Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Valentine's Decor for a Killer Deal

Have you guys heard of GroopDealz before? It is AMAZING!
It's a place where cute shops sell their products at a discounted rate and the buyers get to enjoy the items AND save money. WHO WOULDN'T LOVE THAT?! :]
I've bought quite a few things from them before and I've loved everything I've ordered!
In fact, with Valentine's Day coming up, I ordered some really cute pillow covers and I can't wait to get them.
Here is a picture of the beauties:


Aren't they ADORABLE?! They are just what I need to add some cute Valentine's Decor to my front room. In fact, the LOVE pillow cover would be cute for any girl's room.

Since I loved this deal, I wanted to share it with you all. 
You have about 23 hours left to get these pillow covers at 38% off. You can get each pillow cover for $7.50...or be like me and buy one of each.

I hope you like this deal just as much as I do. Or, find something else you love while looking at GroopDealz
HAPPY SHOPPING!

What I'm LOVING Wednesday


I'm loving all the fun blog posts I have planned for this week.

I'm loving that Andrew and I have stuck to our "no eating out, except (AT MOST) once a week for date night" plan. I hope we'll see all the savings soon and that we'll also lose some weight in the process. I think a  big part of why I gained so much weight is poor eating habits so I'm really turning that around and feel better already. I'm eating breakfast (which was rare before) and making my lunches and dinners. HERE'S TO SUCCESS!!

I'm loving that I broke out my planner and I'm getting ORGANIZED.

I'm loving that DISNEYLAND is getting closer and closer.

I'm loving that it's a new year and there are so many fun things in store for 2012.

And most of all, I'm loving my sweet husband who seriously is the love of my life. I couldn't ask for a better person to spend forever with and I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father brought him into my life. I LOVE YOU BABY!


Friday, January 6, 2012

To Earn Your Dessert...

I have recently had the urge to BAKE BAKE BAKE, but that doesn't help me achieve my goals of eating healthier...
In the last few weeks, I've made a couple different types of cookies, been tempted with candy, and even had the urge to make lemon bars. And do these foods sound healthy to you? I didn't think so.


So as a result, tonight we came up with a new way of "earning your dessert" around these parts.

Before I cut myself a piece of these Lemon Bars I had to do one thing:
100 JUMPING JACKS

It's nothing big or too hard, but definitely gets you moving before you get to eat your treat.
I think I'm going to do this from now on so if I do decide to eat a treat (which won't be too often), I will feel more like I earned it.
Sounds like a plan right?!

What do you think? Are you going to start "earning your dessert" too? ;]

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Lessons Learned on my Fitness Journey

So as I mentioned yesterday...I'm not very smart with picking shoes to wear while working out. 
Actually, to be honest, I'm not very good at picking shoes in general. I always end up with shoes that tear my feet APART and leave me wishing I never had to wear shoes again. I don't know what it is about shoe shopping but I can rarely find a pair of shoes that fit correctly.

So I don't know what I was thinking today when I forgot my work out shoes as I left for work. All I had with me was my super comfy Uggs that my sweet hubby bought me while we were engaged.





I went about my day as a comfy happy camper and enjoyed an AMAZING lunch with my life long friend and bridesmaid, Kelli. Then I went back to work and as I was finishing up, got a text from Brittney about going walking. I'm so glad she texted me because I probably would have not gone without that extra push. As I was texting her I was reminded again about the shoe situation and told Britt that I'd have to take it easy today...or at least that was the plan.

While we did walk at a slower pace than yesterday, we walked much longer than expected. I was thinking we'd only go a half hour or so, but after walking and talking, we realized an hour had passed.
I'm SO glad that I go walking with someone because it definitely makes the time go by faster and makes it much more fun. My only problem tonight was that my shoes didn't agree with my walk, haha. While we were walking I could tell they were rubbing on my heals but I just ignored it and kept on trucking.


