Long time no blog….dang it!
If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, you probably saw the fun surprise we had over the weekend!
I had a surprise visit from Kohl’s!!!! Yes, I was freaking out!!!
This month Kohl’s is celebrating the one year anniversary of their #Yes2You Rewards Program by honoring people who inspire them.
On Friday, they showed up at my door with a camera crew and bearing gifts for me and my family. I was absolutely floored and had NO IDEA they were coming! They coordinated everything through my friend, Melodi. We are both a part of Kohl’s Health and Wellness Preview Group, a fun group of health-minded people who discuss “health stuff” and learn about upcoming Kohl’s things. Melodi and I also ran The Color Run together in August, which was sponsored by Kohl’s…
Melodi coordinated everything with Kev, so he made sure everyone was home and the house wasn’t too scary. Hee hee.
Kevin had one of our other friends contact me and plan to meet me at my house at 4:00 (to make sure I was home!) I decided to go to the gym and squeeze in a quick workout before and I got home right at 4:00. I was a little suspicious when I got home and saw Kev already home from work AND all the kids home! The house looked “less wreck-ish” and it smelled nice because a Scentsy candle was on. Hmmm.
I’m fairly clueless though, so I just thought Kev was being nice and picked up the house just to be a nice husband. 🙂
Then, my friend never showed up and he’s usually a very prompt friend! I was a little worried, but Kev assured me that it was probably not a big deal. At this point, the kids were all starting to act a little strange and I started to get a little more suspicious. I could not figure out for the life of me what was going on though!
We had plans to go to a party later on and since I was still sweaty and in my gym clothes, I told Kev I wanted to take a shower and get ready. He told me if our friend showed up, he’d hang out with him until I was ready.
He should have NEVER told me to get in the shower!??!??! Seriously, seriously, men are just a little bit clueless when it comes to women and primping…especially when they are going to be on camera??!??!? I’m fairly low maintenance, but once I wash my hair, it does take me a little while to get put back together!
**In Kev’s defense….at this point Kohl’s was about a half hour later than he expected and he wondered if he had the time and/or date wrong and wondered if they were even going to come. He thought it would “buy him some time” to figure things out if I got in the shower.
Anyway, the minute I hopped in the shower and got my hair all wet, Kohl’s arrived!
Kev rushed in the bathroom and told me that “our friend” just got there and to hurry. This made me nervous because he seemed a little stressed!!! Sooo, I hopped out of the shower, quickly got dressed and threw on just enough makeup to look alive (30 seconds.)
When I got into our family room, our friend WAS NOT there and I was like…”What in THEE heck is going on!??!?” Kev told me someone was at the door for me and as I got closer to the door, I could see a BUNCH of people standing on my front step through the cracks of my shutters.
I was officially freaking out!!! I was so scared to open that door!!! Once, I opened the door I saw balloons, cameras and people! I was so confused! Bobby, one of the managers of our local Kohl’s, told me they were all from Kohl’s and were here to honor me as a loyal customer and example of wellness! I was blown away!!
They brought our family some beautiful fleece jackets from Columbia and I love them so much! They also brought us some fun sports balls (I forgot to include them in the picture!), a couple of cute shirts for the baby and some tickets to visit our local Wheeler Historic Farm, Pumpkin Days and Haybale maze.
Our family is so excited to visit Wheeler Farm and I will for sure be blogging all about our adventure!
The camera crew filmed our family for a little while and asked us some questions. At this point, I found out that Kohl’s would be recognizing people throughout the month all over the country. I was so amazed when I found out that all of these people flew in from Minnesota just for ME! They also told me that I was the first one they had visited.
Kohl’s put together a fun video of our experience and shared it on their Twitter. I will say that I feel like SUCH A SPAZ in this video! You can hear me screaming before I opened the door because I was so nervous. I wish I could’ve had a “do over” and actually done my hair and toned it down a bit. Ha ha. It was such a fun experience for our family though.
Here’s also a short video that Kev took when I answered the door.
I was seriously so touched that they would think of me! Over the past year as I’ve been a part of the Kohl’s Health and Wellness Preview Group I’ve been so impressed by what a customer focused and thoughtful company Kohl’s is. They are so amazing and definitely “give back” to the community. I love them!
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Changing gears a bit…
Well I’ve actually been trying to slow down and simplify my life lately! Although I’m a happy person by nature, I’m also very tightly wound, expect a lot out of myself and just seem to go go go go go all the time! Lately, I can tell that my body is worn out and just needs to chill. In fact, I’ve been doing some deep thinking and have realized I need to make some permanent changes in my lifestyle.
I won’t go into great detail since I’m still in the process of figuring things out (and my last post was very long winded…ha ha), but I’ll just say I’m encouraged by the changes I’ll be making! I’ll talk more about it another time.
For now, I’ve been simplifying my workouts and meals and just spending more time with the family and relaxing!!! One way I’ve been trying to simplify my nutrition and meals is by having a green smoothie every day!
