6-18-2012

After losing 15 lbs

Day 1!

I survived!!!! That was genuinely my main concern!

So, day one- I wake up at 5:15 and get ready, have sugar free applesauce and strap on my new shoes! The workout was 30 minutes with 8 minutes of running. My feet were slightly sore a little ways in so I think my shoes were too tight, but otherwise it went great!
I had half of a Cliff bar after since I was starving then had breakfast nearly 2 hours later. If the entire program is like this, doable but pushing, then I might actually get to a point of running races...!! :-D

Hopefully my pictures will get progressively thinner!!

Major Life Adventure...!

Oh man...I do not like to exercise...at all! I've tried all kinds of home workouts that have been a start into my new "get healthy" world, but they're not enough and hard to spend enough time to where it's beneficial. I've lost 15 lbs so far but have a ways to go to reach my goal of 160. Therefore, I have now bought a gym membership and am starting the couch to 5k program bright and early at 530 in the morning! I'm so nervous because I am so far from a runner that it's ridiculous. When I read over this program and see that I should be able to run 3 miles in only 9 weeks, the amount of disbelief is sky-high. I explained my goals and running program to my mother, only to be laughed at, which did not help my nerves! Thankfully I have the most supportive boyfriend I could ever ask for and his faith in me is keeping me motivated right now!!! I have bought a new pair of running shoes to help get me going, too.

 I am currently 195 lbs at 5'7". I thankfully carry my weight relatively well, but am definitely overweight.

 My main concern is to get healthy and I believe that the weight will come off with the proper work put in. Eating healthy will also be a key factor in this life and I am finding new healthy recipes!

I plan to be posting more often with what I'm eating and how the running is going to keep myself accountable and see progress. Before and after pictures, and maybe during, will hopefully be motivating as well!

Laughter!

A few jokes I randomly write....

•  Why, oh why, do drive-thru ATMs have Braille on them?! No one who is using Braille should be driving….
• Why did it take so long for hotdog makers to fit the hotdog to the length of the bun? Did they not take basic math….
• I don’t understand the term “in the closet”; I mean, it makes you sound like the boogie man….but could you imagine a young child terrified of the gay guy organizing his clothes in rainbow order??
• I have recently realized that I do not count graduate students as actual students of their respective college; they are more like volunteers. They do not have to be there, yet they want to. Though technically they have it worse than volunteers, for in volunteering, finances are a moot (-_-) point, but graduate students have to pay thousands of dollars for their hard work…..
• Why is there more than one Final Destination movie?! Does the writer not know the meaning of final??
• So all comedians make jokes about how people have too many facebook or myspace friends and most of them aren’t even real friends, but they all want to appear as cool. However, what about the people out there who are actually friends will all 2,000 of their internet friends?? Now no one will ever believe they are truly cool….
• Urban Meyer must be brothers with Oscar Meyer, both chased after careers in sausages, one on the field, the other in the bun.

Bbq Sliders and Wii Games

Well it is Friday (YAY!) and I have been excited about making crock-pot pulled pork bbq since Sunday! A 5 lb pork shoulder roast, some liquid smoke and Jack Daniels Master Blend bbq sauce has been cooking for ~...9 1/2 hours now!!! Smells delicious and Ruffles and homemade cole slaw will make this dinner complete!

So...working out has become a "do what I can when I can" kinda thing so lots of jumping jacks, squats, and other calisthenic-type workouts. That is only fun for so long short of a time and so the Wii has been pulled out and dusted off!! Wii Fit Plus is fun stuff, especially hula hoops and the dance step game (name unknown). Then as I was preparing to shut it off, I realized there is an option to create pet profiles!!! Oh what fun to have a profile for each of my rather fat kitties! Kiki (solid black, silky fur, adorable mew-chirp) was very easy to hold and weigh, just purred and ate up the attention as a proper cat should; Mia (white with black/brown spots, hateful attitude, cute only when she wants to be) growled and squirmed in anger so I only hope her weight was correct. The babies were 14.5 lbs and 16.5 lbs respectively!! (I know that's large for cats but they're SO pitiful when they're nearly out of food!) Now how often they play Wii and make use of their adorable profiles is yet to be seen :)


I have learned I need to never go grocery shopping when even the slightest bit hungry. I walk in needing rolls, and leave with a large bag of groceries!! Everything looked delicious, even foods I never eat, like soy-tofu chicken wings - though I did not purchase such things (no hate to the soy-tofu lovers). This unfortunate episode makes planning a dinner near impossible; if I walk around too much, I'm attempting to cook french toast, ribs, mac-n-cheese and potato casserole all for one night, and that's not even touching dessert!!

