Updates, updates, updates!

Wow! It has been a long time since I have blogged!  I know I still have not blogged about Vegas and I have also not blogged about our other vacation to South Carolina. I promise I will do that tonight when I get home and have access to pictures. Well anyway things have been going pretty well in the Murray household.  Thanksgiving is behind us and we are moving full steam ahead into the Christmas season. It is even supposed to snow today! YIKES! 

Well first off the weight loss is still going slow. I have been working pretty hard at the gym but I have not been working so hard at my diet. Honestly if I could get that under control I would probably lose a TON of weight! I am honestly working on the diet thing and am trying to see how much weight I can lose in the 3 weeks before Christmas. If I stick to my diet I should be able to do well. I did have a slight setback last week. I am pretty sure that I have a stress fracture in my right foot. The xray did not show anything but stress fractures do not always show up on x-rays. So I have been taking it easy and not doing anything to hurt it recently.  Hopefully it will heal and I will stop having pain.

Another new development is that Adam started a new job on November 7^th.  He is working at IU Health Saxony which is IU Health’s new hospital. This is a very positive change for us as a family. Hopefully we can get everything worked out and Adam and I can be on more of a normal schedule with each other. Already I have had evenings at home with my husband which I have not had in a very long time. It is so nice!

We had a great Thanksgiving. It was the first one since Adam’s grandma passed away so it was sad but I am sure she was looking down and smiling at the family she created. My family had Thanksgiving at my grandma’s house and it turned out great. Their new addition is very nice and it accommodated the family well.  Next year we may have to consolidate down to one Thanksgiving. We will see.  No black Friday mega shopping for me this year. My mom and I went to Hamilton Town Center on Friday but we did not go until later in the morning.  Later that night we went to see the Muppet movie. It was really good.   Over the weekend I worked and Adam put up Christmas nights. He did a great job. I got out the Christmas decorations and we are going to put up the tree tonight.  I am pretty much done with Christmas shopping for Adam.  I just need to get the stocking stuffers. I also need to start on our families gifts!   Yesterday was my  mom’s birthday and we went to the mall again (seeing a theme?) and went out to lunch at a place called The Local. It was really good food. Definitely would recommend it.

I will try to get the Vegas and SC posts up this week!  Be looking!

It happened. I turned 30.

This post is just a quick one to let everyone know that I survived turning 30. I don't feel any different. But it is strange to say. I am still chugging away at my weight loss. It is going slow but it is going so I have to be happy with that. We went to Vegas and it was great. I will write a post about that later. It is now fall in Indiana and it is starting to get to the point to go through my closet to get ready for the change in the season. This is usually a time I really dread.. I hate looking for clothes and going through my closet and trying to decide what to wear. I have bought some new clothes lately and I am hoping it makes me feel better about the direction my weight loss is going. We shall see.

Well I am going to go for now. I will update more later.

Weight Loss Challenge!

Today starts a weight loss challenge that my trainer Jacquie is putting on for the people in my gym. Of the girls I have the most to lose in this competition so hopefully I will do well. I already weighed in and worked out this morning so I feel like I am at an advantage over everyone else at this point. I am hoping that I can pull this off even with being at a disadvantage with going on 2 vacations in the 2 months of the contest. Jacquie is going to help by putting together a workout for me to do while on vacation so as long as I keep to that and workout every day and watch what I am eating I should be ok! That is a lot to think about though.

Starting weight is a little too high for me to put on the internet for everyone to see but once I get my final weight I will put it on here.

So as far as this challenge goes ready, set, go….

My favorite time of the year.

I love back to school time. Even though I am not going back to campus this semester it is still so exciting to me! I love school. I love learning new things. I love getting the sylabbus and looking ahead on the semester. I guess I am a dork for stating that, but it is exciting and new. My new classes showed up in Blackboard this weekend. Even though I still have my one summer class still hanging over my head I am excited to start working on other classes too. So good luck to everyone starting schiool this week and next and also continued good luck for the grade school kids that started in the last couple of weeks!

On my summer class....I did not get anything new done on it. But I do not feel too bad. I was able to finish a project that I have needed to do for a long time. I organized my pictures into photoboxes. It took about a month and I basically worked on it all weekend but it is done and from here on out I can workon it as I go. At this point I have all my pictures printed and on their way.

As far as weight loss goes...Jacquie is doing a weight loss challenge that starts next Monday. I am going to join it even though I am going to be on vacation two weeks of the challenge. It should help me keep accountable while I am gone. Last week I had Jacquie do my measurements and I really have not gone down too much at all. Very disheartening. My body fat percentage has gone down. But I did manage to lose the weight I had gained so that is good.

This week should be a good week. I am taking off Thursday and Friday to have a long weekend and then next week I am only working 4 days and then Adam and I will be on vacation! I am looking forward to having some time with my husband without his employees or boss texting or calling. Adam is not even turning his phone on while we are gone!

Remembering Grandma Gillen

I did not think this fit in any other post but I wanted to say that the world lost a great lady in July. Adam's grandma passed away at the age of 93. She was honestly quite a lady. Born in 1918 she was the valedictorian of her high school class! She went to business college and was a great business woman making the family farm and her children and grandchildren her life. Really an amazing woman all around. She was also an amazing china painter and we have so many of her pieces in our house. I cannot imagine what it would have been like for her living through the depression and WW2. Her and Adam's grandpa had one of those epic love stories that I can liken to the story of Noah and Allie in the Notebook. She raised an amazing family that I am very proud to be a part of. No matter what her children or grandchildren did she was proud of them. That is true love.

