Day 8- move

Holla back, now! 

Day 8 is in the books- Sweat time of 32 minutes of run/walk + 10 minutes of vigorous hose hauling and flower water... yep :-) = 42 minutes total with a   Caloric burn of 441!  

so I love to shop <----- not a shocker.  and I really love to shop for shoes. athletic shoes, specifically :-) 

Here are a few that I'm eyeing, in a 'no i'm not really shopping for new shoes but if i should happen to need a gift for, oh say, Labor day or Columbus day, or Tuesday, these would be what I might like :-) 

ASICS GEL-Kayano 19™

or 

ASICS GEL-Noosa Tri™ 8

Asics Gel Noosa Tri-7

Clearly, I love staid single-color tenny's :-) The Gel Noosa 7's glow in the dark!!! 

 i guess I'm on a mission to be as truthful as possible in cyberspace... that glazed over, sweaty, zitty, babies head in the armpit look is reaaaaalllly gorgeous, no??? 

Found this on Pinterst tonight... 

REALLY???? Honest Abraham Lincoln said 'Hustle'???? bahahahahaha :-)  I think not!

go make it sweet, friends. 

xo 

Day 6- quick, quick

as it's already technically day 7, just a quick check in to keep myself accountable! 

another perfect day for the pool! these babies and their LONG legs!!! look closely and you'll see the husband working hard for that eye-contact! a bit blurry... we can't slow down enough for these pictures, momma!!

purchased some new workout gear from old navy...yep. shopaholic. but it's on SALE!!!! big time. and it makes me want to workout <----- i'm pretty sure that's a sign i have a problem :-) oy.  

such a day in the backyard and at the replex that middle man fell asleep!!!! on the couch!!!! in the early evening!!!!! no way. such a beautiful boy, my Bode.  

then I woke him back up and made him race me around the yard- wind sprints to the neighbors twirly slide and back!! not ashamed to admit he beat me every time. eeeeeeevvvvveryyyy time!!!  love, love, love this boy!   That's my pouty face... 

Statistics for today

1. Sweat time- playing outside with kids, sprints, squats while swinging, leg lifts while bubble blowing + this crazy good at home circuit workout! 

50 minute total, 441 calories burned! not bad for a 'sweating between the bathroom, wasp smashing, drink fixing' sort of thing!!! 

so thankful for what i've got.  Gotta leave you with a little Pinterest Love

we each have our road to travel ( not always in a sunshine little VW bus, though that would be nice :-)) every day, get better. 

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I have a serious thing for Abraham Lincoln.  really, For Abe's in general :-)  This man, his brain and sense of humor just make him obnoxiously beautiful!  

see you on day 7!

Day - 5 sweat. for real.

Big kid loves to take our picture with the reverse camera on my iPhone .... loves it, loves it!! There were many years (still happening, let's be real) that I couldn't get him to look at the camera, or he'd smile and even with my fastest shutter speed, he was one millisecond faster, and when I'd go to review the shot I'd see half a grin and his shoulder.   I think seeing us talking and moving captivates him, keeps him looking, and has filled my files with excellent, sweet pictures that I treasure.  The below sequence melts my heart. 

love him. more than the stars in the sky, more than the salt in the sea.  forever and ever my baby, he'll be.  

I'm not really wearing a crown of gerber daisy's... but I totally Rocked the exercise portion of the day!!!

1. Sweat time- 32 minutes, Calories burned:  430!!  a little run/walking around town on this gorgeous day... that felt hot as hades as soon I passed the first mile mark :-)  

1/4 of the way to a new habit!! 1/6 of the way done with our 30 day challenge!!! 

The link below takes you to a blog post I love... one I read and re-read.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. 

'You Don't Have to Be Pretty'

xo

Day 4- marshmalllllloooooowwwwwsss

Today was the perfect day for the pool! Hot enough that the water felt delicious, not so hot that i couldn't splash around on the edges vs. getting all the way in the whole time.  

Big kid loves his cups - I wish we had shade.... but I'm not going to complain too much because we live in a town of less than 4 thousand people and have an awesome pool and splash pad!!! 

couldn't get too close to Bode- he's dead on accurate with his squirt gun!!!

