Today is turning out to be a beautiful day! A hott one, but beautiful. Last night we had some friends arrive from our hometown to hang to out for the weekend. Jeff and his sweet girlfriend Ashley. I went to high school with Jeff and now he and Joshua are really good friends. In fact Jeff was one of Joshua's groomsmen in our wedding! 

Here's a good one of Jeff and my Mom at our wedding last September.

This is our first time meeting Miss Ashley and we like her already! She fit's right in with us.. Last night over dinner, we all joked and laughed the whole time about funny stories of when your first dating and all things you won't do in front of your new beau, lol. Joshua and I told them that once your married most of that privacy goes out the window! 

Well, we have a busy day ahead of us so this post is going to be short and sweet. Right now Joshua is making breakfast while everyone else gets ready. We're going to do a little garage sale shopping, hit the lake for a few hours, then dinner with a bunch of our friends. Ill make sure to take lots of photos for you all! 

If it's as hott where you are like it is here in sunny South Carolina make sure you all stay hydrated!! Water is definitely going to be my best friend in all this HEAT!!!! Here's to finding your NorthStar.....

Good Eatin' Friday!

Ya'll I'm not even going to pretend that I know how to cook. Like I told you guys earlier in the week, I usually leave that up to my Love Bug. HOWEVER..... I did bake you guys something last night.. (hehehe)

A lot of you ladies are coming off contest prep and feeling pretty hungry so in honor of all your hard work, I say treat yourself's to these this weekend!!!!!

Mrs. Britton's Sugar Cookies!

Makes 56 cookies

3/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups shifted all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat Oven to 350.

1. Cream together shortening and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs, milk and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl shift flour. Add salt and baking soda.

4. Slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture.

5. Spoon a small amount (about a tsp or so) onto cookie sheet and bake for 12 mins. 

1 Cookie = 58 cal, 8 carbs, 3 fat, 1 protein

*based on my own ingredients

OMG! I slept in till almost 10am today! I never do that anymore. Honestly I cant remember the last time I did.... On the weekends sometimes we will lay around  most of the day and take little cat naps but Joshua always wakes up by 5am to eat and an hour or so later I'm right behind him. This morning Joshua got up at his normal time of 4am but a few mins later I remember him saying, "Love, can we please just take this morning off? I am just so tired". So we did! Then at 7am he was off to work and I was still sleeping! I guess I wore myself out yesterday with our new Arnold workout. Joshua has been texting all morning about how sore his biceps are. Mine are tender but not to bad.

So today since we skipped the gym this morning, I'm going to go on a little jog around the neighborhood. I haven't done this since about 4 weeks before my contest and it really helped me tighten things up for my show. Since our cruise is just around the corner I need to get busy tightening this tummy up. My inspiration today for getting my cardio in..... My friend Stacy from www.KarateNurse.com . 

Today on Facebook she had a post on her page that her trainer at Hitch Fit posted about her transformation. Stacy lost 65lbs and competed a week before me this past May. It was her first show as well and she looked amazing!!! Here is a video about her journey to the stage! 

Stacy and I have became great friends through blogging and Facebook! She is so supportive and positive in my weak moments and between Joshua and Stacy I somehow managed to keep my sanity through contest prep ;-) They were both going through the same Hi's and Low's as I was so they knew my pain, lol. 

If your reading my blog and your going through your first contest prep, I would highly recommend finding others going through the same thing you are. Having support though such an emotional journey is so important. You need people to bring you up when your down and keep you motivated everyday! because everyday you will have different emotions running though you. Luckily for me my Husband competed with me so everyday he got an ear full of what I was feeling for the day! 

Another great resource that I came across today on Facebook via Stacy, was a group that you can join and talk, get advice and see what others are saying about competing in bikini, figure and fitness for women. Love this group! It's headed up by WBFF Pro Sharon Polsky and from what I can tell by her group she is also very supportive! So if you are competing or are already involved in competing please join her group. Here is the link Resources for Fitness Competitors. 

Well I'm off to get my daily "to do's" done. I hope you all have very productive day. I'm getting a late start but I'll make it count! Here's to finding your NorthStar.....

