How We Wore It | Turtle Club

We are back with our How We Wore It Series in 2019 and I'm thrilled about it. I love doing this every month with my friends. This month, however, was a struggle for me. We moved into a new place back in Ohio for Parker's next few rotations and it's a quaint little studio apartment. Its been frigid outside so there was no way I was gonna brave the cold to take photos, my tripod is somewhere in all of our packed up stuff that we still haven't gone through, and I felt fat after I took my photos and was looking through them. I know I'm not fat but all I saw when I looked at these photos is the 15 pounds I've gained since we left Ohio on our travels (a little more about that in the last post I shared if you want to take a look). *Disclosure: I'm not posting this for compliments or for people to tell me I'm not fat. I'm sharing this because in 2019 I'm trying to document all of my life, rather than just the happy parts.*

Parker and I ended up going to the gym later that night and I weighed myself and guess what. I've already lost half of that weight that I gained during our travels. GO ME! I'm really, really proud of myself and motivated to keep working hard at making healthier choices. 

Now I still don't like these photos but I'm sharing them anyway because rather than seeing the work I still have to do, I'm trying super hard to focus on what I've already accomplished and to let that fuel my fire to keep going. I was just telling Parker last night that I've never been more motivated to eat healthily and exercise and to simply take better care of myself and that feeling is pretty empowering. 

Anyway, onto my 'look' for this month. We are featuring turtlenecks which I love. My turtleneck sweater is from Ardenes (a Canadian store) but it's super old and unavailable now. I've linked some other fun turtle/cowl/mock neck sweaters below! Spring colors are coming out and I'm afraid my excitement will peak too soon. 

Trying the Instagram model trick where you stick your butt out and it gives you a thigh gap. It works, guys. Totally an illusion, but it works!

Thanks for stopping by today, y'all! Keep crushing those 2019 goals. I have a feeling this will be a great year <3. And don't forget to check out my bestie's posts. They are on FIRE!

Jordan Cidelle

Brittany Lowry

Twinnerpated

Click HERE to check out some of my favorite fancy neck tops right now!

One last thing, the 14 Days of Love series I did last year is happening again this year and I'd love for you to participate in whatever capacity you can. Whether it's sharing on Instagram posts or stories, journalling about things/people you love, blogging, etc. If you do choose to join me and share your loves publicly, use the hashtag #14daysoflove so I can follow along with you, too!

xoxo, Chelan

Brain Dump Catch Up!

I've let myself go. I haven't posted since Halloween which is crazy! I started off 2018 so strong with blogging and actually kept it up for most of the year and then life happened and things got busy and I was trying to be more present and I let myself go! I'm in one of those phases where I want to get back to simply documenting and less commercial-esque blogging. I have so much to catch up on and I'm going to try to do my best to get caught up this year! I have lots of plans for catch up posts, nothing quite concrete because that's kind of how my life is at the moment. It's all up in the air. So let's start with what's going on right now, shall we?

First, I'm in Canada visiting my family still and I'll be here for a bit longer. Parker is on the interview trail and it's a struggle being apart. I don't do well being away from him but being with my fam definitely helps a lot. I'll meet Parker next week and go to a couple of his interviews with him and then we'll be back in Ohio for a few months.

Christmas was wonderful! Parker and I didn't do gifts for each other this year because we went to Hawaii and that trip was $$$ so it was a more low key Christmas than it has been in the past for us and I loved it! It was dreamy to not have to stress about spending money and finding the perfect gift(s) for Parker this year.

I got my hair done again by my oh so talented lil sis, Matlin. Check out her page!

We went skiing in Montana with Parker's family and my boots were too small so Parker had to perform surgery on my toe afterward. It was a traumatic experience and my toenail might still fall off but it worked out in the end. I think I've improved as a skier but Parker says I'm about the same haha. But I passed a couple people on the hill. PASSED them. And no, they weren't standing still.

My nephew, Max, and I have become little buddies. He calls me Nanny and I ask, "What does Nanny say?" and he says, "ooo ooo" which means "love you." He's adorable and smart and gives everyone else snuggles except me lol.

I've been exercising more in this last few weeks of being home than I have pretty much all of last year. My mom is a machine and she's helping me get back into shape. I gained 15 lbs during our travels since July... oops. You try living in someone else's house and sharing a kitchen with them and not knowing their schedule or plans. Fast food it is! I also didn't feel like I could work out much in someone else's space and we were trying to save money so no gym passes, etc. These are all excuses, I know. I've been doing high fitness, step, and kickboxing classes with my mom while I've been up north and it's been a blast! Feels good to take care of myself again and to eat more healthy. Hoping and determined to keep it up!

I finished the Book of Mormon on January 2nd because I'm forgetful and missed the opportunity to finish it on New Year's Eve lol. I loved taking President Nelson's challenge to heart and I'm hopeful I can also keep that up in 2019. Don't know what the Book of Mormon is? Send me a message and I'll send one to ya as a gift! My parents and grandparents and I also went to the temple together and it was great.

If you haven't been watching A Million Little Things, please do, and please send me a message because it's my favorite and I love to talk about TV with friends. Also, The Bachelor. I loved the first episode. I was giddy and smiling the whole time because it's just fun to watch and makes me happy. Who are your picks?!!!

Well, that's a brain dump catch up post if I've ever seen one. I hope you are having a wonderful 2019 so far, friends! Thanks for catching up with me :).

xoxo, Chelan