Thanks Grandma Gillen for taking me into your family. I am so glad I got to know you. You will forever be missed.

Summer update 2

Wow! July is done and we are almost to the middle of August! Summer is going super fast. Next week the kids in the neighborhood will be back in school. Crazy how fast it all goes.

First with our concert updates:

In July I had 3 concerts that I went to, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and NKOTBSB (part 2).  First was Tim McGraw. My love affair with Tim started the first time I heard Indian Outlaw on the radio. When I graduated from 8th grade my mom bought be tickets to see him and Faith Hill at then Deer Creek To this date it is probably one of those concerts I will always remember. It was just before Tim and Faith announced that they were dating and I remember my almost Freshman self thinking that they seem awfully close to each other!

When I was in high school and college I worked at Deer Creek/VWMC for a couple of years. I saw alot of concerts in those years and Tim was always one I would definitely go to when I had the opportunity. That is why I was excited he was on the Megaticket this year. This year's concert did not disappoint. Megan and Lori brought their little daughters because they are fans of The Band Perry. The Band Perry was very good...they will definitely be superstars someday soon! Luke Bryan also opened for him..he is a cutie! It was a smaller group this concert than the others. Erin and Eric were the other ones there with us.  I even converted Sara into a Tim McGraw fan by the end of the night!

Next up was Rascal Flatts. Adam bought Sara's ticket and came with me. It was a hot one that day! It was just a few of us at this concert. My aunt Teresa came with Megan and my cousin Kaylie. It was a good concert too. My only complaint was the heat. We had alot of fun and I never realized how many Rascal Flatt's songs I know.

The next was NKOTBSB. Again the concert was amazing! It is funny how you can remember the lyrics to all those songs you sang as a child! This concert BSB was alot better than they were the first. I lost my voice screaming!

As you know from my last post we went to Virginia the last week in July. It was so much fun. It was just Adam and my dad and me. It was nice to go away and have my dad show us around Lee County. It is really beautiful down there and even though we barely know some of those family members they are always so welcoming. We had a great time while we were down there and unfortunately we came back to a sick dog. :( (more on that in my previous post)

My mom, aunts, cousins and I went to State Fair Band Day last week to watch my cousin Alyssa march for the first time. I cannot beleive my baby cousin is starting high school and her older brother is starting college! Natalie is even going to a new school!  Anyway, the Millers had a great routine this year. One of the most solid bands in the contest but of course they were underappreciated by the judges as always. But we had fun and I think Alyssa had a great time!

Adams sister and nephew were in town last week. It was alot of fun to see them and get to play with our nephew! He is so much fun and we are blessed to have him in our life. He seems to love his Uncle Adam and Aunt Katie. Hopefully we can start to set up some regular Skype dates so we can talk to him more often. We will see him when we go to SC in a couple of weeks. It will be fun to have a whole week of spoiling him!

So our summer has been pretty crazy and we are not even done yet. Tomorrow night we are headed to Symphony on the Prairie with our friend Amanda. Saturday we will probably head to the State Fair. We leave for vacation in 3 weeks and I think we are both so ready! It has been a year since we have been on vacation so we are getting anxious!

So far behind!

This is not a weight loss post. It is about how far behind I am on my second class from summer semester. Luckily it is a 9-month class so I technically have until February to finish it but I have set a goal this week to be done with my first assignment and have it submitted to my professor. Lets just say life gets in the way sometimes! The worst part is my new semester starts in 2 weeks. So my goal by the 22nd is to have at least half of my assignments submitted so that I can start my next round of classes in a timely manner!

So as I mentioned life gets in the way and things get busy while we had a little excitement last week in the way of the dog. The last weekend in July Adam and I went to Virginia with my dad for his family reunion. We kenneled Wiggles for the weekend. On Saturday we got a call from the kennel asking if Wiggles had been limping before we brought her. I said yes she had because she had jumped down and jarred her leg somehow and we were working on it with the vet. My mom went to pick her up on Sunday because we still were not home yet and she called and said the dog is not doing well she can barely walk. I thought it was just due to her anxiety from us being away and told my mom that she would be fine when we got home. Well she wasn't. We let her limp around like that until Wednesday when Adam could not stand it anymore and he took her in to get it looked at. Well the vet wanted to do emergency surgery and look at the leg right away. Really its a good thing I love that dog as much as I do because I was thinking crap...how much is this going to cost? Turns out she tore her ACL and they injected it with platelets and cortizone to help it heal. In case anyone was wondering that cost us almost $500. Not to mention we had just paid $72 for 3 days in the kennel and the 2 months before she went in and got an "adjustment" on her leg at $150 and $50 dollars. So that is over $700 this summer just on the dog! Now I know that is no excuse to why I have not finished my class yet but the last couple of weeks I have been preoccupied with Wiggles and her treatment and healing. We still don't know what the final outcome is going to be with her leg but at this point I am definitely not leaning towards surgery if it is needed! So prayers are needed for her to make a speedy recovery for her leg and that she won't cost us anymore money!

