5 on Friday!

Hello, hello!!! I can't believe it has almost been a month since I last blogged.  I decided to take a little time away from it but am happy to be back!  Connor was going thru a rough patch with not napping, waking up 3x a night and being more fussy than normal so that didn't leave me much free time.  Now that things have gotten much better I hope to get back to it.  So, I am back for 5 on Friday!!   1.  We took Connor to a local pumpkin patch last weekend and had so much fun!  We took pictures with the pumpkins, fed and played with animals at the petting zoo and played on the swings.  Things like this make having a baby so much fun!  Seeing him smile and reach out to pet the animals and watching him squeal and laugh while swinging made my heart so happy!  

        2.  I know I am a few weeks late but I am SO SO happy all my Fall shows are back.  Fall TV is the best.....Revenge, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, The Voice, DWTS...... My DVR is full and happy!  

      3.  2 friends I met thru IG and I hosted a Fall themed gift exchange a couple weeks ago and it was such a success and so fun!  We posted about it on IG mid-September and gave moms a couple weeks to sign up, then drew names and matched up each mom with another mom, then everyone sent gifts to their partner and their babies.  We had about 40 moms from all over the US sign up and since then we have had another 40+ ask us to do it again so they can sign up too!  So, we will definitely be doing another one around Christmas time.   

  (sorry for the bad pics....I had to use screen shots from IG)    Make sure you follow us on IG so you can join in! @lesliebcoxon    @lauraflusche     @laurengiles   Here are a couple examples of gifts that were sent....  

      4.  I started Baby Boot Camp last week! It used to be called Stroller Strides but the name has changed.  A lot of cities have one so you can look it up to see if there is one close to you. But basically it is a boot camp style workout for moms where you can bring your babies/kids in their stroller and work out with them!  And let me tell you....it is HARD.  They definitely don't take it easy on you because you just had a baby.  On top of that 2-3x a week I have started running again (it's more walking right now though! ;)  )  So, my whole body hurts every day since it has been over a year since I have ran/worked out.  I am loving it so far though.  It's a great way to meet other local moms, get in shape and get out of the house with your kids!  

  5.  I tried a new recipe I found on Pinterest last week and it was amazefest USA (as Guiliana Rancic would say).  :)    It was super easy and so yummy.  Definitely one of my fave Pinterest finds so if you are looking for a new recipe to try, give this one a shot....  

  Find the recipe here.     Linking up with April and a few other ladies for 5 on Friday!  

     

Yeast Free Challenge Update, Our New Home & Our New Church

Today marks the 11th day of the 30 Day Yeast Free Challenge and day 13 of my weight loss challenge at work! I am happy to say that at my first weigh in last Friday at work I had lost 4.1 pounds! WHOHOO!! I would love to tell you that every day it gets easier but, I would by lying. Maybe if I were home and could cook all my meals but I am in Baton Rouge, LA right now staying in a hotel and eating out 3 meals a day. Next week will be tough too...I will be in California. Everyone always says "Oh you can do it, just order salads and fish & veggies; it's not that hard." Umm, that is a nice thought and all but that is much easier said than done. But, so far I am doing a pretty good job of self-control. I have been eating a lot of seafood, grilled chicken and eggs this week. And I worked out in my hotel room and hotel gym 3 times so far. This past Saturday I had my 2nd session with my trainer and he nearly killed me again...I actually think he was TRYING to make me puke. He almost succeeded! I will meet with him again this Saturday too. I can already tell I am getting stronger, my clothes are getting a little lose and I am feeling so much better! This whole "yeast-free" thing is not something I plan to stick with after the 30 days but it is really helping me not crave sweets and carbs and teaching me a lot about self-control. :)


Our new house is officially DONE!! Now the inspections will start and go for the next week or so. Chris & I have our first walk thru next Friday the 3rd. So, depending on how that goes, we will HOPEFULLY be moving in the week of the 6th!!! Here it is this past Sunday: (please ignore the leaning tree in front...that is being fixed!)


