5k challenge linkup!

Happpppppy happy hump day everyone! I love that even though I'm the new kid at work I've been getting the weekends off. I know it won't last so I'm enjoying it.

A few days ago I posted about how I'm pretty much completely fallen off the wagon. Sorry to say I still haven't gotten back on it. I've kind of had a distraction the last couple weeks..........which I'll write about if it becomes anything important :) but anyway, the distraction will be gone the next two weeks starting tomorrow, so I've devised a plan. And I'm sticking to it, dammit!

Tomorrow (Thursday) I get off at 230 (but I go in a 6am. AH!) so if I'm not feeling in desperate need of a nap I will go to the gym straight from work and do a 30-minute circuit workout, then I have a kickball game later in the night (where I will not be consuming beer afterwards)

Friday, I will attend a spin class at my gym.

Saturday, I MIGHT hike Iron Mt. again on my own--only because there's usually about 100 other people on the trail and it's not dangerous--or I'll get up and go to the gym.

Sunday my aunt will be in town and someone please take a willllld guess what we'll be doing??? How the heck did you guess wine tasting?!?!?! Judge me.

And then Monday-Friday I get off my 430 every day which means I'll be going to the gym. Every. Single. Day. I need to kick my own ass. I wish the gym had more classes that sounded cool to me...I'm thinking of doing a Barre class...has anyone ever done one???

Anyway. I also finally bought groceries so I'm back to mostly cooking for myself, in addition to the hit-or-miss food at the employee cafeteria at work. They always have a soup, so I usually have that (unless I reaallllly have no idea what it's supposed to be) and make a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread. Or I'll try the entree. Again, only if I can tell what it's supposed to be. (I'm telling you, some of the 'food' looks reaalllll questionable!)

And to keep me even more accountable, I've linked this post up with KTJ's 5k Challenge

I really like KTJ. She's so authentic and I relate to so much of what she writes about. It's refreshing when some of my most favorite bloggers have become...how should I say...a little questionable to me? Idk. I guess it's a personal opinion thing.

I digress.

In other news, Winnie finally got her hurr did!

My sweet baby.

I wish I could look that much thinner just by getting a hair cut!!!!

I also found this tidbit of inspiration from Kassie's Operation Red Bikini Board on Pinterest:

Even though I've pretty much 'hit a wall'...I still have a LOT to be proud of. My Aunt told me she cant wait to see "skinny" me this weekend which made my day. :)

And I'm still fully planning on accomplishing my Operation Red Bikini goal of being a size 10 by May 31st! I think I can do it!!! I'm not so sure about the whole weighing-170-pounds thing. But we'll see. Anything is possible, right?!



That's all for now. Later, fools!



My new fitness obsession

I found my new favorite thing to do at the gym (and least-favorite)....the CIRCUIT ROOM! I didn't want to be a total creep and take a picture of it, and this is the best I could find on google...

The machines look similar to that, but in the center of them is a row of aerobic steps, so it's basically like that Curves gym--btw, is Curves still around even???? Anyhoo, it's 10 weight machines and you start on any one of them, do it for 1 minute, switch to a step and do some aerobic exercise for another minute, go back to the next weight machine, and so and and so forth until you've done a whole body workout in 30 minutes. It's legit. 

HOWEVER, and this is a big one, it's clearly very easy for people to 'do' the circuit workout and not actually do anything beneficial for their bodies. In the two nights I've done it I've seen multiple people basically waste 30 minutes. Mainly it seems they don't know what they're supposed to do for 'aerobic exercise.' And frankly I probably wouldn't either if I hadn't grown up watching my mom and her friends do the 90's step workouts in the living room lol. But still. And tonight there was this woman, bless her heart, who was doing 1 minute on the weight machine, then during the 30 second transition period she would do her version of an aerobic exercise and then do another minute on the next weight machine. I'm not sure if she realized she'd been doing it wrong by noticing she completed it in 15 minutes instead of 30...but is that a huge gym no-no to tell someone they're doing something completely wrong? Or is it helpful? What's the gym etiquette on that exactly? 

And speaking of gym etiquette, I almost went mean-old-lady-crazy on a couple of 12 year olds in that circuit room tonight. First of all, when I was a teenager (a TEENAGER, NOT A TWEEN) I was only allowed in the gym if my mom was there with me. So why were these kids allowed to roam freely? Anyway, they just jumped in on random machines, cutting people off, messing with the weights just to basically play, and nobody said a word. I almost lost my mind. Maybe it's because I was half-raised-in-the-south that it drives me nuts how kids act in these parts, or maybe I'm just a prude, but come on. Parents, anyone? 

OK I'll get off my soapbox. 