Baby bell was watering, and floating, and being generally sweet as pie until someone wanted to 'share' their toys with her..  i.e. take what belonged to them/not us in the first place :-)  

We made a quick stop for popcorn at the concession stand on our way home... it totally makes leaving such a fun place much easier!!! <----- that's right, this momma works on her transition skills 24/7 :-)

Big hat!  Big glasses!!!! loved it, felt a smidge self conscious at first, quickly remembered that 1.  if I like it, it's all good 2. no one cares about your hat anyway :-) 

Sweat time- 25 minutes

Calories burned 235- thanks to Fitness Blender for their brand new Total Body Strength training video!! Dancing Baby wanted in on the picture action! Such a doll

I own far, far to many t-shirts... but they're all from someone or something and they make me happy, happy, happy to remember my friends when I workout (with them) :-)  My Vandy girls are serious exercisers!! The commodore and I totally rocked it out tonight! 

i really, really want a marshmallow.  maybe 3.  but i'm following  my recommendations on Myfitnesspal.com and even with my workout today, I don't have a lot of extra calories to spare.  

I'm hitting the showers and going to bed- busy day tomorrow!!!

xo

Day 1- Varzesh??

hey, hey blog lovin friends- i'm moving on! technically I've MOVED on! 

 My original blog, Babe on a Bargain, was good and fun, BUT

a. my children never stood still in the outfits I had originally wanted to blog about

b. I don't necessarily aspire to be a 'babe'... 

c. I love me a bargain, but have some serious new shopping rules in place that have dramatically curtailed my shopping experiences, making it much harder to blog about good deals (not that I really had in the last.... oh let's just say 12 months, anyway!!! )

d.  it felt like it was time to start fresh.  

So here I am- Sweet Life Z.  

Why?

 Life is crazy.  good and bad. Where I thought this life would take me is NOT AT ALL where I've ended up- and because of all the highs and lows,  This Life... it takes some work,  thought, and conscious planning to make it what i want it to be, which is = sweet.  Sweet for my babies. Sweet for my hubs.  Sweet for me.  Sweet for my friends.  Sweet for those whom I can help... in whatever way that may be.  Sweet.  

I'm starting this blog off with a 30 day challenge- I find I am able to keep myself accountable when I DOCUMENT my goals and my progress towards them (ground breaking not at all,  i know, right??) 

Here's my plan

30 days of exercise- I have a computer FULL of complete, FREE workouts.  I have feet that work and a beautifully paved town of streets to walk.  I will exercise ever. single. day for the next 30 days, no matter what.   AND because I can't seem to just do one thing at a time....

30 days o' bloggin.  

Starting off with a BANG- when I take a bit of time to focus on myself I am a better momma, a  better wife, and a better friend.  When that time involves sweat and a little bit of creativity, I'm a MUCH better momma, wife, and friend!   

TODAY's details 

1.  Sweat-   30 minute hip hop dance workout- a great way to ease my way back into sweating.  Seemed a little slow at times, but I was working hard, burned 300 calories, and remembered that 'Hey!! I like exercising!! I can do it!' <--- pretty cool as I was feeling exceptionally unable to do a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. active due to my ridiculously out of shape self.  

After I finished that, I decided I could do a little more and I found this ------>

Varzesh dancing sweat business which they say

 ' is a combination of yoga, zumba, aerobics, and cultural dance with  Persian music'  

25 ish minutes- 220 calories.  LOVED IT!!! made me miss Zumba and  seemed like a great  at home alternative since  our schedule is not conducive to attending class right now. I will definitely be looking up more of these videos this month! The instructor's got moves.  for real.  hips and arms and groove :-) 

 Total calories burned- 520- a great start to my 30 day challenge!

blurry sweaty photo #1!  

Here's to the next 30 days- you know I can't leave without some motivation from that delicious time suck that is Pinterest- 

this is how I was feeling

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and because I believe the following 

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We're off to the races to make this life what we want it to be 

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make it sweet, friends. 

xo

a. z.