Also this brings up what we should do with her while we are at Litchfield with Adams family next month. Being a dog owner is not always easy but to me it is definitely worth it!

2 months!

So I am only a couple of days late with an updated blog. Ok I am over a week late but who is counting? Anyway things have been going well. Last week because of other things going on and it being my late week at work I was able to work out in the mornings 2 days. It was nice to know that my workout was done before I went to work and if I wanted to work out after then it was up to me. The best part about me working out in the mornings is that I was able to lose 4 lbs in a week. Yes, you read that correctly---4 lbs! The most I have lost since beginning this weight loss adventure and it is also the total amount of pounds l have lost to date. I am sure most of it is my working out in the morning because I was able to hold myself accountable but some of it may have been that I started remembering to take my Metformin like I am supposed to. Like I said before because of the PCOS and the insulin resistance the Metformin is to regulate my body and hormones. I think this is part of the reason that I have started to start losing weight. It also is helping a little with my appetite and helps me to feel full. That is one of the bad things about the PCOS/insulin resistance. So hopefully it is starting to reverse itself and the more weight I lose the better it will be!

Working out in the mornings is what I am going to start doing every other week and on my days off. It actually helps me to stay accountable throughout the day. Plus as I mentioned before I get more time with Adam!

Well that is my workout weight loss update. A July conclusion is coming up next J.

P.S. I have made myself a little challenge. If I lose 15 pounds in August I get to buy a pair of shoes from Shoedazzle.com for Vegas! J

Quick post

I will blog more tomorrow and just wanted to let everyone know! It has been a crazy week and it spills into the next 2 weeks. But I will share this in the next post! Hope everyone has a great weekend and stay cool!!!

Summer concert update!

As I mentioned in a previous post I bought alot of concert tickets for this summer! Well we are halfway done with the concerts at this point!

The first one we went to was Jason Aldean at Verizon. I was not too familiar with Jason Aldean and his music but now I am a fan! He is a great entertainer and he is super cute! The concert was alot of fun. The weather was ok. It looked like and felt like it was going to rain for most of the night, but it never did which is good. In fact I just downloaded a bunch of Jason Aldean music on ITunes. What did we do without Itunes before? haha. Here is the only picture I took at Jason Aldean. Sara and I look like we are having fun! :) (The guy behind us doesn't haha)

The 2nd concert of the summer was every girl born between 1976-1992's dream concert. It was NKOTBSB. In case you do not know what that stands for it was New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys together. On one stage! Jordin Sparks opened for them and she was really good. But the concert was awesome! We were at the United Center in Chicago for that one. I went up with my friends (who are actual sisters and sorority sisters of mine) Kara and Emily. It was so much fun! We obviously stayed up in Chicago. We also made a trip to Ikea while in Chicago! That was my second trip to Ikea and it is definitely one of my favorite places to go! But I have to say I am glad it is not in Indy because I know that is where all my money would go!

2 weeks ago we went to Kenny Chesney. First we tailgated and drank before going into the concert. That was alot of fun. The truck next to us had a Tiki bar set up. Apparently when I went into the concert I missed the squirt gun full of rum and the jell-o shots. The concert was great and he even brought up Brad Stevens the coach of Butler to sing with him! So cool.

Next Sunday is the start of 3 concerts in 9 days! First is Tim McGraw at Verizon, then back to Verizon for Rascal Flatts the next Saturday. Adam is going to that one with us. Then the next Tuesday is NKOTBSB in Indy!

July is by far going to be our craziest month! The weekend of the fourth I had a 3-day weekend and we went to the pool, cleaned our house and had a little get together for the fourth. Of course I did not take any pictures for that because sometimes I remember my camera and other times I totally space it! It was a nice get together with some of our good friends. We also went out to dinner on Saturday night with Adam's parents.

At the end of July Adam and I are headed to Virginia for the Ward family reunion. My dad is taking us. It should be fun. I have not been to Virginia since I was a teenager and I am looking forward to Adam seeing where my grandpa came from. It is absolutely beautiful down there but it is in the sticks which I love! I am going to load my Ipod up with plenty of country music for the trip down! :) Good thing Adam likes country! :)

August is a quiet month and then September starts the month of traveling Adam and I are going to do! But more on that later! :)

So that is last couple of weeks and next couple of weeks! :)



Umm...

That is about how I am feeling right now and I am not sure what to post. But I know I need to post since I haven't in a few weeks. This summer has just been super crazy busy. Everyday is pretty much planned out to the minute which is good because I like to be busy but it would sometimes be nice to do something spontaneoous too! Because I am working out with my training classes on Monday, Wednesdays and Thursdays I hardly have time to go to the pool. Which for me is a bummer. Normally by this time in the summer I have a nice rich tan going on but not this year. Today after I get off work Adam and I are headed to the pool. We already made this unanimous decision on our way home from dinner last night!

