Aubrey with my sister overnight.  Our friends are getting married, and we decided that we will stay out that night and stay at a hotel for a couples evening.  It'll be really good for the two of us, but I am super nervous.  I haven't even left Aubrey yet, and I already miss her.  I keep thinking things like what if she doesn't want to go to sleep for my sister because she keeps looking around for mommy and daddy and thinks we abandoned her?  The very thought of that just makes me want to cry.  Of course, we'll be coming back right away on Sunday to get her, but she'll be away from us from around 1:00 p.m. until the next day.  That's going to be tough.  And I'm kind of not looking forward to it. 

 

 

Stress.  I have been dealing with a great deal of stress lately, mostly related to work, and it has given me TMJ, believe it or not.  And said TMJ is acting up today. I mean, do I really need to work?  I know no matter where I work and what I do I will always deal with stress.  If only I paid attention to that fluff class I took in college "stress management."  There's a reason I got a B minus in that class.  That reason has resulted in TMJ. 

 

 

Still plugging away at the change in lifestyle in my diet.  I have a scale to measure meat portions, and when T cooked his famous honey chicken stir fry for our anniversary the other night, I weighed 3 oz of chicken for my portion.  And one-third a cup of rice.  It was sad how small that was.  Sad.  But I'm sticking with this.  I really want to see some change for the better.  But it's not to say that this isn't hard.  Meeting weekly with the dietitian has helped keep me on track.  I'm still going over in my starches for the day, though.  Why does everything have carbs in it?  I mean, come on, everything? 

 

 

I miss my kid today.  I want to see her and kiss those chubby cheeks of hers.  4:30 cannot come quickly enough.

 

 

So we sent the very last car payment for my car this morning.  I now own my vehicle.  After eight years, that beautiful piece of machinery, my 2004 Saturn Ion is mine, baby!  Sure, it has 111,000 plus miles on it.  Sure I have had to replace the bumper because of how many times I have run into inanimate objects with it.  But it's mine.  We're keeping it for awhile because it'll be nice to not have a car payment.  But honestly, with how frequently I hit parked cars, it's probably just in my best interests to never have a nice or new car.  God knows what I'll do to it. 

 

 

I love this fall weather.  Love wearing sweaters and jackets again.  Of course, I haven't tried on my fall jacket yet.  I'm scared it won't fit post-baby.  I don't think I can take that kind of ego hit.  But I do love the fall weather.  And the cute little pajamas Aubrey wears now that it's cooler. 

 

 

Since I'm on this healthy kick, I could go for some new recipes.  So if you have any good ones, send them my way.  I'm kind of getting tired of the same thing day after day.

 

 

And lastly...the most important of all of these random thoughts: Dancing with the Stars is back next Monday!  And it's the All Stars version.  Can I tell you how stoked I am?  Love my DWTS!  T, say good bye to the TV for awhile on Mondays and Tuesdays! 

 

 

Okay, I'll end my ramblings with that.  I promise to be back tomorrow with a post of substance.  Plus, it's a Friday Spin Cycle post!  Whoo! 

   

On this day....



"To have and to hold"

 

Two years ago today, I married my best friend.  I stood before God, my family and friends and pledged my life and my love to T for the rest of our lives.



 

"In good times and in bad"

It's been quite a journey so far.  But we've walked this road together.   It hasn't been the straightest of roads.  We've had our bumps, been thrown some curves, driven through some beautiful valleys, together.  As a team.  Because that's what we pledged to each other that day two years ago.  We became one that day, and we face the world together. 

"For richer, for poorer"

We've taken some chances, buying our very first home just months into marriage.  Our home, to start a family.  It's taken some sacrifices on the way, but we've done it together.

"In sickness and in health"

We've stood together through everything - this past year alone has been a test of our strength as a couple.  But our faith and our love brought us through, and we came out stronger on the other side.  And before we knew it, two became three.  But we are still one - one team.

