#HappyPrimeDay & Updates

Hey! Happy Hump Day to you or #HappyPrimeDay! 
Are you celebrating?

Prime Day is an event going on TODAY on Amazon.com for Prime members. There are deals going on all day, some only for a few hours (Lightning deals) and other coupons that can be used throughout the day.

With Amazon boxes stacked at my door on the weekly, you know I've been checking out these deals since 7 am!  I've been keeping my eye out but have missed some great deals :(

I found a pair of Mizuno running shoes for $35.00! That's a steal but too good to be true since they have all been claimed for my size. I'm #79 on some sort of "waitlist" and at least they are being honest when they tell me my chance of getting that deal is "poor". LOL 

I've seen deals on practically everything. Toys, shoes, clothes, vitamins, tools, electronics, TVs, jewelry, baby bottles, dog treats, kitchen appliances...you name it! The ones I've wanted have been 100% claimed so far. 
It's one of those things that you don't know you need it until you see it on sale...then YOU GOTTA HAVE IT! Hopefully I get lucky with at least 1 purchase.

Anyways, on to other things!

Monday night I went out with some ladies that I sit next to during PTA meetings. Ladies who have become good friends! Every time we're together it's been a blast! 
Isn't it funny how you meet someone in one environment, but then again in a different environment? I guess you don't really know someone until you go out to dinner and a mask comes out of their purse! 

Also, this past Monday was the first "Meatless Monday" for Al2getherFIT! I announced on my Instagram that I will now be featuring a meatless recipe every Monday! Exciting stuff so make sure you're following @Al2getherFIT on Instagram! 

Yesterday I went to the gym after dropping off Sophia at camp. It was my first time going to the gym early, as I usually go with Angelo after work around 6pm. On Thursdays I go to a class called Body Attack. It's a 30 min class followed by a 30 min CXworks class that's basically all abs/core stuff. Well, in the mornings Body Attack is an hour long. I almost died but loved every minute! 

After sweating to death, and taking a shower, Jamie at Images Salon cut off my hair. Short hair, don't care. I figured it was my last cut of the summer, so might as well get it shorter than usual. Just trying to beat this awful summer heat! Awful, only when I'm at work. Good when I'm by the pool. :) Right?!

We are getting family pictures done tonight on our property so I'll hopefully get some sneak peaks for you and the new (hair)do! I would post a selfie, but selfies are linked to mental disorders and I'm just not a fan. LOL #SorryNotSorry ?

All caught up on life? I think so! :)

Have a great day loves! #HappyPrimeDay!

XOXO

Are you shopping Prime Day at Amazon? 

Life Updates

Hey!!

What's Been Going On?

I am only making excuses for the blog post cutbacks the past couple weeks, but I find it hard to find stuff to write about after writing about vacation for an entire week

The notes app in my phone is FILLED with half finished blog posts. I just need a bucket of coffee and some alone time to get some finished and published for your pleasure. 

I'm still here...promise! I have committed myself to cooking more the next two weeks, because another week of vacation is on the horizon. More like a STAY-CATION, but still a vacation none-the-less.

So here are some updates on life. 

Our weekend looked like this:

Friday night was a rainy night. Angelo had a soccer game and we stayed home and made delicious Strawberry PoppySeed salad. Penelope couldn't keep her hands off the pecans! My kind of gal. 

Saturday we went to Busch Gardens, where we talked to the King of the jungle for a little while. We went early in the morning, when the animals are hungry, and it was fun watching them chase the birds. 

Penelope's elbow got dislocated and a quick (and expensive) trip to the ER happened on Sunday. All is well, and we spent the rest of Sunday feasting at my brother's house. 

Other things going on:

1. The Tampa Bay Lightning LOST the Stanley Cup. I went back and forth with the excitement during these Championship game. I'm not a true hockey fan over here, just rooting for the home team. I don't understand why the Stanley Cup and NBA Finals are going on at the same time. It's never ending sports at the house right now and I'm tired of Angelo complaining about not getting enough sleep. :)

2. I am signing up for my first Sprint Triathlon! I am beyond excited and kind of nervous for this but it's been on my bucket-list for a long time! Now all I need to do it work on my swimming skills because I don't think the doggy paddle will get me very far.

3. Sophia started summer camp yesterday and summer doesn't feel like summer anymore. She's only going for a couple weeks, but it's definitely a whole different ball game when she's at camp. 

4. A little boy left his Calvin & Hobbes stuffed animal and the TPA staff took great care of it until returned. 

5. Janet Jackson is coming to Tampa!  and many other cities to promote her 1st album in seven years!! 

What are some things going on in your life right now?

