H54F- Good Friday Style

"And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and the other in the left. Then Jesus said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do... "
Luke 23:33-34

Imagine living this day 2000 years ago? Could you had handled it knowing what was taking place? To know what Jesus suffered is more then I let myself think about. That's selfish of me I know, because he did that for me and you. Alas when I read ill skip over that or if someone asks me to watch The Passion of The Christ with them I decline. It's to heartbreaking to see. Even though no movie or re-enactment can even come close to what he suffered. With that suffering came our redemption! So as bittersweet as it is his suffering paved our way to him! I Have WAY to much up in heaven waiting on me to even give thought to turning back now! If you don't know Jesus in a personal way then I encourage you strongly to. Accept him in your life and find peace you never dreamed possible!

1.) I'm thankful for my opportunity to serve our Lord. Although I don't witness enough I'm thankful that I can.

2.) I'm thankful for the Cross and what it represents. It's paved a road to heaven for us. An eternal life of peace and happiness.

3.) I'm thankful for my family. My mother, my grandmothers, and so many more have been such wonderful lights to my life and a source of encouragement.

4.) I'm thankful for Waneta Church of God, being there helped mold me and strengthen me. They taught me how to love people.

5.) I'm thankful for that 3rd day. The stone was rolled back and there was no denying what had taken place.

I love this song by Casting Crowns. Its such a perfect explanation.
Glorious Day


Linking up with Lauren From My Grey Desk Blog

Kayla

If you don't know then I will tell you. For the next few Thursdays I'm going to be highlighting one of my friends and just giving ya a little background and how i've became friends with them. Todays lucky contestant:

Kayla.

I most always refer to her as KBZ sometimes KBiebers... Kayla just doesn't suit anymore. I use to call her my "little kbz" but I got over that. She's smarter than me and wiser. Actually she's more "wise" then most anyone I know. Except my Mamaw Phyllis. They're kindred spirits. She's practical, rational, and patient. You don't usually see all three of those characteristics in one person anymore.

I met Kbz at church. Waneta Church of God. She was REALLY quiet, as in... she didn't seem to speak unless it seemed necessary. I on the other hand find very few reasons to NOT speak and while i'm speaking im usually loud and make a lot of faces and I get really excited over nothing. Well I thought Kbz was snotty and sort of rude and she thought I was out of control. She even asked someone, "is she for real?" lol! Who knew after all this time we would be best friends! See you can't judge a book by its cover! She's anything but snotty and rude. And I... well i'm out of control.

Our friendship is sound on our Love for our Lord. Since we've been friends we have definately dealt with our fair share of trials. Through some of my toughest times she's been right there to help guide me. Her life revolves around her relationship with Christ and she was called to the ministry at a really young age and she's handled it all with grace! 

So needless to say Kbz is a wonderful person. Although she seems quiet and reserved, i've had some of my funniest moments with her. Its never odd for us to waste a tank of gas and just drive forever talking about whatever is going on or whatever is bothering us. It's became pretty therapeutic. I love her to pieces and i'm so thankful I met her and she's in my life! 

Here are some pics... We tend to take quite a few pics when we are together. Oh! She blogs over at Girl Talk and A Godly Walk Go check her out!

We're pretty cool.

Normal Day.

Conquered Natural Bridge.

Weigh In Wednesday!

Folks it's Wednesday which means I am here to give you my results since last week. I sort of dreaded this Weigh In because I ate like a COW all weekend long! It went better then I thought but not as good as I would have liked. Here is the results:

Chest: 43.5in.- Stayed the same

     Waist: 50in.- WENT UP .5! yikes!

Hips: 50in.- stayed the same!

Thighs: 25.5in.- Stayed the same!

Calf- 18in.- stayed the same!

Arm- 12.5in.- Went down .5in! yeah!

And my weight... well I was up 2 lbs. I'm totally blaming it on the muscle i'm building up! ha.

im in deep thought

So it wasn't what I wanted to see but I'm pleased it wasn't worse after the weekend I had with hardly ANY exercise and eating horribly. It has gave me some more insight. I have to start working on my portions again! I had gotten use to what I could have of what and now I notice myself getting a bit carried away. I'm on my way to fix that. 

