Camping Adventures

I'm tired, smell like a campfire, and have eating nothing but crap, but we are home from camping and had a great time!

I never camped a lot as a kid (I think we went once or twice, but nothing that I really remember) and Cody grew up camping, so I am always really excited when we get to go.  For Christmas, we got a tent, sleeping bags, air mattresses, hobo pie makers, etc., so we could go camping, but we ended up staying in a camper.  Cody's mom reserves a campsite at a really pretty campground up north, about an hour away from our house, and they keep their camper up there.  We decided just to stay in their camper instead of trying to set up the tent and all that stuff.  Plus, since I'm a new camper, I really like electricity, so it's taking some time for me to get used to the outdoor living.  They've had the same campsite for the last 10 years, so they're able to leave all their stuff up there, and they've made it like a home away from home.  They have a little garden, flowers, hanging baskets, a flag, a swinging chair, kayaks, a fishing boat....basically anything you'd need to feel nice and at home at a campground! 

 

Our view of the water!

We got there kinda early on Monday, just because we wanted to have a full day.  We decided to bring Remy, and we were a little nervous, just because we weren't sure how she'd do completely out of her element, but she did great the whole day.  We got all of our stuff unpacked, and just kind of sat around for a while and enjoy the outside. 

Cody and Remy hanging out in the Hammock

We decided we were hungry, and headed up to this amazing little restaurant that is right next to the campground.  The food is soooo good. Everything is made from scratch, the portions are huge, they have just about everything you'd want, and they're reasonably priced.  Since we were leaving Remy in her crate inside the camper, and I didn't want to leave her for too long, we got our food to go.  I ordered a chicken burrito, Cody ordered a steak burrito, and we got chips and salsa to split.  Everything was soooo good!  

After we ate, we decided to go fishing.  The fishing boat, as you can see in the first picture, is fairly small, and if we hadn't been out fishing in it last summer, I would think that Cody and I would be too heavy to fish in it without it sinking.  We had a great time fishing, we caught about 5 or 6 fish each (we threw them all back!) and headed back as it was starting to get windy. 

 We were pretty tired, so we decided to just start a fire and relax for a bit.  Thank goodness Cody can build a fire, because I tried this morning and wasn't having any luck!

While we were hanging out by the fire, the redneck neighbors who were one campsite over, decided to start smoking weed! Now, I'm not against people who smoke.  I don't do it, but I have friends that do, and, well, whatever I guess.  To each his own.  HOWEVER....these people had two kids, one who was probably about 14, and one who was about 2 or 3.  We're thinking they probably live full time in the camper (which was tiny, tiny, by the way).  The dad (who was much older than the mother), had something wrong with his leg, and although he could walk, was in a wheelchair most of the time.  I think he must have medicinal marijuana because of it, I guess I think it was just a bit rude to smoke it when you're surrounded by other campers, and your young children!  

We sat by the fire for the rest of the night, just enjoying the ourdoors, each other, and the sunset....

And at some point, Remy decided she liked beer.....

Don't worry, she didn't drink any, she just got hold of the bottle!

We woke up this morning around 8am, and after about 3 or 4 tries, I was able to make an actual pot of coffee (I'm not good with outside living, I'm telling you!) and we made another fire and sat by the fire and enjoyed the quiet, before getting ready to go.  We were home by 11am, and just spent the rest of the day doing random errands - getting both animals their flea meds, buying Remy a bigger crate, grocery shopping, laundry, etc.  And now, we're sitting here, watching a movie, but all I can think of is how great my bed is going to feel, and how I can't wait to go to the gym and get my second workout in!  

Goodnight everyone!

PS....there's still time to enter my giveaway! DO IT!

Giveaway Reminder and a Weekend update!

Hey all!

Just wanted to remind you guys about my giveaway! I'm giving away an amazing bondi band armband!  It's a pretty green color, it's made of a wicking material, and it's super comfy!  It can hold just about any size phone, ipod, etc.!  Such an awesome product, and you can have one for FREE! You just have to enter my giveaway!  Go to my giveaway post and enter! You have until June 10, because I will be choosing a winner on the 10th!  SO GO DO IT!!!

I had a great weekend this weekend.  I worked Friday, and I have to work today, so that pretty much isn't great, but I had the day off yesterday and it was great! My father in law came into town with his wife (my husband never had a great relationship with his dad until he was older, and even now, he only visits once or twice a year) and we went to Grand Rapids and went out to dinner at one of my favorite places. It's called Bistro Bella Vita and they have some absolutely amazing food.  We shared a bottle of wine, and had some hummus with veggies for an appetizer.  I ordered a seafood spaghetti, which was amazing, but I wish I had ordered the steak that my husband ordered. It was served with a parsnip mash, green beans, corn, and asparagus. SO YUMMY!

After dinner, we went to a local comedy club and saw Tom Green! I was nervous, because I hadn't heard anything about him in years, and I really didn't think he was funny when he was on his show (the bum bum song? really?) but his stand up was really funny.  I was impressed.  After that, we headed to the casino for a bit, and ended up leaving $50 ahead, so it was a good night!

I think we're going camping tomorrow.  Cody's mom rents a campsite for the whole summer, and leaves their camper up there.  It's right on the water, and they have a small fishing boat, and a pontoon boat, so it's a great little spot.  I think we're gonna go up just for tomorrow night, but probably spend the day on Tuesday on the boat.  Maybe we'll have to go monday, because I think there's a small chance of rain on Tuesday, but we'll see. I'm excited just to go up there and relax! I'm sure that means I won't be eating great, but oh well. Maybe I can get a run in through the campground!  

