The adventures of Hunter Boots

It's pretty much a well known fact that I would LOOOOOVE a pair of these...via

well what you may or may not know about me, is that I have rather large, i mean HUGE calves, which prevents me from getting many of cute boots that I would LOVE to have!

Seriously - it was a struggle to slim my legs down just to get them into a pair of tall Uggs... [and thats just meaning my leg inside the ugg - there is NO room, i repeat, NO ROOM, left over for me to try and get a pair of skinny jeans inside there as well!]

So i'm not so sure why I thought wellies/my hunter boots would be any different...

well i'm hear to tell you it was different.. but in a MUCH worse way!

Jess and I went to Von Maur on Saturday on a quest to set out and find a pair of Hunters for both of us. I picked up the navy pair and tried them on for size...

First off the 9 was HUGE on me [go down a size for future reference]

I put on what i thought were the 8's [thanks mr. salesman for bringing me the 7's] which I could barely get on my foot.. better yet i could not get them off of my foot

As i am trying to pry these bad boys off of me, i start to have a minor panic attack, and I start sweating [really though, i sweat a LOT, like i swear God got me confused with a man when he gave me sweat glands!] in the middle of von maur! [classy i know]

via

So now my leg starts to sweat, because i'm trying them on with just footies, and lets be honest, a tight rubber boot, bare skin and sweat, are not mixing!

Another sales associate came over to talk to me and Jess about the wellies, and thats when we noticed that I had on a 7 rather than an 8.

we send homeboy [our original sales man into the back to pull the correct size for us] while the new lady sales associate continued to tell us about the Hunters. She informed us that they are made to create a suction when they go onto your leg, to prevent water from getting in [no shit - pretty sure this is what i'm experiencing] [and to her point they are supposed to be rain boots]

So cue round #3 of trying to get these darn boots off of me! A little better outcome than the size 7, however still the same, suction, sweating, embarrassment!

I finally got the boot off, after struggling for about 5 minutes [I'm sure it wasn't that long, but it sure as heck seemed like it was!] and decided to walk away from the boots, because surely I was not going to go through all the struggles on a daily basis for a pair of wellies!

So needless to say, my adventures in Hunter boot shopping was not as successful as I had hoped it would be. But at least I now know that they don't fit and I can stop fantasizing over them!

Now if anyone knows any good exercises to decrease the size of HUGE calves I will gladly listen :)

My old habits....

Last night I was reflecting on the person I have become and I realized that over the course of the last year and a half my life has changed pretty dramatically, for the better.. mainly because of the healthy lifestyle that I have finally decided to adopt.... you see, I used to be overweight, and I'll even use the word tubby/fat/ect. It was bad! My outlet for anything was food.. if I was stressed, i would eat, if I did something great, I would reward myself with food, in order to make other people happy I would feed them... however, that has all changed now.. I now ease my stress by working out, and I reward myself with manicures, and I now try to also feed others healthier options. It has changed my outlook on life.. and I can tell you that for the first time in a long time, I'm proud of myself, and I'm proud of where I came from to where I am today.

During my reflection I thought I would share a few things that I used to do in my past.. along with a few pictures... to show you how my life has dramatically changed

-I used to LOVE sundresses, because there was no waist line, and you couldn't tell how big I was.. a Large fit and there wasn't a number correlated to it

-I avoided the scale as if it was the plague. I was afraid of the number that I would see, even at the doctors office, I would stand on the scale backwards, and make sure they didn't tell me what it read. [looking back I wish I weighed myself at my heaviest so I would know accurately the weight loss that I have had over the course of the last 18 months]

-I wore a pair of jeans to bed at night [before our trip to Boston] to stretch them out [i couldn't afford to buy a new pair of pants, however I needed more than 1 pair for the 5 day vacation]

-I used to go through the drive through and waiver on what to get for dinner, either a hamburger combo or a chicken sandwich combo.. when I couldn't decide, I would go for the hamburger combo and tack on a 5 piece nugget [and eat it in the car before i got home] or go for the chicken sandwich combo and get a jr hamburger to go along with it! GROSS!

-I would hide behind justin in pictures, use a pillow to cover my mid section, use picnik to crop out anything that looked large, or use anything to hide my mid section


-I used to thrive on buying shoes and accessories.. because they will always fit, regardless of how much you weigh

-I would go to the gym, try and work out on the elliptical for 20 minutes, cut it short at 10 minutes and think I had a "good" workout.