"Till death do us part"

We are in it for the long haul.  When I said forever, I meant forever.  It's amazing what just two years of marriage have brought us, and it's hard for me to even imagine what blessings and changes lie ahead of us.  But I can't wait.  No matter what tomorrow brings, no matter what challenges we face, I have my partner for life with me.

So happy anniversary to the one person who makes my world complete.  Two years ago, I stood on that altar thinking that there was no way I could love you any more than I did that day.  And two years later, I fall in love with you a little bit more every single day.  I love you, T!









           

Motivaiton Monday: Plugging Along

Happy Motivation Monday, everyone!  Hope everyone had a great weekend!  Mine was good, albeit busy, but honestly, every weekend has been busy since Aubrey's arrival.  I'm pretty proud of myself because I stepped outside of my comfort zone this weekend, and get this...I mowed the lawn!  T ran one of his longer training runs (2 hours, 30 minutes) so I took pity on his poor, sore self and took care the lawn.  After flipping out on the mower once when I couldn't figure out how to back up the mower, I managed to get it done in record time.  And then clean my house.  And then collapse.  But I'm pretty proud of myself, and I did a damn good job, if I do say so. 


Anyway...my motivation...so I'm still working hard at the lifestyle change of eating healthier and eating proper portion sizes.  It's tough.  I'm hungry all the time, but yes, writing down a record of what I eat does help a lot.  It's a pain to constantly write that down, but they way my dietitian has me doing everything is tracking "exchanges" of starches, dairy, meat, veggies, fruits and fat.  Some days I do eat more starches, but I'm trying to keep it within the limits she sets.  It's funny, though, because I have this book to look up portion sizes.  So I'll look something up and then get so disappointed.  Oh we're having tacos for dinner?  What's that?  One taco is a serving?  Yay!  Because it's the end of the day and I'm freaking starving.  Completely satisfying.  And I'm doing well at staving off the temptations.  During the work painting event last week, I did not partake in the pizza I ordered the volunteers or the candy I bought for them.  Yay, Nain! 


I'm sure this is a fluke or this is me totally not giving myself credit, but I'm down five pounds.  The negative person in me who has never been successful recently in losing weight keeps thinking it'll go back up.  But it's five pounds, and I've only been doing this for two weeks, so the dietitian says I need to give myself more credit.  So I'm going to use that as continuing motivation.  I really do think I can do this! 


So that's my motivation for the week, what's yours?  Link up your post by writing one of your own and leave a link to your blog in a comment!  And I'll add you!  Haven't had any participants in....well....a long time, so I'm open to some motivation mondays!
  Ali @ A Coffeeqween's Life (Give this momma some love as she heads back to work after maternity leave!)         

I work out

 

 

This week's Spin Cycle with Gretchen at Second Blooming is on exercise.  It's a topic that has a huge part of my life right now as I work hard to eat healthier and get stronger.  Actually, it's something that has been pretty important to me for some time.  It started back in law school in my third year.  I would get up early before classes, head to the gym, do 60 minutes on the treadmill and elliptical while reading assignments for class.  (Good way to stay awake while reading boring case law!)  I continued during my studies for the bar.  Instead of reading assignments, I would read my Barbri outlines. 


I'll admit it's gotten a little harder with the lil' one.  She's pretty demanding, and I try to take sleep when I can.  And both T and I are fairly active people.  He's training for a marathon in November, and I just did a mini-marathon.  So we alternate who gets up at 5:30 to run.  One of us tries to work out when we get home from work, but that hardly ever happens because, by the time we get home from our 45 minute commute, it's time to feed the Aubster and eat.  So yeah, we alternate days and then both try to exercise on the weekends.  It takes a little effort, and it's not as much as I'd ideally like to do, but....it is what it is. 


I finished my 2nd half marathon two weeks ago, and I'll be training for my next one in May 2013.  T's doing that one with me, but he's doing those long 2-3 hour runs right now for the marathon.  Craziness.  Aubrey and I will be cheering him on, but like I said...craziness. 


