Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 – You tried to find me Diet 7up last night when my stomach was really upset.

2 – You do little dances in the morning… and when I get home from class.

3 – When we carpool to work in the morning you stop and get me Naked Juice.

4 – You email me throughout the day.

5 – You went with me to Freshii yesterday and got healthy food.

Sept 30th - End of September Portrait

Special thinks to my buddy, Jeannie, for taking this picture of us at school the other day. Here I am with 2 good friends I’ve met through school, Jeannie and Dani. We’re stalling waiting to go to class, one of our last courses in school.

Photo Challenge originally found here.

Sept 29th – A Look

My Mom bought be this sheep about 7 years ago. She is one of the few personal items I keep on my desk at work. My Dad (who I work for) used to steel her jacket or hid her in my desk, but since I moved desks a few years I ago she’s been safe because I can hide her under my shelf. I chose to use her for today because she has a sophisticated “look” for a sheep ;-)

Photo Challenge originally found here.

Guest Post on Kimberley Michelle

In case you missed it, I’m on a guest posting roll! Last Saturday I guest posted on fellow Weddingbee blogger, Lemon’s, blog, kimberlymichelle.com. Kim is off on a fabulous vacation in Mexico with her good friend and Weddingbee Editor in Chief, Mrs Penguin.

Kim’s Fonts of the Week are one of my favorite of her posts, besides the ones of Miss L, of course. My favorites of those posts are when the fonts are FREE. Who doesn’t like free stuff, right? Well, I’ve decided to share with you my favorite free fonts, I’ve found on the web. Check out the rest of the post here.

Sept 28th - When I Wake-up...

Yep, 6am. Some of you may wake-up earlier than that and for that, I’m sorry, and some of you may think that is way to early and to you I say, “Yes, yes it is.”

When do you wake up?

Photo Challenge originally found here.

Sept 27th – What I Drank

It’s been pretty chilly in the mornings here lately so I’ve been taking advantage of our office Keurig. I use it to brew hot tea because can’t drink (and don’t really like coffee – I know!). My SIL, Linda, gave me this super cute heart mug for the first Christmas we celebrated together.

Photo Challenge originally found here.

Sept 26th – Closed Space

Since I’m pretty much doing this whole challenge on my phone’s camera AND my phone’s camera doesn’t have a light. (Dumb) I can’t really take a picture in a closed space without windows, unless I want a completely black photo. Then it hit my when I got in my car, this is a closed space!

Photo Challenge originally found here.

Sept 25th – Sunday Morning

This morning Hubs went down to San Diego to spend the day at a car show with his dad and I went to breakfast with one of my oldest and bestest friends, Jane. I saw these beautiful purple roses on our way.

Photo Challenge originally found here.

Sept 24th – When Night Falls

Tonight, Hubs & I went to out to dinner with our good friends, Jeremiah & Tiffany, for Tiffany’s, birthday. I took this picture while sitting in the backseat of Jer’s Chevy Camaro… we were going pretty fast, if you can’t tell. The good news? We made it to dinner on time ;-)

Photo Challenge originally found here.

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - You picked me up and drove me home from work last night because I wasn't feeling well.

2 - You watched the season premiere of Big Bang Theory with me last night, even though you watched it twice on your business trip last week.

3 - You promised not to watch "our shows" without me anymore, no matter how bad the TV is in your hotel.

4 - You've been eating chocolate chips with your red wine.

5 - You make fun of how early I go to bed, but most the time you go with me.

Sept 23rd – Unusual Object

About 5 years ago we inherited this binder dealy thing from our office neighbors. They were going to throw it out and for some reason we thought we’d use it. We haven’t. Not once. It just sits on my co-worker’s file cabinet and collects dust. Lots of dust. Oh, and it’s SUPER heavy.

Photo Challenge originally found here.

Sept 22nd – My Diary

Yes, yet another picture of my computer monitor. I wish I had a diary to take a picture of, but I’ve never been very good at keeping a diary… insight into why I’m not a very wordy blogger. This is my diary. Not in a I-tell-it-my-deepest-darkest-secrets kinda way, but in a I’m-documenting-my-life-kinda way. Especially, in the context of these photo challenges.

Photo Challenge originally found here.

Sept 21st – Something That Comforts Me

Okay so the real challenge for today was “Sunday Morning”, but seeing as how it’s Wednesday, I decided to trade Sunday’s challenge with today’s. You tracking?

