Tag: gardening

Typed While Snacking on Graham Crackers

Nina ChapmanLeave a comment

Is it really Friday already? Where did the week go?

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We spent our Fourth of July in Breckenridge with family from out of town. Normally we just drive up for the parade and head back in the same day, but this time we all rented out condos and stayed for the weekend. Our first stop was at the fire station so that we could go on bucket rides on the ladder truck. (Perks of being married to a fire fighter.)

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We spent the rest of the weekend participating in the parade/ Independence day festivities…

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… and just simply enjoying the mountain town atmosphere and each other’s company.

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(Oh yeah, and the bubbles… you’re never too old for bubbles.)

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Unfortunately, Penelope came down with a fever and ended up puking all over our bed during our stay. By the time Monday rolled around the rest of us were coming down with Penelope’s cold. Our out of town family had already left so the girls and I dropped Brent off at work before having a breakfast picnic and heading back down the mountain.

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As we made our way down we descended into gloomy rainy weather that didn’t let up for three days solid.

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The temperatures were in the 60’s but it was a welcome reprieve since we all fell victim to Penelope’s cold. Soup was on the menu and snuggling/Netflix was the only thing on the agenda. With the weather being crappy I didn’t feel too guilty about it. When the clouds finally parted I made my way to the garden to see how it had faired while we were gone and was surprised to see that it had grown a ton in just a few short days!

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This is perfect timing because after enjoying all of the holiday fair my body was craving something straight from the ground.

(Typed while snacking on graham crackers.)

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I’m such a hypocrite…

It’s okay though, because I can feel my arm muscles twitch every time I shovel a cracker into my mouth due to an unusually hard yoga class in which I almost suffocated in my own boobs. But that’s a story for another day…

Living it up Dog Days Style

Nina Chapman2 Comments

So much of my blog is centered around taking steps to make a better tomorrow. In an attempt to do that I can sometimes forget to live in the moment. That’s why, every now and then, it’s good to take a step back and live life a day at a time. That way you can truly appreciate all that you have instead of focusing on what you don’t have. That’s exactly where I’ve been and what I have been doing lately…

Last weekend we had the pleasure of having my brother-in-law Bryce and my niece Neve come for a visit. Last year Bryce brought Ruby with him  (aka Roosky Littlemoney) but this year it was Ruby’s little sister’s turn for a trip out to Colorado!

Since they are only a few months apart in age, Penelope was especially happy to have her cousin come for a visit!

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As soon as we picked them up from the airport the first thing we did was head to downtown Denver for a cuppa of joe from The Market.. along with some goodies for the girls.

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We spent the rest of the weekend playing outside and eating popsicles. It was a blast!

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There were a few particularly hot days that were spent at the museum and a nearby park…

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This required refreshments in the form of ice cream and iced coffee, of course. We found an awesome coffee shop in downtown Littleton. Bryce loved it so much we frequented it three times in a 24 hour time span. It was bordering on obsessive, but we just couldn’t help ourselves!

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During the afternoons while the girls napped Bryce, Bridget and I would watch season 4 of Downton Abbey. I was too busy finishing up my grad degree during the winter to stay on track and I had been dying to watch it. Brent tried to crash our Downton Abbey party but got banned when he made fun of us for laughing too hard at semi funny one liners. When he’s particularly bratty we call him “Thomas”, which ironically is his middle name, so he doesn’t know that we’re actually insulting him. Then we laugh our snobby inside joke laugh, which I think would technically make us “O’Brians” but he doesn’t know who O’Brian is so it’s okay.

  Once the girls woke up they required mani/pedi’s. They had very specific nail color choices… with sparkles of course.

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Look at those hand models!

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There was also a lot of running round naked (not pictured) and jumping on the trampoline. The days were filled with lots of squeals and laughter followed shortly by lots of “mine!” and tears. It was everything we hoped it would be.

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The weekend flew by and we were all sad to see them go but Penelope was especially sad. For the first few days after they had left she would wake up every morning looking for her Nevey. (She still talks to her imaginary friend Neve in the backseat of the car.) Ruby, however, was super excited to have her little sister back when the trip was over. We’ll see them again shortly when we meet up for a family reunion at the end of summer. I can’t wait to see all of them!

