2016 Highlights

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As 2016 comes to a close, I thought I would open this highlights reel with the first outfit I posted in January! Nice way to bookend 2016, right? I know it's so trite to say, but time really does fly, it's almost scary. No, scratch that. It IS scary! I'm really not sure how 2017 is upon us, but before it gets here, I definitely wanted to recap my year into one consolidated post! I shared my favorite outfits earlier in the week here, but that doesn't really tell you much about ME and my actual year. That's what this post is all about. Real life highlights!

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It's no secret that 2016 has been big for me in terms of getting back on the fitness train. I decided at the start of the year that I was tired of feeling uncomfortable in my own skin and I wanted to become a better me! Thanks to introducing more exercise into my life and watching what I eat a little more closely, I am finishing the year feeling one thousand times more confident than I was this time last year.

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One of my blogger opportunities that helped contribute to my fitness progress was my community ambassador role with Yoga Six. I had done yoga before, but going to their studios definitely reignited my interest and enjoyment for the workout! Looking back at that post, I wish my schedule allowed me to practice yoga more. Perhaps I need to make that a goal for 2017 because I do miss it.

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Speaking of yoga, I hosted my very first solo blogger event this year. Not going to lie, it took A LOT of work and planning and I was so stressed that it was going to suck and no one was going to show up. Alas, I survived, I was more than happy with the turnout, and I'm proud of myself for being able to pull it off!

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Jenna and I also got to partner with the local Kendra Scott store to host a GALentine's shopping event! It's always fun working with Kendra Scott, and this event was no exception!

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OK, so obviously a HUGE part of my life right now is Pilates and my certification program. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself because I can't believe I'm actually doing this! On top of my full time job, on top of blogging. And not only that, I'M DOING THIS! What?! I would have never imagined this for myself when I first signed up for classes at the studio back in 2014, but I'm very excited and definitely proud that I've taken such a big leap.

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In August, I signed myself up for a 6K and I was so happy that I not only finished it, but I wasn't last! I'm not a long distance runner, I never have been despite my efforts to run a couple of half marathons in the past. It was a fun run though and I would totally do it again!

This is the husband's cousin, Beth, in both of these photos. She's become my compadre for these short runs, and subsequently, she's also acting as my client in a lot of my practice teaching for Pilates. Definitely thankful for her in so many more ways than just that. You want to know how awesome blogging is? Well, fellow blogger, Gina, bought me this book that basically channels your inner badass and is ridiculously motivating more than I can ever explain! It's what helped convince me that I could totally do this Pilates certification thing. Well, Beth happened to see my book while she stopped by the house one day and ended up buying the audio version. After listening to the book, she decided that she would finally live her goal and run a FULL marathon! She's officially signed up for the Chicago marathon for next fall. That gives me goose bumps thinking of it! And it all comes back to Gina being awesome.

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We were bad about planning our vacations this year. We were so good at the start of the year, but by the end of the year, we lost momentum and never planned a fall trip. That said, I can't complain about the trips that we did take. We went to Jupiter, FL again to see the Cardinals play during spring training and....

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.... that also meant I got to meet up with these pretty faces again!! So thankful for blogging friends and being able to see them in real life!

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We got to use our timeshare for the first time this year, which was pretty amazing, I'm not going to lie. I felt funny telling people we were going to Orlando since Orlando is such a big theme park city and we don't have any kids. But it was one of the most relaxing vacations we ever had and I'm looking forward to many more timeshare trips!!

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I almost forgot I went to Vegas this year! Gosh! It was SO MUCH FUN! It was for a bachelorette party, and I think back to this trip often (despite the fact that I almost forgot to mention it in my highlights post!!) We had such a good time. I was in the mood for Vegas, and that trip more than satiated that thirst!

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I can't talk about the bachelorette party and not reminisce about the wedding! How gorgeous were the dresses! I loved this dress, and my bouquet, and my hair. And the Cupid Shuffle... The bride and groom had people over last weekend and it was nice to have a wedding party reunion!

