firmoo giveaway

hey y'all

sorry i've been so MIA but this giveaway gave me something to post about!

check out this giveaway! free firmoo glasses!


so adorable and you can never have too many adorable frames!

i see progress!

it's been a crazy week!

so here's the recap:

1.) my birthday was tuesday

2.) B's birthday is today

 because of 1 and 2, we have stayed busy and well fed. but, i ain't complainin'!

3.) the 24 day challenge ended thursday. look below for my exciting results! ahhhh!

4.) I GOT INTO THE NURSING PROGRAM! this was the absolute best part of my week!

UT's Nursing Program is competitive and hard. i think the hardest part of getting in is just getting to the application process. when i was a freshman, i was so discouraged by a C in biodiversity, that i decided i would never be able to get in, and switched my major. 

fast forward a year, and i decided that i still wanted to be a nurse. i consider myself passionate, stubborn, and smart, qualities that would make me a pretty good nurse (well, at least i think). 

however, my gpa was not good enough to get in the program (think about a 2.8). that wasn't gonna get me anywhere! so, i had a long hard talk with my advisor, who told me it was possible, with a lot of hard work, studying, and determination. the next two semesters, i got a 4.0! i brought my gpa from a 2.8 to a 3.5 in about 3 semesters all together! 

so when i got the email saying i was accepted, i started jumping up and down and crying! we're talking open the floodgates crying! i wasn't sad, i was the furthest thing from that. I was so proud of myself. i decided what i wanted and went after it, full force. i brought my gpa up in 3 semesters and went from a B/C average to a A/A- average! 

so, in two years i am going to be a sassy, but fiercely passionate nurse, working towards my ultimate goal of becoming a nurse practitioner. look out world. here i come!

now, onto weight loss.

do you ever have those days that you see no progress, or see progress in the wrong way. yeah, that was me this weekend, up until thursday. when you see the pictures you're going to want to slap me, but honestly, i felt like nothing was happening. in fact, the scale showed nothing. 

i was angry, especially since B has lost 43 lbs in the same time i've lost 18. can we say jealous? i know i should not compare the two of us, but i do/did. he is 6'7", muscular, and ate like shit before we started with advocare. he went from eating a family size bag of doritos, a like 4 servings of something with lots of cheese and carbs, every day. that boy could clean out my fridge, no problem.

look at him now!

june          -         july            -           september         -          october
the first two photos are from our first advocare challenge (before and after)
the second two from this one (also, before and after)
he started at 254, and is now about 210

 i am so proud of him. he's really changed his life and gotten so much healthier. i never thought he was fat, he always looked perfect to me (and i mean that whole-heartedly). losing 43 pounds is no easy feat, but he did it! from june to now! 

all i can say is dang babe! 

so now onto me, 

so this is what i started at...

 

beginning measurements:

weight: 205.6

right arm: 12.25

shoulders: 41.25

chest: 41.75

waist: 37.5

hips: 42.5

right thigh: 26.25

right calf: 16

total: 217.5 inches

and here is me on day 24!

 

and a side by side!

and my measurements were:

weight: 197.4         -8.6 lbs

right arm: 117.5     -0.5 inches

shoulders: 39         -2.25 inches

chest: 39               -2.75 inches

waist: 34.5            -3 inches

hips: 38                 -4.5 inches

right thigh: 21.       -5 inches

right calf: 13.5      -2.5 inches

total: 197             -20.5 inches 

ahhh! i was sooo proud and happy. the scale didn't show the results, but dang, those inches did. 

here's the side by side of june and october!

ignore my ridiculous faces and hair!

and my belly's getting flat! whaddddup!

so, if you think you aren't seeing any results, stick with it!

you're body is changing, but you aren't realizing it yet.

have  a great day/weekend!

sucking it up

So, I haven't posted recently. 

School, work, family, etc have been definitely taking their toll on me.

After completing a 20 page APA style research analysis, 4 exams, 2 quizzes and an insane amount of homework, I have just about had it with any form of writing my thoughts, opinions, or anything down.

but, I'm sucking it up.

I am getting sick, as I always do around my birthday (which is next Tuesday WOOO). I think the pollen and other allergens really get to me. Mixed with the fact that everyone's turning their furnaces on. I am miserable. Coughing, huge black bags under my eyes. Honestly, if tomorrow was Halloween, all I would have to do it dress in ratty clothing. My frizzy hair and pale face with those eye-bags would make me look like a zombie without even trying (free Halloween costume, anyone?).

I don't want to work out. I don't want to eat clean. I want to sleep all damn day and drink slushies from Sonic.

but, I'm sucking it up.

I am, by no stretch of the imagination, an example for how to live one's life or become healthier. It is a daily freaking battle. 

but...I SUCK IT UP.

noticing a trend here?

