Pleasant & Patriotic 4-Day Weekend

Well, I've been out of work and out of the blogging routine for the past four days, and it's been great. I mean seriously - super long holiday weekends are amazing, and definitely necessary for your sanity, and I enjoyed every single bit of it. What about y'all? And since I had such a long amazing weekend, there's a ton to catch up on, so today's post will once again be very picture heavy, and kinda light on the writing.

Let's back it up all the way to Thursday, for the 4th of July!

Actually first of all, let me just show off our dinner from Wednesday night that we made ourselves. Super yummy Turkey Santa Fe Stuffed Peppers. Sooo good. I'll be sharing the recipe tomorrow!

THURSDAY
I was house/dog-sitting all last week for my friend Lacey, and for some strange reason I woke up before 8 a.m. without an alarm. What is wrong with that picture? So I took the dog out and fed her, then I was quite productive for a few hours. I did some dishes, loaded and started the dishwasher, started a load of laundry, swept the house, uploaded and edited some pictures, bought new music on iTunes, made a new running playlist, and finally made my new playlist for the summer (another check from my summer bucket list!). And I did all that before 10 a.m. Impressive right?

Jeff came over around lunch time, and we made turkey taco lettuce wraps with the leftovers from our stuffed peppers the night before, then just lounged around for a bit watching National Treasure 2 on TV. We then went out and attempted to find cute matching shirts to wear, but no such luck. So we came back to the house and made our mac and cheese to take to family dinner.

My Granddaddy - the Birthday Boy!

My Mama made these super cute eagles as her surprise dessert treat!

My sister made these patriotic themed cupcakes, which were delicious.

We played a giant game of 12-person Farkle, and my Granddaddy-the-birthday-boy won!

And of course my sister and I had to take an unnecessary amount of goofy pictures, just like we always do...

The problem was however, that Florida couldn't get it's crap together to stop raining long enough to do any fireworks. Thanks a lot. So I didn't get to see any this year. What a sad 4th of July with no fireworks, right?! Oh well, Jeff and I already decided that next year, we're definitely heading back to St. George Island beach for July 4th festivities, and that will be awesome.

FRIDAY
I am honestly having a hard time remembering what we did on Friday...I know it was still raining, so I think we ran errands and stuff around town. Oh yeah - we went to Hobby Lobby and priced some silk floral stems for wedding purposes, bought a few cute glass jars, raided an awesome new thrift store of all their vintage books and a giant empty wooden picture frame, and a couple of other random things. And I got a wonderful little package in the mail from one of my friends from college. She lives in Tennessee now, and it's been a looong time since I've seen her. But she sent me the cutest little things! Later, we got Tropical Smoothie for dinner, and then went to Jeff's church to help decorate for Vacation Bible School, which is this week.

Set of fold-out, vintage Florida postcards, a wrap bracelet, hand-painted (by her!) cards, & a super sweet note.

SATURDAY
It was still raining (for about the billionth day in a row now...), so we did some more running around and found another cool new thrift store, where we scored this really cool wicker-basket-trunk-thing for only $15. The top of it is messed up, so we are going to try to figure out a way to redo it to make it look nice. We also shopped around town for what we want Jeff and his groomsmen to wear for the wedding.  The rest of the afternoon was low-key and boring, but then we went out for date night on a budget. We used coupons at Black Bean (local Cuban place Jeff hadn't ever been to before), then finally saw 'Fast 6' at the cheap theater here in town. And that movie was awesome!

We needed a pick-me-up after so much shopping. He got a Mocha, I got a Peach Green Tea Lemonade. Yum.

SUNDAY
Church and lunch with my parents, then Jeff and I spent the afternoon driving around town looking for 'For Rent' signs for our future place! We drove around for like three hours, took down about 30 addresses and numbers, and then started calling almost all of them last night. We're so excited about finding a place to live now, and hopefully the process won't be too obnoxious and difficult.

OK, so I think that about wraps everything up now, finally! Hopefully I didn't bore you all to death, and you're still interested in reading my blog again after all this... But even more than that, I hope each one of y'all had a great weekend too! I wish we could have had less rain and more sunshine, but hey, not every day can be perfect, so we just live with it and move on. And in the meantime, we just hope for sunny days and better weather in the future! The weekend was still good, despite the crazy amount of rainfall, and I had a great four days off of work.

