Weight Watchers and Workouts

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Today is a very special day because y'all remember my good neighbor friends Erin and John Allen? The good neighbor friends who were expecting TWIN BOYS!?! Well, I got a text message this morning bright and early, saying that Erin's water had broken and she was delivering the twins this morning!!!

Her original C-section was not scheduled until July 18th, but all is well even though the babies are 3 1/2 weeks early. John Allen called Tom at about 8:00 this morning to tell him that one of the babies is 5 lbs 6 oz, and the other is 4 lbs 11 oz, and both are healthy and great and wonderful and perfect! Ahhhhhhhh! So exciting! By the way can you believe that little Erin was carrying around 10 pounds of baby inside of her??!?! Pregnancy and childbirth still totally baffles me.

So anyway, that is the exciting news of the morning that I had to share first and foremost. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow we will go visit them and I can report back with pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I had a whole bunch edited and ready to go, but alas our home internet is not working because we are between cable companies right now. So no pictures today, hopefully by Friday I will be able to get them uploaded.

Okay now, down to business. Let's recap this week's workouts, shall we?

Weekly Workouts:
Friday: Gym workout with TOM! Loved having him there! Tom is going on a huge-once-in-a-lifetime-10-day-wilderness-hunting-camping-trip later in the fall. It will involve lots of hiking and walking and climbing and all kinds of things that are more physically demanding than what he is used to. So he is trying to get his cardio endurance turned up a notch.

So after work on Friday I went to the gym and started out with 20 minutes on the elliptical, and moved to a sprint workout on the treadmill. When I was about 5 minutes into it, Tom joined me and I did a total of 40 minutes on the treadmill, followed by Cocktail Dress Arms.

It was so fun having him there! I loved our little gym-date and hope we can do it again sometime. I was really proud and impressed with his ability and attitude, especially since he has not really worked out since...well, since I've known him.

Tom's job is often physically demanding, and he does a lot of yard work and heavy lifting around the house, so he is in fairly good shape. But there's room for improvement in all of us, no? :)

Monday: 25 minutes on treadmill (walking for warm up and cool down, with 2 fast miles in the middle), followed by 20 minutes on the bike.

Tuesday: 4 mile run with Bex and Kristi. This run was so. freakin. hot. I cannot even begin to explain how sweaty I was when we finished. It took me like half an hour just to cool down.

Wednesday (today): Today is where I get disappointed in myself. I had plans to go to the gym, and get in my fourth and final workout of the week, and totally bailed. It did not help that Tom woke up sick in the middle of the night, kept me up for almost two hours moaning about a stomach ache and asking me did I poison his dinner. But that's no excuse.

On my way in to work this morning I was getting really down on myself, telling myself how lazy I am, how I'm never going to lose that 10 pounds by Beach Week, how I probably haven't lost an ounce since last WW Weigh-in, how I probably gained 2.5 pounds and am back where I started...the negative self-talk was through the roof this morning.

And I thought..."You know what? NO." No more of this negative self-talk. No more of this beating myself up because I don't count every single tiny little calorie or get in as many workouts as I'd like. Just stop it. I may not be training for an exciting event, and I may not the size I'd like to be, and I may not be able to get out of bed for every workout I plan, but I'm trying and that's all that matters. I need to just focus on what I am doing, not on what I'm NOT doing.

So there you have it. A very honest view of my weekly workouts. :)

Weight Watchers Update: I'm up 1/2 pound from last week. Grrrrrrr....I don't want to talk about it.

Porch Pillows Post

Happy Monday Gals and Pals!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and woke up this morning bright-eyed and busy-tailed (who are we kidding...I totally did NOT).

I did have a good weekend, though. On Friday night Tom and I met at the gym after work and I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED working out with my husband! We have not worked out together since....um, never! I will write more about that on Wednesday when I recap the week's workouts.

We ran errands and did stuff around the house for the rest of the weekend and it was so nice to get some things done! I have had a little crafty-project brewing in my mind for some time now, and Sunday was the day I finally had time to execute it.

Although this blog was originally intended to be solely about running, and leading a healthy lifestyle, I do stray from time to time. And by 'from time to time' I mean...a lot. :) But no big deal because my life is about so much more than sweating, drinking smoothies, and keeping one eye on the scale all the time.

Aside from Healthy Living blogs, my second favorite blog genre is DESIGN BLOGS. I love reading how other people decorate, and DIY, and I especially love getting a peak inside their homes. I'm creepy like that.

Some of my favorites are:

• Young House Love


• harbour breeze


• The Lettered Cottage


• Scissors & Spatulas


• Bower Power


• Tator Tots and Jell-o

and many many more.