I have been loving these quotes lately because they are so true.

I have always been a big baby when it comes to pain.

I wanted to do everything possible to lose weight, except actually eat healthy and exercise.

(logical, right?)

I am sick and tired of it.

NOW is my time.

I am officially down TEN pounds. Making a total of 20 pounds lost all together. 

I can't really see it, but I am damn proud that the scale is moving in the direction I want it to.

So, instead of sitting at home, mindlessly watch The Vampire Diaries, I am getting off my ass, and going to the gym. 

Can I get a HELL YEAH?!

weekend recap + fall break

WARNING:

this will be a total photo dump of this weekend, in addition to a lot of blabbering.

This weekend was fabulous to say the very least. 

It was fall break for school, giving me Monday and Tuesday off. Since I have no Friday classes this semester, it meant a five day weekend! Seriously I want to jump when I hear that. It's so nice to get a short break from school, RAing, Toledo, etc. 

On Thursday, my Grandma and I went to the new casino in Toledo. We ate in the sports bar, since the buffet prices were reDONKulous! It would have been over $30 a person, and we were not looking to spend like that! The casino is really cool! You should definitely check it out. I would have taken and posted pictures, but I forgot my phone at home!

We did leave winners though! Grams is the luckiest person I know. I have never heard of her not winning at the casino, and she usually wins all sorts of drawings and prizes too. She sticks to the penny slots, yet always walks out with triple digit winnings! Hopefully luck like that is genetic? Doubt it. 

on the way to get Grams and head to the casino!

On Friday, B and I headed southeast to the glorious town of Barnesville, Ohio. It is the cutest little podunk small town. I love it! My Stepdad was born and raised there, and we can't walk down two blocks without seeing someone he went to school with. It's fun :)

On the last full weekend of every September, they have the Pumpkin Festival. It's so fun! You can get pumkin anything. I'm not joking. Pumpkin ice cream, beer, bread, popcorn, seeds, etc. It's all super delicious too! 

When we got into town, we were greeted by my step-grandma, Polly. She raised 3 boys, who are now spread across the country, 2 of which coach football (college and high school levels). She is the sweetest person you'll ever meet, can seriously throw down in the kitchen, worked full-time for 30 years, and will be the one yelling at the tv when football is on! Talk about a well-rounded woman. 

She made this fabulous chicken and veggie soup, her delicious apple sauce and amazing pumpkin bread. YUM. It definitely sounds like a weird smattering of foods, but it was delicious and totally hit the spot after a 4 hour car ride with a sleepy boyfriend. 

After that, we headed downtown to check out the King Pumpkin, which weighed 1500.5 lbs. The largest one ever was 1503, so, needless to say, this was a biggin'.

The local school holds a decorating contest between the grades and students. It was so fun to see their creative works of art. Some were hilarious!

that is, indeed, a pooping pumpkin!
and he's pooping out a pumpkin pie!

pooping and puking pumpkins!
the boys loved em!

 We went to bed early that night since we in the Pumpkin Run 5k bright and early the next morning! 

It was both B and my first ever 5k. We woke up bright and early and drove downtown. I didn't realize it was such a popular race, there were over 600 people there! It's such a small town, I figured the 5k would be small too. I was wrong!

We finished the race in 35.35. Not super fast, but being our first one, I was proud. It was a hilly terrain and I was dying after the first hill. We didn't walk once and ran the last mile in 7.40 minutes! 

My mom, stepdad, John, and Polly came to see us run! 

It was great to have someone cheering for us as we crossed the finished line. 

                              

nice action shot as we were in our final stretch!
(my ipod kept falling down my pants, thus the awkward shirt grab!)

B and I right after the race!
excuse the gross picture 

Now, I need to address something: Race Walkers.

Have you seen/heard of these people? They are cray. Cray actually isn't descriptive enough.

These people speed walk the race, and actually are as fast or faster then most runners! They started the race 2 minutes after us, and ran walked past us within 4 minutes of us starting. Not only were they super fast, they were breathing like they were giving birth, and looked in massive amounts of pain. 

While they zoomed past, I said something to B about how ridiculous they looked. I forgot my head phones were in and may have screamed it a little. whoops!

Here's a nice video of the art of race walking:

We relaxed the rest of the day, watched the parade, then headed out to wander the town and watch a local band perform.

mom and I

John, mom and I

me and my baby :)

We left Sunday evening and got a beautiful view the entire way back.

I love how the leaves are beginning to change.
Fall is my favorite season by far.

Monday was back to the res hall and back to Extreme Results. 

I got my gloves in the mail on Friday. B and I headed to the 5pm class and got our asses kicked.

