Monday, June 17, 2013

Best Christmas Gift Ever!

So, once again - my apologies for the long blog absence.  This time, at least I have a good excuse.........

Tim and I are pretty excited about what we're getting for Christmas this year -



We're so blessed and can't wait to be parents!!!!!!

A few questions we've been getting:

1.  YES, we're finding out the sex.  I admire all of you who are able to wait, but I'm a planner and have no patience, so come the first week of August, we'll be planning for either baby BOY Snider or baby GIRL Snider!!

2.  Yes, I've been feeling sick...yuck.  First trimester is no joke!!!  Luckily, some of the nausea is subsiding, but still pretty exhausted most of the time.  Lots of fun heartburn, random back pains, etc.

3.  We've seen our cute little baby twice now on ultrasound - measuring right on schedule!  I'm about 14 weeks right now.  Due date as of now is December 19th.

4.  No major cravings - I was into salty foods and not really sweets for a while (which is completely different for anyone who knows me at all!!!), but I'm starting to want my desserts again!

 Now that I'm feeling a little better, I'll try to keep you updated more regularly.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Chicago Trip!

As always, I'm way behind on blogging - being a CPA makes the months of Jan - March pretty tough, so I promise to catch up soon (don't I always...)!

A few weeks ago, Tim & I headed to Chicago for one last fun family trip - my middle brother, Rhett currently lives in Chicago and is about to graduate from medical school and move to Houston.  We decided what better way to celebrate than a trip to this fun town one more time - especially since it was St. Patrick's Day weekend (which is a huge deal in Chicago).  

Thursday night we arrived in town and headed to Rhett's apartment where he and his girlfriend, Sarah had prepared a fabulous home-cooked meal!

My brother Ryan & I when we arrived the 1st night

Getting ready for family dinner
Friday, we went to an event with a bunch of Rhett's friends from med school & I talked everyone in to stopping off for some cupcakes....

Rhett & Sarah

Tim & I at our hotel - The Drake

Sarah & I at the cupcake place
That evening, Rhett had planned for us to go to dinner with 3 of his best med school buddies and their families - as you can see, we had quite the crowd!  This was an Italian place where you ordered lots of small plates and shared among everyone at the table which I always think is fun.

Table #1
Table #2
Tim & I at dinner
One of my best friends from Birmingam also moved to Chicago this past year, so it was a must that we would meet up with Emily Ann!

Emily Ann & I at Untitled
Saturday, we headed to brunch at one of Rhett's favorite places - Mom & I shared white chocolate pretzel french toast...my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Saturday brunch

After a tour of downtown, we headed back to Rhett's place after where a bunch of his friends came over to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Family pic!

More of the group
Mom & Allen had to head back home Saturday, so us kids hit the town!

Rhett, Sarah, me, Tim & Ryan

Love my brothers!

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Kind of a big deal....


BIG NEWS.........

My very beautiful sister and brother-in-law's wedding is featured on Style me pretty!!!

Click the link to check out her story!!

Pam and Troy did an awesome job at making every detail super personal and I love looking at the pics which actually do the little details justice.

P.S.  That's one good looking matron of honor.....


Sunday, February 10, 2013

My favorite apps - health edition

We're now almost 1/2 way into February and I thought something different might be in order - just in case you're struggling on those New Year's resolutions - I thought I'd share some of my favorite health related apps.

I really think apps helped totally change my fitness routine...actually, let's be real here - they helped me start a fitness routine.  There's something to be said for having something tangible to track progress...but maybe that's just my type A personality.  I'm doing a competition at work with some co-workers and it's really inspired my competitive soul.  Here's what I've been using to help keep myself accountable -

1.  Ease into 10-K

This was the VERY first thing that got me started and something I've stuck with today.  Back in October 2010, when I decided to make a change - I started the couch-to-5k program, as described here.  I can't say enough good things about it - I am absolutely NOT one of those people who just "love to run."  It's still a chore for me most days - but this program made it manageable and I started feeling accomplished.  After completing the couch-to-5k, I downloaded the Ease to 10-K app.



You can build each day and even today, I'm still a big believer in the run/walk - it's great to get your heart rate up and somehow breaks up the monotony - gives me something else to focus on by having short spurts. I don't really stick to the program so much anymore, but I like having something in my ear that tells me when to walk/run/when I'm half way done, etc..I usually just pick a day based on how much time I have, how far I want to go, how I'm feeling.





2.  iMapMyRun  

On the weekends, I try to get outside to run and get out of the gym - but it was frustrating to me to not be able to tell how far I had run - I thought about getting one of those fancy GPS watches, but low and behold - there's an app that does it for free!  I've actually found this to be pretty accurate - I've run certain marked courses and checked the mileage against this app - it was usually within .05 miles!  



