Before and after

So I have finally completed my before and after photos with my trainer. Well I had my before when I first started, just had to get my photographer from the newspaper to take an after. See, my three month fitness journey has been documented in the newspaper I work for. Readers have been following since day one and I've gotten quite a few emails, letters and phone calls from it all. It's been fun!
Yes, I am continuing with my trainer for another three months, but it's on my own dime. He was giving me free training sessions for the first three months as I would advertise his gym with my blogs and columns etc in the paper. It was a great arrangement.
So next week my final piece is running and we'll have both the before and after photos along with it. I wanted to give you guys a sneak peek. I'm pretty happy with them!

BEFORE:



AFTER:



Have a great weekend everyone! Happy Father's Day to all the papa's! xo

Back from Disneyland!

I had a great time in Disneyland! I got back late Saturday night! Don't hate me friends, but I got to meet Jake the Bachelor! Honestly, he's cuter when he doesn't open his mouth. He seems fake to me. Nice enough though. And I have to say, I wasn't a fan of her on the show, but Vienna is very pretty in person. She's stunning. So here's a photo of us on the red carpet event I was at. It's terrible of me, but whatever. That's what I look like after standing five hours on the red carpet in the hot, humid weather. Yuck!

Other stars I saw were Teri Hatcher, Mario Lopez, Melissa Rycroft, John Stamos, Jamie Lee Curtis and more! It was fun!
I totally fell off the wagon eating-wise when I was away. Don't get me wrong, I know I was on vacation, but it was a free for all when it came to food.
I'm struggling to get back on track a little and it's frustrating. To be honest, I feel like I'm not into exercising as much either. I hope I can shake this soon! I'd love to lose at least another 20 pounds. I have to stay focused!
It's been rainy and cold here for the last couple of days. I got about half of my flowers planted on Sunday and I'm looking forward to getting the other half done on the weekend.
Noel comes home tomorrow after being away for two weeks. I'm happy he'll be home. Tonight I'm going to clean the house like mad and hopefully bake some goodies for him too. I love doing that kind of thing for him!
Oh yes, and we also have some new residents in our backyard. When I came home last weekend I saw that there was a bird's nest under our deck in the backyard. We have a walkout basement, so our deck is about 20 feet in the air. I took a peek inside the nest from above the deck and saw three little blue eggs in there! The mama Robin has been sitting on them for the last couple of days. So very excited! I love babies of any kind!
Anyways, that's all for me! Chat soon!

Off to Disneyland!

I'm so excited to be off to Disneyland tonight! I'm going on a work trip because they are opening a new attraction later this week.
The weather here has been cold and rainy and is supposed to carry on for the rest of the week. The weather in California is hot, hot, hot! So I'm super happy to go!
I also need a break. It's been a very busy couple of months for me and I'm looking for things to slow down. After this trip, they should.
Last weekend was one of my best friend's weddings. It was beautiful, she looked beautiful and the whole day turned out perfectly. It's amazing to see someone you care about and love so much so happy! She was glowing the entire day and I feel so thankful to have been able to be a part of that.
Working out is going well. I haven't seen my trainer in a week since he was away running a race and this week I'll be gone. So I'll have been on my own for two weeks by the time we pick up our regular sessions again. I'm so glad to have him because this past week has shown me that I'm not ready to be on my own. I'm not as motivated when he's not there to cheer me on. I'm hoping I'll get there because I can't keep him forever.
So that's all for now! Just trying to finish out the work day and hop on that plane! See you all soon!

I feel so lucky!

My goodness I am one lucky girl! So I came into work yesterday morning just minding my own business and my boss calls me into his office. Ok, this is normal, my boss is funny that way, he likes to have "private" conversations with you when you get in first thing. Haha! So he tells me that he's sending me to Disneyland in a couple of weeks to do a story. WHAT? Back up! I was shocked!
So yes, it's official. On June 9 my best friend and I are flying out to Disneyland so I can cover the opening of a new attraction there (I'm a journalist for a newspaper in case this doesn't make sense to some of you)!
This is so cool! I of course checked to see if Noel could make the trip with me, but it's a no-go for him since he's just getting back onto his days on for work. Sucks, it would have been nice to get away with him. But nonetheless I'm happy to go with my best friend.
The new attraction is called World of Color and it's a water/light/laser show. The preview event is on June 10 with the grand opening to the public on June 11. I get to hobnob with some celebrities at an after party for the event too! There are a few media events I have to attend, but all in all we're pretty free to tour around. YES!
So excited!

