Road Trip continued- Decatur

We took it easy Tuesday and hung around Decatur with family.

I took advantage of the warm weather and took my first outside run, and only run other than 5 minutes on the treadmill, post baby. I made the mistake of starting out on a hill, but I was able to get a mile and a half done with a 12 minute pace. Not a bad start.

We cruised the square and landed at Rooster's for lunch. I would frequent this place if I lived in here. 

I had the Smoked Garlic Jalapeno Bacon Cheddar Burger. The name is a mouthful and so is the burger- but it was sooo good. I washed it down with some beer and called it an afternoon!

I wish we had more time to spend in Decatur, but we're headed to Dallas for work tomorrow. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Road Trip continued- Fort Worth

Monday, we adventured over to Fort Worth for some lunch. The weather was gorgeous- such a nice break from the gross winter weather of Missouri.

Apparently Joe T. Garcia's in the place to be. The margaritas were delicious! I could have sat by this fountain drinking margaritas all day long! If you're ever in Forth Worth- check this place out! I hear they usually have a crazy long line, but we got right in at lunch time. 

I had the chicken taquitos. They were great!

After lunch, we walked off the margaritas at the Stockyards. We walked around some of the back areas and checked out the old cattle runs. I suggest going with a local to get some of the history like I did- it made it a lot more interesting!

We are having a blast so far! One more day in Decatur before we head to Dallas!

Road Trip- Oklahoma City

I have to work in Dallas this week, so we decided to head down for the weekend. We stopped in Oklahoma City to visit some friends.

We kicked Saturday off with brunch at Kitchen 324. Delicious! I had this Rose Mojito. Oh man! So good!

Then, I had an eggs benedict that was made with green tomatoes. Again- SO DELICIOUS. I loved this place!

I also snuck a bite of Hubbs' lox. It was also delicious!

After brunch, we walked a couple of blocks over to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. I've always wanted to visit, so I'm glad we finally got the chance. Oklahoma City Bombing is one of the first tragedies I can remember watching on tv as a kid. I think this is the reason that any time a horrific event happens, I'm glued to the news trying to piece together what happened and why. 

It also breaks my heart to remember the children that died. Having a kid totally changes your perspective, and seeing the memorial for the children made my heart hurt. 

The Survivor's Tree was also impactful, thinking about the destruction it withstood and how much it has grown since. 

After spending the day in Oklahoma City, we headed to Texas. Stay tuned for more!

Birthday Weekend

Today's my birthday. And it's such a weird one. 30. I feel a little lost. Part of me wants to kick it off with a big, wild night out, and the new mom side of me just wants to be at home with my baby cuddling. I feel so torn sometimes- I guess between the person I used to be and the person I am now. Just figuring it all out.

Friday, Hubbs and I had a lunch date at Houlihans. Ps. If you sign up for their email list, you get a free birthday meal. Can't beat that!

I had a house salad with ranch. My absolute favorite salad!

And scallops for my main course. 

Then we hit up the car wash to wash away all the nasty salt from the winter weather. 

And my bestie send me flowers- that was a lovely surprise. They are gorgeous!

Friday- Baby Girl turned 3 months old!! So crazy! And she started holding her head up on her own this weekend.

Saturday, Hubbs and Baby Girl took me out to brunch and shopping at Target. Perfect Saturday! We ate at the Aviary. I started off with a delicious grapefruit mimosa.

And then I had the Aux Nutella crepe. Totally healthy... right?? Oh well- it's my birthday!!

And, one of my favorites in town, Pineapple Whip was in the middle of their Winter Solstice - where they are open for one weekend during the off season, so of course we had to do that! Notice the blanket on the hula girl? Makes me laugh every time!

Delicious!!

And I ended the weekend with a little too much of this amazingness... Can't wait to finish off the rest of it tonight. I first had grapefruit rose under the Eifferl Tower in Paris, so I was super excited to find some here! Such good memories! 

Not too shabby of a start to 30! 

I was brave.

Today, I did something hard- something outside my comfort zone. And I was nervous!

The funny thing is, I challenged myself. I challenged myself to be the person that I want my daughter to be. I want her to be someone who is brave, who can stand up for herself, who can have real, honest conversations and to go after what she wants.

I had no idea my daughter, all of 3 months old, would challenge me to be better, but she already has. And today, I was brave because of her.

Ice Storm!

Last night, we had the fun of an ice storm! I haven't had to deal with one of these since high school. Thankfully, I was in college in Minnesota when the big ice storm hit 10 years ago and put everyone out of power for weeks.

