I'm always on the lookout for the right tools to help me, motivate me, and encourage me with my weight loss journey. These tools are to help me keep on track and to add variety because I just get bored really fast. Especially with exercising. However, this past week, my husband and I decided to join a gym. Man am I glad I did! First off, the price was unbelievable. Like to good to be true. $20 for the both of us! Yep! Plus, we get to sit down with a personal trainer and come up with a workout program to fit our needs or goals. I was going to share that with you today but my appointment was cancelled because the trainer got sick. Hopefully next week.

For this weeks series, I'm going to share with you my favorite apps, sites, and other great tools to help keep you motivated and perhaps more accountable. At least give them a try.


Favorite apps:

myfitnesspal  - to track your food intake and exercises. You can even scan your foods to make tracking faster.

lolo   - this is an app as a personal trainer. There is an variety of them like training for a 5k, 10k, dumbbells, kettle bell, etc,.. I love working with kettle bells which is the one I have.You do have to pay like $3 for the app but I think it is well worth it. It does kick your butt! :)

10k - A free app to get training to run a 10k. I was hoping to do a half, but for the time I have left to train for one, I'd be pushing it and potentially setting myself up for injury. So I'm looking at a more realistic goal, and that is the 10k one.

Pandora - Do I really need to explain this one? They do have great music if you need to listen to       something else on your smart phone.




Favorite Site:

Skinnytaste.com - LOVE this site. I've been following her for years. She has a lot of variety of skinny dishes with great eye candy. She also breaks down all the nutrition value of her dishes so you can calculate it.




Favorite Magazines:

Cooking Light - great dishes and ideas to get creative with your meals.

Weight Watchers - Oh you know, keeping up with the latest science on weight-loss and such.

Muscle & Fitness Hers - Great motivating magazine and workout routines to try.



What are your other favorite media tools? Please share - I'm always on the lookout.

Time to head out to the gym!

What do you think of the new blog look? I kinda like it. It's nice and simple. 

Hope your having a great weekend!

See you Monday.

It is yet another Friday, and this week has flown by! I hope you have had a fun and happy 4th with some great BBQ. Here's a look of some of my favorite moments from this past week.

1. For the fourth, my husband, my brother, and I didn't go all out crazy. We tried out a new brewery and had some light eats. Then we went attended the Shakespeare festival for the first time and it was awesome! Minus forgetting bug spray.

2. I met my bosses' new puppy this week. OH. My. Gosh. Soooo adorable! She has a cute French Bulldog - now I want one. But then again, I'm a big sucker for puppies.

3. My husband and I has joined a gym! Yay!!! I'm a bit sore though.

4. At my job, we are currently looking around for a new studio space. I went and toured a place with my boss yesterday and I really can't wait.

5. I got up at 4 AM to go to the gym. And I forgot how much I love mornings out here in Idaho. They're just beautiful!

How was your week?

Have you ever felt stuck with an rental home, and wish you could make it represent more your style? It can happen, however, it takes practice. Or you maybe already lucky and have a good eye when it comes to garage/consignment shopping. It is so hard to put a home together when its a rental because either you can't paint on the walls, the tiles are horrible, no carpet, bad carpet, etc... I think you got the idea. For me, I thought about painting but honestly, I reeeally don't want to put the time nor the money into painting the walls of my rental. Besides, when the times comes to move, I'm ready to get out decorate my new home canvas! Ha ha! When I have friends and family come over, they're always really impressed at how I can make my home look so cozy and inviting. How? Well, I've learned it takes practice, patience, finding inspiration, and a good eye.

My first ever inspiration to make my home into a home, came from my favorite movie of all time. What movie is it? It is "It's Complicated" staring Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin. Have you seen it? I fell in love with the homes' interior. That is where my "ah-ha" moment and inspiration came from to make my previous house a home.

 What caught my eye is the balance of the furniture, and the accessories. The furniture was either dark, or neutral in color. The accessories of this space, are where the color comes into play for the room.  

