r&s // December 2012

he had to fly the first two weekends
she decorated the house for Christmas
they started cooking healthy meals together
she had her Bridal Shower
he lost his voice during the SEC Championship game
they started receiving lovely wedding gifts
she had her final dress fitting
he got out the tux
they embraced their last month together engaged
he took her to see Les Miserables and she fell in love
she danced all night at her Bachelorette party
they packed for their trip to Italy

One Little Word 2013 : Commitment

I'm jumping on the bandwagon with Ali E. and Elise this year. So if you are confused by One Little Word, start here.

It's only fitting I guess that I ended up choosing 'commitment'. Fitting because 2013 will start with one huge commitment, marriage. The biggest commitment I'll have in my life until we add someone else into our family.

Commitment is also something I struggle with, my plans to exercise, eat healthy and even in my business. I've felt like I started strong in 2012 and then lost momentum and didn't stay committed. So this year I want to commit and see all my commitments through. No more losing drive or finding excuses.

So here we go 2013, let's do this, I'm committed.

- I commit to healthy meals 5x a week and becoming efficient in the kitchen.
- I commit myself to my marriage. Everyday. Good. Bad. In-between.
- I commit to taking my business further
- I commit to a new exercise plan
- I commit to enjoying little moments and not wishing the days away


"It's little choices everyday that lead us to the final results we are striving for" Jason Bartels

Thank You : A Minibook

I wanted to do something very special for my mom this Christmas. It was my last Christmas where we still shared a last name, and before she gave me away I wanted her to know how thankful I was.

I came up with the idea for a thank you book. I used thank you notes I had on hand (from the hundreds of wedding notes) and came up with this book. I should have taken photos of the inside, but I forgot. I used Love Elsie number stickers to count all 24 thank you's (years I've been alive). Some of them were simple like "Thank you for naming me Samantha" and others documented more personal stories between us.

My mom loved it and ended up taking it with her to Italy. It meant so much to be able to let her know how much I appreciate everything she's done to get me to where I am. I'm so thankful for her and Rob.

**front thank you card is from Target.

Merry & Bright

I hope your Christmas holiday was everything you had hoped it would be. I was so grateful for a low key holiday with my family and my new family. We spent Christmas eve with my mom and grandparents, had our traditional red beans and rice. It was fabulous. Then we did stockings and presents, we all spoiled each other.

Christmas day we ate brunch at my mom's house and then drove her to the airport to leave for Italy! I can't believe the next time I see her will be in Italy, to get married. The realness of this wedding is starting to hit. I'm so ready for the big day.

Rob and I went and saw Les Miserables during the day, which was so worth the ridiculous price of movies these days. I want to see it a million times, also bring kleenex. After the movie we had dinner with his family and exchanged gifts. I felt like I'd eaten enough for the next few weeks, haha. It was such a wonderful holiday that ended with a great skype chat with Rob's sister and her husband out in L.A.

Just a few more days till Rob & I leave for Italy!

New Instagram Profile

I decided to get Indie & Chic it's own instagram! I'm giving free shipping coupons to the first 20 people who follow us, yay! We will also repost any photos you tag us in showing off your purchases, so drop by and give us a like or two. Username // indieandchic

We will be using Instagram in 2013 to give special discounts and advertise daily deals. We have so many exciting things to share with you in 2013!!!

Anyone Can Run // How to Train for a 10k in 4 weeks

Awhile ago I ran my first 10k. I signed up with only 4 weeks to train and I created this schedule to get ready. You could follow this schedule just to push yourself to the next level of distance running.

Strength days: So important to add strength in your training. I would do these after running on the days I needed to do both. I listed examples of squats, lunges, calve raises, running hills, intervals, wall sits and abs. I gave myself lots of options, so I wouldn't get bored. I saved running strength for days I didn't need to run a certain distance. I'll break these down further.

• Squats / Lunges/ Calves/ Wall Sits - I tried to do at least these on days after I ran. Give yourself a number to do and just do it. Don't make excuses, take breaks, but get them done.
• Hills - Either find one in your neighborhood or hit the treadmill. Outside run the hill as fast as you can at least 4x. Give yourself 2-5minutes of recovery in between. On a treadmill, crank the incline up to the highest one and run it for 45 seconds, fast. Just stand on the sides during your recovery. 
• Intervals - I LOVE Interval days. It breaks up the running and you can compete with yourself. I would do 1k repeats or 1 mile. Doing 1k repeats on the treadmill were my favorite. I'd warmup, run the .62 miles at 15 seconds faster than a normal race mile. So 7:45 pace if you run a normal 8minute mile. Then I'd walk until I'd hit a mile. And repeat. I did at least 4 intervals and on the last one I'd try to go faster. 
• Abs - I use Nike Training Club app on my iPod. I love the 15 minute Ab Burner one. 

Cross training days : Meant to give your legs a rest. I love the elliptical or bike. Sometimes I'd do a Jillian Michaels DVD to change things up. 

Let me know if you try this out! Have an amazing weekend. 

