This jumper

I've really been wanting a black 'jumper'/'romper' (whatever they call it) all year. I've questioned whether I could pull one off but decided it was worth a try. So...I found this one at Ann Taylor online and had my assistant run by the store to pick it up. 

Well of course, I expected it to look just like this on me...but that was not happening. Let's just say that the torso was too short and I practically violated the damn thing. Awkward. 

Black jumper 1, Hillary 0

They probably wouldn't even take it back if they had seen me in it...Sorry Ann. 

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Memorial Holiday Weekend

Jay and I had a little getaway to Fort Worth this past weekend! We went for a close friend's wedding reception and turned it into the chance to see some other friends, eat well and relax. Basically a win/win/win. Warning: this trip (like many others) was not well documented in pictures. I really despise myself!

We arrived in Dallas at 3:45 on Friday afternoon and got our rental go cart...I mean car. It was a Chevy Cruze and it shook the whole time! 

Here we are 'cruzing' to FTW. 

We got to FTW and went to dinner. Jay insisted on Joe T Garcia's and even called ahead to ensure that they had gluten-free options. I knew they had gluten-free options bc most of their dishes are corn tortilla based but I can't eat grains of any description so it didn't help me much...I ate fajita chicken and gaucamole. I didn't tell jay though bc he was a. Being thoughtful and b. So excited about the food. 

After dinner, we went to West 7th and sat on the patio at Waters and had drinks (hot tea for me :( ) while waiting to meet up with one of my best friends from college and her boyfriend (who I had not met yet!)!! We met them at AF + B and they had more drinks while I guzzled water (pity party for one). Celia and Aaron were all I had hoped for. He's got my vote! Sadly...no pictures of that get-together. 

Saturday was amazing! We slept until 10:00am...it was really more like 6:30am and then forced ourselves back to sleep. It worked! We got up and walked from our hotel to the Reata and had lunch. My amazing bun-less burger deserved a food pic but another failure on my part. Then we went to Nordstroms so that Kay could find some new jeans. He didn't find jeans but I found shoes and he found freshly baked cookies. We both win! We headed back to the hotel and got ready for the Cyrier Reception. The reception was about 30 minutes away in Bedford. 

Waiting on valet:

Zach and Sarah got married in April in LV and I wasn't able to make it so this was a must attend for is! Sarah and I go waaaay back to our Outback Steakhouse hostess days and Sarah and Zach actually met at OB! They are expecting their first baby (GIRL!) in September and Sarah was even starting to show...a little. Adorable!! 

And just because girls need options...our selfie!

Love her, mean it!

After the reception, Jay took me to Ruth Chris for dinner. They were full so our concierge suggested that we say that it was our anniversary. We did and it worked...except they referenced it all night and spread confetti hearts all over our table. Oh well, it was worth the facade! It was amazing!! We went from dinner back to West 7th to meet up with the Pabody's (long time couple friends from Jay's Midland days). They recently moved to the DFW area and were in town for the Colonial golf tournament. They started drinking around noon so it was quite the show by the time we met them and their friends. Then it started pouring rain and that broke up the party pretty well. We were in bed by 11:30...which I consider a victory. 

Our flight home was at noon on Sunday so we got up and had breakfast at The Cowtown Diner and hit the road. I LOVE eggs Benedict and was thinking that I would have to give them up until my stroke of genius! I ask for sautéed spinach instead of an English muffin and it was incredible!! Let us say 'amen'. 

We made it to the airport and grabbed some coffee for Jay. The barista asked for a name so I have her mine and then when she realized that it was for Jay she handed him this...

We got home and Jay invited a friend over to grill and play washers. My best childhood friend called me and told me that she thought that she had punctured her eardrum with a q-tip. I met her at the office to survey the damage and although she severely abraded her ear canal, thankfully she didn't puncture the drum. Warning--graphic picture! She was cleaning her ear with a q-tip when she hit her arm accidentally and pushed the q-tip all the way down. She completely skinned her canal stopping right at the ear drum. This is why q-tips are dangerous!! You never know what will happen when your holding one in your ear! Let this be a lesson kids...

I got home around 10:00 and Jay decided that it was time to shave the dogs. Poor Stella and Job...they look pretty bad (especially Stella). Much cooler though and much less hair to deal with!

