Monday Musings

This weekend seemed very long...yet short at the same time. I feel like I got nothing accomplished! I'll be making up for that today with grocery shopping, cleaning, etc.

On Friday night, Jake and I got to have a little date night out at the OAR and Phillip Phillips concert on Daniel Island. Thanks to my wonderful friend, Suz, who brought her kids over to have a play date and watched our kids for us.

Saturday, we reaped what we sowed {drank} and I swear, except for taking care of my kids, I was worthless. I jumped back on my clean eating diet immediately...it so wasn't worth it. I am not 21 anymore.  The kids kept entertained with pulling out the old Halloween costumes {and Breckin's new Hulk costume from Uncle Jesse & Aunt Alli}...and playing superheroes all day.

After we put the kids to bed, Jake and I got out the tape measure and a pencil and planned out our new closet layout. I took everything out that was still in there - Jake's clothes, his hanging rack, and my plastic drawers full of clothes. If you don't remember, my side of the closet detached from the wall early last week, so my clothes have been laying on the guest bed in the nursery all week. Now our room and Farrah's room are just covered in our closet's contents.

Jake went to his workshop on Sunday to build the closet pieces and was gone all day doing so. {I really am a lucky wife to have not only a talented husband, but a hardworking one.} I managed to run a couple loads of laundry, but then my good friend, Meg, that had moved from Carolina to California {see what I did there?} a couple years ago, stopped in town for a day so we went to my pool with the kids and just caught up on life.

So yes, I really don't feel like I did much, except help with the custom closet plans {which I am so excited to show you when it's done!} I've got a lot to do today. The main things being getting some clean meals prepped and my workout done! {Of course taking care of the kiddos, but that goes without saying.}

For good measure, here's a happy little baby to brighten up your day...

Happy Monday!

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Five Things

Happy Friday! Fridays used to mean so much more to me when I was working outside of the home...now I am a SAHM and to me, it's just another day. Another day of refereeing, chasing my boys, changing diapers, making bottles, trying to find time in the chaos for a workout and smiling through my teeth as I grin and bare it to try to make it look so easy and fun, even when it's stressful. Parts of it of course are very fun...cute giggles, smiling faces and conversations with my kids never cease to make me happy.

But anyway, on with my Friday Five!

{one}
Farrah is 11 weeks old today! One more week until I can start taking her to the gym childcare...which means a week from now, my workout time will be a bit more regular, unlike the scattered "when I can find time to fit it in during the day" routine it is now. I'm going to love a little scheduled time I can dedicate to myself and my sanity...and two words: barre class. She has also started letting me put headbands on her {finally!} She used to scream and cry when I put them on her and it wouldn't last longer than a minute. As my first and only girl...I was not going to have that. "You WILL wear adorable and ridiculously-sized headbands! I waited my whole life for this!" I would tell her. And this rainbow outfit...I can't even...

{two}
The 50 Shades of Grey trailer debuted yesterday and I am excited to get a girl or two together to make a girls' night of it. I first need to finish the books...I'm only half way into book two and I had lost steam before Farrah was born.




{three}
Cooked up another round of veggies for the next couple of days...and doing more chicken and sweet potatoes today...it is so nice to be at home now instead of work because I don't know how well I could keep up with the meal prep otherwise. I like having some time during the day to get it accomplished, rather than at night when I'm doing dinner, baths and bedtime with the kids. Here is what I made last night -very simple - recipe is on my fitness blog, The Gym Bunny, where I'm chronicling my postpartum weightloss progress.

{four}
Jake and I are headed to the OAR concert tonight on Daniel Island. We are so due for a night out. We pretty much see them every year when they do a show here. It's one of Jake's all-time favorite bands.  This year Phillip Phillips is also performing.

{five}
Now that I'm getting back in the gym more regularly and my body is ready for regular lifting again, I've been very inspired by Erin Stern and the workouts she has on YouTube. Her videos have been very informative and show me even more options for strength-training. If you're into weight lifting, and you should be, I highly recommend checking out her Facebook page and YouTube. How can you not be inspired by her body and her dedication?

Happy Friday and have a great weekend! xo

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Five on Friday

It has been A WHILE since I've participated in 5 on Friday with A. Liz Adventures, Carolina Charm, Hello! Happiness and The Good Life Blog. It's been a whirlwind few weeks around here with the birth of Farrah Madison and then our very unfortunate {or fortunate, depending on how you look at it} car accident last week. I know I haven't been posting as much, but I will be back in the swing of it soon...we are beginning to get on a schedule of sorts finally...so it may become easier to work in blog time.