My baby actually loves them too, which I’m very happy about because he’s a picky eater!!! How can a baby be a picky eater, you ask??? Yes, I’ve fed him plenty of fruits and veggies his whole life, but the past few months he seems to spit out every healthy thing I try to put in his mouth! It’s frustrating, so for now I’m just happy he’ll drink green smoothies. Yay!
I’m not a big lover of green smoothies and protein shakes. I don’t really know why?? I’ve just never been a “heavy drinker,” ha ha. I’d much rather EAT my food. However, green smoothies and shakes are such an easy and simple way to get a big dose of healthy into the body!
I try not to pack a ton of fruit into my smoothies though. I usually load it up with a TON of greens and then put in a little bit of fruit to make it taste good. I’ll sometimes add a little bit of stevia to make it sweeter, extracts to give it more flavor and/or chia or hemp seeds for added health benefits.
Lately, I’ve been throwing in a bunch of romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce and/or spinach and then adding 1/2 a frozen banana, a whole kiwi fruit (minus the fuzz), a dash of stevia and about 1/2 tablespoon of chia seeds. Oh, and some ice. It’s been great and very refreshing!
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I’m so happy today is Friday!!! I love the weekends so much.
We had a wonderful weekend last weekend! On Saturday and Sunday, our church had it’s semiannual General Conference, which I LOVE and look forward to so much! It’s just a series of meetings where we get to listen to uplifting and encouraging messages from our church leaders. Most members of our church listen to General Conference on the internet and/or watch it on TV, but Kev and I were able to attend one of the sessions with some of our friends. It was so nice and a wonderful spiritual recharge for me!
After the session, we walked around the Salt Lake Temple grounds for a bit and it was wonderful. Kev and I were married in this same temple over 19 years ago! I seriously cannot even believe we’ve been married that LONG and that we’re getting so old! Seriously, seriously….it blows my mind!!!
I don’t talk about religion too often on my blog because quite frankly, it’s a health and fitness blog! However, my church is very much a part of my life and a part of who I am! It also plays a giant role in my overall health because it brings me such comfort, direction and peace in my life. I am so grateful every single day for my faith and my religion.
After Conference, I was able to go on a run and it felt great!
We’ve been having the perfect fall weather around here and I love it so much! I was going to run 8 miles, but ended up just going 6. We were going to run a half marathon with some friends in November, but we decided to push it off until spring. I think it’s actually a good thing, since my life is NUTS. I’ve also been dealing with an issue in my foot that I HOPE is not an official injury!
My foot started hurting a couple weeks ago after a run, but it wasn’t too bad. However, after my run on Saturday I could barely walk! My foot didn’t hurt at all while I ran, but when the run was over, I could really feel it. It doesn’t feel like Plantar Fasciitis and it doesn’t feel like a stress fracture. It’s on the outside part of my left foot and my ankle. It’s weird and I hope it goes away!
I’m not going to run on it until I can’t feel any issues in it at all. It’s still bugging me today, but I hope it goes away soon!
Well, I’m hoping to be able to go out on a date tonight with my main man, so I’m going to wrap this up! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!! xoxo
**Kohl’s came to visit me and provided me with free gifts, but the text and opinions in the post are entirely my own, of course!**
OKAY I LOVE THIS AND I LOVE YOU AND I LOVE THAT you gave me a shout out! You’re one of my favorite healthy bloggers and more than that, I consider you a friend! 🙂 And I am so thrilled that you got this awesome surprise because you deserve it x1000000!!! I am also so happy that you got this all on camera, because first reactions are PRICELESS!!!!
Oh GiGi, thank you so much! You are so sweet! I’m so grateful for blogging friends!! This was such a fun surprise for me and our family!!!
You’re so cute! I loved the screaming behind the door. Lol! I would have had the same reaction.
Thanks Char! Oh, I tell ya, I DID NOT want to open that door! I had no clue what was going on and didn’t know if I wanted to find out why so many people were standing on my doorstep!
how awesome is that?!!?!?
Seriously, smoothies are a lifesaver in our house, when my picky toddler won’t eat, smoothies all around – she helps make it so that makes it even more fun (she doesn’t even argue when I ask her to throw in handfuls of spinach!)
Thanks!! I’m learning that smoothies need to be a staple around here, especially with picky kids!! I LOVE that your toddler helps to make them! I need to do that!!!
How awesome that Kohl’s showed up and surprised you. You deserve it!
Thanks so much Abby! I was floored. Kohl’s is such a thoughtful company and I’ve been so impressed!
Very cute videos, and kudos to Kev for helping facilitate the surprise (and for picking up the house). Congratulations!
Thanks so much! It was such a fun surprise and I had absolutely no clue!!
That is so cool and well deserved. Keep inspiring friend!
Thanks so much Jill!!!