My favorite times to exercise are when I get to take Little Miss Aubrey to go for a walk in the running stroller.  She either 1) falls asleep, 2) starts babbling and cooing the whole time or 3) looks all around and keeps glancing up to make sure it's me still pushing her.  It's hilarious.  But I gotta say...pushing a 21 lb baby in a stroller is a workout in and of itself! 


I do have two races coming up, too.  One 5K is September 29th, and it's raising awareness for Ovarian Cancer, a disease which took my aunt at 33 years old, and T will be running that one with me.  (He'll have to go extra slow since  I'm nowhere near the runner he is!) The other is a fun one, called "Wine at the Line."  It's on a Saturday evening on October 6, and it's a 4 mile race around a winery back in the country, and at the end you get a free wine glass, wine tasting and pizza.  Can't beat that!



Anyway, this is my long-winded spin on exercise.  See what other spinners have to say at
Gretchen's blog!  And have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

     

"I'm not who I was"

The other day, I was thinking about high school. I try not to think about high school...not for any particular reason. I just don't want to be like that guy in Bruce Springstein's "Glory Days" living in the past. It's funny because I'm friends with a lot of people from my graduating class in high school on Facebook, and that's totally some of them. They still hang out in the same cliques. It's like time froze and they never moved on. Their prerogative I guess, but it still is funny. I'm not sure why I'm "Facebook friends" with these people. Maybe just to see what's going on in their lives. But honestly? I could care less about it. I didn't go to my 10 year high school reunion mostly for this reason. The people with whom I wanted to associate I still remained in contact with them. I had no desire to be fake and try to act like I was best buddies with people who didn't give me the time of day when I was a teenager. And it was $75 to attend. Why would I pay a substantial amount of money to hang out with people I don't really like?

 

But in my thinking of high school (because, like normal, I'm getting far off track here...), I had to laugh because I'm nowhere near the person I was back then. Honestly, I'm nowhere near the person I was in college either. I know that awhile back I wrote a post about how my younger self would have been shocked at my chosen profession, but it's more than that. I'm still not a person who has the highest self esteem in the world, but back then I really didn't have much. In fact, it was basically nonexistent. I was soft spoken. I didn't stand up for myself. I let people walk all over me, and I allowed myself to be treated poorly by people I considered to be "friends." Seriously, I had my fair share of drama in high school, and I walked away with just a handful of true "friends." I also apologized when it wasn't my fault. I blamed myself when it was someone else to blame. When someone wronged me or hurt me, I took the fall, I said I was sorry, I went to extremes so as to not lose that person. I'm not proud of how weak I was. But when I look back at who I was...I think "my God, how could I have been so weak?" I think of specific situations and how I compromised what I wanted or where I should have said "to hell with you" to someone, but I basically bended over backwards to keep that person in my life or to stop a conflict.

 

God, I really am rambling! Anyway, the point of this post...because, I swear, there is a point...is that I'm not who I was. I'm not that shy, unaware girl, who let others treat her so poorly, who based her happiness on other's happiness, who molded herself into what others wanted her to be. Honestly, I'm not that girl who naively believed the good in everyone. Life has taught me that some people...well...some people just don't have good in them. I've learned to stand up for myself, for what I believe in and for what I want. Not what someone else wants me to have, do or want. I'm more independent, self-reliant. Some of these changes are for the good...some maybe not for the good. I do have my days where I wish I could go back to that naive point of view. I wish I could believe everyone had good in them. But for the most part, the changes that have occurred inside me are for the good.  I feel stronger, more sure of myself, able to stand on my own two feet and not rely solely on someone else's happiness for my own. 

 

 

 

A lot of things pushed me in that direction, but truly it was T who helped me.  I was on my way to finding who I was, but when I met him, he gave me that extra push in forgiving myself and letting all of the weight of the past go.  Now all of that seems like a distant memory.  Not all bad, not all good, but it isn't who I am now.  I've forgiven all of those people who hurt me, and actually, none of that bothers me so much any more.  In the end, it doesn't matter, does it?  I look forward, not behind me.  I'm pretty happy with where I am and the person I've become.  I still push myself to grow every day and change for the better, which is always a good thing, right?