It was awesome!

my new gloves and hand wraps!
ahh i'm in love :)

And these are the things that made me laugh this weekend. :)

Back to reality now.

I have two exams, 4 assignments and a research paper due this week. :/

hope y'all have a great week!

-Cat

The Fact Is...

Fact: I am overly obsessed with Gangham Style currently. Need a new song to add to your exercise playlist? I dare you to try to not want to run/dance/bike/etc when you hear this song. I listened to it twice during my run and took minutes off my 5k time. 

Fact: I went to Extreme again today, at 5am. I am exhausted and sore, but proud of myself.

Fact: A co-worker feels that no one cares about her and that everyone hates her. For the first time in a very long time, I had no idea what to say to her. 

Fact: Yesterday, I had a rough day and when I told B about it, he instantly called me and told me he loved me and asked if he can do anything. I am certainly a lucky lady.

Fact: I am running my first 5k this weekend. Lord, help me. 

Fact: I am extremely excited for this weekend. Going to the new casino tomorrow, heading to Barnesville on Friday for the Pumpkin Festival with my Stepdad's side of the family, and no school Monday and Tuesday because of fall break. It will be a nice change to just relax.

Fact: After all of that glorious relaxing and enjoying the company of my loved ones, I have not one, not two, but 3 exams on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. Talk about a buzz-kill!

Fact: I am loving blogging! :)

weekend update!

and on to my second link-up. i'm liking the progress, folks! :)

this weekend was pretty simple. it involved a lot of working, homework, and cleaning. it also included an unnecessary amount of Glee Pandora (and me trying to sing along), Vampire Diaries on Netflix and snugging with B.  

aren't we super attractive?
he just brings out the best in me ;)

B stayed with me from tuesday-sunday. it was the best! he goes to school up in michigan and i usually only get to see him on the weekends, so it was a nice change :)

saturday rained all morning. B, a friend and i all went to Extreme Results and got our booties kicked. it was a great workout and i am going back tonight! (i'll be writing more about that soon)

there was also a football game saturday night and i was so worried it was going to pour the entire time! well, i took a shower after coming home from working out, and when i got out, i saw this! i'm not sure if you can see it, but there was a full rainbow outside my window. it was so pretty. 

also, our boys won against Coastal Carolina! the rainbow was a good sign :)

on sunday, B and i met up with my mom and stepdad at a local pancake shop. we had to be super healthy because of starting our 24 day challenge, but it was still delicious! 

the rest of the day was spent working the desk, studying, and developing lady-crushes on all the new bloggers i am following!

heres' a few other things that made me smile this weekend! hope they make you smile just as much :)

this is gunner
he is also known as sugar farts, gunner-butt, and goober
gunner is B's family dog, who i miss very much since they moved to az
B's mom sent me this over the weekend saying that she and gunner say hi :)

have you been on the iFunny app? you should!

they definitely aren't all gems, but these two definitely made me laugh!

  

hope y'all have a great week!

Sunday Social

My first EVER link-up! Here we go!

how exciting :)

This Weeks Questions:


 1. What is something you have wanted to do but are afraid of?

run a half marathon! i am dying to prove to myself and others that i can do it!

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

married to B, graduated from college, working as a nurse and living somewhere warmer with a dog of my own 

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2012?

my 22nd birthday, finally finding out if i got into the professional division of my program, heading out to arizona to spend NYE with B's family

from B and my 21st birthday party
(our birthday's are 3 days apart)
we'd only been dating for about 1 month at this point, I was already head over heels!

4. What are your hopes for your blog?

to actually have followers! nah, not just that. i would love to have a well developed blog, like the ones i see all over! i also hope that this blog (and potentially its followers) can keep me motivated and accountable and help me reach my goals!

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city? 

not at all. as much as I love how close I am to my family, I am anxious to move south. I am in love with North Carolina, but would also like to go southwest somewhere. 

6. What is your morning routine?

routine? what is that?! hahah, kidding, but my days are very sporadic and always changing.

so I will do my intended routine for tomorrow!

5:00 am: wake up and turn on CMT

change into workout clothes

cough down drink fiber drink (for the 24 day challenge)

5:20 am: head to Extreme Results for class

drink Spark and eat an apple

6:00 am: get my ass handed to me at Extreme

7:00 am: finish class, head back to campus

7:15 am: shower and get ready for class

8:30 am: eat AM snack (oatmeal and berries)

9:00 am: relax, study, straighten room, do dishes, etc

11:30: head to class

well, there was the first of, hopefully, many!

... and here we go!

Welp...today is day 1 of the challenge. Almost one down, only 23 more to go! (like that optimism?!)

But, you know what, I can't really express how excited I am to take this on again. I'm ready for it (that's what she said).

So here we are....

