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I Lost The #FitBit Blogger Challenge

May 30, 2012 By 8 Comments

Last week I teamed up with several fellow bloggers for our first FitBit Blogger Challenge to simply see who could take the most steps in 7 days.  The “prize” for the winner was merely bragging rights… and a blog post of praise from the losers.

I lost.

Big Time.

Now, obviously had I actually remembered to wear my FitBit every day during the 7 days, I might have had a better showing.  But who am I kidding?  There is no WAY I was coming close to Virginia from That Bald Chick – who wrapped up an impressive 89,400 steps last week.

Seriously.

How many IS that per day anyway… someone get me a calculator.

The FitBit – in case you havent heard – is my new favorite tool for getting my self in shape by introducing a huge dose of…. AWARENESS.

With the FitBit you are brutally aware of what you are doing – or in my case this week NOT doing – to stay on track with your weightloss or health goals. The FitBit is worn close to your body and tracks your steps, floors climbed (I assume based on altitude, because the time I killed myself on the StairMaster didnt register) distance walked, and calories burned.  You can even track your sleep cycles! It also has a little “flower” that I like to grow over and over each day.  The more leaves you have – the better your day is going.

The FitBit also has an online dashboard community where you can track all of your stats and progress, as well as connect with other FitBit users.  It will even sync with popular phone apps – like MyFitnessPal – so you can even track your “calories in” while FitBit monitors your “calories out.”

I KNOW. 

So we will be doing the FitBit Blogger Challenge again soon (and I am going to wear my FitBit every day if I have to staple it to my body), and hopefully I will have a better shot at winning… or at least coming in closer.

89,440…. wow.

I bow to you Mrs V.

Disclaimer: The links above are affiliate links but all opinions are 100% my own.  I truly believe EVERYONE needs one of these little thingies.

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Lifetime’s #7DaysofSex Challenge Finale (And Giveaway!)

May 7, 2012 By

Last week Mike and I were asked to participate in the 7 Days of Sex Challenge which accompanies the new Lifetime Reality Series 7 Days of Sex.  Though we got off to a rocky start on Day 1, the week was absolutely amazing and changed so much about ourselves and our relationship.   We learned a lot in just 7 days, and the few days since – hey, I have been crazy busy with Brandcation this weekend – have been different as well.

To recap the week – Day 1 was an “anything goes” day… and for us it was a day of a huge misunderstanding, hurt feelings, and some hurtful words being thrown around at each other.   Not exactly how I had imagined the kick off to this Challenge.  But the next day and even still Mike and I agree it was a “necessary” argument, and though some hurtful things were said, some very good things have come from it as well.   Day 2 Mike got to “be on top” and choose the activities of the day.  It was a wonderful family day of eating out, watching movies, eating entirely too much candy and popcorn, and an early bedtime.  On Day 3 I took the family out shopping and perusing the Home Improvement stores, and then to the place Mike and I had our first date.   Day 4 was full of working in the garden, putting up a new mailbox, and just enjoying being outside and not cooped up in front of our computers.   Day 5 Mike helped me with a lot of my “to do” list… which in itself was wonderfully romantic.  Day 6 I had one last chance to pamper him and make his day a special one.

Day 7 was literally the day before I kicked off the first 2012 Brandcation Bloggers Gone Coastal Event so needless to say I had a million things to do, but Mike and I made a point to spend some uninterrupted time together – getting away from computers and cell phones and work phones… and just BE.  We made some plans for the future, discussed issues from the past, and reaffirmed that we are “in it to win it” with each other.

All in all it was an incredible week, and I am so glad I was asked to be a part of the 7 Days of Sex Challenge for Lifetime.  Mike and I have talked about continuing the ummm… “challenge”  and continuing to make time every single day for each other and spend more time making the effort to do things for and with the other person – even if we do not “feel” like it.  It made a change in our relationship too – leaving for Brandcation the next day was tough, and unlike the two other Brandcation trips where I was really happy to have the break from reality… I really missed Mike on this trip.  From the Ziplining to the Stargazing to the Parasailing… the whole time I wished Mike was experiencing it with me.

Sure it sounds crazy, but I fell in love with Mike all over again this week.  Though Mike and I were in a really good place when this began, we had still fallen into a place of monotony, just going through the motions of a typical American family – work, house, kids, pets, bills… and then getting up the next day to do it all over again.   I was reminded at how lucky I am to have a good man by my side every day of my life – supporting me, challenging me, making me laugh, and cheering me on.   I had really begun to take him for granted, and I am thankful to this Challenge that I realized it and have been making an effort every day to show him how much I love him, and how thankful I am to have him in my life.   I have to think that if everyone made the time to do just that, the divorce rate would practically plummet.  How amazing would that be?

