Outdoor Fall Decorating/ Life Lately

To every person who reached out to me through comments/emails/texts after my post last Friday, thank you. It means the world to me that you are here and while my world and story aren't always picture perfect  I am so thankful to have each and every one of you here for it.

On a lighter note today I'm sharing what we've been up to lately...which honestly isn't much! Are you still laying low where you are? In some ways it seems like things are a little more back to normal because I feel more comfortable going into stores, school has started in person/hybrid here, and it just feels like life is a little more normal. However, on the other end of the spectrum everyone is still in a mask all the time, I still work from home nearly all the time, and we don't have a lot of plans besides being around the house! I love being at home so I truly don't mind that part of it, but it leaves me with not too much besides house updates!

This past Saturday my papa and his girlfriend Vivian stopped by to visit us (well mostly Sophie) and it was so nice to have some visitors! Sophie was fairly well behaved and loved being fed a million treats and gaining a new toy. While they were visiting they mentioned stopping at a farm and once they left Tim and I decided to head to a local farm to pick up some outdoor fall decor. We love going to Shickasheen Farm and if you are in the South County area they are a great side of the road farm stand with awesome prices! Our friend Emma and her husband run it along with their family and we loved getting the chance to chat with Emma a bit and pick up a pumpkin and a couple of mums for our front steps. Emma mentioned that they were going to have some more pumpkins soon, so I will definitely be back for some more decor soon!

I love having a bit of fall sprinkled on my front steps. I also recently replaced my front door mat and bought a new buffalo check mat for underneath as well. Both were purchased on Amazon and I love them! Quick question for you, how often do you replace outdoor mats? I am finding that mine wear out super quick, but they are exposed to the elements (no overhang) so I suppose it makes sense. I just assumed they lasted a bit longer, but maybe I just paid no attention when I was younger and living at home!

Oh, football is back! Thanks Soph for the reminder! 

We have been busy drafting fantasy football teams and watching the first week of games. I was quite pleased that the Patriots won on Sunday afternoon and even more pleased when Tampa Bay had a terrible game. Brady and Gronk weren't looking great and I selfishly enjoyed watching those traitors suffer. If you've been around for awhile, you know I have always loved Gronk so I feel a bit betrayed by him. Brady I think all of New England is angry with but I don't know what he expected to happen.

It's nice to have football back on for another bit of normalcy since Tim and I spend most of our Sunday with football on the tv!

We are still going on a lot of walks around here! Tim said to me the other day that no other dog in the neighborhood seems to be getting two walks a day...but this girl does! I have been doing a healthy living program lately and I will talk about it soon, but it is definitely encouraging me to get out and be active every day! 

So that's what's been up around here lately. Let me know what you've been up to!

 

Life Lately: Summer Weekend Fun!

Oh it's always great once the weekend comes around here. I've been working a lot of Saturdays recently doing some overtime but we have been enjoying the last few weekends of summer as much as we can around here. 

We started our Friday night with a trip up to Pawtucket, after finding out we didn't actually need to be up there we ended up stopping by Slater Park and looking for some Pokemon! While walking around I received a text from Brittni asking if we wanted to meet her, Stephen, and Emma in Oakland Beach for some more Pokemon hunting. 

We headed to Oakland Beach and arrived a few minutes early just as the sun was setting.

After walking around for awhile and entertaining Emma with funny faces and noises we settled down for dinner at Iggys. If you've never been to Rhode Island and had Iggy's before you should definitely stop by for a doughboy...and if you have no idea what a doughboy is you are seriously missing out.

We had a great time and were in bed pretty early since I was working nice and early Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon consisted of laying on the couch since we had a big night ahead of us. Un-pictured we ate dinner at The Haversham for my grammy's 75th birthday and then headed off to Fred's birthday party later that night.

I haven't been too great at taking pictures lately, something I need to get better at again!

Sunday however I have a few pictures to share! We spent the day kayaking with Tim's family on Wood River. There were eleven of us; two double kayaks, four single kayaks, and one canoe. It was quite the trip!