So today I wanted to share a little DIY that I whipped up on Sunday. It is a super-easy project and I hope you'll try it and report back, if you're feelin' crafty in the near future.

This project is a monogrammed pillow cover. I do not have a monogram machine, but I have a standard sewing machine which I have learned to use pretty well since I got it as a gift from my mom at Christmas. I knew I wanted to use this pillow for the rocking chairs on my front porch. I loved the idea of doing a single letter monogram on one, and our street address on the other. I had seen this in a magazine somewhere...I think it might have been Ballard Designs...and they were like $40 for a personalized pillow cover!

I have about $10 invested in this project by only having to buy a couple things, and using the rest of the supplies with things I already had.

So here it is:

What you'll need:

• Freezer Paper ($6 at Wal-Mart for 150 feet!)


• Scotch tape (already had it)


• Exacto Knife ($2)


• Craft Paint ($.50)


• Craft Paintbrush ($1.49 for a 5-pack)


• Fabric of your choice (leftover from another project)


• Iron (already had it)


• Cardboard or cutting mat (free-used cardboard)


• Monogram template: (free) I made my template by printing out a 'W' in Microsoft Word. This particular monogram is in Times New Roman font, size 350.


• Pillow inserts (already had these)


• Total price: $9.99!

Freezer paper is great for creating sencils to be used on fabric...look, it even says so right on the box! You can get it at the grocery store in the same section with aluminum foil and plastic wrap. First, print out your template and lay it on a flat, hard surface. Play around with fonts and sizes. I wanted a print, not a script. Partly because I like the way it looks, and partly because I figured the straight lines would be easier than a bunch of swirly-girly lines for my first time trying this.

Anyway, place the freezer paper on top of it, SHINY SIDE DOWN. Tape down paper to hold it securly...only one or two peices of scotch tape will do. With a pencil (or pen if you're feeling confident!), trace the letter onto your freezer paper.

Remove the template underneath, so you're left with your letter drawn on the freezer paper.

Next, tape your freezer paper (again, only a couple of peices will do) onto a peice of cardboard or cutting mat, and use your Exacto knife to cut out your stencil. This was easier than I thought it would be because the Exacto knife is very easy to you. And it's very...well, exact.

Once you are done cutting, very carefully peel the letter off, revealing your ready-to-use stencil!

Now get your fabric. My fabric is a 20" square, so I used a measuring tape to center the 'W' at the 10 inch mark. Remember to place your stencil on the fabric SHINY SIDE DOWN. Secure with tape.

Place your fabric on an ironing board and use a DRY iron (no steam) to iron the stencil into place. It will adhear to the fabric like a not-so-sticky-sticker, without even damaging your fabric!

Next, get your paint and paint brush handy and paint over your stencil!

I would recommend putting down an old peice of fabric or something, becasue my paint bled through the fabric a little, leaving some paint on my ironing board cover. :(

Gently paint in your stencil, careful not to get it too terribly gloppy (<--gloppy is a technical decorating term, didn't you know?).

Set aside and let it dry. It only takes about 5-7 minutes for the paint to dry, and the ironed-on stencil to cool. Carefully pull back the stencil, revealing your beautiful, hand-painted monogram!

Now, mine had a couple of little imperfections on one side of the 'W.'

So I just used a teeny tiny brush, and a teeny tiny bit of paint to fix it. Voila! Good as new!

Now, this is the front of your pillow cover, obviously. I picked a coordinating black-and-linen fabric to go on the back.

I am not going to do a whole tutorial on how to make a pillow cover because I am not a seasoned seamstress, and I do a lot of things wrong. Like, I don't pin, I don't measure, I just eye ball it and go!

But basically you place your front peice and your back peice together, with the pretty sides facing each other.

Sew the edges together...

And turn inside-out. And there you have it! An adorable pillow cover that is personalized and hand-made with L-O-V-E! :)

I plan to use mine on my fornt porch because we have two black rocking chairs that have pillows in them that I bought when we had been married for about five minutes. A long time ago. Right now, I have the red paisly pillows out there (still cute...three years later), and this adorable 'W' that Sara Whit gave me for Christmas. We love a monogram around these parts..can you tell?

Here is the street veiw....

But with my new personalized pillows (remember I made an additional one with our street address on it, but had to crop it out for the sake of the internet)...It'll look like this! Paired with this cute wreath I got on clearance at Pottery Barn about 100 years ago:

Reba likes it too...she says, "Welcome! Come on in!"

Here I am...proud of my Sunday afternoon project! Goofer.