 

 

 

I'm not sure what brought on this rambling post here.  It's just been something on my mind.  And yesterday, I heard this song on Pandora as I was working, and it made me think.  I really like this song, and you know when you hear those songs on the radio with which you can completely identify?  This is definitely one of them. 

 

 

I'll be back tomorrow with a spin cycle!  Have a great Thursday, everyone!

                     

The tough guy

This week started off a little stressful, I will admit.  I'm struggling.  This week more than ever I'm facing the tough fact - being the boss?  Well, it can kind of suck at times. 

 

 

I have Michael Scott syndrome.  I go back and forth between wanting to be that tough boss to wanting to be everyone's friend.  I'm a people pleaser, and when I think someone doesn't like me or isn't happy about something I've had to do, I freak out.  I start to worry.  I make myself sick with worry.  I start questioning my judgment.  I do pretty much everything in my power to make myself feel awful about having to do something that I have to do as a boss. 

 

 

I hate it.  Not being the boss, but being the boss when things aren't all rosy and happy. 

 

 

Why can't things be all peachy all the time and everyone like me? 

 

 

Because they can't.  So I guess I just have to suck it up and deal with it.  But I'm totally not good at that with thinking "it doesn't matter what people think of me.  I have to be the boss."  Or should I just worry constantly? 

 

 

Hmm...I wonder which one of these things will be worse for me? 

 

 

The funny thing...well not so funny, is that Nain is feeling the health effects of stress.  It's not pretty, and I'm pretty ticked about it but I guess I have no one to blame but myself.  Not only is my blood pressure high, and not only do I have chronic heart burn...but now I have TMJ.  From stress.  TMJ?  Seriously?  So maybe, just maybe I should let this go. 

 

 

If only it were that easy. 

 

 

So I'm open to suggestions....anyone?

   

I can do this!

Another Monday come and gone....well, no, another Monday started :-)  Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part that it would be over.  Anyway, so last week I started a medical weight loss program.  It's my hopes I can lose some weight and benefit my heart and blood pressure minus the medication.  Well, no, I'll be on some medication, but I think two pills for my heart is enough at 31 years old, you know?  So I went to see the doctor and then the dietician.  It was all a lot of information, so I'm still trying to process everything, but...


I am supposed to keep a daily log of what I eat.  I absolutely hate doing that, or I have in the past but if this is what I need to do....then so be it, right?  I have to record what I eat and mark down what category of food it is in.  I have a certain number of starches, meats, veggies, milk, fruit, fat that eat every day.  And I need to make sure when I do mark something down that it's within the proper portion size.  So...for the past week, I have been starving. But I am trying my best to record what I eat and to really be aware of what all I do eat.  It's tough, and it involves a lot of measuring out of things and to stop myself when I'm done and not getting more.  Oh and the whole stress eating of chocolate when I'm stressed out...which, let's be honest, is a lot. 


Oh and drinking more water.  I clearly have not done a bunch of that in the past, so I have to make a concerted effort  to do that, too.  And isn't the water supposed to make you feel fuller? 


But, it does suck being constantly hungry.  My hope is maybe my body will be conditioned to eating actual portion sizes.  I mean, that has to happen, right? 


So that's my motivation for the week....to stay motivated and on the right path! 


What's yours?  I'd love to hear them.  If you want to share, include a link to this post on your blog and then copy and paste your link in the comments.  Have a good Monday, everyone!
     

Talking 'bout my education

This week's Spin Cycle with Gretchen at Second Blooming is on education.  Here in the Nain/T household education is pretty important.  Both T and I were lucky enough to be born into families where we were able to access education, encouraged to read and to learn and continue onto higher education.  I realize not every child is so blessed, and I feel so fortunate for what opportunities I was given.  I hope to do the same for Aubrey as she grows up. 


