April & May Goal Progress: Lose Weight

My goal for this month is actually a goal for the whole year. I've put everything to the side and have been super focused on losing 50 pounds this year! It all started because I felt like crap, and knew I needed to change! The second reason was that my husband started working overnights and I had the time without feeling guilty for not hanging out with him! 

The first step was changing my diet. I realized through doctor's, testing, and my family's history that I am probably gluten intolerant/celiac and lactose intolerant. I cut out everything in my diet and started fresh. I cut out gluten, dairy, sugar and pop. I had to say goodbye to my wendy's asiago chicken sandwich and that was super depressing for me. ;)

My second step was starting up a work out routine. I dropped about 15 lbs on changing my diet alone. I always get to that plateau and quit. I joined Goodlife where a bunch of my friends go. I joined on May 11th, and have done 17 workouts in 21 days! I took off running, and am never looking back! I really enjoy BodyPump and CXWORX classes. I feel awesome when I can lift a ton of weight at class! Last week I hit a huge milestone and realized I've lost 30 lbs and about 22 (ish) inches.

My biggest goal I had in my head was that I wanted to look smoking hot in a bikini by the time we go to Mexico in November. I did a test run last weekend and went away with my husband and wore my bikini. It felt liberating, and I couldn't believe how comfortable I felt.

Here are some progress pictures I've taken over the past couple months. My goal for next month is to get really comfortable in spin class where I don't feel comfortable AT ALL! My bum still hurts from last night.

See you guys next month! (This was supposed to be for May, but I'm late to the party)

This was from the beginning of February until last week! I noticed a huge change in my legs.

Melissa Buck, Pokemon birthday party!

This month was SUPPOSED to be cooking three times a week. Instead I think we ate out more than 3 times a week. My grandpa passed away at the beginning of the month so we went to Utah for a week. It took us about a week to prepare to go, a week to go on the trip, and a week to get back to normal. My husband and I have very intense jobs and we had to make up a lot of time. I was also grieving so things were slow when we got back. A couple days after we got back I came down with a nasty, nasty cold and laryngitis. I'm kinda of getting my voice back now.

Now that I've given you every excuse in the book, I'll tell you something that I DID accomplish this month. I planned my step-daughter's birthday party. It's tomorrow. Here is what I did! She is really, really obsessed with Pokemon. We searched everywhere for decorations, and couldn't find any. (Side note: Today we went to the dollar store by our house and found a huge Pokemon birthday section. Fail on our part. We definitely bought the tablecloth, napkins, and plates though!)

I started to look on pinterest and found a few ideas I thought I could run with. I enlisted the help of Randy and my sister-in-law Tara to help. We made a banner, painted some plastic Pokeballs, a pillow (my friend made) and I color coordinated everything. Here are some shots!

 This was at the very beginning. I found some half red/clear plastic balls so I figured we could make those into Pokeballs with a little bit of electrical tape and paint.

Here is the finished product. That banner took a good 4 hours to make. We had to cut out the circles in red and white cardstock, then tape them together with electrical tape. I spent quite a few hours stenciling, cutting and pasting the letters on the Pokeballs. We just have to finish the "Annaleen" part.

Here are some other things we got. While we were in Utah we found a vinyl shop and had them make the vinyls for Annaleen's wall. We can't wait to decorate her room! You can also see the finished Pokeballs.

 My amazing friend made the pillow for me in one day! I color coordinated all the presents too.

 Here are all the little finished products. I can't believe we did this. I can't wait to see her face tomorrow. The only thing missing is Annaleen! We are also planning to make Pokeball pizzas and cupcakes tomorrow. I'll have to update this after the party tomorrow!

Hopefully next month is better! I've changed up my goals, and I'm trying to think of a good one for next month. I'll see what I come up with!

Melissa Buck - Read 3 books in January

Hi! My name's Melissa Buck and Nora is my awesome older cousin! I always felt so special growing up because she had a great nickname for me. Now, I'm not sure if she gave one to any other of my cousins, but Maloola meant a lot more to me than I think she ever knew!

I currently live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I moved back up here (it's a lonnnng story) for good in October of 2009. I am now married to Randy (the reason I moved here) for the past 3.5 years. I just received my permanent residency. I have a 9 year-old step daughter named Annaleen and two VERY spoiled cats. I'm a crazy cat lady. I'm obsessed with them. I have a fat tabby named Theo, and a tortoiseshell named Katniss. We just got Katniss in October, and they really get along. I'm a full-time nanny for twin 21 month olds, and a 6 year old girl, which I really really love. I also run a small cleaning business and kind of enjoy that. My real passion is with the kids, and I look forward to hanging out with them almost every day.

My goal for January was to read 3 books. I didn't want to have too big of a goal because we were moving into our new condo at the end of January. I read The Rosie Project, Divergent and Insurgent. I enjoyed all three books and would recommend any of them.I've been trying to read more, but spend way too much time on Facebook, Instagram, Buzzfeed and other stuff like that.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the year!

Melissa Buck's Projects & Goals for 2014

January: Read 3 books

February: Get house unpacked and walk 10 km a week.

March: Cook 3 times a week! (I don't cook..ever)

April: Make 15 crockpot meals to use while Randy is in school from May-August
 
May: Get my bike tuned up, and bike 20 kms a week.  
June: Join a spin class
 
July: Go for a walk 5 times a week.
 
August: Plan a big camping trip for the end of August
 
September: Join a book club and actually read the books.
 
October: Make 10 homemade gifts in anticipation for Christmas  
November: Pack and organize for Mexico, and enjoy Mexico without my phone!!
 
December: I want to really try to decorate and think about the season during December. I felt so rushed and didn't get a chance to enjoy the season this year.