Mi Familia...

Hey Y'all! I wanted to do a post today about Me! Me! Me! Me! and my little family!

Let's start with Me! Me! Me! Me! I am a super smart (no really, I am), confident, sassy, honest, cute, dirty thirty-one year old Momma of two. I work full-time, love to run and work out, I have a slight major shopping addiction and a passion for fashion. I live in SEK (Southeast Kansas), born and raised, with my adorable little family!



Welcome To The Spear Shack!

The Husband is a Gypsy, traveling non-stop for his career! This means I single-mom-it M through F most weeks! We have been married 5 long, long, long years; which tends to happen when you get knocked up on your Honeymoon...or maybe it was the week of the wedding, but I'll never tell! Eek!

The Son is all Boy! Jack Nolan is an out of control, rambunctious, handsome, hilarious and sweet 4 year old!  He loves all things outdoors; hunting, baseball, helping his Papa in his garden, finding flowers for his Momma, jumping on the trampoline or playing with his neighborhood friends! He is a wonderful big brother; he is patient, kind and never minds sharing his food, drink, toys or whatever else his baby sister demands.

The Daughter is a Diva! Norah Jane (Bean) is just like her Momma and she only just turned 2 years old! Some call is cute, I call it Karma! She loves brushing her hair and putting on makeup, wearing dresses every single day, taking care of her babies and always insists on having a bow in her hair! She also has a sassy side and she doesn't hesitate to tell you if things aren't going her way! The Husband calls her a Sour Patch Kid which is actually a perfect description of her, one minute she smacks the shit out of you and the next she is hugging and loving on you!

The Dog is an almost 4 year old Boxer! Oscar! We adopted Oscar in May 2013, and now, I don't think any of us could imagine life without him! He is the BEST pup! He allows the kids to maul him and he never reacts, but yet he is just playful enough when he rough-houses with Jack! He is protective, he thinks he is a lapdog, and he is the best snuggle buddy EVER!

So that's us...I hope you'll stick around and ride this roller coaster that we call life with us!  Eventually I want to do some Home Tour posts too...if I can ever get this house how I want it! 

So What!? Wednesday...

This week I'm saying So What!? if...

• The Gum Tissue Grafts are happening tomorrow...I'm not excited about it, but I am excited for the post-surgery narcotics that will enable me to be in a sleepy-slash-stoned slumber-perfect state for the next FOUR days!  #ifyouneedmeiwillbesleeping #notresponsibleforthewordsthatcomeoutofmymouth 

• I'm going to plug my friend, Carrie's lip gloss RIGHT NOW! Carrie is the owner and vision behind Sta-Glam! Carrie is a makeup artist and recently released her very first Lip Gloss! I of course had to buy 4 different colors due to my new found obsession with lip color!  In the picture above I'm wearing Blush Crush! Carrie is expanding her product lines and just added a 6 piece brush set for your eyes! You can find Carrie and Sta-Glam on Facebook HERE and Instagram HERE and the Sta-Glam website HERE. You can view and purchase all of her lip glosses and brushes on her online store HERE.

• Norah might be watching too much Miley Cyrus; I think her dancing is too cute! Get It, Girl!                                                                       You're Welcome!

• I didn't even weigh in for Week 2 of my DietBet...I knew I wasn't going to be pleased with the result so I just didn't go there. F!

• I brought the kids up to the office yesterday to see their "Papa Eddie" who was in town for meetings...and if Jack maybe attempted to junk punch our Lead Counsel...and then said "Close your eyes, it's ok..." when said Lead Counsel caught his wrists mid-junk punch...and if Jack then proceeded to tell 2 male coworkers that they were "too big, too fat!"                                                                                       #facepalm #smh #yeahnothatsnotmykid #sobad 

What do you have to say So What!? to this week? Wish me luck tomorrow, eek!

Mother F'n Monday + More DietBetters...

