Birthday Month, in Review

My birthday was this month. My mom came out to visit. Her flight was delayed overnight so I picked her up the Saturday morning of labor day weekend. I saw a praying mantis at the airport while waiting to pick her up! We headed up to Freeport for lunch and shopping. We at lunch at one of my absolute favorite places the Mediterranean Grill. As far as I can tell it's the only place where you can get gyros north of Portland and they're absolutely delicious. As to shopping ... We're shopaholics, yet we didn't end up buying anything. (I am still on the look out for a new wallet that will hold my inhaler, some spare antihistamines, and chapstick.) It was quite the accomplishment. Perhaps we are recovered? The kiddos wanted to go to Olive Garden for dinner. (Ugh. But they and my mom like it and there are unlimited breadsticks.)

On Sunday we went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town and then headed home for cake on the porch. Hubs accidentally bought magic relight candles for his asthmatic wife. I huffed and I puffed then I had to take a puff on my inhaler before we could have cake. It took a long time to blow out the candles AND they generated a lot of smoke so even though we were out side it was as challenge.

Post Candle Fiasco

I got a Kindle and I asked my husband if he got me a cheap one. He did and he was offended by the question. I also got a Chewbacca koozie.

On Labor Day, I dropped my mom off at the airport and hit the mall by myself. It was great! I got a bra fitting, picked up some stuff at Sephora, and found some Fiestaware on sale at Bon Ton.

I had cake for breakfast for a couple of days. I love Hannaford's sheet cakes. They are almost as good as my wedding cake. (Last year Hubs asked the woman who made our wedding cake to make my birthday cake because he is the best and I told him that was a good idea.)

Later we celebrated my birthday with my in-laws. It was a pasta salad extravaganza!

We had five types of boxed pasta salad and two veggie salads, pea salad and a green bean salad. Also, there were hot dogs. But I had just requested pasta salad. I know know that I prefer classic, creamy Italian, and caesar. Parmesan and Bacon Ranch are kind of overwhelming.

And that's about it. I did get ready to start my first round of the 21 Day Fix Extreme! I took before photos, measurements, and I tested my strength. I'm a week in right now, I got sick in the middle of the month, and I'm interested to see what kind of results I'll have. Since, I have a lot of pasta salad and cake to work off.

Transformation Tuesday

Like your average American woman, I struggle with my body sometimes. I've talked about it in the past on the blog. (See my thoughts on the Advocare Cleanse, my thoughts on healthy eating, and any of my "healthy" recipe posts.)

Me this winter, as you can see my suit jacket is too tight!

Last winter added a lot of insulation to my body; it didn't help me stay any warmer and you may have noticed that I kept mentioning that my suit jackets weren't buttoning anymore. I knew I needed to do something so that I wouldn't have to buy a whole new closet and that something was exercise. Hubs and I already eat fairly healthy though I do know that my position sizes were sometimes larger than necessary.

I also knew I needed to be more active because my doctor said that exercise was the best way to keep my bad cholesterol down at a healthy level. I used to run in the lead up to my wedding and I had enjoyed that but there was no way this wimpy asthmatic was going to keep running in the dark, in -16º weather, and in 100" of snow so even if I started running in the spring I couldn't keep it going all year round. I has played WiiFit on our Wii and then I transitioned to WiiFitU when Hubs bought a Wii U but I found it dull and it took way more than 30 minutes to get 30 minutes of activity because of the wait between the mini game exercises. So I started looking around and I found the 21 Day Fix and it was amazing. I started in March; I completed one 21 day round of the Fix and I've been using the videos pretty regularly for the past six months!

Me July 4th 2014 and July 4th this year in my Lilly Pulitzer Sparks Fly Shorts.
My blue polo shirt (left) is last July and my pink cardigan (right) is this July.
I may not look much different but I feel different in a good kind of way!

I've been exercising regularly for about half a year now and my legs are so strong and they fit into my shorts so much better! My suits fit perfectly again! My asthma is better as well; I haven't had to use my rescue inhaler all summer. I'm kind of excited to go back to my doctor's office and get blood drawn; my cholesterol levels must be normal, or close to it, now because of all the exercise I've been doing. And, I maybe this winter will be better than last because, while fat insulates, muscles burn energy and that makes you warm! Oh and also I lost about 15 pounds and a few inches from both my hips and my waist.

Because of the really positive experience I've had with the 21 Day Fix, I've decided to become an online health and fitness coach so that I can share the 21 Day Fix with others and help them out with their health and fitness goals! So count this as an invitation to message me about trying 21 Day Fix, Shakeology, and/or joining my next fitness accountability group! If you're interested, comment below, email me at eah081112@gmail.com, or visit my beachcody coach website! Starting next week I'll be working through the 21 Day Fix Extreme with whoever joins my accountability group for the month, I'm still looking for a few more people! I can't wait to see how much stronger my body gets.

Best,

EAH

PS As a Beachbody coach, I receive commissions when I help Beachbody sell their products. Like someone who sells Scentsy or Mary Kay products.