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After Bryce and Neve left I decided it was time to get back into the swing of summer. I had been thrown off since the surgery and was ready to get back to my dog days groove. So for the past week I have spent a lot of time outside cleaning up my garden and catching up on maintenance.

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 I was sad to see that one of my pumpkin plants had died while I was recuperating from surgery. It’s such a bummer because it had the biggest pumpkin on it 😦

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But the rest of my stuff is coming in quite nicely if I do say so myself! I think I can officially call myself a gardener.

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Penelope’s favorite plant is the “pickle plant” aka fresh dill. She’d sit there and sniff that sucker all day if I let her which makes sense because she is as equally obsessed with actual pickles.

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Bridget loves the raspberry bush by our front door and is so happy to see that the fruit is ripening before her two week trip to St. Louis. (She was afraid that she would miss them.) It’s seriously like having a candy jar by your doorstep. You wouldn’t believe how sweet the raspberries are!

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I was super excited about my first ripe tomato. I think it was the color that made me so giddy. Isn’t it pretty?!

Other than the lovely things that have been growing there have been some other magical things going on in the good old back yard as well. One morning I woke up to find two unexpected guests. We’ll call them dasher and Dancer. I’m pretty sure they were just as interested in my garden as I am…

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And on the super lucky mornings we see hot air balloons!

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The warmer the weather gets the lower they fly, which is awesome because it always looks like they might land right in our yard.

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In my attempt to get back into my summer groove I’ve gone back to blowing drying my hair via bike rides and spending my afternoons at the pool with my sweet girls. I haven’t been able to establish a workout routine yet but it’s the first thing on my to do list, that and eating healthier.

This summer definitely took an unexpected turn. I could easily spend my summer wallowing over what I’ve lost but that would be a disservice to myself and my family. I have so much to be thankful for. I felt like I just needed to take a little time to gain some perspective in order to truly appreciate it all… but now I’m back 😉

The Summer Shape Up Six Week Challenge

Nina Chapman13 Comments

Can I be honest with you?

I feel like I need a good ass kicking. No… seriously, I do.

Ever since student teaching ended I’ve been left feeling a bit incomplete. (Don’t get me wrong I’m really enjoying the amount of quality time I get to spend with my family.) But I feel like something is missing. Maybe I’m coming down from that high you get when you’ve faced a challenge and came out on top. Once you’re done you’re left wondering… “Now what?”.

I’m a weirdo, aren’t I?

You don’t have to be nice and lie, it’s true.

Why do I feel this way? Am I destined to chase a never-ending list of seemingly unobtainable goals? Maybe its the chasing after dreams part that I enjoy instead of the actually getting what you want part. Whatever it is it’s bugging me…

Since we’re all being honest here can I make another confession?

I feel like I’ve done a really shitty job of living this whole healthy lifestyle thing over the past few months and I think I might feel a bit ashamed about it.  (I’m not sure, I don’t think I’ve fully processed those feelings as of yet.) To top it off, last week Brent and I celebrated my graduation grand finale style with lots of bad food and tasty drinks.

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Once I finally gained the courage to step on the scale after all of the debauchery I discovered that I had gained about 8 pounds within a week. Now I feel like a lard ass. Sure, about five pounds of that was water weight because the scale went down but what the scale doesn’t show you is how flabby I’ve gotten. Seriously, where did all of this soft fluffy tissue come from?  Where did my muscles go?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need to do anything drastic like join Body Haters Anonymous or anything like that.  I mean, I still work my magic… I’ve been gardening in my swimsuit all week long. You don’t get much more body confident than that, but I wasn’t out there in all of my glory because I thought I looked good. I just don’t give a shit…

Hi neighbor! Yeah, I just got a half wedgie from bending over to pull weeds and yes you just saw me pick it out with my gardening glove but that’s what you get for looking in my backyard… weirdo. How else am I supposed to get a tan? Laying out? pshhh… Hey good idea!

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So, now I’m flabby and I have a red/orange sunburn tan. All I need is green hair and I will officially look like an oompa loompa.

Let’s see… what else do I need to confess?