While I love these shoes on a daily basis, I quickly found out they are NOT the shoes to be wearing while working out. I came home and found that I have quite a few blisters because of these cute boots I own.
I'm happy to say that I'll have the weekend off from walking and will definitely have time to find some appropriate shoes for my weeknight walks.

Here's to resting my poor feet and continuing to work out.

Oh, and since I posted those old Christmas pictures, I couldn't end this post without posting another picture from that night.


Can't believe that was two years ago. Can't wait to CONTINUE to work out and get back to that weight.
Anyone know a good shoe store? ;]

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

What I'm LOVING Wednesday


I'm loving that I went on a walk yesterday with my cute hubby and our puppies to the Post Office. It was between 1.5 and 2 miles and a GREAT way to start my weight loss journey. It also helped with a goal I forgot to mention, which is to take our puppies on more walks.

I'm loving that tonight I met up with Britt to go walking to prepare for our 5K I mentioned. We walked for about an hour at a pretty quick pace, and besides my sore feet (I wore HORRIBLE shoes) I feel GREAT. :] I also went on a short walk with my hubby and our puppies again tonight. We have to stay committed and I'm excited to have walked two days in a row.

I'm loving that I've been cooking and baking lately. However, I should probably stop baking to help with my weight loss. Either way, don't these look yummy?


I'm loving that the "Gospel Library" App for the iPhone allows you to download the LDS magazine articles for free.

I'm loving INSTAGRAM and taking fun pictures. Follow me at: lovethelawrences. :]

I'm loving the fact that I get to plan fun dates again this year for our Date of the Month Club.

I'm loving that I get to go to Disneyland at the end of the month with family. I haven't been since Andrew and I were dating and I'm super stoked.


I'm loving my new ride and my new camera (both which you'll hear more about later). ;]

I'm loving my sweet puppies.

And as always, I'm loving my sweet husband and that we've been married for two years! Two years since January 2nd to be exact. :]


What are YOU loving lately?! :]

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

I'M BACK and 15 GOALS FOR THE NEW YEAR

Sorry I've been MIA lately. With the holidays I just couldn't find the time to blog, but now I'm back with full force and hope to blog a ton!
I have a lot of different topics to blog about, but to start I figured I'd share my many goals for 2012.
I am so motivated to do better in a TON of aspects in my life and figure the best way to stay accountable is to write them down and report how I'm doing.
So, without further ado, here are my goals for 2012 in no particular order:

1. STRIVE TO BE HEALTHY!
I know I always talk about this over and over again on my blog without many results. However, I'm honestly hoping for the best this year. I plan on losing weight and getting back to the weight I was when I got married.
To help, I'm going to start walking and running with the hubs and with my girl Brittney and I'm also going to use my free membership at the gym and take advantage of what is offered to me rather than just letting it go to waste.

I have plans on running two 5Ks this year so I need to get my butt in gear and start training.
The first one is on February 25th and is called The Color Run.


Looks like fun huh?! I'm running it with Britt so hopefully we do good and have tons of fun.

The second one I'm doing is on July 4th with my wonderful sister. I'm not sure about the information but I'm excited to have two mini goals within my overall goal to become healthier and I'm excited to get in shape!

2. BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET!
Andrew and I have been talking about when we want to start a family, and while we aren't ready yet, I think it is important for us to get in gear and start spending our money more wisely. Today I sat down and figured out that we CAN live off of just Andrew's money if we try hard to stay on track so we are going to be working on doing that over the next couple of months. 


We are trying to SAVE SAVE SAVE and just become more responsible and not waste all our money on going out to eat. As a result, my money will go to SAVINGS, house projects, and a little bit of fun along the way.