On Thursday I was ready to blog about how I have not had any backpain in awhile since I have started working out more. Washing my hair in the shower this is exactly what I am thinking. Gee...my back feels really good right now. Well around 2 hours later I am sitting at work in excruiating pain. Its not that my back went out but it just tightness and pain from the workout that I did on Wednesday. So instead of doing the cardio circuit with the group on Thursday I walked the treadmill for 45 minutes. It was not what I wanted but I can't push my back any farther than my body will allow. I always feel heavier when I have pain. I guess it is because my self-esteem starts to lower for some reason. Also I start to get whinier than usual. Good thing Adam is used to this..ha. It is slowly starting to feel better. Friday I did a quick walk on the treadmill to try to further stretch it out and it seems to hurt less. Today sitting at my desk in the office will be a true test. On my breaks I will get up and do things like sort laundry and shower and load the dishwasher. The joys of working from home! :)

Before I hurt my back I was not doing so well with the C25k. Hopefully on Monday I can start doing it again. I am less than 3 months away from turning 30. There have been some subtle changes I have noticed lately though. First my arms are starting to look better. They are not wonderful but I felt comfortable in the new dress that I bought to go without anything over it. Another is that I was looking in the mirror last night after brushing my teeth and my face is getting slimmer again! That is the one thing that really bothers me is when my face looks fat! But now it is starting to look slimmer. My stomach is also getting smaller. I know that will be the longest process because when I gain weight it is ALWAYS in my stomach first! The other day one of my friends was telling me that when I am pregnant the only place I will probably carry is in my stomach. Oh I know they are right which is why before we get pregnant I have to at least reduce the size of my stomach!

As I was saying earlier this summer is just buzzing along. In less than 2 months we will be on our vacation to Litchfield Beach. I am really looking forward to it this year because our nephew is going to be SO much fun! Also hopefully in the next two months I can really start to get some results. I started on a new dosage of Metformin that is an extended release tablet last week. I only have to take it once a day now and not 3 times like I was before. I have already noticed that I am less hungry. Metformin in people with insulin resistance causes weight loss and is supposed to suppress your appetite. So far so good this time around. So hopefully it will continue to not upset my stomach and help me to eat leass and get my insulin resistance under control by losing weight.

I am going to cut this post off here but I am going to post some concert updates later today.

PS:I also wanted to include a picture on this post of the new dress I bought at Old Navy the other day. I told you I bought a sleeveless dress and wanted to show it off!

Change is for the better sometimes.

Things are finally starting to move in a good direction. After last weeks breakdown and weight gain I decided I am going to make some positive changes in my life. I have been doing very well with the whole eating before 7 thing. I think the only night this week that I didn’t do it was Monday. The one thing I have to get used to is working out after eating. I tend to get a little neauseaus while working out really hard after I have eaten. It is definitely something I will get used to. Also this week I restarted Couch to 5k. (C25k) On recommendation from a friend I downloaded the C25k app on my Ipod touch. It is amazing! I would definitely recommend it to anyone that is wanting to try the program. Before when I started it I was looking at my watch and trying to figure out when to run and when to walk. The C25k app tells you when to run and when to walk over your music on your Ipod.

But I think that these two changes have made it possible for me to say that I lost 3 pounds this week!! I am so elated that I lost that much! But I am realistic and know that I have sooo much farther to go but 3 pounds is definitely a start.

Now since working out with Jacquie started a month ago I have tried some new things that I am loving! First off is the running shorts that I bought at Old Navy. They are so comfortable and lightweight. Perfect for running and doing circuit training. The shorts are the womens mesh shorts. They are currently down to really small sizes on the website so hopefully they will get more in because I love them! I also bought a sports bra from Old Navy that I am going to try today. I will let everyone know how those work!

While in the gym I heard my trainer and some of the other people talking about FUZE juices. So I thought I would check them out. The FUZE slenderize juices are amazing and they are as low as 15 calories per bottle! Its not like one of those other drinks that is like 15 calories but there are 3 servings in the bottle. I am drinking one with breakfast in the morning and I love them. Adam even likes them too. CVS has had them 5 for $3 for the last 2 weeks so we are well stocked on them.

Today is day 2 of C25K. I am feeling stronger and better than I have in a long time. Honestly I have not felt this good since before my wedding! It is a great feeling and is definitely keeping me moving.

A HUGE setback equals a huge change!

My attitude this morning is a little discouraged. Honestly I don’t know if pissed is even the word to describe how I feel about it right now. I am so upset with myself at this point it is not even funny. I have gained 2 pounds since I started working out with Jacquie. That is ridiculous! It is my fault too. I have been doing the workouts but it is more like I am just going through the motions at this point. I cried when I got off the scale last night. I keep getting farther and farther away from the point I wanted to be at by now. Jacquie told me that I need to stop eating after 7. Honestly that is going to be so hard for me because I don’t get off work until 5 or 5:30 during the week. On the weekends it won’t be as hard, but on the days I work it will be very difficult. I called Adam after my session last night and asked him if he could help me on the nights that he is home at 3. He said that he can fix dinner on those nights and have it ready for when I get home. Oh and that is another thing I am upset about. Adam’s store went to 24 hours over Memorial Day weekend. And one of his shift supervisors walked out. So now Adam is working 2 overnights a week. So that means I never get to see him again. But the nights that he is working overnights I go to Jacquie and I tend to eat better when he is not around so maybe it will be a benefit to me. But that means I have to come home and fix myself dinner and take care of the dog all before leaving again.