We have been visiting Fellowship of The Woodlands (Woodlands Church) for the past few weeks and so far we are LOVING it! Many of you may have heard of the pastor there or seen him on TV...his name is Kerry Shook. His sermons are televised every week. I grew up Baptist and Chris grew up Methodist. We both have our churches we grew up in, in The Woodlands but we talked about it and decided to try out a couple others too. FOTW is non-denominational but it is still a Bible-based church and we believe in what they believe in. The services are full of energy, entertainment and always a great message that we can relate to. My husband loves it because the the pastor is pretty much as sports-obsessed as him! The first Sunday we visited, the pastor interviewed Lance Berkman, this past weekend The Flying Walenda's were there, this weekend Herschel Walker will be there and the next weekend, RG3 will be there! The men are LOVING this! And, we even got married in the Chapel there and went thru some pre-marriage classes there that we loved. So, this church holds a special place in my little heart :) I am excited to be getting back involved in a great church and can't wait to see what the next several weeks will hold!

Hellooooo, Friday!

We made it to Friday!! Hallelujiah! Now for some randomness & updates! :)

-Our house is hopefully going to be ready next Tuesday!! YIPPY! BUT...we still have to go thru walk thru's and inspections before we can close. So, we are hoping to move in the weekend of February 4th and 5th but it could be a few days later. Not a very good picture, but this was on Wednesday when they were working on the landscaping:


-Today is my last day in the office for 2 weeks. Monday I head to Baton Rouge for 5 days then will be home next weekend. Then, Monday the 30th I head to California for 5 days. This is the first time I have had to travel for work 2 weeks in a row and thankfully it will probably never happen again. But, I am going to try to squeeze in a little fun while I am gone...my brother in law goes to LSU so I will see him a couple nights and hopefully eat some yummy cajun food and in California I will be with several other people and we will be right in the middle of the wine country so we are going to try to go to a couple wineries (even though I can't have alcohol for 25 more days...eeek!).


- Today is day 5 of the 30 day yeast free challenge and my first weigh in for the weight loss competition at work! I am very happy to say that I have stuck with the yeast free diet 100% this week. But, it has not been easy. Wednesday afternoon was ROUGH to say the least. I hit a big wall...I could barely keep my eyes open and every thing was irritating me. I was about ready to give up and just eat a big plate of carbs but I didn't. I was super grumpy and took it out on my hubby on our hour commute home. He was thrilled to be carpooling with me that day I am sure! Now, I have gotten over that hump and feel much, much better. My clothes are fitting a little loser and I just FEEL so much better. Less bloated and full and I have more energy! I don't even crave sweets and breads anymore...but I am having serious cravings for fruit and sushi. I mean SERIOUS cravings for these 2. I have worked out every day this week except for Wednesday too so I am hoping all this hard work is paying off! I have Kim Kardashian body envy so this is what I am aiming for (minus her boobs):


- Hubby and I booked our 1 year anniversary trip this week!! I will reveal the location and all the details later but I am SO SO SO excited! We had planned on going to Greece & Italy and doing a Mediterranean cruise but we decided that was way too expensive to do right after buying a new house so we opted for one of our favorite vacation spots and saved a ton of money. In 4 months this is where we will be:
One of the many pools & swim up bar's at our resort :) Can.not.wait.

Beeeeautiful beach! It looks exactly like this too!


- We found out last night we got tickets to the final round of The Masters this year!! This will be our 4th year going but we usually go on Friday or Saturday. My Dad asked my cousin who has lifetime tickets if he minded if we went on the final day instead and he said yes! I used to not be a golf fan but going to The Masters these past few years has changed that.


Hope you all have a great weekend!!

My Biggest Loser Trainer & Day 1 of Yeast-Free Recap

Last night was my first session with my new personal trainer. HOLY.COW. It hurts to type this if that tells you anything! I seriously felt like I was on an episode of the Biggest Loser. My trainer threatened my life a couple times, called me a wuss and pushed me harder than I have ever been pushed. For now I am going to train with him 2 days a week and workout on my own 3 days. This is the schedule he put me on and he says he will be checking daily to see if I "checked-in" to the gym and if he sees that I have missed any days he is going to take it out on me at our next session. Terrific. You better believe I am not going to miss any days. This is what I need though...I need the motivation and accountability. So, here is a look at my workout schedule this week-

Sunday 1/15/12- 30 min cardio, 20 min abs/arms
Monday 1/16/12- 1 mile on eliptical, 1 mile on treadmill and 50 minutes with trainer
Tuesday 1/17/12- 30-45 minutes of cardio
Wednesday 1/18/12- OFF
Thursday 1/19/12- Body Pump class at gym
Friday 1/20/12- OFF
Saturday 1/21/12- 50 minutes with trainer, 20 minutes of cardio
Sunday 1/22/12- 30-45 minutes of cardio