Here are the rules that you should consider when decorating your rental home:

1. Keep it simple - keep it neutral. That way, it literally can go with anything or anywhere in your home. Even if you move.

2. Keep your furniture pretty much all the same color so there is consistency. I'm talking more of the hard furniture like table, bookshelf's, side table, hard chairs, entertainment center, etc,... Couches should be neutral color as well. This makes your home feel more put together and even can make it more cozy!

3. Add color to your room with accessories - but don't go too crazy. Stick with a color that you love then pair it with a contrasting color or a complimentary color.  For example, I really loved this burnt orange as it shows in the kitchen, I'd pair with a contrasting color such as blue but with a navy blue.

4. With accessories, invest in pillows, artwork, blankets, and other nick-nacks. (Did I spell that right?)

5. Finally, one of the other best things to do to change up a room is to switch out the lighting pendant or whatever it is that hangs in your dining room now. They have fairly inexpensive ones at Ikea or World Market. In my opinion, this is one of the greatest ways to add an 30 minute instant uplift to a room or adding a bit more drama into a space. And here are a few of my favorites from these sites:

Don't you love them?

6. Take your time.  Seriously. Decorating your home can be an investment. An expensive one at that. You want to take your time and doing things right even the cheap way if you can. I do love going to consignment shops and finding furniture that has modern lines. If it is a bad color just paint over it!

7. You may have good pieces already in your home - give 'em a make over! I had shelving that was black and I wanted white. I spent only $3 on white spray paint! Then whola - white shelves.

Well, I hope this helps when it come to your rental. Also, please be sure to grab someone who knows what they're doing when it comes to swapping out the new lighting and deals with electricity. :)

I think I'll go and watch "It's Complicated" now.

Catie

This past week was pretty successful, but still not at 100%. Hey-that's okay! You know why? I'm learning to enjoy my process. My husband and me has decided to do a whole another level and join a gym. We will have a personal trainer to help get us started and will give us that extra push to get to where we want to be with our personal fitness goals. How exciting! We went to tour the facility today and we cannot wait to get started. I know that this is a short post but I'm still trying to figure out this journey and get myself on a more straighter pathway. Next week, I'll share with you what my trainer has given me for my fitness program. Until then, be sure to follow me on my fitnesspal under as CatieBuck2013. And don't forget to grab some tools that will help you along the way like these magazines. 

Happy 4th of July! Summer is now in full swing and it has been kinda toasty these last few days. My brother is here and we've been having just laid back days with really nothing special planed and just going with the flow. Yesterday, we went to an old west town of Idaho City walking around and having some ice cream. Today, again it'll be a laid back day.  Although we will be attending a Shakespeare play of Les Miserables this evening.  I'm kind of excited!

Well here are my favorite five things that has happened to me this week.


1. I've finally got the chance to try the District Coffee House, which is such a unique, cute, and has really yummy lattes!

2. My brother is here!!! I'm excited that he is here to spend some time with me and my husband this week. This guy sure knows how to make me laugh!

3. I joined a Revit Group here locally to keep on my education with the Revit architecture computer program. I'm so glad I did, because I'm not all that tech savy. Plus I did learn new things!

4. Yet again, I'm spoiled by my brother! He got me a cute owl vase and some flowers to put them in. Aren't I lucky to have such a great brother?!

5. It is the 4th of July! I love this holiday, but still trying to get what there is to do in this area. I hope something I'll find something enjoyable that I'll just make it a tradition. I prefer traditions :).

Hope your going to have a happy Friday and a wonderful 4th with your family and friends. Please be safe and enjoy your day!

Hi friend! I'm sorry I wasn't able to meet with you for coffee this morning. I wasn't prepared this week for posts since my brother is here all the way from Michigan to distract me. Ha ha. But I hope your having a wonderful week with all the fun festivities with the 4th fastly approaching.  I will be resume this Friday.