When I began telling you about The 7 Days of Sex I challenged ALL of you to take on the challenge and see what it could do for your relationship.  Well, now it’s time to give you a little bit of incentive - props! 

GIVEAWAY:

I am excited to offer one of my readers one set of the 7 Days of the Week boyshort underwear – perfect to keep you on track with your very own challenge.  This set comes with 7 different colored panties with a sexy day on the back, and the 7 Days of Sex logo on the front.

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Comment below telling me about how you would spend your day “On Top” planning a full day of events that your partner would love!

EXTRA ENTRIES:

  • Follow MoscatoMom on Twitter {2 extra entries}
  • Tweet about giveaway {up to 3 times per day 1 extra entry each tweet} –
    “Win a #7DaysOfSex boyshort panties set from @moscatomom http://wp.me/p1FWxe-1cp Ends 5/21 US Only #giveaway“
  • Follow me on Stumble Upon and stumble this post {1 extra entry}
  • Comment on another post on MoscatoMom.com {2 extra entries}

Make sure you leave 1 comment for each entry to get credit!! Contest ends May 21, 2012.


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Lifetime’s #7DaysofSex Challenge Day 4 – Get Out

April 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Today’s task for the 7 Days of Sex Challenge was an easy one – GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!  Since Mike and I are both workaholics who work from home, we can both agree that the need to “break free” from the house is a welcomed event.    We laugh because people say how since we both work from home we must see each other so much…. the truth is sometimes 6 hours can go by and we have not spoken a word between us.

On Day 3 we perused through Lowe’s and Home Depot and found some fun stuff to help spruce up our back yard to get ready for Summer, but naturally, as soon as I got home I thought of other things we should do. So our “get out of the house” day actually began with a huge pancake breakfast at a local restaurant and then another stop by Home Depot.  Another $100 later and we were heading back home.

Even though it was Sunday Mike and I both had a few things we needed to get done workwise, plus we got home right at the heat of the day, so we decided to relax and recover from our carb-induced pancake coma until mid afternoon.

Around 2pm we headed to the back yard – Lowes and Home Depot bags and boxes in hand.  We purchased a new plant stand for all of our potted plants and Mikes live terrarium which now houses all kinds of critters that I try not to imagine.  (he lost me with the spiders) as well as a Topsy Turvy plant stand thingie with 2 strawberry Topsy Turvy planters.  Who new gardening could be so romantic, eh?

Taylor and I also found the cutest little garden starters called GrowUms.  They are truly the cutest little things ever.  So while Sami and Mike put together the plant stand, Taylor and I planted everything from cucumbers to bok choy to zucchini.  I absolutely can not wait to have a garden again.  And unlike last year, this one will be a container garden, so I think I will be a lot more inclined to take care of it.  I will keep you posted on their progress.

Then we switched and Sami and I put together the Topsy Turvy stuff while Mike and Taylor raked and bagged leaves.   Once that was finished Taylor and I began prepping for Dinner while Mike and Sami began installing our new – and huge – mailbox.  Our sweet little mail lady left us a note asking us to get a new box – ours broke off a few months ago and we just stuck it back into the ground – it was the perfect height for Taylor to check the mail… but apparently too low for our little mail carrier to get to it.  So we got a nice new big, tall one and left her a little note thanking her for putting up with the short one so long.  (we got a note today saying thank you)

Taylor and I cut up a fresh garden salad and baked potatoes, and I grilled a beautiful London Broil on the grill.  In keeping with the “Get Out Of The House” theme we dined on the back porch together – the weather was perfect.   We cleaned up after dinner and Mike got ready to go to a Bachelor Party with all of his buddies.   He left around 7:30 and I tucked the girls in at 8 and headed straight for my office where I got sooooo much done!  Honestly it was one of the most productive evenings in my office ever. I guess clearing my head and spending the whole day not even thinking about work helped make me so much for focused and on task when I did finally get to my office.  Hmmm…

Mike woke me up when he got home to tell me all about his night.  We enjoyed laughing and snuggling together – even in the wee hours of the morning.  It was a perfectly romantic day together as a family working on making our house more of a home, and then spending some time just talking to one another without any distractions.   Honestly, to me, it doesn’t get much more romantic than that.

Have you checked out the 7 Days of Sex show yet?  Set your DVR to catch it on Thursday nights on Lifetime and take the challenge yourself to see how it can improve your relationship in just 7 days! Can you handle it?  ;)

Disclaimer: I received a Survival Kit for the purpose of this blog review series.  All opinions are 100% my own.

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Lifetime’s #7DaysOfSex Challenge Day Three – She’s On Top

April 29, 2012 By 4 Comments

I was so glad my day of the 7 Days of Sex Challenge fell on a Saturday – so I could fill the whole day with fun stuff that the four of us could do as a family.   My original plan was to all go play putt putt golf – Mike has recently begun playing golf and loving it, so I knew since we had the girls we could play a round of putt putt to kinda symbolize us supporting his playing…. but it was HOT.  Like we-would-be-miserable-out-there-hot.