XOXO

Current Situations: Portable Closets

Happy Hump Day!! 
I hope your week has been busy and productive OR relaxing and rejuvenating. Either way, hope it's been good! It's almost done and the weekend is in sight! YAY weekends!

Yesterday morning I had a school PTF meeting which ran until 11:00 a.m, then I met Alisha for lunch at our favorite local place, Dellas. 

Lunch with best friends is always fun because there seems to ALWAYS be something to chat about! If Alisha and I don't see each other for a week or so, we can sit there and talk for hours about our lives just in that past week, even though we text daily. Isn't that something? Women be talking...

Afterwards it was time to get Sophia, come home, and put up my new "closet"! 

Since we are living with my parents at the moment, we are basically living in 2 bedrooms. One bedroom has our beds, and the other is a big closet/living room/man cave. We have a lot of stuff packed into this "all-inclusive" bedroom and it has been functional to the minimum. Gymnastic moves and hurdles were needed just to get dressed every morning. 

With two bedrooms, that means two closets. The girl's clothes are taking up one and Angelo's clothes are taking up the other. That leaves my clothes with no where to live... The solution to this problem has been portable clothing racks. I bought one at Target for $20 and the other day I noticed it leaning heavy towards one side. If a bookshelf (the room is also a library) wasn't there to hold it up, I'm positive it would have already been on the ground. When I tried to fix it, the plastic piece on one side completely snapped apart, alas, sending all my clothes tumbling to the ground. Let me also tell you that this happened LAST WEDNESDAY. So for the past week, all my clothes have been on the floor. 

This is the rickety rack my clothes was slowly destroying. 

Target

Finally on Saturday, I was able to get to Target to buy a new closet. This time I splurged and bought the $60 one with side shelving! Much cooler and so much more exciting than the last. It's stupid how excited I was about this closet system. Well, obviously not THAT excited if it took me another 3 days to set it up. (Never enough time in these days, I tell ya!) I was patiently waiting for Angelo to do it, but that never happened... :)

So I am happy to show off my newest pride and joy... this closet system. If you live in a studio apartment, you may be familiar with these.

Target

I should have taken pictures of it in the room to show you the masterpiece! I did on Snapchat, but that's no good for this blog post. Use your imagination and hopefully I'll get some pictures of our living situation on here to show you what we're working with.

This leaves me to tell you the current situation with our new home build. The property we purchased to build a home is in a small "equestrian" neighborhood, therefore, we have a HOA. The HOA denied our house plans on Friday. Something about the garage being a certain way and blah blah. Give me a break...
Our builder, Kevin, is drawing up some options for us...and that's the latest in the "Building a New Home" saga.

XOXO

The weekend before Christmas

Hey world!! I know it's been a few days since my last post but things are serious over here! Like seriously  busy! 

I know it's probably like this for everyone (tis the season), but I have barely sat down at my computer since Thursday, and when I did yesterday for 2 hours, I tried with all my might to get some work done without going crazy over the 2 kids jumping on me asking for stuff every 7 seconds. Nearly impossible! But that's life and yeah...it just keeps going. 

Anyways, 
This past weekend was actually productive for me. Well Friday was. I dropped Sophia off at school and headed straight to the mall to get my Christmas shopping done. With almost no one there and a front row parking space, I got everyone finished except two people, who I'm going to finish today! Say a little prayer that actually happens.

Saturday was full of loads of laundry (the never ending job) and then FUN! We had a Parent's Night Out and went to dinner for Luisa's birthday. We went to Tryst Gastro Lounge in St. Petersburg. It was a real neat place and the food was outstanding! 

Since Luisa is CakePopsByLu and usually does all the cakepops for everyone's birthday, I knew I had to get her a special cake. Do you know where you go to get SPECIAL CAKES? Sweeties Delights Bakery in Valrico. No lie...the bomb.com and then some. No one beats their WippyDip frosting. Don't even try because you will fail miserably :) 

Awwwww... :) 

Sunday, we went to a wedding, which had amazing food from Italian Kitchen! It was a cute intimate wedding, like 25 people, but was special none-the-less. I didn't get any pictures because Nelpe destroyed my phone screen on Saturday and I left my phone in my purse to ensure no glass splinters. I was trying to use my husband's phone to take pictures, but he was being so sneaky and wouldn't let me near his phone. After a couple hours, he goes outside and comes back with a new iPhone 6Plus for me!! SURPRISE! New Phone!! And it's BIIIGGG! I love it, even though it is taking some getting used to with that big ol' screen. My thumb is getting some serious stretch work in while I text. 

