Beautiful Beach Day

Go to Skywatch Friday to see skies from all around the world.

Me at Rockfeller

This week for the challenge I have one more photo from our date in NYC. You can click here to read about our date and here for more photos.

Join the year long challenge of getting yourself in the photo at Forever in Blue Jeans. You won't regret it. This is 25/52 for me.

Thats How I Wear It!

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, A Beautiful Mess and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos. Be sure to head over to see what all the other cool kids are wearing at Heathen Family Revival.

Having Fun with My Hubby

Hanging out with my goofy husband makes me happy.

Be sure to go Leigh vs Laundry to see more photos that are bound to make you happy.

We had two dates this week to make up for last week when Dave was traveling. We are having a hard time planning stay at home dates now that we are 20 dates in. I thought we needed a game for our date. I brought Balderdash. I had never played before. It is a board game in which players have to decide which is the real (but weird) fact and which is the lie that the other player made up. It is hard to play with someone you know so well. Dave can always tell when I'm lying. I tend to give myself away. We made a rule up that we could not look at each other to make it harder. It was a fun game and we definitely laughed a lot.

Our second date this week was to celebrate our 9th anniversary. We took the train into New York City for the day. We tried to get tickets to see The Merchant of Venice in Central Park starring Al Pacino but we couldn't get tickets. We did get to see the beautiful Central Park. Neither of us had been there before. If it wasn't so blazing hot we would have spent more time there.
We hid from the heat in the American Museum of Natural History. It was interesting and really big. We couldn't help but think how much our daughter would like the museum. We will take her sometime.

We walked around the city to see the sites.

We did get tickets to see the Addams Family starring Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane. The show was fantastic.

We had a great time exploring NYC. I think it is important to get out and have little adventures every now and then. We were able to tour, eat, drink, and be goofy without worrying about the kids. That is a nice treat.

You can see more of my photos of NYC here.

This is date 20 and 21 out of 52 for us. Go to Simply Modern Mom to join in on the fun.

They Are Taking Over!

This was the second year I have grown cucumbers. The first year I brought the seedlings and they promptly died. This year I threw some seeds in the ground and they are taking over the whole garden. The cucumber plants are climbing the tomato cages and the fence. Definitely need to plant them somewhere else next year.

Despite the cucumbers taking over the small garden, we are still getting lots of tomatoes and our first cucumber. Looks like there will be plenty cucumbers soon.

If you want to see some amazing gardens, go to Feet Off the Table for Monday Garden Club.

NYC

It has been a while since I've done a Weekly Winners post. Darn that working on the weekends! I'm home today after a trip to New York City yesterday. Here are some of my favorites from our trip.

Lady Liberty?

Castle in the Park

Crane

Times Square

Be sure to go to I am Lotus to check out more weekly winners.

A Reason

Well I finally have a reason why I haven't been able to lose weight. I went to the doctor yesterday and got the results of my blood tests. I have an under active thyroid gland. My doctor put me on medication, which I started this morning. All things considered I guess it good that I have maintained my weight and not gained. The doctor said that it will take at least 6 weeks to get my levels normal (but it will probably take longer than that). I thought that the fatigue I feel was just normal for having a rambunctious 3 and 5 year old. It is nice to know that I will have more energy once the medicine starts working. I know that under active thyroid is really common especially among women. I will feel better was the figure out the cause of mine and eliminate the scary causes.

The doctor told me to continue to work out and eat a sensible low fat diet. My cholesterol levels are really high too. The high levels are probably a result of the thyroid gland too. Dave traveled this week, so I was only able to go jogging yesterday. I did a speed workout at the track. It felt good to run but I wish I went earlier in the day because it was too hot. Monday I did the 30 Day Shred and 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. Tuesday I did my step for 50 minutes. Wednesday I did the elliptical machine for 50 minutes.

I'm not going to write about the weight portion for a while. The doctor did say it will be easier to lose once the medicine starts working but I'm not going to stress about it now. I'm going to focus on exercising and try some new workouts.

Catching Up With An Old Friend

My oldest friend, Martha, and I treated ourselves with a trip to the spa last weekend. It was wonderfully relaxing and great catching up with Martha. We used to be able to walk to each others houses but now we live 5 hours apart. We don't get to see each other often but when we do we have a blast.
Join the year long challenge of getting yourself in the photo at Forever in Blue Jeans. You won't regret it. This is 24/52 for me.

Happy 9th Anniversary

Happy 9th Anniversary! As my gift to you, this will be my only blog post today.

Dance Like No One is Watching

"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth."
— Mark Twain

Watching Caitlin dance makes me happy. I love that kids dance so freely.
Be sure to go Leigh vs Laundry to see more photos that are bound to make you happy.

i heart face-Over My Head edition

This week's theme at i heart faces is Over My Head. I thought this photo of my nephew with his birthday party balloons fit this theme.

Be sure to go to i heart faces to check out all the other beautiful faces.