I'm also working on a new exercise plan. With all this pretty weather coming up i'm pumped to be getting out! I want to start working on running. I agreed to do a 5K in May in Clay Co. if you want to know about it you can find some info here I'm also going to start lifting weights! I've been convinced that I need to lose all the weight I can and THEN start lifting to tone up. The more I study into this and the more I hear from other people i'm learning that incorporating weights with your cardio/strength training makes all the difference. So thats what i'm going to do! Two blogs I follow are Skinny Meg and Mama Laughlin you can look on their blogs and follow them on instagram and see the transformation weights has done for them! So here is a new journey entirely! Weights and Running! It still cracks me up to hear myself say these things.

Happy Wednesday!

Back On Track.

Wheeeww! I've DEFINATELY gotten out of sorts this past weekend! Wednesday, Ryan and I went out and about so I decided to have my cheat meal. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and I ordered a burger and fries.

It was alright. 

I was reading Skinny Meg's blog the other day and she had a burger after she ran a 5k. Afterwards she stated, "the burger is never worth it." Tis true friends, tis true. It MIGHT have been worth it had it been a burger from my FAVE, Culvers... but it did its job I guess. So then Thursday came around, I did fine with my eating and I was READY for zumba. Oh but wait! Here comes friday! My Mamaw, cousins, Audrea, Sherry, and Maddi, and I went out to eat... at... oh... my... gosh... CHEDDARS!. Its like kryptonite folks. I CANNOT go to Cheddars and not get a Philly Cheesesteak. So I ordered that with some red beans and rice. All of which was delicious. THEN of course everyones sweet tooth kicked in. Off to to Frischs for hot fudge cake! I had Audrea run me through the drive through and Wendy's and I got a small chocolate frosty. Not as good as a hot fudge cake but delicious anyways. 

I got home and I'm not sure why but I was beyond exhausted. I sat down to read some of my new book and passed out. I got back up and tried to stay up so I could watch a movie with Ryan when he got home from work. By the time he got there I was so tired I couldn't hold my eyes open. So needless to say I didn't do any type of exercise. Which taking a day or 2 off a week is fine but I really should have done SOMETHING, oh well. I slept in late Saturday as well. I promised Ryan earlier in the week I would make REAL breakfast... as in gravy and biscuits and real bacon. Ryan is not a fan of my turkey bacon, and egg beaters gross him out. So there was a terrible yet tasty, FATTENING breakfast. Before I went to work I went to my cousin Whitney's wedding. 

The Love Birds

Afterwards at the reception My Aunt Lou had made potato soup. She makes the best ever! My Aunt Shell made "hanky panky" its a chip dip and its also one of my favorites and its verrry cheesy. So there went Saturday!

Although I really enjoyed my weekend and all the time I got to spend with my family i'm actually GLAD that I can get back on track. This weekend did give me a great deal of perspective on where I really need to focus on what to work on! I must stay on a normal routine on my days off from work no matter how busy I am! This whole weekend of no exercise and greasy foods has left me feeling very tired and drained. I also have to really re-think my meal choices when I go out. I just hate going out to eat and paying for something that I don't like that well or I THINK I won't like that well. All in all I had a lot of fun and I spent a lot of time with family which always makes me happy! Next time i'm going to pick more wisely and make time for a work out! I'm pumped to get home this evening and get a good work out in and go to zumba tomorrow! How did your Weekend go??

High Five For Friday!

So today is actually my Sunday, I go back to work tomorrow and start off my week but that doesn't mean that I dont love friday! I work 2nd shift on Saturday so since I don't have to be up early it feels like I have a longer weekend. Works for me. Moving On. So the point to this is i'm linking up with Lauren from My Grey Desk Blog for H54F. I just recap 5 of my fave things from the past week. Starting with

1. I bought this book! I'm so excited about it!! The entire book is to help sort out all of the loads of info out there on how to eat right and exercise. I HATE fad diets and its so confusing because some say to cut this and that out and you just dont know what to do! Obviously this chick knows what she's talking about so I trust her information in this book!

