Friday, May 31, 2013

Liebster Award and my week's Non-Scale Victory!

Happy Friday again everyone! Unfortunately I do work again tomorrow, but I had yesterday off. And I was much more productive than on weekend days off. I got my oil changed! (2000 miles overdue...) And I got some shopping done at Victoria's Secret. My mom's shithead hyper dog is a panty-chewer. TMI, I know. But he's ruined about 10 pairs of underwear so far and I'm sick of it. He's no longer allowed in my room (where he pulls my underwear out of the holes in the side of my hamper) and turns them crotchless ones. Anyway, I got some panties. And a new bra (he's destroyed one of those too), and a Padres tank top to wear to games this summer :) We also won our kickball game last night! We're like tied for 2nd in the league...no thanks to me, but I'll gladly ride my team's coattails!
So today and yesterday I got nominated for this Liebster Award thing. I've heard about it before, and I'm pretty stoked to be nominated!!! Since I got nominated by two people (thanks a million Heather and Kelley!) I'm combining their 11 questions at the end.
Here it goes!
This is how it works:
  • Acknowledge the blog that nominated you (holla Heather and Kelley!)
  • Tell 11 facts about yourself
  • Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger(s) created
  • List 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers that you believe deserve soem recognition
  • Post 11 questions for them to answer
  • Notify them that they've been nominated
  • You can't nominate the blog that nominated you
11 Facts about Nicole @ A Heart Like Mine:
  1. I'm an only child. And I still have only-child-syndrome-tendencies. I shook a lot of them when I moved away for college at 17 years old.
  2. I graduated from the University of Memphis (Gooooooo T-I-G-E-R-S Tigers!!!) on Cinco De Mayo, 2012.
  3. I am an alumna of Kappa Delta Sorority (AOT, sistas), and in college I was my chapter's Treasurer one year and Vice President, Community Service the next.
  4. I'm a dog-lover (re: my incessant posts about my child dog Winnie).
  5. My recent broken toe brings my total # of broken bones in my lifetime to 5. I've broken my arms 4 times, and 3 of those instances happened in one year when I was 9-10 years old.
  6. I FREAKING LOVE AMERICA!!!!!!!! Yes, I'm very patriotic. I love this country, our military, and our freedom. And if you don't like it, I will gladly tell you to leave :)
  7. I get my nails done religiously, every 2 weeks.
  8. A lot of people refer to me as a Princess, which I have no problem with.
  9. Even though I am a Princess, I love being outside, fishing, hiking, shooting guns, even camping (although I'd love to try glamping soon). I refer to myself as a Country Princess.
  10. Nothing new, but I'm a wino.
  11. I rode competitively on the American Quarter Horse Circuit when I was younger, and had to quit because it's a very expensive hobby. One of my biggest regrets in life thus far is selling my horse when I had to quit competing. I could have kept him and rode for fun but I was a brat (with only-child syndrome).
I nominate:
12 Questions from Pretty Strong Medicine and One Hot Southern Mess (supposed to be 11, but this way I can do 6 from each):
  1. If you could be a Disney Princess, which one would you be? I would be Belle. She was my princess when I was little, and I'm pretty sure I went as her 3 years in a row for Halloween. Hello, she's a brunette like me!
  2. What's your favorite summer activity? GOING TO THE BEACH. I know it's boring a simple, but I just love the beach. It's in my blood.
  3. Describe yourself in 3 words. Opinionated, determined, and independent.
  4. If you were famous, what would you be famous for? Well, I would just be Carrie Underwood.
  5. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? The top of my list of places to vacay right now is somewhere in the South Pacific like Bora Bora. I know, nothing too original. But I didn't get to travel at all in college so if I ever get the chance, that's the first place I'll go!
  6. What's your biggest fear? Being in an elevator and it breaking and falling to my death. Yes, I have an elevator phobia.
  7. Nail polish or natural? Ummmmm is this even a question for me!? We all know the answer to that. CND SHELLAC.
  8. Drink of choice? I know you're all going to assume I'm going to say wine. But you're wrong! I lovvvvve MARGARITAS! Love me some tequila.
  9. Beach or mountains? Beach. Duh. Although I do adore the mountains.
  10. If you could move anywhere, where would it be? Charleston, South Carolina. It's one of my favorite places in the world. But all my family and friends would have to move there too.
  11. Beef or chicken? Beef. If it's cooked right (medium-rare). Chicken is fine but beef is so much more fun.
  12. Favorite food? Potatoes. Cooked any way (except for potato salad if it has eggs in it. Yuck.)
Now MY 11 questions:
  1. What's your favorite color?
  2. What is your favorite place in the world?
  3. What is your favorite childhood memory (or one that really sticks out)?
  4. Would you rather cook or eat out?
  5. What's your favorite cheat food?
  6. What's your guilty pleasure?
  7. What's your favorite sport?
  8. Where is your favorite place to shop?
  9. What is your biggest regret in life?
  10. Who is the one person you can tell anything to?
  11. Who do you look up to in life?
Alright alright, it's all y'all now!!! Have fun!
Side note before I move on to my Non-Scale Victory--followers! I would have loved to nominate more of you but not all of you have your blogs displayed in your blogger profile and I don't know how else to find it (if you have one!). If anyone knows how to find blogs when they aren't in a profile, let me know! And for those of you that read (I love you oh so much) edit your profile to display a link to your blog so I can read back!
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I know I've written about going to the gym this week already, but if this isn't a NSV, I don't know what is!! It DID hurt my toe, but not enough to make me stop. It DID suck. And I AM sore from not having moved my body in 4 and a half ish weeks. But it was worth it. Ta daaaaa.

