A walk to the park


Tonight I had a decision... to go to the gym by myself and workout for an hour or go for a walk with my girl, well that was a no brainer. Amelia and I headed out on what ended up being a mile walk. She was a trooper and was so excited to be out and about, even though it was a little chilly. I made sure that our walk ended with a stop at the children's park a block away from our house, that made her day. I of course made her take a few pictures and she was of course silly as always. She has been doing this new thing lately... every time I say something wrong or do something wrong she says "Mama, that's not how it goes, you silly"... makes me smile each time!


!!!Swinging!!!
 My Love
 I have such a beautiful little girl! 


So today I looked over my spending for the past two months and categorized it into groceries, eating out, gas, babysitting, bills and extra expenses. In doing so I've come to the conclusion that I am giving up eating out and any sort of coffee shop stop for at least the next month. Not only will this help me maintain my daily caloric intake without going over, but it will save us some money as well. I didn't realize how much I was stopping at Starbucks in the morning and grabbing a quick bite to eat with co-workers for lunch. A tool I am going to use to make sure I am prepared with meals and not putting myself in a position to stop and grab something... meal planning. I sat down, looked up recipes and have now written out our meals for the next two weeks along with the grocery list for all meals. I've decided on a mix of soups, crock pot meals and chicken with veggie dishes and will have enough for lunch leftovers!

Tomorrow is my birthday. When I got home from work today the first thing out of Amelia's mouth was "Mama Mama!!! I made you a card today, for your birthday, for later" It was so funny! Then she showed me the envelope and told me there was something special in it that she drew for me. I will be sure to post a picture of my awesome card tomorrow after I open it.

Well The Voice semi-finals are on and I'm getting distracted trying to blog and watch at the same time so I'm off for the night. Good night all!

Ashley Elizabeth
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Amelia goes to work!


This past Thursday was Take Your Kid to Work Day!!! I'm lucky to work at a place that allows my child, who is not yet old enough to be in school, go to work with me. Amelia was so excited to go to work with me, she couldn't wait to do the mail and see Mokey Bear (Smokey Bear). She was great all day and we had a wonderful time. Most of my co-workers were out of the office so it was just myself Amelia along with my co-worker and his 5 year old son. The kids had fun playing and Amelia asked when she gets to go back to the office with me.
Amelia is lucky that her Mama works with Smokey Bear!

 Making copies for Mama

 Taking a break to give kissed and take pictures!

My good little worker wearing Mama's hard hat

Today we woke up and headed out for Dim Sum with Mark's family to celebrate my mother in-laws birthday. She was born and raised in Hong Kong so this is they way we typically celebrate, and since our birthdays are only two days apart we do a joint brunch. It was quite a tasty morning. Once we got home Amelia needed a nap, and I have to admit, I did as well. We got just over an hour of sleep and now I'm here, talking to you!

So I weigh myself every morning and lately have been up and down a couple of pounds almost constantly. I haven't been very good at tracking my calories and therefore haven't seen the constant loss I would like. This morning when I stepped on the scale I saw a lower number than I had in the past two weeks. I was pleased and now have a 9 pound loss (since starting Sparkpeople), giving me a total of 18 pounds since October. Only one more pound to go until I get my first reward, MAC eye shadow!!!

A few weeks back I watched a documentary on Netflix called "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" which is about a man's journey to a healthier life through juicing. I found his whole experience fascinating and instantly wanted to jump on the juicing wagon. Since we already had a juicer, I thought I would add some juice into my daily diet. I've already gone to green smoothies every morning for breakfast so juicing for lunch, dinner and snacks didn't seem like too much of a big deal. I didn't want only juice but instead eat a high protein, small portioned meal for lunch and dinner along with a small glass of juice. So far I haven't stuck to any sort of constant routine but when I do drink juice I notice that I have higher energy. At this point I will NEVER give up my green smoothies. They are not only delicious but I notice more of a weight loss when I keep them as part of my diet. The good thing about juicing is that I have Amelia drinking homemade juice instead of the sugar packed store bought juice. She loves to help me make it and chugs it down so quickly.

Amelia drinking a glass of carrot, celery, cucumber, apple and pear juice that she helped me make

Some of our ingredients for juicing. We added celery, kale and cucumber to this as well. Yummy!

My mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday dinner and I decided on enchiladas, she makes the BEST enchiladas! I'm pretty sure I will have to bust my butt with exercising this week to make up for the amount I plan to eat Tuesday! Well that is about it for now, I'm off to enjoy the sunshine before the day completely slips away. Happy Sunday!






Ashley Elizabeth
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