Being happy.

"Don't worry, be happy..  Oooo ooooo..."  This song reminds me of my Papaw. He had a battery powered fish that hung on the wall over his chair, that would sing this song. He would let all the grand-kids push the button to play the song. Good memories.....

The words "don't worry, be happy..." easy instructions right? But hard to actually follow. We have all read the pinterest quotes, bible verses etc... on being happy, thankful, grateful.. whatever you want to call it. Its easy to read all those quotes & verses & think "yeh thats good stuff!" ,but then forget about it 10 seconds later when we are grumbling about whatever issue is there at the present time. I am speaking to myself here too. I am probably one of the worlds worst about having a bad attitude. I usually wake up with one because I despise morning time. But I try to be positive and turn my attitude around. (most mornings) I try thank God every morning for all the good things in my life. Not just come to Him immediately with all my troubles.

Sometimes its really hard to just be generally happy/have a positive attitude when you're working an 8 to 5 job. You're doing the same thing 5 days a week, going through the motions. It can get monotonous. But you know what? You could not have a job. You could be in the hospital, sick, not able to work. There is a million other situations you could be in. I could be at the job I worked at before the one I have now. The job I absolutely hated. The job that I sat in the bathroom almost everyday and cried. The job that I got cussed out on the phone frequently. etc etc etc. But now I have been at my current job for almost a year. & I really enjoy what I do. I work with good people, for a good company and there is future here. Honestly working at a job I hated gave a lot of perspective for me. It taught me a lot. Now when I feel like I am getting a bad attitude about my job or I am having a bad week, I try to think about that job I hated. I could still be there. But thank God I am not! So I better cherish what I've got right now!

The bottom line is be happy with what you've got! Appreciate what you have now! Stop wishing for the future. We wish for time to slow down because the seasons go by too fast. Or we can't believe August is already almost over! But then we are sitting at our desk on Monday wishing it was Friday... (again I am so guilty of this) My Mom used to tell me in high school to stop wishing for it to be over, to be graduated. "You're wishing your life away Ash!", she would say. And she was right. My goal for this post is to help myself  (and you) appreciate everything I have, have a better attitude, just be happy.

Remember life is all about what you make it.

Fear of Failure

One of the biggest fears I have had in my lifetime is fear of failure. It can be any area of life. Is anyone else this way?
Recently it was discussed with my boss that I may be able to be promoted in a couple of years or so. Depending on when she retires. Awesome right?! Yes, except I am probably going to have to go back to school in the mean time to get a degree for the position. Saying that I HATE school is an understatement. I didn't like grade school at all. I mean who did? I did what I could do to get by to graduate from high school. I wasn't one of those overachieving students. I didn't want to be or care to be. I just wanted to get out. I had no clue what I wanted to do after I graduated so I just started some basic college courses. After 4 semesters, when I should've been done with my AA or at least almost, I had failed some classes and pretty much had given up. I had no motivation because I didn't know really what I was even going to college for. I've never been one of those kids who knew exactly what they wanted to be when they grew up. So needless to say I was clueless. So I quit college. Because I hated it, flunked classes & I was wasting my parents money.

So you can see why I would be terrified of going back to school. I am older now. I'm not a 19/20 year old just floating through life not knowing what I am doing anymore. I have a purpose in going back to school. Its going to benefit me, my husband and my future children one day. (ya know if I can ever convince myself I am ready for kids one day) Also I would be making WAY more money than I do now. So that's some pretty good motivation. I think I can do it. But I'm still pretty scared of actually trying. But better to have tried and failed than not try at all right? (some important person said that, sometime in history...)

Another thing I have fear of failing at is weight loss. I mentioned in this post that my Ma & I are starting the Body-for-Life program. Eating healthier & working out. I have lost the weight before, but with a trainer. This time its just me myself & I, that I have to answer to. & my Ma. But shes not a trainer, shes not gonna "yell" at me. We have to motivate each other. & its really hard! I am feeling pretty motivated about that whole thing right now. But what about next week? Or next month? Probably not so much. But I know its going to take more than just a month to lose what I want to lose. So I've got to keep on keepin' on! I know I am really jumping ahead of myself here. But this is how my brain works. I am already worrying about "am I going to be able to keep this up for the next 2 months?" or however long.... I should just focus on today right? As I have mentioned before I am a worry wart.

Anyone else have this issue? Have you failed the task in your head before you even actually try? Thanks for reading my inner crazy ramblings! Feel free to share some of yours with me so I don't feel so crazy! Ha! :)


As usual ending with some motivational quotes!