When I called Adam last night about having to eat before 7 I told him that if I don’t lose weight we will not being having a baby. There is no way that I will be able to get pregnant at the size I am now. Nor would I want to. I really have to start to kick this into gear because I am not going to let my chances to be a mother slip by me because I was selfish and could not lose weight. I know that this is something I can do. Before I met Adam I had lost around 25 pounds. I have packed on over sixty since I met him. I did lose 10 of the 60 pounds I had gained but still that does not even begin to scrape the surface of what I need to do.

I know I have said this so many times before but this is my definite wake-up call. I need to do something now about my weight because it is seriously out of control. I do not want to be fat for the rest of my life because when we do have children I don’t want them to look at me and say mommy is fat so I can be fat too.

Its amazing what a week of workouts will do for you....

I have been working out with Jacquie for 2 weeks now. Last week was my first full week of working out at the gym. I feel really good and I have a ton of confidence now. It had been a long time since I could look in the mirror and actually like what I see. I actually ran on the treadmill on Thursday! I cannot believe I actually did it! The one challenge I have had is getting my 3 days of cardio in. I am going to start getting up in the morning and doing it before work so that I don't have to worry about doing it at night. Plus with going to my trainer 3 nights a week I like to be home on the nights I don't meet with her so that I can get stuff done around the house. The only thing is that my house has suffered a little bit since I started. I wish Adam would help out more but I guess there are bigger battles at this point.

I went and bought new tennis shoes yesterday. They are super cute! My feet had been really hurting in the shoes I had. I had been wearing those for awhile though so it was time for some new ones! I bought them at Kohls and had to grab a pair of socks to try them on since I had on flip flops. But I ended up buying the socks too. They have wicking and they are Nike brand. They are pretty similar to the socks my mom bought for me at Runners Forum before. I am going to wear them to the gym tomorrow morning so I can start to break them in before my class tomorrow night.

Well I am going to go and clip my coupons. After work I need to head to the grocery before its pool time! :)

What happens after 30?

Well...it is getting closer by the day!

As my friend Ashleigh said I am on a roll with the blogging recently. I have had 3 blogs in the last 2 days which equals half of the number of blogs that I did last year. Honestly I am now thinking about this blog and thinking it has some finality to it. After I turn 30 what am I going to do then? Ashleigh thinks that I should keep it going after I turn 30 on the progress I make with losing weight and staying in shape later. I was actually thinking the same thing. Great minds think alike! J There are some other things that I have bounced around and I am going to start experimenting with them on this blog and they may actually turn into a whole separate blog down the line, who really knows.

One thing I was thinking was more of a blog on what it is like to go back to school in my late 20’s early 30’s because let me tell you it has been an adventure. Now that I have switched over to Ball State I am a little out of my element as far as age. Those kids on campus look like babies compared to me! Just the little time I spent up there with the registering process in the spring made me realize that I am probably going to be the oldest or one of the oldest people in my classes. Maybe my experience with school and things that are going on with that will make an interesting blog on its own. That is why I am going to kind of start experimenting with that.

(Speaking of school, the summer semester is going well and I am just chugging along with it! I am hoping to be finished with one class by the end of the month. Which will put be 7.5 months ahead of schedule but I will save that for a different blog entry!)

Another idea I was thinking of that could be a totally different blog of its own is a blog about our house. I don’t know if any of my loyal (8) readers read any other blogs but I am obsessed with Young House Love. (http://www.younghouselove.com/)  They have some great ideas about fixing up an older house and doing almost all of it on their own. Our house is definitely a work in progress at this point. We have made some really nice improvements to our house to make it suit our style a little better but we still have a lot more to go. I have done some really cool things with our decorating that I am pretty proud of and maybe I should start to put them on the web for others to enjoy and maybe inspire a project or two. The only problem is that I have a lack of before pictures mostly because I am a little overwhelmed with some of the work that needs to be done and just get frustrated and close the door. So blogging about it may help make the experience easier. So don’t be too surprised if you see some house pictures appear on the blog.

One of my friends, Jen, suggested that I blog about some of the books that I read. I am an avid reader even while in school I have always found time to read in my free time. I am a fast reader and I love to share what I read with my friends because I want them to have the same experience with a book that I did. So you may see some of those books creep up here on the blog also.

One thing that I have thought about blogging about is TV shows or movies that I watch. I know that I probably would not have time right now to dedicate a whole blog to it but maybe sometimes I will just do a blog update on “What are the Murrays watching this week” or something like that! Along the same lines if I see any other blogs that I would like to share or maybe spotlight some of my friends blogs on here in the future also.

One idea that may come up in the next year or so is a pregnancy and motherhood blog. No, I am not pregnant now but we are planning on a family in the very near future and I still enjoy reading other peoples blogs about this subject and the humor that some of the parents share. Like I said this blog is not going to be happening anytime soon and it might not be a blog at all. We will see.

I know on here I have shared some things that Adam and I have done together. I think as we start going down the road and settling into the starting a family phase that there may be a more of a separate blog for family life. Trust me I could probably have a whole blog on my our crazy pitbull! J  This summer you will probably see some blogs from our concert and vacation experiences!

So that is what has been on my mind lately in terms of the blogging. I have really enjoyed writing these blogs in the last couple of days and hopefully that motivates me to blogging more often. It is nice to have an outlet to put my crazy thoughts on.

