When 50 is so nifty!

Again, time has slipped away without a weekly post, but as April rolls into May, we're only going to get busier! So let's catch up!

We had a wonderful Easter season full of egg hunts and activities. Here are a few pics from last weekend when we went to the Egg Hunt at Mandeville FBC.

Here are a few pics from yesterday, which was Easter Sunday. Because we are going to the beach this week, the Easter Bunny brought a few beach toys.

The last pic is of Maddie enjoying Easter lunch at Texas Roadhouse.

I ran my third 5K last weekend (Covington Spring Stomp). I actually did well and shaved 6 minutes off of my previous time. It was a nice 5K because it was held at 6pm and it was nice to run through the streets of downtown Covington on a cool spring evening. I have three scheduled in May (May 7, 14 and 21) and one on June 4th. It's going to be a busy month!

It's also going to be a busy month because Morgan turns 5 on May 8th. It's hard to believe that the time has flown by so fast. She also will graduate from Northlake Christian Preschool on May 24th. I'm already preparing myself for an emotional day as she has been singing the songs to me all month and she can't get through them without me shedding a tear or two.

The weight loss journey is going great. As of today, I am down 50.6 lbs since the end of January! My goal was to be down 50 lbs by our beach trip this weekend and I beat that by 4 days! I've really been working hard the past few weeks. I now take classes at the gym 4-5 times a week (2 boot camp, 1 spinning, 1 or 2 Zumba) and I walk 6 miles on Sundays. I really love my Sunday walk. The Tammany Trace is such a beautiful place to walk and I really have been getting my allotment of sun the past 4 Sundays (which is a nice change from sitting in the office all week!)

I wanted to share one more pic with you...I've had some different reactions to my weight loss. For instance, my boss came in my office last week and told me that he's really noticed a difference in my face since I've started working here. My Zumba instructor told me on Wednesday that whatever I am doing is really working. The gym manager has told me several times that I'm doing an awesome job. Some people have said nothing. Maybe they either haven't noticed or maybe some people feel awkward? Not sure. Anyway, I was at the bank last week cashing a check. I pulled out my driver's license and I had to look at it twice. Wow. I REALLY noticed a difference. The license pic was taken 1/12/2011...a few weeks before I started losing weight. So I decided to snap a pic for comparison and do a side by side. Here it is:

Well, that's all for now! We are off to the beach this weekend, so I am sure I will have more about that next time!

Have a great week!

Janel

The big 4-0

I know that it's been over a week since I've blogged. Is it just me, or does it sometimes seem like activities take over your life beginning in March and you really can't get your head above water (another pool reference) until mid-summer? Beginning in March, we have had activities every weekend. Many weekends (like this past one) have been STACKED with events where we would be out at 8am and back late in the evening. The good part about staying busy is that we are also staying active. It totally beats vegging out on the couch all weekend.

I started my first week of boot camp at the gym LAST week. I just completed my second week this past Monday. Wow. The first week was not very difficult, so I was kind of looking forward to the second week. FAIL. The second week kicked my tail. She had us running all over NE Covington - through the neighborhoods that surround the gym. After all the running, we did block-long sprints. UGH. I am not a runner. If anything, I am hardly a jogger. So needless to say, I was spent. We then went back inside and did push ups, squats, abs, step routines and some lifting. I was still able to move on Tuesday, which was a plus and even crawled to the gym before work at 5am because Jonathan was off. The payoff? I finally hit the big 4-0 of lbs lost. Actually, as of today I am down 44.4 lbs. My next mini-goal is 50 lbs before our beach weekend on April 29th, so I think I should be able to hit that.

Jonathan also joined the gym with me and actually took a spinning class with me last week. Although he may never spin again, he seems to enjoy going to workout before picking the kids up from school. I keep saying that going to the gym makes you happier - almost like you know deep down that you are going to do something better for yourself. I've been a member of gyms for years and have never been as addicted to it as I am now. I actually miss it if I can't go.

Speaking of addictions...I've really been intrigued by this whole new "extreme couponing" phenomena. I watched the series on TLC last week and I just cannot get over how (or why) these people spend 8 hours a day strategizing how they can save 99% of a grocery bill to stock up on 200 sticks of deoderant and 100 boxes of cereal. It has however made me take a look at how we do things in our household. I am not one to coupon. We do not (that I know of) have a grocer on the Northshore that will double or triple coupons. If you know of one, let me know! But I realized that there are coupons for things we definitely buy every month: cat and dog food, diapers, Fiber One bars, hair color (no comments necessary), toothpaste, etc. I can probably save at least $10.00 if I were to coupon. So I went to the dollar store and bought a little coupon organizer to keep in my purse. I now clip coupons for the items that we use. BUT- here is what I have been doing to save us money here and there: When you go to restaurants (fast food or otherwise), many times there is a survey on your receipt. Wendy's has one that is $2 off a sandwich, Chick-Fil-A has a random one that gives you a free sandwich, etc. Fill out the survey online. I promise it takes you no more than 2 minutes. I keep those receipts and then trade them in for $$ off or free food. I acutally use those to determine where I will be eating for lunch during the week. For example: I had a free Chick-Fil-A one and used it yesterday for lunch. Just my luck, when I purchased a drink to go with my free grilled chicken sandwich, another random survey receipt popped out! So now I can get ANOTHER free sandwich within the next 30 days. I currently have receipts in my coupon organizer for Wendy's, La Madeleine, Quizno's and McAlisters. They do vary: La Madeleine is a free cup of soup or petite salad, Quizno's is $2 off a large sub, etc. But still- every little bit helps. Free food or money for my opinion? Yes, please! Also, take advantage of local daily deals or Groupons on restaurants. Usually you can get 1/2 off ($20 of food for $10, etc) when you dine out. It's a great way to save money as well as try new places to eat in your area.