Anyway, with all of that said, I did have a pretty great week this week and I think I'll get on with my Five on Friday!

{one}

I took two bridge strolls this week with three other recently postpartum mommies. We found each other in a mommy group on Facebook and decided to meet up! I haven't walked the Cooper River Bridge since earlier on in my pregnancy, so it was nice to be back. It is also quite the workout pushing Breckin and Farrah in my Sit n' Stand stroller up the incline! {I have a large double jogger, but felt it would be a little too wide for the bridge with everyone having to go around me.} Good news is, I'm pretty certain my butt and thighs will get back in shape in no time if I keep up this routine! We are going Tuesday and Thursday mornings and I love having other moms to stroll with. All in all, we do about 3.5 miles each time we go.

{two}

Last night my friend, Suz, and I went to see Florida Georgia Line and Nelly in concert. It. Was. Awesome. We were pretty close to the stage...I love FGL soooooo much. It was my first big night out postpartum and it was a good one. Tyler Hubbard is definitely on my hall pass list.

{three}

I'm five weeks postpartum today and I definitely feel a lot better. Can't quite get the old jeans on yet, but I know with some hard work and determination, I'll get there soon enough. I am starting T25 on Monday. So with that in addition to the bridge strolls and neighborhood walks, I should start seeing some results soon! Ready to feel like myself again!

After T25, I will begin Insanity again. It worked after Breckin! Here is a little timeline of my progress. I didn't take pictures week 3 and 4...so here are 1, 2 and 5 {today}.

{four}

We're finally going to brave a family beach day this Sunday {Father's Day}. I've taken them out to the Windjammer on Isle of Palms already just for a couple of hours while Jake plays beach volleyball, but we haven't had an official tote-everything-we-own-and-set-up-camp-in-the-sand full on beach day. I told Jake I wouldn't be able to do it alone with the boys and the baby...so I need him to not be playing volleyball and just hang with us. Can't wait because I really miss having fun in the sand and waves with the kids. Here is a throwback to one of our first family beach outings when Breckin was a baby:

{five}

And of course, I can't get away without posting an update on little miss Farrah Madison. She is eating well and sleeping better...we are going anywhere from 3-5 hrs between feedings at night. She is such a mellow baby {unless she's hungry!} I can't wait for her to start smiling and cooing on her own...I swear sometimes when she looks at me and gives a little smile that it's a real one and not the gas-induced kind...I can just see it in her eyes. I love the way your babies look at you...like you are their whole world. It's heart-melting.

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Monday Musings

It is officially the last full week of summer for us. Tanner goes back to school next Wednesday and next Monday we are meeting his teacher. I'm glad we're all ready to go...school uniforms and supplies are bought. I did not feel like rushing around the last couple of weeks before school, so I took care of that shizz last month. {Can I get a He** Yeah? - Isn't it sad the things us mothers feel like we need frat-bro-like recognition for?}

Anyway, this weekend was pretty good...we started out with the Under The Sun concert on Friday night. It was so good to see some of my favorite 90s bands...Gin Blossoms, Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth. Oh, and this teenage dream come true:

Even though I wasn't close enough to touch him or talk to him...being within less than a football field's length of him, I was all giddy and shit. Hubby thought I was acting like a lovestruck teenager...and I was like, "Well, yeeeah!" I know I'm not the only one who loved me some Mark McGrath. Can I get another He** Yeah?

Saturday made for an early morning since I had to pick up the boys from Nana's by 7:30am. We ended up taking advantage and hitting the play park before it got super-hot out. {We also had it all to ourselves.}

Oh and by the way, Hubby scalped my youngest this weekend without my permission. He does look really cute though. However, the look of innocence is GONE. Nothing there to hide the mischievous look in his eyes, or the constant bumps on his forehead.

We also made some time to hit the pool.

And Breckin learned to ride his new scooter {in the last one he runs back to Daddy to give him a five}:

On Sunday, the boys and I went to the pool again {oh btw, Hubby was on his USCG duty weekend, so that's why he wasn't with us}. We also went to the grocery store {exhilerating, I know}.

During naptime/quiet time that day, in making good on my clean eating plans, I prepped all of my healthy snacks and lunches {the boys' too} for the week {not all is pictured here, I do not plan to live on salad...there will be plenty of chicken and fish}:

And look at this protein-spinach-smoothie-lovin' toddler I'm raising {big bro liked it too} - great way to sneak in some really healthy foods for the little ones:

Have a great week!

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Five on Friday

Happy Friday, Loves!