Education has always been big in my life.  My Mom is a teacher, and my brother went on to be a 2nd grade teacher and my sister a Calculus teacher.  Both of my parents expected me to succeed in school and get good grades.  I pushed myself, probably too hard to the point of perfection, but I always got on the A honor roll, took all honors classes, always did my homework and then some.  (I was what some would call a nerd, I suppose.)  And I always knew I wanted to go to college.


It was funny because when I graduated from law school I realized that I had spent about three-fourths of my life in school.  Never in a million years would I have thought I would end up going to law school.  I remember thinking about being a lawyer and a doctor and about how long it took to get those degrees.  But when I decided to go onto law school my sophomore year in college, I didn't think twice about those extra three years. 


It is my and T's full intention to provide Aubrey with all of the opportunities we can so that she can receive the best education possible.  When we chose where to build our house, we chose a good school district for when we had children.  And we're starting early in instilling with her the love of reading.  Sure, she's six months old and probably doesn't know differently when we read a book to her.  It's a tradition every night, and it's one we'll continue as she grows up.  When I was a kid, we took weekly trips to the library.  I did the summer reading program.  I loved receiving the Scholastic Book Order forms...so much, in fact, that when they gave us them from Aubrey's daycare, I was the one stoked about it.  Anyway, I want her to always have that thirst to learn and follow her dreams. 


While I know college is not a necessity and there are plenty of people out there who are extremely intelligent and successful who have not gone to college, I really do want that for Aubrey.  I joke about her going to IU, and I'd love her to attend IU but I honestly don't care where she goes.  And if she wants to go farther than that, I encourage her to do so. 


I hope that T and I can provide her the motivation she needs to build her up.  Between T and myself we have four degrees - my Bachelor in Arts in Journalism and Juris Doctorate and T's Bachelor's in Science in Engineering and Masters in Engineering.  I don't want to push her towards a certain path but I want to encourage her to go in whatever direction she wants.  She can do anything she wants.  And education provides her the tools to get there. 


So as you can see, education is extremely important to me.  Want to see what others have to say on the topic?  Stop by Gretchen's blog and check out the other education Spins!

     

Hump day ramblings

I am running short on things to blog about today.  I know I need to write my Spin Cycle post for the week, and I will...and I have something that I was tagged in which I should write, but...I am not motivated to do that either.  Blah.  So today you get a rambling Nain post.  It's fun to get those every once in awhile, right?  If not, just humor me. 

 

 

Spending four days with T and Aubrey was really nice this last weekend.  So nice, in fact, that I really really didn't want to come back to reality on Tuesday.  All day Monday I had that feeling I used to get when I was a kid.   You know, that feeling of "I don't want to go back to school tomorrow..."  I would have loved to just spend a few more days off with T and Aubrey.  I didn't even do any work-work over the weekend.  I had worked so many hours last week that I was able to completely take off Friday and not even use vacation time.  It was just nice.  But...all good things must come to an end eventually. 

 

 

Speaking of...is it just me, or does the week seem to crawl by when you're working a short week? 

 

 

Today is my doctor's day.  I have several different appointments I need to go to, so I'm staying at home.  It didn't make sense to do a few appointments in the a.m., only to leave early for my evening one.  One of these appointments involves the dentist checking out my fillings I got a few weeks ago.  Nain's mouth still hurts.  So this appointment has the potential to really suck.   But hopefully it's just a quick fix. 

 

 

Speaking of teeth, this past weekend, Miss Aubrey was a bit of a fuss-butt because she is teething.  She is getting her first tooth on the front bottom, and then yesterday morning, I noticed a second one is quickly popping out.  I imagine it hurts.  But it's caused her to wake up in the middle of the night crying, which means less sleep for Mom and Dad.  I look forward to when the little teeth finally pop through.

