Hows your health? I want to live a healthier lifestyle

During my first year of marraige I gained at least 15 pounds. It snuck up on me slowly and I didn't realize it until one day I looked in the mirror and realized my clothes no longer fit and my body and face had lost their definition. When I was in high school I was in amazing shape. I ran every day and did weight training a few times a week. But I never really ate well. I was pretty healthy, but with unhealthy habits. Fast forward into marriage, abandoning my daily exercise routine, and continuing to eat poorly and its no wonder I gained the weight.

Once I realized how it happened, I started watching what and how much I ate and made sure that I exercised somewhat regularly. It helped, I lost the extra weight and felt better. But I still had unhealthy habits that I hadn't broken, and for a few years I yo-yo'd between eating really healthy and eating very poorly.

A couple months ago I decided it was time to really focus on living healthier. I'm not overweight and don't have a specific goal weight in mind. But I could feel that my body was weighed down, sluggish, and not where it should be. Additionally, a number of bad health things run in my family (like heart disease, breast cancer, osteoperosis, high blood pressure, etc). I set a goal to live healthier. I figured I can do my best to improve my chances of not having serious health problems by eating right and exercising. Plus it comes with the benefit of feeling better, being alert, and having more energy on a day-to-day basis.

The two main parts of my goal are to eat better and exercise regularly. Everyone knows that we should try to do these things, but we have so many excuses and its easy to ignore.

Food: I've been focusing on eating more veggies and fruits each day, and cutting back on the amount of carbs and sweets I eat (because I was eating almost completely carbs). My biggest motivator is reminding myself that food is fuel and trying to pick things that will fuel my body in a good way.

Exercise: I used to run all the time, but I injured my knee this past year and it hasn't fully recovered yet. Instead, I've been doing interval and circuit training at the gym. It was easy for me to fit into my schedule because Jeff normally goes to the gym after work, so I started going after work as well. And I've been consistent! I even made the top 10 users list for June!!

Progress so far: After almost 2-3 months of eating healthier and exercising consistently, I feel great - physically and mentally. I'm determined to keep it up. I've been roping friends into it so that I'm not alone in my quest to be healthier ;] I'm not on a diet or a exercise fad. I'm working towards a healthier lifestyle. One that is maintainable and enjoyable.

I would love for you to join me!

If you have any recipes you want to share or ideas on how to prevent giving up on your goals, please share them in the comments below! What are your biggest challenge related to food and exercise?


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Five years later, I love you even more

Five years ago today, Jeff and I got hitched. FIVE!!! It feels like yesterday I was walking down the aisle, but here I am five years later, more mature, better at cooking, and more in love with my husband than ever.

Our wedding was beautiful. It was a warm August afternoon, with friends and family lining the quaint little park in Genoa. My dad cried, I cried, and Jeff’s mother bawled. We kissed, everyone cheered, and Jeff & I walked down the aisle as husband and wife amidst a delicate stream of bubbles blown by our guests.

The reception is somewhat of a blur. We greeted our guests, ate some food, cut the cake and listened to toasts. Our first dance was an absolute disaster. I put the wrong song on our playlist, having only listened to the first ten seconds of the song. Had I listened a few seconds longer, I would have heard the song change into a fast-paced duel between two guitars. Unfortunately this was learned as Jeff and I moved from a slow dance into a quick jumpy waltz, all the while trying to signal our wedding party to fade out the song. But they were busy laughing hysterically.

When the reception ended, we snuck out to our car and took off. It was still light out when we arrived at our apartment, and I didn’t want the entire complex watch us climb out of our Ford Escort and head into our aparment decked in a wedding dress and white tux, so we parked across the street and waited until our neighbors had all gone inside. Then we dashed up into our apartment and flopped down on the couch. And for many minutes we just sat there quietly, enjoying being newlyweds, relaxing in the stillness of the moment, glad to be done with the excitement of the day’s events.

The next morning we were off to Cancun for our honeymoon. We were adjusting to the hot mugginess when a short Mexican man grabbed our luggage and ran off. We trailed behind him, and finally realized he was trying to help us get to our taxi, not stealing our luggage. At the hotel, they greeted us as Mr. and Mrs. B. I had booked our flights and hotels using my maiden name. It was an awkward situation, choosing to explain the misunderstanding to each and every employee that greeted us, or grin and bear it.