So, to recap the Evans Family weekend: On Friday night, we went to K-Gee's. It is a seafood restaurant in Mandeville by the same people that used to own Bozo's in Metairie. It was a Local Daily Deal ($40 of food for $20). It was delicious! We had boiled crawfish, I had a grilled shrimp salad and Jon had the broiled shrimp platter.

On Saturday morning, we went to the St. Jude's Trike-A-Thon at Northlake Christian. This was Morgan's second year to participate. Maddie even joined in for the ride in her super-trike.

We then went to the Strawberry Festival in Ponchatoula. We met up with our friends, The Lindsey's, and enjoyed the day celebrating everything strawberry. It was an incredible day to be outside.

On Sunday, we went to church, quickly went to Slidell for a dash through Sam's Club, checked out an open house where Morgan will be attending Summer Art Camp, and then I went and walked/jogged 6 miles on the Tammany Trace. I came home, sent the girls to my mom and dad's for a few hours and then cleaned the house. Whew. What a weekend!!

This weekend, we expect more of the same: Pick up unsold items from that Children's Consignment Sale from last week, Easter Egg hunts in the community, Ladies Tea at the church, 5K run/walk Saturday evening in downtown Covington, church and more Easter Egg hunts on Sunday. I will update you next week! Have a great one!

Janel

Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming...

I know, right? ANOTHER Disney movie quote. I actually think that among the many, many, many Disney movies I've seen - especially over the past few years - Dory is one of my favorite characters and Finding Nemo is one of my favorite movies. In the swimming industry, we use "swimming" references all the time: "How do you like your new job?" Me: "It's going swimmingly, I'm diving right in!" "Have you completed that article yet?" Me: "No, I'm working on other projects - just trying to keep my head above water." We have to often laugh at ourselves because it happens naturally, but it can get rather corny and obnoxious. But this week, I found myself having to use the quote "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." often. I had SO many things to accomplish this week in addition to our normal crazy schedule. I had to get Easter cards created and in the mail. I had to finish pricing and organizing all of the clothes/baby stuff for the consignment sale. The kids had school pictures, etc. I wanted to get in 5 workouts before the Heart Walk. Morgan had been having a great week at school, so I wanted to build in time for rewards (playground, bookstore, movies). But around Thursday, I hit a plateau with the weight loss journey. Now I have done this before and I knew to expect plateaus and even an occasional gain. But I had worked SO hard. I had worked out Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I had NEVER cheated (even passing up cheesecake at work for fruit for a co-worker's birthday). But Thursday, I GOT MAD. I got so mad because of all of the work and all of the sacrifice. Jon offered suggestions: drink more water, maybe your body is in storage mode, etc. I kept thinking that if I had cheated or had skipped the gym, I could understand. If I was going to gain 2 pounds, I was going to do it by eating a seafood platter. But then I realized how far I have come and being proud of that makes me want to push through it and keep going. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... So, I did and now I am back on track. And here's a cool story to keep the motivation going...

Today was the Northshore Heart Walk at Fountainbleu State Park. Thanks again to everyone that supported me to reach my fundraising goal. The weather was PERFECT. There were between 800-1000 walkers from corporations and large companies throughout the Northshore. I walked with PoolCorp. We had a team of about 25 walkers and we were called "The Swim Team" - how appropriate. When I signed up to do the walk a few weeks ago, I wrote a little blurb on my fundraising homepage about why I wanted to do the walk. Heart disease not only runs in my family, but also in Jonathan's. I also wrote about the fact that I had joined a gym, had been dedicated to going to the gym 5-6 times a week and that I wanted to stay motivated in my weight loss by doing a few 5K races a month. So, fast-forward to today. I arrive at the Heart Walk and we take our group picture, etc. From the stage, they begin the welcome and introductions. They then say that they will award the "Lifestyle Change" awards before the walk, in case someone had to leave directly after the walk. They then announce the "Gym Rat" award. "This award is given to a person who, within the last 12 months, has joined a gym and goes to the gym at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes to workout. The winner of this award also encourages those around them to join a gym and have as much fun working out as they have. And this year's Lifestyle Change Award goes to Janel Evans from PoolCorp." WHOA!  I was beyond honored.

Here are some additional pictures from the event. 

Oh - that last picture was taken from the stage. I was invited by the people from Pelican Athletic Club to warm up the crowd from the stage with them after accepting my Lifestyle Change Award. That was fun!

I mentioned earlier that Morgan had a great week at school. Friday we decided to take her to see Hop. She enjoyed it!

One last thing! Last night, I downloaded The Biggest Loser Workout Mix to my iPhone. They have several different alboms to choose from on iTunes. I chose the Top 40 Mix vol 4. I felt like I moved much faster as I walked today. If you are looking for tunes as your iPod as you walk or jog, I highly suggest it!

Have a great week and remember...Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...