 

 

Can I just say how stoked I am about this season's Dancing with the Stars: All Stars?  I love the show, and all of the best dancers?  Totally looking forward to September 24th.  Poor T will lose control of the TV now on Monday and Tuesday nights. 

 

 

So I'm thinking about starting the Christmas shopping early for Aubrey.  I am so freaking excited to be Santa this year.  In fact, I'm stoked about her first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...the whole thing.  First snow, too, because we had a warm winter and never got snow after she was born.  Just excited about all of it. 

 

 

And college football started this last weekend!  Whoo!  We watched the Alabama-Michigan game because I'm from Alabama originally, and T is from Michigan.  And I, of course, had to rub it in T's face that Bama massacred Michigan.  Sorry!  Roll Tide, baby!

 

 

Ok, I think this enough rambling for one day.  I'm pretty sure I could go on.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Hump Day!

   

Photo session

A couple of weekends ago, we got Aubrey's 6 month pictures taken at Target.  I wasn't too worry about how she'd handle getting her pictures taken because she gets along with everyone.  But, boy, she was a ham.  Here she is just playing around in the tub.  I love the look on her face of "What?  Me?"

 

 

It seriously was hard to just pick one.....

 

Oddly enough, this is how she is most of the time...surrounded by her stuffed animals and stretching out her legs...

And those eyes...I LOVE those eyes!  What I wouldn't give for those eyelashes...

Last...this one is just too precious.  Like I said, it was hard to pick just one. 

   

It's funny to look at her newborn pictures and look at her now.  She has changed so much and is changing every day.  Next  thing you know, she'll be one year...yikes, let's not think that far ahead....

   

Motivation Monday: I did it!

So on Saturday morning, I decided "Hey, let's get up at 5 a.m. and walk 13.1 miles!"  Because, you know, that seems like something perfectly normal and sane people do, right?  Right?



But no, I had trained, and t his was a goal of mine since Aubrey was born, and dammit, I was going to do it.

 

 

It was the Indianapolis Women's Mini Marathon, and it was set to start downtown on Saturday.  I'm no going to lie...I was nervous.  I mean, sure, I did a mini marathon walking before but that was before Aubrey.  Having a child has kind of kicked my butt.  But I thought I was ready.  And then there was the weather.  We were set to get the remnants of Hurricane Issac, and I was petrified it would pour the whole morning.  Luckily it didn't, but I was obsessively refreshing the weather.com browser checking on the chances of rain until T made me close the computer screen down.  


So we got up at 5 a.m. on Saturday, and I was set to go.  Nervous, but set to go.

Why, yes, it was dark out when the race started.  I met up with a friend of mine to walk the race.  We walked together most of it, for about 10 miles, but she was having a hard time pushing it, and I really wanted to kick it into high gear the last three miles.  So, with her blessing, I took off.  I must have hauled ass, too, because I finished about 20 minutes in front of her.  And I kind of paid for it with how I felt in the end.

It was humid.  Lord, it was humid.  And I ran the last 0.1 of the 13.1.  They gave us a rose, medals, and there were mimosas and beers at the end.  I love this picture because Aubrey is looking at me like "ew, you smell, Mom!"  T did have her up and cheering for me as I ran by, and she actually clapped her hands when she saw me.  I loved it.

I finished 3:27, with a 15:51 pace.  I think I could have done faster if I had walked on my own, but I'm not sure I would have survived.  Apparently I didn't drink enough because I started cramping in a bad, bad way when we were walking towards the after party area.  And apparently I was really out of it.  So T spent the rest of the day forcing water on me.  Nain was a bit dehydrated. 


This is what happens after you spend the morning walking 13.1 miles....

 

Now, don't call me crazy here...but I'm tempted to do another half marathon late October. Like I said, do NOT call me crazy.  For now I'm just happy I finished.  Whoo!

 

 

So this really isn't "motivation" per se, but I had to talk about it.   Hope everyone has a great Monday!  I'll be hobbling along all day today, I'm sure...