To help me stay accountable, I decided to share my newly vowed healthy lifestyle by documenting it here on a weekly basis. I hope you decide to follow along so we can cheer each other on and be an inspiration for one another! You can also follow along on Instagram with #howstormiegothergrooveback or on Snapchat (stormieariel). I also share the foods I am eating on both social media sites, for quicker reference on Instagram search #stormiearielkitchen

Sunday - Skipped
Monday - Rest Day
Tuesday - Interval Run
Wednesday - Skipped
Thursday - Skipped
Friday - Short Walk
Saturday - Skipped

I decided to change this series up a bit as I know it can get boring for some to just read what I am doing to get in shape, like yay for you but how does that benefit me type of thing. At least that's how I feel reading certain fitness posts on other blogs and it makes me feel worse about myself for not having the same dedication and I don't want that for my readers. I want ya'll to see real life and be inspired and to inspire me as well. I want this entire blog to be a two way street where we can benefit and learn from each other. With that being said, I had a little inspirational moment that happened to me and decided for now on I will share those with you all when I share my fitness progress to hopefully inspire you as well.

I am back with another photo session. After completing the mommy and me mini session, I started thinking about the potential in hosting other mini sessions. With school back in session in our area, I decided to do back to school mini sessions and I am loving them! I am also planning on Fall Mini Sessions and Halloween Mini Sessions so email me (stormie@stormieariel.com) if you are in the Katy, Texas area and are interested!

Anyways, here are my favorite shots from my most recent Back to School Session.

To help me stay accountable, I decided to share my newly vowed healthy lifestyle by documenting it here on a weekly basis. I hope you decide to follow along so we can cheer each other on and be an inspiration for one another! You can also follow along on Instagram with #howstormiegothergrooveback or on Snapchat (stormieariel).

I know I have been MIA with my workouts or running/walking schedule but that doesn't mean I am not keeping up with them. Anthony started school two weeks ago and we had a mini vacation before school started for him so things have been a little busy. I don't remember the exact dates for everything but we typically go walking every other day or so and run at least twice a week. I know what days our runs are on because I track everything with my Nike+ Run Club app (Feel free to add me as I am also looking for new running friends). I have been lacking in doing strength training as all my focus has been on building my stamina for long distance running. I need to start strength training again though as I know it will help me even more especially with leaning out.

To help me stay accountable, I decided to share my newly vowed healthy lifestyle by documenting it here on a weekly basis. I hope you decide to follow along so we can cheer each other on and be an inspiration for one another! You can also follow along on Instagram with #howstormiegothergrooveback

So again, I really haven't stuck to my new schedule but I'm super happy with what I accomplished this week. I gotta say I have felt great after by runs, now before each run is a totally different story! Haha. 

Sunday - Skipped
I was suppose to walk as Anthony played basketball but I decided to just chat with the ladies.

To help me stay accountable, I decided to share my newly vowed healthy lifestyle by documenting it here on a weekly basis. I hope you decide to follow along so we can cheer each other on and be an inspiration for one another! You can also follow along on Instagram with #howstormiegothergrooveback

Hey guys! I know it's been a good while since my last interesting post, haha. I have been doing weekly updates on how I am staying active weekly but I know that can be a bore for some of you so I'm back today with a tutorial but first a little background.

If you follow me on Instagram (@stormieariel) than you know I recently opened my own small shop on Insta (@shopstormieariel). Since Sophia was born, actually before she was born, I loved the way nylon headbands looked. They are so sweet and simple and chic, perfect for a little girl. BUT the price tag on most of them kept me from biting the bullet and even if they were a reasonable price, I couldn't pick just one. So I decided to teach myself how to make bows since I had fabric on hand that was left over from the fabric kites I made for Sophia's nursery plus I also had tons of ribbon on hand from my numerous other projects and from my schoolgirl days.

And I know there are mommas out there like me who are on a budget and need to know how to make simple bows to get them by until they can splurge so I decided to make a video tutorial of how I make one of the bows I sell in my shop. It is the simplest and easiest bow tutorial, so easy a caveman can do it (name that commercial). Also, please let me know how you like the video tutorial in the comments below. I would love the feedback as to which I should start including videos in all my tutorials or if step by step photos preferred or both!

To help me stay accountable, I decided to share my newly vowed healthy lifestyle by documenting it here on a weekly basis. I hope you decide to follow along so we can cheer each other on and be an inspiration for one another! You can also follow along on Instagram with #howstormiegothergrooveback

My husband and I have been determined to hatch our Pokemon Eggs on Pokemon Go, so we have been walking A LOT more than normal. I really think this mobile game has gotten a lot more people outdoors and moving and hope it stays that way! Hopefully more games will follow suit. I didn't do any strengthening exercises this week as it has been so hot and the humidity makes it feel like we went running even though we didn't. I do plan to add in strengthening stuff on rest days making it an active rest day because those are just as important as cardio.

