Purse Party Link Up

Since I haven't done a link up in a hot minute, I've apparently, forgotten how to copy a HTML, so my purse picture looks all fat and stretched. Whatever.

I'm linking up with Erin and Mel for a purse party today. Thank goodness someone hosts these awesome link ups, because otherwise bloggers people like me wouldn't have anything to talk about!

I'm pretty boring when it comes to purses. For some reason, that's one accessory I can pass up. Jewelry and shoes on the other hand... yikes. I don't even want to try to figure how much I've spent on those.

I'll buy one nice (to me) purse and carry it for at least a season. I've never owned a Coach. I have had a knock-off Louis Vuitton someone bought me off of the street in New York. That piece of crap lasted about 2 weeks!

This is my current purse. It's big. It's practical. It's neutral. It goes with everything. I got it from a friend (who IS a purse freak) at our yard sale last summer. It's a Big Buddha, hardly used, and I think I gave her $40 for it. This actually is only my purse IF I'm going somewhere without Mackenna or somewhere I don't need to carry the other 34598340583 things I usually do. I used to carry a purse AND a diaper bag. That got old...real quick.

That's where this bag comes in. It's a Thirty-One bag. I know I've told y'all how I'm a sucker for all things direct sells. Plus, it has 7 pockets and is monogrammed. We all know us southern women love our monograms.

I always stay strapped. With water and apple juice. I'm so hood.

Here we have the contents. So very boring, I know. Wallet, 2 things of wipes, a pull-up, lotion, shades, gum, a granola bar, fruit chews, tampons, lipstick, and hand sanitizer. Usually, I have a change of clothes in here too, for Mackenna. We're still newly potty trained.

And last but not least...these would be my "cosmetics." I've never been one to carry my makeup with me. Except for maybe some lip gloss or powder if I get sweaty, I put makeup on one time a day. If that ain't good enough, oh well.  Our neighbors got Mackenna her own Dora lip gloss. It's full of glitter, so needless to say, she's only put it on once. Honestly, I forgot we even had it until now.

Then, hand sanitizer. Where would I be with you? I am a totally germ-a-phobe. I've heard it's not good for kids to use, but I think I'll take my chances. After all, bacteria from touching a public toilet paper dispenser isn't good for kids either.

PS- I swear before I ever saw any blogs today, I decided to throw all the random papers and receipts in here away. The past few days my hubby has been referring to my purse as my "trash can." Perfect timing!




 
Okay, off to go see what kinda junk everyone else carries around!

My First 5k

Recap of my first 5k...almost 2 weeks later? Sure, why not!

In the middle of February, I finally gave in and decided I would try this thing called running. I downloaded the C25k app, got myself some running shoes, signed up for my 5k, and prayed I wouldn't kill myself trying to complete it. Before then, I didn't run. Like...at all. Okay, maybe I've been walking for a few months. But, other than that, my big ole booty could barely run a whole minute a time.

That's where the C25K app came in. It really does work, y'all. I thought there was no in hell I'd be able to run longer than 5 minutes at a time when I started. I did 7 weeks of the program in 3 weeks and I was ready as I could be before The Green Run 5k.

The night and morning before (the race started at 4pm..I know, strange!) I was SO nervous. I'm pretty sure I drove Darren crazy saying "I'm scared!"..over..and over. I really wasn't scared about the actual running part. I was more afraid I would pass out, puke, or just make a complete fool of myself. I also get crazy anxiety when I don't know what to expect of something. I've never even been to a race, so I had no idea how it worked.

So 4:00 finally came. My best friend, her son (Mackenna's BFF), Darren, and Mackenna all got in their places to cheer us on. My mom, stepdad, and I got in line for the race. I thought "Well..this is it!" And we were off!

There were no mile markers or anything, but I felt like a rockstar the first mile or so. I was passing people left and right, but at the same time, not using up all of my steam right off the bat. I got a little ahead of my mom. At that point, my stepdad was long gone ahead of us.

Probably half way through, I started to walk. There was a group of girls handing out cups of water so I grabbed a cup, chugged it down, and started running again. I had no idea how hilly the route would be. Ugh. Some of those hills were TOUGH. The route also had us going on the sidewalk along a pretty busy road. I thought it was kinda funny and motivating that people riding by would yell and cheer for us. That, God, and my "Pop, Lock, and Drop it" pandora station got me up those big hills!