C'est La Vie

On a random side note, I was watching Wheel of Fortune and a lovely young lady makes it to the bonus round. She spins the wheel and the letters R S T L N E are put up, though not very helpful in this particular puzzle. Now comes the part where she gets to choose three consonants and a vowel and she picks D H C A....!! I do not expect most of you to understand so I shall explain. I went to high school in a tiny, private Christian school in Decatur, Al. The name of this school is Decatur Heritage Christian Academy (DHCA for those of you still lost :P). I have to say I was tickled seeing that up on the television. I enjoyed the end of my high school years and shall cherish them dearly, so seeing any random reference makes me smile, and I -LOVE- to smile! :D

Time to prepare the rest of dinner for my love and myself! I hope he likes it!!! 

-living-laughing-loving-

Leigh!


~Update~ Dinner was DELISH!! :D

The Adventure Begins.....to be told, that is!

Hello to the world of interwebs!

I have been wanting to start a blog for quite some time and thanks to inspiration from a couple of friends, I'm taking the plunge!! -Disclaimer: I LOVE exclamation marks!-

In August of 2011, I moved to Riverdale, MD from Madison, AL...after having spent 23.5 years in the South. My amazing boyfriend of 3 years (Mr [almost Dr] Cody Buntain) started graduate school at University of Maryland and asked me to accompany him. I could not have been happier learning that my best friend in the world wanted me with him and in addition, I get to see the world! Well, more of it than I had seen so far...so here I am, living the life as a full time nanny, dealing with DC traffic, learning to be healthy, and playing bar trivia. 

So let's get to my goals in this blog:

~Share my story of exploring the world and this is not limited to physically going places, it also includes trying new foreign cuisines, going to exotic shows, etc. 

~Relate to people on a very real and everyday basis and inspire. People go through the same struggles in different situations and everyone is able to make it through what comes their way. Sometimes just hearing that someone did it before you invigorates new strength to continue. 

~Learn. It happens every day and I would love for this blog to be another way I can do that.

~ENTERTAIN! I love to make people laugh and make them happy. My life is crazy and amusing with a lot of hilarious stories, so hopefully I can make others laugh by sharing them. Laughter is the best medicine!

Now I am sure you will learn more about me as time goes on and I share tidbits of my soul but here are a few basics...

~I believe everything happens for a reason

~I LOVE food and am learning to love it in healthier doses

~Happiness and laughter keep me going-always-

~Color makes me happy, bright pops and explosions! That being said, I still love gray, black and white :)

~I am a very emotional and passionate person. I truly LOVE and get very excited, to the point of my having to excessively shake my hands to release energy, and my temper fuse is microscopic, if existent.

~I love my family SO MUCH! Don't mess with them, especially if you read previous point/bullet/thing..! {btw I have 2 brothers and a sister <3 along with parents/gparents/etc}

~Following that note, I adore my friends! I have THE best friends a girl could ever ask for and I have learned how important they are to me. Which is pretty freakin' important!!

~Coffee ice cream rocks my world....mmmmmm! And dark chocolate!!!

~Cooking is uber fun...and sometimes not fun at all. Such a love/hate relationship there

~Music is fun and I love to sing -I'm so good at it :P - but I am not one of those people who knows every album and song by my favorite artists.

~Sarcasm is my native tongue.

~I adore children and believe they are our future (crazy, right?!). I want to spend my entire life surrounded by young, eager faces curious about the world and full of funny remarks _insert "Kids Say the Darndest Things" joke here_

Well.....this is post #1....I hope it leaves you wanting more!! :D

-living-laughing-loving-

~Leigh