Oh yeah, do you remember the ice cream I took a photo of in my last post bragging about how I never ate it? Well, I ate it. Not all of it, but I did polish off the last 1/3 of the container…in my jammies… while I watched five episodes of Long Island Medium.

Phew… that felt good. I feel like Chunk in the Goonies when he was confessing all of his sins to the bad guys as they threatened to put his hand in a blender.

Despite that I’ve made strides to straighten up my act lately.

I’ve started running first thing in the mornings…

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I’ve tried to eat cleaner…

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And I’ve resumed my favorite pastime of playing outdoors…

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Not to mention gardening…

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(So far I have lettuce, mesclun, potatoes, strawberries, kale (two kinds), brussels sprouts, broccoli, raspberries, red cabbage, sugar snap peas, rainbow carrots, beets, onions, chives, cilantro, parsley, tarragon and rosemary growing in my garden. )

All of this is great and all but what I’ve been trying to tell you is that I think it’s time to turn this weight loss blog into an actual weight loss blog. The kind where the blogger actually loses weight.

Therefore, I am going to issue myself a challenge. We’ll call it…

The Summer Shape Up Six Week Challenge

Now, I don’t know about you but I’m typically the type of person who likes to start challenges during the beginning of the week (preferably a Sunday or Monday). I also tend to try to issue myself challenges at the beginning of the month… neither of these things is going to happen this go around.

Why?

Because there is no use in waiting for the perfect time to challenge yourself. It’s never going to happen, all you are doing is coming up with an excuse for finding another time to challenge yourself.

That’s true, why do we do that?

Because challenges are… well, challenging.

Here are the stipulations…

  • Friday weigh-ins
  • Bi-weekly pictures and measurements
  • 100% effort

What I mean by 100% effort is that I will eat the healthiest foods I can stomach, I will drink tons of water and I will avoid processed carbs and sugars the entire time. (Not to be mistaken with eliminating all carbs… if you need clarification here is a link- How to Get Rid of Processed Carbs.) It’s that simple, there is no magic potion, pill or formula. We all know what to do. It’s just a matter of doing it.

Basically, giving 100% effort means that I can NOT make up some sort of lame excuse as to why I should be able to eat something tasty/crappy for the next 6 weeks. (Yes, this includes Mother’s Day.) I need to jump start my self-discipline… then once I’ve established my healthy habits I can go back to eating little tid bits of tasty/crappy goodness. Because lets face it, we all need a little tasty/crap sometimes.

I’m doing this because for some inexplicable reason I am in constant need of a challenge. And I’m doing this because my thighs are doing some inexplicable jiggling. It’s win-win! Plus, my neighbors will be a bit appreciative of the effort I’ve put in to ease their pain during my tanning/gardening sessions.

The challenge starts Friday, May 9th and ends Friday, June 20th, right in time for the first official day of summer. (I didn’t plan that.. but it works.)

I don’t have a specific weight loss goal in mind. I find this to be more of a hinderance than a help. If I see that I’m ahead of schedule I will slack off knowing that I can make up for it in effort later. That doesn’t really go along with my 100% rule. I’m just expecting to feel happier, healthier and firmer in my swimsuit before the first day of Summer. Who doesn’t want that???

***If you would like to join me please leave a message in the comments section and come back on Friday to check in!***

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The Seven Week Challenge

Nina Chapman1 Comment

Happy Daylight Saving Time!

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I woke up today to find that I got to sleep in until 7:15! I was happy to be given the delicious opportunity to finally sleep in… A little bit later I realized that it was all a lie.

Daylight Saving Time, you either love it or hate it.

The good news is that I will have more time at the end of the day to squeeze in a run before the sun goes down! The bad news is that this also means that when I wake up at 4:30 it will feel like I’m waking up at 3:30… eew.

These past few weeks have been some of the most challenging/rewarding weeks I’ve had in my entire life. My “To Do” list has gotten out of control, sometimes I think of it as a beast that is threatening to swallow me whole. This sounds kind of miserable but the truth is as far as school and student teaching is concerned I’m totally kicking ass. I have so much fun with my students and I look forward to going to school every day.

That being said, I’m really looking forward to the end of April when I will be done and have more time to play outside with my girls!

