Neighbors Be Crazy

In Claremont Ranch world we have no water. No water means a lot off weeds zero scaping. The Water Nazi drives the streets at all hours of the night looking for rule breakers watering their weeds lawns at 4am on their non designated watering day. The fine is hefty and only increases each time they catch you. After one ticket you realize trying to be a water rebel is not worth it.

Our nice, quiet, keep to your self neighbors moved to Hawaii and rented out their house. We found this nice letter taped to our door earlier this week.... 

 

Who does this? I am most positive that is was from our new neighbors. Everyone else has lived in the neighborhood for a long time and most of them have crap yards with weeds. Preston couldn't help himself and had to respond. 

Okay true, we have some weeds going on and not to mention a major ant infestation in the back yard. Since our neighbors are all up in our biz-naz surely they noticed the various landscaping company trucks at our house over the past couple of months. HINT, we have been gathering quotes to redo our yard this summer. 

The funny thing is Preston and I were both thinking that we should pull some weeds since the quote process is taking a bit longer than expected, but now after this letter I can guarantee there will be no weed picking at all. 

Neighbors be crazy! 

 

5 Years & FROYO

Preston and I completely forgot that Saturday was our 5 year wedding anniversary! It wasn't until I saw a post on Facebook that I remembered. Of course Preston questioned me on when we got married. He didn't believe me and had to go find this...

to verify the date. I think we are finally on our last box of wedding napkins. I like to use them at dinner parties. JK I don't have dinner parties. However, I do have some china that I need to break out. 

Our impromptu celebration of 5 wonderful years together included dinner at Salsa Brave and FROYO at LuLu's.

{Preston's FROYO Creation}

{My First FROYO Experience}

{My Creation}

I have been missing out on the FROYO pop culture explosion! Who knew yogurt could be sooo much fun and tasty! Preston and I felt like little kids trying the different kinds of yogurt before selecting the perfect combination. I chose caramel, raspberry and vanilla bean. I topped it off with chocolate chips {bad choice}, Gummy Bears {not so good with the yogurt per se, but I enjoyed eating them at the end}, and Fruity Pebbles. Fruity Pebbles are the bomb.com!! My favorite topping by far!!! I cannot believe I've waited this long to try frozen yogurt.

And there you have it. That's how we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary.

{Must Read} The Forgotten Garden

I had to take a break from the 50 Shades of Grey series. Her writting style started to get to me. I knew 50 Shades is dark and tortured. Stopped telling me this every paragraph!! You are torturing me!!! 

Ya, so I was a little frustrated and I couldn't get into the third book at all. A co-worker gave me The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton a while back so I decided to start it. Let me tell ya, I could not put it down! The plot captured me in the very first chapter.

Here is a summary from Amazon:

In 1913 London, a little girl plays hide-and-seek on the deck of a ship while waiting for the woman who left her there to return. But as darkness comes, the girl is still alone when the ship pulls out from the dock and steams away on a long, grueling journey to Australia. There, the dock master and his wife take in the small castaway who is carrying nothing but a child’s white suitcase containing a few clothes and a book of fairytales. They name her Nell and raise her as their own. It’s not until her twenty-first birthday that they tell her the truth. Nell returns to England in search of her identity and that of the mysterious woman who abandoned her. Her quest is not fulfilled until after her death, when her granddaughter, Cassandra, travels to a cottage on the cliffs of Cornwall and discovers the secrets of its forgotten garden.
A tale of outer and inner journeys, and an homage to the power of storytelling, The Forgotten Garden is filled with remarkable characters who weave their way through its intricate plot to astounding effect.

Great book!! A must read!! 

{Barbell Fitness Class} A New Experience

I had a plan. Go directly to the gym after work. Throughout the day I kept telling myself this so I couldn't come up with something better to do on a Friday night.

I made it to the gym without any internal struggle. But once I got there I didn't know what I wanted to do. I noticed a barbell class was about to start. Before I could convince myself of 100 reasons why I didn't want to go I stepped outside of my comfort zone and walked in. 

Before today I had never done a barbell class or any class at Lifetime besides Zumba and one beginners yoga class. I hate walking into something not knowing. I guess doesn't everybody to some degree? If I could just be briefed and prepared for every thing that comes my way I could avoid all awkwardness and anxiety. If only, right!

As with most unknown things, the class ended up being fun and challenging. I learned a lot about proper form and technique; a lot of tips that I can use during my regular lifting sessions. I believe we worked every muscle except for calves. A total body workout is very gratifying. And it also gives you a chance to see what your strength areas are and where you are the most weak. Pretty much my core is mush and my quads are weaklings. I'm excited to see how sore I am tomorrow.

If you're wondering what else I did on a Friday night, I cleaned carpets. I rented one of those Mr. Carpet Cleaner guys from King Soopers and went to town. It can be a little addicting seeing all of the nar-nar brown water you dump out of the container. It makes you want to keep going and going and going. I just have the Master bedroom to finish up tomorrow.

Hope your Friday night was more eventful than mine! 

Finding Structure before it's too Late

I need to find some major motivation. I have gained a crap ton {officially lingo for 10 plus pounds} of weight over the summer. I allowed it to happen. I ignored the first couple of pounds and before I knew it I was 10 pounds heavier. I stopped eating healthy and I stopped going to the gym.

I will be 30 in three short months. I would love nothing more than to go into my thirties weighing in the 120's. This is going to take a lot of work on my part. Right now I feel like I look at food and gain weight.

I need a plan. I need structure. I need goals. I need motivation.

Here is the first step. 

~ Take the 5 flight of stairs to and from work
~ Go to the gym at least 3 days a week 
~ Drink 32 ounces of water every day
~ No candy, sweets, cookies
~ Eat in moderation
~ Lose the first 5lbs by September 1st