Have a fabulous weekend, pretty people!



Thursday, May 30, 2013

It's Summer, y'all!

Yes, I know, I posted 7 goals for this summer yesterday. But goals are not the same thing as a bucket list. Some goals might be ON my bucket list, but there's lots of other crap too :) I'm linking up with Holly and Trista today.

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So here it is (in no particular order):


  • Country concerts!!!!! The local country station puts on an amazing concert series here in San Diego every summer. It kicks off next weekend with Tim McGraw (and Brantley Gilbert!!!!), and a few weeks after that is countryfest, one of my favorite days of summer. I'm super excited that this summer I'll actually be able to go to ALL of them. Every other summer I've had to go back to school before the late-summer ones. 
  • Independence Day 5k--I posted about this a while ago and this is also on my Sweet Summertime 7, but it's definitely a bucket list item as well. I sure hope my toe will allow me to TRAIN in the next few weeks. 
  • Get fit. Enough said
  • Camping! I'm decently outdoorsy. Especially considering how much of a princess I am. But I love to be outside and I love to fish, so yesterday I booked the first of a few camping/fishing trips I want to take this summer!
  • Beach time. Obviously. I live in San Diego and I assure you, I do NOT take our beautiful beaches for granted. 
  • Blogging. I really, really want to maintain this blog this summer and continue to grow it! I love the connections I've made so far, and I hope those connections continue to grow. 
  • Crafting. I was kind of a crafting queen in college and just haven't found the time since I've been a boring alumna and all. So this summer, I will craft. The biggest project I want to do is re-finish a few of my bedroom furniture pieces. 
  • Wine tasting! We all know I'm a wino. I want to become a more refined wine-taster this summer (re: the picture of me drinking out of a 38$ bottle of wine at a nice winery in Temecula) and join a wine club! I just have to find the right winery. 
  • Cooking! This is something I've also always loved to do and just haven't done much of lately. But last night I made a yummy meal from scratch (follow me on Instagram and you'll see), and I want to continue this. 
So there you have it. I love bucket lists. And I love summer. So I can't wait to read everyone else's lists! 

I just know Summer 2013 is going to be a great one. 

Now I have the day off and am going to finally get my oil changed. It's only 2000 miles overdue......whoopsies!

Also, tonight is kickball! I will be playing 100% tonight. That means kicking and running too :) 

And to update everyone on my toe situation, I went to the gym again last night and did 20 minutes on the elliptical. I pushed pretty hard but I could definitely feel my toe aching with every movement. Tomorrow I plan on going on one of the spin bikes. Spin is supposed to be a great conditioner for running!

