aspirations require inspiration.

first of all, let me admit that i am a television addict.

i watch it all. every sort of television you can imagine. wednesday afternoons (actually free afternoons in general) i tend to watch certain things. my latest television obsession were the old episodes of beverly hills 90210 on the soap network. but, now that i have seen every episode ever made, i had to find a new afternoon show to watch.

so, i surfed the channels yesterday to find the show "made" on mtv. normally this show is about the goth girl trying to become the homecoming queen. but, yesterday, it was about a young new mother who wanted to become more fit. as this girl was working out, it crossed my mind "if she can do it, i can do it."

i am not to a point in my life where this aspiration is impossible. there is nothing or anyone holding me back. i am my own biggest road-block/enemy.

believe it or not, i have not always been this way. i used to be very fit. i used to run, and enjoy it. i used to eat well, and enjoy it. i used to fit into all my clothes with no problem, and i really enjoyed it. :)

so i am inspired now to do something differently. i have been writing about it for months, talking about it for years, and finally it is time to do something about it. aspirations require inspiration, and here is mine:

some of my pledge sisters in fall of '06.

winter of '06.

what's in a name?

i used to watch this show on the bravo channel called "pregnant in heels." the show is about pregnancy concierge, rosie pope, and her millionaire clients. one show struck out to me in particular. a couple who was in the advertising and branding business wanted to give their baby boy a "brand" for life with his name. they even hired a focus group to decide on the name of their unborn son. i immediately thought, "these people are too crazy!". but, i did agree with one concept of their whole crazy idea of "branding" their child. a name is VERY important to a child. i mean, after all, that is the name they are going to live with, be adults like you and me with, and grow old with.

in the bible, people didn't name their children based on what was cute at the time. they named their children with meaning. asher, the 8th son of jacob, was named because his mother was happy to have another child. asher is translated to "happy" or "blessed". each of their children had meaning to their name.

i pulled some of the more popular names from babynames.com, names from my friends on facebook, and some personal favorites to show the importance of the meaning of a child's name.

boys:                                                                 girls:
aiden:"little fire"                                             addison:"child of adam"

austin:"great"                                                 bailey:"baliff, steward"  

bentley:"from the bent grass field"                 *blaire:"field or plain"    

*beckham:"from the beck homestead"           brooklyn:"new york borough"  
   
caleb:"whole-hearted"                                   chloe:"verdant and blooming"   
   
cayden:"fighter"                                            hannah:"grace"           

cohen:"priest"                                               haylyn:"unique and special" 

connor:"wolf lover"                                       isabella:"God is my oath"   

cooper:"barrel maker"                                   kinsey:"king's victory"

gabriel:"God is my strength"                         molly:"of the sea or bitter"
         
grayson:"son of the grey-haired one"             natalie:"born on Christmas"    
       
jagger:"carter/peddlar"                                 *olivia/alyvia:"elf army"    
               
jackson/jaxon:"son of jack"                           sophia:"wisdom"

jonah:"dove"                                                 tessa:"harvester"

noah:"rest/peace"                                          tristan:"tumalt"    
              
zane:"God is gracious"                                  zoe/zoey:"life"                   

is your child's name on here? are you surprised by the meaning? tell me about some of the names you have either picked out or have for your children and what you were thinking when you picked them out! i would love to know!


*: this was our baby names picked out for our little ones in heaven.
**footnote: our names we have picked out now are not on this list. we are keeping these top-secret until they are ready to be revealed.**

baby essentials.

'tis the season...to shop for the fall baby. i have lots of little october and november babies to shop for and all boys!! i always thought it was more fun to shop for girls, but after browsing through some of the sales for my moms-to-be and their sweet angels on the way, i have found that boys can be just as stylish as little girls. :) so, you may say that my mind has been changed about the narrow path of only having a girl.

here are some awesome deals and gadgets that i have found for the fall baby:

mamaroo bouncer
so, at $199 this is not a bargain, but it is really awesome!
it's compatible to any mp3 player and plays sounds to soothe your baby!

children's place has some awesome deals right now on fall clothes. the jeans were $5.99! the polo is $4.49 and the cute little plaid shirt is $4.99. you have two adorable outfits for your little man for under $20.

this outfit for your little prince is under $10. the shirt is $3.99 and the cute shorts are $5.99. he'll look like a little man! 

i've had more fun shopping for these little boys than i thought i would. :) 

fast paced summers.

i am horrible at doing this blog the way i intended on doing it. i actually have been super busy this summer with my 3 jobs, my home, and my life in general.

i haven't been able to write as much, but bare with me, i will certainly try to do so more often.

weight loss has been probably at a zero since i have been running like a crazy woman throughout my life. i have had little time to focus on myself at all this summer.

so, hopefully i can do this!

the lazy song.

i have been exhausted lately! :( i guess you could say i've been in a slump. i've not wanted to do anything at all. much like that song "the lazy song." bleh. i don't like feeling this way.

relay for life.

relay for life was AMAZING!

there was a lot of chaos the morning of, but at the end of the day, everything went super smoothly and really well. my team ended up raising over $2000 for the american cancer society!! we did american idol karaoke for our 30 minute event, and i think it ended up being an hour long. lol. people LOVED it. of course, my husband was the meanest judge.

here's some pics of the event:

our tent. :)

team crush.

zoe.

michael & zane.

i always joke that this is my future daughter's future husband, cohen. :)



of course, my luminaria had to be zebra.





caution: busy weekend ahead!

wow, i can't believe it is already time for relay for life!

i'm going to take time to brag about my teammates for a minute. this is the first year our church has participated in relay for life, and we have already kicked it out of the park! we raised over $1,000 to donate to the American Cancer Society and have 25 partipants signed up! it will be a truely amazing event, and we will make it even better next year! pics to come!

with relay for life this weekend, i am going to be extremely busy! if you know me though, i would not have it any other way. i'd rather be busy than just sitting around--although i like to do that too. :) busy weekends do not prove to be very nutritionally friendly. when we get busy, we tend to eat out a lot. not a good eating out either where there are healthier choices. i mean downright evil BADDDDD eating out. so, i am going to have to be extra cautious of that this weekend.

so far, the calorie counting has been working. it has made more aware of the things i am putting into my body and consuming a day. by just cutting back to 1,200 calories, i can already tell a difference in the way my body is starting to change.

i can't say the same for zumba though. because this week has been slammed with craziness, i have not been very good at keeping up with exercising. the good thing is that i will get plenty of walking time at relay this weekend, so maybe i can catch up on my many days missed of zumba.

michael and i have been very blessed to be able to start paying off some of our debt. so, hopefully when baby prichard comes into the world, they don't have to suffer the consequences of mommy's bad shopping habit and daddy's student loans.