So Plan B was to head to the Club for lunch – Mike and my favorite lunch spot – and show the girls the golf course.  They of course loved it and we enjoyed introducing them to everyone we know up there.  There were 2 huge tournaments and a wedding going on, so the place was pretty busy.  The girls were perfect though and acted like little ladies all through lunch.

Next we spent a few hours strolling through Lowes and Home Depot.  There were a few things we have talked about needing for a while, so we enjoyed just perusing and being out of the house but in the AC.   Naturally I found something to buy at both, but that is ok since Day 4 is “get out of the house” day, so we will be spending time sprucing up our back yard… something we all really enjoy doing.

On the way home I had a moment of inspiration, and told everyone when we got home to change into something nice – we were going somewhere special for dinner.  And hour later we were back in the car – only I knew where we were headed.

I took my family to the Oar House – the place that Mike and I had our first official date over 3 years ago.  Let me tell you, if you are in Pensacola and have not been – you absolutely must try this place out.  I have no idea how I missed such a fantastic place until Mike took me for our date.  Although I am kind of glad I did – it has really become kinda “our place” to go for a romantic night.

We sat by the water and dined on everything from fried pickles to steaks to seafood to key lime pie while watching the boats come into the marina for the night.  We took pictures of the ducks and counted a million hermit crabs.  It was perfect.

Driving home we began seeing some gorgeous old cars and muscle cars and realized it was time for the Saturday Night Car Show that is held right by our house and I have said a million times that I have wanted to stop. Well, this time we did – and we perused the lines of cars telling the girls all that WE knew about the cars – and putting some of the time frames in perspective.

We laughed at the enormous Pontiac Bonneville that was a very old version of my first car – and at least 4 feet longer than mine.  We saw a car from 1931 and I told Samantha that Mamalo – my late grandmother – was 10 years old when that car came out.   They had some swing music playing and we boogied around just looking at all of the beautiful cars until it was time to head home and to bed. We went home, got the girls in their pajamas, and tucked them in to bed.

After such a full day I was ready to head straight to sleep, but because of the challenge Mike and I stayed up a while longer to be together, and afterwards of course were glad that we did.   We didnt turn on the tv, didnt read the Kindle, didnt get on the computers… we just were together.

It made me think of all of the nights I have been “too tired” or “too busy”  and “not in the mood.”   Not in the mood for WHAT?!  A great time?  Strengthening my relationship? Burning off a few calories!?  I mean really, what exactly have I “not been in the mood” for?  I realized what a stupid, stupid excuse that was to turn down Mike’s advances or to not initiate my own.   In the grand scheme of things – what’s one more hour – or even half an hour –   when it can do so much for your partnership?

You can bet this is a lesson I am going to remember.

Disclaimer:  I received a Survival Kit for the purpose of this series.  All opinions and experiences are 100% my own.

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Lifetime’s #7DaysOfSex Challenge Day Two – He’s On Top

April 29, 2012 By 5 Comments

Though we had a rocky start to the 7 Days of Sex Challenge from Lifetime, Mike more than made up for it when it was his time to “be on top” and plan our date. We spent the morning lying in bed talking about the night before, some plans for the future, and made some pacts with each other.  I headed to the office but  I had only gotten an hour or two of very distracted work in when Mike asked if we could just blow off the rest of the day to be a family.  I couldn’t shut the computer down fast enough.

Even though I had an intense migraine – no doubt from a night of fighting – we completed our Day 1 of the challenge early in the day, jumped into the shower, and went and checked the girls out of school to start our weekend early.  We had a late lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant and then the four of us went to go see Mirror, Mirror where Mike and I sat together - not on opposite ends of the children like usual – with his arm around me.  We all shared a huge bowl of popcorn.

On the way home we picked up take out and enjoyed a quiet dinner at home.  Then, instead of us both heading to our respective offices like usual, the four of us sat on the couch until bedtime watching “How It’s Made” – the girls favorite show.  (and we think it is pretty cool too)

I ended my day with a long soak in the bath using the Bubble Bath from our Survival Kit, and snuggled in for a good nights sleep holding each other and healing from the night before.

Today was a really nice, low key kind of day.   It was nice to just blow off the day – not worrying about if the phone is ringing, what emails are coming in, or who-is-doing-what on Facebook.  Today we just focused on each other and it was really really nice.

Check out Lifetime’s new show 7 Days of Sex every Thursday night, and take the challenge yourself too!  Can you handle 7 Days of Sex?  It’s tougher than  you think!

Disclaimer: I received a Survival Kit for the purpose of this blog series.  All opinions are 100% my own.