Manic Monday

I am linking up today with Sami to clue y'all in on all the fun things I did this weekend. This weekend was full of work, a birthday shindig, and a baby shower.

Friday night I was at the Dairy Delight slaving away. Afterwards, I had made plans to have a couple girlfriends over to hang out. When I got home, I was surprised to see Tyler and about 7 of his friends over. Apparently their plans to go out had fallen through and everyone just came to our house. It was our friend, Erik's, birthday. We all hung out and had a great time.

Saturday we had the baby shower for Molly and Noah Finley. She recieved a ton of great stuff and we all had a fantastic time. We got to spend time with our extended family and some close friends, which is always wonderful. Afterwards, I went home and crashed with Tyler. We both slept on and off the rest of the afternoon into the evening because it was raining like crazy.

One of my fave ladies in the world, Aimee



My sweet, sweet family

Sunday, I worked all day and came home to straighten up and get ready for the new week.

Tell me about your weekend! Anything fun and exciting happen?

xoxo, Blondie

It's Friday Y'all!

It's my favorite day of the week again! Today I am linking up for the first time with The Vintage Modern Wife & Scissors and a Whisk

HAPPIES:

1. I had all of last weekend off when we went to Tunica...I seriously CANNOT remember the last time I had 2 days off in a week.

2. I got to spend some time with some girlfriends on Tuesday night that I hadn't seen in about a while

Karlie, Lacy, and me!

3. Last night was the last class of lectures for the semester

Beyond bored in class

4. Tomorrow is my sister's baby shower for sweet Noah

5. I rediscovered Diet Green Tea! 

CRAPPIES:

1. I have to study it up all this weekend 

2. I am feeling a little bit of a head cold coming on

That's all I have for you today! I hope y'all a wonderful weekend!

Catch up with you on Monday

xoxo, Blondie

Thursday Dogsday #1

Since I am so obsessed with cute dog pictures I am going to start posting my favorites I see throughout the week on Thursdays. Be prepared for cuteness overload!

Yes, yes you are!

Just a swingin

Now hand me a beer and the remote

Of course!

Have a great Friday-Eve!

