Washington D.C.

This week we are visiting the Washington D.C. area. We are here on aa Mission Trip with 4 other families from our church. We stayed in Grand Rapids, MI on Friday, then flew out at 6am on Saturday morning. We had a quick and easy, which is good, condsidering it was our first flight, ever! We arrived in Baltimore, Maryland early Saturday morning, around 7:15.

Once we arrived in Baltimore, we took a shuttle in to Washington D.C. It was crazy because we arrived right when they were running a marathon and they had the streets blocked, but you didn’t know it, until you got to the end of the road and had to turn around. We finally made it to our hotel, and we were able to check in early! That was nice, so we put our luggage in our room and headed out to lunch. We chose to eat at Au Bon Pain, which the kids and I loved (minus the service…) Au Bon Pain, means with good bread! Im pretty happy because I could translate that with my rusty french!

We had such a busy and wonderful week. We tried many new restaurants that we do not have in our area. We rode the subway, rode every single escalator in DC {we don’t have escalators in Traverse City!}, went through a lot of spinny doors.

We definitely didn’t do a lot of what we wanted. Brandon had a really difficult time on vacation, and Isabella doesn’t like to walk very much. But we saw the Museum of Natural History, Museum of American History, the Air & Space Museum, and the Botanic Gardens. We toured the White House, the Capitol, and got to see the Senate. Well, they had just took a break, and had an hour to reconvene, so we didn’t sit and wait. We had an appointment to meet with our Senator, Debbie Stabenow, but they were in session, so we met with one of her staff. We walked a lot, saw lots of beautiful Cherry Blossoms, and some great monuments.

I had hoped to update my blog throughout our trip, but had incredibly spotty wireless connection + a crappy little netbook, and not too much free time. Be sure to check out the blog that my friend Alline kept while we were there, showcasing some of the mission work we did. It’s a combination blog of our Washington DC trip, and the crew that went to the Bahamas for their mission work.

 

Healthy Living Day 7

{saturday}

Pop:: 0

Water:: 72 ounces

Added Sugar/Treats:: 0

Exercise:: 1.9 miles on the treadmill…had to do a quick run/walk this morning before work.

Pounds lost:: -5total for the week.

Woohoo. I feel pretty good. Brandon offered me pop and snacks tonight when I took him to the Soul Step Dance Studio thing where he got to show off some break dance moves. But I said no thank you, had a water and some veggie straws, that were actually good!

 

Healthy Living Day 6

{friday}

Pop:: 0

Water:: 24ounces

Added Sugar/Treats:: o

Exercise::little bit of walking

Pounds lost:: -5 total

 

I have been doing well at not drinking pop. Yesterday was the hardest because I took Brandon to eat lunch at House of Doggs, and they have bottled root beer which I love. But I was able to say no. Sweets and Treats was really hard on a few days. Yesterday the kids got HUGE m&m cookies, and at least Isabella tried to share with me. Well, she has tried to share sweets with me all.week.long. I had to keep saying no no no! Wednesday nights we head to dinner at church, and they always have so many sweet treats, and I felt really good about myself when I passed them up. I need to get through today, and start again tomorrow. Next week, I plan to keep a better log, not necessarily online, but a log of what I have been eating. I still have a little ways to go to hit my total 20, and only 2 weeks from today. It’ll be a close one. But hey, I just lost 5 pounds this week, so if I buckle down with my food, and a little more exercise, I got it!

Next week will prove tough though. I have brunch out on Sunday, with dessert afterwards. We have so many birthdays and anniversaries in March, on my mom’s side, that we get together every March and have brunch together. I think, that if I watch what I eat, have a small piece of dessert and then walk around my Grandpa’s farm, which is hundreds and hundreds of acres, then I will be good! Later on in the week we celebrate my oldest daughters birthday. Eek, I am one week away from having a teenager! Then 2 days later, we celebrate my birthday.

Have a beautiful weekend. I am heading to the gym shortly to fit in a quick run, and then I work all day.

 

Healthy Living Day 5

{thursday}

Pop:: 0

Water:: 52 ounces

Added Sugar/Treats:: none

Exercise:: 3.6miles on the treadmill

Pounds lost:: -4.8 total

 

Healthy Living Day 4

{wednesday}

Pop:: 0

Water:: 72ounces

Added Sugar/Treats:: 0

Exercise:: none, because I was home sick all day 😦

Pounds lost::-3.2 total

 

Healthy Living Day 3

{tuesday}

Pop:: 0

Water:: 48ounces

Added Sugar/Treats:: none

Exercise:: Run for God class… we did a 5 minute warm up walk and then did a jog/walk@ 60seconds/90seconds for 20 minutes and then a 5 minute cool down.

Pounds lost:: -1.8total

 

Healthy Living Day 2

{monday}

Pop:: 0

Water:: 24 ounces…need to up that alot!

Added Sugar/Treats:: 0

Exercise:: I skipped the gym because my neck is still hurting, but did 2 laps around the mall on my lunch break.