2.) I went out last Saturday night with My Aunt Shell and cousins Amanda and Kenzie. We just shopped around a bit and went to eat. It was so fun getting out with them! I don't get out with them as often as I wish so I enjoyed myself a lot and laughed a ton as usual!

Aunt Shell is in gray, Amanda in Pink and Kenz in the greenish-blue this was at Christmas.

3.) This evil tyrant. I love her so good.

4.) I use to go to the grocery store and load up on my usual junk and EVERY DANG TIME I would get behind some "health nut" as I thought who would have a buggy full of fresh produce and wheat, whole grain, healthy stuff. Part of me was just gagged out and then another part of me wished that my grocery items looked like that. So its so nice to open my fridge and see this!

The beer and coke aint mine ya'll! It's Ryan Jo's!

5.) I've laughed over this until I can't anymore. My legs were sore danggit!!

Happy Friday!!! What have you got planned for your weekend??











Taryn.

So I'm thinking that Thursday is a perfectly good day to start a series on my friends! I've had the same group of friends for as long as I can remember and they each mean so much to me! So lets start off with Taryn!

I just had to!

Taryn and I have been best friends since 4th or 5th grade, i'm not sure which. (i'm old and I have a goldfish memory) We've managed to remain as that ever since. Even after graduation when we would go months without seeing each other or even talking it seemed as if when we did we just always picked up wherever we had left off. What some people strive and try for- for years she managed to pull off in a short year. ha! Prom, graduation, starting college, getting married, starting a home, having a baby, yep she did all that in less than year. She's super woman.Oh! Let me just make a public apology here. I'm not a thoughtful person. For whatever reason i'm thoughtful AFTER the fact... ya know when its of no effect... so Taryn has Ava and I dont even go to the hospital! I dont think I made it over there until late in January. Ava was born in Dec.! HOW AWFUL! Geezz... I've felt bad for that for years, really. One of my new years resolutions was to be more thoughtful! Anyways! Since then she's been able to graduate college and remain in her marriage! Which lets face it... marriages that last have become something un-heard of and its really quite sad. She's also raised  one of the sweetest, smartest, prettiest little girls around!

This is Ava! How cute is she???

So yes, I have good taste in friends if I shall toot my own horn, toot toot. She's been nothing less than amazing to me our whole lives and she has ALWAYS been there for me!! When my mother got sick I could tell how devastated she was and she was there for me then, and in the loss of my mother she was there for me then too, even though I knew she was hurting as well. My mom thought she was one of the funniest people she knew and loved her beyond! Both of my parents my Padre considers her one of his girls! ha! So needless to say she's a wonderful person and I couldn't ask for a better person to be in my life! She's on this weight loss journey with me and its amazing what having someone going along with you helps! Its another source of accountability and you can wine and cry and be mad when you have a panic attack trying to get your new sports bra on. ha! no really... I thought I was going to have to call for help you all! It was bad but I got the dang thing on and it fit! geeezz. I could make this post go on for pages going on about how much I love this chick and that i'm thankful she's part of my life so just take it from me she's wonderful!! Here's some pics of our lives:

This is middle school. I was such a greaser!

This is us in TN on our own spring break we took with Jess and Heather.

On her wedding day with Belinda!

Last summer at belindas wedding. Nope we are not oily, we are sweaty! That church was hot!

Thats a smaaaallllll recap of our friendship! So thank you Taryn for being such a wonderful friend!!

Taryn

Weigh In Wednesday.

Thank goodness! I was so afraid of this day! I've ate some pretty heavy carb loaded meals in the last week so I was expecting some not so great results. Even though I've stepped up my workouts, I can't be eating TONS of wheat thins and pasta! ha! Oh well here is the results!

Boobs-  43.5 Went down 1/2 inch!

Waist-   44.5 Went down 1/2 inch!

                                                        Hips-    50    Went down 1/2 inch!           

Thighs- 25.5  Went down 1/2 inch!

