$500 Coach Bag Giveaway!

I just entered the Recessionista's Coach Bag Giveaway!

Have you SEEN this blog? I heart it. I heart it to death! It is FULL of amazing, stylish AWESOME deals.

Go. Right. Now. And. Love. It!

Friday Fill In

1. We need 2011 to get here soon.
2. A prayer was answered and it made me smile.
3. If you want lemonade, you'll have to squeeze the lemons.
4. I am having a great day because I chose to.
5. Massachusetts has a proposed 5% sales tax on elective cosmetic surgery; I think that's crazy.
6. Happy Mom makes for a happy holiday.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to having my husband home, tomorrow my plans include GROWN UP TIME and Sunday, I want to go to church, clean my floors and spend time with my family!

A Conversation With My Son

B: "This book is full of all the things we are thankful for..."

Me: "What are you thankful for?"

B: "Vegetables."

Low Key Birthday

I thought I'd never share pictures of my kids on this blog, but this one melts my heart, so I have to break that promise. It's from the week before his birthday when we went to see The Blue Angels practice before their Homecoming Show last weekend. Nearing the end of the session, the volunteers asked for the kids to come up and get a flag to wave to the planes as they came in. And then, they took the kids out onto the runway and lined them up. This is my baby boy welcoming home his favorite planes, while his patriotic Mommy cried her eyes out.


Yesterday, my precious son celebrated his 3rd birthday! Three whole years passed us by in the blink of an eye. Everyone tells you how fast time flies when you have kids, but you never really experience it unless you do it firsthand.



Because his birthday falls right before the start of the ever-stressful holidays, we decided to save some money and skip a party. Instead, we made the whole day just about doing the things he loved, eating the foods he wanted, and spending time together.



Birthdays are kind of a big deal to us, and I am so glad that we skipped the overwhelming amount of party planning, food preparing, gift bag making and preparation that would've gone into it all. I know that sounds odd, but it just seemed better to focus on the Birthday Boy himself rather than a party that would be over faster than it started.


He got his "bicycle" (this is exactly what he calls it), board games and Little People. He spent the whole day having a blast playing with his new stuff. His BFF came over and we all went to the bounce house place to run around like crazy. It just made my heart swell to see him so happy and excited. He ended the perfect day by saying "This was my best birthday EVER."


What is your idea of a low-key way to celebrate your young child's birthday?

A Year Later...

Last November I posted about finding The 30 Day Shred from a favorite website of mine. If you read the entries afterward, I tried off and on for a little while to get going on that workout, butI never made it beyond the Level One workout. (Unless you count the time I peeked at the Level Two section, just to see.)

That is, until today!

I FINALLY got up the gumption to try it, and while I didn't make it through without stopping, it sure did make me work up a sweat. Those were some of the toughest moves I've ever done. And honestly, I feel fantastic!

I've been doing the video at least 4x a week for the last 2 weeks, and at the instruction of my cardiologist I am to increase that to 7 days.

Saywhatnow?

He is not at all concerned with my weight, but he wants my heart to get the most use that it can. He feels that it will strengthen it better than any medication can, and I totally agree with that. So, I'm using doctor's orders as my reason to get this weightloss/body toning train into gear. That's a better reason than any other reason I can come up with.

I'll post my "Before" shots tomorrow. They were taken about 6 weeks ago when I started to get "semi" serious about this, but they still count. (I have more excuses than I know what to do with, don't I?)

We Interrupt This Diet...

To bring you a brief product review.

I am what some would call a "product whore". I seriously love to try every new beauty product in the store, and would, too, if I had the funds to do so.

I can't leave my house without having make up on, either. I like to keep the attention on my face, and not the fact that I'm likely wearing some comfy pants and a too big TShirt. I am a full face kind of girl, but my routine doesn't take forever because I REALLY don't have the time to be messing around with it. As it is, my children awake for the day at 6am, so I must be showered prior to that or I risk having to wait until nap time to achieve any sort of luster.

The one thing I can't live without is eye makeup. I am a fair skinned blonde (yes, it's natural) and if I don't, I am completely washed out. So, I'm constantly trying new mascaras and eyeliners whenever I'm out.

I recently tried Revlon's Colorstay Liquid Eye Pen in Blackish Brown after reading a beauty review in one of my favorite magazines. It had a good price, and I hadn't tried to use liquid eyeliner since high school in the mid 90's, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Colorstay is the overstatement of the year. I'm not being paid by anyone to do this review, but would love to at least get my money back for wasting it on this product. I gave it several chances over a 2 week period, but it fades away almost as quickly as it goes on, and just isn't a good liner. Maybe it was my choice of color, but honestly, I wouldn't try it again in a different one.

Trying to look halfway decent when you're covered in some sort of food substance or dried snot is tricky, so I wanted to spread the word. I hate wasting money on things like this, especially when there isn't a lot of money to go around. I swear those magazine reviewers must be getting paid to say these things work!!

Okay. Mommy rant over. :)

A Conversation

Monday night, between my husband and I:



Me: Babe, I'm seriously contemplating taking a diet pill. I hear about this one on the radio everyday that the DJ talks about, and she's lost 32 pounds in less than three months.

Hubby: Why would you do that? You know that's not the right way to lose weight. Remember how you felt 10 years ago when you tried that before WW? You were a lunatic.

Me: Yeah, I know that, but I'm desperate to lose the last of this weight. I've been trying for a year and I just can't get the last few pounds off! It's frustrating.

Hubby: But have you REALLY been trying?



Ouch.

The truth hurts, doesn't it?

He's right, though. I haven't been trying. I put in a little effort here and there, but for the most part I fall right off the wagon the second I'm bored and stuff my face with a snack. I justify it by saying, "Eh, I'll just start again tomorrow", and continue on with my calorie fest without another ounce of hesitation.

I was working out really well for a while there, but then we went home last month, I gained all that weight back, and gave up.

It really was something that I needed to hear, especially with the holidays upon us. He's not being a bad guy, he didn't call me any names, he just pointed out to me that I haven't been committed to this process and THAT is why I haven't lost those last few pounds. When I committed myself to my original weight loss, I got it done -- and fast. Now, I let my crazy busy life cloud my judgement and interfere with my success.

No matter how much I want to deny it, the number on the scale DOES matter to me, and I desperately want to be the number I was before I had The Little Little One. Even more, I want to lose THOSE last few pounds and be the number I was BEFORE ever having kids.

But it'll take a whole hell of a lot more than whining to get there.