Yesterday was Luisa's actual birthday and I took the office some lunch and we had cake, sang, sat and talked and didn't get any work done  had some fun until it was time to head home and try to actually get work done. That was a FAIL, but I did get my desk somewhat organized, so I guess not an entire FAIL. I'll take what I can get...

This morning I am about to wake the girls up, get them pretty, and head over to the mall to get Santa pics. Last minute, I know, but Sophia's been in school and going to see Santa after school just never sounded like a good idea. 

If I don't get back to you before Christmas, I hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Spend time with the ones you love, or some really cool friends!!!

XOXO

Halloween Candy is ruining me

Hey guys! Happy Hump Day!

It's officially the middle of the week and only 2 days away from Halloween, which means this Saturday is officially November! The holidays are about to be in full swing! Are you ready?! No? Me neither…

This is the time of year that usually means eating like complete crap, and I'll have to admit that I've been eating WAY too much candy/sugar these past few weeks. With Halloween candy exploding out of the grocery store aisles, I've been buying bags of my favorite Halloween candy: M&Ms, Reese's, and KitKats. 

Why?

1. Because it’s Halloween and I feel like it’s a must…even though I have no intention of actually using this candy for the purpose of Halloween. The candy is actually already all gone, sorry trick-or -treaters.

2. Because they’re on sale. But are they really? Why are bags of candy so dang expensive?!

3. Because the Reese’s are shaped like pumpkins. And pumpkin everything!!!

Since this candy has all come and gone in my life, I've been feeling a lot more sluggish and my running game has been less than mediocre. I've been VERY unmotivated to get any type of workouts in. The only reason I’m even still running is because the hubs still wants to go running so I've just been kind of tagging along.  

Candy…You’re really messing up my life!

I've decided that starting November 1^st, I’m going to go on a sugar detox for a week. And only a week because Nelp’s 1^st birthday is on November 8^th and I will be eating candy corns (it’s a must). A week doesn't seem like much, but trust me...it is. Especially during this time of year. ;)

Have you been indulging a little too much with Halloween candy? What is your favorite kind of candy? Are you feeling like it’s currently ruining your life? LOL 

Tonight, we’re finally going to carve some pumpkins!!! We've painted some and stuck stickers on some, but always have to have a carved one in the bunch!

Have a great Wednesday night!

XOXO  

Stuck like Chuck in the Mud

You guyyys! This weather is absolutely beautiful! I wish it was like this all.the.time. It’s perfect. Not too hot, not cold, and you can still get a nice suntan because the sun is shining!  I was standing outside for about 45 minutes this morning and got some nice color on my face. (SCORE!) No clouds. Wow, just perfect. Ok...enough about the weather, we might scare it away.

This morning was one.of.those.mornings. All I could do was laugh and enjoy the scenery while the hubs, Nelpe, and I were stuck, in mud, in the middle of nowhere, in my car. Yes that happened.

We were out at a piece of property. The hubs wanted to get a closer/deeper look at it so we started walking. The grass was almost knee high and wet. 50 feet in my pants were soaked. I suggested just driving the car onto the property. He agreed. He did. 

So we hopped in the car and started driving onto the property. Well then we came to a drop off where the land goes downhill. Not a big hill (its Florida…) so not thinking anything of it, we drove our happy selfs down that hill. Seconds later, we still heard the engine revving, but the trees weren't moving past us anymore. Stuck like Chuck. Tires spinning but going nowhere. 

Plan A  - trying to somehow drive out of the mud hole with the “snow” option turned on in the car---what the heck is that supposed to do anyways? I didn't see any chains miraculously start growing around my tires. FAIL

Plan B – call Dad! 30 minutes later he shows up with his truck, some rope, and some pieces of wood. They stuck the wood under the tires in hopes to create something for them to hold on to for dear life and climb out of the mud hole. FAIL

Plan C – Use my dad’s truck to give my car a little tug out of the mud hole. My dad gets in his truck to move it a little close to hook on the strap to pull with. Tires start spinning. His truck got stuck too!!! FAIL

Plan D – Call a friend with the biggest truck we know. Our friend Mitch shows up and starts laughing, asking us why the heck we're all the way down the hill in the first place. Then, like nothing, his big ol' truck pulls my dad’s truck out of the mud to the promise lands of dry grass. Then after 4 incidents of the rope snapping apart, my car finally made it to dryer/safer ground.

And on we went with the rest of our day! :) Thanks Mitch!!

I got it all on video! Funny stuff

Hope you're having a wonderful Thursday! 

XOXO

How many Best Friends is too many?

Three things go without saying but I'll go ahead and say them:

1. Posts on this blog are inspired by my everyday life. It may be an experience, conversation, something I overheard, saw, or read.

