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Go to lifeofblyss.com. 😀

I’m Self-Hosted! & A Weekend Recap

This post is going to be a ginormous update full of A.D.D. I know I’ve been M.I.A., but I swear, I have good excuses. 🙂

One. I’m OFFICIALLY self-hosted now! Thanks to Seth @ Boy Meets Food (thank you for the rec, Julie, he was awesome), I’m now with Bluehost and available at lifeofblyss.com. Ah yeah!

That means I can finally reply to reader comments with an automatic e-mail notification. And if you haven’t yet, go “Like” the blog on Facebook!

Two. My childhood bestie from New Jersey, Mag/Maggie/Magalicious (remember my birthday post to her last November?) came to visit Virginia Beach for the weekend. It was blyssfull (I love doing that; don’t hate).

Three. I then spent Sunday-Tuesday at home with my parents, my pup, and my sister and her three kiddos. It was some wonderful family time, and nowwww…

Four. CHLOE IS OFFICIALLY BACK HOME!

Her excitement upon seeing me never fails to completely melt my heart. I arrived home to be tackled and slobbered all over.

good thing I wore my swimsuit

so. many. kisses.

I will tackle you back and cover you with kisses and you will like it.

So, after I was reunited with my baby, my awesome sister arrived for a few days with the girlie gals.

And after getting used to her overzealous nature, they were pretty big fans of her, too. Mackenzie, the one holding the leash, decided she now wants to become a dog breeder instead of a DJ.

Adelyn, the one on the ground, thought she was being told to “SIT.” when we were trying to pose Chloe in this picture. Such a good listener.

And check out the brave tubers!

Speaking of brave, many have asked how my sister is doing.

Three words: She’s a rockstar. She is officially cancer free, and she even ran with me yesterday with NO PAIN. So much excitement!

She’s awesome. And cancer free.

And speaking of RUNNING, guess whose dream Asics arrived?!

cue the angel chorus; it’s my bright yellow Asics!

I gave them a whirl, along with my hydration belt, for the first time.

I’ve got a belt.

It was above 90 degrees out. There was no wind. I got bright red and very, very sweaty, and I will not subject you to a visual of my face afterwards (thank me later).

I can’t decide how I feel about the hydration belt. The two baby bottles don’t even fit a whole bottle of Propel in the two of them, so I feel like I’d get even more water if I just carried a bottle. I also had a lot of trouble with it bouncing on my hips.

I ended up pushing it as far down as I could, kind of resting it on the top of my butt, to make it stay. Thank you, ‘donk.

And this is my recovery spot.

And then, because I decided I earned it, I did work on the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. In my life.

It’s heaven on a very big plate. There’s mushrooms and white truffle oil on that sucker, and it’s crazy amazing.

And now, I’ll leave you with scenes from the weekend.

how “VA Beach” am I with that cutoff shirt?

Actually, that shirt didn’t used to be a cutoff. It shrunk in the wash, and I have a really long torso. Whoops.

Maaag, open those peepers

“This bar. It smells like stinky feet.”

“…You but in front of me.”

I’ve waited SO LONG for these girlies to meet!

(And how much of a hot mom is Anastasia in her one piece?)

To clarify, she’s not a mom. We just tell her she looks like a hot mom when she wears the one-piece. Yes?

Evidence that Mom has adopted the “Waaah!” And evidence that Chloe is the bomb.com and everybody loves her.

“They’re the twooo best friends that anyone can have”

One last thing.

I have found the perfect earrings for our bridesmaid dresses. The only thing is, they’re priiicey! Does anyone know a jewelry designer/maker who does personalized designs and could recreate these bad boys for less?

(source)

Bender Ballin’ to Some Killer Abdominals

About 42834729 people have questioned/commented on my obsession with working my core.

I can’t help it. I love feelin’ the burn in my abs.

And I have a confession – I only report about half of my ab workouts on my exercise tab. Seeecret ab workouts going on around here.

I have a love affair with my Bender Ball.

Check out this video, try the ball, and you’ll understand. Promise.

There is a huge lack of awkwardness in this video. No sir, no awkward here at all.

I also love how YouTube always gets my very most attractive angle in its preview thumbnails. Thank you, YouTube!

Now go get a Bender Ball. Its results are equivalent to doing a bajillion crunches for hours a night. Trust me, I used to try to do that. The Bender is better.

Once you go Bender, you never go back.

Dear Leslie Bender, you may now send me a grand percentage of your proceeds from here on out. You’re so very welcome for this unsolicited glowing review.

😀 Enjoy that.

This Is How Awesome I am.

The title of this beauty is all Janae‘s fault.

