Monday, June 25, 2012

Becoming a Runner-ish

It's been a little while since I have updated you all on my "fitness progress." So here is what I am up to now.


Two weeks ago I received a text from a family friend, who like me, is far from being a runner. We are avid walkers. She was telling me that her daughter was going to sign up for the Color Run. They allow walkers too, and she wanted to know if I would sign up and us walk it together because it sounded like so much fun. So, crazy me, I said sure! After we talked a little more, we decided that maybe we should try to run at least some of it! Now as I have said, I am NOT a runner. So I downloaded the Couch25K app on my phone and started working my way through it. I'm officially on week three, and I surprise myself each time I run!! I can definitely tell that I have lost weight and am getting in better shape each day. This week my runs are as follows: 5 min warm up walk, run 90 secs, walk 90 secs, run 3 mins, walk 3 mins, run 90 secs, walk 90 secs, run 3 mins, walk 3 mins, 5 min cool down walk. Yeah, three minutes doesn't sound like much, but for me, IT IS! I could barely run at all when I first started.


My 5k Color Run is September 3rd. I still have a long way to go, but I'm slowly making it a little bit each day. I guess it's true what they say. What you do today can improve all your tomorrows!!

So for any of you runner out there, I gladly welcome any running tips and/or advice. :)

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

AdvoCare & My Progress

Before Advocare



Current Progress: 20 Pounds Down!!

How have I lost it, you ask? Lots of hard work and eating right. It sounds simple, but for me, it hasn't always been simple. I have tried this before, but without much success. On March 5, I began using AdvoCare products, specifically their 24 Day Challenge. I thought, okay, I can do anything for just 24 days. I LOST 11 POUNDS AND 18 OVERALL INCHES!! OMG. It was just the motivation that I needed to keep going, and I was already in the habit of eating right, so why not keep going?? I have continued to use AdvoCare Products and have reached 20 pounds down! So I have decided to become an AdvoCare distributor myself. It's time for me to help others work on becoming a healthier version of themselves, too!

AdvoCare offers a wide variety of products for a wide variety of needs. We offer things to general health & wellness, energy, sports performance, weight management, and even some skin care!! I LOVE ADVOCARE!

What are my favorite products??
1. SPARK - it's a great sugar-free drink that provides mental clarity, alertness, and loads of energy to get through the day. Other than the challenge, it's my #1 recommended product for all people.
2. THERMOPLUS - This products boost metabolism, helps control appetite, and burns fat :)
3. CATALYST - I take this twice a day!!! It's a huge metabolism booster and calorie burner. It powers me through my workouts every morning, and in conjunction with SPARK, it is a staple to get me through my day!!

Do you need to have more energy to power through those workouts? Lose some weight? Feel better? Look better? Then, ask me about AdvoCare!! Check out my website and orders can be shipped directly to you!!!!!

TASHA'S ADVOCARE WEBSITE


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Monday, June 4, 2012

TurboFire or Body Revolution??!!

I have a question for all of you on the journey to a healthy lifestyle? I LOVE at home workout videos. I'm currently trying to decide which set to add to my collection and start in the near future!!

I LOVE having a set workout schedule to follow and the following each have that for me.
Here are my choices.
I'm juggling between TURBOFIRE or JILLIAN MICHAEL'S BODY REVOLUTION.
I'm leaning toward TurboFire because I have the the TurboJam set and I really enjoy it a lot. However, I also like Jillian Michael's. For those of you that have tried either, please take a moment to provide me some feedback on your experience with either set.

In the meantime, here is a weekend recap. 
Here is a shot of my love and my babe on our lazy Friday night.
 My husband found this great little place not far from our house, 
so Saturday we played putt-putt golf. 

I got a hole in one!!!!
My handsome hubby totaling his loss :)
Oh yeah, that's right! I won, even if it was only by one point! ha.
WE HAD A BLAST TOGETHER!

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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Apartment Summer??

Ok Bloggers!

I have a question for all you mothers/keepers of young toddlers. I keep two small children (2.5 yr girl and 17 month old boy) full time. Like 9 am until 6 pm.

I live in a townhouse with a small back patio and some pretty private back yard in an apartment complex. We have a pool onsite, a small play ground for the kids, swings, etc. My question is this: What are some things I can do with these small children to keep them entertained outside (the boy has Rickets and his doctors have required sunlight to supply Vitamin D to help with it).