Monday was GLORIOUS!! I began my day off by having coffee with Alyson. After coffee I went to Sprouts and did all my grocery shopping. I unloaded everything and settled onto the couch for a Criminal Minds marathon with my pug and a steady slow rain. Can't get much better than that!

Lush. 

Then the slow rain turned into the hardest fastest rain that I've ever seen and flooded everything in the neighborhood. It was all fun and games until Jay went out to his nursery/office and found that his office was flooded with about 3 inches of water from front to back. Not cool but still really really thankful for the rain!! Thank you Lord!

While Jay and Carpet Tech were working on the flood zone, I continued my marathon and cooked several things for the week. I'm really good at being strict with my diet but having foods prepared and ready for lunch and dinner makes all the difference in the level of stress that comes at meal time. After about 9 hours of serial murders marathon style...I was thoroughly disturbed and went to bed. It really was a perfect day full of all the things I love: coffee with a friend, home, pug, husband, weim, pointer, marathon tv, and the best...RAIN! Let's keep praying for more!

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Favorite Things

I am bursting with a few new favorites. Most are related to my new 'lifestyle'...but I guess there are some perks to major changes. 

Synergy Kombucha

Kombucha is a fermented probiotic drink made from black or green tea. I drink one a day to help replenish the good bacteria in my intestines. They make it in a ton of different flavors. My two favorites are Strawberry and Chia Seed Raspberry. Water and herbal teas are the only things that I'm supposed to be drinking so this is like a 'treat' for me...sad, I know! You can find this for about $3.50 at any natural/whole foods type grocery store. 

The next favorite is probably the best one! I bought myself a Blendtec blender. I did quite a bit of research between the Blendtec and Vitamix and landed on the Blendtec because of it's digital features and ability to travel well. It is INSANE!! Talk about amazing smoothies and anything else you might want to blend. This thing was a little pricey...it retailed for $599 but I found it on sale for $379. A little crazy, I know, but I am using it ALL the time and it does not compare to a 'normal' blender. Embrace the impulse buyer in you and get this blender...if you do a lot of blending of course! This isn't the model that I got but I couldn't find a picture...

I'm a long time lululemon lover and was pretty excited to see a new track short. This track short has wide elastic cotton waist band but are still long enough to wear in public which is why they made my 'favorites' list. Seriously the most comfortable shorts on the planet. Not cheap ($54) but you need these for summer!

RMS Beauty is a new organic makeup line that I'm giving a try. The primary ingredient is coconut oil and all products are 'liquid/cream' and come in a little pot. So far, I'm a HUGE fan of the concealer, a moderate fan of the blush/lip gloss and not loving the eye shadow or highlighter. The concealer has excellent coverage and it's the only base product that I'm using currently. The blush doesn't blend as well as I would like but does stay really well so that's good. The eye shadow creases even with a primer underneath and the highlighter I just can't seem to really need. I would definitely recommend giving the line a try though if you're looking to get away from unnecessary chemicals. I can't remember the exact cost but I think that I got the four pots in a special package for $125. 

My last favorite an amazing cookbook called Against All Grain. It contains 150 grain-free and dairy-free recipes that are delish! There are a lot of recipes in the book that I can't get into yet but it has definitely helped me expand my mind and meals since taking on this very strict diet geared towards healing my gut from the damage that the gluten has done over the years. The lady who wrote it (Danielle Walker) suffered from severe ulcerative colitis for years and years and finally cured and healed herself after taking on a completely grain-free diet. It was around $25 and I think it would be great for anyone trying to eat better, not just those of us with restricted diets!

Enjoy!

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Orlando and much more!

It seems like the only time I blog is when I go somewhere and need to document my trip. I hate that, I really do, but I just haven't been in the blogging mood lately. More about that later. So I was in Orlando for a work conference last week. We made a pretty quick trip of it....or that was the plan anyways. It was supposed to be Thursday-Saturday but due to some unforeseen circumstances we stretched it out to Sunday. 