Oooh, and one more thing - this morning I officially started using Hal Higdon's novice 5K training plan, to get ready to run my first 5K race this coming September! So follow along with me as I get ready for that! I'll be sharing my usual collages on Instagram, and logging it all with RunKeeper.

Happy Monday, y'all! And I almost forgot - here's the nails I did for my 4th of July festivities! (I did them like 2 days before I took the picture though, so that's why they're a little chipped already...)

Much love,

Halie

Pinstagram Moments

I took the day off work today in order to enjoy a nice, long four-day weekend. So Jeff and I are running errands and planning and researching all-things-wedding. The original plan for taking the day off was to hit up our favorite beach, but it's cloudy and stormy, so that's not gonna happen. So I'm just popping in real quick today to share some little moments from my life lately, through the lens of an Instagram filter. (Idea inspired by my good bloggy friend, Rachel.)

*Side note: I started using the word "Pinstagram" a long while back in order to make it fit in with my theme of starting each post title with a P. However, my dear friend Nicole told me I wasn't allowed to just make up my own words, but I say pish, posh. I like 'Pinstagram,' so 'Pinstagram' it shall be! :) Haha*

1 // This super colorful umbrella makes rainy days a little bit brighter

2 // I wish I could always gorge on delicious sushi, but that's not a healthy idea...

3 // Still obsessed with making this caprese for myself every chance I get

4 // Love cuddling up on the couch with my man and just reading our own books together

5 // We went through a phase of playing card games every night for about two weeks

6 // Random mani, showcased on top of 'The Hobbit' (which I finally finished on Tuesday, and loved)

7 // Got kinda emotional while writing graduation cards for my high school seniors

8 // Delicious cake tasting appointment at Publix, with the cutest wittle baby cakes around

9 // These beautiful purple flowers are blooming allll over the city, and they're so gorgeous!

I love sharing photos on Instagram, and following along with all of my blog friends as well. So of course I'd love for you to hop over and join me there! My username is HalieRenee88, and you can find me here.

Hope y'all's 4th of July celebrations yesterday were tons of fun! If you had to go back to work today, I'm so sorry about that, but no worries - the weekend is well within your reach. Happy Friday to all, and I'll see ya back here on Monday morning!

Patriotic Festivities

"It's Independence Dayyyyyy!" (Pleas sing to the tune of the classic Martina McBride song from 1994. That's such a great song, and don't you even try to deny that.) You know what else, it's also my super sweet Granddaddy's birthday today as well. Yes, he shares his birthday every year with our country's birthday as well. And so every year, we get to celebrate a national holiday, and a family birthday as well, so of course it's always lots of fun! 

I for one am super excited about today, and so I wanted to share some about what my day will look like!

First of all, I'm totally splurging on this healthy eating kick, and eating a super delicious meal for dinner tonight, including ribs, baked beans, potato salad, mac and cheese, and some dessert thrown in there as well. And I'm not going to let even one ounce of that deliciousness make me feel guilty.

Found via Google image search

Oh, and that mac and cheese I mentioned earlier, Jeff and I are in charge of bringing that, so I've scoured my "Pasta is my Favorite" board on Pinterest for the past week, in search of the yummiest recipe. And I think I've found the winner folks. We're going to be using cheddar, jack and mozzarella cheeses, and adding fresh crumbled bacon on top. Hello?! Who wouldn't eat that yummy, cheesy goodness?!

From the recipe post on White on Rice Couple blog

Moving on from food now, I will be rocking as much red, white and blue from head to toe as I can possibly manage - as long as that doesn't include my blue and white umbrella in all this nasty, thunderstormy weather. Come on Florida, get it together. I have some ideas in my head of outfits I can wear, but those are my backups. But first, Jeff and I are gonna hit up Old Navy to see if we can find something matchy-matchy to wear, and just be that sickeningly cute couple :) Now, I don't think it'll be quite like the picture below, but who knows? If we find it on sale, maybe...