                                                        Calf-    18 Stayed the same

                                                       Arms-    13 Stayed the same

Total loss of 2 inches this week! 

AND I LOST 5 lbs!!! Woo Hoo! Bringing total weight loss to 21 lbs! Thank you Lord!

Yes, I have skinny jeans on. Yes, I know they are beyond unflattering on me. I've not done laundry or cleaned my house this week. My other jeans are too big! And whats left that still fits ok, was rotted lol. 

Too funny not to put on here. She totally photo bombed me! ha!

So, I declare Weigh In Wednesday this week a success!! 

Not So Manic Monday.

Aside from last monday, I actually really like Mondays... I really love mondays now because of zumba! A typical monday for me lately is waking up, doing my Jillian work out, go to work, and then I go on a dinner date with some of my sweet friends! I love our little get togethers and the funny conversations we have! Its something I continually look forward to. Usually its Taryn, Jess, and I, but sometimes we have Heather and Belinda! They mean the world to me and we have all been friends since we were little kids!

 This is Me, Heather, Jess and Taryn on one of our dinner dates.

This is Belinda and I at her wedding. So pretty!

 

I'll have a later post with some of our crazy experiences and stories of how all of us came to be!

 

 

After our dinner date I went to zumba! I was excited all day long! I just love that in an hour I get such a huge work out in! We burned around 850 calories!! In one hour, my dinner of dairy queen was completely demolished! YEAH!

 

 

She does abs afterwards. I suck at abs. But I bought myself that cute yoga mat and I at least looked the part.... ha.

 

I had my other best friends come to zumba with me! Kbz and Meshellz!

This is us at the Miranda Lambert Concert. They also randomly come to my house all along and we zumba or do work out videos! Love them so good! You will get to know them as well!

 

A very eventful monday! Tomorrow is Weigh In Wednesday! I'm anxious to see if anything has changed! I have recipe coming up for Easter as well!





Run!

So i'm so excited to announce that I went running yesterday! Yes. You read correctly. I, Ashleigh LaShay Lanigan, went for a run. Praise God! It. Was. Wonderful. It was actually a walk/run but none the less a run. Why do I seem so excited about this you ask? Well, for starters yesterday was the first time I had ran a distance more than the length of my hall just run away from the evil tyrant cat I own... since I was 5 years old playing race with my cousins at my Mamaw Matties house! Yes.

So 5-0 Hubby, my dogs Malley and Sarge as well as Malley's little friend we call him "boyfriend" took off on our journey.

Such a great day!

We ran and walked a little over a mile and a half. I loved it! I've always wanted to be a "runner" ya know that chick that enters all these marathons and such?? Soon I will be, Lord willing!

I played the Mandisa station on pandora while I ran and its the way to go, she really has some pumped up music! The song that surprised me at how much energy I got was Chris Tomlin- Everlasting God, when it started with the "strength arise as we wait upon the Lord" got my feet moving and just those lyrics gave me an extra push when I was about to stop!

When we got back 5-0 Hubby and I made some lunch, I covered some plain chicken strips in some chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper and baked them. While they were baking I sauteed some green peppers and then threw some corn, black beans, and a can of rotel together and heated all of that up. I made some brown rice and added some of the same seaonings as the chicken and added a couple tbs. of salsa with some red pepper flakes. GOOD stuff!! I really have a thing for mexican-type foods. I cut up the chicken and I threw mine all together with some spinach... i'm really over lettuce for a few days. 5-0 Hubby ate his burrito style.

looks a little rough but its good!

Later that night I went out to eat with my cousins Amanda and Kenzie and my Aunt Shell! It was so much fun getting out with them! We went to Olive Garden and you can get whole wheat pasta now! I'm not sure if thats a new thing or if I had never noticed it before? While we were there we got to meet this little Gem.

How Cute is she?!?!?

AND! Level 2 of the Shred is getting better! Its still awful but i'm getting through it much better than before! Thank you Jesus!

All in all I deem this weekend a success! 

Veggie Bake.

I love to cook! I don't like to clean it up though... ahh.. ya win some ya lose some... here is a couple recipes I've made over the past few days! Both are really good!!