I also made two navy-blue striped pillows to go with my American Flag on the front door for Fourth of July. For now, this is what the porch looks like:

But after the 4th I think I'll put out my new stenciled pillows. Cute, huh?!

I have one more decorating/DIY/boring/my-house post later this week and then I'm done I promise.

Have a great week, everyone!

SUYL: SINGLES!

Good Morning Everyone! Happy Friday to you! The weekend's a mere 8 hours away, and what a relief that is!

Today I was going to post about summer fashion and colors, but that will have to wait until next week. Because this morning I have much more pressing matters to talk about: Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life: SINGLES is today!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, Kelly does a linky party where you can link up and talk about different life topics. This is the third time she has done SINGLES (everyone posts about a single friend in their life), and there is already one marriage, one engagement, and five serious relationships that have formed as a result. So cool, right? It's like Blogger Internet Dating only without the creepers.

Last time I showcased my mom, Helen Frazier, and this time I wanted to talk up my sister MYRA! Her stats and pictures are below....

Age: 30
Location: Nashville, TN
Occupation: Association Event Planner, Friend, Aunt, Daughter, all of which she is very good at. :)
What she's like (in her words):
"I love music. I like to dance. I love to travel and experience new things. I love to be on the water, be it lake, river, ocean, or creek. I find it to be healing. I like to cuddle on the couch and watch a movie as much as I like to get dressed up and go out on the town. I like good conversations, playing tennis, working out, and spending time with my friends. I have lots of friends. They are like family to me. I have a good job and am in a good place. I'd like to find someone who is in a good place."

I have lived in Nashville for 9 years so it feels like home. However, you should know that I am originally from the Mississippi Delta and those roots run deep, too. My whole family still lives there and we are very close...but not creepy close. ha!

What she's looking for:

I'm looking for someone who makes me laugh, someone who is social, cultured, likes the country but can make the most of the city. Someone who loves children. Someone who loves Jesus. Someone who is open to something real.

For Fun: Sitting on my patio with wine, and music, and friends, going out to pubs (<---NOT clubs) working out, being on the water, going to the movies, among other things.

Favorite things: Pineapple. Corn on the cob. Boating. Magic Hour.* Music---all kinds---specifically bands with horns, a harmonica, a mandolin, a banjo, washboard, fiddle, or anything in the folk/bluegrass genre.

*Magic hour is that hour in the day, on the beach, right before the sun goes down when all the families go in for dinner and it is still, quiet, and hazy on the beach. Magic hour is the perfect time to have a drink in your beach chair and finish that book you can't put down.

So that's the lowdown on MYRA! I have to tell yall that I love Myra so very much. She is my sister-in-law, but I feel like she is my sister-for-real. I was so blessed to meet and marry a great man like Tom, but what an icing on the cake to have TWO sisters who treat me like I have been in their family since day one. When Myra and I are together (and Sara Whit, too, for that matter) we can have fun going out to a fancy fun dinner, or laying on the couch watching Lifetime movies. Wherever we are, we always end up laughing until our stomachs ache!

In MY words, Myra is hilarious, outgoing, beautiful inside and out, headstrong, independent, family-oriented, dependable, not-so-great-driver, great hostess, creative, classy, and just plain FUN!!

If anyone is interested in Myra please leave a comment or email me at laurawithers2011 at gmail dot com.

Happy Friday Everyone, looking forward to seeing the singles in your life!

Weight Watchers and Weekly Workouts

Good Wednesday Morning Everyone!

I have decided to dub Wednesdays "Weight Watchers and Weekly Workout Wednesdays" from now on. Or from now until...I don't feel like doing it anymore.

So here's our Workouts for the Week (since WW Weigh-in is on Wednesdays, a 'week' will be considered Thursday - Wednesday):

• Saturday: Memphis Civitan 5K. 3.1 Miles in 31:48


• Monday: Sprint Workout at the Gym, followed by Cocktail Dress Arms (<--arm portion only, with 75 sit ups)


• Wednesday: 4.5 mile run with Bex and Kristi

And that's it. Three measly little work-outs this week. I need to be more focused and get to a point where working out 5-6 days a week is the norm. All with time, though, all with time.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the HIIT (<---High Intensity Interval Training) that I did on Monday. Back in my half-marathon-and-triathlon-training days, I would do at least one HIIT treadmill workout per week, usually lasting about an hour.

I read a post by one of my favorite bloggers, Gina, the other day and decided that I needed some HIIT back in my life. After a weekend of stuffing myself with wedding cake, pizza, and vodka tonics, I needed a serious sweat asap.

