Pressure

I am a complete blog-a-holic.  First thing I do in the mornings is check up on all my bloggie friends lives.  It is amazing how much you can come to "know" a person this way.  I would say that I have been a blog-a-holic for about two years now. Give or take a few months.  This has created some ups and downs in my life.

Ups:
So much information out there!
Tons of great recipes
Friendships
Motivation
The list really could go on and on...

Downs:
Probably too much time spent on the computer
Pressure to be like the others

I know the second "down" may seem a little stupid, but bare with me! I read mostly "foodie" and "fitness" blogs.  While I totally admire them for what they are doing, it also makes me put a TON of pressure on myself to be like them.  The really bad part comes when I fail at being just like them.  (Half-Marathon anyone?)! I want to be healthy and fit just like them and when I try, I usually wind up injuring myself or just taking on too much at one time. Taking on too much puts so much pressure on me.  It also makes me give up reeeeally quick. When this happens, I feel like a total failure.

I was sitting there at work today thinking about the pressures that can come from blogging and reading blogs.  You know what? I am done with making so many plans! I also have to realize that no matter what, I will never be that super, incredibly fit soccer player anymore.  (Man, I miss those abs!) Things change... our bodies change as we get older and I need to just learn to love what I have.

Now, this doesn't mean that I can just stop working out and start eating junk food.  No way.  What I really want to accomplish here is learning to do active stuff that I love.  If it's just a walk one day, so be it.  If I feel like running, I will.  If I decide to swim, I will put on a bathing suit and do it.  I am tired of putting so much pressure on myself and failing all the time.  That is such a blow to my self esteem.

Here's to spontaneity and learning to enjoy being healthy again!

Just curious...does this happen to anyone else? What does everyone else like to do for exercise? Please comment!  

Backyard Crashers!

(**Note: for some reason, my pictures were getting cut off so I had to shrink them. Make sure to click on the pictures to enlarge and get the full effect!**)

This weekend was pretty awesome! A lot got accomplished outside Saturday and Sunday! Andrew's parents headed down early Saturday morning to begin helping us with our "Backyard Make-over".  I am going to write this in two separate sections...one, because I can and two, because it will just be easier that way.

Backyard Before:

Front Bed Before:

I am just assuming that this is all typical stuff that you would find in new houses.  I think this stuff is just cheap and hardy.  Well, I know for sure those spiky things low down front are hardy.  Those are the things I hated the most and they NEVER WENT AWAY. Woe is me.

Earlier last week I ordered 3 yards of Garden Mix to be delivered to the house Saturday morning. 

Holy Batman! That's a whole lot of dirt!

Once the dirt was spread along the fence in the backyard, the next step was picking out rock.  We couldn't be more lucky to have both a Houston Garden Center and Wayne's Landscaping just around the corner.  Off to Wayne's we went. We picked out this rock....

It is Moss Rock.  Moss grows on it....I figured that out all by myself. Seriously.

Anyway.

This rock was on some kinda major special.  I believe it was 25 cents a pound originally but we got it for 10 cents a pound. **Fist Pump**  We got right around 1000 lbs of this beautiful rock.  :)

Okay, enough suspense.  Or boredom.  Are you still awake? Oh, you're just humoring me? I'll take it.  Onward!

Flowers/Veggies/Trees/Bushes Planted:

Plumbago in bloom

(via Google Images)

                                                                                  (What blooming Crinum Lillies look like, via Google)  

Sun is going down on Day Number One!!

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BUTTERFLY! 

There are never any around in our neighborhood since all that is here is baby trees.  Guess who stopped by to check out our Mexican LIME tree! 

          

Now Mr. Monarch is just hanging out....

Oh yah... remember the "Before Front"?  

Here's the after:

Little yellow and orange Marigolds instead of the hideous spiky hair grass looking thingy's! :)

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Deck timeeeeeee!

Piecing it together! 

One more board needs to be layed on top and then the side cap on the left! 

We had a ton of help and definitely couldn't have accomplished NEAR what we did without Mom and Dad O'D! Thank you!!! 

Had to... it was irresistible! 

:)