When I started getting the sense that I should be almost done, I saw this crazy man running the wrong direction back towards me. He didn't have a bib on, so I thought "Does this idiot not realize he's running through a middle of a race?!" Well, wouldn't you know that would be my stepdad, Jason. He finished his race in like 20 minutes and was now showing off coming back to meet me and my mom. He stayed with me the last 2 or 3 blocks and ran up to the finish line with me. He rocks! My mama was only about 30 seconds behind me, which I thought was amazing. She doesn't run, but she works out hard in the gym with Jason.

I was SO excited when I crossed the finish line, all I could do was smile at Mackenna and Darren. I didn't even think/care to look up at the time when I crossed the finish line. After hugs and high fives, I realized I didn't even know my time. So, I started walking around like a crazy person trying to figure out where/when I could see it. Finally, I found out I finished in 32 minutes! I thought that was great! I was really wanting to be less than 35, so that time was perfectly acceptable for me.

After the 5k, they had a 1 mile fun run. It was for mostly kids and the children with disabilities that the race was put on for. It was really awesome to watch!

Then it was time for awards. I didn't expect to win anything..like at all. But guess what? I freaking won for my age group! And my mom even won for hers! Rockstar runner, Jason, got 3rd in the entire race! I was/am so happy to be their daughter! Jason told me after the race "I never thought I'd be doing THIS with you!" Me either. Like I said, 2 years ago, I would have NEVER thought I'd run a race. Or actually just run period.

But I did it! I did it! We're doing another one next month and now I'm crazy enough to think about signing up for a 10k, then eventually a half marathon at some point.

Yay!!

*Weigh-In Wednesday* and *SO WHAT! Wednesday*

Can I do that? 2 link-ups in the same day? Don't call the blog police on me. Besides, my "Weigh-In Wednesday" link-up just isn't all that exciting this week.

First up, weighing in with Erin and Alex. Well..I'm up a pound. See my last post for that reason. But I did a 5k today, so I'm feeling great. I really didn't do an official 5k, but that feels so much cooler than just saying I ran 3.1 miles.

Also, speaking of Erin, she's hosting a diet bet starting on March 4th, running for 4 weeks. All you have to do is pay $15 and lose 4% of your body weight. Easy friggin' peasy, right? Well, let's hope I don't eat those words in 4 weeks. I love eating.  It doesn't get any better though.. than doing what you're already doing and winning some money for it. So, if a dollar makes YOU holler, you can sign up to play along here.


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I recently found Shannon and her blog "Life After I Dew". She's hosting "SO WHAT! Wednesday." I was immediately on board for this idea, because well...sometimes you just say...SO WHAT!

-So what... if I leave clothes in the washing machine to spend nap time blogging instead of getting stuff done.
-So what... if I bribe my toddler with trips to Chuck E. Cheese if she'll poop in the potty.
-So what... if I'm making sure each of these little "So what..." do-hickies are perfectly aligned.
-So what... if I'm excited for a date night with the hubs this weekend because "terrible twos" are running rampant in my household.
-So what... if I'm ready to book a summer vacation for an extra kick in the rear!
-So what... if all I want to do this time of year is SHOP. (It's not warm enough to stay outside a lot yet and I'm tired of being cooped up in the damn house.)
-So what... if we're eating leftover spaghetti-squash-spaghetti again tonight because I made way too much last night.
-So what... if I took my little photo and "blurb" down the other day because I thought it was ridiculous and have yet to add anything in it's place.
-So what... if now, I'm looking around the room for more "So whats."


That's all folks! Happy HUMP day!


Oh wait! Don't forget a picture!

Cheese!

A whole year!

It's officially been 1 year since I became serious about wanting to lose weight.

A year ago, I finally talked myself into going to a Weight Watchers meeting. If it wasn't $42 a month, I would probably still go. (For anyone wondering, the $42 IS worth it...especially to get started on your weight loss.) I loved going to the meetings and hearing everyone else's troubles and triumphs for the week. It was so inspiring to see ladies who had already lost 75 pounds and still going. Ever since I stopped going to the meetings, my weight has pretty much been at a standstill. (up, down, up, down) Weight Watchers definitely does work!

