Parents Trip: Day 2

I woke around 8am... to Jeff sitting on the couch saying "about time you woke up! I've been trying to be quiet since 6:30". LOL! I guess his internal clock doesnt understand what vacation means :-) 

Luckily, I get ready really quickly! So we headed out to find some breakfast. And ended up at some little hole in the wall place (well, after a quick stop by the verizon store so Jeff could get a case for his new smart phone). It was kind of shocking to me that there were people smoking inside... I get so used to GA's/Gwinnett's no smoking laws... it made me really, really grateful for those laws! But the food was yum-o, so we could get past the smoke for this once :-) I mean, who cant appreciate a menu like this?

Ahhh... some of my favorite things :-)

After breakfast, we headed to the mall area where Jeff's half marathon would start and did a little window shopping. Jeff was a little bored :-)

I couldnt help but to take a pic of these owls for Linsay!

We headed out from there to pick up Jeff's number for the race and then back to the hotel for some relaxation! I couldnt help but to giggle at how girls are always swooning over "pool boys"... ours, nice as he was, didnt really fit that sterotype! haha

We sat by the pool and read and just relaxed. It was warm! Not warm enough for me to get in the pool (regardless of how warm jeff swore it was!) but nice enough to enjoy the sun :-)

 

 I couldnt help but to be excited to try to get a touch of sun! lol! PALE GIRL ALERT!

Jeff headed up to the hotel room to take a nap and I decided to take a short stroll on the beach. It really was beautiful. And quiet. October is a GREAT month to hit the beach!

But the water was COLD! So this is as far as these little piggies went :-)

Jeff has complained for a solid year now that last year we did not hit up an all you can eat seafood buffet. So this year, we made sure to revisit a favorite of ours..

My joke for the night: While Jeff was "carb loading" for the race, I was "crab loading" HA!

Seriously, it was delicious! We LOVE crab!

After diner, we decided to play a round of putt-putt. We havent done that in AGES! Like, since we were dating, maybe?! Anyhoo... this is a pic of ONE of my THREE hole in ones :-) I took Jeff to putt-putt school!

Tabulating his pitiful score and shedding tears over the fact that i WON...

He of course challenged me to a second game... where I started off strong but ended up losing by 10? I give up when I see that i'm losing. Yes, i'm competitive. To a point that I become a bit of a brat. Sore loser. I know. :-( But we really did have fun!

We had bought some bread for Jeff to have some peanut butter toast before the race the next morning so we decided to share with the ducks. There were tons of them! All we kept saying is "Rhyan and Mack would LOVE THIS!" We took video and pics for them :-)

We headed back to the hotel and were in bed by 10pm I think?! Jeff had an early day for the race the next day and I'll just admit it... we're OLD and like our sleep.

Day 2=success :-)

Parent Trip: 2012

If it seems like all I've done since the end of September is travel, believe me, I agree! I have been SO blessed to take some FUN weekend trips in the latter part of this year :-)

Jeff and I started talking back in the beginning of the year about the possibility of re-visiting Myrtle Beach again this year for him to run the 1/2 marathon there. We talked to his parents about whether or not they would want to go together again, and after a lot of debating back and forth, they decided to offer to stay home and keep our kids! Say WHAAAA?!?!!?!?

Um, yes please! Dont get me wrong, I LOVE traveling with my in-laws. They're great vacationing buddies.

But the idea of a weekend alone. With my husband. And no children? Well, it thrilled and terrified me!

I've never left mack! And only left Rhyan a couple of short nights (well, plus when I had mack...). 

But I kept thinking of sleeping in. And sleeping all night long without babies crying with teeth hurting.

And I reluctantly agreed :-)

We decided to head out on Friday after Jeff got out of school. The kids were down for a nap. I remember putting them down for naps and almost crying at the thought of not seeing their sweet faces for 3 days!

However, I quickly recovered and got packed up :-) HA!

We made it about half way and found ourselves getting close to Columbia, where Jeff's aunt Gaye lives. We were starving so I texted her to see if she was up for a last minute dinner. She was super busy at work (She's the president of a company... all important like that!) but Jeff said "whats the fun in being the boss if you cant give yourself some dinner privileges... " and then promised her that she could make some pitch to us about her company while we were there so she could call it a "work" dinner :-)

You KNOW you're in for some good food when the menu looks like that!!!

Pig In, please :-)

Jeff's plate

And mine. Shrimp and grits. Mmmmm.

We always have such a great time with Aunt Gaye! She is such a treasure. (and SINGLE for any law-abiding, successful, Jesus loving, handsome contributing members of society near Columbia... lol) Dont kill me for saying that Aunt Gaye!!! :-)

Aunt Gaye asked where we were staying which reminded me that we didnt have a place to stay :-) So i texted Emily and asked her if she would find us a place. LOL. She was all like "you seriously dont have a place yet?!". I like to live on the wild side. And I"m a bit of a procrastinator :-)

Thanks to Em, we stayed at a place ON the beach for $59 a night :-) Woohoo! It wasnt the fanciest, but it was clean-ish :-) Haha

And it had a pool.... which was too cool for me to swim in (although Jeff said it wasnt bad. maybe it was heated?) and an indoor pool, as well.