Richard, Debra, Matt and I set off for Orlando very early on Thursday morning. We made it to Orlando by 1:00pm and went straight to the conference until 5:00pm. We walked around the exhibit hall and for the first time in my life my shoes were actually a good choice and my feet weren't killing me. I always have so much shoe anxiety when I travel because I struggle with the balance of looking cute and being functional. Some girls can just compartmentalize the pain when their feet hurt but I'm just not one of them...it's consumes me. Oh the devastation! After the exhibit hall we completely gorged ourselves at Fogo de Chao which was beyond gluttonous and incredible. Side note- the cheese rolls are gluten free! Score. Then we headed to a very lame audiology sponsored concert to see Smash Mouth...ear plugs and Smash Mouth. Somehow, I had to leave early...

Headed to the conference! 

Richie, Deb and me after dinner. Wish I wasn't slouching but I was just really full...

Day two called for a huge breakfast and then a slight cab mishap for Debra and I. I was having a great time with the gluten free bar at the Ritz and then BAM my day took a detour. I was getting out of the cab at the convention center (in the drop off zone) when a van sped past us and hit my door. He proceeded to get out and scream at me and ask me "Why would you do that?! Why would you open your door?!" Seriously guy? Because I was in the drop off/pedestrian zone but I felt terrible although it wasn't technically my fault since I was in motion first. It still sucked for everyone involved, especially our really really nice cab driver. :( 

We finally met up with Matt and Richard who got up early and went to the convention like we were on a work trip instead of gorging on breakfast and causing a cab wreck. After the conference we may have done a little shopping...maybe. 

But first, let's give Matt a round of applause for losing 85lbs since this time last year!!

Love him!!

Then this happened....yikes! Chanel for moi? 

Oh and this was the cute dress for day two! You should know that wedges are a great travel but still cute shoe choice. :)

Day two ended with another incredible dinner, room service dessert and a movie. Lushes. 

Day three (also known as the day we didn't make it home) started promising with a little time spent at the spa. I'm pretty partial to ANY Ritz Carlton spa, never met one I didn't love. I went with a tried and true combo of massage and facial. Heavenly! After my facial we had to go straight to the airport. I wasn't looking my best due to the lack of makeup and ton of massage oil in my hair but figured I would be home in a few short hours...right? Wrong! This is when things started to get interesting/scary. We made it to the airport just in time to learn that our flight had been delayed by two hours. We soon found out why when tornado warning sirens to start going off in the airport and on everyone's phones! To help matters he entire airport was made of glass and they asked everyone to stay away from the glass...or as we called it--mission impossible. Debra has actual human children that she needs to survive for so we sought shelter in the ladies' bathroom along with mothers with small children. After a couple of hours and a very discombobulated airport we ended up delayed seven hours and missed our Lubbock connection in Dallas. 

Staying alive. 

We may be here a while...

Played a game called "Where will Matt put his Invisalign next?" to pass the time. 

We finally made it to Dallas at 10:15pm and learned that we wouldn't be able to go home until 7:45am the next morning.  We got a hotel for a very short night, grabbed some Taco C and some toiletries and went to sleep. The next morning was possibly my worst public appearance ever. My hair was even more atrocious (complete grease ball) than I could imagine and I didn't have any makeup (stuck in my checked bag at the airport) and I had been in my clothes for a full 24 hours. We made it back to Lubbock by 9:00am and it was good to be home and see my favorite guy and pups! :) 

So that was that trip. Never a dull moment and always great company!

Part two of this post is a little more on the serious side. Back in February (I think?) I posted about some health problems I was having. Well the bad news is that I'm still having them and still don't have a true cause or solution. I've had multiple tests run and tried to do everything that I can with diet, exercise and supplements but still feel pretty bad abt 60-75% of the time. Oddly, I feel worse after each time that I eat. I get foggy headed/confused, chills, exhausted and am having trouble sleeping. Needless to say it's getting frustrating especially because work is soooo demanding right now and feeling bad/exhausted/foggy headed is not in the game plan. I do have great hope though! I won't get into a rant about traditional American medicine except to say that I'm disappointed in the system overall. Our medical system strives to spend as little time as possible with patients, bill insurance and prescribe medication to just treat symptoms as opposed to finding the root cause. I don't think that doctors are to blame necessarily...they are just the product of a bad system. Unless I have a limb missing or another acute issue you will not find me calling on a traditional doctor. Waste of my time and money. Ok, so I guess I ranted a little. Anyways, my hope comes from a new doctor that I found in Lubbock that practices functional medicine. Functional medicine combines the advanced technology of traditional medicine and the mindset and treatment of eastern medicine. It seeks to determine the root cause and treat the whole person and not just symptoms. The idea is that if you weren't born with it then it's curable. I have my first appointment on Thursday and I feel hopeful for the first time in months. It's completely private pay but I'm to the point where I'll do almost anything to feel normal/better. I believe that God has led me this direction and I am commited to whatever program/plan they recommend for me. Afterall, I've already given up gluten, all other grains, processed food, most dairy, refined sugar, soy and red meat. I'm determine to regain my health and be 'well'. I don't want to just be 'ok', I want to be vibrant and energetic. My goal is to be healthier than I've ever been as an "adult". Prayers and positive vibes are appreciated. I'll keep you updated!