My cousin Amandas sister in law made this wonderful sausage, veggie bake that was unreal how good! I found a recipe on pinterest that looked good as well so I mixed the recipes and It turned out so good! I made a huge pan but you can 1/2 the recipe:

 

At the end I have the recipe with measurements and you can copy and paste to print off. Haven't got this fixed to send you to a printable link yet! 

Start with Chopping up some Veggies: Onions, Peppers, Red Potatoes, Celery, and Carrots
Toss them in a pan

Mix up some Oil, A packet of Ranch seasoning, and some chicken stock or broth in a small bowl





Pour over your veggies with some salt and pepper and toss them around

This already looks edible to me! Yummmmmm! Next tightly wrap with aluminum foil and put in a preheated 450 degree oven.

I know, I know, all the pics are unnecessary and my oven desperately needs cleaned. But I like taking pics and pretending I'm Pioneer Woman.

This veggie bake is good by itself but you can just add it to anything your cooking! I made it with Smoked Turkey sausage and spaghetti squash! Spaghetti Squash is fun to make!! Just cut it in half and spoon out all of the seeds. Season with salt and pepper and lay cut side down on a foil lined baking sheet.

Cover with another piece of foil and throw into a 425 degree oven. For 25 minutes. After that remove the foil, let it cool a little bit, and then take a fork and just start scraping and you get this!

So cooooooooooooooooooooool!

 

I sliced up my turkey sausage and once it was close to done I tossed the spaghetti squash in with it.

Yum.





Now back to the veggies. After about 45 minutes take this goodness out and if your veggies are fork tender then leave them uncovered and pop them back into the oven for another 15 minutes! Then indulge!

Ya'll this was so good!



 





 

Ingredients:
2 Celery Stalks roughly chopped
Couple of handfuls of baby carrots or less but I love them so I added quite a few
5-6 Red potatoes chopped, leave the skin on!
1 Onion cut up in wedges
1/2 Of Red or Green Pepper, if you really like them use a whole one, sliced
1/4 Cup of Chicken Stock/Broth
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning
2 tbs. Olive Oil (Vegetable or Canola is fine)

Preheat your oven to 450
Once all your veggies are chopped up toss them in the 9x13 pan and salt and pepper.
In a bowl mix up your seasoning, oil, and chicken stock/broth and pour over veggies.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Check your veggies if they are fork tender then keep the foil off and pop them back in the over uncover for about 15 minutes.
Then Eat!

Behind!

So I had this wonderful plan to do a High Five For Friday Post but that didnt work out... So I will still do an unofficial, its saturday, but i'm gonna tell ya'll 5 things anyways post. Next week will be official! Moving on:

1.) Weigh In Wednesday was a Highlight forsure! I hadn't added up the totals so I was so excited about that!

2.) A few Random people I seen through out the week told me they were keeping up with my blog! No words for how excited that makes me!!!

3.) This cutie.

4.) I went to Zumba this week! I do zumba all the time at my house by myself or some of my friends come over and zumba with me but this week I got brave and went to Ashley Judds zumba at Gray Hawk Reformed Church. A LOT of people go! I was so nervous that I would pass out or something but I was able to keep up pretty good although I was still a mess. Cooridination isn't my strong point. Oh Well! It was a good work out and then afterwards she does around 20 minutes of abs exercises! I'll be going back! And you should go to! If your nervous about people watching you dont worry about that! You dont have time to people watch your only worry is keeping up with the moves! If you dont like plain original exercising give zumba a shot! Its funnnnnnnnnn!

No Judgement Though.

 

5.) Taryn and I ordered us some fancy pants sports bras i'm pumped about it!

 

 

Have a good weekend!!!









Tricks.

Although I'm only 7 weeks into this lifestyle i've learned a few little tricks to help along the way. I thought I'd share with you all! Now, one good thing for me as far as dieting and exercise go is I don't have kids or a super hectic schedule. So that gives me a lot of extra time, but I think a few of my tips will help no matter what your situation is.

