Weekend Wrap Up Party

 Another BUSY, awesome weekend...and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Friday, Eric's BF from high school came up--they went golfing and hung out so it was me and the kiddos.  I decided to take the kids to the mall because I needed a dress for a wedding next weekend.  

It is official.  

I have made an executive decision:  I am DONE shopping for important clothing items with the kids.  

Grayden announced the whole store his mommy was naked, Addelyn cried almost the whole time, and I was a sweaty hot mess.   BUT, I did get a pretty cute dress!

Saturday Eric went golfing again with his friends.  I am SO GLAD he did this.  He rarely takes time for himself that doesn't include work.  The kids and I went to a birthday party for our friend, Eli.  It ended up being a pool party because of the weather.  (our favorite!)

Saturday evening, my girlfriend, Gail hosted a surprise party for our friend, Lee's birthday.  This was Lee's first party as an adult.  The look on his face was priceless!   It was such a great night.  The Tan's put on one hell of a party and that group is TOO much fun!!  

My neighbors were doing a Girls Night Out in Naperville Saturday Night.  So, I made a random decision to have Eric drop me off after Lee's party so I could hang out with them. Yes, I know I am crazy...but, we had a ball.  

Sunday was slightly rough.  

I had an appointment with one of my trainers at the gym to calibrate my watch at 12:30.  I was NOT feeling it, but he assured me I would only have to run 1.6 miles.   Unfortunately, the calibration didn't work.  So, I had to do it again.  FAIL.  Again.... It worked the last time...but then he wanted me to 'make sure it was working properly', so I had to run ANOTHER .5 miles.    I think I was sweating jello shots.  It was pure punishment.  However, 5 miles later...my hangover was cured.   After a nap, I decided to buck up and get my long run in....I did my first double digit run.  10 miles.  And I killed it...it is now time for me to sit down with my trainer and re-assess my goal for June 9th's Half Marathon.   

xoxo

My Next Adventure...

I last left you with a cliff hanger talking about my next great adventure...

After lots of time, thought, discussions with my husband, trainers, family, and close friends I have made a decision to sign up for the 2012 Chicago Marathon.

Why is this such a big deal?!? 

It has always been an item on my life bucket list.  

I ran it back in 2007, but we were stopped 2/3 of the way through due to the heat and lack of water supply.  I was crushed, but knew I would do it again.  

As I have mentioned in my last post, I am in the best shape I have been in a LONG time...and hell, who knows if I can keep this up!!  

So...it is 100% personal.     

-I am in great shape. 

-It is on my life bucket list.   

-Why not?!??  

BUT, it goes deeper than that for me. 

My grandfathers love for running and his stories (to be shared on a later date) are always in the front of my mind.  He was so proud that I enjoyed running.  I have two voice messages saved on my phone that he left me telling me how proud he was that I ran.  He passed away one year ago in June.  So for me, this run is inspired by him.  

My final decision to run the Chicago Marathon came too late.

It closed a few months ago.

If you know me...I am not going to give up.

I did my research, made some phone calls, and came to a conclusion that I could not be more happy with.

I will be running for St. Jude Heroes.

I will "Run for a Reason".   

There was a lot of different of organizations I could have joined to raise money for. (Several of them were a lot less money to raise...) But St. Jude hits home.  It is a mission that I believe in, support, and have donated to for the past 8 years.  

I will need to raise $1200.   It is a lot.  But I am excited about this challenge.  If I am going to put myself into something...why not put my WHOLE self into it while helping someone else??

Want to know more??

It costs $1.7 million a day to operate St. Jude, and public donations through fundraising efforts, like ours, provide more than 70 percent of the hospital's funding.  St. Jude founder Danny Thomas says: "No child should die in the dawn of life."

--Through fundraisers, St. Jude families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance, and no child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay. 

--Donations collected also help St. Jude cover other costs a family would typically incur while their child is being treated, including travel, housing and food.

--St. Jude donor dollars help fuel the groundbreaking research that leads to pioneering care and treatments for childhood cancer and other deadly diseases around the world.  

If you are interested in donating to St. Jude Heroes and help me meet my goal, you can click the button below or on the side of my blog will lead you directly to my fundraising page.

 I have made the decision to not only run for myself to accomplish my own goals, but also to run for the children of St. Jude. 

