New Home

New posts can be found at melissamjones@wordpress.com

Updating Soon

My once a year attempt to update this is coming soon...I just have to find my file with all the pics that are no longer showing correctly! Stay tuned...

Daylight Savings ruined my day!

How on earth did I not know or realize that this weekend was Daylight Savings?! I woke up at 7:15am and thought NO WAY am I getting up at seven...on a Sunday! Had I known it was actually eight that would have been a different story as THAT is a more reasonable time, I had plans today, and lots to do and it was all ruined by forcing myself to go back to sleep and not waking up until 3 hours after that!

If I had no cell phone or computer with the auto update option I would STILL think it was 3 o'clock when it was really 4, thank you technology for making me aware of daylight savings time, I knew you were a true friend.

That said, I LOVE when the days are longer and it gets darker later in the Spring and Summer, bring on the sun, I am ready for it!

Hence the Reason I DO NOT Keep Bread in My House

I just ate THREE English Muffins for dinner...all because it is too "hard" to grill up some chicken. Yes lazy :/


Gym tomorrow FOR SURE...I swear!

Extra Crafty

Okay so I have been extra crafty the last two weekends and FINALLY finished a bag I have been meaning to make for almost a year...or over a year. I also made a couple camera strap covers from left over material. I could make the pics better if I knew how to use my camera but that is still a work in progress ;)

Reversible Camera Strap both sides:





And the main event! An Amy Butler Birdie Sling bag:

My Spring/Summer Goal

Okay, my Spring/Summer goal is to NOT let it be a year before I update this blog. So I WILL find something to post about before August...

Crafty

So for work every year we have a United Way campaign that lasts all week. The big event for the week are the auctions. A live one and a silent one. My team decided that we were going to donate a basket to be auctioned off. So we decided on a baby themed basket (those are always BIG sellers.) It's called It's Definitely a Girl so we all made/bought things for a baby girl. I am so impressed with my crafting abilities that I just had to blog about them to show them off:)

The first thing I made was a decorative travel wipes case. It was SO easy to make and turned out really cute (so cute that I am making another one for a lady at work:)

I also made some reversible headbands that turned out super cute!

I am thinking about going into business:)

California!

So the two of you who read this mentioned that my last post was awhile ago so I guess I'll update it with my trip to CA. I have a really awesome PTO accrual at my work so when I realized that at the end of the year I would have over the 160 hours that we can carry into the next year I decided to take another week off...even though I had just taken one off in April. So I went to CA. It was a lightly planned trip with ideas of what I wanted to do so it was just a nice chill vacation.

I drove there so I could bring Otto and Hampton (Jill's dog) so they could be reunited with their long lost brother's, Mom and Uncle. So while I was there my Mom's house had 5-6 Miniature Schnauzer's running around. They had a blast.

On the Sunday after I got there we drove my Grandma Jones to Monterrey to stay with my Aunt and stayed the night. So we went out to dinner that night and then lunch the next day. We went down to Cannery Row and the Aquarium...Monterrey has THE BEST aquarium ever!

After Monterrey we hung out at home for the day then headed down to L.A. to go to the Getty and do some other things. The Getty was fun! And way more interesting then I thought. And since I am a speed museum observer we were able to see everything in one day even though the guy at the front said it couldn't be done:)

After the Getty my Dad and Aaron went home and me and my Mom went to Marina Del Rey and got a hotel for the night. I had my first PinkBerry yogurt and it was delicious...all the hype was real. We also went to El Cholos for dinner...they have the yummiest salsa. The next day we drove down the coast to Long Beach. It was a gorgeous drive and then in Long Beach we went on a short little boat tour that was cool. It was just nice to be at the beach.

The trip was a blast and of course too short:) But it also threw me WAY off my food/workout plan and I am still suffereing trying to get back into cardio. So needless to say I am not planning any vacations in the near future...I sometimes even contemplate whether or not I should go home at Christmas...which is crazy! Of course I am going home at Christmas:)

Coming up on my next post...my recent crafty endeavors, you will be impressed!

Accomplishments

So for a couple months I had a seperate blog that charted my progress to becoming healthier and losing weight but decided that since that is such a huge part of my life at this point it should just be recorded on my regular blog. So this is a long post all bout me but in reality that is what my blog is for...for me to write all about me:)

I have had a personal trainer for awhile now and at this point in my life this is the best investment I could have made. I say investment because I am constantly broke between paying for the personal training and because unfortunately eating healthier and eating at home instead of eating out is more expensive for a single person. But it is worth every penny! I would rather live in my car at this point than not have a personal trainer. She has provided more support than any of my friends or family ever could...not that my friend's and family don't support me because they definitely do also just in a different way.