It's Monday and it's definitely a Mother F'n one. Woke up to like 4 inches of snow on top of the crap left over from a week ago! Yuck! School is cancelled, Bunko is cancelled and now it looks like I'm going to have to go to Walmart. Boooooooo....

DietBet Week 1 Update

Week 1 of my DietBet is OVER! Whew! I hate to admit that I wasn't as focused as I should have been, with both exercise and eating, but I did feel like I made better food choices then normal and I did workout I think 2 times womp womp... I weighed in this AM though and am down 3.2 pounds! Holla!

The DietBet ended up with way more participants then I imagined! We have 35 people doing it and that puts the POT at $700 dollhairs! Say whaaaaaaat!?  

I looked this AM and as a group we lost 57 pounds in Week 1 but only 19 don't quote me on the number participants have weighed in! So that's awesome, like an average of almost 3 pounds per person! Woot! Woot!

There's still time to join!  I think you can join up to like 14 days in to the bet, but you don't get more time to lose the weight! Make sense?! If you did miss out on this round, no worries! I think I'm going to do one for the next 2-3 months straight too because I have Boudoir Pictures in May! Eek! More on that later! But for now, meet some more of my DietBetters!

MARIE

Hi y'all, it's Marie! I live in Southern California, have 2 kids, and a full time job. Weight was never an issue for me because I've played soccer since I was 5......then came the babies. I gained 50lbs both pregnancies (yikes!) and it took me 4 years to get back to pre-pregnancy weight with my first (double yikes!). After I had my 2nd I did Weight Watchers for a while and lost almost 40lbs, but I plateaued and stopped the program. I've been sitting at my current weight since then and now that my little one is almost 2, I'm determined to get that last 10 pounds off! 

I weighed myself today at 140lbs. Sounds normal right? Not when you're 5ft tall it doesn't....ugh!!!! My goals for the month are to get back on track with my eating habits (packing a lunch and healthy snacks daily) and maximize my exercise (adding home workouts on top of my weekly soccer games)...and of course  to look better naked! ;) I'm excited to share this journey with y'all and find some fitness friends along the way.....let's do this ladies!!!!!!

Isn't Marie cute, y'all!  I just LOVE her! We seemed to bond instantly via social media; whether over kids, Excel (I'm better than she is, ha!), tattoos or the people we "love to hate"...we are always on the same page!  Now if I can just get my ass to sunny CA and visit her! #someday

You can find her on Instagram @cbs1angel

JESSICA

Hey y'all!  My name is Jessica and you won't find me blogging anywhere. I thought about blogging and decided I'm not interesting enough!  I live in Tennessee with my husband and our teenage daughter. 

My weight has always been an issue for me but really more so after I had my daughter...when I was 15. {that's a whole other story!} Late into my pregnancy I developed toxemia and ended up with 30 pounds of water weight on top of being very pregnant already. My body just wasn't able to go back and I was left with A LOT of excess skin on my belly.  It was so hard for me to convince myself to get healthy and lose weight when doing so created more sagging skin.  Last November my husband made my dreams come true and I had a tummy tuck. I did it, not to "become skinny" but to get to a place where I love me and believe I AM worth it. I am worth the effort. I am worth the blood, sweat, and tears that it will take to get to that place where I like what I see in the mirror. It's for me and no one else. 

I'm starting the dietbet weighing in at 182.5. I'm hoping to develop some better eating habits over the next 28 days. To develop a workout schedule and stick to it. To find motivation, encouragement, and accountability. And also to maybe be able to provide those things in return for some of you ladies, even if it's just one of you. Good luck, y'all!  Let's do this!! 

Oh, man! I love Jessica! She has been working her butt off and to see her just come out of herself after her surgery a few months back makes my heart flutter! I was supposed to meet Jessica IN PERSON this past Fall in Chicago, but in the end it wasn't meant to be...yet!  You can find her on Instagram @jbarnett27

Cheers to a HEALTHY Week 2!!! Xoxo

Advocare...

