Get Your Sparkle On

Happy Friday!!

Is it just me, or has this week seriously lasted forever? I'm just glad OSU plays tomorrow, I get to be in Stillwater (and that OU lost last night...#SorryImNotSorry).

Anyway, a few of my favorite things from the last week (ahem, or month).

1. I've got a new jam, ya'll. Thanks to a coworker's 4 year old daughter loving Barbie music, I was introduced to Get Your Sparkle On. Since then, I've made Matt listen to it several times (sorry about that...) and of course I play it every morning before cheer practice! It's positive and clean and talks about sparkles, so what's not to love?
   
    
   
   
2. My mom, ladies and gentlemen, made some DELICIOUS dinner last night. I had a bit of popcorn at the JH game but that was NOT about to cut it, so when I got home I heated up "some chicken thing mom had cooking in the crockpot all day," as my dad put it. It ended up being the Hawaiian Chicken I put together for her Freezer Club Meal Swap two weeks ago! She does this super cool swap with 3 other ladies and we get 4 delicious meals in our freezer to heat up through the week. When you want to eat a meal, you follow their instructions for cooking, but it's all already put together so there's practically no work for you other than turning on the crock pot or oven. These ladies are geniuses, I'm telling you.
   Here's what you need to make this delicious creation:
   1/2 bag frozen chicken tenders (like the big bags you get from the grocery store...sorry this isn't exactly precise)
   1 15oz. can of crushed pineapple (don't drain it!)
   1/2t ground ginger
   1T minced garlic
   1/4c soy sauce
   Put all of that into a crock pot liner and stick it in your crockpot on low heat all day. Serve over brown rice and with some steamed veggies. I didn't have the rice or veggies last night (I wasn't going to eat a whole meal after the game!), but the chicken and pineapple with those other flavors were so delicious.
3. Herbalife Pumpkin Spice Latte. Um, hello. I ordered some last night (finally, yes I know Wacey) and I can't wait to get it in. Twice this week I stopped by New U Nutrition because I was running late in the morning and too lazy to make my shakes the night before. Kim made me the most delicious shakes and I was SOLD on the special limited edition flavor. Now if it'll just hurry and get here!
   
   
   
   
4. Doing Herbalife with my family. It's so much easier to make & drink shakes twice a day when I'm not the only one in the house doing it. Dad is getting creative and making up recipes. Mom is doing shakes. I'm thankful to my family for making the commitment to getting healthy with me. So THANKS FAMIlY! :) 
5. Red River Ski Area pictures. They have snow and it makes me insanely happy! We're going there in December and I'm counting down! Now, I just need to get new ski pants and find everything else I need for the week, so I'm not actually totally ready, but I just can't wait. And looking at pictures of beautiful snow on that fun mountain just makes me want to leave tomorrow (even though skiing doesn't start for 19 more days. Countdown, much?).
   
   

Have a happy weekend, ya'll! Now go get your sparkle on! :)

Linking up with Whitney @ I Wore Yoga Pants

Wednesday Weekend Post

I just love birthday weekends. And the new iOS.

Siri really thinks this is busy. Soon she'll learn this is normal.

Friday I took off work at noon after a looooong week and, after I did a little running around, Matt & I headed to the fair to celebrate his birthday with corn dogs & candy! The candy store at the fair is now a tradition. They have smarties suckers that are the most delicious candy ever. I just hope it's not a tradition to spend more every year...because eventually it'll take a truck to haul it all out if we do :) We also had cupcakes from Gigi's with glitter number candles, much to Matt's excitement. After the fair, we made a stop at the outlet mall to get Matt new shoes then went back to his house for a fun & relaxing evening.

After round 2 of Matt's birthday celebration with a pizza lunch (& cake. always cake) on Saturday, we headed to my house to celebrate my brothers' birthdays! Kaden turned 16 & Kale turned 13 - they're growing up way too fast.

After the party, Julie & I had some girl time with a hair & makeup salon ;) 

Sunday was a big day for me - my first 5K! The Hot Mamas Run supports the Regional Food Bank & Oklahoma Birth Network and their color was hot pink, so clearly I was in. 

I had so.much.fun. and I'm officially hooked on this running thing. 

Kimmy & Tandye are in my eyes super runners, and they were such a huge help to me! They gave me all sorts of tips and convinced me that I need new running shoes :) They were cheering me on as I crossed the finish line and I appreciate their encouragement and knowledge sharing so very much! 