Still a little sore!

Workout #2 was last night. It was another doozy but I am feeling sore and good at the same time. I had forgotten how much better you feel when you start doing serious weight workouts. Last night was weight training. I did TRX for the first time. I love it! It is definitely worth all the hype that we had leading up to it. We also worked on abs which are probably my weak point due to having a back injury. After I worked out last night Jennifer and I went to the pool for the remainder of adult swim. It was great to be able to move in the water and make those sore muscles work a little more! I then went home and Adam came home and wanted to take a walk. Walks with us as a family are rare so I jumped on it even though I was feeling really sore and slow. Adam actually wanted to do a long walk so we went on about a 1.5 mile walk around the neighborhood. When we were crossing through the park on the way back I saw something on four legs walking around the trashcan by the basketball courts. I warned Adam that I was not sure what it was but to be careful. Adam had already saw it and started yelling at whatever it was to stay away. I am sure it was a dog but with all the coyote sightings people in Indy have had lately I wanted to be extra careful. So we ended our night with a very tired family!

So I am sure some of you are wondering how I am doing with my back and all the workouts. Well that is a good question. Anyone that knows the way I work out knows that I really push hard and don’t hold back. If it is hurting I tend not to let too many people know about it. Looking at me you probably wouldn’t think that but I used to be in very good shape and really even though I am overweight I still have some parts that are in good shape. My trainer Jacquie knows all about my back issues and she is very good about asking me how I am doing. She has back issues herself and does not want me to hurt myself. But I have made a decision that I am not going to let my back injury stop me from doing anything I want to do. As my mom told me early this week I have let my injury stop me for far too long. I feel horrible that I have waited so long into this year 29 adventure to start really trying at losing weight but I have always worked better under pressure!

Looking forward to some pool time this weekend and also Outrun the Sun! We have done it every year since it has started in memory and honor of my Aunt Julie who passed away from Melanoma. It is a great cause and if you ever have a chance to donate to it or walk for it I would highly recommend it!

I have decided that today I am going to do a separate post about school and some other things going on in the Murray household!

No pain, no gain?!

Wow..I am sore. With a little over 4 months to go until my 30^th I have decided in a last ditch effort to lose some weight to start with a personal trainer. Now I have worked with a personal trainer before my wedding and I saw some results with her. I decided to go back to the same one. Jacquie now has her own studio in Fishers. Check her out at Challengeyourbody.com.

My mom is helping me out with payments since I currently have little extra cash. I am doing 3 times a week in group fitness classes. The classes are small and with my back injury she is willing to help out and make sure I am not doing something that could injure myself. I was a little shocked when I went in for my first weigh-in with her and had gained 25 lbs since I last worked out with her. I knew I had gained a lot but I guess until you see the numbers you really don’t realize how much it is.

Well last night was my first night. I think I did pretty well with it. The class was 45 minutes long and she concentrated on body weight exercises and ab exercises. Tonights class is weight lifting. I am doing Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights over there. I think the one thing that will be the hardest for me will be the diet part. I have to write down everything I eat and holding myself accountable for what I am eating is challenging for me sometimes.

With the couch to 5K I have kind of put it on hold right now. I am going to restart it after the weekend. The main reason I stopped it was because I was so tired and sore after the first time that I wimped out. I think with the combonation of the training sessions and my C25K it should be exactly what I need to jumpstart my workouts.

Another plus is now the pool is open so I can swim some laps there if I would like to. I have already been over there 3 times and I am pretty tan already. I love summer!! J

Less than 5 months until 30!

And honestly I feel very good about the direction my life is going right now. Have not been able to say that much in the last couple of months. I am officially done at Ivy Tech although I think I checked out months ago. I am ready to move onto my next schooling adventure and maybe redeem the hard and negative feelings I sometimes have from my first 4 years in college. Originally I was not planning to take any summer classes because I knew my fall was going to be crazy but after meeting with my advisor and her recommendation that I retake a couple of classes I did not do well in (whoops) the first time around I decided that I would do them in independent study this summer. Which means I  have 9 months to complete it but I am hoping I can do them more in a month time frame so that I have at least 2 months school free. That way I can spend a ton of time at the pool which is my favorite summertime activity and maybe, finally get some much needed sun!!

On the weight loss front....not much to report as of a big weight loss (I know I am really bringing this blog down haha) But I have decided to restart the couch to 5K program. If you have never heard of it I would suggest googling it. I say restart because I tried to start it last year but it got too hot and I got crabby and I gave up. So this year I am going to do it in the gym instead of outside. I also went a couple of weeks ago to a Zumba class with my friend Amanda. I am going to go back because it is close to my house and it is always nice to work out with a friend. I enjoyed the workout and having something different. I am also hoping to be able to go back to Jacquie and have her help me with my weight loss goals. I am trying to do 30 lbs by the time I turn 30. Which gives me a little less than 5 months. Honestly if I hit the gym every night it is perfectly doable. The one weak spot is my diet. I am honestly working on this and seem to be doing much better. I have cut out almost all caffeinated beverages and am limiting myself to one a day if that. For the last 3-4 days I have not had any. I was having some horrible heartburn and caffeine headaches and I decided I could live without it. It has helped tremendously with the amount I am eating and also the way I feel. Although I do still feel groggy without the caffeine to wake me up that is something I am ok with as long as I don't have the heartburn and headaches.