The trip was fantastic. Our room was exotic and beautiful, overlooking the ocean. The water and sand were warm and the sun was always shining. The resort was all-inclusive so we ate wherever and whenever we wanted. My favorites were tortilla soup (room service), tres leches cake (also room service), and fried banana with coconut ice-cream served by our favorite waiter, Reynaldo (whose name we later copied for our first pet goldfish). We spent days on the beach, in the pool, or exploring the flea markets. In the evenings we had romantic dinners, watched different performances at the hotel, and walked on the beach.

It’s hard to believe that five years have passed. We’ve moved, I’ve graduated, Jeff switched jobs, and we got a dog! We’ve traveled, stayed home, and enjoyed our lives together. We’ve argued, we’ve apologized, and we’ve grown. I am so blessed to call myself Jeff’s wife. And I am so thankful that he is such an amazing husband to me. He provides and cares for me. He respects me and loves me deeply. All I can hope is that our next five years, and the five after that and so on, continue to be as wonderful as these past five have been.

Happy anniversary my love. I am honored to call you my husband and best friend.

And because every blog is better with pictures, here are some images from our wedding (courtesy Lighted Path Photography) and honeymoon.

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April Showers ...in the guest bathroom

Today is April 22nd.

How in the world is it already April 22nd? I feel like each year of my life, the days, months, and even seasons pass more quickly than the previous year. And I know I'm not the only one. Time doesn't actually speed up.. but since we can't accurately compare last year to this year, we are stuck always feeling like time is flying by!

And so, despite my good intentions to blog more.. its been nearly a month since my last post. (Can that really be true??) And I've been swamped. At work I'm busting my bottom like a good hard worker. At home I'm doing my best to keep up with laundry (my husband likes to leave his dirty clothes in two separate corners rather than the laundry basket), dishes (there are somehow more dishes to wash than we use for each meal), and vaccuming (jeff is determined to shave our golden retriever this summer, I'm determined to stop him). On top of the normal routine, our master bathroom has been under construction for the last 4-5 weeks. And then taxes *shudder*, but more about those later.

A number of years ago when we first moved into our house we realized that mold/mildew would grow along the edges of the tub faster than I could clean it. I tried to keep up but didn't think to much of it. Then one day Gracie (the golden retriever) ran around the side of our house to get a ball or something and we went to find her and realized the wall under the master bath window was completely warped and bubbled out. We called our landlords, and they patched up some broken grout. Fast forward to present and the warping had continued, but also moved into the floor around the tub. So we called our landlords again, and this time they sent a contractor.

For the last number of weeks the contractor stripped our bathroom: the tub, walls, floor, put in a new sink/vanity, tub, and tile. But its taken weeks. A few hours here, a few hours there... and injury or two and a few days later.. etc. So for the last month Jeff and I have been living out of our guest bathroom (which mind you is just as small as our master bathroom). But we only brought the absolute shower necessities into the guest bath, and everything else went into the garage. But now whenever we need something we have to go all the way out to the garage to get it.









A week ago the bathroom was finally ready to paint.  I choose a yellow color and offered to do the painting (Because I love to and haven't painted in years, except for painting exhibit walls white). So part of the day Friday and all day Monday I painted the bathroom.








Only a few places need a third coat and then we can finally return to using the master bathroom! And hopefully at least part of our life will return to normal. ;]



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While the cat's away the mouse will play

My dear hubby went out of town this weekend with his dad.  His uncle was holding a Kenpo (karate) seminar and asked Jeff and his dad to come down.  Jeff invited me to come with them, kindly reminded me that I would likely get bored, but that he'd love to have me there anyways.  I declined.  I love my hubby and hate not go with him on trips, but on kenpo trips I really do get bored sitting to the side and watching.  And considering my laptop is on its deathbed, I wouldn't be able to work on anything during the trip.  So at home I stayed. 

All week I thought to myself how great it would be to have the house to myself for a few days, with some quiet time to catch up. But then the morning of his departure I found myself wanting him to stay.  It didn't help that we were bickering like little children.  I blame the car rental. 