Tim's sister Brittany and her puppy Attie shared a kayak for half the trip and then Attie shared with Brit's boyfriend Justin for the second half. Attie loves kayaking!

Tim's nephews Callan and Kason had a blast swimming around when we stopped. They loved floating around in their lifejackets and the river was so calm and shallow they were able to move around easily!

We also stopped at a rope swing which quite a few of the group took a turn on. I prefer to stay inside the kayak and not get covered in river water :)

It was a great day and we had beautiful weather, great company, and nice exercise!

Plus anytime I get to hang around with this guy it's a pretty great time <3


How was your weekend?!

Life Lately!

Happy Friday! Thank goodness it's finally Friday, I swear yesterday dragged like no day I've ever seen before! Todays post is all about my life lately and if you've hung around in this little corner of the internet enough you've seen several posts like this where I share a hodgepodge of pictures I've taken recently. 

We're going a few weeks back but here are some things we've been up to besides moving!

One night after work we headed down to Narragansett and took a hike that was absolutely gorgeous. We walked all along the water and even though it was just about a mile walk we spent a lot of time wandering around the rocks and sand, picking up shells and enjoying chatting.

The hike was Black Point in Narragansett and it is a gorgeous area! It starts to get pretty crowded down that way after Memorial Day so I'm glad we did this hike before all the tourists showed up!

Just a quick loop but a fun one!

I also got to spend some one on one time with Tim's sisters dog Attie!

I went and let her out one day that I had off work and she was such a sweetheart! I miss having a dog so it was great to get to play with her for awhile!

The same day I was in charge of letting Attie out they gave us our apartment keys and the fun really began!

I visited Tim at work and thought the way he sits is hilarious....it's a very casual office ;)

Emma came and ate lunch with Brittni and I one day! She was so quiet that I didn't even know she was in the backseat of the car at first! This little girl is truly the cutest baby and is so well behaved!

Last weekend Tim and I spent some time walking 6 miles on a local bike path! We didn't set out to walk six miles but rather walked three, realized it wasn't going to loop around, and then turned around to head back to the car!

Along the way there was an outdoor gym which provided us some entertainment!

Look at those muscles! ;)

Oh hi Tim- thanks for reading my blog! Even though I tell you not to!

So I forgot to turn off the app once we had completed the six miles and were back to the car. It ended up being slightly over 6, but for part of the last little bit we were wandering a grocery store grabbing some water and eating from the salad bar! So we'll just call it 6!

Afterwards we thought we deserved a reward so some good old-fashioned Del's it was! We both opted for the Watermelon flavored Del's which I highly recommend if you ever visit our lovely little state.

That night we headed to a party where...

SURPRISE my brother showed up too! Well not so much of a surprise because I may have called him to come. How often am I somewhere that my brother is invited too? Not that often is the answer!

Poor Tim, dealing with drunk Melissa.

On Memorial Day we had our youngest visitor yet at our apartment...

Emma! Her parents came over as well :)

She loves her Uncle Tim! I swear every time Tim holds her she just stares and stares at him! It was so nice to have Brittni, Stephen and Emma see our new place! Rachel and Ant came to see it on Sunday but they came for breakfast and unfortunately I didn't think about taking pictures at that time! I love that my best friends have visited so quickly! 

This week has been slow going but we welcomed the newest member of our trivia team!

Yup, Emma again! She's certainly around a lot these days huh? :)

Well I am off! Have a great Friday and weekend everybody!

What exciting things have you done lately? Share with me in the comments and keep up with my daily adventures on Instagram!

21 Day Fix Week 1

My first week on the 21 Day Fix has officially ended! I thought I would share this journey with you since I figured it would be very difficult for me. I grew up being able to eat pretty much whatever I wanted. I never gained a pound. Throughout high school people would comment that I was "too skinny" but quite honestly I ate like a pig. I could out-eat most of the guys I knew and still would be a twig. I thought I was lucky, I thought that I had great genes!

