A Little Bit of Everything!

Now that I'm back into blogging I've been thinking about where I want this blog to go.  I started it back after my daughter was born as a way to keep friends and family up to date with us since we live far away from both of our families.  I sort of abandoned the blog shortly after Samantha's first birthday as I was pregnant again and just plain exhausted.  I admit I kind of forgot about it, but now I'm back and feeling positive about keeping up with it.  While I see this focusing mainly on the kids, I do think I'd like to talk about other things as well.

For instance - some of my loves.  One such love is nail polish!  I must say I am addicted.  Today while we were at Target so I could get my flu shot I came across Gumdrop polish by Nicole by OPI.  They only had two colors so I let Samantha choose.  She picked Cinna-man of my Dreams.  I'll admit I was not a fan and I asked her over and over again if she was sure about her choice.  She was.  Even after doing all our shopping and going back to the polishes one final time, she definitely wanted this one.  Tonight we got to paint our nails and I have to say, it's the perfect color for toes.  So good job Samantha!  (Ignore the crappy paint job, I was painting and trying to cook dinner at the same time.  Have I ever mentioned that I DON'T COOK?!)  It's advertised as having a "sugar-like" finish and I love it.  I first became aware of textured polishes when my mother-in-law treated me to a pedicure for mother's day back in July.  I was hesitant at first but it looked neat so I decided to try it.  Well, I was immediately hooked.  This is the second textured polish I've bought (honestly I don't remember the first, it was from CVS and it was AWFUL.  I want to say Sally Hansen) and it is amazing.  It was so easy to apply and after two coats has an awesome color.  I definitely plan on trying more of the collection.

Then we painted our fingernails!  First thing to note is that I never, ever, paint my fingers and toes the same color.  Annnnnd, the colors usually have nothing to do with each other.  I just pick what I'm in the mood for the day of painting.  I bought this polish for Samantha from Del Sol a few weeks ago when I was ordering sunglasses.  It's a nice light blue color with little sparkles in it.  I put 3 coats on my nails and it's still very transparent and not at all even.  The glitter is also super rough, rougher than the gumdrop polish that is actually supposed to be textured!  The polish is supposed to change into a dark blue when exposed to UV light.  Unfortunately its been super rainy here so we haven't had a chance to really check it out.  Hopefully we will get some sun tomorrow and can see if it works.  There are a few colors from the adult line at Del Sol that I'd like to try.  However, I'll probably just buy one and see how I like it before I buy them all.  If the adult line is anything like the Disney line, I probably won't buy any more.

Hooping - Hooping is my new addiction.  I joined our local gym in July and have been super motivated to work out and lose this extra weight I have been carrying around.  After I had Samantha I was below my pre-pregnancy weight within a week.  Here I am 10 months after having Zach, and I still have 3 pounds to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Since I joined the gym I've lost about 5 pounds and I hope to continue to lose.  One of the reasons I joined the gym I did was because of all of the things they offered.  There is an olympic sized competition/lap pool as well as a leisure pool with a vortex, lazy river, water slide, and zero entry area with a little water feature for the kids.  It's perfect for a nice family day.  There are also tons of classes available to take at no additional charge.  One of the classes I had been eyeing but not to sure about was a hoop dance class.  Finally 2 weeks ago, I caved and decided to go take the class.  Let me tell you, I am hooked!  The motions are easy and I feel like I could hoop for hours, however, the second class is over and I stop I feel sore all over and can definitely tell that I've gotten a good workout.  So far it is very obvious that I am a beginner.  Last week, I think I spent more time chasing my hoop across the room than I did actually hooping!  I was significantly better this week, though my hoop did get away from me a few times.  I am feeling good about hooping in first and second current though obviously first current is a lot easier for me. Hip hooping is hit or miss though I think I am becoming more consistent with it.  Chest hooping is still a complete fail for me.  I did get it for a few seconds today, so I just need to keep on practicing.  We have also done hand hooping.  I feel like I am pretty good with hand hooping though when we do figure 8's I'm better with hooping forward.  It was super awkward for me going backwards as I can't figure out the path of my 8.  I'll need to keep working with it.  I can tell that I won't get better without practice so I have already purchased two hoops to use at home.  One regular hoop and one lightweight hoop.  Neither of them have come yet (one I actually just ordered tonight) but once they arrive I will be sure to talk about them.  I am 3 classes in to my hooping journey and I'd love to have my progress documented here!

Other hobbies of mine that I'll probably talk about are reading (currently reading Dead Weight by T.R. Ragan) and video games (currently have Super Luigi U in the WiiU, Animal Crossing: New Leaf in the 3DS, and not sure what's in the XBOX).  What else would you guys like to hear about?