You see, in her post yesterday, she talked about how she recovers from her long run/work days (or long days void of any hard running or working). After noting she likes to get in pajamas, leave her hair a mess, eat cookies, and watch marathons of not-so-popular TV (sorry, Janae, you’re still my hero, and I’m still mildly obsessed with you, but I don’t know anyone else who watches “Make It Or Break It”) ;), she asked what I did to recover.

Welp…

I was being completely facetious, but she just straight up told me she’d hunt me down if I didn’t do a post about how awesome I am.

…or something like that.

So… how do I recover from a tiring day? 

1. I run a lot.
KNOCK ON WOOD, my shin is recuperating well with all my special stretches from physical therapy. Booo-yah! So, this week started the lax part of MARATHON training. That still sounds weird without the “half” in front of it.

So, I’ve joined a new gym (with Jamie! fist pump!), and I’m loving the change of scenery. Even if the treadmill has a very ill-placed bar in front of my face. Good thing Jamie’s cute. I’ll just rip her headphones out every day and make her talk to me.

2. Lotsa painting.
Since Colleen’s bridal party glasses are done and in her hands, I’ve completed a makeup artist glass for my friend Alyssa (a girl who was clearly blessed by the great-name fairy).

Trust Sandra. She’s a Makeup Artist.

3. Get really motivated to do laundry,
throw the clothes in the washer, switch them to the dryer, and leave them there. Cause folding sucks and I hate it.

4. Buy the best color asics…ever… online.
‘Cause apparently, when you’re training for a half marathon, you need TWO pairs of running shoes.

Free shipping at Zappos, whatwhaat!

Elite Runners must all be rich. This is a stupid expensive hobby.

But I’m not complaining, because I found the best color Asics on the planet. Remember these? Obsessed much?

5. Extend my online shopping problem to Victoria’s Secret
and buy things I’ve been swooning over since last September.

See that? It’s mine.

Apparently, Victoria’s little secret has eluded me, ’cause I return on a quest for more entirely too often.

6. I sift through and delete really fantastic Facebook messages
from strangers who can’t even view my profile.

MAN.. cuter than a koala bear? I’m swooning again.

You’re welcome for sharing that with you.

7. And just as I told Janae, I like to grab my bender ball for a nice ab workout.
Sometimes I bang it out in 15 minutes, sometimes I lay there with the ball propping my head up. Ya win some, ya lose some.

That’s how I roll.

I’ll leave you with this.
Cause Chloe wants you to go “like” the new Life of bLyss Facebook page. 😉

Baseball, FroYo, and Cars

I’m so girly with my blog titles, aren’t I?

Daddy-O, also known as B-Halt, came to Virginia Beach last night to work on the house a bit (for those of you who don’t know, my daddy is currently “flipping” the house in which I currently live).

After a fun trip to Home Depot for Slug Bait (heeey, what up, slugs in mah bathroom?), Aunt Bait (I’ve also got some homeboys marching into my kitchen), and a sprinkler, we headed to Waterman’s for some dinna.

I should get a frequent visitor card to Waterman’s. I can’t help it… I just love the food, location, and atmosphere, and I had to show Dad around.

And guess who was playing on the bar T.V. right in front of us?

this guy
(source)

versus

THIS GUY.
(source)

The best matchup ever… my team versus one of my college buddies. Remember my post about how my friend Jerry was brought up to play in the majors for the LA Dodgers? He’s still busy being awesome. Batting 7th last night against the Phillies. NBD. Just a few grand slams…

It was difficult to capture him on my Blackberry’s camera…

But Jerbear’s got some moves. (source)

I spent the game texting Jerry’s fiance, Morgan, planning my trip to D.C. when the Dodgers play the Nationals. I’m pretty psyched about cheering in the stands with her like old times. 🙂

Boop! He’s excited.

After watching the game over dinner, Dad twisted my arm and had to bribe to go get some fro yo. Part of that sentence is true, part of that sentence is a complete fabrication.

Skip, skip, skip to my loo

I was goin’ for some real health on my fro yo. I picked nonfat dark chocolate mixed with nonfat frosted cupcake.

Then I added butterfinger, oreo, pie crust, cookie dough, a brownie bite, and cinnamon toast crunch.

Please don’t hold the hot fudge.

Hey, I ran an easy 5 yesterday… I do what I want.

Plus, it’s completely this guy’s fault I have such a problem controlling myself around ice cream and chocolate.

It’s also his fault I am really lanky and have long fingers and not so tiny feet, but that’s a story for another day.

Know what else is fun? Spending 1,200 some dollas getting your car completely serviced (new fluids, new brakes, removal of the unicorns who were poking holes in my exhaust) to find your “check engine” light back a month later.