Normally we always take our Mazda on any/all road trips because its newer, is still under warranty, gets amazing gas mileage, and is comfortable. However, we realized that our remaining warranty is fading away, and while everyone else pitches in for gas, we end up with the wear and tear on the car.  And so Jeff decided to book a car from Enterprise. We went to pick up the car and they informed us that if jeff wanted to drive the car it would be an extra $60.  Why?  Because Jeff isn't 25.  He's 24 and many months (his birthday is in June).  Because the car company pays additional liability when younger drivers rent cars, they pass the cost along to their customers.  {I think its ridiculous.. I know lots of drivers who are over 25 who drive like maniacs and lots of drivers under 24 who are great drivers... and to me it would make a lot more sense to pull up someone's driving record and base the additional fee on that rather than their age.}

Anyway, so we said, no thanks, Jeff's dad can drive the whole trip and we won't have to pay the $60.  But they require a huge deposit if you aren't using a credit card, and whoever is the driver has to pay the deposit (again, ridiculous... ).  And so they ended up charging Jeff the $60, so he could pay the deposit.  Then after signing all the paperwork the clerk asks if we want to buy auto insurance.  { First... why are you asking us after we sign the paperwork and give you the deposit??  Second, if we are responsible for the car, and we either buy insurance or risk it, where does the $60 liability charge comes from if Enterprise won't be responsible for the car in an accident anyways??}

At this point all three of us are in sour moods, we walk outside and it is not a Corolla like they said it would be, but instead some morphed vehicle: part funeral herst, part truck, part car combination.  At this point, I'm trying to convince Jeff to just take our car.  The morph vehicle looks like it gets horrible gas mileage, its not covered by insurance, we have to pay an extra $60 just to rent the car, all on top of already paying to rent the car and pay for gas!  But Jeff calmed me down, called our insurance provided, who assured us the rental car is covered under our normal insurance, and told me everything would be all right.  He gave me a long hug and then had me follow him to his dad's house.  There he gave me another big hug, some encouragement, and then sent me on home.

I'd had plenty of excitement that morning and didn't feel up to jumping right into my list of tasks.  And instead I spent the rest of Friday, and all of Saturday being sub-par productive.  Over the last couple days I may or may not have:

• Watched an entire season of Drop Dead Diva in one day. (darn you netflix) 13 episodes is a lot of tv, but watching tv while doing something else is multitasking, right?? {and in my defense, the show is way more interesting than the title gives off}
• Ate a few too many girl scout cookies
• Sewed two pillow cases to match the duvet cover I finished almost completed a few months ago (its still missing a zipper)
• Lunch + dinner = delicious chicken sausage, sauteed onion & bellpepper sandwiches with homemade spicy german mustard (from my mom's cousin), plus a few more cookies
• Made some apple cinnamon oatmeal bars (in hopes to lay off the cookies)
• Ate more girl scout cookies along with the oatmeal bars
• Caught up on a little photo editing
• Dinner = mac n cheese
• Watched Alice in Wonderland
• Nap
• More girl scout cookies

In short, my weekend revolved around food, the couch, the computer, and the TV.  All I can say in my defense is that sometimes we need a weekend to be less productive that we have to.  Plus the house was already clean because our landlord came over to look at our warped bathroom floor, and I had already cleaned, folded, and put away all our laundry.

And as I sit on the couch waiting for my dear hubby to get home so we can eat some Taco Salad and snuggle, I'm revising my weekend task list for Monday.

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Baby Showers and Baby Fever

Remember the adorable sneak peek from last fall for my dear friends Eric and Joleen? They were expecting twins and Joleen was just beginning to show. Well, time flies and now Joleen is due!! (I’ll have a sneak peek of her maternity pictures up soon.) But back in late January we had a grand baby shower for her. And a couple weeks later there was another baby shower for Jolene. Confused? ;] Joleen is expecting twin boys, and Jolene is expecting a baby girl. (They joke that they can’t do anything separate… they even have the same due date!) Anyway their showers were so adorable, and since I had my camera… (how could I not take pictures?).











And did I mention that between the two showers I’ve caught a case of baby fever? Small tiny shoes, adorable little hats.. who can resist? But I'll be getting my fill from babysitting for friends, at least for now. ;]

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My favorite things - December

Lately I've noticed I have a lot of new favorites. We are continually changing and growing, trying new things, and discovering that we've found a new thought, song, item, routine, etc to add to our list of preferences. Here's a few of my latest favorites.

1. Cinnamon Apple Tea
Such good tea.. Add a touch of honey and swirl, and it's the perfect blend of spice, crisp flavor, and sweetness. I think I've had at least one cup each day for the past couple weeks!