Tonight I am headed to the first of my summer concerts with my friends. It is probably going to storm from the way the clouds look right now. Hopefully it holds off ! I will update after my first couch to 5k workout!

Lots of updates!

I have been horrible at this blogging thing and my posts are getting more and more erratic. I apologize! Since the last time I blogged there has been a major thing happen that I am really excited about! I know it is going to really change our lives but in a good way. And no it is not a baby!

I have decided to return to Ball State to continue getting a bachelors degree in Respiratory Therapy! I bet everyone is wondering why this big change of events and honestly I am kind of freaking out over it since it is such a huge change but honestly I was not happy at Ivy Tech and knew that it was either quit school all together or change to another school. Since I already have a degree from Ball State I know that I already have most of the core I need and can hopefully easily transition over to this new program. It will be strange being back up at Ball State especially since I will be spending most of my time in the Cooper building in science classes. I can say I did not spend much time there in my time at Ball State. It will be fun to be at BSU again even though it will be a lot different this time around considering I own my own house and I am married but Adam has been super supportive and is probably the main reason I have decided to go back to Ball State.

Now many people have been asking what I am going to do about work. Well at this point I am going to continue working until I can apply for the program and I have all my prereq’s. The clinical program is the same amount of time at BSU as it was at Ivy Tech. Adam and I have not decided what we will do at that point as far as finances but we should be close to paying off our debt by that point. Everything will fall into place when the time comes and honestly 2 years of me not working will probably fly by!

As far as the shape-up goes I have still been working out and trying to watch what I eat. Adam and I made a goal for ourselves to try to each lose 30 pounds by August. I am creeping steadily along and have lost around 5 pounds so far. Mom and I have been walking at least once a week and I have been going to the gym when I can. I have decided that tomorrow I am going to start shaking things up. Adam leaves on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday mornings at around 4:50 for work. I am going to start getting up early and working out and eating a good breakfast before work. After work I am going to start going back to the gym and try to do that a couple of times a week. I am going to do cardio and weights to really try to up my weight loss. A couple of years ago I was eating salads with grilled chicken for lunch and I am going to start incorporating that back into my diet a couple of times a week and try to shake up my diet. My biggest downfall is coming home and snacking. I do great during the day but it all starts to fall apart when I get home. I lose motivation to work out and have a tendency to sit on the couch and watch my DVR’d shows. By taking my clothes everyday to work it should help with the motivation to go to the gym and not come home beforehand. Also I am going to try to walk Wiggles at least every other day which will give me an extra dose of cardio in my day.

Another new thing I have tried is to do a new recipe every week. I am a coupon and recipe hoarder and decided to go through my recipes and find something new to try every week and then if we like it enough it will be incorporated into our meal rotation. I will try to share some of the better recipes I find on the blog so others can try them too!

I have decided that since I am going to BSU next semester that I am going to take this summer off from classes so that I have a little break. That way I can spend some time getting things done around the house before I start school in the fall. Hopefully that helps me with my weight loss.

This week will mark 6 months before I turn 30. I have a long way to go with the weight loss and am way behind on the blog! Hopefully it will get better and I will send my 20’s out with a bang!

Spring cleaning---1 month early.....

I may have mentioned this before but not all of this blog will be about weight loss but I will try to update on that every post. This past weekend Adam and I did some serious cleaning around the house. I have to admit that this winter I have done a horrible job of keeping up on household duties. Partly because of work and school but mostly because after fighting the snow and muck and everything we have had this winter I just am too tired to get off my couch!  I am not the greatest housekeeper to begin with but I also hate when my kitchen and living room are a mess becuase those are the rooms I am in the most during the hours I am awake. Anyway, one of my best friends from college Katie came to visit this past weekend and I honestly did not want her to see my house in its natural state...so Adam and I did a big clean-up of the house. It is amazing how clean our house is and it only took us a couple of hours. I am also always amazed at how much better I feel when my house is clean. It is amazing how when your surroundings are sloppy and messy that it effects your outlook and actually can cause you stress. And we are actually keeping up with it. One thing that I find really annoying is that I feel like sometimes I have to follow Adam around and pick up after him sometimes and to this day I cannot understand why he wants to put his work clothes on my dining room chairs. Really? I want your smelly gross BK clothes in my dining room....no thanks! That has gotten a little better but just because when I get home I just take it back to one of the bedrooms....he doesn't even complain about it anymore. I guess after almost 4 years of living together he is just giving up on that fight. If only I could get him to put his clothes in a hamper. I figure I will save that battle for another time.

One of the big things that happened for us in February house wise is that we got new carpet for our office! We were finally able to put up our new desk that we bought at Staples the day after Thanksgiving. I have already gotten to work from home while using my new desk which has been pretty cool so far. And it is so much more comfortable in that room that it was before. It is amazing what new paint and carpet can do for a room. I am now getting excited to get new carpet in our living room and hallway. Hopefully we can get that in June.

Another bit of good news this month is that after 5 months of mostly closing shifts Adam finally has 3 opening shifts and only 2 closing shifts a week! Also we finally have Friday and Saturday nights together every week! I am just so happy to finally get some quality time with him!