We go to the playground/swings/pool on occasion (however, pool isn't all the time since it's just me with them, we go when my friend and her child go with us so I have an extra hand since they are so young). When we are here at my house (which has GREAT direct sunlight for Mason, and yes I use lots of sunscreen).

I just need some ideas for simple activities that they can do since I don't have a water hose hook-up and can't put a kiddie pool out there. Any suggestions?!?!


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Monday, May 14, 2012

Burgers, and Brownies, and Cobbler..OH MY!

I hope each of you had a wonderful Mother's Day! I know we sure did! It was a wonderful weekend..although we ate entirely too much!

Let's see here was the menu for each meal at the family get-togethers (and no, I didn't eat EVERYTHING, but a LOT, definitely more than I should have!)
Saturday Breakfast: Biscuit and Sausage Gravy
Saturday Dinner: Burgers, hot dogs, pork chops, fries, chips, brownies, Daquari's, peach cobbler, etc.
Sunday Breakfast: Biscuits, syrup, bacon, and eggs
Sunday Lunch: Grilled chicken, hot dogs, noodles, corn, rolls, strawberry cake, apple pie
Sunday Dinner: Pizza

and endless supplies of punch and cokes!
Geez.
Talk about stuffed!

I haven't eaten majority of those things in two months and I tried to just each small samples of the things I wanted instead of sticking strictly to the diet. I mean, I have to learn to occasionally eat some things in moderation. At each meal individually, I didn't do too bad. But collectively?! and all in two days?!?! Goodness gracious, it was enough to make me feel sick! Let's just say I hit the gym with extreme determination this morning and am sticking my eating plan full force this week!!

Here are a couple photos of my lovely family for you to enjoy! More to come later. :)
Have a Happy Monday!

My dad and Josh are watching Rambo, claiming to be waiting on each other to help load the car! hmm..lol
Sweet niece and nephew, Kinley and Maddox
Cousins Rylee(8), Kenadi (6), and my brother Jordan (21) watching cartoons! :) We are a very close family!



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Friday, May 11, 2012

5QF + Peace, finally.

Hope you have your reading eyes rested. This may be a long one, well longer than usual for my anyway. Let's start with 5QF! 



1. What advice would you give a couple getting married?
The main piece of advice that I give other couples getting married is to keep God first. If they do that, I make it a point to let them know that they will soon learn that the only friend they can truly count on is each other. Other friends will come and go, but your spouse is truly your best friend and should have your utmost love devotion.

2. If you could tell your 16 year old self ONE thing, what would it be?
Listen to your mama, and BREAK UP WITH THAT BOZO
LOL

3. What do you do to keep cool in the summer? (AC, windows, fans, swimming, etc.)
Well, in general, I love the AC, but I also love being outside. I keep children all day, and we play outside a lot. Our favorite cool down activities are popsicles and the sprinkler! :)




4. What did you (or your wife) crave most while pregnant?
We haven't had children yet, so I'll get back to ya on that one :)

5. Who is your favorite TV mom? Why?

I don't think I have a favorite TV mom; mine is the best hands down! However, the first TV mom that comes to mind is Mrs. Brady..LOL that woman must have been a saint to deal with that many teenagers at one time! bahahaha

Hop on over to My Little Life to link up to 5QF and find other bloggers to learn about! :)


And now for the rest of my blog post..

PEACE, FINALLY..
Ever since we moved here in January, I have felt like I have been on an emotional roller coaster. I'm used to having my family, all of them, just up the road. Now they are a few hours away. Next to my husband, my mom is my best friend. The past 4 months have been so hard being away from everything I have ever known. I know God has a plan for my husband and I; I'm just working on trying to understand it. We have always held positions in a church since we have been together, regardless of where we were. When we got married, we were already in the praise band at our church, and I was over Children's Church on Wednesdays. After we married, we took on the youth. Yep, youth pastors. That's a full time job in itself. Heck, each job was a full time job in their own way, plus we both worked full time with either a job or school or both in my case. We felt stretched beyond thin. After we left that church, we started attending the church my dad pastors. It was a very small country church with lots of older people. They were so warm and inviting. We knew it wasn't where we were meant to be, but we were determined to stay faithful to God and church until we found the place he wanted us.

Shortly after starting to attend there, the elderly lady that led worship started having more health problems and told my dad she wanted me to take over. So, being the good daughter that I am (and I also enjoy singing of course), I accepted for the time being (another full time position).

Upon accepting the job where we are now living and saying our goodbyes to church positions, friends, and family, my husband and I talked about it and decided not to accept any positions in a church for a while. At least a year. Simply because we felt stretched beyond our limits and wanted to take time to focus on our relationships with God and with each other.