My life before Weight Watchers, was so different. It was quite sad, honestly. I hated the way I looked and felt. I've said before, it was a miracle if I actually changed out of my pajamas and fixed my hair. To me, no matter what I did to "fix up" really made that much difference since I was a sloppy fatass already. I never went shopping. I wasn't even interested in what "trends" were in because I didn't think I could pull them off anyway. I remember the summer before last. I bought 2 pairs of knee length cargo-ish style shorts. These 2 pairs of shorts and a big t-shirt are what I lived in that summer. For some reason, I just assumed my life in cute clothes was over. That wasn't like me at all..before I was a fatty anyway. I used to try to convince myself to "just be happy" eating crap food and barely moving my body at all from the couch. My happiness came from eating a Tostino's pizza, potato chips, and watching TV while Mackenna napped. I've never doubted Darren's love for me. But, when I wasn't happy with myself, when he complimented me I was SURE he was just saying it to be nice. I mean...greasy hair and fat rolls overflowing from HIS sweatpants (on my body) was far from beautiful. I was so far from happy.

 

Around 175 lbs.  2 months before I decided to lose weight.

 

Mackenna was trying to help me. She's saying "Hey mama, lemme bite one of dem ROLLS offa dat quadruple chin!"

After about 3 or 4 months in Weight Watchers, I lost a noticeable amount of weight. When I went shopping for the first time again, I was so excited! I didn't look half bad in most things I tried on again! Slowly, my confidence came back; in how clothes fit me and every other aspect of my life. I started wanting to actually leave my house. That's when I also started selling Tastefully Simple. I would have never had the confidence before, to stand in front of 20 ladies, trying to sell them food, out of all things. It really is sad to admit that just being thin(er) has had so much influence on my life.

For anyone who has followed me since I started this boring blog, (all 5 of y'all!) those are the reasons I chose to name my blog "Thin Again Jenn" at first. Being fat completely made me a different person. Maybe that's a sad thing to admit, but it's so true.

Today, I've lost a little over 20 pounds. I know, I could have done so much better in a whole year's time. And maybe you're wondering why in the world 20 pounds would impact me so much, but it has. I actually have a pretty small frame. Yes, that's a good thing to most people. But... that just means when I have extra fat...I'm a lot more fluffy than most people. Does that make sense? Think of a big ball of slimy fat. The larger the surface area, the more thinly it could be squashed and spread out. With a small surface area, the same size ball of slimy fat will be more concentrated and pushed upwards (or outwards...however your visualization may be.)

But now, for the most part...I'm happy. Yes, I'd like to lose about 20 MORE..and I WILL before this summer. I guess I've just been so caught up in being happy again...I've just been okay with being at this weight. However, I am ECSTATIC that I've kept off the weight I did lose. FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR! (well...since I started, at least!) It's a great feeling to know I can do something. Something I've failed at a handful of times before.

YAY FOR THAT! 
 
 

Is it Summer yet?

So last week they were calling for snow, today it's 65 freakin' degrees here! Praise the Lord!!
I've felt so bad for Mackenna lately, because we've been all cooped up in the house for weeks.
It's supposed to be all stormy and yucky later tonight and tomorrow....then cold...again. That's the only thing I DON'T look forward to when Spring is around the corner. Storms! - And especially tornadoes. Yikes!

 Little happy tornado - how they all should be.

Fortunately for us, we don't have too many tornadoes around here and we do they usually aren't TOO bad. KNOCK ON WOOD *BANG THE CRAP OUT OF THE WOOD!!* Tornadoes freak. me. out. If we even have a tornado watch, I'm constantly glued to The Weather Channel and/or the internet trying to warn myself if a tornado is indeed coming our way. When I was little, I was scared shitless of even a thunderstorm. I'd get blankets and hide out in my closet until it passed by. Twister was also one of my favorite movies. Ironic? Yes. I remember being at a Hanson concert, when I was around 10 years old...freaking out because dark, ominous clouds were above us and I just knew we were all going to be sucked into a tornado or struck by lightening. My friend's dad just bought us ponchos and we sat there...in the rain for the concert. --Which brings me to another weird fact about myself. I love if/when it does rain or storm (as long as there are no tornado watches) to be somewhere sitting under a patio or even in my garage drinking a cold beer listening to the rain. The combination of the smell of the rain, the humidity, and then the crisp, cool taste of a good beer is heaven to me.

So...here's hoping we don't have a stormy spring! When we build our dream house, a basement is definitely on my list of must-haves.