Gina is a certified personal trainer so I look up to her as a fitness role model. In her post, she mentioned that it is not necessary to do long HIIT workouts...20-30 minutes is all you really need.

So here is what I did (sorry for this weird format, blogger is giving me issues):

Speed/ Time

4 mph / 0:00 - 1:30
6 / 1:30 - 2:30
4 / 2:30 - 4:00
6.5 /4:00 - 5:00
4 / 5:00 - 6:30
7 / 6:30 - 7:30
4 / 7:30 - 9:00
7.5 / 9:00 - 10:00
4 / 10:00 - 11:30
8 / 11:30 - 12:30
4 / 12:30 - 14:00
8.5 / 14.00 - 15:00
4 / 15:00 - 16:30
8 / 16:30 - 17:30
4 / 17:30 - 19:00
7.5 / 19:00 - 20:00
4 / 20:00 - 21:30
7 / 21:30 - 22:30
4 / 22:30 - 24:00
6.5 / 24:00 - 25:00
4 / 25:00 - 26:30
6 / 26:30 - 27:30
4 / 27:30 - 29:00
8.5 / 29:00 - 30:00
cool down 30:00 - 35:00
*total distance: 3.5 miles*

You'll notice this is a walk for 1:30 minutes, run for 1 minute. Obviously these times and speeds can be varied to fit your fitness level and time constraints. For me, 8.5 miles per hour is very fast, and it's all I can do to get to 1 minute. For someone like Skinny Runner, she would probably do her 'sprints' at like 12 miles per hour!

The possibilities with HIIT are endless...you can do it with other cardio besides running of course. You could do bike or even elliptical...going as fast and as hard as possible for 30 seconds, followed by an easy pace for 1 minutes. Or, doing mountain climbers for 1 minute, then walking in place for 1:30 minutes. Again, you can alter this to whatever tickles your HIIT fancy.

I personally love the interval training because you work up an amazing sweat in a very short amount of time. So bring an extra face when you do these. Cause you'll sweat your face off.

Here are some other resources for HIIT training:

The Fitnessista
Peanut Butter Fingers
TurboFire

This morning Bex and Kristi met at my house and we started together. They were planning to do 3.5 miles and I had an ambitious 4.5 in mind. I finished my 4.5 miles with no walks breaks in 49:30. This is a 10:57 mile...just shy of 11 minutes (<---my goal in life to stay under an 11 minute mile forever and ever amen), so I was *sort-of* happy with it.

What I was really happy with was the distance because I seriously cannot tell you the last time I ran over 3.5 miles. So today was a milestone for me.

After our run I chugged no less than 2, 493 gallons of water while Reba licked by shins until I yelled at her to stop. Then I made an amazing smoothie for breakfast!! Warning: crappy iPhone pics ahead

• 1 cup frozen blueberries


• 1 frozen banana-lama-ding-dong


• 1 heaping handful of fresh spinach


• 
  
  1 1/2 cups of vanilla soy milk
  Smoothie Success!!! It was really delicious and ugly in color...the making of a wonderful smoothie! In case you're wondering, this smoothie has 6 WW points+ in it. I know that sounds kind of high for a smoothie, but you are getting two servings of fruit, a serving of vegetables, and a serving of dairy (by WW standards, soy milk does count towards a dairy product) all in this one smoothie.

We are on a blueberry kick at our house...I just had to share this cutsie-patootsie video of Lilly sharing her blueberries with Uncle Tom:


I love Lilly's face in this when I say, "Reba's crying." So concerned.

Weight Watchers Update:

Just got back from weigh-in and I'm down 2.5 pounds! Current weight is 162.5. This is SO encouraging to me, after not losing anything last week. Seeing a change on the scale, and feeling a change in my body (I'm a little sore after that arm workout on Monday!) makes me feel like my old self again! Love it. I know once I can see my weight in the 150's I'll feel even more motivated.

Weekly Goals:

• Get in at least 4 workouts including 1 HIIT workout, and 2 strength workouts


• Lost 2 pounds


• Count points every day


• Limit alcohol intake to two days: Wine Club on Wednesday night, and one weekend night.

BIKINI WEEK HERE I COME! :)

Fast Friends & Family Weekend

Hi Friends!

Hope you are having a wonderful start to your week.

My weekend went by so fast that it didn't even feel like a weekend! We had a fun-filled weekend with lots of family and lots and lots and lots of friends!

Friday night I picked Lilly up from her flower girl rehearsal at the church. A very special family in Tunica, the Gannaway's, were having a big 'ole Delta wedding shin-dig for their oldest daughter, Rebekah. The Gannaways are special to our family because while their girls were growing up, Sara Whit and Myra baby sat for them and were basically a part of their family!

