Weekend Recap and Weekly Health Plan (3)

Getting back on the bandwagon of the whole work and gym routine after being a beach bum and eating/drinking whatever I want is so freaking hard. I did not even realize how tried I have been. Last Monday I got back from the beach. The rest of the week was a struggle. I just felt tired. Completely fatigued. Out of it. No motivation for life. Then Thursday night I started running a fever and getting a sore throat. Friday I went to the doctor, diagnosed with strep, and was prescribed a strong antibiotic. Saturday, I was weak, but felt back to normal. Hit legs at the gym, ran errands, and felt more like Liz. Sunday I was back to normal. 

Sunday, I was a mad woman. Literally, I think I pulled a muscle in my chest from being the energizer bunny. I woke up around 10, made breakfast, and started doing things around the house, then went to the gym at noon for spin class. I kicked ass there then did a full upper body weight circuit. Once the gym was over I ran a couple of errands then came back home and cleaned for 3 hours then prepped all of my food for the week.  When I talk about cleaning, I mean C L E A N I N G. Washed sheets, scrubbed bathroom, Cloroxed counter tops, dusted, 2 additional loads of laundry, dishes, swept, mopped, and vacuumed. I am getting exhausted just by listing everything. It was worth it because I wore myself out (I am so naturally high strung that I get on my own nerves sometimes) and I took a bubble bath and vegged out by the TV for my Sunday night shows. True Blood - Long Island Medium - Kardashian's - Snapped: love my shows.

So much food prep. But it is SO worth it. You save so much time and most importantly; MONEY. I can't live without it. Designate an hour or two once a week and get it over with!

These pictures really have no meaning, but I cerish when my place is nice and clean!!!

Saturday Selfie: feeling like me again!

Yesterday I had an interview for a Human Resources Management position at a food group company. They own a lot of restaurants here in Charlotte. I met with three different people after having a phone interview last week. I am really praying hard to get this position. It would be the most wonderful opportunity to get my foot in the door with a  HR role. I just had the best vibe and connection with everyone. I met with the owner and he flat out told me, "You're a great interview, and it's apples to apples with you and the other candidates, but you're a smaller apple with your experience. You are still going to be considered, but I just wanted to let you know. That's my only issue with you". I appreciated him saying that, but it kind of broke my heart. I loved everyone I met with. And I completely felt like I would fit in and belong there. So I don't know what is going to happen. It sucks being young and looking for jobs sometimes. It works for you in some situations, but against you in a lot of them as well. We all need that one person who sees something great in us and is willing to take a chance. I hope they see that in me. There is nothing I can do now but pray. I sent a follow-up email this morning thanking them for their time yesterday, so that is all I can do.

I'm pretty excited about my dinner's this week that I have prepped. I tried a new concoction and it is delicious. I am trying to eat as many veggies as possible.

Dinner: Fresh kale and mushrooms with diced grilled chicken and veggie noodles, sauteed in low sodium teriyaki sauce and topped with a few unsalted peanuts.

Nutrition:

• Meal 1: 3 egg whites with spinach and 2 slices of double fiber wheat toast 
• Meal 2: Protein/Veggie Smoothie
• Meal 3: Skinny Veggie Stir Fry (fresh vegetables, chicken, tiny bit of whole wheat noodles and unsalted peanuts)
• Meal 4: Oatmeal
• Meal: 5 Chicken stir fry (pictured above)
• Meal 6 (optional): Special K bar

Training:

• Sunday: 45 minute spin class and full upper body weight circuit (done)
• Monday: 20 minutes lateral cardio and 45 minute spin class (done)
• Tuesday: 10 minutes cardio on Stairmill, full upper body weight circuit, 10 minutes cardio on lateral machine
• Wednesday: 20 minutes lateral cardio and 45 minute spin class
• Thursday: 10 minutes cardio on Stairmill, full upper body weight circuit, and 10 minutes cardio on lateral machine
• Friday: 15 minutes on lateral machine, leg work out, and 10 minutes cardio on Ellptical
• Saturday: OFF

Why My Mom Should Not Have Facebook (part 1)

Y'all, some things should be illegal. My mother on Facebook should be one. This chick is cray cray. I didn't even realize just how crazy she is. She has been on Facebook about a month and a half and today I am sharing just a FEW of her shining moments.

Apparently, when she partied in her younger days, her bra ended up in her purse a lot. Such a class act, that one.

To be fair, my former Step-father of 14 years is a huge POS, but still. No need to blast that on the Facebook, mom. You did have my brother from him and he is on Facebook. Along with much of his family. 

Apparently, moonshine fixes everything.

No words for this one.

She is always bustin' my chops.  I posted a picture of my food prep for the week and she just had to bust me AND bring up my childhood. AND bring up her... menopause?!?!

Bustin' my chops... again.

Apparently, she thinks I show my boobies a lot.