Pounds lost:: -.8

 

Healthy Living Day 1

{sunday}

Pop:: I had one super tiny sip, because Isabella put it in front of me, and I completely forgot that I cut it out.

Water:: 48 ounces

Added Sugar/Treats:: none

Exercise:: 25 minutes of fast walking at the mall before work.

Pounds lost:: 0 today

 

Healthy Living.

I think that it is fair to say that most of us strive to live healthy. I try. Somethings come easier than others.

One of my goals in my 101 in 1001 was to lose 20 pounds by the time we left for Washington DC. Well that date is fast approaching, as in 19 days. I have made some effort to lose the 20 pounds, and I have done okay. Really considering the effort I have put in, I am surprised that I have lost anything. But I think I can do it. I have my membership at the gym, and I signed up for a class at my church called Run for God. That starts this Tuesday, and I am accountable for making at least 2 other efforts during the week as far as running goes. The class is for beginner runners {to intermediate, I guess} It’s 12 weeks, and ends with a 5k. Each week we steadily increase the amount of jogging/ running to get up to running a 5k. I am pretty good at getting some exercise most days of the week. Food and Drink is a big problem for me, though. So over the next seven days I am going to do a few things.

1. Cut out pop completely.

2. Cut out the added sugar, no treats.

3. Exercise every single day.

 

Simple things, but can be oh so hard. So everyday this week, I will update you on my progress. I plan to do it for 7 days. Sunday through Saturday and then see where I am at, and what I will do for the following week and the one after that. I think that if I completely stick to a plan, I will have no problem. And you??? Keep me accountable. I need to fit into my smaller {by one size} clothes, so I have something besides sweatpants to wear to DC.

 

 

Blah

I totally haven’t felt like blogging in a while. Not sure why. Maybe because I haven’t really been on the computer lately. Well I have, just on my new ipod touch, but not on the main computer where all my stuff is. So huh. I haven’t even been reading my blogs daily. I keep forgetting to on my ipod, so when I log on to the computer, I have like 80plus blogs to read.

So, what have I been doing? The kids and I went to the Winter WOW fest, it was so very cold, so we didn’t do much except look at the ice and snow sculptures and watch a little of the snowboarding contest.

We have finished up our group fundraising for our Mission Trip to Washington DC and we are getting very excited that we are going to be there in a month. I just started typing up our itinerary and geesh there is so much to do in DC! We definitely won’t be able to fit everything in. It will be the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival and I am hoping the Blossoms are in full bloom.

I don’t think that I have even picked up my regular camera in about a month. So while I have been pretty busy, I seem to be pretty boring.

I did get started on Pinterest, and that’s fun. I just love pretty things!{I just logged on to it, and none of my pictures are showing…so I guess I need to figure that out}

Currently I am in love with the Tea Collection. Though, I seem to be in love with it every spring…summer, fall and winter! There is this cute little shop called Sweet Pea downtown, and while they cater to the infant and toddler set, they also are a Destination Store for the Tea Collection and carry it up to size 10 (and soon to size 12 which is the highest).  A few weeks ago, I popped in there to pick up this dress. Instead I came home with this, this and this. {They had a buy 2 get 1 free sale}. The following week, I stopped in with my friend Stephanie and actually made it to the back of the store where they had the previous collection for 50% off. Aaah. Of course all of the pieces hanging on the rack {with the exception of maybe 3 or 4} were Isabella’s size. So, yes, I grabbed them all. I think there was 2 dresses, 3 shirts, and 3 skirts. I know the owner, because when I worked at Preggers (a maternity store downtown) I sold him and his wife a crib and dresser set, and I am sure many other maternity clothes, and baby items. So I asked him if he was still doing the Buy 2 get 1 free for the regular price stuff, and he said no, but he would let me do it. So yes, I picked up that dress that I so wanted and another dress and some leggings. Sometimes I just get obsessed with things, luckily nothing ever sticks though. But I have been back to the store 2 or 3 times, and I have picked up many more pieces. So, Isabella should be set for quite a while with clothes. If you have never owned a piece of Tea Collection clothing… you should. They are absolutely great. The feel, the sturdiness, the everything. So worth every penny. Luckily it’s not too many pennies. The price for the pieces I buy Isabella range from $18-$30. The customer service with Tea is great too. The one dress I bought her first, the seam was coming apart, and I emailed them, and they sent me out a new one right away. I don’t have to even return the one I have, they just suggest that if it is wearable, that I donate it to charity.

Well, I don’t know that I planned to just write a post confessing my love for children’s clothing, and detailing how much I have spent on it recently, but there you have it. I love little girls clothing. Love it. And I am getting sad that Isabella is growing. But she is only in like a size 6,7, and most recently fitting into an 8, so that’s a minimum of 4 sizes yet to grow into. I don’t know what I will do when she outgrows it, or when the new collection comes out, because they keep growing and growing.

Can’t leave you without a picture! Doesn’t this just look so yummy???

{source::Happiness Is…}