I'm ready for a great weekend, how about you? Here's my Five on Friday:

1. Got some new jammies this week...these are from Victoria's Secret. They were available in-store, which is where I got them, but also available online. Don't forget to use the code FALL13 to save some moo-lah on your order.

{source}

{source}

Guess this warrants throwing away a few pairs of t-shirts and sweats.


2. Hubby and I are headed to see the Under The Sun concert tonight featuring Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth and a few other 90s bands. Nostalgic, for sure.

3. Thinking of going blonde again - it's been YEARS! I've been a brunette for so long...seeking a little change. It's hard for me though because I have a hard time pulling it off. I can't be like a "yellow" blonde, it has to be more on the ashy-neutral side. I'm thinking something like this would be perfect:

I'll take her face and body while I'm at it. {I kid, I kid.}

4. I'm making a conscious effort to really eat more clean. I saw this article on How Does She? and it is great. Go check it out - but finish reading my post first, please. :-)

5. And I don't really have much else, so I'll leave you with this lovely quote I found on Facebook this week...something us parents should all have realized by now:

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Have a wonderful weekend!

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5 On Friday

Happy Friday, y'all!

I am soooooo glad it's Friday. I've had a Hellacious week in terms of work. It all started Friday when my office's internet just up and decided to stop working mid-afternoon. I had to go home and finish out my day {OK, didn't really mind that}. I then had to work from home on Monday until ATT called me to let me know they were headed to the office to check it out. When we got there around noon, we discovered it had started working again fine on it's own {which I had told them it probably would}. Then Monday night, as I'm hacking away at some work emails from home, my antivirus program on my work laptop starts it's scheduled scan. I shut down all of my open stuff and let it run. After it was over, my computer would not connect to the internet. It wouldn't pick up any wireless connections, and not even work when I hard-wired it. I tried everything I could {and I'm pretty computer savvy}. I ended up taking it to Staples and they found out my computer's drivers just vanished....so weird. They tried to reinstall those, but it wouldn't work, so they ended up having to reinstall Windows completely. I. lost. everything. Mind you, all of this fixin' took all of Tuesday and Wednesday, so I had to be at home for work both days feeling pretty useless without access to my company's files {they are in Dubai, I'm the only one here in Charleston}. Anywho - I'm just glad it's fixed now!

Well, if I haven't bored you enough yet, here's my 5 for Friday list:

1.  The paternal grandparents are taking the kiddos to stay at a beach house on Folly Beach this weekend. I love those rugrats, but Momma is glad to be getting a break!

Y'all see that craziness? Yeah, it's ALWAYS like that.

2. Thanks to #1, Hubby and I are getting a date night! We plan to go to a friends' pool party on the Isle of Palms tomorrow afternoon and then head to the Windjammer to see a Michael Jackson tribute band that is supposed to be pretty good. Thanks to our VIP status at the Jammer {due to Hubby's obsession with beach volleyball}, we got our names put on "the list" and will get in for free. That's how we roll, people. This is us at the OAR concert last week {another rare moment sans kids!}

3. I've quit my so-not-worth-it side gig as the opener at my gym. I've actually decided to start running my cleaning biz again on the side. Any of you in the Charleston area looking for housecleaning, or know someone who might be, please contact me. It's A Modern Cinderella - Licensed - Bonded - Insured. I've run it since 2009, but took a little hiatus earlier this year due to the gym job and my full-time job. I'm headed to NYC in December and I really need some extra spending money, so my plan is to put everything I make from cleanings into that pot.

A Modern Cinderella on Facebook

4. I think I'm slowly becoming obsessed with Tyler Hubbard of Florida-Georgia Line. It must be the songs? I think it's his voice...so country...so hot. {C'MON!!} I don't know. Right off the bat, he's not the type of guy I normally find attractive. But I LOVE their song "Cruise"...especially the Nelly version. So far, I like every song I've heard from them. Caught this video the other night...he is sexy. {Sorry, Hubby. But can he be one of my five freebies? You have to watch Friends to get that.}

5. Lastly, I'm setting a new goal for myself. I work out a lot, but I am not satisfied with where I'm at physically. {Damn you, wine.} I'm setting a goal for myself to lose at least 10 lbs by the time I go to New York in December with my mom. I'm going to do that by changing my eating and drinking habits {I work out a lot already, so I don't think that is where the main changes are needed.} I posted about my new favorite green smoothie on my blog, The Gym Bunny. These have been great and really do keep me full in the mornings. If you check out the blog, I hope you'll become a follower.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

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