Body-for-Life

Has anyone heard of Body-for-Life? Me neither. Until recently! You can check out the website here.
A lady my Mom & I know has been doing this program to lose weight. She has lost 100+ pounds! She looks amazing. From what I can tell just from the website you eat 6 small meals a day and work out 6 days a week. It gives you examples of a meal plan for a day, a grocery list, a list of the food you can eat and work out plans on the website.There is also a book which we plan on buying, it has a lot of healthy recipes.

Last spring I did a eating plan very similar to this. I ate 5 meals a day. Only 50 grams of sugar and 1500 grams a sodium a day. A lot of lean meat, veggies, good carbs, protein shakes/bars. Also worked out with a trainer twice a week and about once or twice more on my own. The work outs were hard but fairly easy too. We did a lot of weight training and minimal cardio. Which surprised me. I had always thought I had to do a lot of cardio to lose weight. Not true. Weight training is the way to go. You're replacing fat with muscle, which speeds up your metabolism. Cardio is good too of course. Within a 6 month period I lost 30 pounds. Only doing this strict work out/eating plan within the last 2 months of that 6.

Now I have gained all that weight back. & I am not at all happy about it. I just want to be comfortable in my clothes. That is the biggest thing for me. I don't want my jeans to be too tight to the point that they're uncomfortable. & this is where I am at right now. I thought "oh I need to go buy some new jeans for work because my others don't fit..." NO! I need to lose the freakin weight and wear the billion clothes I have right now! So finally I am feeling motivated to get on track. I really have been struggling with motivation the past few months. I don't want to give up my ice cream, Coca Cola and chocolate. I love that bad stuff. But the thing that really caught my attention with Body-for-Life is you get one whole cheat day. You can have whatever you want! Cake, cookies, a big fat cheeseburger, soda etc. The last eating plan I did with the trainer I couldn't cheat at all. Bout lost my mind people! I don't want to be a friggin Nazi like that again. I want to be able to go out to dinner and enjoy it. & I don't want to look at this as a "diet", I am just choosing to eat healthier.

I have been working on a big list of food/meals we can eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks. It will be easier for me to look at to plan my meals and my grocery shopping list. This is the biggest thing I have learned when trying to eat healthier, you have to plan ahead. Otherwise you end up driving through Wendy's to get a cheeseburger.  Another thing I have learned, working out/eating healthier is WAY easier when you have someone to do it with. Which is why I am glad my Ma is going to do this with me. We can motivate each other, help each other and be accountable to each other. We already work out together so we've got that down, we just have to get the eating part right.

I am excited to do this. I remember how good I felt when I lost that weight. I enjoyed the way I looked. I slept better. Just felt better in general. I want to get back to that. It may take awhile. I know there is no quick fix. But I will keep going. As long as I am going forward that is all that matters.

And now for a little fitness motivation.

I am linking up with Hallie at Life:Oceanside for Curing #NOtivation! Check her post out!

Marriage

I am not an expert on marriage at all. We are only going on a big fat 7 months of being married. But what I have learned so far is that you have to have 2 people willing to work for their marriage. It takes 100% from both sides. Its never 50/50. Marriage is really hard sometimes. But I also believe its one of the most wonderful things I will ever experience in my lifetime. Marriage is a covenant between two souls & God. At least it should be. It's not just a piece of paper.

Its really hit home for me in the past couple of months. There has been some friends of mine, who are younger than me (I'm 24) who are split up from their husbands. These girls aren't my closest friends, but still my friends. I know in today's world its pretty much the normal. My generation treats marriage as its disposable. Its not sacred anymore. It scares me because that could just as easily be me.You don't know what could happen tomorrow, next week or 10 years down the road. All I know to do is work hard for your marriage, try to be the best wife/husband you can every single day. & pray to God everyday to help you be a better version of yourself. Easier said than done I know. Hearing about people I know splitting up makes me take a step back for a second & look at my life & marriage. I hope that I'm a good wife to Andrew. I hope he knows how much I love him. How much I care about him, support him, need him, want him in my life. I try to show him these things every day. & never take him for granted.

Another thing I have learned is go into your marriage believing divorce is not an option. Andrew & I both live with this mentality. When we have a fight we don't even go near the subject of divorce. We might fight & carry on sometimes ,but we know at the end of the day we love each other, we are going to work through this. We are blessed to have his parents & mine still married. This is not the norm today. Growing up we both got to see what a strong steady Christian marriage looks like. Not saying that our parents were perfect, no one is. But we had great examples to follow. Which I feel like gives us even more of a higher standard to live by. We were taught what a marriage is supposed to look like. We have no excuses. (now obviously in some cases divorce may be necessary when there is abuse or other situations like that)

I love my Andrew. He's the best thing to ever happen to me. He may love to aggravate me, push my buttons, leave his clothes everywhere, be a stinky man! But he's mine. Forever & ever. & lets not forget he has to live with me too & my habits.. ( ya know like I'm an OCD freak an can't have anything out of place..) I wouldn't have it any other way.