No big news on the weight loss front. I did gain one pound back but I have been put on some medication that should help me lose weight. I will write more about this in my next blog.

Well off to fold some laundry...

End of winter blues

I know it is been a long time since I have blogged and I wanted to give an update on how things are going. First off the good news…I have lost 4 pounds since the beginning of the year. I am happy with this accomplishment since I had gained so much weight since my surgery. My one year of my surgery was on January 28^th I am still having issues with my back but they are not like they used to be and I know that the issues I am still having are my fault since I have not worked on getting my core stronger. I know that is most of what my issues with my back is and it is totally controllable. So my new work out goal is to start working on strength training and not just cardio. Also my food choices are one area that I am not doing so well in. I do very well during the day while at work because I pack a healthy lunch and breakfast. I also choose my snacks well and I am normally not hungry. That is until I get home and there are more snacks that I can eat and so I do. That is one thing I really need to work on is not eating when I get home and ruining my whole day. So hopefully in my combination of working out and eating right I can continue to keep losing weight and get back on track by summer!

Thanks for reading my vents. I think they can only be described as the end of winter blues!

A great start to a new year!

Wow, I really need to be better about posting! I apologize to everyone that I have not been posting more but things have been busy! I have started classes and between working, working out and class I hardly have time for much anymore! I have been doing great at going to the gym. I am going at least 3 times a week (which is pretty good when I wasn't going at all before!) and I am worked up to doing 45 minutes at a time. I have been trying my hardest to mix things up so I don't get bored. Yesterday I ran for a minute and a half on the treadmill! It felt great and I was so suprised I could do it.  Tonight I decided to shovel the driveway for Adam before he got home from work. He isn't home yet so I don't know if he is suprised or not but I am glad I did it. It also burns a ton of calories. Again eating has been my biggest downfall. I am really trying to be careful with my eating but it is much harder than it seems.

One thing I am having trouble with is looking myself in the mirror. I have always had issues with mirrors and scales but lately it has gotten worse. By looking in the mirror sometimes all I see is my flaws and not the good parts that I have. It is hard for anyone overweight or not to look in the mirror and not be disgusted at times. I am always suprised when some beautiful and talented celebrity talks about how bad their self image is. It is amazing that no matter how much talent and success someone has they can still have issues with their body. I am sure most people would argue that the media is to blame but honestly I am sure it is just a part of being human. Working on my self-esteem is also something I am going to do during this journey.

One exciting thing that is happening in our life right now is that we are getting new carpet for the office! I am so excited about this because it is going to help our house look so much better! I am going to paint this weekend and hopefully next week the carpet will be installed..


Well I hope that my next blog doesn't take as long as this one did! Things are definitely starting to gain momentum in my weight less journey....

Hello 2011, I welcome you with open arms!

A new year for most people means making resolutions that they will try really hard at for a week or two and then forget about. Well for me I got a head start on my new years resolutions a couple of months ago. Of course one of my big resolutions is this blog and the big 3-0 shape-up. Of course my last blog I talked about trying to lose 10 pounds by the end of the year but that did not happen. Unfortunately I got lazy, busy and then sick in that last month and a half of 2010.  But the first month and a half of 2011 is a whole new story. I started out 2011 sick so there was no going to the gym until today the 5th. A funny thing happened when I first got on the treadmill...it actually felt good. No take that back...it felt great! I did a good half an hour on the treadmill (Hey, I hadn't been at the gym since October!) and then got on the bike for 15 minutes. After the gym I felt so refreshed and I wondered...why don't I do that more often? Megan went to the gym with me and we are going to try to start going a couple of times a week. While at the gym I ran into my old trainer Jacqui who was working out with a client of hers. The client is looking for a partner to work out with and I told Jacqui to give her my number. Hopefully she will call or text me so we can start meeting at the gym! It would be nice to have a couple of people to keep me motivated and accountable in my workout. After leaving the gym I called Adam and told him how good I felt. He was happy for me and is going to start going to the gym too. He was reminding me of the cute clothes that I can buy from my favorite store New York and Company. He knows how much I love shopping so he knew that would really motivate me! So hopefully this keeps me going. I really enjoy writing this blog and having people reading it is pretty cool and having people reading it is keeping me going.

Another goal I have for 2011 is to get my house organized and get some of our major projects finished. Adam and I started buying shelving and storage boxes after Thanksgiving and we have really started to get stuff put together in early December but with Adams new job we have not had a chance to do much lately until today when I started organizing the office. It is nice to have a goal to get organized. The one thing I am not looking forward to is organizing the garage....yikes! But that may have to wait unitl spring when it gets warmer. I will try to keep everyone posted on how this project is going too.

Also in 2011 we are going to try to get out of debt. Adam started a new job at Burger King as an assistant manager and it is going to be a great way for us to get caught up on some bills and Adam has found a career that is going well and I am so proud of him. The only downside is that he is working often and so that leaves me and Wiggles by ourselves often. Which should make it easier to get to the gym after work and I should be more motivated to study when school starts again.

I also am going to try to update my log more often to let everyone know how everything is going.

So that is the start of 2011 here in big 3-0 shape-up world it is shaping up to be a great year so far!