She loves me... kind of :)

I am dubbing this entry part 1 because I am sure there are lots, lots more to come.

Weekend Recap: Back from the Beach!

I have been back home from the beach since Monday afternoon and have been trying to get back in the swing of everyday life. We had a great time and could not have asked for better weather!

Friday afternoon, I rushed home after a half day at work, we packed up my car, put the top back, and we were ready to go.

Let's get this show on the road!

We get to the beach around 6, check in, and go to our room. We usually stay at Breaker's Resort or Patricia Grande, but this time we decided to try a "pet friendly" resort so we could take our dog, Hope. We rescued Hope in November of 2011. She is a VERY old dog from a puppy mill, and had a hard life. We are trying to provide her the best life possible in case something happens to her in the near future. We stayed at the Sea Mist Resort, which is huge, but trashy. My list of bitching could go on for days, but I will spare you guy. Out of 5 stars, I would give it 1.5. The only thing I could say is we had a good view.

Hello, Myrtle.

I make Marquis and I some some drinks and since it was after 5 PM, we took Hope for a walk along the beach. Everyone was coming up to us on the beach talking about how cute Hope was. We ended up being out there for two hours. I had a great buzz.

Cheers to two years together

When we get back to the room, it was about 8:30 PM and we were starving. We decided to go over to the resort next to us, Coral something, because they had a bar and a bowling alley on their 4th floor. We had a blast there and were back in our room around 11. I was dunzo. I feel asleep in under 5 seconds.

Saturday morning, we were early birds. It was our two year anniversary so we were up at 7:30. We went to our favorite breakfast buffet at Breaker's Resort (notice how we keep leaving our resot, haha) and then go look at the tanning business we are maybe looking at buying. After that we went to tour a few condo's. Lots of work going on around us.

Early Myrtle morning

Finally around 1 it was play time. We spent the afternoon lounging by the pool and playing in the ocean. I definitely got creamed by 3 waves in a row while we were trying to get out of the ocean and had sand everywhere. Literally, everywhere. My thighs had some nice scrapes on them too from all the seashells I kept falling on.

Napping by the pool with his fake batman tattoo, lol

We come back to the room to get ready for evening and I make us my speciality drink; The Taylor Fruity Tini :)

We had dinner at our most favorite restaurant in Myrtle beach; Ultimate California Pizza. I had a mushroom sandwich and it was to die for. It had pesto, mozzarella, and the bread was Ciabatta bread with some type of seasoning on it. I am drooling now thinking about it.

I suck at taking selfie's, but this was the best we could do. His were worse than mine.

We spent the rest of the evening on the boardwalk. We watched a live band, had more drinks, and played arcade games. It was a blast. I love doing random things with Marquis. We have the best time. He is literally my best friend.

Sunday morning, we slept in, but not much later. We had breakfast then decided to nap by the pool. We laid out most by the kids pool that was only a foot deep. We put our lounge beds in the pool and it was awesome. We fell asleep for almost two hours. After laying out we were hungry and decided to split ice-cream for lunch. So healthy, right?

O. M. G.

We came back and decided to go back out to the ocean. Around 5 we came back in, got ready, then had juicy burgers at River City Cafe. It is one of the best places to go in Myrtle if you want a real, juicy burger. Afterwards we went back to the boardwalk. We had drinks at a local little bar there and watched a cheesy Elvis impersonator.

Look who we rain into walking in from the beach. So cute.

Side Story: Marquis is crazy about animals. He is a 240 pound bodybuilder, but nothing can bring him to his knees like animals. It's so cute. Well, these little babies, jumped in our hotel pool. A man in the pool started taking a freaking bucket and tried was trying to scoop the babies out of the pool! It had to hurt the babies, and it was making the mom go insane. Marquis started screaming at the man from our balcony on the 7th floor, ran down to the pool, made the man stop, called someone to safely get the babies and the mom out of the pool, and waited there with them. How awesome is that!

Never a serious picture.

Monday we left bright and early now I'm back in the real world. We have so much going on with the business side of the trip that I will write about on another day when I have my thoughts together.

Short, Sweet, and Salty

1) Today Marquis and I are off to the beach. I'm so excited. This initially was our anniversary trip but now it's business related too. Story of my life! HA! You can check that crazy situation here!

2) Tomorrow is Marquis' and I two year anniversary! The below picture is our very first picture together taken in June 2011. AwWwWw.

 

3) Sunday TRUE BLOOD IS BACK, BABY! Hell to the yes. I will miss it since I will be at the beach, but thank God for DVR!

Sookie is my celeb twin. I even have a little gap like hers!

4) Cheap jewelry finds are amazing. Necklace= $10 at Old Navy. Earrings= $12 at Versona

 

5) My Mama on Facebook. Seriously. She's been on there a month and I think I am going to have to ground her.