It's Tuesday! There's supposed to be some kind of like Winter Storm blowing through KS today, but so far I'm not seeing it! I am home though with Jack, he started barking like a seal last night...and a trip to Urgent Care this morning confirmed my fear of Croup! Yuck! And I just got a text from daycare that Norah has a fever! Kill.Me.Now.

I know y'all have heard about AdvoCare, right?!

No? Where have you been living? Under a rock?  Kidding...kind of!

Well, AdvoCare is a world-class nutrition company specializing in health and wellness, weight management, vibrant energy and sports performance!  My friend, Sarah, recently became an AdvoCare Distributor and just finished their 24 Day Challenge! Check out these results! Wowza!

Sarah started using AdvoCare products back in September 2013 and has lost 45 pounds to date!  She lost 7 pounds and 15 inches(2 pants sizes) during the 24 day challenge!  Here's what she had to say...

"I was the mom who spent $60 bucks at Starbucks a week just to make an additional 7-9 cups of coffee a day. I ate for emotion, not need. I treated my body poorly because I didn't know how to do anything else. I haven't had coffee since October and  It's amazing!

I have energy, my attitude has changed both towards food and myself, I'm able to not need a nap during the weekend days with a toddler running around at full force. I am happier, thanks to Oasis for sure! Haha, it's an attitude adjustment in a glass and just makes me feel amazing. I wish I would have known about AdvoCare years ago."

Now, I'm sure you already know I'm a LOVER of AdvoCare's Spark and I've also done their 10 Day Herbal Cleanse a few times in the past! I've been stalking Sarah's AdvoCare site for a couple days, trying to decide which NEW products to try! Eek!  I'm leaning towards Rehydrate, Catalyst, Carb-Ease, ThermoPlus or O2Gold...

Go check out Sarah's AdvoCare website HERE and tell me what you think!  If you have any questions about AdvoCare in general or any of their products you can email Sarah at stone.nashville@gmail.com. You can find her on Instagram (@hapgirl36)!

Have any of y'all used any of these? Which AdvoCare products are your favorites? Which ones do you want to try?

Now help me chose!? What should I try!?

I Worked Out + DietBetters...

Woot! Woot! Lot's to cover on this Bruno Mars Fine Ass Morning! Woo-Wee! Did y'all see that one game's halftime show last night?! Bruno. Bruno. Bruno.  #enoughsaid

I got a wild hair on Friday evening and decided I wanted to start a DietBet this week; I couldn't find one I particularly liked so what do you do!?!?...create your own, duh! I did a quick post HERE if you are interested in joining!  It starts today and ends on Feb. 28th, but you can still join whenever!  I've been so far off the healthy/workout train that I'm going to admit that since my half in November I've gained about 8 pounds!  Eek!  Granted, Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years and My Birthday were all within that time span...it's still NOT ok...like at all!  Yuck!

I'm not sure what got in to me this weekend other then feeling super chubby and flabby and heavy, but I worked out like my life depended on it Saturday and even broke a sweat Sunday...Who am I?!  Sunday is a day of rest, no?!

Saturday P90X3 Double Trouble!   

Sunday "Kick Ass" Intervals on the Treadmill!  This shit was hard, my lower half was burning!

"Kick Ass" Interval Workout!!

Now I want y'all to meet some special ladies, special because they are all participating in and going to kick my DietBet's Ass! The group is fairly small, so I thought it would be fun and extra motivation to spotlight some of the ladies!

First up is my favorite Canadian (besides Justin Bieber), Jodi from Love and Crayons!

Hey everyone, my name is Jodi and you can usually find me on my blog at www.loveandcrayons.com, if I have actually  been blogging, which is very rare right now!!

Anyway, I got the email for Darci's diet bet and thought it is probably a good thing for me right now.  I have been trying to find motivation for so long, and can't seem to find it anywhere. I'm super cheap, so maybe spending money will actually get me off my ass and hopefully start losing some of this extra weight.

