so i'm not a size 3 & caprese quinoa

After my shower the other day I went for my comfy shorts.  You know the ones that look sorta cute, but more than anything the fit is just right?  I pulled them on and they were SKIN TIGHT.  We are talking sausage roll tight.  My blood pressure immediately shot up.  I started doing sumo squats to try and stretch them out, the whole time I'm fuming under my breath.  Did I shrink them??  Did I gain more weight?!  Finally I ripped them off and kicked them around the floor a bit, frustrated that another article of clothing was going to my twelve year old.  Then I picked them up and looked at the label.  They WERE my twelve year old's!!!  WHAT?  So then I'm like oooh I could actually pull up a size 3 pair of shorts;)  HA!  Uh can you say psycho?!  It took me about a millisecond to lose my joy and then another millisecond to get it back again. 



I'll be honest.  I've been down on myself this year.  It's been a roller coaster emotionally with the move etc...and I've put on about 15 pounds, which makes me mad.  Going on vacay recently and eating like a banshee didn't help much either, but that's besides the point;)  The thing is as women we can be really hard on ourselves. 

I work out.  I kill it at the gym.  I eat healthy most of the time.  I believe our bodies are worth fighting for.  It's not wrong to try and look good.  Because to me looking good equates feeling good.  What is wrong is letting satan steal my joy when I can't fit into a size 3 or if I don't like how my face looks in a picture etc...  There's some kool aid being passed around in society that we have to be itty bitty to fit in...to feel pretty.  Well I'm not buying in.  Speaking of pretty...thank you for all the sweet compliments from my previous post.  I hope you know I wasn't fishin' for them.  I was referring more to a feeling than an outward appearance, but I'll take it.  Made my head about explode. 


I went to lunch with a friend recently and she started off saying, "I don't want to offend you" and immediately I was like oh no what is she gonna say.  She went on to say that she's starting to think about aging and it's bothering her a bit, and that if it bothers her than it really must bother me.  I was like oh how so??  In a nutshell she went on to tell me she doesn't care about her looks...and it's apparent that I do.  Whew I was worried it was going to be something bad, she didn't offend me at all.  I do care.  I've mulled this one over and there is nothing wrong with caring.  Caring to me means taking CARE of yourself and I think that is what the Lord calls us to do with our bodies.  We only get one.  It's when we get out of balance and either don't care enough or care too much that it affects our lives and that's when there should be a check in our spirit.  That's what I had the other day...a little what the world are you freaking out about check!

Since we are talking about caring for ourselves, this gal has done just that.  I'm so inspired by her fit journey, and apparently she eats a lot of quinoa.  I've never had it, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.  I found a yummy recipe here.

Fresh Caprese Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
-1/2 C quinoa
-8 oz fresh mozzarella
-1 carton grape tomatoes, halved
-fresh basil (I only had cilantro)-2T olive oil (I used maybe a tsp or 2.)-salt & pepper

Method
1. In a medium sized pan, bring 1 C water and 1/2 C quinoa to a rolling boil. Reduce heat and simmer on LOW until all of the water is absorbed. This should take anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes. *Cooking your quinoa on low is extremely important. If you let it simmer on a hotter flame, the water will absorb too quickly and the quinoa will turn out hard! (I've heard you can cook it in a rice cooker too.)
2. Cool the cooked quinoa in the refrigerator for at least an hour before preparing the salad.

3. To prepare the salad, slice grape tomatoes in half [hot dog way] and cut the block of fresh mozzarella into bite size pieces. Mix together. Then add the chopped basil and cooked quinoa and give the salad a toss. Next, drizzle on the olive oil and season with a little salt/pepper (to taste). Give your salad a final toss and serve cool or at room temperature.

I'm not sure what I think of quinoa.  While I was eating I took too big a bite and about killed myself on a tomato or hunk of cheese. Geesh!  Cut it up small!  After that I was scared to eat anymore.  It's supposed to be really good for ya.  That's all I know.  I'm sure I'll try it again soon:)






<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.farmgirlpaints.blogspot.com"><img vspace="none" hspace="none" alt="feed my family friday" src="http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu20/folly_surf_fisher/feedmyfamily-1.jpg" /></a>

So I'd love for you to link up a recipe and join in the fun. 

Have a blessed weekend friends.

556.  friends you can talk about anything with

557.  lunch at baker's crust with my first friday girls

(chasing a fly)

558.  how my honey makes me laugh out loud

559.  big chick's new smile;)

560.  having this place to spill my thoughts

561.  you for loving me with your words

hits the spot

I'm sitting here in my darkened office.  The rain is coming down hard. In the background, in between the showers, I hear tree frogs croaking.  Oh how I love to hear them sing.  Every now and then I crave a dark stormy day.  It quiets my soul..beckons me slow down.  It awakens my senses.