Rebekah's parents, Jeff and Sandy, threw a party for Tom and I when we got married, and they are just a very special and generous family. We just love 'em!

So anyway, Lilly was the flower girl in this wedding also (as you might remember her first flower girl experience) so I got to be there to help prepare for the big day. The rehearsal went as well as can be expected...two two-year-olds running up and down the aisle of the church screaming and pulling each other's hair. But we just threw our hands up and said, "Well, I hope it goes well tomorrow!"

Lilly and Lala at the church:

Here are the bride and groom leaving the rehearsal! Such a gorgeous couple!

After the rehearsal Lilly and I went home for some pizza a rest before the big day on Saturday!

Saturday morning, Bex and I had planned a Girls' Morning Out in Memphis. First we went to Shelby Farms to run in the Memphis Civitan 5K. This was Bex's first post-baby-Evie 5K and she did AWESOME! I was really proud of her.
I have never run a race at Shelby Farms and I loved it!

The course scenery was so beautiful and shady.

We weaved through threes and trails and playgrounds and ponds.

There were a few hills, but nothing I couldn't handle.

I finished in 31:48. Not the best I've ever done, but I was hoping for under 32:00 and that's what I got! You might remember my original goal for this run was to be under 30:00 but after the Gibson Guitar 5K last weekend, I could tell that wasn't gonna happen.

So 31:48 it was. I'll take it.

I also wore this super cute new running outfit! How do you like this awesome/awkward picture of me in it?

Hahahahah..goofer.

I got it at Sports Authority. And, although I feel a little like I'm participating in a high school track meet, I always get excited to wear new clothes.

After the race we hung out and cooled down before going shopping and lunching all morning. I'll be back later this week with a post about some fun Summer fashion.

Saturday afternoon I went back to Tunica to nap, shower, and get ready for the big event Saturday night! I arrived at the church early to help Sara Whit with Lilly.

Here is our gorgeous bride! Seriously, she looked like she stepped off the cover of a magazine.

Lilly had some primping to do herself before getting into her fancy flower girl dress.

Here she is all gussied up...that dress is just as beautiful as it was the last time she wore it!

Things were touch-and-go with the flower girls before the ceremony. It was Meltdown-Temper-Tantrum-City there for a while. But then, by the Grace of God, they performed miraculously for the wedding! Nothing a little bit of God's Grace and the promise of a Pink Mini Mouse Car won't do! Ha!

So I'm here to report that Lilly is 1 for 2 in her flower girl duties. I'm sure there will be many more flower girl experiences in her future!

After the ceremony went off without a hitch, it was time to party! Me and my handsome date:

Me and my silly sister:

We had a blast dancin' the night away!

Goofers.

The band was so wonderful and fun...we stayed until the very last possible minute!

The dance floor looked like this the entire night:

Look at this cute pic of my fun family!

Let me talk about something for a minute here...do any of you struggle with red eye in your photos?

Here is the original copy of the photo above:

Notice anything? Tom, Sara Whit, and Myra all have the devil eyes. Every single picture we take as a family, the Withers have RED EYES. Even Lilly in a lot of them. Brian and I are the only ones who look perfect in every picture. Ha!

After a long day and night of fun, Lilly was about to pass out! Time to go home for this little girl. Even though she wanted to stay even longer...here she is when Sara Whit told her it was time to go home:

Sara Whit said they got to the car, stripped off that dress and headed home. But Lilly piped up and said, "I want chicken nuggets from Wendy's!" ahahahah...late night post-party-eater...that's my girl! Here she is waiting on her Wendy's. Too funny.

All in all, it was such a beautiful and lovely wedding, and we are so thankful to the Gannaways for letting us be a part of such a special day in their lives!

Sunday we recuperated by hanging out at home and by the pool.

Yesterday after work I felt like a needed to get a good SWEAT in after partying, eating, and being all-around lazy all weekend. After my workout (more on that in Wednesday's post) I was CRAVING a smoothie.

Julie is always making these yummy-looking smoothies and I just had to have one. This one had such pretty summer colors in it I just had to snap a picture:

In this mix was:

• Fresh spinach (two huge handfuls...I needed those nutrients!)



• 1 fresh peach



• almost 2 cups fresh blueberries



• 2 cups vanilla soy milk



• 6-8 frozen strawberries (unpictured)

Hit. The. Spot. I hope you all had a great weekend, and have a fun week this week! I'll be back on Wednesday with a Weight Watchers and Weekly Workout update!