Is that bad? ;-)

Photo Challenge originally found here

Staying Fit and Being Healthy by Five Feet of Spice

I would like to welcome my VERY FIRST guest blogger, Victoria from Five Feet of Spice. Victoria is a fellow Weddingbee blogger and amazing girl. She’s working full time, going to school full time, all while still finding time to blog. I know how hard that is with part-time school, I can’t imagine how busy she must be. This post is truly inspiring me to get off my rump and get back to Jazzercise.


Hi Everyone! My name is Victoria (also known as Handbag on Weddingbee) and I am so excited to be stealing a spot on this fantastic blog!

Growing up I was always super thin and petite (don’t smack me!) and I used to always try to gain weight. Then I graduated high school and continued to eat like a truck driver; pizza, pastas, sweets of any kind, you name it, I ate it. I moved out into my own place and found my love of cooking. Growing up Italian, pasta was an every Sunday kind of thing. You can’t eat pasta without bread and you can’t have those two, without wine. Before I knew it I was at 140lbs on my little 5’ frame. You may be thinking, that is not fat, and your right. But it is way too much weight on such a small person.

What did it for me was my best friend’s wedding. She posted the pictures on Facebook and I cried. I had no idea that I looked that big, even though I felt it. I was the MOH in her wedding and I couldn’t even save the pictures. After sulking for a while, I joined Weight Watchers; went to a few meetings, felt uncomfortable but learned a lot about food. I was eating a ridiculous amount of calories and not burning any of it (I hate to work out).


I dropped about 15lbs on Weight Watchers but had a hard time sticking with it. It was so hard to not eat the foods that I loved on a regular basis. So I gave myself the “treat” system. Stay on track all week and then eat a “treat” meal on Sunday. Of course, this was pasta, bread and wine. But I noticed that after eating so well all week, I was becoming sick on Sundays. The food was just too heavy for my stomach that had been trained to eat healthy.

So then I started to alter the pastas, Smart Taste Ronzoni Pasta (half the calories and fat but the same taste), homemade sauce with less parmesan cheese, 94% lean meat, and reduced fat mozzarella cheese on the bread. One glass of wine instead of 3. This worked.


Then a coworker told me about this gym that she went too that included all fitness classes with the membership; Zumba, hip hob abs, body pump, spin, etc. I am the type of person who despises working out. I hate the gym, but I love to dance (even though I am so not coordinated). I signed up with her and started going to Zumba and I.was.hooked. It is 50 minutes of a high cardio dancing routine. Our gym has a Zumba room where they turn down the lights, turn on the strobe light and blast the music. It feels like a club. I.love.it. and the best part about that, they offer it 6 days a week.


I started going twice a week. Just to give myself a start. I continued to eat healthy and on days that I worked out, ate more protein (chicken, eggs, etc). Then I started to love it so much, I upped my times to four times a week (3 during the week and on Sunday).

Now you are probably thinking to yourself “I don’t have time to go to the gym 4 days a week!” you’re right, I don’t either. I work full time and go to college full time. 40hrs a week + 17 credits a semester and it makes for a very tired girl. But I always say to myself “You won’t regret going, but you will regret not going” and when I get frustrated with not seeing results right away (I am an instant gratification kind of girl!) I always say to myself “It took time to put it on; it will take time to get it off.”

I have drastically changed the way that I cook/eat as well. Days that I don’t go to the gym, I fill myself on fruit, yogurt (Chobani strawberry!) and salads. If I want a snack throughout the week, I like to eat Weight Watchers Ice Cream. It is really good and I don’t feel guilty about it. Also, I love to bake. Flour is not so great on the hips. So I switched to Wheat flour and also only use Splenda. You can’t taste the difference.



Being fit doesn’t always mean being “skinny” (I hate that word). It is about finding that balance between eating healthy and living your life. You can still enjoy the foods you love, but just alter the ingredients. Exercise is something that none of us like to do, but it is great for our bodies and it will thank us for it. You will have more energy, more confidence, better self esteem and you will feel great.

We only have 1 body, let’s take care of it!

My go to recipe guide for healthy foods that I love is Skinny Taste! What is yours?

For more inspiration, please stop by Victoria’s blog Five Feet of Spice! Be sure to tell her you found her though this post :)

* If you’re interested in guest blogging here on His Birdies’s Nest, please feel free to email me :)

Sept 20th – Tea Time

Luckily for me, and this photo challenge, our company bank rep, Troy, brought my co-worker, Yolanda, and I Starbucks this morning. My drink of choice at Starbucks is Passion Tea, hot or cold, depending on the temperature. Side note: I wish we had tea time here in the states. One of my favorite things about visiting England was Tea Time. Plus the whole tea service would have made for a much cooler picture.