 

This past week I fought some kind of virus.  My stomach was a mess.  I had absolutely no energy.  When I'm sick I go into stealth mode.  I quiet down.  I walk a little slower.  I avoid talking.  When I lie down it's in the fetal position.  I look for comfort in any shape I can find.  I texted my friends to lift me up in prayer.  That's what friends are for right?  To lift up.





Is there anything more comforting than hot tea?  I'm not sure if it's a southern thing or not, but my girls here are into tea parties.  I feel the need to get up to speed with the tea thing.  I'm more of a coffee girl, but I am finding that tea hits the spot.  It soothes me to my toes. 


I found myself at HomeGoods recently (shocker I know) hunting down the perfect tea kettle.  Somehow microwaving a tea cup didn't seem appropriate for company.  So my first step in the tea thing was to invest in a real live kettle...one that whistles.  I know.  I feel so fancy now, like I could almost pass for tea person;)  Next is a tea set I guess.  Maybe that should be the thing I hunt for when I go antiquing...gradually build a little mismatched set.  Sounds fun.

Target has these new dishes in their white collection.  Oh how I love to hold my bumpy textured mug and sip on this Aveda tea.  Have you had it?  It's seriously the best tea I've ever tasted.  It has this sweetness that zings ya.  You are not expecting it and then there it is.  No honey or sugar needed.  Perfection.





Speaking of honey did you know that a tsp a day of local honey a day can help seasonal allergies??   A friend of mine who is all into natural remedies told me this lately, and it seems to make sense.  Luckily I have another friend who is a beekeeper.  SCORE!  Is that not the coolest thing ever;)  So I'm pretty sure I'm golden on local honey...yay!  I've never been a big honey fan, but if it can keep the scary Virginia allergies at bay I'm all in.  Apparently I live in a very high allergy state...oh joy.  Dang those trees! 

Another thing that I crave...that soothes me when I'm sick is Cream of Wheat.  My momma used to make this for me growing up.  On my icky days last week I wanted some SO BAD and we were out!  Couldn't wait to get my hands on a box.  I'm curious...what comforts you??

Have a blessed day.

468.  bees that work for me;)

469.  cream of wheat

470.  prayers from loved ones

471.  the soothing sound of tree frogs

472.  the sound of my tea kettle

473.  the soft glow of a lit candle

474.  a weekend with friends

Losing it

Several of you have asked me about our clean eating diet...so here goes. Back in January I was just sitting at my computer probably blogging, and Honey came in and told me about a website called bodybuilders.com. After perusing through the before and after pics I was in. WE were in. We've always loved exercise, but the eating part for us has been really hard to master.

This pic is how I looked that day. Not bad, but definitely some pudge. I wanted to get that lean look. Didn't know if it was possible, but we were ready to try. So for the next several weeks we started a very clean diet of basically egg whites, oatmeal, chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, asparagus and cottage cheese. Needless to say that strict diet got old really quickly. But during that process Honey and I both started shedding the puffy look. The bloat was finally melting.

I wrote down everything that went in my mouth. The goals was to eat 5 or 6 times a day. A lean protein with a good carb at every meal. No processed foods. No sugar. The cravings were out of control at first. It was awful. We were really used to eating whatever we wanted. We would have "dirty" talk about food. It was hilarious. I have to say having Honey do this with me is the ONLY way it has been successful...because I'm a weakling. I love food, especially SUGAR!

{These were at 4 weeks and 7 pounds later}

Our goal was to change our eating habits...to be healthy and in the process feel good about our bodies. I can't believe it's been 6 months now. I've lost about 6 more pounds since those pics. Honey has lost almost 20 pounds too. What used to seem impossible is now obtainable. Nothing is sweeter than that:)

(Dad's Great Green Chili)

The days of plain sweet potatoes and a baked chicken breast are gone. We couldn't continue with that day in and day out. So I had to get creative. I really don't like cooking, but unfortunately you have to cook to eat clean. We also have our staples like Subway and have scoured every restaurant's menu to tweak it to fit into our new lifestyle. No one makes it easy. That's for sure.

I found a few cookbooks to be lifesavers. Bill Phillips, Eating for Life is a really good one. The Green chili recipe is yummy. There is also Tosca Reno's various Eat Clean cookbooks. Very inspirational.

Frittatas are easy too. Just saute some of your favorite veggies (I use asparagus, mushrooms, and an onion potato mix) add egg whites and cook in the skillet lifting sides to seep egg mixture...cooking for 5-7 minutes. Once almost set add some low fat cheese and broil for 4-5 minutes until brown.