Giveaway!

So I was teasing you all about a giveaway, and now that the holiday is done, the giveaway is here!!!!

Before I get into the giveaway, I want to write up a little review about this product, because I'm in love with it.

For quite a while before my first 5k race, I was trying to find an armband for my phone.  I do run sometimes with my ipod, but generally I use my phone, because I've got pandora, and I've got mapmyrun on it.  Plus, I like having my phone on me just in case of an emergency.  The problem is, I have a very large phone.  It's bigger than the iphone, which basically means it's impossible to find an armband that my phone will fit in.

One of my readers (I'm so sorry that I forgot who!) suggested that I check out bondibands.  The cool thing that I noticed about their armbands is that the pocket that your phone/ipod fits in a pocket that can easily fit any size item.  It's also big enough to where you could put your phone, and your ID, key, etc. in it.

So I decided to give it a try, and I'm SO glad that I did!  I couldn't use my headphones during the race but I have used it afterwards, there is a hole at the top of the armband for your headphones cord.  The material is so lightweight, AND it's the wicking material that helps keep you dry!

I wrote to the company and told them that I loved their product, and they were so awesome and sent me a headband to try out, AND an armband for me to give to one of you! 

I tried the headband the last time I went to the gym, and I love it just as much as I love the armband.  I have a hard time keeping my hair out of my face, and not only did this headband keep it back, but it also kept my head dry.  This is, no doubt, something that I will be wearing every time I work out.

Check out the website if you haven't already.  They have SO many cool things.  The headbands come in so many cool colors, with cool sayings, and you can also create your own! There is also wicking hats, towels, etc.  Such an amazing product, and they are SUPER affordable!

So, giveaway!  The armband that they sent me to give you is a beautiful Green Armband.  There are a few ways you can enter to win!

1. "Like" Bondi Band on Facebook
2. "Follow" Bondi Band on Twitter
3. Blog about this giveaway
4. Pin about this giveaway on Pinterest
5. Follow my blog (I don't know if there are any of you lurking, but FOLLOW ME DARNIT!)

Make sure you leave an individual comment for each of these things that you do so I can enter each comment into the contest!  I will be picking the winner on Sunday, June 10, so get your entries in soon! :)

Oh, and just an FYI, BondiBand did send me the headband and armband, but all of the opinions of their product are my own!

Break

I just realized when I woke up this morning that I haven't blogged in a few days. Sorry guys! It's been a super busy few days, and I'm ashamed to admit, I haven't worked out OR really watched what I ate.  I figured out yesterday that my biggest downfall isn't snacking, or figuring out what healthy things to eat. Because I generally can do pretty well, and stay within my calorie goal. My downfall is my days off.  Cody and I generally try to do some fun things during our days off, because we aren't really sit around the house people.  And I always, always, always tend to eat bad on my days off! I need to start working on that.

So anyway, as I said, Cody and I try to do fun things on our days off. Monday, the weather was kinda cool, So we got up and ran some errands, and then went to the store because his brother and sister in law were coming over for dinner.  We decided to have Baby Back Ribs, Veggie Pasta Salad, and Roasted Red Skin Potatoes.  So we spent most of the day either cooking, or cleaning the house.  Dinner was great, and we had a really great time. After that, we all went out for ice cream, since the weather warmed up.  It was still pretty early (brother and sister in law like to eat dinner around 4:30) so we decided to head up to the casino.  We like to go to the casino once in a while, but we rarely ever come out ahead.  We ended up winning back half our money, so it wasn't a total loss!


Tuesday we went to the mall to get Cody some new clothes.  He's outgrown a lot of his summer clothes (he's gained a pound or two since we started dating) so we went to Old Navy and found him some stuff.  I also bought the second book in the Fifty Shades series....While those books are EXTREMELY dirty, I am addicted, and will more than likely finish the second one today.  When we got home from the mall, we decided to head out grocery shopping, again, because Monday we didn't buy any food for ourselves.  So, we decided to take a drive around our house first, and kind of explore.  We found some AMAZING places, and even some little parks where I might be able to find some places to run!  We went to this super cute little diner along the beach, before heading to the grocery store.  I am super excited about all the stuff we bought though, because 75% of what we bought was fresh produce!  We are going to try juicing once in a while again.  We did it for a bit a few months ago, and we both loved it, but it got expensive so we stopped.   I'm excited about some of the stuff we bought to juice!  I also am excited because I bought some kale, and we're going to make kale chips! I haven't tried them yet, so we'll see how they turn out.  Tuesday night was spent just hanging out watching tv, because we were both super tired from our busy two days.

Wednesday, our local amusement park opened up, and we decided that since we bought our house and it's super close to the park, that we'd buy season tickets.  That way, when we have a few hours to kill, we can go to the park, walk around, get some sun, and ride a few rides whenever we want.  So, we went to the park for a few hours yesterday before work, and it was super fun.  We rode a few rides, but mostly just walked around.  It was good exercise, and we both got a bit of sun! 

So in other news (that you guys will care a bit more about!) I am going to have a product review soon, which also means I'm going to have a GIVEAWAY! I'm super excited about doing a giveaway, because I love the product that I'll be giving out.  I want to wait until I get the product in the mail before doing the giveaway, just to make sure they weren't pulling my leg when they said they'd send me one!  :)

Speaking of giveaways, Tess at Because I want to... is having another giveaway! She's giving away an awesome Run Free shirt, that supports the USO! Go Check it out!!!!