This app uses a GPS and you can set it to give you cues in your ear about your pace however often you would like.  It will also keep track of your splits however you set it (I do by the mile) - you can tell I get slower by each mile!  :)




It's not all about running though - I really started seeing better results when I mixed in some form of strength training a few times a week.  Usually, I'll do a cardio warm-up and pick a program from NTC - there are several "Get Focused" 15 minute exercises.  Again - it's like having a personal trainer in your ear telling you how long and what the best form looks like.  There are also longer programs (30 minutes or 45 minutes) that incorporate a full body workout.  You can also watch videos of what the exercises are supposed to look like.






This is similar to Nike Training Club, but I'll also mix it up with this app - there is a lot of variety of what you can do with this one.  You can even create your own workouts (which I've also used to create custom intervals for run/walk).  





There's also a "shake" feature - you can lock either the amount of time, the part of your body or the intensity and it will find workouts for you.




I first started using this app just to understand my eating habits - see what I was doing that was totally worth the splurge (chocolate, Moe's Southwest Grill and wine) and figured out there were a few things (soft drinks in particular) where I wasn't getting enough bang for the calorie/sugar/fat buck.


This app has a scanner to scan barcodes, you can create recipes by adding all the ingredients as you cook/prepare a meal and save them, etc.  It also has a ton of restaurants already included - assuming the restaurant posts its nutrition facts.  I will go through off and on periods of using this - I have gotten to a point where I generally know what to eat now to maintain, but go back to using this when I am feeling a little uninspired.  There's something about having to add in those extra snacks during the day that makes me a little less willing to splurge..It also tracks net calories, so it's even more encouragement to go to the gym - as every calorie I burn helps!  I'll also take a look on a weekly basis to see it I'm getting the right amount of the good stuff (fiber, protein, nutrients) or too much of the bad (fat, carbs, sugar).

6.  Menu Planner

I know some people (cough...Janet...cough) can just whip together a meal with what's on hand, but for me - I have to plan or we'd be eating take-out every night...and eating take out every night sure makes for a lot of red bars on the My Fitness Pal app.  I'll do a meal plan on Sundays based on what our schedule looks like for the week - what nights I know we need to eat quick vs. what nights we have plans, etc and I usually will pick about 4 meals that I know we're going to make.

 

This app lets you import recipes from any website and you can also create recipes manually.  It takes a bit of time to set up, but once you do, it's so nice - your own personal cookbook arranged any way you like it.  Once you add the meals to each date, you can import your grocery list directly from your meal plan - it even sorts it by category (you set it up) - and I have mine arranged in the order of the Publix aisles.



Hope you find these helpful!  Let me know if you give any of them a try!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Happy Birthday to me!

Last week, I had the pleasure of experiencing my first annual 29th birthday!  The great thing about having a birthday on a Sunday (especially the Sunday where we set our clocks back for daylight savings) is that you can really milk the birthday - it turned into a full weekend topped off with a full 25 hours of actual birthday!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know the birthday weekend started right as any special event should...

Delicious Baby Bites from Pastry Art Cafe
This was a great surprise - I had mentioned to Tim weeks ago how we needed to get baby bites because our friend, Justin always has them for different things for work and will bring us the extras.  It was such a treat to come home from work on Friday and have these waiting on me!  Side note...all of the flavors are absolutely delicious - except carrot cake.  Why would you muck it up with carrot cake?!  It's like having those boxes of chocolates with different fillings and then getting stuck with the orange filled chocolate.  Just stick with the classics.

Saturday, we had absolutely beautiful weather!  After going for a quick run outside, Tim and I headed to Vizzini Farms, a winery close to Birmingham for lunch and a tasting.  Their chicken salad is really good!  The wine "tour" wasn't exactly what I was expecting - not your traditional winery experience.  But, the wine was good and we enjoyed sitting outside and relaxing.  We also got quite a show when one of the horses escaped from the pen - they were able to get him wrangled back in but it was a little tense when he was headed toward the open road!

Vizzini Farms


That afternoon consisted of some football (isn't the season over yet?!?) - between Auburn and my Dallas Cowboys, let's just say I'm pretending both the NFL and NCAA players are on strike - something a la NHL.   Then, I picked the dinner place on Saturday night - one of my favs - Chuck's Fish.  It did not disappoint!!  We finally tried some of their sushi as an appetizer and I had some great grouper.

Chuck's Fish - also, me trying out lipstick  :)

Side story, I used to mercilessly good naturedly tease my mother about her animal print habit.  You know, something along the lines of "grrrr, tiger!"  It was always just a little bit too out there for my taste.  Well, as I'm finding out more and more in my old age (hey...I am 29 afterall), mothers must really do know best:

Feeling trendy in my new pumps (from Target)!