Alright enough is enough. I hope everyone has a wonderful day, and happy summer, 2013!!




Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Sweet Summertime 7

Hello pretty readers! I decided that since I'm finally able to work out again after 4 weeks of sitting on my ass with a broken baby toe (badass, right?), and I haven't been physically able to follow through with some goals I had set for myself to achieve by the end of May, why not use this summer as MY TIME?

If any of you are in a similar position as me and feel like it would benefit you to set 7 attainable goals for yourself to achieve by the end of summer (I'm setting the date as September 2nd, Labor Day), feel free to join me! Either way, I'm doing it :)

What I plan on doing is utilizing Wednesdays as my Sweet Summertime 7 day, to check up on the goals I have for myself. I hope you all hold me accountable for ALL of them! Here it goes....


A Heart Like Mine
<div align="center"><a href="http://ahlmblog.blogspot.com/" title="A Heart Like Mine"><img src="http://i1161.photobucket.com/albums/q512/nmdwards/SS7.png" alt="A Heart Like Mine" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

My Sweet Summertime 7:

  1. Run a 5k (hopefully this actually happens on July 4th)
  2. Get down to 165 lbs (currently a 20 pound loss for me) 
  3. Get down to a size 8-10 and Medium (depending on the brand. I'm currently a 12/Large) 
  4. Learn portion control
  5. Do a fitness class every week
  6. Feel comfortable in a bikini in a picture without a cover-up (this is a SCARY ONE!
  7. Go on a hike at least once a month (I know this doesn't seem like such a big one, but for me it is). 
So there they are! I know I won't be completely done and where I want to be by the end of summer, but hopefully I can at least achieve these goals and be alllmoooossssttttt there! 

Any tips on how to achieve any of these would be wonderful! Especially the portion control thing. I literally suck at it. I think it's a mental thing. I've always been one to take way too much food and waste a bunch of leftovers because I get full (which doesn't please my momma) instead of having the self-control to take what a healthy portion would be and dealing with it. 

Anyhoo, what are your goals?! I hope anyone will join me :) If you decide to, let me know either by commenting or emailing me (on my profile) and maybe I'll turn this into a weekly linkup. Either way, if you do decide to, please post the button as well in your post! 

Since part of my goal is to LOSE WEIGHT, I decided I'll also be participating in Weigh-In Wednesday from now on. I've never really been..hmm...what word to use....reticent (?) about my weight. I mean that I've never hid it on my blog, but I've never been avid about posting my weight either. Probably because I stalled as soon as I broke my toe. But just so it's out in the open, my starting weight for my Sweet Summertime 7 goals is 185.2.


Pretty Strong Medicine


Side note:
Last night I changed into my workout clothes at work and headed straight to the gym--this is the only way to ensure I WILL get there. I went to a different location than I have gone to since I switched gyms and I was pleasantly surprised. I assumed since it's in the busiest part of town that it would be even more busy than where I usually go at rush hour, but it wasn't! I think I'll go there more regularly than the other location from now on. I only did 20 minutes on the bike before I got bored out of my mind, then I did a bunch of resistance machines. My arms were shaking the whole way home. That's a good thing!! And today I'm sore all over, a feeling I've missed. I think I can handle the elliptical though so we'll see how that goes tomorrow. Wish me luck!



Tuesday, May 28, 2013

I'm feeling pinspired.

Yep, I just said pinspired. Judge away.

I decided I'm going to set some summertime goals and call it something super cute, but that will wait until tomorrow. So check back!

For today, I've been browsing pinterest like a crazy lady bored out of my mind at work. So enjoy my findings :)

From Skinnytaste
Definitely will be making these in the near future. Skinnytaste recipes are *generally* awesome. The only time I've ever felt steered in the wrong direction was with a crab and avocado salad. Yuck. Don't even try it.


Portable hammock $40 from HarrietCarter.com
Ummmmm that looks like it was MADE FOR ME! I have a cheapy little plastic fold-out lounge chair from walmart that I take to the beach with me (because I'm a weird San Diego native and have an aversion to sand up my crevices) so I could TOTALLY justify $40 for this!!


