Like my constantly mismatched socks
protein, berry, almond butter oats
(kinda watery this morning, but still good)
and Bella’s ability to peer deep into your soul.
Thankfully, some things do change… like the Pilot’s facial hair 
Mustache March ended early over here! No more scratchy kisses for meeeeeee.
We went to Lowe’s this morning and since it’s dog-friendly, we took the whole family.
We have a huge list of things we’d like to do with house, and are excited to start crackalackin’ on them. Lots of little projects (like replacing all of the hardware in the house) and bigger things, like eventually a master bathroom remodel, extending the patio in the backyard and first on the list: ripping out all of the upstairs carpet and replacing it with wood.
Our house is fairly new, but 5 families lived here before we did, and the carpet is pretty gnarly.
Random smudges and a giant blue spot:
and carpet is hard to keep clean. I think wood will be a lot easier to maintain, since we need to replace the flooring anyway.
My dadoo is extremely handy –he designs custom homes- so he said he’d help us figure out how to do it. It will be one heck of a project, but I’m really excited 
Just got back from Saturday Zumba- I can’t believe I start teaching again on Wednesday! Time to scrounge for some lunch.
Hope you’re enjoying your Saturday!
xoxo
Gina
Something to read:
-Donkey Kicks- how many can you do?!
-6 healthiest fish and 6 to avoid
Today’s workout jam:
Hi, I'm Gina. Welcome to The Fitnessista! I love blogging about my adventures as a new mom, military wife and fitness instructor, as well as sharing new workouts and recipes. Check out the About page for more info - thanks for stopping by!
Love the picture of Bella. I swear dogs can read our minds and they think they’re human! Also love the mismatched socks. Are sold like that?
I mismatch my socks too! As long as they’re the same height who can tell anyways?
You look great! I love the flower (or whatever that is) on Liv’s stroller. I’m having a boy in about 5 weeks and going to miss out on some of the cute girly accessories
As an Aunty, I agree that buying for girls is much easier than boys. So many cute things! Also, for boys, why are all the toys so violent?? It is really hard to find toys, or clothes, for boys that don’t play at blowing up the world.
it’s actually a peacock- she LOVES these lamaze toys. she has the mermaid and the peacock
these ones would be so cute for a little boy:
http://www.amazon.com/Lamaze-Play-Rusty-Robot-Along/dp/B004BSFC6E/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1333254152&sr=8-31
http://www.amazon.com/Lamaze-Mortimer-Moose-Along-Colors/dp/B000I2MRLU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1333254096&sr=8-3
We did the carpet removal exercise and it ended up costing twice as much as planned because we didn’t consider how much noise that carpet was blocking! Removing it made it seem like we had paper walls, so we had to lift the boards and put in more insulation. Looks great now though.
Just something to consider, preferably in advance, rather than after the fact like we did.
Home repair is super hard, I am glad you will have help
We have wood floors everywhere but the kitchen in bathroom in our house. We left everything natural (just poly, no stain) until a couple of years ago when I decided that I wanted to apply a deep cherry stain to our living room. It looks beautiful, but you can see every speck of dust. They are impossible to keep up with with 2 dogs in the house. Something to consider if you are debating finish color. Otherwise, I love having wood floors. I will never install carpet.
my nana said that, too- she said that we shouldn’t go too dark, or you can see everything on the floors
and i’m right there with ya. i can’t stand carpet
Cute photos! Bella makes an adorable big sister to Liv
. Can’t wait to see all the home changes! Hardwood floors are so beautiful. You may want to ask you dad how much dust there is when installing the floors and how best to handle it. We used air purifiers a lot.
oh that’s a great point!
xoxo
My Saturday is awesome. My best friend is staying at my house tonight. I have known her my whole life. Yay!!!
Tia is a stupid question but even though you live on base, you can still do all that house remodeling? Do you need to get it approved before you do it?
i’ve actually never lived on base- we own our house, so we can do whatever the heck we want with it
i’m pretty sure that living on base is like renting an apartment or condo. you can’t change anything
have fun with your bff!
Oh ok. That is good. Nice that you can do anything to it. Also, if you own your home what do you have to do if you guys have to move? I remember you saying that you know that you will be in Tucson next Christmas. How do you know that?
And thanks. We are heading out to get deep dish pizza soon!!!!!!
we’ll probably rent it out. hopefully we still have a couple of years left
xoxo
Oh yay, I love some good ol’ Switchfoot – excited for a new song! I hadn’t heard this before. And I think your socks looks even cuter mismatched!
Love mismatched socks….and have fun doing the house…it is always fun to create your own space
I’m super excited to hear how your first day back teaching goes Wed! Wood floor is not the worst project, depending on solid vs. engineered, and prefinished or not. (BF is a wood guy, I run the office and do the sales) If you have any questions, feel free to email me. I’m guessing you get that when we send the comments? Anyway, I’d love to give you info if you need, it would be my thanks for all the inspiration you provide
P.S. I’m also super interested in Brittany’s comment above re: remodeling on base
awesome, thank you so much! i’ll definitely send you an email when we’re researching which type to get
I heard about a Veteran’s of Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam Appreciation parade in Tucson on the radio this evening and thought of you, the Pilot and little Livi. Currently my sister is visiting her boyfriend who just returned home from a year long deployment. Homecomings are so sweet!