An Italian Wedding // Bridal Shower

 My Bridal Shower was a few weekends ago and it was so much fun. The hosts really thought of everything and made it so personal. The shower was "Italy" themed, including Italian sodas, a countdown flag, marriage recipes, and amazing food. I'm pretty sure the wooden spoons guests wrote on will be a treasure for many years. I'm so amazed by how generous people are during a wedding celebration, I'm feeling very blessed.

**Only 1 more month to go!!!**

Home Updates // Dressed up the Dresser

I've been in this house for a month now, crazy. I feel like I haven't gotten very much accomplished, but I'm taking it a project at a time. I had been wanting to change the knobs on this dresser since Rob brought it over, they lacked any personality. Rob asked me not to make it look girly, so I decided glass knobs would be our best option.

I looked online for weeks, but wasn't spending $8 a knob when we need 14. I happened to spot them in Hobby Lobby the other day 50% off, so I grabbed them for $2.50 each. SCORE. They were extremely easy to put on, maybe a 30 minute project.

Then I decided I need to get out of the habit of covering the dresser in clothing and other odds and ends. So I started from scratch and added some art pieces I love and a few of Rob's as well. I gave us each a milk glass dish to empty his pockets and my jewelry/watches into. I really like how it looks. I CANNOT WAIT to get the room painted, the gold is bring me down. I also brought in a chair I grabbed for free at a closing furniture place and added a temporary laundry basket. We still haven't picked a theme for the room so this will all probably change, minus the knobs.

I'll try to share more of the house as we get it put together. Rob has worked the last 3 weekends, so I've been solo on all the house projects. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

The WINNER Is...

Wow! You guys have some great ideas, I'll be doing more of these in the future. It was pretty hard to chose one design I loved the most. I wrote down all the possibilities and rated them, there are a lot I'd still like to try out. But the winner is....

***Kelsey M.  with #29 large w/ #9 small. Lime green with a bright blue. Please e-mail me :)

Runners up // I still want to use your combinations, so I'm sending you 50% off coupons for the necklaces, e-mail me as well.
- Erin #8 large w/ #19 small. Bright Pink with Neon Green.
- Kristin  #7 large w/ #23 small Bubble gum Pink and Yellow

It was very apparent, you all want BRIGHTS! The 10 colors I have currently are very soft and muted, so I'm excited to try out some more vibrant combinations. Thanks to everyone that played along!

Necklace Contest - 2 More Days!

You only have one more day to enter the necklace contest. Just leave a comment with a new color combination and be entered to win the new design. I'll be picking a winner Friday night :)

Ex: Large #10 w/ Small #13

I've loved the ideas so far :) Keep them coming!

Anyone Can Run // How to Train for a 5k

How to Train for a 5k // for beginning runners

No matter your starting point, the goal is the same, run a 5k. When I ran my first 5k, after a running hiatus of 4 years, I had no goal but to finish. I didn't have a goal time or any thoughts of placing. I just signed up and ran. You can read about that race here. I became very addicted to races and made a goal to run one race a month for the year 2012.

So how did I go from not running to finishing a 5k in under 30 minutes. CARDIO. CARDIO. CARDIO. I started with the elliptical. I worked up to higher resistances and longer workouts. Really anything over an hour is a waste and you want to put in the most effort at the beginning of your workout. I like picking 'Rolling Hills' or anything that keeps the incline and resistance changing. Once I could workout pretty easily on an elliptical without getting winded I moved over to a treadmill. I was currently living in a hotel for work and running outside at night wasn't an option.

Here was my treadmill workout, the first time I tried I couldn't finish it. Give it about two days or adjust the incline.

HIIT Workout - Treadmill

I do this when I want to work my legs, but also burn a lot of calories.

 No Incline, 5 min. , 3.5 mph

 8% Incline, 2 min. , 6.0 mph

15% Incline, 3 min. , 4.0 mph

 6% Incline, 2 min. , 6.5 mph

12% Incline, 3 min. , 4.0 mph

 4% Incline, 2 min. , 7.0 mph

9% Incline, 3 min. , 4.0 mph

2% Incline, 2 min. , 7.5 mph

6% Incline, 3 min. , 4.0 mph

Finish with 9 min walk going from 6%-15% with each minute.

Cool Down 3 min @ 3.5 mph no incline.

Takes about 38 minutes and burns about 400 calories or more.

As long as you are doing cardio at least 4x a week for 30 minutes you can run a 5k. Just don't cheat yourself doing light cardio, you want to be sweating. TIP: If your stomach feels cold to the touch while you are working out, you are working hard. It also means those ab muscles are burning fat. 

The BEST way to get ready for a 5k, is to sign up for one. Nothing motivates you like investing $20 and your pride. Go for it and try something out of your comfort zone. You can use this website to find races near you.

r&s // November 2012

she moved into their new house
he came over every morning for breakfast
they were thrown an amazing engagement party
they also had their first joint family Thanksgiving
she had her first wedding dress fitting
he has no idea what it looks like
they bought wedding bands
they painted two rooms together
she got really good at packing lunches and grocery shopping
he started his new job and loves it
they had a special date night back at the restaurant where it all began