birthday

 

my birthday started tuesday morning with a deep tissue massage

 

then i got my eyelashes done, followed by shopping, and then dinner with

 the whole dame family

 later tuesday night, tanner told me he needed me to go to the store with him. i told him i couldn't because i had things to do. he insisted i go with him so i got the hint that something was going on. i went with him and as we were driving to the store, he took a few wrong turns and we ended up at the bowling alley. taylor, ana, drew, megan, and loren were all there.

 THEN we went to merritts and joined up with lex and her family to have scones and milkshakes. they're the best!

 wednesday was my actual birthday and this is what the full day looked like. pretty fun huh?

 

i love unexpected cuteness. this was NOT planned

we had my birthday dinner at fiesta guadalajara with the whole family :)

 and they sang to me and brought me a cake

and i got JB's new c.d. which has been listened to non-stop

and the love of my life got me a completely unexpected cruise to the bahamas! we're going in september following a trade show we'll be at in florida. now the only problem is that i'm going to expect him to top this gift every year :) 

we're off to europe in the morning! we will be in germany for a trade show but of course we're spending a little extra time to travel.  i haven't really had time to think about it, but now that it's here i'm very excited!

my last how does she post

this is my last formal "how does she" post. it was fun, but i just have too much on my plate right now. they're looking for another fashion blogger so let me know if you're interested! i'll send you an email with details :)

One day, my husband brought me home a pair of hot pink, Princess Jasmine wannabe work out pants. I questioned them at first, but then I found myself EXCITED to go to the gym just so I could wear them!

This led me to write this post.

Now, I have been hesitant bringing anything up that involves anything to do with the body.. working out, eating healthy, body types, body images.. ect. because we as women tend to have some insecurities. But something snapped inside me as I wore these Jasmine pants. Not only did my self esteem get boosted at the gym, but I wasn't afraid to write a post about working out! I felt like Kevin McCallister from "Home Alone" when he conquered his fear being alone. He yelled "Hey, I'm not afraid anymore! I said, I'm not afraid anymore!" This is what has been going on inside my head.

Basically, I have found that wearing cute, colorful work out clothes has motivated me to get to the gym more often. I think it can for you too.

This is me in a typical outfit I used to wear when I worked out.

This is so blah. I used to think, "why wear something cute if it's just going to get sweaty and stinky?" I don't want to go to the gym looking like this!

 

{shirt: taken from husband, shorts: husband's old soccer shorts}

Here's where the magic happened.

There are clothes made specifically for working out! And they have cute ones! Ding ding!

All of a sudden the gym became fun! I wanted to run, jump, skip, play! I wanted to sing and dance to MC Hammer!

{top: t.j. maxx, pants: adidas (husband) shoes: nike frees}

This outfit is where the color really starts to pull through. I tried Zumba.. loved it. Have you noticed the clothes Zumba people wear? How fun are they?? The more colorful and crazy, the better. I think they are on to something.

 

{top: DownEast (warehouse) Bottoms: Marshalls, Shoes: T.J. Maxx}

I have been told over and over again that what we wear on the outside reflects the way we feel on the inside.

I believe this to be true. Think about it.

 

Finding clothes you feel comfortable in is the most important. You CAN STILL look cute while being comfortable. I'm not telling you to wear only your sports bra and spandex.

 

A big hesitation of mine was spending money on work out clothes. They can get pretty pricey, especially name brand items. You can find awesome deals at Ross, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, even Ebay for nice items. These shorts brand new would cost around $30. I found them at a thrift store for $3. Cool right?

 

{top: T.J. Maxx, Shorts: thrifted, Shoes: Nike Frees}

 

Take this post into consideration using the points of COLOR and CUTE. Don't worry about wearing revealing clothes if you are not comfortable with it. That is not what I'm getting at.

It's like getting all dressed up to go out on a Friday night date, only you're kissing the floor doing push-ups instead of your date.

What motivates you to work out?

ilove iphone

 summer salmon dinners

 before and after kitchen table

 table centerpiece

 i finally tried something new to my hair! thanks pinterest!

 proof boys working hard laser ingraving

 happy father's day to my hairy dad

 i tried winning tickets from the radio station to see justing bieber.. dream crushed.

 pick up sticks. 

our partly dead tree is a pain. it's always dropping sticks in our yard.

 at fork for dinner

 this raccoon has been hanging around. i almost hit the poor guy when i was driving.

 every afternoon craving

 alyse!!!

 alyse!!!

finally catching up my life through iphone pictures. life still hasn't slowed down and it won't for awhile. i just can't wait to get out of here next friday and have a break! i saw my good friend, alyse "essig" from high school tonight! we were joking about how it's hard to use some our girlfriends from high schools married names, hers being one of them. her sister just had a baby and she is here visiting her and helping out. i can't explain how great it was catching up with alyse. i think so highly of her.. so highly that before i even starting dating tanner, i wanted to set those two up. turns out i wanted him for myself :) alyse, i love you and i'm so glad we can just pick up where we left off!

40 successful under 40

 

brooks receiving his award

 

brooks proud wife and mother, and me :)

tanner and i went to an event tonight at the boise zoo for 40 successful people under the age of 40. my brother in law, brooks, received one of the awards which was pretty cool! it was a gogeous night with good eats and of course some animals to see. the cutest animal of them all was tanner :)