He says with my diet plans and this style of working out I should not have any trouble reaching my goal in the next few months. Whohoo! I am so excited to be back in a gym although I am waddling around like a 9 month pregnant woman today... ;)

ALSO...day 1 of the yeast free challenge is DONE! I stuck with it 100% and I am so proud of myself. It was not even that hard. I have drastically cut back on carbs and dairy the past week so that made yesterday a tad bit easier. I still have 29 days to go but I feel like I am off to a great start! Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast- 7:00 AM
2 hard boiled eggs
2 pieces of bacon

Snacks- 9:00 AM & 10:00 AM
almonds

Lunch- 11:45 AM
Luby's Roasted chicken (white meat), cabbage and green beans

Snack- 2:30 PM
almonds
4 midget pickles
cup of green tea

Dinner- 7:45 PM
grilled tilapia
steamed carrots and brocolli



Everything I ate was delicious and filling and I did not even crave sweets in the middle of the afternoon like I usually do. YES! I know after a few days I am going to have to start getting creative and come up with some more exciting recipes...I can definitely see that hard boiled eggs for breakfast every day will get real old, real quick. I pinned a Egg Muffin recipe on Pinterest that I plan on making tonight...recipe will come later this week!

I am slightly worried about the next 2 weeks...next week I am in Baton Rouge for work for the week, then the next week I will be in California for work for a week. Eating out 3 meals a day is going to be tough! But thankfully I have this week to get me started and rid my body of the sugar/carb cravings AND I have a gym at my hotels! This is what I need to remember:

30 Day Yeast-Free Challenge

Goodbye yeast, dairy, sugar and alcohol...see you after Valentine's Day (maybe)! Today is day 1 of Stephanie's ( www.thehowardsbeautifulmess.blogspot.com ) 30 day yeast free challenge. Whohoo!! This is going to be a tough 30 days but I am determined to stick with it. I have a friend at work doing it with me and quite a few other friends and bloggers...accountability is definitely something that I need.

My meals and snacks will consist of a lot of protein, veggies and nuts. In case you are interested in joining the challenge or just want to know a little more about it, check out Stephanie's post last week: www.thehowardsbeautifulmess.blogspot.com/2012/01/lets-get-skinny-win-free-stuff-cool.html (sorry, I can not link these websites to my blog from my work computer!)


I am also participating in my companies weight loss challenge. It started last Friday and ends on March 30th. I paid $5 to join and that will go into the reward pool. Every Friday we have to weigh in and if you miss a weigh in you have to donate $1 and if you gain any weight you have to donate $1 per pound you gain...all of that goes towards the reward pool too. So, on March 30, whichever man and woman have lost the most weight will split the reward money! And if you make your goal you get a gym bag and a couple other things. My goal is 20 pounds...although I am really going for 30.

I joined 24 Hour Fitness over the weekend and my hubby got me 14 sessions with a personal trainer so I think I am well on my way to my goal =) These first few days are going to be tough but I just have to get through them and keep going.




Happy Monday!

We have moved!

Bright and early Saturday morning the movers showed up to pack up our whole house and move us back to The Woodlands! 139 boxes and 10 hours later, we officially do not live in Houston anymore. Sunday was spent having a cleaning crew do a deep, move-out clean of our empty home and Chris and I touched up walls. We had breakfast at one of our favorite inner loop breakfast spots, Barnaby's then left our first home for the last night and headed to The Woodlands.






Our new house will not be ready until the beginning of February so all of our stuff, except for a few suitcases of clothes, will be in storage until it is time to move in. We are lucky to have both of our families there so we are going to be staying with them for the next few weeks. Here is our new house, as of yesterday! =) We hope they start putting in the hardwood floors and landscaping this week!


A lot of people don't like the building process but we LOVE it! It is so fun going to see it every week and seeing all the progress that has been made since the last time you saw it. Now that we are nearing the end we are a little more like "ok, hurry up and finish so we can move in!" But, if you ever have the opportunity to build a house, I highly recommend it!

This week we are going to try to figure out which gym we want to join in The Woodlands. We are leaning more toward 24 Hour Fitness because there is one so close to our new house and I get a really cheap membership fee through my company. And we are going to look for a new master bedroom set and kitchen table! Whohoo!

Hope yall had a great weekend!!

Half-Marathon Training Update & Weekend Recap

Training has gotten off to a bit of a rough start. My week day runs have been slacking (this is always my problem) and it is miserably hot so my runs on Saturday's have been really hard. With only 4 months until my race I have seriously got to step it up.