My coworker Denice also ran, so of course we had to take a picture with Bernie to rep the Food Bank!

I'm already looking forward to my next 5K - the Color Run - in a week and a half! 

To continue on this whole healthy kick with the running, I've also officially signed up to be a Herbalife distributor! I have taken Herbalife before and loved it, and I still use it when I leave early enough to stop and get a shake. I decided it was time to just get myself some to be able to make it here at home! I'm so excited to get my starter kit in. Super thanks to Wacey for helping me get signed up! 

And that wraps up an awesome weekend. I left out Monday & Tuesday, when we celebrated my brothers' birthdays with Chicago style pizza on Monday night & homemade donuts on Tuesday morning. I'm telling you, birthdays are the best. 

on being one of "those people"

In a recent conversation, I was called one of those people - you know the kind - the super annoying health nuts who drive you crazy being all super excited over working out and eating salads - because I made a comment about how excited I was about healthy changes. I'm not a health nut or super in shape - if I made that claim it would be nothing but a lie. However, I do want to be the best me. I want to feel good. I want to enjoy life. So lately, some changes have been taking place.

Water and spark have replaced diet cokes and coffee (I'm pretty sure my body used to be made of 90% diet coke. bad, bad, bad, I know.)

Last night's run.

Pinning great workout plans has been replaced with actually lacing up my shoes, turning on MapMyRun, and putting those great outfits to use (I take extra care to avoid all the cars in my path. No more getting run over!).

A piece of chocolate following last night's run. :)

And slowly, most (not all, I'm working on this!) "bad" food has been replaced with Herabalife shakes for breakfast/lunch and healthier options for lunch/dinner...even cooking meals occasionally and eating a salad or two. I mean what's the point of drinking water and sweating if I eat nothing but junk, right?

I already had to make changes to what I ate about a year ago when I discovered "lactose" was a bad word causing me to feel terrible 24/7. I really liked milk. And ice cream. And cheese. And yogurt. So all of those things are mostly gone (occasionally - very occasionally - I'll let myself have something with dairy. And then I take medicine or risk wanting to cry all day because I don't feel well).

So am I one of those people? I don't think so. I'm working on being the best me possible, but I'll never judge you for eating a cupcake - unless you eat one without asking me to join!

Also, to those people - what are your best tips for becoming one of you? ;)

Friday Favorites

1. New U Nutrition {Herbalife}
I stopped by Monday at lunch for a shake & tea, and my comment on Facebook was "hello delicious." Seriously - I had a Reese's Cheesecake shake & a Raspberry Lemonade tea, and it was amazing. I will definitely be going back soon I've gone back every day this week. That good. Find a place that makes Herbalife shakes in your area and try one (this is east of Mustang across from Aaron's on the north side of highway 152, for my local friends). I've tried making the shakes myself and failed miserably, it just didn't taste the same...but their Cinnamon Toast Crunch tastes just like the cereal. I'm more than willing to spend $6 to get to drink a delicious, healthy shake every day.

2. My Birchbox eyeliner
I already talked about this one this week, but I've worn it every day and I appreciate it more each time I see that it's stayed put. That's all.

3. Girls Night
Aka tonight. Caylee is in town and we are staying at Meg's and having a blast. In fact, I wrote this yesterday because she's here right now and if I had to guess what we'll be doing today, it'll probably involve laughing at each other's hilarious stories and shopping for the Pinterest-y sort of night ahead. There's just something about having best friend time that makes my heart really, really happy.

4. Marley Lilly 

I ordered one of their Long Sleeved Monogrammed T-Shirts on Thursday and I already am planning when and where to wear it. My go-to outfit lately has been a long sleeve shirt, a long cami, skinny pants/leggings and Uggs. Within like 10 minutes of ordering, my shirt had started being processed. They're SO fast on creating and delivering things, so I'm quite certain I'll have it next week...meaning I'll be wearing it soon. #CantWait

5. Liquid Mucinex

I was definitely feeling a little sickly-ish earlier this week. I took off from work a little early and went to the doctor. While I won't get into the hot mess that was the doctor's visit, I will say the advice to get liquid Mucinex was probably the best thing to come out of it. Within two doses I started feeling better. You'd think my sinuses would eventually realize I live in Oklahoma and the weather will always be crazy, and they'd behave. #DreamOn

PS - have you entered Cassie's book giveaway yet?