We got to our hotel around 9pm, got settled in and hit the hay. We were tired! :-)

It really was fun just to get to be together, not worry about kids needing to stop to go potty or being tired of being in their carseats, etc... I forget what its like to ride child free. Believe it or not, we were pretty quiet part of the way. We love to talk, but sometimes, silence is golden :-)

More coming!

Girls Trip: Going Home

Last day! 

Sweet April had a longer drive than the rest of us so she headed on back early. So we took some pics and she headed on out...

 Ang without Makeup...

 The plan was for Ang, Linds and I to head on out when April left... but I've mentioned that Ang is a little diva, right?! ;-) So, instead, Linds and I sat around waiting... and waiting. Its a good thing we love Ang ;-)

I LOVE YOU, ANGELA!!! hahaha

 April had recommended The Partridge and Pear Restaurant.  So we definitely headed over there...

and about broke them on creamer and sugar :-)

 We had some great conversation over our coffee and then headed to get some personalized ornaments...

I am SO grateful for these friends of mine! I had a WONDERFUL time, although I missed my babies. This girls trip just happened to work out that everyone could go (and we could get the cabin) the very weekend after my trip to visit Emily in Valdosta, so that made TWO weekends in a row away from my Mack-Man (Rhyan went with me to Valdosta) and hubby. I was a little homesick, for sure, but seriously treasure these gals!

New Years Resolution Help! (Plus and Awesome incentive!!!)

I'm super excited about this BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

*Read ALL THE WAY TO THE END for a second incentive~!!!

My friend, Emily, is hosting a New Year/New You Biggest Loser Competition!!! 

Most of us make it a yearly goal to lose weight, be healthier and fit into some old clothes. The problem is that most of us dont really have a defined WAY to make sure those goals happen! So, I have a solution!

I recently shared my story about how Advocare's 24 day challenge brought me down from a size 9 back to a 6 and I hit my pre-first-pregnancy weight :-) Well, I'm serious about wanting others to experience the same great results and to feel like their "old self" again. 

Ready to join in the Biggest Loser Competition? Here's how it's going to work:

• Anyone who orders the 24 Day Challenge from me directly or my site is eligible to join us for the Biggest Loser Competition!
• You must START your Challenge on Monday Jan 7th
• Sometime between midnight and 11:59 PM EST on Jan 7th you must text me a picture of your start weight (with your full name in case I don't have you saved in my phone!). Just take a picture of your feet on the scale showing the number! You can facebook me or email me at forddygirl@yahoo.com for my cell number!
• Sometime between midnight and 11:59 PM on Jan 31st text me another picture of you on your scale showing your weight at the end of the challenge!
• The biggest loser based on PERCENTAGES will be the winner and Emily will personally send you a $100 check! Who wouldn't like to start of the new year with some extra cash???

If you've been thinking about doing the Challenge for awhile...This is a great opportunity to do it  :) If you've already done it and it's been 90 days you can do it again! Great way to continue on the path to meet your goals :)

Also (this goes without saying...) NONE of your results will be made public or shared with ANYONE else unless you choose to do so! I will not share the pictures you send me with ANYONE and will simply use them to put together a spread sheet to figure out the winner :)

I'm also excited about Advocare's new DVD workout series. Each workout is 24 minutes... who cant find 24 minutes in their day?!?!?! I love Jillian Michael's 30 day shred which is also about 25 minutes so it will be nice to have some variety of booty kickin DVD's!

You can watch a preview of the video here...the timing is PERFECT to order it before starting our challenges on Jan 7th!!! It will really give you an edge to being the WINNER!

What are YOUR goals for the new year??? Let's get a group together and have some big results for the 24 Day Challenge in Jan!!! I'm SUPER excited about it and can't wait to see who will join me and who will win the cash!!!!

If you're interested in purchasing a challenge I recommend to totally sign up for the membership first. I wish we'd done it and I encourage everyone to do it now b/c why not start saving money from Day 1??? And get enough free Spark to drink 2 a day for your challenge if you want??? It's a flat $79 fee to become a member and then you get 20% off for life and they send you $50 worth of free product! Once you sign up you get your own website and can start ordering from there right away!!! You can sign up for a membership by clicking HERE!!!

I also recommend doing the Challenge TOGETHER! Got a husband? Significant other? Room mate? While all of us doing it together is gonna be awesome...It just makes sense to do the Challenge with whomever you share your home with. You're gonna be eating better, why not have the whole family involved with that? Why not help each other stay on track and get awesome results together?

