Just the beginning...

On June 24, 2010, James and I bought our first house (and signed a never-ending stack of papers!). We bought it through a builder so we were able to watch it being built and pick out our carpet, floors, cabinets, sinks and countertops; very exciting! It's hard to believe we've been living in it for over a year now, but we definitely kept ourselves busy with all the decorating, furnishing and painting that comes along with buying a house. We are proud of the work we've done to make it our own.

I've taken pictures from the very beginning and thought I would start a little blog series called, "Turning Our House into a Home," showing it from start to finish. :)

                                                            Let's start with the dirt...



Painting

Last Monday, my mother-in-law and I took a painting class called, "Lily on Black," at Michaels. It was a two hour class that simply taught us how to paint a white lily on a black canvas. It was great fun and I was happy with the results. It's not completely finished, but now that the paint is dry I may have to start a new one. Overall, I think it turned out pretty well and I would definitely take another class!

I also took a painting class in college that taught me a lot about colors and technique (but not quite as fun when you're graded on the finished product :)). I actually really like to paint and would like to get better at it so I'm going to start doing it more often! Below are a couple things I painted during the college class.

The Gym...

All of this may seem too personal for a blog, but health and fitness have been on my mind for as long as I can remember so I'm hoping my openess with it will help me reach my goals.

In the past, I've joined gyms and go regularly for a couple of months (usually because I want to lose weight for an upcoming event or social gathering) but then after the event, I stop working out. For instance, before my wedding, I was really dilligent about getting to the gym several times a week, but I definitely did not enjoy it because I put so much pressure on myself. I would think to myself, "you need to burn this many calories each time you workout to lose this much weight a week and weigh this much by this day." So I would work my tail off then I would go home and eat because I was stressed and in the end, never reached my goal. I can count a dozen times that I've repeated this vicious, unsuccessful cycle.

For the past month, I've been making it a point to get to the gym 2-4 times a week and not beating myself up if I only get there once. So far, I've been successful! One of my biggest struggles is simply being too hard on myself to the point that anything I do is not good enough. If I set the machine to 45 minutes and only do 30, I obsess over it the rest of the day. If I go to the gym, but then eat something bad later, I'm obsessing over it the rest of the night. So now, I go to the gym with a different mindset and I actually am motivated to do more while I'm there.

I'm not going to lie, I still find exercise to be more of a chore than anything, but I know that when I start to see and feel changes in my body and as I get better at it, I will start to enjoy it more. My ultimate goal is to want to go to the gym and have a good time while I'm there. I have a few friends and co-workers that consider their gym time as "me time" and they look forward to it every time they go (well, almost every time - everyone has their bad days). I will be at that point someday.

So now I'm trying very hard to forget the numbers and focus on health. Exercising is a great stress reliever and I know the benefits it has on overall health so my goal is to simply exercise because it is good for me. Plus, when I exercise, I find that I'm more motivated to eat healthy foods. Yay! It's a win-win situation. :)

Bridal Shower Weekend in PA

This past weekend I drove up to my hometown in PA to throw my best friend Nicole a bridal shower! Her bridesmaids and I planned a Paris-themed party because she got engaged in Paris at the eiffel tower. We held the shower at a local bed and breakfast; it was the perfect spot for it! Her bridesmaids were very helpful in the planning and I appreciated that so much because it would have been quite difficult to plan it by myself considering I live 8 hours away. We had a wonderful spread of food - croissant sandwiches, mac & cheese, cocktail meatballs, several different salads and a very creative dessert table that Nicole's good friend Andrea was in charge of! After the bridal shower we all got together that evening for a lingerie shower (organized by her other bridesmaid, Stefanie) and then celebrated her bachelorette party at a bar called the Jukebox. Everything came together so nicely and I think Nicole had a wonderful time with all of her close friends!

17 Day Diet: Fail

I have a confession to make.

I'm not following the 17 day diet anymore.

While the diet did help me shed and keep off about 6 pounds total, I have learned that some of the doctor's ideas about cutting out carbs and metabolism confusion may not be the best way to get healthy. I found the diet and the book to be very exciting at first and fairly easy to follow, but I easily got off track and lost interest (especially on the weekends and on vacation which I know also has to do with my lack of willpower). Then, a friend from work shared an article with me about why the 17 day diet is not so great. Basically, it explained that no one has to cut out carbs, or any food for that matter, to lose weight and be healthy. It said that it is not good for your body to be lacking those complex carbohydrates found in wheat bread, oatmeal, etc. (even if only for the first 17 days) and that those types of carbs are essential for brain function. Then, after that first 17 day cycle when you start incorporating more carbs, your body is shocked and suddenly has to start digesting them again.