"Sassy Water" from NorthCarolinaCharm.blogspot.com
One of my co-workers brought in water she had infused with lemons, cucumbers, and mint. I'm not big on flavored water, but it's supposed to help with weight loss. This has ginger instead of mint, so I'm not sure which variation I'm going to be trying but I'll let you know how it goes! Can anyone attest to this water's weight loss benefits?


This pin goes to a blog called Southern Girly. It's awesome. The post is a review of a few sunless tanning products. I wound up buying the Banana Boat Self Tanner and AM OBSESSED. Idk if you've noticed my tan in my pictures lately, but most of it is fake :)


Just some lyrics to one of my favorite songs of this summer.


My name is Nicole, and I'm obsessed with Friends.
 And this last little kicker:


Point taken, ecards. Point taken.

For the first time I'm participating in a blog hop!



I hope everyone's having a great Taco Tuesday! Pleeeease check back tomorrow for something I'm super pumped about!

Crafty Craziness & Living the Hooah Life



Monday, May 27, 2013

Weekend phone dump and weekly goals!

Again, Happy Memorial Day!!!

I hope everyone who has today off is enjoying it. I unfortunately am at work. Womp wompppp.

But yesterday was a great day! I went to the beach with my sorority sister/best friend and her husband and some of his friends and had a great time. But I'll get to that later. My weekend started on Friday night.

First off, when I got home I had 3 wonderful presents waiting for me.



1) My CAbi shirt that got backordered over a month ago!! Hollaaaaa. 2) My Kappa Delta Alumnae t-shirt (which for some strange reason I accidentally ordered a small in. Technically it's a medium because of the company's sizing, but still. I guess that's some motivation lol.) 3) My dress from Kiki La'Rue!!!! Whatcha think???




Then I went with some girlfriends to a local hot-spot-ish kinda of place, Lei Lounge. If you live in San Diego, GO! The food is a little bleh considering the pricing, but the drinks are amazing, and the atmosphere is so fun.



I know it's a bad photo, but it's the only one I have :(

Then we went to a bar next door called Bourbon Street Bar and Grill. Again, if you live in San Diego, go! The last time I went to Lei Lounge I wanted to go into Bourbon Street because it looked super fun. So when we walked in and it looked like a small, boring bar I was a little disappointed. Then Lindsey (far left) and I went to the bathroom and discovered the outdoor area is AMAZING, we changed our minds. It reminded us of a smaller Silky O'Sullivans in Memphis. Brings back memories...haha.

Then this guy came around with shots...



That's University Heights for you :)

And one more of me and Lindsey:




Saturday I had to work. Lame. But I got off early and got my nails done:

Color is Lobster Roll by CND Shellac

If you live in San Diego, go get your nails done by the amazing Olga Naumkina! She just started her own business, Creative Nails by Olga, in Old Town (yes, those are my hands in one of the pictures on her yelp page!). She's amazing and I just love her. She also wanted to try out a new product from CND, vinyl polish that dries in 7 minutes and is supposed to last 7 days without chipping, so ya know, I let her give me a free polishing :) It dried right away and I haven't had any chipping yet! You can see the polish in one of my pictures below.

Then I went to Incahoots with some girlfriends. No fun pictures to share :(

I decided to cancel my CAbi Party. I'll be having one (probably joined with my friend Cassandra) in the Fall.

So instead of hosting the party, I went to the beach! It was such a gorgeous day. And I managed to only get a mild sunburn on my boobies.


All packed up! Love that monogrammed bag from ThirtyOne.

Just another day in Paradise.

I love me a good floppy hat. And an American Flag bikini.

Spending the day at the beach on one of the Navy bases just felt right. I know I posted this on Friday, but I hope everyone takes some time between the drinking and grilling today to remember the true meaning on Memorial Day. God bless those veterans who have lost their lives fighting for our freedom to have days like my day yesterday!

So this morning, Winnie definitely did NOT want mommy to go to work. Can you blame her?


Sad puppy :(
 Alright, enough of the fun stuff and onto my weekly goals.

Just kidding, weekly goals ARE FUN! Especially because I can finally work out again!!