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I can’t wait for summer! I miss my garden so much. Every time I buy vegetables at the grocery store I think about it…

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strawberries

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summer garden

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I can’t wait to get started on it again! Penelope is really into playing outside with me. I plan on giving her a little spot just so she can play in the dirt… Let just hope she doesn’t try to eat it this year.

I’m just dying to have the time to play outside again!

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I’m pretty sure Scout feels the same way… he’s definitely looking forward to our early morning run routine coming back into play.

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I only have seven more weeks until my student teaching is over. I just have to hang in there until then.

But one thing is for sure… I can’t wait until the end of April to try to get in shape for summer. I’ve got to start now! It doesn’t matter how busy I am. If I wait until the end of April I’m going to be so bummed about how mushy my body is if I keep going at this rate. By problem lately isn’t eating too much, but more along the lines of not eating enough. My body is so under nourished right now. I need more sleep, I need more water and I need more nutrients.

I’ve said this every weekend but then when the week takes off I get swallowed whole by all I have to do. That’s why I’ve decided to create a new challenge for myself. We’ll call it…

The Seven Week Challenge

(original… I know.)

I have seven weeks so I’m going to see if I can lose 2 pounds a week during that span of time. Today I weighed myself and I weighed 188. Therefore my goal is to weigh 174 by April 26th. In order to hold myself accountable I’m going to take pictures of everything I eat and the exercise I manage to fit in. (This might keep me away from the donuts sitting in the teacher’s lounge.) I have a lot of birthdays to celebrate during this span of time but I’m not going to let that get in the way.

You’re welcome to join me! Pick a goal to have completed in the next 7 weeks and post it in the comments section 🙂

It’s Daylight Saving Time you know… the time when you are completely thrown off from your routine and the perfect time to start new habits!

The Pumpkin Who Lived

Nina Chapman2 Comments

changeyourthoughts

Good news everyone, I’m not a brat anymore!

Okay, so that’s still debatable… but I’m definitely through with feeling sorry for myself. Phew! Good thing, because being super negative is actually quite tedious.

I woke up this morning determined to run until that whiny attitude went away because I was seriously getting on my own nerves. It didn’t take long. I mean seriously, how can you pout when you’ve got such a cute running partner?

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We went to Barnes and Noble afterward for a little playtime reward for being so good during the run. Her not me. That run actually sucked because I wasn’t really feeling it until near the end. (Thank you endorphins!) While we were in B&N I grabbed an iced coffee and continued my workout in the form of chasing Penelope around the store. She thought it was awesome.

When we got home I cleaned all of the things I hate to clean (because I never clean them.) I quickly decided I needed to do a better job at this home maker business so I went on a Pinterest search for a cleaning schedule to help guide my unruliness…

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This schedule was the only one I found that didn’t make me want to shoot myself. However, I’m still not sure what a “swing” day is. I’m pretty sure that’s something Brent and I aren’t really into.

It didn’t take long for me to lose interest. I decided that unruliness was the perfect way to go. Instead, I found myself distracted by the other shiny objects that you can find on Pinterest.

Like this delightful little swing I could spend an entire afternoon on…

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Maybe I’m willing to be a swinger after all 😉

Or this beach that I would love to get lost on…

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Or this Harry Potter mug that makes me so happy…

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Speaking of Harry Potter, I have discovered in the aftermath of that hail storm that one of my pumpkin plants looks like it might actually live! It’s even got a little pumpkin on it, clinging on to dear life…

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If this little guy makes it I’ll carve a lightening bolt on it’s forehead and call it The Pumpkin Who Lived!

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All of the leaves that were ripped off of the trees during that storm are dying and as I was walking through it that beautiful Fall smell that I love so much was kicked up and wafting through the air. It triggered that giddy gut feeling of anticipation and before I knew it a giggle ripped through my mouth before I could restrain it.

This happened shortly after I had a conversation with my little Harry Potter pumpkin. My neighbors have got to think I’m losing it… who knows maybe I am. But it doesn’t matter because suddenly I was reminded of all of the things I’ve got to look forward to.

Then, I was also reminded of the tight jeans and sweaters that are on the horizon. So I went inside and planned out the meals I need to make to stay on track this week 😉 I’ll share them with you as the week progresses.