Then our staple...grilled chicken/strawberry salad. We add some red onion, low fat feta cheese and a few croutons. We found a really good lite balsamic vinaigrette and voila...dinner:)

I've been sitting on these pics for a bit. I took them when we where in Hawaii. When we were on vacation we threw our healthy habits out the window...shocking I know! But isn't that what vacation is for? Anyway Honey's favorite treat meal in the world is a bowl of Cheerios with white powdered sugar donuts. He grew up eating this on a normal basis and it's his crave meal!

Well one of our kiddos...a.k.a. crumb snatchers just happened to ask him for a bite and...

WATCH OUT!!!

Oh my gosh this picture cracks me up!

That's what eating no sugar for months on end will do to you:)

All this to say that after doing good for months at a time...the two trips and my folks coming kind of derailed me a little. I've had a hard time getting back to writing stuff down. I'm treating myself a little too often and the cravings are back. I haven't really gained weight, but I feel soft. So I wrote this to remind myself of all our hard work and to remember how good it felt to eat clean.

As my favorite fitness guru Jillian Michaels would say:

"Trying is planning to Fail.

Why do you choose failure when success is an option!

Don't try - DO.

Don't tell me you can't!"






I figure if those people on her show can endure what they go through to transform their lives so can I:)





Have a blessed day.

New footing

It's been sober in blogland lately. Our hearts are all heavy with the devastation in Haiti, and then for some the news of a friend who's lost a husband, and then another family who has a lost a child...two things I can't even imagine. Life is full of the unexpected. We never know when it will be our turn to experience this kind of pain and the thought would be overwhelming if we didn't have the assurance of God's grace and mercy during those times.

When I hear of tragedy in other's lives, not only does it make me want to DO something...to fix it, it makes me reevaluate my own life...my blessings. I feel a little guilty talking about this when there are so many hurting, but can I just give a praise report? As many of you know I struggle with seasonal depression, and in the past it has really affected my life. There were many days where it was all I could do to drag myself out of bed, to put one foot forward, to do laundry etc... I had no energy and no internal compass for happiness.

I'm not sure how or why, but I feel the cloud lifting. I have felt sooo happy inside for the past few weeks. I know that many have been praying for me, so I know it's the Lord 100%. We have also been blessed with many sunny days here and that always makes a difference. I have completely changed my eating and in the process I'm finally seeing the pounds melt away:) I have two very exciting trips to look forward to this winter, and lastly I feel like I have gained control over my thoughts. I am taking them captive so to speak. It's so weird to feel joy in the Winter, this is almost unknown to me. So thank you for listening, for letting me spill over with joy. I am so grateful.

Have a blessed day.

All images by Navylane, Love dare cards www.BHPublishingGroup.com

Goodbye my little friend

I can't believe I'm sharing this with you. Honestly it's a wonder I have anything left to reveal...HA!!! But since I'm an open book and obviously have many layers, you might as well know this little known fact about me. I'm a hairy girl! There I said it:O

My two older brother's teased me about my hairy gorilla legs when I was younger and that's when I decided to be a rebel and shave above my knee. This was strictly forbidden by my momma who told me that someday when I got married my husband wouldn't like stubble up high on my thigh:) Isn't that hilarious?

In an effort to keep my crazy facial hair under control I've been using this little battery operated razor I got from Target. It did the trick, but seriously I have been using it sometimes twice a day. When honey's grandma had her stroke, she was laid up in the hospital and I hate to say this, but she practically grew a beard. Ever since seeing her that way I have been afraid that might be my fate someday.

(this is after...hardly any redness)

Anyway for Christmas I told honey I didn't want a thing other than laser hair reduction. He of course bought me something anyway, because he's a sweetheart. But today was the day I went in and got lasered. I've had it done once before a few years ago and it really hurt. The laser just zoomed in on those dark hairs and sizzled them. It smelled bad too. I remember breaking out into a cold sweat. Well today I can say the experience was a lot more pleasant. Apparently laser's have evolved a little. It still burned some and was uncomfortable, but it was definitely bearable. It's expensive and a little vain, but as far as vanity is concerned I draw the line at having a mustache and gotee. Is that too much to ask??

Have a blessed day.

Another challenge!

I'm becoming painfully aware that I've become lax with my eating and daily exercise. I have been really busy creating, planning and preparing for my Etsy store and in the course of that I've lost track of me! So guess what? It's time for another 21 day challenge. Yeehaw! I know your excited!!!