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On the road again!

I'm in Tyler, Texas this week for work and let me just say that it is beautiful! Trees and warmer weather are some of my favorites this week. 

Some of my not-favorites include being on a cleanse while out of town. It's a little inconvenient to be out of town this week because it's the last week of my cleanse and I really wanted to finish strong. I've been doing a 21-day cleanse to continue the task of rebalancing my system from the appetite suppressants. The word 'cleanse' sounds a little extreme but it's actually been decently easy to stick to it once I got used to it. I read a book called Clean by Alejandro Junger, MD where he discusses the importance of digestive health to your overall health and basically how the standard American diet is creating a pill popping, toxic, and unhealthy culture. After reading the book and reflecting on some of my past diet choices, I absolutely agree with him. It's been a goal of mine to begin to 'eat clean' so I decided to embark on his recommended cleanse. The 'rules' are have a liquid breakfast (smoothie or fresh juice), a solid lunch and a liquid dinner (smoothie or fresh juice). No gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, night shades, peanuts, beef, pork, or any other possible allergen provoking food to allow the digestive system to heal and the body to detoxify. Whole foods and preferably organic whole foods are on the menu. I broke out my juicer and have quickly fallen back in love with juicing again. Smoothies haven't been my favorite because bananas aren't allowed in the cleanse but luckily I love all of the allowed fresh fruits and vegetables so I've gotten along just fine. Surprisingly, I haven't been hungry at all, crazy...I know AND I am feeling much better overall. I've improvised in Tyler to make it work the best I can. Jay smoked an organic chicken for me before I left and I packed it, my magic bullet and a few healthy snacks in my suitcase. Then once I made it to Tyler, I found an awesome grocery store called FRESH and did some grocery shopping. I found that the market part of FRESH makes fresh juice so I was able to stick to my juicing routine. Pretty big win for me! 

I've done really well overall, although tonight I went a little crazy at dinner and ordered two entrees and dessert...oops gluten, eggs and dairy were all in attendance. Back on the wagon tomorrow to finish strong!

Here are a couple of recent pictures:

My favorite juice concoction is pineapple, cucumber, broccoli, kale, Swiss chard and apples! So good!!

I'm practically a real mom. I haven't gone to the bathroom or taken a bath completely alone in years. Here is my entourage. 

Saturday night Jay and I went to a concert with our friends Chase and Karla. Karla's cousin and his wife have a band called Nocona and they were on their way to SXSW in Austin and stopped in Lubbock to play a show. They were great...even though we left at midnight. That's late enough for the Taylor's. The girl on the chello blew my mind. 

You mean not everyone packs a whole deboned chicken, dates, figs, a magic bullet and coconut water in their suit case? Oh...

Pho or yellow curry? Couldn't chose...so I got both! Excellent choices for my derailment dinner!

Ready to head back to west Tx but happy to have missed the haboob that blew through last night. Ready to see these little beggars and their dad!