Just wanted to say thank you for your family’s service! <3
thank you, lovely!
and yes, homecomings are the BEST
For some reason I can’t do mismatched socks. It drives me crazy. It makes me feel like my whole day is going to be off if my socks aren’t matched properly.
That pic of Bella is unbelievably adorable. I always think she’s so cute when she gets a little shaggy like that.
I totally agree that carpet is impossible to maintain. We live in a condo and with two cats, there is fur everywhere. All.the.time. It doesn’t help that our vacuum needs a new filter too. All the cat hair (and I’m actually allergic) is driving me nuts–and giving me the worst allergies.
Hi Gina,
My comment has nothing to do with this post, but a previous one. I have been in a workout rut and been debating Turbo Fire. I danced my way all the way through college, so I think I would LOVE it!
However, I set a goal to run my first half marathon this summer. This is the third summer I have set this goal, so I would REEEEAALLLY like to finally get it done. Do you think I could train for a half marathon and do Turbo Fire or would that be too much? Thanks for your input! Love your blog 
i think you could do it, but i wouldn’t follow the turbofire set schedule so that you’re not overtraining.
maybe something like:
sun: long run
mon: hiit (or off)
tues: fire or EZ dvd
thurs: strength training and HIIT
fri: easy run
saturday: off
I love that you were able to bring Bella shopping, too! That’s so fun.
me too- i love when we can take her on adventures
YAY house projects! I never fully appreciated Home Depot and Lowe’s until I became a homeowner!
We installed cherry floors on our living room level, and LOVE them. Whacking the pneumatic nail gun all day was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but also very empowering. =) They are beautiful, easy to clean, and the amount of dust on the living room level is SIGNIFICANTLY less than on the carpeted bedroom level.
My socks never match, no one can ever tell anyways..my saturday is pretty boring, bad weather here and I’m sick so pretty much stuck inside…
A new floor…and wood, wow, that’s awesome! Better you than me living with all the sawdust
But considering your dad will be your general contractor, it should be snag-free!
Hardwoods are sooo much easier with kids!
And I too always have mismatched socks… always!
I always get confused on which places are dog-friendly. Home Depot has one of those “only service animals allowed” stickers, but I see all sorts of dogs that are clearly not service animals. Maybe Duke doesn’t need to stay in the car on our Depot runs …
In SF people brought their dogs everywhere, and only a few stores actually adhered to the “no dog” city codes. Do you bring Bella to stores and see if they kick her out, or do you usually ask first? I always check to see if there are other dogs being welcomed, and then bring ‘em in.
But those lululemon socks are cute mismatched
Ugh, carpet. We were very fortunate when we purchased our home last summer (short sale) that we only had to replace the carpet in the great room and that there were hardwoods throughout the rest of the house. However, we still have (new) carpet on the stairs, only because it was an extra 2k just for the stairs. Ouch!
Glad the pilots stache is gone. I like when Kevin has facial hair, EXCEPT for the mustache. Weirds me out! Hope you are having a fabulous weekend with the family!
My dad is really handy, too! My husband, however, fixes everything with duct tape…
I had no idea Lowes was dog friendly! Looks like a new place for outings with my mutt.
Thanks for sharing.
Those socks look adorable! Even if they’re mismatched lol. And ur stroller looks so chic and cool!
We have been gradually replacing all of the carpet in our house with laminate wood floors. My son has horrible allergies and we have cats, so it was necessary and needed after being in our house 10 years. We bought our flooring at lumber liquidators (good price) and my husband is installing it. It’s a big project but so rewarding to be fixing up our house ourselves. He tears out the carpet, I come in and paint, then he puts in the floors. We LOVE our floors. We went with a medium color. Yes, it shows footprints and dust, but it looks so pretty when it’s clean. Wood floors makes our rooms look bigger. I’m excited for you. I had to wait 10 years for my wood floors but it was worth the wait!
Hey Gina, I almost fell for your April Fools joke! Ha!
We had this the other day and for some reason I thought of you (not in a creepy stalker-ish way, promise! lol) since I’m sure I’ve seen you post pictures of similar Mexican bean dishes. I thought you might want to give this recipe a try. My boyfriend and I really liked it and it has a nice bit of kick! http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1413634/mexican-chicken-and-wild-rice-soup
It’s really easy to modify based on your tastes (eg brown rice, fresh corn). Chipotle paste has been such a find, we use it all the time now. Love it!
Thank goodness Mustache March doesn’t exist over here… and bf didn’t take part in Movember! Phew!
we’re doin some major work on our house too! its over 100 yrs old and is lookin pretty rough these days. we just put in a couple gardening beds though so im excited about that!