 

I know it's short and sweet, but I am off to the coast. Check you guys LATA!

Holy Sh!+ What a Day!

Okay y'all... I just need to breathe for a second.

My brain is all over the place right now.

It's all good stuff at least!

I am marrying an entrepreneur. And it's a crazy life.

Marquis, the future worse half of myself, is 44 years old and from a small town in upstate NY. He grew up dirt poor. I'm talking a house built in the 1800's with no air conditioner, and the only way they ate was from their farm. He went into the Army; graduated number 1 in bootcamp for his physical fitness, then after he discharged from the military, he put himself through Ithaca college and graduated with honors. Even with severe ADHD. And honey, he still has that ADHD today.

He is a pretty driven man.

He just sold his two main businesses that have been operation since the year 2000. They were tanning salons; he sold them to a major franchise in the US. 

Over the past 6 weeks we have been working hard and now he is ready to open a new one.

Since marketing and advertising are my things, we have completely redone the tanning salon and what makes ours different and unique. I can't wait to share everything on here with you guys in the next month or two.

But we have some questions. The main one being: Where the hell are we going to put it?

There is one location in Charlotte (where we live and are established now) but if we open that location, it takes virtually every dime he made off of the sale of the old salons. That's a big pretty big risk. Especially because I don't trust the shopping center it would be in. It's in one of the most upscale places in Charlotte, but I am telling you guys, something just doesn't feel right. Just ask all the little restaurants that have opened and closed.

We have been talking for over a year now about buying a condo and Myrtle, opening a business there and kind of going back and fourth. I would be in Myrtle full time but he would still keep the house in Charlotte (for the time being) and go back and fourth.

Today he spoke with a man in Myrtle who is selling a really awesome tanning salon. Great location, great beds and Mystic HD, PLUS it would cost freaking 75% less than Charlotte to open it. We could pay cash today and still have a H U G E cushion. We are touring it Saturday.

We are also touring a bar/grille (my top choice to buy), an ice-cream shoppe, and a house to buy and rent out to people.

He then told me he spoke with a realtor and we are touring 6 condo's on Saturday to potentially live in.

Home sweet...home?

HOLY CRAP.

We could buy a condo and the tanning salon in Myrtle BOTH and still be spending 30% less than what it would take to open the one in Charlotte.

This picture has nothing to do with anything, but it makes me happy.

We are also considering selling or renting out our house in Charlotte because though it looks small(ish) on the outside it is HUGE in the inside. The only reason we bought it because it was such a good business investment. See, there is that business again.

Either way, I think Myrtle is clearly a better and cheaper choice. Plus, like I have said before, I was a fish in my past life and I was meant to be on the water.

Our anniversary trip is turning into a business development trip... why am I not surprised!!! LOL... just another day in the life! 

Happy, Happy, Happy

Just like the amazing Phil Robertson says; "We are happy, happy, happy". Yesterday evening ended up being a great evening, especially for a Monday.

I went to the gym after work for my "cardio blast" workout. I have written about it before. I ended up doing 20 miles of cardio total. And I shaved a lot of time off of my spin class. I started off with 20 minutes on the lateral cardio machine and did 5 miles. Then spin class started 7 minutes late. I started on the bike at 5:30 just doing an easy stroll, but did not start my spin work out until the instructor started us at 5:37 PM. In 47 minutes, I did 15 miles again like I did Thursday. However, the 15 miles I did on Thursday was how long the class had been, the 47 minutes last night was really only 40 minutes of class time.

I am really, really thinking of hard of buying a bike and training to one day ride competitively. Over the past 3 months since I have regularly started spin cycling, it has quickly become a huge passion of mine.

While I was work yesterday, my fiance, Marquis, told me he had worked up a little something for us! I was excited, he is an awesome cook and comes up with the weirdest, but most delicious recipes!

Pardon his spelling, hahaha.

After my work out, I come home to find Marquis has bought "Life Code" for us to take to the beach. I am a HUGE Dr. Phil fan, I mean I love that guy and I have been wanting this book. I can't wait to have my toes in the sand, Skinnytini in one hand, and this book in the other!

Around 8 we FINALLY sat down for dinner AND dessert and it was delicious!

Dinner: Veggie noodles, diced grilled chicken and turkey sausage, black beans, veggies, and crushed tomatoes. It was absolutely delicious.

Cute desserts he made: crushed Chocolate Fiber One cereal with sugar/fat free vanilla pudding, bananas, and walnuts! 

After dinner we caught up on "America's Got Talent". I can't believe we missed it last week! AGT, X Factor, and American Idol are our shows we religiously watch together. We commentate during the whole thing and it's so funny. It's our third season of AGT so it is now a tradition with us! I also love how when we are watching these shows, he lies at one end of the couch and myself and we give each other foot massages. LOL... does anyone else do that? Crazy, I know, but it's so relaxing!