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I had this photo as my profile pic on Facebook and my coworker said that his wife asked if that was my husband. Ha! Yep! No, not really. Just my favorite Cardinal who is no longer a Cardinal! He was traded to San Diego last year but the Cubs picked him up for the 2017 season, which is great because I get to see him play pretty often! I've met him one other time before, but this was different. Because we were basically wearing the same outfit.

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Once Jon Jay was traded, everyone kept asking me who my "new" favorite was and I always answered with "Matt Adams" without hesitation. He's amazing at bat, and I've always told the husband that if he played baseball, he would basically be like Matt Adams. That's how I justify the baseball crush. Ha! It was so awesome to meet him - this was the first time. And he signed his photo saying I was the best fan ever. I may have told him to write that, but hey, he did it!

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For my third blog anniversary, I decided to gift myself with a blog facelift. That was done back in February and I've been pretty happy with it! Not a huge difference, but just more clean and simplified than it was before!

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On the home front, my bathroom got a facelift, too! To say I've been loving all of the extra storage would be a gross understatement! 

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My Saturn Vue needed an upgrade. She's been paid off for awhile now and the husband has been wanting a truck. The long term plan is that we will sell the Vue because lord knows we do not need so many cars between the two of us! We have a couple of leads, which is great! We've had the truck for a couple of weeks now and I gotta admit that I love it.

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And last but definitely not least is our epic Thanksgiving! We hosted this year, which meant that my family flew in from out of town, stayed at our house, and then the husband's family came over as well for late lunch. Holy whoa it was a bit stressful, but once it was here, it was fun and my heart was so full to have everyone together. On top of that, one thing I didn't mention in that recap post is that my brother's wife is pregnant!!! They told us Thanksgiving morning at breakfast and everyone is beyond excited!!! That definitely means that 2017 is already giving us things to look forward to!

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I am sure I am missing a ton more details, but man, it's been a great year! I definitely cannot complain and I can't say enough how much I am thankful for all of you. Whether I have interacted with you or not, I see your page views and I am flattered that you are here. Thanks for sticking by me in 2016 and hope I'll have even bigger and better things to share with you in 2017. Have a safe and happy new year!!!!!

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Merry Christmas!

Annie the Beagle

Sorry for the unexpected radio silence. Although I'm out of town for the holidays, I had every intention of blogging throughout the week-- like about my triple blogger dinner date with Gina and Noelle PLUS all of our husbands! And about my new eyelash extensions which ended up being a surprise gift from my sister!

But, the first day here, I woke up in the middle of the night with what I thought was food poisoning, but realized the next afternoon when the husband couldn't keep his food down either that it was likely a flu bug instead. After almost 24 hours of full on sleeping, we were both better just in time to last minute shop on Christmas Eve and celebrate with my family.

I thought I would send you all some Merry (and healthy) Christmas greetings, with help from our beagle, Annie! I'll catch you up on the other fun (and non-sick) deets of this trip soon! 

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One King's Lane: Reflect Your Style

Taking a short break on an outfit post today to share some of my favorite accessories for my dream vanity. However, if you're just *yearning* to see what I'm wearing, you can always follow me on Tumblr or Instagram for real time updates!

A few weeks ago, my cousin sent me a link to some super cute travel bags from One King's Lane. I immediately bookmarked the link for when I had time to indulge in the entire website without any distractions! There were lots of pretties to peruse!

So, you can imagine my delight when a few weeks later, One King's Lane contacted me to see if I wanted to participate in their "Reflect Your Style" campaign. The only "rule" was that I had to build my perfect vanity around one of their mirrors and at least four other pieces from their website. Challenge accepted!

What a fun and therapeutic exercise this was for me! When I think about my perfect dressing room, I think "vintage girly." I knew the color palette would be pretty similar to my present closet room; I don't think I could ever get tired of black, white, and red. So, the first thing I did was hunt for my vanity mirror. I landed on this one because of its simple, but antique feel, and then honestly, everything fell nicely into place from there!