Found via Google image search

In addition to my sporty red, white and blue outfit I'm sure I'll be wearing, y'all know I'm also gonna be rockin' some festive and patriotic nails as well. I actually already painted them two nights ago, but I don't have a picture right now, so I'll just wait for Mani Monday to share them with y'all. In the meantime though, here's a picture of some awesome nails, I only wish I had the talent to paint free-hand!

Photo found on the Pams & Kin Facebook page

Now what I'd like to be doing tomorrow afternoon before dinner is laying on the sand, with the sun shining bright in the beautiful blue sky, getting my tan on. But noooo, the weather in Florida has to be rainy and crappy all week long, so the chances of my preferred scenario happening are pretty slim right now. However, if I had it my way, this looks like the perfect spot to hang out on the 4th of July...All I would need is a bottle of sunscreen, a cooler of snacks and drinks, and a book to keep me company. And I guess my fiance would be a good addition too ;)

Photo found via Google image search

Oh sorry, I gotta jump back to food for a bit. Since my whole family (of 12) is eating together, we're doing it potluck style and each contributing, thus why we're in charge of the mac and cheese. So my mom is bringing some dessert for us, but she's keeping it a surprise and won't tell us what it is. We know it's festive in some way, but that's about it. Oh, and she said she's sure it'll end up tasting good, but she's not sure how it will end up looking, so who knows what she has up her sleeve. I'd love to see her attempt something as pretty and Pinteresty as this, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see...!

Photo found via Google image search

And of course at the end of the night, after gorging ourselves on some yummy food, and maybe playing a game, and definitely sitting around having weird, random, hilarious conversations, eventually there will be fireworks. Now, I don't actually know if we're doing them ourselves, or if we're going somewhere to watch them, but either way, they'll definitely be happening. And if they can look even a little bit like the ones below, I'll be a happy girl.

Photo found via Google image search

I'm so grateful and thankful for this country I was blessed to live in. I hope you guys know how lucky we truly are here in America! I hope y'all have a great 4th of July celebration today (and throughout the weekend too probably), and that you enjoy your time with family and friends! Happy Independence Day, and Happy Birthday America, and another Happy Birthday to my Granddaddy!

Progress - One Pound at a Time

It's been pretty rainy, sticky and gross here in Florida for the past few days, and I for one am done with it. Especially since tomorrow is the 4th of July, and anything but bright, beautiful sunshine is just unacceptable for holiday festivities. So I'm going to need the rain clouds to empty themselves quickly and then move on outta here, so tomorrow can be spent soaking up the sun, and sporting as much red, white and blue as possible - not including my blue and white umbrella...

But for today, let's have a little chat about my weight loss progress, mmmkay?

Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, June 26 = 184.2

Today, July 3 = 182.8

And with today's weigh-in, that's another 1.4 pound loss. Y'all remember how I'm trying to lose four pounds, for four months, in order to reach 170 by the wedding? Well with today's weigh-in, that means I successfully lost four pounds in June for month one! And that also means I'm well on my way to losing four more in July, and reaching my goal of 179 by July 31st. Totally gonna make it - I can feel it.

Really, I've been kinda lazy for the past week, and hardly exercised at all. So that just goes to show how much my eating habits can definitely have a huge impact on this whole losing weight extravaganza. I mean, I actually only worked out once in the past week, so it's not like I burned a ton of calories in order to lose that weight. Last Wednesday after work I ran two miles, and burned 450 calories. But that's it y'all, that's the only time I've exercised in a week.

I know I used this already last week, but it's all I've got since I only exercised once, OK?!

A big difference though this weekend however, was that I didn't go buck wild and eat whatever the heck I wanted to. Sure, I definitely had some "unhealthy" things, but for the most part, I stuck to my ViSalus shakes for breakfast and lunch, and just made a few healthier decisions at dinner time. And I think that's also a pretty great example of how well the shakes are working for me! One workout a week, lots of Vi-Shakes, and healthy foods - and I managed a 1.4 loss. Sounds great to me!