3. COOK DINNER MORE
If we plan on saving money, we need to not eat out as much. That is seriously one of our biggest issues with spending money we don't need to be spending and (I believe) our weight gain. We just got so busy with work and other things that we took convenience over health. As a result, I want to cook dinner AT LEAST 6 days a week...day 7 is DATE NIGHT. I started writing down all the foods I want to make or already know how to make so that we can eat a wide variety of things and just have fun with cooking...but more on that later. ;]

4. GO ON ONE DATE A WEEK
Andrew and I are pretty good with going on dates, but with this new year I want us to go on a date EVERY week and make it a commitment. We are going to switch off each week who get's to plan the date and they are going to be so much fun. There will be different guidelines for each date that we plan and it will just allow us to spend more time together. But again...more on this later. ;]

5. TAKE MORE TIME FOR CHURCH CALLINGS
I LOVE being a Primary teacher and that I get to teach the 6 year olds this year. However, I'll admit I've been slacking when it comes to my lessons. My goal for this year is to spend more time preparing my lessons and to be a better teacher overall. I love the faith that Primary children have and love that they teach me just as much as I teach them (if not more).

6. BE BETTER AT INVITING THE SPIRIT INTO OUR HOME THROUGH FHE, FAMILY PRAYER, AND SCRIPTURE STUDY
I'll admit that Andrew and I aren't so good at having Family Home Evening each week, however I'm hoping we'll do MUCH better this year. This Monday was our ANNIVERSARY so we didn't have FHE but I'd say we had a pretty good excuse. ;] So starting this Monday we're going to do MUCH better and take off turns planning a lesson for our little family of two. It's important to start now so that when we DO have a family, we'll already be in the swing of things. I also want to do better at saying prayers together and reading our scriptures together. I want to learn more and more about the gospel and always have the spirit in our home.

7. ATTEND THE TEMPLE MORE
Andrew and I have both said we need to work on this, so I'm super excited to attend the temple more and learn and grow, especially spiritually.



8. BE MORE ORGANIZED
I already bought a planner and a calendar because I plan on being much more organized this year. I plan on using all the tools I have to STAY organized and just make life less stressful.

9. BE BETTER AT CLEANING
I found TONS of helpful tips on Pinterest to stay both organized AND clean. I want to clean a little each day so that nothing ever gets overwhelming. I want our whole house to be an oasis for us to come home to and I can't wait to finish projects with my hubby and continue to make our house into our home.

10. PROCRASTINATE LESS AND BE ON TIME
I always think of so many fun projects and ideas but procrastinate so much that things don't turn out how I want. This year I plan on doing things AHEAD of time and making my life so much less stressful. I plan on finishing my projects and getting a ton of fun things done this year. I also plan on showing up to things on time. I am THE WORST at being on time but I hope to fix that this year.



11. ALWAYS TAKE PRIDE IN HOW I LOOK
Since I've gained so much weight I've noticed I started to take less pride in how I look. I find myself curling my hair less and doing my make-up less which I'm not happy with. I want to look good for myself and my husband and take pride in how I look. I want to feel pretty everyday and just be happy. This is a BIG goal for me this year and I'm excited to follow through.

12. READ MORE
I used to read a ton but lately I haven't made the time to do so. I keep hearing how good so many books are so I'm hoping I'll make time to start reading again. To start I'm going to re-read the first two Twilight books and then finish the series. WISH ME LUCK!



13. TAKE MORE PICTURES
I realized since I've gained weight and haven't been as happy with how I look I haven't been taking as many pictures...which is a shame. I used to take SO many pictures to document all the fun things Andrew and I do together so I'm hoping to start doing that again so we can look back and remember how much fun we have. I also want to do better at scrapbooking.

14. BLOG MORE
I've been a really hit or miss blogger which I'm not proud of. I love reading blogs that update frequently and I realize I need to do the same. I want to document all the fun I have doing projects, decorating, and just updating everyone on the life of the Lawrences.

15. JUST BE HAPPY OVERALL AND TAKE EVERY MOMENT IN
My goal for 2012 is to live life to the fullest, enjoy every moment, and take everything in.

I'm super excited for what 2012 has in store for me and I'm excited to make more memories with my amazing husband.

GOOD LUCK with all your goals for 2012 and may this year bring you tons of happiness and joy!