I wasn't always heavy, I was average.  Not too skinny, and not too heavy.  I've always had hips and a butt, and I liked them.  When I got pregnant with my first, he's 3 now, I gained a TON of weight.  Then got pregnant with my second and hadn't lost very much weight from the first pregnancy.  And this is where you find me now.  Two kids later, and still weighing about the same as shortly after having my second who is 16 months.  When my youngest was 8 months old, I ran my first half marathon. The sole reason for me running it, was to lose weight.  While I was training, I was still nursing him so with the extra calories needed for that and running such long distances, I maintained my weight.  I don't think I even lost 2 pounds through the whole process.  My "before" photos here are from July, when I entered another diet thing.  From July to the middle of September I lost about 20 pounds, I felt great.  I still had pounds to lose, but I wasn't pushing 200 anymore.  Then in October I went back to work after being on maternity leave for a year.  I got lazy.  I wasn't doing any form of exercise and wasn't watching what I ate.  So now I'm back to looking the way I do in the before photo and am weighing in at 188.  I've gained all of those 20 pounds right back. I'm  mad at myself for getting back to this point.

Now, my goal is to follow clean eating as much as possible.  I want to get back into my weekly yoga, and weekly short runs,  I'm not running for distance right now, but trying to increase my 5 and 10 k times.  I'm planning to run the color run in May, and would love to do it as close to 30 minutes as possible, if not under!!

I'm not looking to lose my curves, I love them, but I am wanting to shrink them and tone up.  I'm sick of being jiggly and having dimples in my thighs.  By summer I want to feel comfortable in a pair of shorts and possibly a bathing suit! This diet bet is where it all starts! So wish me luck, and don't cringe too bad at my photos!!

And just for good measure, I've included a BEFORE before photo of me on our honeymoon in 2008.  This is what I want to get back to looking like!!

I just love Jodi!  She is SO sweet and her 2 little men are super cute!  You can find her on Instagram too @loveandcrayons

Next we have, Amy! 

I "know" Amy from Instagram!! She is 36 years young and has the most important job in the world, she is a Teacher! When I was emailing with Amy she said she wants to lose 20 pounds before her Brother In Law's wedding this summer, but more importantly...she wants to instill healthy food habits for her 3 year old son (so awesome)! 
Amy is focusing on her vegetarian diet, running (she ran FIVE 5k races in 2013) and doing spin classes!

Good Luck, Amy! I know you will do great! You can find Amy on Instagram @pinkpirate00

Last, but definitely not least, I introduce you to Tracy!  
Tracy blogs over at Yea I Know I'm Short...

Hi, I'm Tracy! I'm 39 years old, married,  full time working mom of 2 girls a 5 ½ yr old and a 1 ½ yr old.  I live in Marietta, GA, a suburb of Atlanta, GA. I blog over at http://yeaiknowimshort.blogspot.com/

I started my weight loss journey after the birth of my second little girl, May 2012.  I left the hospital weighing 192 lb.  I'm 4’9 and that is just wayyyyyy too much for a shorty like me.  I got to 162 on my own after getting home from the hospital and before generally changing anything diet wise in August 2012.  I started My Fitness Pal that month.  I bought a treadmill on Craigslist for $50 and committed to walking 30 minutes a day.  I logged everything I ate and really took into consideration what actually went into my body.  I successfully made it to 120 in April 2013.  Needless to say, the weight is slowly creeping back up.

With the help of Darci and DietBet, I hope to kick start my weight loss AGAIN.  My goal is to get back to 120, ultimately I would love to be 110ish.  We shall see, a girl can dream right?  I plan to get all my water in on the daily and mixing up the workouts.  I plan on no pop at all this month, and if you know anything about me, you will know that right there is a feat in and of itself.  Good luck to all involved and lets do this.  

Tracy is also on Instagram @tjc1126

I'm so proud and inspired by the sheer fearlessness of these ladies to not only take the FIRST step and join the DietBet, but also to go much further and share not only their stories, but their pictures! You ladies ROCK!

I think I will have a few more "Meet the DietBetter" stories later this week, along with mine - well at least my before pictures! Ha! Love You, B Faces!