A crazy day in the life of... ME! :)

I'm sure you're all wondering where I've been! Well, this isn't as easy as I thought it would be! Unfortunately, I have waaaaaaaaaay too much going on to seem even remotely organized at this point! So, below is my disclosure going forward...

• My blog may be, and probably will be, sporadic from this point on! I cannot, under any circumstances, guarantee that my blog posts will follow any certain flow. And, my topics may be, and probably will be, completely random all of the time! :)

With that say... I'm excited to announce that I FINALLY finished remodeling my living room! Yay! Only took me 5 months! Ok... that's not really a good thing, but hey... I finished it! Below is a before and after pic of what the trim and doors looked like before I painted it white...

My doors, trim, and walls - AFTER

Note the trim on the floor and the color of the doors (They are now white)

As you can see, all of the trim was brown, including the doors and my huge picture window! Below is a pic of my picture window and the custom 2" faux wood blinds! :)

My new custom 2" faux wood blinds - 94 1/2 inches across!

A different view of the window and baseboard trim! :)

My walls were an off-white color - VERY BORING!! Now, the two longest walls are Neutral (a bit darker than off-white) and the shorter walls are Coffee. See below...

Different View

My short wall - BEFORE

Short Wall - After

I used to have brown curtains with tab tops on silver rods that hung to the floor. I changed both the curtains and the rods...

The rods are a deep brown with "Rust" valances

A view of both windows

And, finally... the finished product! :)

 So, there you have it... Today's blog! :) My next stop on my remodeling journey is the kitchen! Stay tuned for before and afters! (Side note: Hope this doesn't take me as long as the living room)... Hehe..... ;)

Have a great day! :)

Walk, Run, Walk, and Run some more....

Ok.. so I finally finished Week 1 Day 3 yesterday. Yay me!!! Of course, I started my Ease into 5K on the 13th of January... Yes, I know... the concept of easing into a successful 5K is to be more consistent by training three days a week instead of one day for three consecutive weeks! I get it... But saying it is SOOOOO much easier than actually doing it! With that said, it really isn't so bad once you get started. As soon as it really starts to HURT, you're already half way through it and feel really bad if you put that much time and effort into something only to quit! So, me NO quit!

Now, I do have at least a week to catch up on... so, my plan is to run/walk tomorrow, Friday, and Sunday (gotta take a break sometime!). Check out my Fitness page for updated photos on my stats! Remember, it's all about ACCOUNTABILITY! And, I plan to be fully accountable to my five faithful followers! :)

A New Beginning...

It seems that I have a lot of projects that I want to embark on in 2013 ~ de-cluttering, organizing, eating healthy, become physically fit, be more available for my girls, tap into my spiritual soul... So, where do I begin?

Well, I've decided to start with the unfinished side of my basement. There is a lot of CLUTTER in that area of my house; and, I think that mess is causing me quite a bit of anxiety. My daughter, Carly, wants her bedroom moved to the basement (the finished part). But, in order to do that, we have to clean out the unfinished part and convert that over to my husband's "man cave" and my youngest daughter's "play room". I CAN DO THIS! I CAN DO THIS! It won't be easy by any means, but the time is now! I also need to build a "walk-in closet" in the basement for ME! This business of having clothes all over the house is for the birds! The buck stops here! :) So, here's my plan... I will start tomorrow with the process of getting all the trash out (Yes, I could totally be featured on the show "Hoarders" ~ very scary thought!). Next, my husband and I will work on getting out big items that we don't use anymore and take them to a friend to be sold (gotta make some money on that junk down there)! Then, we will work on organizing what is left into crates. At this point, we will properly insulate, stud, and drywall the ceilings and walls. Once that's done, we'll put in a new floor and frame out the rooms as they should be. This could easily take the entire year of 2013; but, by Christmas, I promise this task will be done! Of course, I won't be spending all of my time on the basement. But, I am making myself accountable by announcing my plans on my blog! I will post pics as I have them! Please note that my label is about de-cluttering and is concentrated on the basement area. As I de-clutter others areas of my home and life, I will label accordingly! 

I look forward to seeing my progress as I venture into this journey! :)

Food Diary - 1/21/13

Well, it turns out that being accountable isn’t as easy as I thought it might be… I am slowly realizing that my changes to my eating habits aren’t short-lived… they have to be lifestyle changes… Now, I have to decide if I'm ready for these changes...

It's so much easier to say that I will eat healthy than to actually do it! I know that over half of my battle is mental thinking. I know what to eat and how to eat it, and I have seen the weight and inches literally melt off of me. But, doing it all the time... another story all together.

What should I be eating?

• NO wheat, sugar, corn or dairy

That sounds easy enough, right??? Well, it really is easy WHEN I do actually get into the pattern of doing it! I have to make sure I am mentally and emotionally ready for this change that will impact my entire life! Am I ready?....... I think I am! I'm tired of being tired all the time and I'm sick of worrying about what I wear every single day and how I look. 

So, starting in the morning, I plan to get on track and treat my body with the respect that it deserves. And, to be fully accountable, I will post my all day menus daily on my blog. I'm not going to lie to you... this will be hard.  But, I promise to be honest with myself and with my followers. Also, I will post what is good to eat along with what I actually ate!

Let the fun begin! :)

Justin Bieber - Believe Tour 2013

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Well, our Saturday started out just like any other day... wake up, eat breakfast - you know... the normal stuff. Then, I saw a post on FaceBook that changed the turn of events for the rest of the day! Erin was so upset because this was the day of THE Justin Bieber Believe Tour in Greensboro, NC.  Thanks to a friend and info on where to get last minute tickets, I was able to score 2 tickets on the Floor - Section A, Row 27, Seats 1 & 2!!! Below is Erin's reaction when we presented her with the tickets:

Love that video! Needless to say, we both got ready really fast! Luckily, while we were getting ready, we found out that one of Erin's friends that lives about a minute from us was going, so we hitched a ride with them! 

Katelyn Tatum & Erin

The rest is history! We had a fantastic time... loved every second of it... and got home around 2am! :) Below are some of the photos from the concert...

Waiting for the concert to begin!

Erin being silly!

My baby is so excited to see Justin Bieber!

Floor A, Row 27, Seats 1 & 2 (8 rows for the end of the stage!)

Cody Simpson (Opening Act)

Erin is crying here - I literally felt like I was at an Elvis Concert! :)

I've never seen Erin more happy!

Cody Simpson

Erin and one of JB's Team Members!

Cody Simpson

Cody Simpson

Justin Bieber - Opening song

JB

JB with his dancers

Cody Simpson with Carly Rae Jepsen (Second act)

JB was over top of us - literally!

JB

JB

JB

Erin crying because she's so happy!

Welcome to my Blog!

Welcome to my first post! I'm so glad you're here to share in my new journey to be accountable in 2013!  I will be posting on the following areas of my life:

• health and wellness (as I gain knowledge on how to eat better - I'll share my meals with you), 
• fitness (as I train for my second 5K - didn't train for the first one... don't recommend that - I'll share pics), 
• my girls as they grow up way too fast,
• organization (as I learn about it and pass it on to you), 
• my progress of de-cluttering (as I read my book - I'll post the title later), 
• my increasing ability to learn how to multi-task again (lost that talent after giving birth to my third daughter), 
• and my overall transformation throughout 2013.

I'm excited to see what my future holds for me! :)