Good Day

You know it's a good day when you sleep in, have a productive morning, do something you didn't think you could do, when extra money comes in, and when your makeup that you ordered over two weeks ago finally arrives. 

Yesterday was that day. It was the first day of my weekend, so I didn't have to be up by 6:30. I was actually awake and didn't need to lay in bed forever before getting up. I cleaned my apartment first thing in the morning, along with Mr. Timber's home. (Yes, we got the kids a new pet. A super hairy and super sweet little guinea pig. We decided to name him Timber because he likes to jump/fall off of things, like his little table home at his old house and our ottoman. He is very friendly and very good with the kids so far - as long as they're not too noisy or jumping around).

I've been wanting to cut Ari's hair for about a month now. I was hesitant about doing it myself, or taking her to get it done by a professional. After watching a few YouTube videos I figured it looked easy enough for me to do. Guess what, it was! And on the plus side, it took me less than 20 minutes to do. So, I am pretty proud of myself!

I love that I am going back to school. I also love that I was eligible for grants, so I don't have to pay for it, and I got a small amount back. 

So, I have been using and love E.L.F. Cosmetic's line of the mineral makeup. No, of course the quality is not as good as Bare Minerals. The price is not nearly as high either. The foundation and concealer are both only $5 each. The only downside is that it can only be ordered online and it comes all the way from New York. Usually shipping takes only about a week. It took nearly 2 weeks to get here this time, due to high orders and bad weather. I'm just glad that it finally came in when it did because I am completely out of what I had. Getting packages in the mail is always fun!

And, since I've been keeping track of what I eat...

Day 3

Breakfast: 1 egg with onions and tomatoes

Snack: strawberry, spinach, banana and almond milk smoothie

Lunch: black beans and sweet potatoes

Snack: oatmeal raisin cookie

Dinner: spinach, jicama and radish salad and 4 potstickers

Snack: 3 Oreo cookies and half cup milk

Day 4

Breakfast: peanut butter and jelly toast

snack: strawberry, spinach, banana and almond milk smoothie

Lunch: chicken, spinach, black bean and cheese soft taco with bell peppers and salsa

Snack: Navartan Korma Indian food

Dinner: Indian food - rice, Navaratan Korma, kima curry, chicken makkani and naan

-not the healthiest, but I have been working on portion control, so I did not eat nearly as much as I usually would have.      

What I eat: Day 2

Well started my morning with something a little bit healthier than pizza. I attempted to make hasbrowns...total fail! At least my egg was good considering it was plain and all by itself. Maybe it's because I eat an egg for breakfast nearly every morning, but I can only eat eggs cooked a certain was and usually not by themselves. Over-easy is my go to right now, topped with sautéed onions and tomatoes. Yummy! 

I made a super yummy smoothie this morning. My typical banana, spinach and strawberry. Instead of using juice, I used almond milk. I think I need to start making it like that more often. I do want to try using coconut water sometime. 

I had leftover Chinese food for my lunch. Not healthy, but I only brought a small container of it so I don't feel as guilty.

My afternoon snack was veggie sticks and hummus. Sad story, I am a horrible hummus maker. It's never creamy enough. Not sure what I'm doing so wrong yet, but I hope I'll be able to figure out soon. 

I didn't have much time to eat dinner before going to my class tonight. Luckily I had some of my leftover sautéed sweet potatoes and blackbeans. 

I should have eaten more than just a few bites of my dinner. I was starving by the time class was over. Luckily I had a granola bar with me, so I enjoyed that on my drive home.

I pretty much ate the same things that I ate yesterday. I will probably eat very similarly tomorrow as well. On my days off I plan on making some baked beet and sweet potato chips. I also foresee more salads and grilled chicken and fish instead of pizza and Chinese food. 

I finally worked out again today as well. Not much, but enough to kill my legs. 

I think I mentioned before that I started following this girl, Casey, and I've been doing all of her workout videos. I love them! 

Today I did:

Five Minute Ab Express

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yv4sbu1nda8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dyv4sbu1nda8

Roar Challenge

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jygOeqLCgB8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DjygOeqLCgB8

&

Sculpted Legs in Skinny Leggings

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yhTxFOVAZtg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DyhTxFOVAZtg

It took a bit of will power, but I am glad I took advantage of nap time and had the opportunity to workout. 