2. Boy with a Coin by Iron and Wine
This song keeps showing up on all my pandora and last.fm radio stations and I can't get enough of it. Definitely one I would listen to on repeat all day.

3. My new salt and pepper grinders
I asked for a pair for Christmas. I've always wanted some (I love freshly ground pepper on everything- salad, pasta, soup, etc etc). I've never found any designs I really liked, or try were or outrageously expensive. Jeff found these at Target (of all places) and they are perfect!!! (and they came with a lifetime warranty!!)



4. Uniball micro blue pen
I am an office supply junkie and my latest infatuation is this pen. It writes perfectly. The ink flows smoothly (unlike most ballpoint pens) which means my half cursive half printed handwriting doesn't end up with gaps and extra lines. Plus it makes me feel professional.



5. Seeing my work on brochures and people's Christmas cards.
Remember that CPC shoot from earlier this year? Well The CPC used it for a brochure!!! And it looks professional and I any believe they are my images!! And Care-Net is using it in their January newsletter!! And I love photographing families during this time of year and then getting their Christmas cards in the mail.


What are some of your current favorite things?

Hilderbrand Holiday Card/Newsletter | Christmas 2010 - New Years 2011

I’ve never been good at Christmas newsletters, I think mainly because for the past few years I've always been so busy. Each year I’ve started a fresh newsletter with good intentions to finish it. However, every year, I’ve failed. This year, I’m determined, and since Jeff and I haven’t had a newsletter yet, it seems appropriate to update you on the highlights of or past four years together (with lots of pictures ;] ).
Click 2006-2009 updates. {coming soon!}
Keep reading for 2010...

Jeff+Harmony
This year Jeff & I celebrated our 4th year of marriage in August. We traveled to San Diego in March (part of my thesis work/vacation) and Las Vegas in October (martial arts camp). In May we served as chaperones for a singles theology conference in Lake Tahoe. Gracie (our golden retriever) turned 3 and Charlie (the tuxedo kitten) is now a year old.

San Diego:





Singles Theology Conference:


Las Vegas:




Harmony
I had a very full year. In March I ran a half marathon and placed first in my age division!! (But 50th of 100 or so overall… haha) In April I had a solo photography exhibit for two weeks as part of my honors thesis. In May I graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a BA in Art/Photography and a minor in Business. I’m one of those nerdy people, graduating with honors, Summa Cum Laude, completed a 60+ page thesis, and was awarded the Deans Award for Outstanding Graduate in the Arts. (Phew! So glad to be done!) I started teaching 3-5 years olds in Kids Desiring God on alternating Wednesday nights and got involved with a ladies bible study going through the book Helper by Design by Elise Fitzpatrick. I also (officially) launched my part-time photography business (www.harmonyhilderbrand.com)!




I carried my camera with me onto stage during graduation and took pictures with the associate dean (one of my past English professors) as he gave me my diploma!!



My grandparents at my graduation party.. isn’t my grandpa a goof?


I also traveled to Las Vegas in June for a work conference. My boss is a pilot and he flew his family and I down in his little Cessna plane! I got to sit up front and be his co-pilot, which really meant staring out the window at the beautiful view and asking what all the little dials meant.


Jeff
Jeff was a chaperone to our church's youth conference in Riverside, CA. He also started ushering at church on occasional Sundays, which has been a great way to get to know old and new faces at our church. Jeff continued to train in Kenpo Karate. He traveled to many seminars (mostly in Wyoming) and started teaching on Mondays and Wednesdays. Most exciting... Jeff earned his black belt in September! {and I wasn't there ;[ } He is still working for the State of NV and spends most of his time at the gym (but I love his muscles, so it's worth it).
{karate pics are coming!}

Jeff+Harmony
Here some other pictures from throughout the year.

80’s themed birthday party for Eric (who turned 30). Jeff and I went as the nerd and the hot girl. Haha


We won tickets to attend the Arts & Oscars fundraiser in Reno, so we got all dressed up, took some pictures in the backyard and then had fun being fancy.


Sarah Rhodes (now Strachan's) Bachelorette/Girls Night



We have been blessed by God with steady jobs, a wonderful house to live in, a faithful church body, and life. We hope that God has blessed you this year as well and pray that He would be your strength and hope through this coming year.

<3 Jeff and Harmony