This weekend is going to be a busy one. To be honest, I'm going to be very happy when my life slows down.
Noel's grandma is having a garage sale that we'll be helping out with tomorrow. We are going to have to drive almost two hours away to her place for it, but that's ok. It sounds like a lot of the family will be there which is exciting. We never get to see them enough.
Then on Sunday, we have an agility trial with our club that I'll be helping out with at some point. I haven't heard what time I'm supposed to be there, but I really hope it's not too early. Sleeping in a little would be nice! :)
And then there's work. I have so much on the go right now that I'll be working some overtime this weekend. Kind of sucks, but at the same time, it's nice to spread it out rather then trying to cram it all in in a matter of hours.
So that's all for now! Have a great weekend everyone!

Update!

Good morning everyone! So sorry it's been over a week since my last post. Time is flying right now. I'm a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding on June 5 and things are getting more and more hectic as the days get closer. I feel all consumed with wedding stuff and I can't imagine how she feels!
Last weekend we had her stagette in Banff. It was so much fun! There was about 20 girls and we rented a seven bedroom condo up in the mountains. I haven't had that much fun in a really long time. I'm still recovering from the exhaustion of the weekend, but it was all worth it!
Noel and I have been busy getting our gardens ready for planting. It's still quite cold at night to put plants in, but I can't wait! I'm going to plant some bulbs tonight and the rest will have to wait another week or so. But on Sunday Noel was so proud because we have one garden in our backyard that is overrun with weeds. I hate it and usually ignore it, only to have it become worse and worse. So he got in there, pulled all the weeds, put down some landscape cloth and black mulch and it looks absolutely amazing! I'm so proud of him for doing that! I can't stop looking at it, I'm so impressed! LOL! Who knew he had that in him?
In other news, I've started my paying sessions with my trainer. Things are going really great. We did a "phase one" progress report about a week ago and I had dropped 18.5 pounds and lost 16 inches! What? I was so happy! I thought I hadn't lost that much weight for three months, but I was impressed. Not only that, but I also lost a total of 4% body fat. I was very happy!

Bad blogger!

So, I apologize I didn't make good on my promise to blog more. My goodness the days just seem like they are slipping by! Obviously I need to make more of an effort.
Nothing overly new to report. I'm still working out with my trainer three times a week. My three months with him is up at the end of the week. Should I be sad? No, because we're extending our sessions for an additional three months!
Yay! I'm super happy about that. He is absolutely the best and I can't imagine not having him to encourage me just yet. I definitely wasn't ready to give him up!
So in total, I have lost close to 20 pounds and close to 20 inches too! I'm super happy about that although I would have hoped I would have seen a bigger weight drop. But that's ok, I'll take it! I know I'm doing this the right and healthy way and that these changes will stick with me!

In other news, I've decided to really ramp up my cake decorating and turn it into a business! Isn't that cool? I'm excited but boy am I a little scared that I'm going to bite off more than I can chew. Cake decorating can be very time consuming, so if I get overly busy, that will not be a good thing. I guess I can pick and choose what I'm going to do and how many cakes I construct.
I may need your guys' help in the next little while in terms of cake prices. I tend to under charge on cakes and I see what some of my competitors are charging and I'm shocked that people pay that kind of money -- but they obviously do! I also don't want to rip anyone off either.
More to come on that.

So, I'm back. I need to sit down and take the time to write. It keeps me accountable and I love hearing from you guys too!
xo

Wow!

My goodness has it really been almost a month since I last posted? I'm sorry! Things have been so busy and every time I think to post, I just don't have the time to sit down and write!
Things have been going well. My diet is still going strong and I'm finding out what is working for me and what isn't on the food front. I've branched out a little more from my meal plan with the ok of my trainer. He's great and is open to a lot of ideas, which makes it easier for me to stick to my plan!
My workouts are going really well. I'm actually going to keep my trainer for an additional three months which will bring me into August. I'm very exited.
It's almost time for more measurements too, which is great. I don't think I'll see a huge change from before, at least not as dramatic, but I know I've lost more inches since the last time. Yay!
The scale is still a thorn in my side, but I'm really trying not to think about it too much. Only problem is, is that my trainer has me weigh myself everyday which can be disappointing. So far I've lost 14 pounds in 2.5 months. I honestly thought it would have been more, but what can you do?
Anyways, there's my little update! I promise to post more often!