2. All opinions or statements on this blog are my own. You obviously don’t have to agree with them and it’s OK if you don’t.

3. The content of this blog will be a mumble jumble of everything. Life: marriage, kids, fitness, recipes, funny, serious, sad, you name it. That's what life is...a mumble jumble! 

With that being said, on with the post: 

I saw this quote the other day.

“To be a friend to many people in the way of the perfect friendship
is not possible,” wrote the great Greek philosopher, Aristotle.

Do you agree?

There are many people on my Facebook that seem to throw around that "best friend" title REAL loosely. Every time they post a picture with a different person and caption it with “blah blah blah with my BEST FRIEND!” I think to myself, “how many best friends do you have?! That must be exhausting!” 

Now I know everyone is different and hey, it's a free country (kind of) so go ahead and have as many best friends as you want. But think about the quality of those friendships over quantity. (That applies with so many things in life.)

Having too many best friends isn't possible. How can you possibly be a "true" best friend to so many people?  The more people, the less room; everyone gets a little piece instead of big slices. The more the merrier does not apply. Am I right or nah?

Maybe you have different kinds of friends and you are mistakenly calling them your "best friend".

You have a shopping buddy, work out buddy, drinking buddy. But those are buddies…people who simply enjoy spending their time doing the same things. IE, Book clubs, mom play dates. If you didn't have the same hobby or interest, you probably wouldn't even talk.

Then you have your work or school friends who are simply coworkers and classmates. You’re kind of forced to get along because life would be miserable if you didn't. It may not feel forced, but in a way, it is. When that class ends or you get a new job, how long until your "friendship" slips away?

Those aren't best friends…

A best friend to me is a person who you have a LIFELONG relationship with. You value each other’s opinion and each other’s beliefs. You may not work together, go to school together, party together, or even have the same hobbies, but somehow, have stayed the best of friends. You talk or text every day, and a couple days without talking feels like a lifetime! You know, NO MATTER WHAT, they'll always be there for you. You don't fight and if you do it doesn't last more than a couple hours. That's a best friend. 

If you don't' already have that best friend, I'm afraid it may be too late. (I kid...) But, as we grow older, I believe the ability to form such a bond becomes way more difficult. You don't have the patience, time, or energy to plant those "best friend" seeds and that strong root system isn't formed. I'm not saying your best friend is necessarily the person you've known the longest. Its the person who you've planted those seeds and they have never been torn up. 

All in all, I believe there are best friends, friends, and acquaintances, and some people may move up between friends and acquaintances. A best friend shouldn't be one to move.

Point of this post? #NoNewFriends! Totally kidding...

I believe you can have many best friends, and having best friends makes you wealthy in life! The "how many is too many" question can't really be answered. It's different for everyone, but everyone has their limit. 

Questions to ponder:

How many best friends do you have?
Are you your best friend's best friend?
What do you think a best friend is?
How many is too many?

XOXO 

Birthdays & Old Friends

First off, I need to go ahead and shout it out to the world that my niece, Kennedy, is ONE YEARS OLD!!  It’s truly crazy how time flies, but then again life without them seems SO FAR in the past. Kennedy is such a blessing to our entire family!  Sophia & Nelpe (along with us all) love her dearly, and it’s going to be so much fun watching the cousins all growing up together! 

Side note: People often ask me, “what if they don’t get along?” What kind of question is that? They are cousins…which means they’ll be in each other’s lives no matter what, so might as well love each other! 

(The besties!)

So, how is your week going?! We’re in the middle of it, so hopefully it’s either been great from the beginning or starting to get great!

So far, Mine has been filled with catching up with an old friend.

My friend Stacy (grew up with her, known her since middle school) moved to Seattle at the beginning of this year. She finally came back home for a visit this week and we went to dinner Monday night (Sushi!!) and yesterday she came over for some girl time. We just hung out for hours and chatted like old times, except now there’s a crazy baby running around and a toddler full of questions and requests every 5 minutes (Sorry Stac...). I've certainly missed her and our talks about life, so it was really nice to catch up on everything. 

Along with that, my week has been filled with school stuff…

I’m a member of the Parent Board at Sophia’s school (so official right?) and we had our monthly meeting yesterday morning. Since we all love to chat, it almost always goes over the allotted 1.5 hours.  Penelope goes to the school childcare, while I get to make important decisions have fun, eat breakfast, and talk business with other ladies. 

With everything that's been going on, I haven't really been in the kitchen. I have that itch to cook and bake (it's like therapy) so today I'll be making a glorious dinner with some of my Farmer's Market finds! Stay tuned for some yum-ness.

XOXO