To help me stay accountable, I decided to share my newly vowed healthy lifestyle by documenting it here on a weekly basis. I hope you decide to follow along so we can cheer each other on and be an inspiration for one another! You can also follow along on Instagram with #howstormiegothergrooveback

As I mentioned last week, I skipped a week of everything since I decided to binge watch Jane The Virgin. Bad I know, don't judge. This week I decided to get back out there and get moving. I thought it was gonna be hard to restart but it really wasn't but I think most of that has to do with Pokemon Go. I have lots of eggs to hatch and don't think I jumped on the bandwagon just because its "trending" right now. I have been a Pokemon fan since I was a kid between playing Pokemon Stadium on N64 and the Yellow Version, Silver Version, Crystal Version on my Gameboy Color. As an adult, I now own Pokemon Stadium once again and Silver Version for my Nintendo DS so when Pokemon Go came out, I had to try it and I'm loving it because I get to play on the go and it's motivating me to stay active. I just wish they would allow users to battle and trade like the original versions. Anywho, this is what I have been up to:

As you know, last year, I began taking daily photos of my outfits as I was learning how to mix and match the clothing items I already had, to create new outfits. I was also learning to step out my comfort zone by breaking some old fashion rules that I stuck by (check out that series here) but now those rules are out the window. As I was venturing into my new fashion style I was constantly sharing my outfits on Instagram (#stormiearielstyle). 

To help me stay accountable, I decided to share my newly vowed healthy lifestyle by documenting it here on a weekly basis. I hope you decide to follow along so we can cheer each other on and be an inspiration for one another! You can also follow along on Instagram with #howstormiegothergrooveback and to see what I'm eating just follow #stormiearielkitchen

Sunday - Swim Day

I played a few rounds of a seeking game with my nephew and I swam 4 laps during adult swim (I use to do 20 or more during adult swim but I'm still slowly accepting my body isn't where it use to be).

Monday - Rest Day

Tuesday - Exercises

While I was watching Pretty Little Liars, I decided to do a few sets of exercises during the commercial breaks. There were about 5 commericials so you can easily add in a lot of sets but due to a crying hungry baby, I ended up only completing like 4 sets I think.

With Fourth of July around the corner, I can't help but to search quick and easy craft ideas so I decided to share my favorites. Be inspired! And don't forget, you can always tweak crafts, like anything else, to fit with the supplies you already have on hand.

Two years ago I shared a bit of my fitness background story and my food and fitness routine. Back than my mindset was all about that number on the scale, I weighed myself everyday making sure that number didn't go up. Slowly I would skip some days and than eventually I would weigh myself every so often, I didn't do this on purpose it just happened with job changes and finishing my last semester in school.

Fast forward to the summer of 2015, I gained about 10 pounds back and a few weeks later we found out we were pregnant. I'm sure some of ya'll are all duh you gained weight, you were pregnant. Um no it's called eating junk food and having too much Dr. Pepper, I was only 6 weeks pregnant and you do not gain weight that quickly, you just don't. Obviously, I couldn't cut calories at this point but I could make healthier eating choices so I didn't blow up. I'd like to say I was perfectly healthy but we aren't perfect, if we were we would all have these amazing fit bodies but I did end up only gaining a total of 35 pounds during pregnancy and I am proud of that.

Back in January when we started our Bradley Method Birth Class I talked about doing a review once we finished our class but than decided to hold it off until after birth to give you a full review and if I thought it actually helped.

On Monday when I shared the latest of what's happening in Little Love's nursery, I mentioned spending the cash/check gifts to purchase her vintage French provincial dresser. And I thought I would share tips and tricks on what you should do with all those monetary gifts including gift cards.

Back in January I shared a small update of Little Love's nursery showcasing her crib and bedding and a few weeks ago, I shared a tutorial for the fabric kites hanging above Sophia's crib. I decided it was time for another update so today I am sharing all about the craigslist dresser I've talked about a few times and the pros and cons of our corner shelves.

I have had my Nikon Coolpix P530 for over a year but for the longest I always used it on the preset modes or auto mode. However, the last few months I have been reading tons of articles trying to teach myself how to shoot in manual mode. I have always enjoyed taking pictures even as a kid but now I'm actually loving the art of photography and when my sister asked me to take her family pictures (I was a little hesitant at first), I decided why not. 

We are halfway through the work week, hooray! I can't wait for this weekend mostly because I am excited for everyone to open their gifts. We bought Anthony's dad this shirt for Father's Day and I plan on making him this card to go along with it, we are gifting Anthony's mom a necklace similar to this one and earrings like these for her birthday and I made Anthony a gift based off this pin I found but I am unable to find the original source (please leave the link below if you know so I can give proper credit). I decided to show a tutorial in how I achieved the look for our frame.

