Let's Chat About Life Lately

OK, I know. Is the large pink martini listed above a bit cheesy? Probably. But if you know me, I am all about big, pink and black graphics, sparkles, and everything in between,. Would you expect anything different? Hehe.

It has been a while since I have just written a post on little random life updates. It's Friday so I am linking up with these girls and just writing.Today I present to you, a big dose of completely random. It has been such a flipping busy week. Even one of my co-workers yesterday made the remark, "Liz you look so frazzled today, is everything okay?". I had the frizzy, crazy, curly, witchy hair going on. I have a busy weekend coming up and I can't wait to write all about it next week. It's top secret for now. Also, I am off of work Monday. My boss is letting us work "summer hours" throughout the end of August, if we want. So, I will have a 3-day weekend, but work 4 10-hour days. I am not sure how I will like working such long hours, but it's worth a shot because I wanted Monday off and I do not have to use vacation time. 

I officially have a real domain! Unfortunately I could not use FitnessBlondie.com. Someone has registered that domain and plans to "eventually" to use it. To my dismay, I contacted her a few times trying to purchase it from her since I have worked so hard over the past year to build my "brand", and had no luck. That happens I guess, so please remember "TheFitnessBlondie". Please also remember that my email address as well -- thefitnessblondie@gmail.com. She has also registered the Gmail account, and I know that a few times you guys have accidentally emailed her thinking it was me. If you have and did not receive a response, or DID receive a response, please know that is not me. Ugh, it overall sucks, but nothing more I can do.

I am still trucking along on my weight loss journey. I have 30 more pounds to go until at I am at my goal of 160. I actually may be OK with 165 since I am adding so much muscle. You may think 165 sounds a bit high for a woman who is 5'4, but I am a very muscular person - I am a not a beautiful, dainty, frail woman. Though in the past I always wanted to be. As we all well know, muscle weighs more than fat, so on the scale I will appear bigger. However, in person, it is not like that. I will admit, it is a little disheartening to see the scale moving very slowly. I was accustom to the 3-5 pounds week, but the more weight you lose and the more fat you burn, the slower the scale moves. Also, we know that measurements are what really tell us what is going on in our body, and those are still changing, so that is what matters. I feel stronger than ever and my workouts are becoming more and more intense. It feels incredible to be in such a conditioned state. Nutrition wise, I am going to make the confession that I need to adhere to my diet a little more. I have been having more slip ups than normal. It is has been nothing big, but when the weather gets as hot as it is, I crave ice-cream and smoothies a lot. I think once I am more strict with my diet and on my regimen at 100% I will see a good difference with the scale. Other than that, I am moving right along. 

You guys have heard me preach about Quest Bars since day one. I love Quest Bars and I love Quest Nutrition as a company. For months and months I have been talking about how I eat one everyday, how delicious they are, and that they are a staple with my weight loss and diet. Because I am so passionate about them, I thought I would go ahead and become an affiliate. If you eat Quest Bars-- or any of their products for that matter, or are curious to try them out, please use my link if you don't mind. I include a link on every blog post and to the right on my gadgets. However, I will not become annoying and talk about it a lot, but I did just want to throw that out there. 

The winners for my Dave Ramsey giveaway will be announced on the Hump Day Blog Hop next week! I am also hosting a linkup next Thursday which I wrote in depth about yesterday. I would love for you guys to share your story with me about how you live fearlessly. Maybe it's a story about being with the love of your life, even though no one supported it, or a career, the way you look, anything. Even if you do not have a blog, you can still participate. Check out the details here. 

I received a few emails this week about my blog. I know I get sappy here sometimes, but because I am so open, I feel deeply connected with a lot of you - we have made such awesome friendships. Therefore I always want you to know how appreciative I am. You guys are SO supportive. I am constantly floored by everyone, in the best way. The world can be so hurtful and dark at times, and to know there are such good people out there - especially women, truly means so much. It is such a "dog-eat-dog" world sometimes, so to know there are real genuine people still existing, is beyond comforting. It has been hard starting over as I wrote about earlier this week. So to receive an email like the one below fills my heart with that bit of hope and motivation I need to keep going.

I have had two very cool features lately! One was sharing my weight loss story with The Huffington Post and I am also a blogger for them now as well. That is exciting as very cool. Then there was an interview with EverydayHealth.com. I really enjoyed that interview because they asked a lot of in depth questions and it was not simply me writing my story.  You can check both of them out below!