Anyway there has been a lot of progress since I started and I have not onced gained even a pound since I started. I have been consistently losing...through holidays, vacations etc. In the beginning the progress was slower to start it was a HUGE adjustment to change my eating but now it is usually really easy to eat healthy. Aside from being a great personal trainer my trainer, Mackenzie, is also a very creative cook. Every recipe she has given me is awesome tasting and healthy too and most of them she changed herself to be that way.

Doing cardio was also difficult in the beginning but now that my body and heart are stronger I am actually to the point where I enjoy exercise...and anybody who knows me knows that I never thought that would happen! At this point healthy eating (and it's not dieting, it is just eating like I should and I will always eat this way) and exercise take priority in my life.

I have a great support group from friend's, family and especially people at work (which I think is often the HARDEST place to find support.) I know I am progressing but it is awesome when people at work or even at the gym comment on how great I am doing, it really helps with motivation.

I don't write in a journal so this is where I have decided to record my accomplishments. As of last week I have lost a total of 35 pounds (and will lose 15 additional pounds at least by the end of Summer.) My body fat percentage has decreased 10%. My waist has lost 10 inches! And those are just the most amazing measurements to me. I have lost several inches all over, my arms, my hips, my neck even. I am starting to see and feel muscle definition in my abs, my biceps(which I am in love with right now:) etc. I just need to lose more body fat so I can start showing off these new muscles:)

This is how I imagine my bicep under the flab, it feels that awesome:)

Other accomplishments have been my cardio activity at the gym. I have built up a decent endurance to my cardio workouts now I just need to catch my joints up to my heart, my knees usually stop before my heart does. I still jog at least 5 sometimes 6 miles 5-6 days a week. I once dreaded taking a Cycle class but now go to one every week after having already worked out for 1.5 hours that day, and not only survive it but really push myself and I still don't die!

Anyway I guess the whole point of this post is really to share and document how proud of myself I am. It is really HARD work and I love it at this point, so as hard as it is, it is also a lot of fun.

The Past:)

This is going to be a LONG post since it is updating over 2 months:) Okay so since Seattle I HAVE had a life it just hasn't been blogged about. About 2 weeks after we got back from Seattle I went to CA for a week for Jill's fabulous 30th birthday celebration. We went to Disneyland and just hung out in good ol' Agoura Hills. Disneyland with Jill's whole family was a blast and the weather was wonderfule and a welcome change from Utah's weather, which even two and a half months later is still struggling to decide what season it wants to be. Here are some pics:

This was the plane ride to CA. My friend Gina is not a flyer but this pic was definitely fake:) The castle at night so pretty! We watched the fireworks the first night and it was so cool! Tinkerbell even flew across the castle!

We waited in line for Bert and Mary Poppins.

After two days at Disneyland and over 7500 calories burned and close to 50,000 steps(information courtesy of my Bodybugg) in those one and a half days at Disneyland we went back to Agoura for more birthday celebration. Jill's Mom "surprised" her with a barbie cake that was so yummy!

Then we went to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica and dinner at El Cholo's. El Cholo's was yummy! And I loved their salsa. I can't wait to go back. I did not take pics of my dinner so there is no evidence of the yumminess but trust me:) Other than those things we just hung out at Jill's parents house with her family, which was good...I missed them!

Going back to work and Utah was hard after so much fun but I did it and got back into my workout and eating right routine, which I am sure Mackenzie, my trainer, was so happy about.

After Disneyland were the Supercross races at the University of Utah stadium. My Uncle called and said he wanted to come up and go so Me, Jill and Julie went along with my brother Bryan, Ryanne and one of her friends. Initially I was not totally excited to go but the second I got there I realized how much fun it is, freezing, but fun!:)

A few weeks later I went up to Flaming Gorge with some friends for my friend Tawny's birthday. This was the first year I had gone and it was totally fun! We went on a Dam tour, had a Dam burger, ate some Dam fries and so on:

Feeding the Dam fish, the Green River and me and Jill at the Lake.

Okay so I am updated for now, until I go to CA again the end of July, I can't wait:)