Here are my goals:

1.) Get 3 miles of some form of cardio in every day.
2.) Lose 5 pounds
3.) Read my bible daily.
4.) Continue with the no sugar, no soda.

Who's comin' with me?? Of course I will pig out on Thanksgiving, so fear not, but let's make some positive changes before the holidays hit. I'm going back home to Illinois for Christmas and I know I want to look smokin':) So let's do it together. It helps so much to have support, so let me know if you decide to jump on board this crazy train;) We can do it!!

Have a blessed day.

PS...Thank you for all of your suggestions with my business cards.

I've decided to have all of them made!

When in doubt pick them all right?

Love you girlies:)

Image: Flickr - quack 1701

The Master Cleanse

A few years ago I became a Master Cleanse participant. I needed to get ready for my cousin Tammy's wedding in L.A. and I wanted to drop some weight.  So I followed the diet for 2 weeks and lost approximately 10-12 pounds.  Now for those of you who have never heard of the Master Cleanse it is a mixture of water, lemons, cayenne pepper and maple syrup.  You don't eat anything and you drink this mixture throughout the day.  You also drink a laxative tea...so needless to say you get a real "cleanse" if you know what I mean:)

I found the information in a little booklet at my local health food store.  Since that time it has become a very well known "diet" used by celebrities and people all over the world and has been widely publicized and criticized.  

The weight may have come off initially, but I gained it back almost as quickly.  I remember being so excited at first thinking I had finally found the answer to my weight struggles.  If I gained a few I could easily do the cleanse for a little while and get it off.  I attempted the cleanse probably 4-5 times in that year and each time gained the weight back.  I really feel it messed with my metabolism.  It seemed harder to lose weight the regular way after that and it kind of became a mind game for me...a crutch.

I believe 150% that diet and exercise begins in the mind.  There have been times that I have lost weight easily and it's because I had a LIGHTBULB moment.  Everything seemed to click and I was ready for it.  Other times, many other times... I would start and then blow it and then start and blow it.  So my question to myself would be "how can I get myself to that LIGHTBULB moment"??  What do I need to do to get there again?  I know the cleanse is not the right answer.  I don't want a quick fix.  There is no magic pill or easy button...I just need to get my head on straight.  I know I will.  I feel the lightbulb starting to flicker:)

 

What about you...have you ever done anything extreme to lose weight?

 

Thanks for listening.

Becky

 

Photo credit:  All images Flickr

5 lbs of "beauty fat"

I have a confession to make...I am a social eater. Every time, every. single. time. I am around other people I get caught up in the moment and eat too much. It's a curse I know. One that I'm sure I share with multitudes of other people. The problem with this addiction is evident. Every time I go home I gain weight. This time it was 5 pounds.

I was discussing this little problem with my sister-in-law Julie on the phone the other day and she told me something really cute. She struggles with tummy fat, like most of us do after babies. She was at the pool and her daughter Brittany told her that she considered that fat...beauty fat! She said it was beautiful because it was related to her and her brother's existence etc...

I love the idea of looking at flaws on our bodies and renaming them. She's definitely on to something there.

What if instead of:

Pouchy fat belly replace with beauty fat

Wrinkles replace with lines of laughter

Gray hair replace with strands of wisdom

Stretch Marks replace with oh I don't know a good one for that...

ANY IDEAS??

Have a blessed day.

Photo credit: Flickr

My first Mammogram

This past week at my yearly appointment my doctor uttered the dreaded "m" word...mammogram. I really thought I was safe from having to do this until 40, but I guess they like a baseline reading mid-30's. So I scheduled the appointment and like a big girl went in for my test.

I have to admit I was really scared. I'm not normally a chicken with stuff like this, but my body kind of took over. My heart was racing and I got the nervous stomach etc... It wasn't just the thought of the procedure itself, it was facing the music regarding my health. So many women get breast cancer. I think the statistic is one in 8. The not knowing seems safer than the finding out. Does that make sense?

The lady who did it was perfect. She was a lot older than me, kind of matronly and she assured me that she did over a thousand of these a year:o So that put me at ease. I can't imagine doing her job to be honest. I mean she was really in there. I thought you just put your boob on a plate thing and they squeezed it. No, she's trying to get all the fat and tissue around it too...even the top of my stomach area. It was intense. Good thing I had a little for her to grab or that would have been painful:) They took 2 shots on each side, one squeezing down and then from the side. The first one didn't hurt, but the side ones did. The pressure only lasts four seconds and then it immediately releases...wheew!

So glad and relieved that it's over. I'll be the first to admit I'm not good with self-exams, but doing a test like that makes you really think about the "what if's". Thank heavens I just got my results back and everything is fine...thank you Jesus!

Have a blessed day.