There are days when I get discouraged because the scale doesn't reflect the effort that I put in the night before at the gym, or the healthy options I'm eating, but I need to look back at how far I have come in this journey.

Looking back at my old habits, I am embarrassed of who I let myself get to, and I knew that I had to want to lose weight for myself, not for anyone else, and I had to have the motivation and drive to do it.

So What Wednesday....

So what if...


i put my hand on my hip in EVERY picture... let me tell you - it helps tremendously hiding the laffy taffy [need proof that i do it? check out here, here or here]

i make Justin discuss potential baby names with me at least on a weekly basis.. i'm no where close to having kids, but i have always loved the thought of naming my kids, and I want unique/chic names!

i have a list of items I want to buy with my "fun $"... however the list continues to grow
[iPad, hunter boots, revas, cricuit machine, ect]

i rush home on a nightly basis to see if my Shutterfly book has come in the mail. I just want to see how it turned out! Hopefully tonight is my lucky night!

i am beyond excited for my craft room to be completed. if you follow me on twitter you know that it has been quite an adventure thus far! a tough decision on fabric choices, paint colors, a few choice words, a piece of crap miter manual saw, and it has tested my math skills all around! it should be put back together as of tomorrow night! [YIPPEE!]

so what if 2 of my girl friends came over for craft night last night and we all had project fails [from our original plans!] with a little bit of tweaking i think all of our necklaces will come together... however, i'm able to look past my awful looking necklace because I had so much fun just catching up with my friends!

Head on over to Shannon's blog and link up!

Dear Carbs, I miss you

We are in the final home stretch of our biggest loser competition #2 with our friends...
2 more weeks
but until then...

Dear Carbs,

I miss you, and can't wait until we are reunited again! I have already planned on how to welcome you back into my life as of May 3rd. Our relationship may rekindle over sushi, pizza, or a sandwich of some sort, we have a few days to figure out the menu/game plan, but until then I'll just be hanging out with some fresh veggies and fruit! You will be missed! Can't wait to have you back in my life again!

Love,
Lindsey

As of today I'm down 9.8% of my weight from when I started in February. With the 1/2 marathon being so close and I have 2 more long runs [11 miles and 12 miles] I should be able to get to my ultimate goal weight! the competition is surely getting tough over the last weeks. I will fight until the end.. and hopefully come back as victorious as last year!

Friday Confessional

I confess.. I have thought about buying a cakepop machine from Kohl's even though I have never tried to make them on my own before. Are they difficult to make? The machine just makes it look as if they would be that much easier to make!

I confess... that one time I drove away from the gas pump with the nozzle still in my car! [to my defense herbie's gas tank is on the passenger side, and i was in a hurry to get up to the lake for the weekend ;)]

I confess... that if I eat a few french fries of J's plate at a restaurant that I don't really count them as calories/carbs for me... they came off of his plate not mine!

I confess... i still haven't done my taxes.. eek! thank g we have until the 18th this year. it is making me a little nervy not to have them done though, i'm normally done with mine in February!

I confess... that I get annoyed when I hear about people who want to get out of debt but continue to buy things that are not necessary. [I understand that there are totally circumstances, and I can't really relate b/c i'm not in their shoes, and have never been in debt, but I just want to tell them that some things are really a necessity its more a want!]

I confess... when I run outside and look at the houses, i find myself wondering how they are decorated inside?, how would i decorate it?, would i ever be able to afford it?, ect... and just letting my mind wander.. this is why i try to train indoors b/c when my mind wanders, i run sllloooowww!

I confess... that I didn't have a chance to wash my work pants that I wore yesterday, so I'm wearing them again today.. TWO DAYS IN A ROW! .. i NEVER do this, and now they are falling off of me.. I hate saggy butt pants

I confess... although I hate saggy butt pants, I don't mind the feeling that I'm wearing a pair of pants that are not only 2 sizes to big, but more like 3-4! I'll take it for a Friday!

I confess... I was a little more than excited when I saw that Absolut made Absolute Boston into a real flavor. It is now called Absolut Wild Tea. Can we say pure delish! It is infused with black tea and elderflower, and you mix it with either Ice Tea or Ginger Ale. Can't wait for patio drinking with this stuff, it is the most refreshing drink ever!

speaking of Absolut
I confess... I interviewed someone who worked at Absolute HHC yesterday, and I wrote in my itnerview notes Absolut HHC.. can you tell what was on my mind yesterday during work?! ha!