I was giggling at myself as I added all of the "finishing" touches like the shoes, bags, and even my Cardinals hat. All this is missing is a picture of Justin Timberlake! Ha!

You can check out their other mirrors here, although every day there are new sales, so really the possibilities and choices are endless. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did while creating it! What would your dream vanity look like?? Not sure? Just reference their nifty Home Decor Handbook! And if you need an invite to One King's Lane, well, I just happen to have that for you here.

DISCLOSURE: I was not compensated to write this post, though as with my other posts, if you click on a link, I may make a few cents. Regardless, all opinions and ideas were my own. 

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Avon Walk for Breast Cancer: Chicago 2014

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As promised, I thought I would give you an update on the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer this past weekend in Chicago. If you'd like the backstory of how and why we signed up for this walk, you can read all about it here.

Let's first start with the details of the weekend, shall we? We were required to walk 39.3 miles over two days - Saturday and Sunday. Saturday the route was 26.2 miles, a whole marathon. We started at Soldier Field and were taken up the lakeshore, through downtown and more up north, where we ended the day in Horner Park. Sunday, our walk was a half marathon - 13.1 miles, and it started where we left off at Horner Park and ended back at Soldier Field.

The first 6 miles or so were my personal favorite. The weather was absolutely perfect, if not a little on the chilly side for the first few miles. As you can imagine, we started off slow while the crowd was still very thick, but I couldn't complain because the views were amazing. Chicago is such a great City.

But yeah, it was not all rainbows and unicorns. This was the ABSOLUTE HARDEST, most difficult thing I have ever put my body through. I love walking! I've always said that I could walk forever, and I'm a fast walker by nature. But let me tell you, I quickly realized that this was no leisurely walk in the park.

I really wish I could tell you guys this was mile 20 or something like that. Nope. This was mile 6. SIX! Out of 39.3!!! Right around mile 3, I could feel a blister forming on the pad of my 4th toe on my right foot. I tried to ignore it and tried to carry my weight a little differently. Then I started feeling it form on the same toe on my left foot. Anxiety starts to set in because I know it's just the beginning.

There were rest stops every couple of miles or so. They alternated between "quick stops" which just had drinks and port-a-potties (honestly the nicest port-a-potties you will ever be in, seriously) and full on rest stops with snacks and medical care also. When I saw the "foot fix" station at mile 6, I decided to see if they could do anything for my blisters. These two lovely ladies were so sweet and amazing. Sure enough, blisters were there, and she ended up draining the one in my right foot, but the left didn't quite have any fluid in it yet. Mile six, guys.

By mile 7, I could start feeling it in my legs. What made it even worse was that we were now walking in the heart of the City. They didn't close any streets for this walk so imagine stopping at every. Single. Intersection. The constant starting and stopping on my already fatigued legs made it even harder.

I got a little more pep in my step around mile 9 walking down Oak Street. I mean, seriously. How torturous it was to walk through this shopping district - Barney's, Christian Louboutin, Kate Spade, Jimmy Choo, Chanel?! It was my heaven, except that I couldn't stray off course. Le sigh.

We stopped for lunch after the first of our 3 half marathons. It was right after 12pm - they gave us a sack lunch with a turkey sandwich, chips, carrots, oreos, and an apple. Needless to say that did a great job keeping us fed. I also took 3 Ibuprofen before I ate. I tried getting my blisters drained again after lunch, but they said there was no fluid in them, which I'm not sure was accurate considering how much they hurt. They wrapped them with moleskin "to reduce friction" but friction wasn't really my enemy. It was my body weight every time I stepped down on my toes. Regardless, I felt amazing after lunch. My legs didn't feel at all tired, my attitude was much better after a full belly; I was ready to rock this thing!