I run because I CAN.   

Working On Me: UPDATE...

My Working On Me post got a lot of positive feedback...so I wanted to give you all a follow up report.

I have not stopped, my friends. 
In fact, I decided to get my butt in high gear!

I signed up for Metobolic Training.   (I still have NO CLUE exactly what this is...)  but, here is what I did....

(This is not me...I would NEVER take a picture of myself with that thing on unless money was on the table!)

I had to put this god-awful mask on (I did have a minor panic attack for the first few seconds!) and then ran on the treadmill with the incline and speed increasing every few minutes.

Here are my results.  

I don't really know what it means...
 What I understand is that my Zone 1 starts at 165 and my Anebrobic Threshold is 180. 

I wanted to know what my heart rate needed to be to burn the most amount of fat calories and what workouts will help me run faster....

What I have learned is that it is takes a lot of hard work to get up to Zone 1....good thing I took this test or I would probably never be working out hard enough.    

(I also learned that I need to work on my recovery time.)

So....I bought this beautiful watch/heart rate monitor and foot pod:

Too bad it didn't come in hot pink sparkles!!  (glitter me pink)   Oh well, it works and had has changed the way I workout!

Next Up:

Meet my Metabolic 'Coach', Tim!

He is hard-core!

He can't always handle my outgoing personality, 
but I am growing on him...at least I keep telling myself that!  He has done a few work outs with me, and gives me 5 cardio work outs to do a week that are personalized to meet my specific needs.  We have this cute little online calendar through polarpersonaltrainer.com.      Each month we meet to adjust my workouts accordingly.  (Although I 'chat' with him and ask for advice way more often!)

This is a lot of cardio!!!   And remember, Nate taught me a strength training workout back in January....but my body was getting used to it.  LTF was offering a discount on small group training sessions...so I signed up. I really wanted to do a group session with my girl, Jackie, but our times didn't mesh.  She assured me her friend Mike was good. 

Meet Mike:

Mike is new to Lifetime.  He is young...but knows his stuff!  He listens to me, my goals, and likes to kick my butt....I LOVE a good workout!!  

Oh, and When I Walk In the Gym, This Is What I See....

Here is Tyler:  The General Manager.  
  

ALL business!   

(yes, friends....I have made friends with basically the whole staff.  Shocker, right?!?   But, isn't it so much more fun to be friendly with the staff and have someone to talk to than not?!?)  

OK--So, where does this leave me??

I feel better about myself now than I have in a LOOONG time.  I think I am almost in as good of shape as I was in HS...although I don't think I could do a back-flip, sprint a 200m, or do toe-touch (although my girlfriend Jaimie and I thought about trying it during a play date)...but relatively speaking... 

(I am almost 30!)

I feel strong.

I have energy.

I have determination.

I am persistent.

My goal is not to loose any more weight.  

I have lost 26 pounds since starting this journey one year ago with the help of myfitnesspal.com. 

At this point, I want to become stronger, faster, and replace body fat with muscle.

This is a choice.

We can choose to change our life style.

We can choose to eat healthier...FACT: I used to be able to out-eat Eric in any sitting (major portion control issues--seconds, thirds....sign. me. up!  Now, I make a conscious choice to control my portions...unless cheesecake is involved.)

We can choose to make the time to work out....eventually it becomes habit.

We can stop making excuses for ourselves.

Why wait till tomorrow when we can choose to start today?!?

My body now craves a solid workout.  

And, I LOVE taking this time for myself.

I am worth it.

I am worth feeling good about myself.

I do this for my family.

My family reaps the benefits way more than they lack the 2 hours an evening that I am not home.  

A refreshed,happy, energetic mommy and wife...

YES PLEASE

AND...

Who needs therapy when you can run your stress and anxiety away??

I have replaced many organizing missions with trips to the gym...and guess what?!?....I have survived!  

(If you know me well, you would be shocked to know that I have not re-color coded my closet by season since January!)

I have invested ALOT of time and $$ into this journey. 

But it has been so worth it!  I have made some really FUN friends and most importantly, I brought back the Ashley I love to be.

