This and That

*I started this post LAST WEEK and am just now getting around to finishing it.  Can you say writer’s block?*

So I want to blog but I’m not really sure what to blog about.

We’ve been home from our vacation for almost two weeks and life has been pretty good.

Mostly ordinary.  Lazy days.  Soaking up time with Andy before he goes back to school.  Trips to Target and Ikea.

Seeing some family and friends we haven’t seen in ages.

Going on a date night thanks to a sweet friend who offered to watch our girls for the evening :)

We worked in the yard and finally dealt with all of the leaves, weeds and overgrowth that I ignored in the fall.

Note to self….spring will be much easier if put a little work into the gardens in the fall!

Of course the day after we did all that work, we were hoping to spend time outside on the patio enjoying the fruits of our labor, but it was a cold, gray, rainy day.  Oh well.  At least it’s all prepped for the summer!

It is probably the most obvious thing in the world to lay mulch down around the plants in your garden, but for the past 7 years I’ve battled dry, crusty looking dirt and a myriad of weeds instead of looking at rich, brown mulch around my plants!

Avery has been changing so much lately!  It’s awesome to see her interact more with Grace.  She’s also discovering her “voice” and every time she makes sounds Grace says, “She’s talking, mommy!”

Now that the weather is warming up, I love to eat summery dinners.  Fresh salads, lots of fruit and anything I can think of to put on the grill.  Last week I was loving watermelon, Amish brats, sauteed peppers and onions as well as a chicken and avocado salad.  I’m on the lookout for healthy summer dinners so I hope to be posting a lot of them in the coming weeks.  I miss blogging my dinners!

You may notice an absence of dairy and grains on those plates.  Like I’ve said before, I’m not going 100% paleo, but I am definitely trying to lean more in that direction.  I just feel so much better (more energy, lighter) when I eat paleo foods.  I can’t help but notice that the scale is a fan of me eating that way too.

Speaking of the scale, I’ve been finally working to get the excess pounds off and so far have lost about 20lbs since before Lent.  My next goal is to lose 20 more which will get me to where I was when I turned 29 and made peace with my body.

And I’d ultimately like to lose 15lbs after that to get to my wedding day weight.

I’ve never wanted to be the woman who looks so different from her wedding day that her kids say, “Wow, mom used to look so good.”  I never wanted to be a woman who “let herself go” after being married for 10 years.

And this summer will be 1o years that we’ve been married, so there’s no time like the present.

I won’t be blogging my way through this weight loss journey though.  My whole “Weigh-In Wednesday” series was such a joke last time.  In fact, my sister and I laugh about it every time we think about it.  I was always down two pounds and then up three.  Talking about how determined I was and then sheepishly posting the following week about how I fell off the band wagon.

No more of that.

Just eating healthy and exercising for this girl.