xoxo, Blondie 

Weigh in Wednesday & a Confession

I am going to be pretty honest. I have never necessarily been what you would consider fat, but I have been uncomfortable with my body time and time again. Honestly, I think all women feel that way at some point. The highest I have been at one point was right around the 140 mark, and while that doesn't sound like a very outrageous number when you are 5 foot 2 it definitely makes you look like Chubby McChubster. I was miserable, and the sad thing is that I didn't even know it until I began losing weight. I didn't realize I had gained nearly 30 pounds. I literally thought, "Damn, they are making pants smaller than they use to." Can you say straight up denial?! It wasn't until a life changing thing happened (that I am not ready to share just yet) caused me to reevaluate myself. I looked in the mirror and was unhappy. I was unhappy with my body and that unhappiness had began to spill over into other areas in my life. I am normally a very peppy and bubbly person, and had become a person who didn't want anything to do with anything. I couldn't even believe that I was at that point. I knew I ate like crazy and never moved a muscle & I knew that I wasn't who I usually was but blamed it on other things. I never realized until that moment that it was taking a toll on me, on my figure, on my self esteem, and even on the ones I cared about the most. I chose right there in that moment to make a difference. At first, I am not real sure how it happened weight just started coming off. That was in August of 2011. By January I had got down to about 125 pounds and joined a gym. I was feeling good and looking good. I can remember the first time I went to the gym and they measured and weighed me thinking in my head there was no way I could get even smaller. I started exercising and soon it became an obsession. I started the journey at 142 and was a size 8 I got down to 115 & was a size 2. I was looking and feeling better about myself more than I ever have in my entire life. I wore that bikini last summer and could confidently say for the first time ever I wasn't self-conscious. I felt great. And then life slowly started creeping on me. I became busier and busier. School started, working two jobs, trying to balance a social life, housework, and trying to keep my fiance happy...it all became overwhelming so I started pushing fitness to the side. I started slacking and for a while that was fine. It didn't matter I was still skinny. But slowly and surely the weight started creeping back on. And the tummy started getting flabby again, my pants are tighter, my face started getting fat. I seriously can gain 1 pound and it shows straight in my face, what is up with that?! Then, my biggest downfall is my diet. Y'all I am a sweets girl. I love them all! Oh and did I mention Tyler's family owns Milner's Dairy Delight...as in I have total access to FREE icecream ALL THE TIME. Not good for this girl who has the biggest sweet tooth in the South. I am also a late night binger. I have never, ever, ever shared that with anyone. I control myself to do it when no one is looking, late at night so that no one can hold me accountable. Tyler works nights some during the week, and it is so easy for me to eat as much as I want and think that I am getting away with it. It is sick...I can sit there full and miserable and still reach for more. As in last night sitting on my couch I had already ate a corn dog and some veggies for supper. Well, later that night around 11:30 I decided I was hungry (I wasn't hungry I was bored) and went to McDonald's...I ordered a Chicken Bacon McWrap, Large Fry, Large Coke, and 4 cookies. I ate it ALL. I went to bed miserable and hating myself for inhaling all that. I woke up this morning even more miserable with myself and feeling bloated to hell and back. I also woke up this morning knowing that I need to get back on track, QUICK! I am not sure what my weight is right now. I am going to the gym tonight and will be taking a picture of the scale. I know it will not read what I want it to say. It is time I get my hiney into gear.   So with saying that I am jumping on board with the #4MChallenge to try and tone this body up and shed some pounds. I will be doing the Ripped In 30 DVD. I will also be doing this ab challenge everyday & running a couple times a week.

Some chubby & skinny pictures. For the life of me I could not find a chubby picture in a bathing suit..hmm surprise, surprise!

Fat Face

 



Easter 2011 busting out of size 8s



Summer 2012...the only summer I have been confident

Memorial Day 2012

June 2012

Cotton Row 5k in 90 degree temps



October 2012 in size 2 dress

Now that I have shared some of my journey, please share some tips and recipes with me :)

Happy Hump Day lady friends!

xoxo, Blondie

Weekend Getaway

Like I metioned last week we went to Tunica this past weekend. We always have a blast! I don't go to win money, I go for the free beer :)

We left Friday afternoon and made it to the hotel around 10. When we checked in they had our reservations under another man's name even though I had our printed confirmation with our names on it. No biggie, the nice man just cancelled that and rebooked us a room (or so we thought, more on that later) We got in the room, threw some makeup on, and headed out to the casino floor.

While Tyler was busy losing his money on the blackjack table; I was playing the penny slots, drinking beer, and people watching. Now, Tunica is NO Las Vegas, but there are some strange characters wandering around...there is the 87 year old grandmother with her fanny pack stuffed with dolla dolla bills, the guy who seriousy looked like he was 12, the men who thought they were "gangsta", and then there were the "in the middle of a mid-life crisis" drunk ladies.

I found this hat in the gift shop. I should have bought it and stolen the fanny pack off of a granny!

Saturday we decided to make the most of our trip, and head over to Memphis for lunch. We decided to eat at Rendezvous. I am not going to lie, it was a HUGE dissapointment. Everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE we asked said to go there. All 4 of us were really dissapointed in the food, but the atmosphere was great. I loved the electic collection all over the walls. We headed back to the hotel to relax a little before heading back out to the casino.

We went out Saturday night..Tyler hoping to win some money back and me hoping to get a free buzz. Mission accomplished...for me! We decided we would eat at the Paula Dean's buffet on the upper floor of the casino. Y'all I am NOT a buffet kind of person, but you can't pass up Paula Dean. Everything was delish! It was seafood night, so we filled up on oysters and crab legs! We decided we needed a nap after rolling ourselves out of there. About 1AM we went back for Tyler to lose EVEN more money...bless his heart. I would keep telling him "walk away, just walk away..you're up right now" but he just wouldn't listen and wouldn't stop until his chips were gone.