Even if it was only about 25 minutes. 

What I eat: Day 1

I would love to say that I've stuck to healthy eating and exercising regularly, but I have not. Far from it. I think I had a 'cheat day' ever day last week. As far as working out goes...I think I only worked out maybe 1 or 2 days. This week I decided to start over. 

Let me introduce you to my healthy food intake of the day. 

Confession: the first thing I ate this morning was a piece of leftover pizza...but there were at least a lot of veggies on it. 

My second breakfast (I try to eat something light every 2 to 3 hours) was an egg with tomatoes and onion. I've been addicted to this combo the past few weeks. 

For my morning snack I made a spinach, banana and strawberry smoothie. 

Lunch was sauteed onions, black beans and sweet potatoes. I was planning on making a black bean and sweet potato burger, but I felt like doing something a little easier when the time came to actually making it. 

I had homemade hummus with jicima, carrots, celery and bell peppers for an afternoon snack. 

As an evening snack I kept it easy by eating just an apple. 

I drank about 6 or 7 glasses of warm water throughout the day as well. 

Dinner wasn't quite as healthy as every other meal was. We had tofu pad Thai and sesame chicken. 

Overall it was a pretty healthy day for me and I plan on eating similarly tomorrow. 

2014

What a good year 2013 has been. I have been thinking a lot about my accomplishments last year. The biggest one being going back to school. Who knows when I'll be done, but I'm just so happy to finally be going back and doing more with my life. 

I've become a little more frugal and tried my hand at making my own homemade jam and homemade laundry soap (that I love).  

I've repurposed a lot of clothes and practiced making little ones for the kids.

2012 was focused on welcoming Hunter into our lives and adjusting to having two kids. It was a huge adjustment. I barely had any time to myself and I was constantly stressed out and I felt overwhelmed very easily. My main goal for 2013 was to create more time for myself and do things that made me happy. I still don't always get as much time alone as I would like, but I don't think anyone with young kids does. I have been able to spend a lot more time on things I enjoy and things that make me happy, like sewing, reading and spending time with my family. Overall I feel so much happier and not nearly as stressed out as I was before. 

My goals for 2014 are to continue to do things that make me happy and continue to make time for myself.

I also plan on continuing school. I need to make a decision on what I actually want to do and find out what classes I need to take. 

My main goal for 2014 is to get into shape and eat healthier. 

I got really sick Christmas evening and I could barely eat for a day.  It didn't last long, but ever since I've been sick I've felt bloated and gross. Probably because I've been eating not so great. Ryan and I did the Paleo diet off and on throughout last year. The few weeks that we did really well and stuck with it I felt great. The rest of the time when we ate whatever we wanted and went out to eat all of the time I felt a huge difference. I would feel bloated, just like I do now, and I didn't have nearly as much energy. I have been getting really tired of feeling that way and I would really like to feel more energetic and get rid of the bloating. 

Ryan and I both have decided that it would be really good for both of us to try the Paleo diet and clean eating again. We are lucky and have been able to order cases of natural chicken breasts and we get salmon from Ryan's friend, so we don't have to spend tons of money on expensive meats. The main thing I think we need to work on is meal planning and making sure we have healthy snack alternatives. I find that I do so well on the days that I work because I have to plan out the food that I bring. I do really well snacking on fruits veggies and smoothies throughout the day instead of chips and crackers. I've also started keeping a health journal that has my food and water intake written down, along with any workouts I've done.

Working out is something that I have never been good at. It is really hard for me to stick to a routine. I found this awesome website called Blogilates. Casey, the creator has made dozens  of YouTube workout videos, monthly workout calendars and monthly meal plans. I prefer to create my own meal plans, but I love the workout calendars. I started the beginner workout calendar last month. I did really good for two weeks, until I got sick and I hadn't done any until this morning. My favorite thing about the videos are that most of them are under 10 minutes. On the calendars she usually has 2 or 3 paired up to do in 1 day. Since the videos are so short I can distract the kids with coloring or something and do as many as I can while the kids are occupied. If I don't finish all of them I can just wait a little longer and do more later when I have the time. Working in a daycare I can easily do one or two of them in the morning as well, while it's slow and I'm waiting for kids to arrive. 

I am slowly developing a love for working out, and I definitely plan on continuing to make my body healthier.