I'm still working on #OperationNoMoreJiggle, and next week I plan to get back into my routine again like normal. I'll be back to zumba and running, and some random bike rides and stuff thrown in there as well. Oh, and I'm also officially going to start training for my very first 5K, which is coming up in September. I'll be using Hal Higdon's novice plan for beginners, and my plan is to get up and run in the morning before getting ready for work. So we'll see how that goes... 

And I'd still love for you to use this fun hashtag with me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. I want us to encourage and motivate each other, and of course just show off each and every workout we complete cuz y'all know that's what I do. Anyways, hashtag any workouts or healthy food, or anything you please that might motivate us to work on getting rid of that jiggle we all hate!

So what are y'all doing to improve your health and fitness? Are you also on this crazy weight loss journey as well? I always love finding new friends that are also working on stuff like this, in order to motivate and inspire us both! So come find me on MyFitnessPal, RunKeeper and Instagram to keep up with all this, and we can be friends :)

Overall, and despite of my laziness this past week, things are still going great on this weight loss journey. It's still never easy (and sometimes it feels like it's never ending), but I know it's not only necessary, but it's also worth it. In the end, I'll be so much more healthy, and that's what's really important anyways! So I'm still pushing forward and making progress, one pound at a time.

Pounding the Pavement

Yesterday was the first of the month, and I missed a prime opportunity to share some of my goals for the month of July. But that's alright, because today is still a great day to talk about some upcoming goals. June was a crazy busy month because Jeff's twin boys were here for most of the month. And while I was able to accomplish a small number of things, mostly my time was spent enjoying our time with them. For July however, they won't be joining us until the 20th, so that gives me three full weeks of time to focus on some things for me and for the wedding.

And I plan to be in crazy focused mode, doing some of the following fun and productive things....

1. Weigh 179. As of last weigh-in Wednesday, I was at 184, and my goal was to reach 183 by the end of the month. And I did! Now I want to lose 4 more pounds again this month, to reach 179.
2. Clean out under my bathroom sink
3. Do some serious house hunting for our future home!
4. Do at least one thing from my summer bucket list (Tubing at Bear Paw? Antiquing or flea market?)
5. Start training for my first 5K, which is in September, using Hal Higdon's novice training plan below

I seriously cleaned my room out a couple of weeks ago, but now I want to make sure my bathroom is super clean too, and the only way that happens is dealing with the tornado that must have come through under my sink... I am hoping to move into our new place sometime in August, but for that to happen, we have to find a place first! We plan to take a day and just drive around the area we want to live in, looking for 'For Rent' signs, and then we'll go from there. Can't wait to find our future first home together!

And of course I gotta keep up my healthy eating and exercising for the month in order to continue losing four pounds a month every month before the wedding. I have confidence in myself that I can totally make it to 179 by the end of the month....And I'm sure running at least three times a week will be great for that as I start training for the 5K. My plan is to start next week, getting up early and running before work each day. I'd much rather be out there Pounding the Pavement at 6 a.m. in 75 degrees, rather than 6 p.m. in 95 degrees. So here's to attempting early-morning runs for the next two months!

And now for all the wedding-related goals for the month:

1. Figure out flowers
2. Begin working on invitations
3. Decide and pick out grooms wear, and groomsmen wear
4. Set up hotel block for out-of-town guests
5. Figure out honeymoon stuff! I'd looooove to be somewhere like this...

There are actually a LOT more wedding things that we will be working on, but I think those are probably the biggest. And the other things are more boring details, so no one really wants to read about those things anyways. Just know that we will be in crazy wedding planning mode over the next few weeks, trying to get as much done as possible. As of today, we are only 95 days away from the wedding, and it still feels like we have soooo much stuff to do! Ahh! This is where girls go crazy trying to plan a wedding... But I'm attempting not to let that happen.

Looking forward to getting stuff done for me, and for getting as much wedding stuff checked off the list as possible! I love lists and goals and checklists and stuff (obviously,  y'all should know this by now), so I'm really hoping to be able to cross off all of these things by the last day of the month. I'll update you along the way, and then do a recap post on August 1, and hopefully everything will have gotten accomplished. Here's to a productive month ahead! What are some of your goals for the month of July?