Sunday, my actual birthday - was pretty low key, but relaxing.  After I insisted, Tim brought me breakfast from Shipley's donuts.  I've said it before, there's something just so special about having breakfast out/brought in.  We only do this on vacation and it just makes it feel like a special occasion.  Probably means we need to eat breakfast out more often  :)

We also did a bit of shopping on Sunday - more on that later and went out to lunch.  Sunday night was spent catching up on Homeland episodes - we started watching it on Demand and now we're hooked!  The last I can remember being this into a series was watching episodes of 24 back in its hey days - cliffhangers anyone??  We're now caught up to the live season and its killing me not to be able to just start the next episode!  We also caught this great sunset at a place right by our house (walking distance...we're lucky, we know):



Last week was a busy week at work, but when I arrived on Monday, my awesome team had this waiting for me:

Edgar's Cake...yummm!!!
So sweet!  Liz & I

Along with the thoughtful birthday cards in the mail, sweet phone calls and texts + major facebook loving, overall - I'm feeling pretty spoiled!

A few things I'm planning to/have already spent my birthday $ on:


Booties
Pocket Camera **
**I have tried to buy this camera TWICE from Costco - the first time they sold it to us.  We checked out and waited in line at the stock place and then they proceed to tell us they're out of stock.  Why of course they can't put the $ back on our card - have to refund in cash.  It usually takes me approximately 2 million years to make any kind of decision on a purchase, so the fact that I had decided, we'd paid and waited -This girl was majorly disappointed  :(  To be continued.

I also browsed the electronics at Target where the salesman tried to talk me out of buying a camera.  He suggested I get a DSLR and I told him I already had one, was just looking for something to carry with me at all times that would replace my old camera from college.  He looked at me and said "isn't that what your phone is for?"  Apparently they don't work on commissions...

Some Kindle books from Amazon
Also, speaking of trendy...Tim and I have actually had more than one conversation on "oxblood" - I just have to have it!  Okay, so I've been having conversations on oxblood and Tim's looked at me like I'm insane.  I'm not usually much of a red person, but this shade just gets me!


I've recently bought tights, leggings, nailpolish, lipstick, faux leather skirt (I really am getting risky), etc in this shade and although I don't know if this is exactly oxblood, I also treated myself to this necklace:

Necklace
A tip on the above:  There's a facebook offer to get the above necklace for $13.  I HATE clicking on offers on Facebook, but I'll let you in a little tip - I still have my gmail account with my maiden name, but this could work for any old email account - or even set up a spam only account (which I recommend - I use my maiden name email frequently when I have to enter an address to get an offer).  I created a dummy facebook profile with that old email address (so if for some reason you've found me as Lyndsay Long and I've declined, now you'll understand why).  I think I've successfully set it so that no one can search me.  I do everything on that profile that I don't want to do on my actual profile - connects with Spotify (or anything else you have to have a facebook profile for), claim offers, etc.  I used my dummy account and got the above necklace shipped for $13 total!  Sweet!

If the rest of the year turns out anything like the birthday weekend...I think 29 is looking pretty "sweet!"

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Catching Up

Whew, it's been quite a whirlwind few months in the Snider household!  We last left off with this pic:


I've been all of those place (Dallas), plus a trip to the lake, the 4th of July Holiday, Labor Day and I still haven't caught you up on my LAST Dallas trip or our 5th wedding anniversary!  Why bother catching you up?  Because I get the pleasure of reliving these last few amazing months now that I am finally able to take a breath and slow things down a bit!  You've probably seen pictures on facebook, but you haven't been able to really hear the stories (well, at least the "you" is probably my mom and the two other people who read this blog).  But, I promised I would make this my online scrapbook - therefore this is kind of like those furious scrapbook weekends where you're throwing pictures on a pretty patterned page from 2 years ago  :)

So, after Amber and John's wedding weekend, Tim & I and hung around Dallas for a few days to see friends and hang with family.

Sunday evening, we headed over to Ross & Sally's to see Forrest & the rest of the Bouje gang that was in town for Memorial Day.  We all decided to just grab whatever and have a random dinner of pizzas, fruit, guacamole, and cheese/crackers.  I'm also certain there was dessert.  To me, that's what really makes a friendship - its when you can just show up, no fancy plates or presentation and just be (what, you thought I was going to say dessert?).  It's just comfortable.


We hung at their pool and had some great conversations - each of us shared our highs and lows of the past year and what had been going on with each of us - so relaxing and encouraging.

Scrapbook page!
Memorial Day was spent at Mom and Allen's pool with Ryan, until I packed the hubby up and sent him back to work!  I headed to my Dad & Renee's to celebrate a belated birthday for Ryan.

Dad, Ryan, me
Katie & Will - celebrating Ryan's birthday
Before I left, I had to get in some quality time with Tim and I's godson, Landon (oh yeah, and I guess his mom Lisa).   We took him to Starbucks and Lisa & I met our good friend from high school, Ayla for lunch at Kona Grill...why does Birmingham not have a Kona Grill??  It's delicious!!  Ayla was 5 months pregnant at this time, although you seriously could not tell!  She just had a precious baby girl, who I got to meet on my next trip to Dallas - more pics later!


Before I knew it, it was time to head home...another great Dallas trip!