During college I continued to not gain weight. Cookies, cake, pasta, pizza- I downed it all. I ate like crap and danced constantly with the dance company I was a part of and never gained a pound. Once I graduated and worked at the dance studio full time I gained a tiny bit of weight. I started filling out which I considered a good thing. Then last year when I started my office job I noticed a major change in my body. I started gaining weight, particularly in my stomach! I finally decided to do something about it and was considering asking one of the girls I knew who coach for Beachbody when someone I knew from high school, Marcy contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in joining her next challenge group!

My game plan was to use the 21 Day Fix portion containers to eat portion controlled meals and snacks throughout the process, complete Autumn Calbrese's 21 day fix workout program, and drink Shakeology daily.

So last Monday I began...

The first thing I did was go grocery shopping. Fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and ice were on the menu! I didn't want to buy too much because I am only one person and I know things will go bad if I leave them too long so it's easier for me to shop once a week for fresh items.

My lunch and snacks all packed for the day! I was a little nervous when I saw I could only have EIGHT cashews. Who knew that was a serving size?!

Shakeology for breakfast! When I first tried Shakeology I could barely choke it down. Over the week I figured out that I could add fat free milk with the powder and ice and make it taste like a chocolate milkshake. It's gone from something I dreaded to my favorite meal of the day!

I found this quote and thought this is so true. I am trying to commit to myself. I need to make my body and myself a priority every single day!

Now for the scary part...The before pictures...

As scary as it is for me to post these pictures on the internet I want to remember why I was so unhappy with my body eating carbs all the time. My stomach has so much extra fat on it that I look pregnant! I know I need to get this under control before it gets worse.

My first sweaty selfie after my total body cardio fix. I struggled through this first workout and was pretty miserable with the lack of food I ate (days 1 and 2 were very difficult for me!) but I did it!

My workout area in my bedroom :)

My mom made me these delicious treats that are 21 day fix approved (for the most part). They do have chocolate chips in them to help me with my chocolate craving, but also contains old fashioned oats, applesauce and cinnamon. They were delicious! They are worth a purple container and a yellow container for 3 cookies. I enjoyed these every day last week they were so yummy =)

On Tuesday night I cheated a little bit for my moms birthday dinner. I ate a turkey sandwich with french fries. I downed every little bit...

After two full days on the 21 day fix it tasted like the best thing I've ever eaten. Sometimes it's okay to eat a little something that's not on your meal plan- plus turkey not the worst thing in the world to eat either!

Plus we enjoyed a beautiful view while we celebrated my moms birthday!

Taking a "sweaty selfie" every day for my group has motivated me to check in and complete my workout each and every day. I don't have an excuse to not exercise or eat healthy. I need to check in every day and tell the other people in my group what I've done that day- it's kept me accountable- another great part of the 21 day fix and working with a coach.

Another part I love? The app! This app helps you keep track of what you've eaten and how much water you've had throughout the day. It has made it really easy for me to see what I can eat and how many portions I have left for the day.

Here's an example of a dinner plate with one serving of protein and two servings of vegetables. It's a pretty full plate. This plan isn't about starving yourself, it's about feeding yourself the healthy foods.

Another sweaty selfie.

Here's another meal that I got while out to eat and had leftovers for lunch. It is a southwest salad from a local restaurant called Billy Hills. It was a nice twist on getting my vegetables in as well as some chicken for protein, shredded cheese and corn.

A quick breakfast idea. Each slice of bread counts as one yellow container (although pumpernickel bread wasn't on the list I'm including it because it is definitely healthy for you!). Two teaspoons of peanut butter are allowed and I tend to add a little bit more because it's delicious. It also helps to fill me up a little bit.

Some more sweaty selfies.

On Saturday I had a sad occasion to attend but I was already starting to fill more confident in my body! After one week I have already lost 1 inch off my waist and 2 pounds!

Have you tried the 21 day fix?