Does anybody else still have the same car they got when they first started driving? I never ever ever want mine to die. I love him. Any guesses to what breed he is? 😉

P.S. If you got the Dane Cook reference above, you get to join my new best friend list. 🙂

When Things Just Work Out Perfectly

Have you ever had one of those weekends where everything just turned out… perfect?

Don’t get jeal or anything, buuuut… WE DID!

As you know, my college besties came to visit me in Virginia Beach for the first time. And it. was. awesome.

Dana and Abby didn’t get to Virginia Beach until late Friday night, so we stayed in and caught up in preparation for serious activities the next day.

Dana was sad Chloe wasn’t home yet, so she slept in her bed for the night.

But you KNOW the next day we were up and rarin’ for some beach fun!

As promised, I provided the margaritas.

(Just pretend my tan doesn’t fade upwards. It’s weird and I’ve always had a pale face/chest and really tan legs.)

“wait, you can’t stay forever and ever?”

When you both have a sick Victorias Secret “problem,” you will end up having the same bikini top.

“What’s that? I make the best skinny beach margarita ever and you love Virginia Beach and you want to move here? Awesome.”

After our all-day beach extravaganza, we got all prettied up for a night out on the oceanfront.

I’ve missed dressing Dana so much, I dressed her in my pink ruffle tank top (even if she did embarrass me by looking like at shoobie tourist with the coveted camera-around-neck look).

And guess who forgot this weekend was the huge Beach Concert series? This girl did!

The oceanfront was a complete zoo, and as we pulled up to Waterman’s, our restaurant of choice, we were feeling pretty defeated.

Buuuut who knew a pout coupled with some puppy eyes would coerce a valet boy into parking our car? 😉

Sometimes, it’s nice being a girl.

We walked into the restaurant expecting a 23847 minute wait, and we were right – a one hour wait was posted. BUT LUCKY FOR US, a man I’ll call “I’m-really-impatient-and-silly-but-others-appreciate-it” gave us his table because he was too tired of waiting.

Hellooo, 15 minute wait!

Things got better.

Would you believe me if I told you we were lead to the best table overlooking the Beach Boys Concert?

I’m serious. Best seats in the house.

We made a few Full House references (remember when the Beach Boys were on there?!) and high-fived and did splits in the air over our fantastic luck.. all before our drinks arrived.

After our dinner of calamari, fish tacos, and seafood pasta, we skipped out to the oceanfront to meet up with this girl you always see frequenting my blog and the boys.

JAMIIEEEEE!

Abby was really impressed with Virginia Beach’s use of cops on horses.

And by impressed, I mean Abby spent the whole night snickering about how that cop could certainly take down so many more people on horseback than if he were on a motorcycle or in a cop car.

And then it was time for dancing.

Virginia Beach: We bring you our trademark dance move… all the way from freshman year. You can be impressed.

Abby got jealous because we kept taking Jersey girl pictures so she stuck her Georgian foot into this one.

“JERSEY GIIIIRLS!”

You know somebody’s a happy girl when the DJ plays Ke$ha for her all night long.

My Virginia Beach-but-really-from-South-Jersey partner in crime

“Hey back right, play me some Ke$ha and check your pocket.”

And look who won a VB T-shirt? She wasn’t psyched about it. At all.

This guy wanted to dance with her because they had matching ponies.

My kinda guy.

We called it a night after a whooole lotta dancing, “Yo-kid” greetings, hair flips, splits in the bar (I’ll spare you those pictures), and the face you make when you don’t want to have to dance with somebody.

But not before staring longingly into the windows of Kohr Brother’s Ice Cream wishing they were open for some treats.

Some things never change.

And I’m so glad they don’t. 😀

It was the perfect weekend with my girlfriends I miss so much. Somebody tell them they need to move here full-time so we can repeat this weekend for the rest of our lives. Please and thank you. 😉

Are You Ready, VB?

Remember these pretty ladies?

Triple Trouble.

That’s right. My college best friends. Yes, we were known as “Triple Trouble,” inseparable for four years.

And I’m SOSOSO EXCITED for their first trip to visit me in Virginia Beach this weekend!

We were little babies when we met…

And now we’re (sorta) grown-ups.

But let’s be honest. What’s the fun in acting like a grown-up?

Yes, we are in a bathtub, yes, Abby was Peter Pan peanut butter for Halloween, yes, we thought we were cool with those sparkly “headbands,” and yes, we all needed some static guard.