If you'd like to purchase a challenge without joining the membership you can do that by clicking HERE (I prefer the chocolate mocha shake, Jeff likes plain Chocolate!):

Since Emily did the challenge for nursing moms for her first challenge and Advocare doesn't sell a bundle package of that like they do for the legit challenge, she figured out how to bundle it herself! If you're wanting to get your body baby ready while trying to conceive, are pregnant, or are nursing you can purchase your version of the 24 Day Challenge by simply contacting me! (and yes, anyone wanting to do the nursing challenge can still totally be in our Biggest Loser Competition!).

SO, here's my EXTRA Incentive!!!
The winner of those who order through me will receive $50! 

PLUS! (yes, this is like an infomercial... haha... BUT WAIT, THERE's MORE!!! lol)...

My friend, Danielle (who is super passionate about health!) is offering an ADDITIONAL $50 to my winner!!

Think about those odds for a minute! If there are a total of say 25 people who do this together (between Emily, myself and 3 other distributors) you have a one in 25 chance of winning $200! That is MORE THAN THE COST OF THE CHALLENGE!!! You would MAKE money to lose weight! WOW!
But if 8 of those who do the challenge are people who order from me, you have a one in 8 chance of winning AT LEAST $100!!! Because Danielle and I are offering MY winner $50 each! Thats MORE than half of the cost!!! 

And remember, it will be based on PERCENTAGES!!! Not just lbs... so dont think that if you only have a few pounds to lose that you cant win... ANYONE can win... of ANY SIZE!

I also want to mention something that I think is so important regarding my challenge. I have NOT been the healthiest/most perfect eater. Ever. But the weight that I lost via this challenge, I have KEPT off. Meaning? While a lot of weight loss programs help you to lose water weight and you put it right back on, I truly lost FAT! I've not gained even half of a pound back! Thats a big deal, people. :-)

So, will you join the crew and jump in and DO SOMETHING about your resolution? I doubt that we will ever offer a total of $200 to winners again! So get on it already! Lets get HEALTHY! And look and feel great!    

Girls Trip: Day 2

We got up and got ready... and then waited. And waited. Yes, we waited. For ANGELA! Gosh, i forget how long it takes that BFF diva of mine to get ready ;-) Good thing we love her, because i'm telling you, i was HUNGRY! Haha. I was supposed to take pics whenever we went out to eat, but once again, FAIL. We went to Dunkin Doughnuts for breakfast and I forgot to document it. 2 things I decided while we were there: they are very unorganized (i waited forever for my food and they told me after i had waited a long time that they were out of bagels, only to have Ang walk up and say "here's your food. it was in my bag") and very stingy with their creamer. I mean, I need a LOT of sugar and creamer. 2 aint gonna cut it for this gal... Nevertheless, we pressed on :-)

We decided to hit up the Rotary Craft Fair...

April can ALWAYS find a microphone ;-)

Linds offering her best "country girl"

Beauty queen/diva Ang ;-)

Because I love football so much? Hmmm... HA!

I had to take a picture b/c i thought "$40?!?! I can make that!". As if I ever will...

FINALLY, I remember a pic. We stopped for the girls (not me) to get a drink. I liked my bottled water just fine! Plus, when I'm out I dont like to drink a ton b/c I dont want to use public potty's more than needed.

We pretty much shopped for ever at the tanger outlets. It was a blast! I found some great deals!

And then we enjoyed a yummo dinner at some steak place. I dont remember the name.

My filet was delish!

And on the way out we decided to grab some pics :-) Silly girls... 

(isnt it amazing how when you get together with life long friends, you revert to immaturity?!)

3 attempts for a group shot... we are all so critical of ourselves...

Lindsay's too good to be in the same shot as us... she wanted her space :-) HA!

Funny story of the night: We went into bally's or platex... some underwear store, anyways. I was in the dressing room trying on some unmentionables when jeff called. He was about to take Mack back to Childrens Healthcare for his 3rd visit for the same ear infection and wanted me to know. He asked where I was and I told him and he immediatly said "ohhhh, send me a pic of what you're trying on" (tmi, but this is hilarious...). I did NOT send him a pic, but Ang (who was getting different sizes for me) and I cracked up, because what I was trying on was THIS:

 

LOL!!!!! Yes, I'm sure he woudl have LOVED getting a pic of shapewear!

 Anyhoo, we loaded up our finds :-)

And then went to some bakery that April loves that they have in Nashville. We got 4 different cupcakes and shared them and rated them for best cupcake, best icing, best all around.

Honestly, I"m just not a cupcake girl. So while I thought they were good, Chocolate (in bar form) is my crack addiction of choice.

We stayed up talking for a LONG time. It was good. It was nice to see my friends face to face and not catch up just on the phone! I love that it can be months or even a year or so since I spent time with these girls but that when we get together, its like not a moment has passed :-)

*Blessed*