Day 1: 206.7 pounds

side note: don't I just look utterly gorgeous?! riiiiiight. definitely didn't love what I saw in the mirror....thus the need for change!

I thought I would track my meals on here too, just for the heck of it I guess. I track them on the MyFitnessPal app that I have on my phone too. But in case anyone ever reads this, here's what a day on the 24 Day Challenge Cleanse: Phase looks like:

Breakfast: 

Spark and an apple (honeycrisp, of course!)

AM snack:

2 eggs (over easy), 1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries and 2 pieces of bacon

(so, the bacon definitely isn't part of it, but my parents took B and I out to breakfast this morning)

Lunch:

Romaine, 2 pieces of grilled chicken and low fat raspberry vinagrette

PM snack:

Green Goddess Smoothie

(I may have totally free-balled this sucker, but it turned out decent.)

-1 small granny smith apple

-3 raw strawberries

-small handful of spinach

-splash of unsweetened almond milk

(definitely should have added ice, and maybe done frozen berries!)

Dinner:

Lightly steamed broccoli, 1/2 cup brown rice, and a packet of tuna

(sprinkled Ms. Dash's lemon pepper over entire thing)

look how much food that is!
and less than 300 calories for the entire thing!

I deep cleaned my entire room today. We're talking dusted, mopped, organized, re-folded clothes, etc. I am constantly on the run, between school, RA stuff, family, exercising and spending time with B, my room gets messy quickly. I try to straighten a lot, but it was begging for a deep clean. 

I must say, it looks much better now! phew, I love that clean room feeling, and look!

I also got to end my day with this beautiful sight outside of the Res Hall. I got really lucky this year. My bedroom faces east, so I get beautiful day light in my room all day, I rarely ever use my actual lights. On top of that, the hallway on my floor faces west, so I get painted sky sunsets on a daily basis.

It definitely is a nice reminder that there's more out there than just nursing school.

have a great night, y'all!

here's to a great week! 

epiphanies and changes!

Gosh, this weekend was full of epiphanies. 

It started with a friend posting this picture of me:

It is from last year, right around this time too. I was headed to B's house to study when we had just started dating. Seeing this picture makes me legitimately upset. I feel like I look like a freaking beached whale. I know that sounds ridiculous, well that's what I've been told, but I never want to look like that again. 

I had planned on starting my second 24 day challenge today, September 24, anyways, but this was just even more motivation. B did the first one with me too, and lost more weight and keeps losing! I know that guys always lose faster than girls, but, damn. I am was salty about it. He weighs a whopping 11 pounds more than me right now. The man is 6'7", I am 5'9". There is no excuse for that. Again, time to make some changes.

We prepped our supplements out last night for the challenge. After a hour of watching Vampire Diaries on Netflix (my current obsession, and slowly becoming B's too) it finally came together to this:

Every box is one 24 Day Challenge. We found it was easier, since we are pretty busy folks, to bag our vitamins and all that jazz by day. 

I am really looking forward to this challenge. I want to work my big, soon to be little, ass off and get results that I want! I am really ready to take this on full force!

Alsooo.....the best part of the weekend was this:

Extreme Results by Vince

seriously...I am in love. It is like a hybrid between crossfit, mma, turbo, and hell all in one class. Seriously I went to failure on every single exercise, took a breather, and got back at it. It felt amazing! I fell in love with how hard I was worked and how sore I am now. I am definitely buying a monthly membership (early birthday gift to moi!) 

Which leads me to my next point:

Goals for the 24 Day Challenge:

-go to Extreme Results at least 5 times a week 

-run at least 4 times a week

-stick it out. it is only 24 days, and the harder you work, the better your results

-NO cheating!

I'll be posting before an after pictures and starting stats later! :)

My weight loss journey

Well, here it is. I'm fat, obese, hefty, overweight. Whatever it is you want to call it, I am it. And I'm sick of it. It's time to make a change. It's time to stop the excuses. I want to be the best me I can possibly be. I am not saying I can't be that without being skinny, but I am saying that I will always dislike that I couldn't overcome my weight.

I have lost 13.1 pounds, and plateaued. Well that's a lie. I have stopped trying consistently. I'll be healthy here and there, then come and lay on my couch and binge eat a bag of chips. That definitely doesn't help anything.


So here I am, laying it all out there online. Here is the first step to the new life and new me.

And here are some goals

•Lose 40 pounds
•Run a 5k
•Run a half marathon
•Compete in a triathlon
•Continue blogging as a way to keep myself accountable and as a means to track my progress



So here's my first before and after.

Before 213
After 200



On Sunday, September 23, I am beginning my second 24 Day Challenge. I will also be beginning Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and continuing 5k/half marathon training. Here we go!