To get back to my original point, it was warm today and so Mackenna and I got to play outside for a good bit. Last summer, I loved letting her play in her kiddy pool with my feet in the water, getting some color to my pasty self. Can't wait for that!

Bachelor Time!

It's Monday!!

I'm probably one of the few people who love Mondays because.... I don't have a job THE BACHELOR COMES ON!!

I've been obsessed with The Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor Pad for a handful of seasons now. I can't remember what season I really start watching. Maybe Brad's second one. I know I didn't watch during his first. I feel like such a loser too. Did anyone watch the last Bachelor Pad? The one where they had fans in the house? The fans were made fun of the whole time for being "fans." Oh well. I don't see these people as "celebrities." I'm sure half of the contestants were fans at one point.

Oh..fun fact: I worked at Hooters the same time as Blakely, from last season, did. She worked at a different location, but I remember doing several bikini contests and a calendar photo shoot with her. I don't think she was as crazy as they made her seem on the show. Or maybe so...I didn't know her that well. Anyway....yay for Monday!

I also love when it's Bachelor time instead of Bachelorette because there's something more interesting about a whole bunch of girls fighting for a guy...than a bunch of guys fighting for the girl. Darren tries to act like he doesn't enjoy watching it, (and Honey Boo Boo) but he sits and talks crap about all of the girls and all of the drama going on with me...like two little highschool bitches. We also talk about the Jersey Shore cast like they're our personal friends when I used to "make" him watch that with me too.

I would say who I like so far this season, but my opinion of the girls is ruined now since I looked up the spoilers already. For some reason, I'm not a surprise girl. If the winner is already known out there somewhere, I wanna know now! I still enjoy watching the season anyway. Plus, it's neat to see the winner's relationship form with him as the season goes since I know who to watch.

 Blakely and I. 2006, I think. Yuck.

Have a good week y'all!!

"It Works" Body Wraps

Happy Saturday people!!

This morning the lady I sale Tastefully Simple under hosted her own "It Works" wrap party. I don't know what it is with me and any type of home party, but I always go. If I'm invited....I'll be there.

I got there and the consultant applied my wrap and then we sat and listened while she explained her products for about 45 minutes. They were actually pretty interesting. It didn't really feel like anything was going on under my wrap. 

After she went through and explained all of the other things she sells besides the wraps, we went one by one to remove our wraps and take our measurements again. Some people lost 1-2 inches and others actually gained a couple. Wouldn't you know, I'd be one of the ones who gained. The consultant explained that it's normal to gain inches right away as it's your body breaking down those toxins and the best results are 72 hours after removing the wrap. Ok...whatever. I'm sure I have a LOT of leftover toxins from last night to get rid of...(after I consumed about 4 beers, skipped dinner because I wasn't hungry at the time...then later binged on mini corn dogs, pizza rolls, cheddar puffcorn, and artichoke & spinach dip.) Yes. I did that. I wish I were joking. My hint of ab muscles starting to poke through the surface the other day are now underneath all of that yummy crap.

Here's my results photos. If it's true that the best results come later...I'll take another set of afters.
Sorry about the lighting and my bummy clothes. It was obviously earlier and darker in my room in the first set. I can't tell a lot of difference except in the tightness of my skin.

BEFORE:

 AFTER:  (Holy bajeebus I need a tan!)

These are what the consultant took. I see an improvement in my back roll here. LOVING that!

So...there ya have it.

I also do this weird thing at home parties where I talk myself out of buying things because I KNOW there are probably better alternatives. I really liked the protein shake she let us sample, but I'm positive I can find a similar one for less than $80. I also liked "The Greens" superfood alkalizing drink powder, but someone else mentioned you can find something similar cheaper at Trader Joes. Perfect! This may also be why I'm a horrible sales person. (even for Tastefully Simple.) If I know there are better alternatives for something, I feel like I'm lying by selling you something else. I digress.

I did buy some fat fighter pills. You take them after you eat a big meal that you might want some fat fighters for. Wish I had those babies last night! I signed up for a 3 month thing so I could get them cheaper. They are only like $23, so I figured I could do that and I definitely could use a few fat fighters in my life. 

Have a good weekend, folks.

Throwback Thursday

Since it is Thursday, I figured what better thing to post than some throwback pictures. After all, we do love pictures, right? Plus...I figured looking back at some super skinny photos of myself could be some major motivation.