Welcome back guys! I am kinda getting caught back up on my blog post schedule and I am excited for the weekend as always! Did this week fly by or what? Probably helped that it was only a 4 day work week for Anthony to seem so. What do you guys have planned for the weekend?

Before we get ready for a birthday party this weekend, it's time for the next roundup of my everyday style. Remember for real time feed follow me on Instagram (@stormieariel) and my outfits are always captioned with #stormiearielstyle and if you can't get enough of my Little Love she has her own hashtag #sophiamanuela

I think this month, I was definitely coming into my own and getting more comfortable with my style again. As some of you may know I was struggling with my style as a nursing momma but just pull up that shirt girl! You don't need fancy nursing tops to feed your child. You can still rock your normal wardrobe, look fashionable and feed the kid. Win, win, win for everyone.

Olive and black and white stripes are a no brainer and are always a go-to match in my book.

Hey guys! How was your Memorial Day weekend? I hope yall didn't miss me too much (or maybe I do) with my odd blog post schedule last week and taking the three day weekend off to enjoy with my little family. We were a little busy enjoying dinner Friday night with our besties, clothing/gaming thrifting on Saturday (but had no luck), surprise visit to the in-laws on Sunday since they couldn't make it to us due to back road flooding (they're country folk and don't do freeways) and lastly taking Little Love to the Downtown Houston Aquarium on Memorial Day. Although it was mostly for our enjoyment, there were a few moments where she just stared and followed the little fishies swim around in their tanks. And lets not talk about how the white tiger jumped on the glass wall and growled right in front of someone's face.

Now about today's post, after doing a book review last week on The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, I decided to do a more thorough book review on The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. If you been around you will remember me briefly discussing this book as one of my pregnancy must haves.

Hey guys! So I know I'm veering a little off schedule by posting on a Thursday and missing Wednesday but it's been crazy busy over here the last few weeks. Last week Sophia and I spent a few mornings attending my pre-k classes graduations and end of year parties. Our water heater broke (yay for cold baths, not), however it did get me out the house to go for a run. I was hoping I would sweat so much that the cold water would feel good, kinda worked, kinda not but thank God we have hot water again and I was finally able to shave my legs. And Anthony will be starting school again come this fall so things are gonna get more crazy around here while we try to figure out this parenting gig. But you know, life happens so quickly or at least it seems so now that we have Little Love. I mean come on how is my little baby already almost three months?!? I just can't deal right now so moving on.

I was initially planning to do a Memorial Day Inspiration outfit for today but the weather did not cooperate with me last Saturday so since I loved the outfit I wore to the Houston Blogger Union Meetup so much I decided to share the details in it's own post instead of waiting for my next edition of stormieariel style (check out my first roundup here). However, it rained Sunday as well and we were only able to quickly snap these photos on our porch.

About a week before the Houston Blogger Meetup, I started wondering what I should wear as I have seen on Instagram from other blogger events, bloggers typically dress to impress and since I typically stick to my mom uniforms, I will take any excuse to dress up when I can. But what is a girl to do when all her clothes are last season and she is still sporting a baby pouch and doesn't have the money to buy new clothes? Well, I went to my spring pinterest board to see what styles I have been loving and how I could recreate some of those looks by remixing my closet.  I knew I only had two options for pants unless I wore my maternity pants since most of my pants still don't button. It was either my white crop pants or my olive crop pants but knowing my white crops have a small stain I opted for the olive crops. Than came pinterest inspiration:

For as long as I could remember, I have always wanted a garden; filled with flowers, vegetables, fruit, you name it. I tried my first hand at gardening a few years ago when we were living in a tiny apartment. I bought lettuce seeds, jalapeno seeds and green bean seeds and I planted them in containers. My green bean plant was the only one to grow but I only harvested two green beans. TWO. That was it. To be fair, our porch of the apartment was very shaded with no sunlight at all so I gave up.

When we bought our first house, I was excited to carve out a place to garden and when my dog Olive died we made a remembrance garden with flowers but our other dog Bella decided to dig all that up so I gave up again.

Well now with this house, Bella hasn't been digging as much and Anthony decided he wanted to build something with some of the old fencing I have been hoarding. You can guess by the title of what he decided to build me, right?

So I'm gonna share the pictures and process he took to make me this little ol' box. There are no specific measurements involved as he made use of the pieces we had so you can customize this to whatever size you want.


Once he gathered all the pieces he planned to use for our box, Anthony cut down the pieces so they can be the same length, 7 long pieces (2 sides, 5 bottom supports) and 2 short pieces for the other sides.



Although Bella has already eaten the jalapeno plant and trampled over my basil but my cilantro is thriving!



Do your animals destroy your chance at having a successful garden?

Hey Guys! Who is glad it's Friday?! I know I am!! Not because we have plans but Anthony is off on the weekends and it's nice having more quality family time with him and Little Love. I love seeing their interaction with each other and he is so amazing in helping with her as much as he can especially after last weekend. I had a horrible crick in my neck that had me in tears.