Never Want to Go to Bed

I'm not talking about my kids either. Although they never want to go to bed either. I never want to go to bed. I'm tired and I need more sleep but somehow I can't make myself go to bed any early. My kids go to bed at 8pm. From 8pm until I go to sleep is my time. It is my time to relax, blog, web surf, read, hang out with my hubby, and watch adult tv. I'm not talking about watching porn but simply programs that I wouldn't let the kids watch like True Blood. But if I wanted to watch porn that is when I'd watch it too. Anyway, there is just not enough time in the day to taking care of the kids, dog, and house and take care of myself. I really need another 2 hours in each day so I could have a little more me time.

Maximus has no problem going to sleep.

So my question to you, is how do you get more me time? Is losing sleep the only way?

Tomato Goodness

The garden itself does not look much different than last week but what is different is that the garden is producing lots of tomatoes. Yay for fresh tomatoes! I took this shot of Caitlin enjoying the first tomato of the season. Both Caitlin and Davey eat way more produce when it is fresh from the garden. I even got Davey begging for more sugar snap peas. I definitely will be planting more of those next year.
If you want to see some amazing gardens, go to Feet Off the Table for Monday Garden Club.

Trying Again.

Ok I didn't post a Fitness Friday post last week because I didn't want to focus on the depressing results last week. Last week I "gained" 5 lbs. Seriously. The week before I lost 2 lbs. This week I lost 2 lbs. So I'm still up. I feel like I'm not really losing anything and that these are just my body's natural fluctuations. The problem is I'm not sticking with a good eating plan all the time. So I'm going to do all those things, I said I would do before. I'm measuring myself (today). I'm sticking with a good eating plan for a month (hopefully longer). If I don't see results, I will see a nutritionist to help tweak my diet.

I did pretty well fitness wise this week. I felt a little tired early this week when everyone in the house had the stomach flu. I seem to have escaped without actually getting it. I took it easy those days. I did my step for 50 minutes Monday, took Tuesday off and did the elliptical machine for 45 minutes on Wednesday. Sunday I jogged 4.68 miles by myself on the linear trail. Thursday I jogged 3.43 miles with Davey in the stroller. Amazing how much harder it is to jog with him even on flat surfaces. I jog almost a minute slower with him in tow. I know this because I used the RunKeeper app for my phone. I love this app. It gives me my current pace, overall pace, and distance as I run. It definitely encourages me to run faster. I was a little surprised at my pace. I thought I was a little faster than I am. But not for long, I am definitely going to push myself with this new tool.

Happy 3rd Birthday Skywatch Friday!

Skywatch Friday is celebrating its 3rd birthday today!

Go to Skywatch Friday to see skies from all around the world.

Paparazzi Mode

I almost didn't have a shot for this week but my brother took this one of me at my nephew's birthday party. He calls it my "paparazzi mode".
Join the year long challenge of getting yourself in the photo at Forever in Blue Jeans. You won't regret it. This is 23/52 for me.

Outing Myself

Lotus is having a fun contest on i am lotus for the best bewbs and mewbs. Go over and check out the racks. I am outing myself. I am #22. Vote for me if you like my rack. Go and visit for sure Lotus is donating all her BlogHer revenue for July to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. So more visits means more donations.

Rare but Welcome

This was a rare but welcome treat in your house. The kids were playing together without fighting.

Davey was rocking out in his dinosaur undies, pj top, and yellow ducky boots.

Caitlin was still wearing her mismatched pjs and one cowgirl boot. We couldn't find the other one but that didn't stop her from wearing the one we could find.

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, A Beautiful Mess and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos. Be sure to head over to see what all the other cool kids are wearing at Heathen Family Revival.

Holding Hands

My husband holding my son's hand makes me happy.

Be sure to go Leigh vs Laundry to see more photos that are bound to make you happy.

Bewb Fest

Lotus is having a fun contest on i am lotus for the best bewbs and mewbs. Go over and check out the racks. See if you can pick mine out. Hee hee.

*ALL* of Lotus's BH Ad Revenue for July is going to go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.

Garden Transformations

This is the first year we planted peas and I'm so excited to see that a whole bunch have grown. I love fresh snap peas.

I'm not sure why but the bottom of the pea plants are burnt. Is it just from the intense heat? Anyone know?

Lettuce is looking good.

We have quite a small garden. We need more space. I have cucumbers growing up tomato plants. Next year, we are going to expand the garden to the unused side yard. I'm excited.

We planted pumpkin plants and 2 tomato plants in the side yard. I knew the pumpkins would need more room. We also redid the flower bed in the front of the house.

The Before:

Everything was lush and green but really overgrown.

The After:

Note to self: transplanting hostas and planting new plants is not a great idea during the middle of a heat wave. But I like the littler plants much better. Next year they should fill in more too. Added bonus is the house is cleaner too. Before the overgrown plants made it hard to clean the siding.

If you want to see some amazing gardens, go to Feet Off the Table for Monday Garden Club.

Fruit Picking Fun

We took the kids blueberry and peach picking last weekend. We went early to avoid the heat but that didn't work. We had fun anyway and now we have a ton of delicious blueberries and peaches.


Join the year long challenge of getting yourself in the photo at Forever in Blue Jeans. You won't regret it. This is 22/52 for me.