Without discussing this, my husband started playing in a worship band at a church we had only attended TWICE. It was a nice church and everyone was nice, well mostly everyone. The worship band then decided to be their own band and accept gigs playing worship music outside of church. Those of you that know me, we have done this before, about 2 years ago. It was a BAD choice. I left the same about this time around, but it was done. I was officially a band wife for the second time. About a month was alright and I do enjoy watching my husband play. He is very talented. However, let's just say I learned from my mistakes the last time I was a band wife and was taking this new chance with a whole different approach. The first time (along with the other wives), I felt the need to put my opinion in on every decision the band made. This time, I kept my band decision opinions to myself.

Well, without going into too church detail, a facebook post of mine was taken as a personal attack. The post simply stated (after several conversations with other friends of mine about this being at issue in their churches as well) that I was completely against texting and playing on Facebook during church. Another band wife took this as a personal attack because she (along with her worship leader husband) are BAD about doing this on a regular basis. {They are always coming against people for doing things how they feel it shouldn't be done; a real holier-than-thou couple. You know the type}.

Anyways, It was not intended for her to take it as a personal attack. My point was that in general, if you are texting/Facebooking during church, it is disrespectful and distracting to the service, those leading it, and those around you. Long story short, her and her husband called me out personally on FB and told me how I should behave as a "Christian" and that my opinion was wrong. Needless to say, this became a big deal. I told the girl that it was not meant as a personal attack in any way, but that my opinion on the matter was still the same and I still thought it was wrong, whether it was her or anyone else doing it. Her husband told mine that he demanded an apology from me to his wife. I was so proud of my husband for standing up for me at this point. He told him that our opinions remained the same and that if she took it as personal that was not the intent, but then maybe that was God's way of convicting her. I know there have been several things I have seen out and about or on FB that someone else posted, or anywhere, that have convicted me of things wrong in my life (whether big or small).

So, for the title of this, the overall ending today was as follows: my husband has left the band (please understand there have been problems of different sorts up until this point). We (yes both of us) are completely at peace about it all. We had a long discussion and he has apologized endlessly for not discussing things and us being in agreement before taking on something like this.

I'm so excited to see where God takes us from here. He always is faithful and always provides for us. We are going to visit some other churches in the area and let God do his thing. We will go where we are called. For now, we are just taking our time building our relationship even stronger and building our relationships with God. I ask for your prayers for us as we battle the things that are thrown our way and for our faith to grow stronger with each passing day.

For now, we are packing the car and heading to visit our family for Mother's Day! I can't wait to see my parents, his parents, my brother, his sister, our sweet nieces and nephews, and my little cousins (they are more like my baby sisters). I can't wait to watch them practice softball in the morning (yes, I'm going to practice because I miss so many games now that I live so far away). I pray that each of you has a more than blessed weekend. And for all of you moms out there, have a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

God is SO good!

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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Happy Heart

I cannot simply express how much all of your comments on my recent weight loss and accomplishments mean to me. Someone even referred to me as their inspiration! ME? Seriously?! I've been given lots of compliments and called a lot of things, but an "inspiration" is just usually not one of them. Thank you all for the sweet words of encouragement. It truly gives me a HAPPY HEART this morning!

On another note, I just want to let my readers get to know me a little more this morning!
This is a picture of me at my top weight when we were on our cruise for my college graduation about a year ago. Check out the picture below of me and my adorable husband!
 Talk about my chubby cheeks! gross!!
The next picture if from Easter 2012 (my lovely "little" brother and Nanna)
^I'm about 18 pounds down here.^
Below is a closer picture of my face.
 (cheeks are looking a little better huh?!)


So I guess to sum it up..PROGRESS. That's my inspiration for today.
Whats your inspiration on this lovely Wednesday?

REVISION at 3:17 pm Central: EW! Today was my off day from the gym and I can totally tell a difference. I was sickly last night after supper, and still a little bit this morning, so I didn't go to the gym as usual. Bummer, too. I can tell a complete difference, not only in my energy, but in my appetite/food choices. I have felt like a pig all day..boo! I have just munched and munched. And those little can Dr. Peppers that my husband keeps on hand in the fridge, well, yeah. They have been whispering sweet nothings in my ear all day long. I have had 2!!!! :( I haven't done this in a while. I guess it just goes to show that I shouldn't skip workouts until completely unavoidable.


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