The article went into more detail, but pretty much said we]hat we all know anyway: eat fruit, vegetables, lean proteins, dairy, probiotics, whole grains, small portions, sweets in moderation, limit dining out and exercise. You'll be healthy and in turn, will lose weight.

So now I'm reading another book called, "Master Your Metabolism," by Jillian Michaels.

.....do you see a trend starting here?? ;)

Charleston & Folly Beach

I knew I hadn't blogged in a while, but has it really been a month?? I guess so!

Summer is just flying on by, but lots of exciting things have been going on! James and I went on vacation with my mom and stepdad to Folly Beach around the middle of June. Folly is awesome. It's kind of hippy-ish, but I like that and it's much smaller than Myrtle Beach or any of the Jersey beaches I've been to. We enjoyed our condo - very beachy and homey feeling - and there was a dock right off the condo complex where we sat in the mornings, drank our coffee and watched dolphins! We spent a day on the beach soaking up the sun and swimming in the ocean. I swear I could live at the beach and never get sick of it! We ate seafood at the Crab Shack and the best mexican food EVER at Taco Boy - highly recommend both of those places if you ever visit! We also grilled out one evening at our condo because there was a local grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, right down the road from us.

One morning we got up and headed to Charleston, only 15 minutes from Folly. We started the day off with breakfast at a Mediterranian place and then toured the city on a horse and carriage ride. The city is so beautiful and full of culture and history. We also spent some time at The Battery, a historical site of the civil war. You'll find pictures below - hope you enjoy!

Our view from the dock... if you look REALLY close you can see the tip of a dolphin fin in the water!
                                      
                                          Mom & Gene on the dock
                                     
                                          Crab Shack

                                         Enjoying a raw oyster!!

This is called Rainbow Row because the houses are all different colors.

Cobblestone roads

                                        Mom and Gene in front of a cannon at The Battery

                                        

                                           Lots of beautiful old trees in this park!                                   
                                      
                                               My hubs and the machinery

                                          A civil war hero whose name I cannot remember.

Feeding our horse a much deserved mint (apparently they like mints!) after his long, hot & treacherous workout of lugging us through town!

                                      
                                           The beautiful beach

<3 him

                                                                     me & mom :)

                                                                    Under the pier

"Summer is when we all go barefoot and our hearts are just as free as our toes."

-unknown

Everybody's Workin' for the Weekend

Nothing too exciting has been going on here! Just working and hanging out with friends during the weekends.

Last weekend we met up with friends to celebrate a friend's birthday - we went to Red Rocks Cafe for dinner. We also met up with friends on Saturday for a few drinks and karaoke! I'm not much of a singer, but it's fun to watch others! This weekend we are having a cookout at our house! We are inviting a few friends and grilling dinner. We've lived in our house for almost a year now and haven't really had many gatherings so I'm looking forward to entertaining! :)

I am SO looking forward to next weekend because my mom and stepdad are making a trip down here to visit. We are going to Folly Beach for 3 days and spending some time in Charleston! I have lived here in the Carolinas for almost 2 years and have yet to visit Charleston so I am super excited about this trip. I hear it's a beautiful place full of history, culture, shopping and eateries! We have a condo reserved at Folly Beach and I can't wait to lay in the sand and watch the waves. Then we'll come back home and my mom and stepdad will stay at our house for a couple of days before they head north. It will be a lovely time!

On a side note, I hate to say it, but the diet hasn't been going so great. We've been eating out more often than we should on the weekends, but still doing ok with cooking healthy meals at home during the week. Basically we spend the week making up for the weekend so we're pretty much maintaining our current weights. I'm not freaking out about this because I know we will get back on track - we just need to make smarter choices on the weekends! Vacation will probably be difficult as well, but I'll be happy if we can at least maintain our weight while we're there. After vacation, we will be more strict and hopefully I'll have good news to report!

Stay tuned - I will have much more to blog about after our vacation and lots of pictures to post!