Operation Skinny Jeans

  1. Make it to the gym Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday!
  2. Make myself sweat and work hard without hurting my toe.
  3. Track on myfitnesspal daily--and maybe actually complete and entry for once! 
I can't wait to read everyone else's goals and finally give y'all a fitness-related post soon!

Happy Memorial Day, y'all!


Friday, May 24, 2013

TSM. Pieces of Happy and a non-scale victory!

If you're not familiar with TSM...I'll enlighten you :)

TSM stands for Total Sorority Move. It's a derivative of TFM (Total Frat Move). I went to school in the south, have roots in the south, and was a proud sorority woman. The website totalfratmove.com came about my sophomore-ish year (my memory is all a little hazy hahaha) and spread like wildfire. It was definitely controversial especially to people who weren't from the South, as Greek life there is much more traditional than the rest of the country (in general). That doesn't make it better by any means (of course in my heart it does, because I'm proud of my Greek experience), but that's irrelevant anyway.

So Urban Dictionary defines a TSM as "whenever a sorority chick does something that would make every sorority girl proud." I'd say that's a solid definition. Typical TSM's are wearing norts, a frat tee, and pearl earrings all at the same time to class every day. Having monogrammed everything. Wearing Lilly dresses and either sandals or cowboy boots everywhere else. Doing housewifey things like baking and cooking (and doing them well). Being skinny and tan and pretty (one I struggled with). Being popular with the boys (I was the sweetheart of a fraternity on campus). Being patriotic and supporting our troops. Being outdoorsy and loving things like fishing and hunting (in pearls, of course). And sometimes there's a negative connatation too, like being a little crazy and encouraging those crazy actions amongst your sisters. I'll admit...I was pretty much a walking TSM in college. I even got the TSM Superlative at my Junior Year Formal (which I didn't get to accept because I got politely asked to leave...TSM). Anyway, for the MOST PART, being a TSM is a great thing. And I woke up feeling extra stratty today. For a few reasons.

First, my monogrammed otterbox came in the mail!!!! It's been about 5 weeks and I was definitely starting to get antsy, but it was worth the wait:


The only thing I don't like (at all) about this case is that it's the challenger otterbox, which means it doesn't have a built-in screen protector. Instead it comes with an adhesive one--hello, air bubbles and random crap getting stuck under it until you get a new one. I can't stand those things. It's not the personalization company's fault, I'm just saying that's my only complaint. Otherwise, head on over to personalizedfrommetoyou.com and get you one!!!

Another reason I'm feeling stratty is because of this gorgeous flag:



Here's the backstory: My grandmother was a hoarder. I don't use that term lightly. I've seen the show, and that's exactly what she was. She lived in a 2-bedroom house and I remember when I was younger she was sleeping in the master bedroom. Then at some point she moved into the guest bedroom because she had so much stuff that had taken over the master, including the bed. I went off to college and rarely ever spent time with her at her house because of how messy it was, but I'm pretty sure by the time she had her stroke she was sleeping on the couch. My freshman year of college (2008) she had a stroke that caused her to lose mobility permanently. My mom decided to move into her house since my grandmother would be in a nursing home for the rest of her life, to save money. I wasn't home to help, so thank God she had such great friends willing to help her sort through my grandma's house. It took 2 and a half months and a new carpet installation to finally make it liveable. My uncle (not biological) had a 31-year-long career in the Navy so when he found a clearly very old flag balled up under a pile or crap on a bed, he took interest. He unrolled it to find it's over 5 feet tall, and judging by the stitching it's at least from WWII. We think it was my grandfather's from when he was in the military (during WWII), but we're not sure what the significance behind it was because of how huge it is. Regardless, my uncle took it to a special flag-handling dry-cleaner on base and had it cleaned up and we're still deciding what we want to do with it. Either way, it's mine as soon as I have a house of my own. I want to fly it from time to time, but I really want to take it to someone who knows a lot about flags and military history to see if we can find out where exactly it came from. Anyway. The point is, I don't know a lot of girls who would be this excited over a flag as I am. I guess it's because I'm extremely patriotic haha. TSM.

Sorry for the rambling story. I'm just really excited about it :)




Those are my pieces of happy for this week. And this.......