First up- I found this picture on my old photobucket account. This was around 2005-2006. I don't even remember what I weighed here. I assume probably around 125. This would be my most ultimate goal weight. I'd do anything to be this small again. Except eat right and work out. I'm really not sure it's even possible though. 

 Secondly- Just for fun, we have this lovely gem of a photograph. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned my first ever club outting and how I managed to get an underage drinking ticket that same night. Well....here's the only photo I have from that lovely evening. Blue tounge and all I (yes...THAT ONE is me) from our blue Gatorade and vodka mixture. Barf! Interesting fact: Since they knew we were underage at the point when this photo was taken, that means we only had consumed the one drink we made for on the way there. I wasn't even drunk here. Just being silly and ridiculous! C'mon, I know I'm not the only one who used to think it was cool to act a lot more intoxicated that I actually was. 

 This one makes me laugh harder the more and more I look at it. It was taken the first Easter Darren and I were dating. I have a whole photo session of this day where I made him pose and do all kinds of cliche' things like this. I mean...look at his stance. Knowing him now, he's probably thinking... "Holy eff this b*tch is heavy. Please don't let me drop her in this white dress and why the hell is she making me do this again?!" And I'm just all "Weee...we're so in love!!"

I think I was literally 17 here. I'm posting this one because I remember specifically thinking how fat I thought I looked. And the bad part is, I can still SEE why I thought I was fat...when obviously I was far from it.

Lastly, we have this one. In this photo, I was hanging out with one of my good girlfriends and her sister, having a junk food night. I don't even remember what all we were eating, but I assure you it was probably a bunch of delicious crap. And we thought it'd be cute to stuff pillows under our shirts so we would really look and feel FAT. Hmm.. funny how things work out.

Karma...you little hussy, you.

Potty Training

Yay! I made it back within a month!

The past few days have been so rainy and dreary here! It has completely sucked. Yesterday, they were even calling for snow. (Which is a huge frickin' deal to us North Carolinians!) Everyone literally runs out to get their milk sandwich ingredients when they hear word of 1 centimeter of snow. We love our snow. We're lucky to see it once a year. So, last night we waited and waited. I even kept Mackenna up until 10 pm just hoping she could see one snowflake. Well...that's about all we saw. It ended up being a rainy snowy mix...mess. Boo.

Stuck being in the house for so long got me very bored after a while. I randomly decided "Hey! It's a perfect day to potty train!"  Mackenna heard the word "train" and she's suddenly all in. I've been needing to start. I just simply haven't because I was too dang scared to. We've always had some sort of plans to go somewhere or something that has kept me from trying. But since we weren't going anywhere in the mess outside, I knew it'd be the perfect opportunity. I put her panties on after she had her morning poop. I was not about to deal with that first thing in the morning in the very first 10 minutes of potty training. She almost immediately used her potty! All I told her was she's a big girl, no more using diapers, and every time she pees in her potty, she gets 2 m&ms. (I almost typed "eminems" - ugh!) So far so good! This child loves, I mean LOVES candy. That's all it took. No charts with cute stickers, no sitting in the bathroom for hours, no putting the potty in the living room...nothing! Am I lucky or what?! Now I know we're bound to have a few accidents. We did have one yesterday evening, and that's fine. I just feel like I was so intimidated over nothing. Today we even went to Target and were gone for 2 whole hours and she stayed completely dry the entire time. The only thing is... she hasn't pooped yet. It is starting to make me nervous. I got her the little toddler potty seat that fits on the regular toilet to use for that type of restroom trip. I'm trying my damnedest to avoid the transfer of poop from one potty to the other then chloroxing everything in site. Yikes! That definitely gets my germaphobe nerve going. I just figured it'll be much easier (for me...I know, how selfish of me) for her just to go in the big potty. I hope I don't confuse the crap out of her. Or maybe I do. Har Har Har.

I figured out how to make myself a new siggy. Go me! I think I also have a new name for my blog. I've never really liked this one. I'm usually not into the 'catchy" stuff, but this is all I could come up with at the time. I'm thinking about "A Glimpse of Hope." Get it? Yes, still kinda catchy. BUT it's pretty literal. A glimpse...of my life.

Hope everyone had an awesome week! Happy Friday y'all!!