TOTAL DISCLOSURE: I would be lying if I didn't tell you the WHOLE truth.
Sometimes it is REALLY hard and sometimes people hurt my feelings and say that I should stop...that I look too skinny.  But then my husband and friends step in and remind me how hard I have worked. I am healthy and strong. My sweet girlfriends from high school remind me that is ME.  Thank you, friends, for supporting me and my decision to make myself a priority!

I have some exciting news to share later this week with my NEXT adventure!!

Mother's Day 2012

I had such an amazing Mother's Day.

I started my day off early to get in a 9 mile run with my girlfriend.

Then, we went to church, where I got to hear the most precious sound in the whole world....a choir full of 3-4 year olds singing the Lord's Prayer and a special song for their mommy's.
.

After church we headed to downtown Naperville for a little shopping, lunch, and a walk down the river walk.  I don't think the weather could have been any more perfect!!  

Grayden has been hiding a wrapped box under his pillow for two weeks now.  
My mom took him shopping for a present when we were in Mexico.  
He was SO EXCITED!!  
We opened it up....

 And he picked me out a beautiful LIZARD ring.  

I am IN. LOVE.   

~Thank you mom for doing this~

Isn't this just the sweetest picture??  

Grayden loves helping Daddy!!

Today I stopped and reminded myself 
how blessed I am.  

I am blessed to be a mother. 
A mother of two beautiful children.  

I tried to take a moment from the chaos of chasing Addelyn or telling Grayden to slow down and just watch them be children.  

I want to take moments and freeze it in my mind forever.  

I am realizing, lately, that moments are becoming minutes, that turn into hours...days pass...weeks pass....a month has passed.  
These moments are slipping by too quickly.  

These are the words from the card Eric got for me...It really could not be any more perfect.

The most important job in the world doesn't offer an hourly wage or days off or paid vacations.

But it does offer real feelings, shining faces, bedtime stories, small victories, priceless memories, and many wonderful moments of joy...

Always remember, there's no more important job in this world than the one you do every day with all your 

heart.  

Our Friday and Saturday in Pictures

Friday Night was Date Night

We had our dear friends, Nikki and Nate, join us at Wild Fire. 

 (Can you believe it was my first time there?!?   ...pretty impressive for a girl who loves steak!) 

It was a great night!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday was CRAZY busy.

We went to TWO birthday parties...

From there, we drove up to see The Lane's newest addition.

  

Grayden, Jeremy, and Addelyn....
IMPOSSIBLE to get three kids to sit and smile!! 

I passed out by 10:30 (SUPER early for me) so I could be up at 5:45 Sunday morning to start Mother's Day!!    

...coming up next....

 

Feliz Cumpleanos, Pedro! errr--Eric!

 Happy 30th Birthday to Eric!

I cannot believe he is THIRTY!

We started dating when we were 17...

...30 seemed SO OLD back then. 

Now, I am considering it the NEW 25.  

I asked Eric how he felt about turning 30 and his response, "AWESOME". "I'm not the new kid on the block anymore.  I know what I am doing and I am happy with where we are."    

(I'm in total agreement!)

Our birthday gift to each other this year was a vacation.  But, since I love to host parties, I couldn't let him slide into his thirties without putting something together.  

We had a Cinco de Mayo Party/Derby Viewing Party at our house and then went out on the town.  

Here is how it all went down....

The Parker's

The Huffman's

The Pircon's 

The Sholeen's

The Bhatti's

Photo Bomb!

BAHAHA

I-L.O.V.E.-The Wasinger's!!!!!!   
They are such ROCK STAR friends they cabbed it ALL THE WAY from St. Charles.  
 LOOOOVE them!!!!!   

Do you see why???

PEDRO!!!! ...watch your hand! 

The T's

The Oswald's

Jug Club

The Hallihan's 

ZP and his bud

That damn 'stach....I had a hard time with it after Kim taught me about a dirty word. 

My sweet Amanda!!!

My dancing partner!

Pedro and Matteo....I LOVE them!

Matt and I's "annual pic"

Kristy and Eric

Kim and I...

Some of Eric's best buds....good times!

HUGE shout-out to Eric's mom and sister for being simply amazing.  

They cooked so much food for the party!! (delicious!)

And his parents also let us borrow their margarita machine.  (I need one of those!) 

Eric and G-man

Happy birthday, Eric! 
 I love you!