The first picture we ever took together. I love this boy more than life!

What you can learn from Duck Dynasty

I am not an "outdoorsy" type of girl. Never have been. & even though my husband may try to make me one, it will probably never happen. I don't hunt. Or anything like that. I am down for riding four wheelers in the woods though. That's fun, don't deny it. & if we ever had the chance to shoot hogs from helicopters in Texas I would be down for that too. (its on some crazy tv show on one of the billion hunting channels my hubs watches) I know I sound like a complete redneck right now ,but seriously shooting hogs (that are disgusting, a nuisance, & they stink) with an automatic weapon from a helicopter?! Sounds like a whole lot of fun to me. Don't judge me!.... Back to my point, my husband loves watching Duck Dynasty on A&E.

My husband wishes he could grow a beard like this. Thank God he can't!

I have to admit I'm pretty fond of the show my self. Its pretty hilarious. Especially Uncle Si. He's always got a piece of advice to give. Here's some of the things you can learn from Uncle Si....

1. Slow down America! Naps & sweet tea. That's all you need.

2. Don't drop your weenie! LOL... I mean, he's right, who wants a to eat a hot dog with a side of dirt?

3. Call your ex on the carpet when they give you the ole' "oh its not you, its me..."

4. We've had the term "brain freeze" wrong all along..... its actually a "sneeze"

5. Don't let your man buy "pretty tires".... Next thing you know he'll be metro.

6. If you are married/dating a outdoorsy type of man/redneck (whatever you prefer to call him) buy him a Bass Pro Shop gift card....

7. Men, know how to handle your lady.

8. You gotta have confidence.

9. Don't care what other people think!

10. & again! High five for naps :)

Seriously though if you've never seen the show, watch it! Hilarious.

So basically I'm going to be a size -A cup?

MONDAY. NOBODY LIKES YOU! Especially when I was sleeping like a rock & my alarm goes off. Boo! I'm done whining now I guess.....


So I get these email updates of articles on the Huffington Post. Anyone else read those? Last week I got one that read "9 Things Nobody Ever Tells You About Post-Pregnancy Bodies". I knew when I saw the title I shouldn't read it. Because I am already terrified of having a child. Like the actual birthing. I don't do pain. Or needles. Or blood. I'm a wuss I know. Also, getting fat, stretch marks, back pain (that I already have enough of), hormones (yeh def got enough of those too), not sleeping comfortably (don't mess with my sleep!) etc etc etc. Obviously I am just not at the point that I am ready to over look all that nonsense to have a child. So anyways I read this article. Which after I sent this text to my husband.

Gotta love my hubs! But for real though. Ashli's getting some new boobs. I have no boobs as it is now.

To sum the article up, if you don't want to read it, it says:

-Your bladder may fail
-You'll lose your hair
-You'll sweat more
-Your vagina will be bigger (and maybe a little gassy)......... Seriously?!!
-You'll lose a cup size
-Your breasts could leak for a long time
-You'll see spots on your face
-Your feet will be bigger
-Your overall shape will change (nah really?!)


None of these things are comforting at all. I am so not ready to be prego yet.

Did you experience any of these things when you were prego/after having the baby?

Pinterest Exercises

Anyone else tried some of the exercises off Pinterest? You know the ones you pin & it takes you forever to get around to actually doing them? (or you just don't do them.....) Well my Ma & I actually did some of these work outs at the gym last night! Can you say HARD?! I wanted to find us some new exercises to do instead of doing the same ole same ole. Your body gets used to the same thing after awhile so I was trying to mix it up a little bit! I could definitely feel the burn!

We did the Squat, Bridge & Donkey Kick off of this one. You can really feel the Donkey Kick working your booty! I'm not sure about that Pistol Squat... I don't think I have the balance for that lol.

I don't know what this one is called but it HURTS!! Like a lot! We were laughing at each other trying to do this. Which made it even harder. But I can def feel some soreness in my abs from this. I will def be doing this again. It has to be working!

Haven't tried any of these yet, except the All Four Kickback, same thing as the Donkey Kick.

Gonna try this one out too.

Our gym is closed for construction until next week so we are going to the park tonight to do some running/walking. Hopefully the humidity doesn't kill us.
In FL, lots of rain, the freakin heat & mosquito's = yummy.

What are your fave exercises?