My first legit non-scale victory in about 4 weeks....

I played in my kickball game last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wore my old wal-mart tennis shoes because they're stretched out, and I actually ran for a second and it didn't hurt too bad. I decided not to actually kick, but I played in the outfield. We won, like, 8-2. Hollaaaaaa.


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I hope everyone has had a great week, and look forward to finally seeing fitness-related posts from me again now that my toe is almost fully healed :) I guess taking a full-on break from wearing close-toed shoes and exercise was the best way to go about it. I'm definitely not a walk-it-off and rub-it-hard kinda girl.

It's also Memorial Day Weekend. I hope everyone is spending it doing something fun, and also takes the time to think about the actual purpose of this holiday weekend: to remember those who have lost their lives serving in our Armed Services. I have been extremely blessed to come from a family full of active, retired, and veteran military members and never have experienced a loss. I don't take that lightly and I'm very thankful for that. Thank you to every serviceman and servicewoman fighting for our freedome every day, or who has fought for it in the past.








And, as always, God Bless America :)

Happy Friday, y'all!!




Wednesday, May 22, 2013

WILW and some pinspiration

Hey fancy ladies! And any sweet boys who may be reading :) It's hump day and it's a GREAT one!

So I decided to link up for What I'm Loving Wednesday, and with one of my new favorite blogs for Oh, How Pinteresting!!

First of all...things I'm loving this Wednesday.........

  1. MY JOB. I feel so blessed to have a job at all considering the economy, and one that I actually enjoy. I had a job I hated for almost a year after I graduated college, and I realized I need to stop wasting time in an industry I don't see a career in and start from the bottom in the industry I DO want a career in: Hospitality. I love working at this resort, and even though I'm going through some struggles adjusting to the pay cut/much longer commute (in a gas guzzler, in Southern California), I am thankful. Because we have things like work picnics:
     
And celebrate birthdays:

Happy birthday to my awesome co-worker Jessica! She's
obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and PB&J....so the snacks are
mostly themed around PB&J haha

2.      Styles for Less. I love this store. You can get pretty much all those cute clothes you see on Pinterest that are sold at online boutiques for like 40 bucks or more, for like $25 bucks or less. I bought this dress yesterday (excuse the lack of makeup and my hair thrown up into a pony tail):


My name is Nicole, and I am addicted to maxi dresses.
3.    I just ordered this dress from Kiki La'Rue's Moving sale (shop their clearance and use code MOVING for 50% off!!!! Almost all larges are gone, but I found this one!!!)
***I'm a little worried about how it will look and it's non-refundable, but oh well. I was nervous because the picture of Mama Laughlin in it wasn't too flattering......I love me some Mama Laughlin but it just made her look bigger. But then I found a picture on KLR's Instagram of MeganCard in it and it looked MUCH better. She was in a medium, and she had a much more similar build to me than Mama Laughlin (uh hello ML has big tatas :) and I have big tatas but not big like her!), so I think it'll be ok!

4.    These new blogs I've stumbled upon:




Found when stalking KLR's instagram for another
picture of that dress. I'm in love.

Found via pinterest and I'm obsessed. And...
She's a KD!!! Holla, sistaaaa!!! AOT.

Found through this linkup. I like it :)
Now onto the Oh, How Pinteresting Linkup!

This Sunday is my CAbi Party and I'm so excited! Bitches better buy shit. Anyway, since people will be trying on clothes I wanted to keep the food light--as much as I love chocolate. So here are what I'll be making, thanks to Pinterest:


Mini cheesecakes. I've made these before, thanks to Sinnytaste,
and they're awesome. They're made with Greek Yogurt and low-fat
cream cheese and a nilla wafer for the crust. Yummyyyy.

Lemon brownies. Enough said.

And these things.
 And to drink....

Strawberry Lemonade Champagne, thanks to
Carolina Charm (my sister haha)
Sounds like a good menu, right? Hopefully the champagne will loosen people's inhibitions...and wallets :)

Anyhoo. I hope you're all having a good a Wednesday as I am. I can't wait to read everyone's posts!



 


Later, y'all!