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Another Week in the Books

February has been a tough month to get my act together. I've been doing a lot of traveling for work and although I'm by myself in the evenings I haven't felt like doing much blogging. You see...I did something pretty stupid and now I'm having to deal with the consequences. It's a really long story that I'm not going to get into but basically I joined a medically supervised weight loss plan because a friend of mine had great success and wasn't working nearly as hard for nearly as long as I had been. I got a little envious and decided to short cut the ole 'healthy diet and regular exercise' plan that I had been using since January 2013. Well great news, I lost the last 10 lbs and got to my goal weight... but bad news I did it with the help of a prescription appetite suppressant that threw my endocrine system into a tailspin.  It began in Vegas in mid-January with a anxiety-like attack/stroke feeling. It completely caught me off guard and was terrifying. That same weird heavy feeling, confusion, trouble speaking, heart racing, panic type feeling came back over and over for about two weeks and has now progressively tapered off to extreme exhaustion or not able to sleep at all, extreme hunger or no hunger at all, headaches, trouble regulating body temperature, poor memory, etc. Basically, I'm a complete mess and I'm working hard to rebalance my hormones naturally and holistically. I'm trying to correct the health of my gut and digestive system with a cleanse and eating clean and rebalancing my hormones with exercise, relaxation, prayer and natural supplements. Oh and yes, I went to the doctor but the doctor who prescribed the meds acted as though it was impossible that the medication could have this effect and my personal PCP wanted to potentially treat me (i.e., prescribe more medicine) for things that he wasn't sure were going on and didn't want to give the Rx appetite suppressant much attention. I wasn't open to taking any additional medication and have felt since day one that it was the medication because it was the only recent change in my routine and I am otherwise a healthy and active 29 year old. Also, any drug that acts to falsely increase neurotransmitters to fool your body into ignoring it's survival signals (hunger) can negatively effect your endocrine system. So...oops, I went into much more detail than I intended on but the moral of the story is that weight loss is best handled with common sense. If your program seems too good to be true then it's probably not good for you. Lesson learned...and continues to be learned the really hard way. I am really grateful for the progressive improvements though! 

Enough of that! Here's a peek at my week in pictures. 

We started a new series at church called "Marriage Makers and Marriage Breakers". It's a 6-week study on what the bible says about marriage and how to create oneness (not sameness) in your marriage. We're finding great value in it even though some of the principles aren't easy to follow. I can't imagine a better investment of my time than preparing for a successful and biblical marriage. 

Monday morning at 6:30am I flew to Dallas and then drove to Cleburne for the opening of a new office. What a beautiful look above the clouds! 

On Monday evening I drove to FTW to visit one of my best friends, Celia, and her mom, Cynthia, who is battling Stage 4 bone cancer. They recently placed her on home hospice and therefore, I really expected my visit to be be somber and depressing but it was the exact opposite. Cynthia was so excited to see me (it was a surprise!) and had a huge smile on her face when I walked into her room. We sat and talked for about an hour and just shared stories (new and old) and laughed. It was literally one of the best moments of my life and I'm so grateful for Celia's parents in my life. They have always been so good to me and although I don't understand God's timing in this situation, Cynthia trusts Him and so do I. Cynthia told me as I was leaving that we are going to Chuy's to have a New Mexican Green Chile Margarita very soon! I'm in!

Call me goofy but I had been resisting jumping on the EOS chapstick train until Tuesday. It was freezing and my lips were so dry. I couldn't find my Burt's Bees so I picked up one of these at CVS...and I love it! Go get one!!

On Wednesday morning I drove from Cleburne to Greenville to meet my team for another office set-up. We got everything ready and then I got to fly home on the private plane instead of going through security and waiting at the airport. I won't lie...it's MUCH better! Breanne seems pretty comfortable too!

Thursday was a praise day! My dad had a pretty major neck surgery to separate several vertebrae that were grinding on one another. Ouch! Here he is before surgery in his fancy surgical cap! Thankfully the surgery went very well and now he's at home recooperating for a few weeks. 

Valentine's Day was Owen's first birthday!!! We are waiting to have his party until my dad can participate but wow, what a joy he is in our lives! I can't believe that he's already a whole year old!

 

I used to hate 'food on face' baby pictures but now I'm a convert. This guy makes spaghetti look adorable!

On Saturday evening Jay used his new smoker (Christmas gift from yours truly) to make dinner. He smoked himself a ribeye and a piece of ahi tuna for me. This smoker might be the best purchase I've ever made! Everything is delicious and not overly smokey tasting. We spent the night at home watching the Olympics.

Well that was pretty much it. Work is great, my family is great and my health is on the rebound. I wish I didn't have to learn things the hard way but...I guess I just do! 

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Some good ones.

It's been mentioned to me once or twice that I need to have children so that I'll stop posting pictures of my dogs...but...they're pretty adorable and they are my babies right now. And since all I do is snap pictures of them it should be represented on this blog. 

Without further a due...

And a couple of my favorite baby humans...

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