As we wove ourselves up north, we made a pact that once we hit mile 18, we would allow ourselves to stop in a Starbucks for an iced coffee. We passed, oh, about 238778263876 Starbucks, but of course, once we hit 18, they were nowhere in sight - not until mile 21. Although the coffee was amazing, there really wasn't anything that was helping at this point. My friend Erin is an avid runner; she's run a couple marathons and a handful of half marathons, but even she hit her wall at mile 18. And if *she* was dying, then there was no hope for me! 

We finally finished our day (which started at 7am) at a little after 6pm. I tried to go to the triage to have them look at my feet again, but there were 20 people ahead of me on the wait list, and I really just wanted to get back to the hotel. The bulk of the walkers actually camped out in the park! In tents! After walking a marathon! I admire those people, but my spoiled tired butt was sleeping in a hotel.

Guys. By the time we got back to the hotel, I could barely walk. I took a shower and the warm water felt great, but it hurt to stand, so I filled the tub with water and just soaked myself. Otherwise, I just took it easy, ordered room service, took some Aleve, and tried to stretch every hour as much as possible.

The next morning, I spent half an hour nursing my blisters, and between my feet and my legs, I could barely move. The thought about quitting crossed my mind many times, I'm not even going to lie. I just didn't know how it would be physically possible to finish feeling as awful as I did. But I just kept thinking about the $7100+ we raised, and about everyone and everything we were walking for, and just out of integrity, I had to do it.

This is a great screenshot to summarize our Sunday walk. As with the first day, we knew the first mile or so would be really slow because the crowd was so thick. But even as it started thinning out, I was still moving slow, and I knew that I was slowing our team down. But then we hit mile 3 and I saw that we were *still* only going 2 miles an hour. I literally got angry and decided, you know what? It hurts whether I walk slow or walk fast, so I may as well get this done sooner.

This extra motivation lasted about 4 miles or so, and I started to really hurt again at mile 7. All of our significant others met us around mile 7, so we took a 15 minute break and I was able to eat a substantial snack, stretch, and take Ibuprofen. The rest of the morning was still pretty trying, especially once we were back crossing intersection after intersection. I honestly thought how great it would be if I fell and hurt myself so I could at least be done with it. It was pretty awful. When we hit the last mile marker - the pole was marked with both a 13 (for the day) and a 39 (cumulative over two days.) The husband was waiting here, and he walked the rest of the way with us. He says, "Only point 3 miles left!" And I say, "NO! It's point 1!! That sign said 13, so we should only have point 1 left!!" Yes, that point 2 miles makes a world of difference.

It was really .3 left, and it was the longest, most excruciating .3 miles I have ever walked. I cried. 

But you know what? We finished. We finished, and as I write this 4 days later, my feet still aren't the same, though I went from 8 blisters down to just 1 now. My legs are still tight, especially my right hamstring, and I likely won't do anything physical for another week. It was horrifying, I can't lie about that. But I'm proud. I'm proud that bitchy and all, I still finished. I'm proud that we were able to exceed our initial goal of $5400 and raise over $7100. I would do anything for my friends, and I just couldn't say no to my friend when she asked me to walk with her to honor her mother in law. The stories we heard, the survivors we saw walking alongside us, the older man rolling 39.3 miles in a wheelchair all inspired me! And I'm happy that we were part of it. Yes, I'm at the point where I can say I'm glad we did it. 

As I close this, I'm sure you're thinking - are they new shoes? Did you not walk that long of distances in those shoes before? Were you wearing different socks? Pretty sure my cousin in law figured it out when she asked me Monday morning (after the walk):

Did you just get a pedicure?

And it all made sense. It had been about 3 weeks since my last pedicure, but about 6 weeks or so ago, I bought this. It's no secret that I love heels, and naturally, as a result, my feet form calluses. I get pedicures at the salon once or twice a month, but I had been trying to keep my feet soft between pedis, so I bought the Clarisonic Pedi Kit. I didn't even think about the walk or the fact that I actually *needed* my rough feet for the walk. Lesson. Learned.