We LOVE butter, y'all!!!

Wasting pennies and wasting away

 

Sunday we got up, checked out, and headed home.

Yesterday, I was checking my bank account online, and it turns out that mistake checking in was never really fixed. My card was charged nearly $500 for this other man's stay. This girl right here was PISSED. I called and spoke to a lady trying to get my money back, but she wasn't any help. I asked to speak to a manager and after being on the phone with them for 2 hours I think everything is finally situated..It should all be cleared out by the end of the week. It was such a headache having to deal with all of this that they ended up giving us a free weekend so I am sure we will be heading back soon!

Sorry, I know this was a LONG post. If you have made it this far, thanks for sticking it out! :)

xoxo, Blondie



Short & Sweet

I have lots to do today so I am going to keep this one short and sweet

Yesterday afternoon I went and had my nails done and brought my nephew along. I was a little nervous of how he would behave, but he ended up behaving really well.

Later on that evening we went out to eat with Ash for her birthday, which was this past Saturday. We had a great time even though Christian started acting a little insane in the restaurant.

 

I also may or may not have ate 3 pieces of chocolate covered bacon from our local chocolate shop.

Well, I am off to get through this work day so that I can win it big this weekend at the casinos

Wish me luck!

xoxo, Blondie

Apparently I am a follower

Since everyone is doing the whole 25 things list I figured I would jump right in!

1. I was born with incredibly crooked pinkies and it always tends to weird people out

2. I put crazy color in my hair when I was 19 years old...I wish I would have listened to people when they told me it looked like shit, but I rocked it because I loved it at the time. Looking back now I think it was completely hideous and I am not real sure why I EVER thought it looked good.

Wth was I thinking?!?

3. Speaking of hair..I dyed my hair brown once just to see what it was like. I HATED it! I felt like a completely different person!

4. I have this weird thing when I go grocery shopping where everything has to be organized in my buggy. Certain items can't even be beside one another or I will FREAK OUT!

5. I have an addiction to chapstick and at any given time I have at least 2 or 3 tubes with me

6. I can't swim...like really cannot swim, but I love being in the water!

This is how I wear my lifejacket in the lake

7. My lucky number is 7

8. A couple days after getting my license I went to my real dad's house, and as I was backing out of his driveway that has 2 posts at the end I scraped my car from the back all the way to the front on the driver's side. It turns out my real dad wasn't enthusiastically waving bye to me..he was trying to get me to stop. LOL 

9. I eat pickles like a pregnant woman.

10. I am OCD about brushing, flossing, and bleaching my teeth.

11. I have an irrational fear of raisins

12. Once Memorial Day gets here you can find Tyler and me on the lake every single weekend until Labor Day.

13. For my 19th birthday Tyler and me got tattoos on the inside of our left wrists. I got a breast cancer ribbon and Ty got an Alabama "A"

14. Every time I go into a store to buy something for someone else I always walk out buying something for myself also!

15. One of my favorite things to do is get my nails done

16. Whenever I hear a song I know I always sing along. If I am in the car it is like a full blown one woman concert!

17. I played the clarinet in the band and was also on colorguard in high school.

18. My first job was at the local Captain D's

19. I have a slight MAJOR obsession with Luke Bryan. I have been to 5 of his concerts and I am going to another one in July.

 

20. My favorite thing about me is my long, hookerish eyelashes.

21. My favorite movie is Where the Heart Is

22. I am pretty much an Instagram addict @blondietellsall

23. Tyler and me send pictures of cute and funny dogs to each other on a daily basis

24. I am a HUGE ALABAMA FAN

25.I only wash my hair 3 times, at most, in a week...usually it is twice a week

 

I hope you have gotten to know me a little better 

xoxo, Blondie