Normally, I'd just stay home and wait it out, but since we have a baby- we decided to play it safe and go spend the night at Grandpa's house since he has a wood stove and generator. 

We made a quick stop by the grocery store for snacks. Thank god we didn't need any milk or bread. Yeesh.

\

Got milk? We don't.

I saw this on Facebook last night and almost died...

The ice storm wasn't as bad as we expected. Our neighborhood didn't lose power, and the roads were fine, so we packed everything up and came back home around noon today. It was a nice little mini vacation at Grandpa's. Plus, baby girl played so hard that she slept for 6 hours straight. Maybe we should go to Grandpa's more often. Snoopy was so worn out from playing with the other puppies that he went straight to bed when he got home, and I haven't seen him since. 

We saw a couple of tree limbs down around our town, but it wasn't anything bad.

I have to say, ice on trees is pretty.

Hubbs and I spent the rest of the day working from home and snuggling baby girl. So glad the storm wasn't bad, and we got a nice three day weekend out of it! :) 

Identity Crisis

I'm just going to be real here- man, I am struggling this week. I feel like my whole world is up in the air. I don't know what the plan is, what my future holds, or what exactly I want it to hold. And that's scaring the crap out of me.

I'm pushing myself. Putting myself out there. Having difficult conversations. Telling people what I want. It's scary.

And, I've realized I'm scared of change. I think it's partially because I love where I'm at so much, but at the same time- I want to grow. And I'm not sure I can grow if I stay where I'm at. And then I question myself- worried that I'm being irrational and impatient. It's a roller coaster of emotions over here.

And then I came across this article: The career advice I wish I had at 25.

One of the points of this article is to de-prioritize your career when you have young children. I'm a mother now. I have no idea what that means. Calling myself a mother still feels weird. Unfamiliar. I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm loving every second of it. But I do know that my daughter is the most important thing to me. And all I want to do is soak up moments with her. It's already passing way too quickly.

My head has been spinning for days. I just need to rest, relax, figure out who I am and what direction I want to head- but I'm scared.

So sore...

It felt so good to hit the gym again yesterday! I forgot that it was January and was surprised by how full the gym was. I usually never have to share. And, I found myself being a little self conscious about my post baby body, but I'm excited to start working away at it. On the positive side though- thanks for the cleavage, baby girl! :)

I decided to tackle the abs since that's my complaint spot. My belly has always been a little flabby and this post baby pooch has been bugging me. I eased myself in with a 10 min Sworkit that incorporated yoga and ab work. Then, I did some leg weight machines for 10 min. I am SO sore today. 

I'm excited to get back in the habit of going to the gym, but I'm still trying to take it easy since I'm breastfeeding and struggle with getting enough calories to begin with. My focus is going to be on weight training, yoga, and one run a week. We'll see how it goes! 

Cozy Weekend

All I want to do every second of every day is this....

So that's what most of the weekend consisted of- soaking up snuggles from my baby girl. Plus this snowy, cold weather makes it a must!

We did get out Saturday morning- headed to Common Grounds for coffee with the besties. Perfect start to the weekend! Photo credit to Sarah since I had a baby in my arms. :) 

Then. Saturday night we went to Red Lobster for family date night. We normally don't eat at chain restaurants like this, but we received a gift card for Christmas. I have to say, their food isn't as good as I remember. The coconut shrimp was pretty good- but the rest was pretty mediocre. 

Sunday was weird, not watching the Vikings. Football season went by way too quickly this year. And now it's Monday and back to work- trying to get the new routine down. 

Stay tuned for lots of travel posts this year. We've made some big changes that are allowing Hubbs and Babygirl to come along with me on nearly every trip. I'm so excited to have travel buddies! We're kicking off travel season at the end of January by heading to Dallas. And things get crazy from there- we'll be on the road every other week. Should be interesting with a 4 month old! I can't wait! 

I'm Back!

Okay, so I decided to really savor maternity leave, and the blogger app started acting up, so no posts until now. It was great to really just relax and stock up on as many baby snuggles as I possibly could the last couple of months.

I'm back at work full-time this week, and I have to say, even though I miss being away from baby girl, I feel like I'm back. I feel complete again. I feel like ME again. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my baby, and I loved being home with her- but I missed my job. I missed working out. I missed my routine. 

I hit the gym for the first time today. Baby stopped by for a quick snack while running errands with dad, so I only had 20 min and decided to break myself in on the weights. I surprised myself a little bit with how much I could still do. But there was one machine where I was like - holy cow this feels weird now! Hello, baby body. 

Anyways- stay tuned for more. Lots of travels coming up this spring, and I'm so excited for all these new adventures with my little family!