Anyway, I know this was probably longer and more detailed than it needed to me, but I figured this was good documentation for myself if I ever want to relive the experience! Thanks again for everyone's support! There are some of you out there that I have never even met that contributed to our fundraising, and I am just so touched that you would support me in this! THANK YOU!!!

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Workout wear and Hello Fresh

Scarf: Lululemon (gifted) (Etsy options here) | Jacket: Lululemon (gifted) | Top: Old Navy | Bottoms: Old Navy | Shoes: Asics

I decided to do something different today. Every Wednesday I've been linking up with Fitness Blondie for The Hump Day Blog Hop. Since Liz has a fitness/ lifestyle blog, I decided to tailor this week's post to her genre of topics. This also helps keep me accountable for my new year's resolution to work on my fitness. I've been wanting to blog about this for awhile now anyway. Let's start with workout wear.

So yes, I'm donning some infamous Lululemon for this outfit. I've talked a little bit about my feelings for Lululemon in a previous post. Yes, I'll splurge on shoes here and there. Or a dress. Or a handbag. But I haven't felt the need to do this for workout wear yet. I did cave and get the vinyasa scarf. Ok, two of them. I bought two vinyasa scarves. However, luckily, nothing else has tempted me. My sister bought me this jacket a couple of years ago, and yes, of course, I'll take some gifted Lululemon, duh. How fun is this peplum? And there's a hidden pocket under there that I just discovered today!

Obviously the average worker-outer is probably not going to be dishing money for Lulu. When I signed up for Pilates again this year, I realized I didn't have form-fitting workout clothes that still fit me. They encourage form-fitting attire so that the instructor can properly see your form. I made a quick stop into Old Navy, which conveniently had all their athletic wear at the front of the store - perfect for resolutioners like myself! I ended up getting 3 whole workout outfits for less than $75 - less than the cost of one pair of Wunder Unders. So far, I've been completely happy with the fit and quality, especially for the price. Then I also stocked up on some other pieces when Express was having their 40% off everything sale this past weekend. These are the kinds of pieces that catch my eye:

Scarf: Lululemon | Cobalt tee: Express | Printed crops: Old Navy | Running sneaks: Asics | Cardigan: Oakley Vault (option) | Pink tank: Old Navy | Grey leggings: Old Navy | Bra top: Old Navy | Blue crops: Old Navy | Open back long sleeve tee: Express | Black leggings: Express | Cardigan: Oakley Vault (option) | Banded waist tank: Old Navy | Camo leggings: Express | Slip on sneaks: Skechers

OK, so I also wanted to tell you guys about Hello Fresh. And no, I am not getting paid for writing this review, nothing free, I'm just so happy I discovered this service! If you follow me on Instagram, you'll note that I post a lot of food pictures in addition to my outfits, the beagle, or the Cardinals (though it's off season right now, so…) I admit that I am worthless when it comes to grocery shopping. I don't mind cooking, but the chore of grocery shopping and meal planning is so time consuming that by the time you add up my hours I work for my day job plus the hours I spend on this blog (it's truly like a second job), that doesn't leave much time left for anything else. I don't know how you mothers do everything PLUS take care of kids. I admire you for this because I couldn't possibly have enough hours in the day to just take care of me, the husband, and the beagle. That's where Hello Fresh comes in.

You subscribe to their service, but can cancel at any time, and also suspend your account if you're going to be traveling or whatnot. You pick the amount of meals you want delivered (for us it's 3 meals x two people). Every week they showcase the recipes that will be delivered the following week - so I have 5 choices to pick my 3 meals from. Then, once a week (our delivery day is Wednesday), a box comes to your doorstep.