I got some new book's...

Well I "borrowed" some books ;-) from the library that is. Yes I go to the library. They have FREE books! lol. I mean really, once you read the book you just spent $15.99 on what else will you do with it? Read it again? Maybe. Give it to a friend? Maybe. Use it for reference? Possibly. Put it on a shelf never to be read again? More than likely. I've learned over the past 4 years that the library is my best bet to not waste my money on books I'm only going to read once (I've wasted enough money on textbooks that are barley used) because I love to read!

Good Idea!

Over the past year most everything I have learned about losing weight and maintaining my weight has came from our own research. We would hear or see something about nutrition, lifting weights, cardio, whatever and want to know more. Naturally the first place we would look is the internet, of course. Like most people, we "Google It". Sometimes you get exactly what your looking for and sometimes all of the information is scattered all over the web on so many different sites you end up having to piece it all together yourself.

If your putting it all together yourself who knows if your getting it right or not, ya know?

With bodybuilding, so many people think they have the answer on how to get you in the best shape of your life! Eat more carbs, no! eat less, no! more CARDIO (boooo), no! less cardio (YAHHH!), lift heavy, no! more reps, less weight.. BAHHHH.. it goes on and on! It's really all trial and error. Everyone has a different body and we all respond to food and exercise differently. When we really want to know what the gospel is on training we look to the old school bodybuilders. Like Arnold. Now, we all know Arnold has some serious personal problems going on right now, and if I was Maria he'd be one broke bitch by the time I got done with him....  However, he gave the bodybuilding world more useful information than we know what to do with! That was my main purpose for going to the library... To find out what he knows! 

Did you know there was such a thing? 

Last night, when Joshua got home, straight to the book he went! LOL 

He read it for awhile and read some very interesting things to me that I didn't know about, but NEEDED to know! Such as why I should be drinking a gallon of water a day. I've been doing this for months now but really didn't know the science behind it. Here goes: 

"......without sufficient water intake you become dehydrated. Your body begins to retain water to protect itself and much of this water is store subcutaneously which smooths out muscular definition dramatically. Retained water becomes contaminated because your kidneys can't filter out contaminants properly when your dehydrated. The liver is then called upon to help the process, these waste products, which interferes with one of it's main functions, breaking down boy fat. So without sufficient water in your body you're likely to end up water logged, bloated and obese- which is disastrous for a bodybuilder working for maximum definition." -Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding

WOWZA! Drink your water Peep's!!!

I also picked up a few other books that I thought looked interesting...

Bodybuilding Anatomy, Yoga Anatomy, Stretching, Ian Smith: EAT (I was just interested to see if he had any useful info for people who want to learn to eat better. We'll see!).

 AND I got some reading for pleasure...

Sullivan's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank
It's really GOOD! I love Southern Fiction and this one is based in Charleston, SC

Do you guys still visit the library or is this a lost Art? I know my girl Tenecia is representing all Bodybuilding Librarians!!! She just did amazing in her latest contest! Go to her Blog to check out how funny and AMAZING she is... 

If you haven't been to your local library since you were in middle school, I highly suggest it..... Here's to finding  your NorthStar!

Just the Girls ;-)

As some of you know I went on a little Girls Getaway with my Momma and Sister. We had a great time. We laughed a lot, ate some yum food, and had some interesting encounters... One of the first things we did when we arrived was eat! I didn't take pics of lunch but for dinner we ate at  Red Brick Pizza. It was so good. We shared this Margherita pizza and Mom and I got a Bluemoon to drink. We needed a beer in a bad way! She has never had Bluemoon before and LOVED it! it's my favorite beer, ever. Try it sometime ;-) But don't forget the orange slice, it makes all the difference to the flavor.

During the day it was hott, so one of the days I taught Sister how to do a french manicure on herself. I've been doing it for a few months now and it's really easy. I learned how from this video on youtube.

 I also had every intention on working out while I was there. See below the workout I took the time to write down and I even added a few last minute exercises to it. However, I never even made it to exercise 1..... We did walk on the beach one morning for about 30 mins or so. I still managed to lose weight though.... (who knows how that happened). I did bring some food from home with me and ate that during the day.