In a few short weeks, the three of us will live in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. It’s sad to not be three steps away from each other anymore, but it just makes our time together that much more perfect. 🙂

I hope these chickadees are ready for some beach fun. Cause I suuuure am!

And for your (or maybe just my) enjoyment… I present to you,

Triple Trouble: About to Take VB By Storm:

P.S. Life of bLyss now has a Facebook page! Yesss.

I don’t know why

1. I don’t know why sparkles make me so happy. I’m obsessed. It’s why Ke$ha and I should be best friends. My dream office would have glitter on the floor.

And the wall.

And the ceiling.

Case in point: These are my favorite flats:

sparkleesss!

My favorite headbands (from BIC):

moooore sparkles!

AND, my favorite swimmy, worn as I drove the boat on Memorial Day:

moremoremore sparkles!

And I really, really, really, REALLY want Carrie Underwood’s top from her AI performance last week. I think I texted 6 people telling them how bad I want need it. Off the shoulder AND sparkles? It’s got mah name on it.

“Carbear, If Alyssa was here, she’d snatch that sparkly top right off yo back.”
(source)

2. I don’t know why I need chapstick. All the time. But I do. Especially after I brush my teeth. If I forget some when I go out, I need to stop at a drug store. It’s bad. Chapstickers Anonymous, anyone?

3. I still get uncomfortable when I’m around someone using a Bluetooth. I don’t know why. I still always think the dude is a few fries short of a Happy Meal and try to not stare.

…And then I see the Bluetooth, and I get weird about hearing his half of his conversation.

Sorry to the vending machine guy in the faculty lounge today if I gave you a weird look.

4. I have a Pinterest addiction. But I DO know why. It’s awesome. Go do it.. it’s like a virtual bulletin board, it’s handy for creative ideas, and it’s so, so addicting. Go sign up now, and don’t forget to add me. Jenn‘s my Pinterest BFF. Just ask her.

I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time finding a cute gym bag for a reasonable price. I want

5. I don’t know why I’ve never tried to make my own balls before.

You heard me.

Becauuuuse, after trying the “fitbite” balls Lori sent me (raw, vegan, protein-packed, gluten free, dairy free, AND refined sugar free!), I’m positive she’s a real smartypants. My favorite were the apricot nut balls. I even crushed one up and put it in a yogurt bowl. Yesss.

Thank you again, Lori!

6. I don’t know why I haven’t opened up my latenight bakery/ice cream shop yet. Think about it. How many times did you want froyo in a BAD way around 11:30 p.m.? Nobody’s ever open past 10… those jerks.

I think I’ve found a gap in the business. And I’ll be more than happy to fill it. Who’s gonna be my sponsor? 😀 I promise to have the most toppings of any place you’ve ever seen before.

7. I have no idea why I still let my dad pull me on a tube behind his boat after what happened to me as a child.

There we are, Jenna.. matching pigtails as usual.

You see… I may have gotten my braces ripped out of my mouth as a 12-year-old. Here I am, happily smiling and laughing as I get whipped around Lake Ariel (we used to own a house in the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania), and the tube strap flipped up, hitched onto my braces, and ripped the wire and about 87% of the brackets out of the top of my mouth.

Ow.

My dad spent a good half hour trying to cut the rest of the wire out with his wire-cutters. That felt awesome.

I practice smiling with my mouth shut for my 7th grade picture. That looked awesome.

But, here I am, on Memorial Day, at 23 years old, allowing good ol’ Daddy-o pull me on the tube.

Some people never learn.

Remember This Pup?

Incase you don’t remember, Chloe was my birthday surprise in January.

Would you believe me if I told you she now looks like this?

with our amazing breeder and her trainer, Stacy

My baby is all grown up!

And she’s got such proud grandparents.

I went home for Memorial Day and got to go visit Chloe to see her last few days of boot camp before coming home to get spayed. It was so impressive to watch her show off all she has learned.

Stacy, her breeder, said she’s so smart. She got it from her mama.

heel…

(look who’s ready for runs with Mom!)

..and sit.

Chloe loooves Stacy.

I owe a huge thank-you to Stacy, Chloe’s breeder and trainer, for doing such an awesome job with Chloe. And if anyone is wanting a black lab puppy in the near future, Chloe’s birth mama, Kate, is off getting knocked up again. You’re welcome!

Although I was impressed with Chloe’s new skillz, my favorite part of my visit was when Stacy gave Chloe the okay to come say hi to me.

“MAMMAAAA!”

I got tackled. With so many kisses.

Reunited and it feeeels so gooood!

And now, she’s at home with her Opa and Gigi awaiting getting spayed tomorrow. 😦

“Pyyeeeugh. Don’t make me go. Bleugh.”