I love my new group I am running with on Saturday mornings...I have met some great ladies and have found a group that is right at my pace. We are only up to a little over 3 miles but every Saturday the mileage is getting higher. Tempo runs and hill training start this week. Those are on Tuesday & Thursday evenings. You would think that running around 6:30 PM would be better because the temperature would drop...but, nope, not here in Houston. It is still over 100 degrees at that time of the day...so, no matter what time of the day/night you run- IT IS HOT.

Last week I did do Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred EVERY DAY though =) Whohoo! I was sore all week but it felt great to stick with it. Besides running on Saturday, I did not work out at all over the weekend so I am back at it today.

This past weekend was one of the most uneventful weekends I have had in a really, really long time. And I absolutely LOVED it. We had all sorts of plans for Saturday but literally EVERYTHING fell thru. Friday night I cooked a new recipe I found, Zucchini, Squash & Chicken Sausage Pasta (It was delicious...I will probably post the recipe tomorrow) and we watched a movie. Saturday morning I woke up at 5:30 and ran 3 miles with Houston Fit, got a manicure & pedicure, baked a cake, piddled around the house then laid in bed and watched a movie and TV for hours. It was perfect. Sunday, we did more of the same...had breakfast at Hungry's, went to the grocery store then just hung out at home ALL day. Hubby got a deep fryer recently and he fried some catfish for us last night. It was delicious!

We managed to watch 4 movies this weekend! I don't think that has ever happened before. Here they are-

-Limitless- Stars Bradley Cooper...really good movie, definitely recommend it.
-Just Go With It- Stars Jennifer Anniston & Adam Sandler...your typical corny romantic comedy.
-Hall Pass- Stars Owen Wilson & Jason Sudeikis....HILARIOUS!
-Get Him to the Greek- Stars Jonah Hill & Russell Brand...very innapropriately funny.

Saturday night we had plans to go out to dinner at Benjy's then go to White Linen Night in the Heights with some friends. We were mainly going out to celebrate my best friend, Holly's, birthday but she ended up not being able to come so we just decided to stay home.

Hope you all had a fun & relaxing weekend, too! =)

~Wednesday Randoms~

1. My friend Kim and I signed up for Cake Decorating classes yesterday at Michael's! I have always wanted to take a class there and I love cake so this is perfect. It was cheap and there are only 3 or 4 two-hour classes. So, by the end of August I hope to be a cake decorating genius ;)

2. I am almost done reading Jaycee Dugard's book, A Stolen Life. Some parts are pretty disturbing and some parts a little boring, but it is an amazing story about her 18 years in captivity. She goes into great detail about everything from the day she was kidnapped, to what life was like for 18 years living in a backyard, to giving birth to 2 girls before she was even 15 and so much more. It is an unbelievable story...

3. I started (again) Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred workouts on Monday...OUUUUCH! I am so sore and so out of shape it is pathetic. Running is just not enough so I am trying to add in some other forms of exercise. I love the P90X workouts (I don't know that love is the right word to use...) and Jillian Michael's workouts so I think I am just going to try to do a mixture of those 3 or 4 times a week. I used to be so flexible and in shape; now I just feel like a slob-kabob. Mission "lose 20 lbs and get in shape" is on!

4. For those of you in Houston, have you been to City Center in West Houston?! It is AWESOME! It is at Beltway 8 & I-10. There are tons of new restaurants, shops and it is so pretty. Here are just some of the goodies found here-
-Eddie V's
-Flora & Muse
-Cyclone Anayas
-Brio Tuscan Grille
-Yard House
-Straits Restaurant
-RA Sushi
-Tasting Room
-Studio Movie Grill
-Hotel Sorella
-Sur la Table
-Urban Outfitters
-Anthropologie
-Free People
-Olive & Vine
-Elaine Turner
And much, much more! There is still so much space available too, so who knows what will be showing up over the coming months.
It reminds me a lot of City Place in West Palm Beach, FL where I used to live. All the restaurants have outdoor areas, there are fountains, fire pits, large grassy areas, Farmer's Market every Saturday, and concerts. This is a great place to try if you have not been yet!

5. Looks like there is a Tropical Storm forming close to the Gulf and there is a very good chance it will head this way! This is normally not something I would be excited about but we have not had rain in so long and Texas desperately needs it. So, it would be great if it did not turn into a hurricane and did not do any damage...just bring a lot of good rain :)

Happy Wednesday! We are half-way to Friday!