Everything is pre-portioned for exactly 2 people, or however many people you specify, with the exact ingredients to make the meals you've chosen. They separate the ingredients by meal, and label everything clearly. They even include recipe cards with step by step instructions and nutritional information. Each meal is designed to only take 30 minutes to prepare and the calories range from 300-600 per meal. All food is high quality and delivered fresh. The portions are exact, so there are no leftovers. However, each portion is hearty, especially considering the relatively low calorie count. I've been so thrilled with the service, quality, and convenience - I really have been meaning to blog about this for awhile. We've been subscribing for almost 8 weeks now, and it has changed my life.

The only downside is that I believe the furthest west they go is Chicago, so all you west coasters, I apologize for teasing you with all these wonderful food photos (which are all actual meals and photos I've done myself, by the way.) Anyway, you can get more information on their website at hellofresh.com. OK, so I just realized that I can get you $20 off your first box if you're interested - use this code: QD4TFU. I promise I'm not just recommending this for the referral credit though, just figured you may want $20 off! It's really amazing, and I can't speak enough about how much easier it's made my life, not to mention all the calories it's saving me from not having to eat out every night!!

I think I've talked your ear off enough! Hope you found some or all of this to be helpful! I can't believe it's almost February so I should be 1/12th the way into my resolutions! Scary thought!!

UPDATE March 2016: I felt the need to update this review because my feelings of Hello Fresh are quite different than they were when I originally wrote this post. And in case anyone comes across this post now, I wanted to make sure I let you all know how this fairy tale ends. We subscribed to Hello Fresh for about 2 years, and while everything in this post is still true, it didn't end so well.

Over the course of two years, they constantly updated their packaging, I assume to make it more efficient and effective. Well, the last few months of our service, we had repeat issues with meat packages being open in the box. It was a bloody mess to open, and basically ruined one to all three of the meals that week. Each time I reported it and they would give us a credit to our account equal to the amount of meals that were ruined. While that's fine, it kind of defeats the purpose of relying on these boxes of food for meals when we can't even use them, and then all the waste! The boxes, the food, it just became a bit overwhelming to have to throw away time and time again.

Finally, I had enough after getting yet another open meat in our box. I canceled our service. Well, even though I canceled almost two weeks before our next scheduled delivery, it was still "too late" so I had one more box I had to put up with. Fine, whatever. I get that final box, and YET AGAIN, I had another open meat! I called customer service and their response was, "Yes, we see you canceled your service." Ok, well what are you going to do about this last box that has an open meat again? I'm not paying for food I can't eat. They tell me all they can do is post a credit to my account, which they figured I didn't want since I canceled my service. So, basically I got screwed over again and wasted $60 on a box of trash. Insult to injury.

It is sad that it ended that way. I'm now wary of trying any other similar service. Lucky for us, we found a local meal delivery service who delivers food in a cooler on our front porch every week, which means WAYYYY less waste and the menu is a lot more flexible than Hello Fresh's menu and schedule were. If you're local to the St. Louis metro east area, you should check it out, it's called Entrees by Laura.

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**2014**

Happy New Year! Hopefully you all had a fantastic night - whether that was kickin' it on the couch, kickin' it on someone else's couch, or full-on fiesta! (I stole that from On the Daily Express. Check out our New Year's Eve themed linkup if you haven't already!) If you are like me, you're probably needing a little hydration and sleep today, so I'll leave you with a super short 15 second video that sums up the highlights of my 2013. I'm anxious to see what highlights 2014 has in store!!

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Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!!! 

I will keep this short as this is the time for family after all! 

A few quick notes:

1. The title of this post is a reference to one of my favorite Christmas songs sung by the boy band known as 'NSync.

2. The husband was not excited to take photos until I told him they didn't have to be serious.

3. Yes, that's a Christmas stocking that I'm holding over my arm like a waiter's towel.

4. My sweater captures the 12-days of Christmas on the front and down the sleeves. I don't think it was supposed to be an "ugly" sweater. It's from JCPenny circa 7 years ago.

5. To read how we're celebrating, click here!

Hope Santa brought you everything you wanted and then some! 

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