a weekend outdoors

We had planned on camping this weekend, but the soggy weather made us not want to spend the weekend in mud.


So instead, we camped at our house. We lit a bonfire in the backyard and had our camping buddies come over for hot dogs (that they decided to wrap in bacon) and s'mores.

blog versus status update

I'm not sure if any other bloggers feel this way, but I sort of feel like facebook has become my blog. I can post when I want, even from my phone. People can comment. Most of the people who read this blog know me in real life and only 1 or 2 of you is not on the book. I mean, even my grandma is on FB.

It serves as my outlet on the internets to be my extroverted self, AND I can set the privacy how I want. I do not share any photos with friends of friends. Or anything else for that matter. So while it's harder for some random internet lurker to read my oh-so-enlightening-posts on FB, that is probably one of the few "downsides." Maybe some of you don't consider that a downside, but I do. I have found several blogs that I'm now addicted to by random clicks through other's blogs. The two I read first every day are Young House Love and Roni's Weigh. They are very different, but both inspire me to either decorate my house, or lose weight. Both of those are pretty high on my to-do list and I would not have found either of them on FB.

What inspires you?

I know it sounds corny but the show Biggest Loser really inspires me. I see myself in a lot of the players and the emotions they go through to finally love themselves. I didn't have two of the world's best trainers screaming at me, but I also didn't weigh 400lbs. I sort of think of myself as a mini-version of what they go through. I was overweight, but not super-obese or whatever it's called now. I was unhappy and didn't really love myself, but I didn't really hate myself either. I was just sort of apathetic and going through the motions of life.

One day in college, I remember thinking that I would never be in a real relationship if I didn't do something about this problem. Spring semester of my freshman year, I was scheduled to take the required fitness class at school. That was probably the best thing that Truman made me do. I learned how to work out properly on the free weights, aka the man weights and what muscles were where inside your body. I learned how to get up early (this class was at 0730) and work out. Every day.

That class jump-started my transformation. Almost 10 years later and I'm still not finished with that journey. I'd love to lose 15-20 more pounds and maybe even be considered "hot" instead of just "pretty." I love myself enough to know that I'm okay looking, and pretty but I'm not going to brainwash myself into thinking I'm hot. The BL contestants inspired me tonight to think that maybe I can run a marathon. For sure a half. I was running with my sister 2x a week right before she ran a half marathon. She might have run a few times more than when I was with her, but if I really put my mind to it, I bet I could do it too.

Firepit!

We are almost done with our fire pit!! There's a random extra block on the top level but it looks really good otherwise!! We can't wait for it to stop raining around here so we can have a fire!

Bread

Lately I've been trying to cook/bake/eat more foods that are not processed. A few weeks ago I attempted to make my own homemade whole wheat bread. It was pretty easy to do, and out of the three loaves I made (from one batch of dough) the second one came out pretty well. I bought it to work and even my coworkers snarfed it down. The hubs- not so much. So tonight I'm trying a regular white bread that if use the same container for the second batch will become sourdough. Even though it's not whole wheat I'm pretty sure that they are about the same amount of points because the whole wheat bread had milk and honey, whereas the white bread is literally flour, water, yeast and salt.

I'll let you know how it goes.

How I found my new purse

A few years ago, right before we got married, I googled my to-be self. I'm sure most brides want to know what the internet has to say about them when they become Mrs. X. So what I found was mostly some high school track athlete, an artist somewhere on the east coast, and a momblog who also happened to live in the same state as me. After reading her momblog, I saw that she linked to her "job blog" which was selling cute purses in the small town she lives in, but posts pictures online. So I threw her in my reader and have been lurking ever since.

Recently, she started shipping the purses in addition to just selling them in the store, so I decided to buy one today. Turns out we are both married in to the name, and our middle names are very similar as well. If I like the purse, I might buy another. You know, keep it in the family.

How the yard takes over my life

Lately after work, I'm outside working in the yard. I feel like we are "those people" in the neighborhood who started a few landscaping projects and then left them half-finished. And since I don't really aspire to be "those people, I've been making an extra effort to improve the aesthetics in front of the house.

Last summer we had this great idea to make rock gardens in front of the house. I wanted to use the environmentally friendly weed-blocking tarp thing that goes under the rocks. Turns out environmentally friendly does not equal a weedless rock bed. In the last week I've pulled a bajillion weeds and they are still coming up.

But the good news is, we are getting there. It looks much better and I think I can finish the project this weekend. Then I move to the backyard.