  For drinks at the beach we had Sugar Free Lemonade with Malibu Rum and Low Calorie Strawberry Daiquiri's.

We did a few photo opts before dinner a few nights to ;-)

 Every time we went to dinner it was so good. One night we ate at Reggie J's and man was all the food awesome.

 These fire cracker roll thingy's were so yum!

 Another Bluemoon for SURE!

 For dinner I had these Coconut Shrimp with veggies and twice baked potato.

After dinner we hit the local candy store.

 Pure chocolate heaven.. I was so full from dinner that I really didn't even want anything. Taking a few pics to member it all was enough for Moi.

 I did have a small piece of my Mom's fudge and it was good, not great though. Maybe I was just to full...

 Then for a little shopping...

 On the last night we had a photo shoot on the beach.

 So all in all it was a great time! I was so happy to spend that time with my family but I missed Love Bug and AJ (the dog, lol) alot!

Mom? Are you coming back soon?  Dad's been to the gym 12 times since you left and made me walk all the way to the Marina... Can you believe it!
 

We all decided that Panama City was not for us ;-( The beaches were just so dirty and our condo was yuck to. Hence no photos of all that. So we wont be going back anytime soon. Miami bound maybe? LOL

Hope you all are having fabulous mini Vaca's as well! Here's to finding your NorthStar....

PS: Thanks Mom and Sister!!! Can't wait for our next trip ;-)

Date Night

We had a date night last Saturday. Since I've been so busy being lazy I just haven't gotten around to telling you all about it. 

We made something so delicious!!! It was a "cheat meal" day so of course we had to go with probably the most caloric, fattiest, high carb meal we could think of.... Shrimp and Grits! with garlic cheese biscuits! OH HEAVENS YES IT WAS GOOD!!!!!!

We didn't make these from scratch, don't judge lol...

Of course I'm not the best cook, I usually leave that to Joshua, but I can bake pretty good ;-) However, don't let me fool you, I've messed up boxed brownies before. Joshua said it was a sign that I shouldn't be eating them to begin with, lol. I have to agree with him on  that one. 

yum o.... So creamy and spicy!!!! Just the way we Cajuns like it..

MMMM....

And we washed it down with this goodness... Joshua doesn't like wine like I do, but he loved this. We highly recommend it even though it's dirt cheap, lol. 

Do you think I went back for seconds? YOU KNOW I DID!!

Then I had to make these amazing cookies from How Sweet It Is. I stare at her blog pictures for hours while drooling and telling myself "you can look but don't bake".. Well I finally baked and it was glorious... 

I highly recommend these to of course. When it comes to "treat meals" just keep in mind, "You can have it your way, but don't get crazy".... These meals need to be earned and not taken for granted. That way when you do have your favorite "treat meals" you won't feel as guilty in the morning. 

Happy Tuesday Peep's. Here's to finding your NorthStar....

Have you missed me??

Well even if you haven't I'm missing you guys ;-) Tonight is the last night of my "mini" vacation.  I decided when I got home on Wednesday from Florida that I needed more vacation days, even if it was just at home. So, I've been EXTREMELY lazy ie: no house work, no blogging, no gym (one day doesn't really count), lots of snuggles with my Love Bug, and hours of Gordon Ramsay on netflix.

I NEVER get tired of him yelling at all those fools in the Kitchen! Bloody Hell!
Source

Tonight I somehow managed to talk Joshua into making his homemade biscuits and since he was feeling so gracious he made gravy to!!! Ooo la la, that man knows the way to my heart.

So I'm going to enjoy the rest of my night and first thing after my workout tomorrow i'll update you all on how our trip went, how I managed to do nothing all week (which isn't very hard to do, lol), and how I'm going to make next week very productive. Let's just say i'll be wiping the dust off those Insanity DVD's I've been staring at for months, lol.

YUM!!! I love these biscuits. So light, fluffy yet with a bit of crisp to them. How he does it,  I have no clue. 

So Southern, Uh bless him....

Straight to my tummy it went. and then some..... I couldn't help it but I NEEDED a  second helping! 

Here's to finding your NorthStar....