Photo Challenge originally found here

Sept 19th – Where I Feel Good

I don’t normally feel bad. I try to have a positive attitude, most of the time. Of course, like everyone else, I get in bad moods. Who doesn’t? So, I found this day a little difficult to figure out. Where don’t I feel good would have been any easier thing to take a picture of. Then I saw this patch of flower on the center divider near my apartment and it hit me. I always feel good around flowers. They make me happy and it’s kinda like the calm me.

Photo Challenge originally found here

Sept 18th – What I wore today….

I am SO not experienced at taking pictures of myself in bathroom… not.at.all. But here I am in my new Gap Top, Steinmart Skirt, and 3 year old Ann Taylor Loft wedge sandals.



Photo Challenge originally found here

Sept 17th – In the mirror…

This morning I actually made it back to Jazzercise for the first time in too many weeks. The weather may not have been the cheeriest, but I felt amazing after my morning workout.

 

Photo Challenge originally found here

Sept 16th – In the bathroom…

Our bathroom is black and white and I grew-up with Westie’s as pets, so when I saw this and TJ Maxx Home Goods, I HAD TO HAVE IT! We have a tiny bathroom and it fit perfectly above the towel bar.


Photo Challenge originally found here

Five for Friday

Previous Fridays

1 - You've been out of town all week on business, but you've a had chance to see where I went every winter to visit my family. I've been trying to convince you for a couple years, you have to see Baltimore. Now you get it and want to go back :)

2 - You let me call you when I go to bed even though you're 3 hours ahead.

3 - You ate crab cakes for me while you were in Baltimore.

4 - I can hear how excited you are to talk to me in your voice.

5 - You come home tonight!!

Guest Post – Married up with Wine

Today I’m guest posting on Mandy, aka Mrs Socks’, blog Married up with Wine. Mandy and her husband, Mike, are on vacation in Spain, drinking Spanish wine and exploring there soon to be NEW HOME! Can you believe they are relocating to Spain for Mike’s job? I’m totally jealous, I would love to move to a new country for a few years.
 
I honor of both Mandy & Mike and Hubs & my love for wine, my guest post is all about other people’s “go to” wine. Please stop by and share your “go to” wine, I’m always looking for new wines to try.

Sept 15th – Today’s Small Pleasure

Today is a Sister Day, meaning I’m getting to spend a lot of time with my sister. We got food trucks for lunch and she’s coming over tonight for fro-yo and a movie. We’re going to watch X-Men first class because we’re a bit obsessed with X-Men movies and we haven’t seen it yet.

These are the tempeh bacon tacos we shared, along with some organic pesto fried rice, (all gluten free) from the Seabirds Truck today. It’s a small pleasure because it was time spent with my sister, plus we were eating organic food, purchased and made locally by a group of awesome women. I love being able to support local businesses, especially ones with a business ethic I respect.


Photo Challenge originally found here.

October Photo Challenge

Okay, so we all know I’ve been doing a daily photo dealy here for the month of September. It’s fun, it’s getting me in the blogging groove again, I like it! And, from the comments I’ve received, I think you like it too :) Where am I going with this? If you can’t tell by the title of this post, I’ll be participating in another photo challenge in October.

Source: whitepeachphoto.com via Merissa on Pinterest via Our Wired Lives

Many of the photos really do look like a challenge. I might actually have to use my point and shoot camera, instead of my phone’s camera. Are you interested in participating in this challenge too? Let know Nellie, over at Our Wired Lives, know by commenting in her post here :) We’re tying to get a list together so we can all link to each others blogs throughout the month of October.

P.S. I’m planning on an design photo challenge for November, but I’m still working that out in my head. Would you be interested?

Sept 14th – The Weather

The news keeps saying we’re supposed to have thunder storms and rain, but I just don’t see it. Perhaps it’s happening in LA, but not down here in Newport Beach? I don’t know.



Photo Challenge originally found here

Sept 13th – Today’s News

What’s the news this morning? Target is selling out of the Missoni stuff like CRAZY! In other news, this isn’t even my picture, I stole it from Busy Philipps, who I like to pretend remembers me from college, but I’m pretty sure she has no clue who I am.



Photo Challenge originally found here

Sept 12 – Daily Routine

Every morning when I turn on my computer (at work or home) I have to check these four websites – Twitter, Gmail, Facebook & Weddingbee.

Photo Challenge originally found here

Sept 11th – What Inspires Me…

The ladies I’ve met through Weddingbee inspire me. They are all such creative, intelligent, considerate and fabulous women, who inspire me to be more creative and strive for my best.


This photo isn't actually mine... I stole it from Facebook. It was taken at a Weddingbee party, I wasn't able to attended, in NYC a couple years ago.

Photo Challenge originally found here.