I hope you have a wonderful Friday!
I know today could not come soon enough for me, it has been one tough week in the office

TGIF!

So What Wednesdays....

This week I'm saying
So What if....

*i'm still catching up on my dvr from our vacation [i should have totally taken an extra DVR day when I got back from the cruise and Florida]
*i lost my pedometer last week and you would have thought that I lost my child, this darn thing of plastic is a part of me [well and I get $$ for it based off of the amount of steps I take], i retraced my steps, called security, ect. with no avail, i didn't find it, but i re-programed my original one, and were back up and running! [thank g, i have long runs coming up for the 1/2 marathon training, i can't miss out on 15,000+ step runs!]
*if I was all the way to the freeway this morning before I realized I forgot my pedometer at home, and I knew it was going to be a busy day with quite a few trips to the hospital, so I turned around to get it
*we are in the final stretch of our weight loss competition, and all that i'm craving is the bad stuff.. yesterday it was Nacho Doritos, and pepperoni pizza [srrsly, thats sick!]. i'm going to try and go low carb for the last 20 days [besides my luna bars when i run] and see how it goes.. wish me luck!
*i'm still sore from the 10 mile run that we did on sunday! seriously, who knew that Gahanna had hills?!!? not me!
*it irritates me when people try to drag on a conversation by saying "so, yea..." or "so, ummm...." just end the conversation... there is no need to keep dragging it on
*i'm looking forward to Justin starting softball back up [even though I will be regret saying this in about 1 month], I love being outside 3 nights a week

Now head on over to Shannon's blog and link up

What are you saying so what to today!? or all week?!

Vacation.. all I ever wanted

Its only taken me a week and a half to post pictures from vacation... so without any further ado here are the pictures from vacation. we were on a cruise for 6 days [we had stops in both Jamaica and Grand Cayman] and then went to Ft. Myers for an additional 4 days.

We went with 2 of our best friends from Boston, Stacey and Ryan. We were due for a trip to Boston to see them, but we opted to go somewhere tropical instead. There's nothing better to me then being in the hot summer sun, with a drink in hand and your best friends!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves.. because lets be honest, who really wants to read what I have to write about each stop [and I will probably use to many periods to space out sentences and too many !!!! for words, and use ha! about every other picture, so I will let the pictures do the writing/talking for me!]

On our way to the ship in the shuttle from the hotel
packing the ever so important 12 pack of diet coke
[and justin taking in the "scenery"]
on the boat finally
Carnival
Officially the best day ever
Dinner the first night
[can you tell the neckline of the dress i wore this day??]
the next day was spent at see soaking up the sun
and that night we had the captain's dinner

the 3rd day
we were at port in Jamaica Mon
on our way to Dunn's River Falls
Renting Water Shoes
[yes, water shoes! circa 1990]
In Dunn's River Falls
Beach Party
with our tour guides [and their hats] Shauna and Kerry
getting back on board the boat
Day 3 Dinner
Day 4 was spent at Grand Cayman
on our tender to the island
Getting off the boat

Margaritaville
7 mile beach
Dinner that evening
the next day was set at sea heading back for the port in Miami
Dinner that evening
Poor Stacey wasn't able to sleep on the last night and was able to take a few pictures of us pulling into Miami at night
Before heading across the state of Florida, we decided to tool around on south beach for the morning
I joke around about the following picture being my highlight of vacation.. but it was pretty fun to be able to see where the Shore cast worked and lived!

We spent the next 4 days relaxing in Ft Myers with my uncle
Charlie brought out this hat for justin to wear, joking around... and he totally rocked it the entire day!
every time i look at this picture i just have to laugh
On our way to Sammi [Stacey's niece] 1st bday party
If your still looking through/reading this post, I commend you! I know its pretty boring to see the same people over and over again in a post, but I didn't want to bore you with 12 posts of vacation.

I loved every minute of being away from gloomy Ohio.

We are planning on taking another trip next spring and I can't wait!

Have you ever been on a cruise? We went on Carnival but I'm interested to hear about the other cruise lines? What islands did you go to? We're up for anything next year and would love to hear your suggestions!