So far I'm doing well on my goals, but the hike isn't going to happen because of my schedule :( 

But my first day of work was WONDERFUL! I can't wait to see where this job takes me. 

Alright that's all for now. I'm hoping starting this circuit workout regularly with running in my neighborhood (because I've discovered I actually prefer it to the treadmill which forces you to keep a pace when I'd rather do my own thing) will help me reach my Operation Red Bikini goal!! Woot woot!

That's all for tonight. Farewellllll!!

Non-scale victory and stuff

So. To be honest, I have been terrible at going to the gym before work when I go in at noon. Often times my feet still hurt from work the day before, and my diet with my schedule at work has been sucky which doesn't make it any easier to wake up in the morning--it really is amazing how important what you EAT is to how you FEEL in general. Anyhoo, this morning I decided to go for a run around my neighborhood instead of driving 15 minutes to the gym and another 15 back. It's been a while since I went on an outdoor run, and my neighborhood is all hills. Surprisingly I did a longer distance in a shorter time than I have been doing on the treadmill (technology can't be trusted with losing weight and getting in shape, btw) and I felt better about this run since it was constantly up and down. You can pretty much tell on the map of my run where the downhills and uphills are haha.

I'm kind of a fan of the Nike Run app!

So, my non-scale victory for the week was doing this outdoor run!

The biggest downside, however, to just running in my neighborhood is that I'm not super motivated to do anything else afterwards. But I took some small weights we had stashed in a closet (but I had to combine 5 lb and 3 lb ones in each hand to do 8 pounds when I've been using 10 lb weights at the gym) and did some of Mama Laughlin's arm workouts, some squats (which I think I was doing wrong) and a pathetic plank. Womp womp. Clearly I need to find a balance between gym workouts and running around my neighborhood, because in all honest I think I liked running in the hood better than running on the treadmill at the gym. I could keep my own pace and fluctuate it with my music and such much more than on a treadmill. 

Anyway, I'm still keeping my Operation Red Bikini goal of getting down to a size 10/170 lbs by May 31st. Good luck to everyone else in their ORB goals!

In other news, I won't be starting my new job until April 15th, which seems like a year away when you work 11.5 hour shifts (and have zero motivation to be there anymore....) but I'm an adult, and this is part of adult life, right? 

Being a big girl sure does stink sometimes. 

Alright, time to get ready for the dreaded work. Happy Thursday to the real world, it's my Tuesday. Woooooo. 

The big announcement

And the big announcement is...........

I HAVE A NEW JOB!!!!!! I'm SO excited about this. While I've learned a lot at my current job, I feel it's time to move on and start the career I've wanted for a while. I studied Hospitality and Resort Management in school and just couldn't find a job in the field when I graduated. My ultimate goal is to work in either sales or revenue management in a nice hotel, so starting out as a Reservations Agent at a GORGEOUS, very well-known, boutique hotel is a huge opportunity. Check it out:

Not a bad view from the office, huh?

Sorry it took me to so long to post this, it's just been a crazy week (for good reason, though!). My two weeks' notice has officially been put in so I can 'publicize' it now. In the spirit of a new job--and getting to wear clothes and shoes because they're cute as opposed to just because they're comfortable for 11 and a half hours per day, and in the spirit of losing weight, I went a little crazy at New York and Company today. I'm officially a 12, y'all! Hollllerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I'm stoked. I got pants, shirts, and a pair of jeans. I also got two new pairs of shoes (to replace those heinous black flats I wear currently that are comfy like slippers).

Yesterday I got to spend quality time with a long lost friend and sorority sister. She was an older sister from when I was at Northeastern (a story I'll tell one day) who I looked up to a lot, and who's been living on the East Coast since she graduated. But, she's finally decided to move out to San Diego in the next few months! I'm sooo excited! She came out to look at places/have a mini vacay, so we went wine tasting with our moms at Orfila.

It was a beautiful day. I can't wait for her to move out here!

Now onto the thing I've been lagging on lately: weight loss. I officially cancelled my Weight Watchers account. I bought 3 months in January and lost 15 pounds. I'm thankful for that and the fact that it taught me how to track what I'm eating based off more factors than just calories, but I just didn't keep up with it like it's intended to be. I'm debating other food tracking apps, so if you have any suggestions, hit me up!

To keep myself motivated, I'm joining up with Kassie and Leigh Ann in Operation Red Bikini. Yes, it ends in a little under two months, but that's more than enough time to drop another size or two. My goal is to be a comfortable size 10 by May 31st. I'm a *slightly tight* size 12 now. Ideally that would mean I'm at 170 pounds too. I can do it!

Anyone else doing this challenge?

Anyhoo, time to get off here. Ta ta for now, fools!

-Nicole