1.) Purge your fridge and cabinets! I don't like to waste food and groceries are way to high to just throw out! I knew in my mind I wanted to start this so a few weeks before I used up a lot of stuff that I knew I didn't want to have on hand anymore like prepackaged mac and cheese, or plain flour tortillas. I took out all the sugary cereals and random little treats and brought them to work to give away. If I couldn't use it then I gave it away.

2.) Grocery shop with a plan! I make a ton of lists all the time but I still always forget things. (I have a different post coming up soon about the grocery store, stay tuned!) If you can meal plan then thats going to help you a ton! Ryan and I have opposite schedules except 1 day a week. So I only have to worry about cooking a few times a week. So I don't really do a strict meal plan.

3.) Watch out for so called healthy snacks!! Fiber one bars, granola bars, 100 calorie snack packs... those are all wonderful but really check out the labels. Sure its 100 calories of your fave cookie but thats 100 calories that isn't really helping you. Some different snack bars and protein bars have A LOT of sugar so eat them in moderation... I'm no expert by no means but just because its low calorie but has 20918495792 grams of sugar... I mean come on... lol

4.) Watch your condiments. I've been reading and studying a lot and most condiments fat free or not can really ruin your healthy meals. I LOVE ketchup but I've definately cut back on it a ton! One way I cut down on it is I don't eat french fries anymore unless its cheat day. But I also like baked chicken and dipping it in ketchup, that might sound gross but its good! I've been cutting that out as well little things like that can add a lot of calories, sugars and fats that really just aren't worth it in the end. Salad dressing can destroy you! If you can stand it try not to go over a couple tablespoons full on your salad. Which unknown is tough! Scaling back on things like that are still difficult for me but Salad alone is good for you but if you smother it and then some with your fave dressing then thats kind of the same thing as taking a lean piece of chicken which is good for you and then deep frying... bad for you. See what i'm saying.... condiments can be sneaky!

5.) Keep record of your progress! I have a journal and every week I record my weight and my measurements. Some weeks I do good and I make it out to be a food journal as well and track everything I eat each day.

6.) Get a partner!! Find people that will encourage you and want to do this with you! I have different friends that come over and exercise with me and such and it just helps to know that people are working toward the same goals. It's also and incredible way to hold accountability. If one of them calls or texts and tell you about there good food choice or new exercise and you've been having a bad day and just wanted to eat chocolate donuts and not move one muscle unnecessarily then for me anyways that encourages me and inspires me to get up and so something!

7.) Make goals! I have ultimate goals I want to get to but I know that they are going to take time. So make smaller goals. Like... i'm going to lose 5lbs this month, or by summer i'll be able to run 2 miles, or i'm going to cut out red meat from my diet for 2 weeks. Just small goals that lets you know what your accomplishing.

8.) Have a cheat meal. If your day in and day out cramming apples and carrots in and nothing that you really like then your more likely to get discouraged and bored. Once a week go out or cook or whatever you want, enjoy yourself!

9.) Figure out what you like to do. I love walking and hiking, 5-0 Hubby ehh... not so much. I thought I would LOVE yoga but I don't. Its just a little to slow paced for me at this point. I love to do zumba!! Its so fun! I also like work outs like the 30 Day Shred. Its quick and covers everything but it hurts! It gets results. I'm not really able to get to gym but that is a goal for later! I don't know if I will particularly like to deal with weights or not but i'm going to start! I've noticed other people and the difference that weights made was amazzzzzing! So just find things you like to do and have fun!

10.) Stay focused! Just in what short time I've been doing this I've learned that my focus can get jumbled pretty bad. I have days where i'm like... WHATEVER i'm quitting this junk and being lazy! And then i'll snap out of it and keep on keeping on lol. I'm a positive person by nature so that part comes easy to me but patience does not. I may not be 130lbs now but I will be someday if I keep working! It wont always be this hard and soon enough i'll be that chick that exercises because she wants to! Thats my goal!

People we so can do this! It's going to take time! I'm 7 weeks in and I feel like I just started and I already have so much behind me! Hang in there!!