Friday: Love

My Friday LOVE list:

A list of some loves just because.

1. VIOLET! My number one love. Her beautiful face, smile, crazy laugh, that rosebud mouth, her sense of humor, her little white bum, the curve of her "baby belly", the way she runs away when I try to tickle her, her amazement and excitement and her wet kisses!  Her love of unicorns, her drawings, the way she dances, her love of blue! All of her is my favorite thing.

2. My sisters and brother.  They are all so unique and special.  I am thankful for them and I will never be alone (even in the darkest of hours) because they exist.

3. Yoga.  Because when I am IN that place, safe on my mat and inside my practice, it is the place where I feel most like me.  I am so thankful that I found yoga and that it will always have a place in my life. My daily inspiration comes from **here**.  One of my major life goals is to be able to share this love through teaching.

4. Cooking.  Or UNcooking actually.  It is a wonderous thing to put recipes together with whole, fresh, raw foods because I already know what the finished meal will taste like.  Simple and refreshing.  Raw food cooking is rewarding, fun and pleases the body and soul.

5. Christmas music!  Especially Elvis.
6. Owen.  One-eyed and full of kitty magic.
7. Job interview call-backs!
8. Chai!
9. Watching bad reality tv, snuggled up on the couch after a long ass day.
10. Shopping (toys, clothes and otherwise) for Miss Violet.

17 day diet- cycle 1, day 3: Bedtime.

The evenings are definitely the hardest for me.
I think it's because after dinner I know I'm done eating for the day... and that's a little bit of a sad thought. Since being on this diet, I've been going to bed a lot earlier. Even if I'm not that tired, I tell myself that I need to put a little heart on the calendar ending a successful day, and just go to bed. That seems to do the trick. Plus, I have the added benefit of being on a better sleeping schedule, since I used to go to bed around 1am. But still, I hope that I can get to the point where I have more self control in the evenings, and I don't have to send myself to bed every night ;)

Day 3 was a success. I had eggs and an apple for breakfast. My snack was a couple tangerines. Lunch was turkey meatballs with veggies, and for dinner I had a greek salad at the spicy pickle. And now I'm sending myself to bed :)

Are you a night time eater?
How do keep yourself from undoing your whole day?

Thursday

Another shot from her first haircut last weekend. I had to add this when I found it, she is so damn cute.

Photo courtesy of S. Gray

Thursday

I pretty much have to tell myself this everyday now.  It definitely helps in the fray.

Thursday

I was looking through some pictures over the past year and it is amazing how much Miss Violet has grown up!

She is such a special little person.  I am having a wonderful (and bittersweet) time watching her grow and mature.  In only a few short months - like 9 or so - she will be in school!  And I have no idea what I am going to do when she is there -- cry?  Work maybe?  (Ha I probably should).

November 2010. She is just a little peanut here!

April 2011

October 2011

Last night 11.30.11  We had professional pictures taken.

17 day diet- cycle 1, day 2: Today, I am motivated!

Today is so much better then yesterday. Both in my stress level, and on my diet. Every time I look at my diet calendar, I get all giddy. I keep thinking, "I wonder how much weight I will have lost by the end of the 1st cycle?! I can't wait to find out!". There's only one way to "find out": STAY ON TRACK!! My calendar has definitely helped me. Having all my meals planned out for the week has taken the guess work out of this somewhat complicated diet. And I LOVE seeing myself inch closer and closer to the end of the first 17 days.
I have a slight headache. Probably from the lack of soda. Aside from that, I feel pretty darn good. I have energy, and I haven't felt starved. Both, very good things :)

I didn't realize how much being off my diet dragged me down. Both physically, and emotionally... but mostly emotionally. Every single day I would feel depressed about how far off track I had gotten. It consumed my thoughts. I would even wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it. It was like I had a rain cloud over my head constantly.
Even though I'm not down to the weight I was (or even close), and I'm still living with the consequences of eating all those hamburgers (pants not fitting), that dark cloud has completely vanished. I know that I'm doing something about it, and I will eventually get back to where I was. I'm taking action. And it's just what the doctor ordered.

I'm off to go make dinner: sloppy joe's (minus the bread) with lots of veggies :)

17 day diet- Cycle 1, day 1: Weigh-in day

Day 1- Starting weight: 190.4Oy.

Today was a stressful day. All day I wanted to turn to food, so I could have a little happy moment between me, and some cheesy pasta. Every time I struggled today, this one phrase kept coming to my mind, "Eat what you've always eaten, and you'll weigh what you've always weighed" That kept me on track. If I want my body to shrink to a size 6, I have to change what I've been doing for the past couple months. And it's not going to be easy. But I know I can do it.

I just had one little hiccup. My husband, in an attempt to cheer me up, got me something I didn't even know existed: They're called double oreo's. It's a regular oreo, stuck to a chocolate stuffed oreo... two oreo's in one! I stood there for like an hour, trying to figure out what I was going to do. Eat the whole box, or walk away? But once again, this played in my mind, "Eat what you've always eaten, and you'll weigh what you've always weighed" So what did I decide? I had 1 oreo cookie, and then walked away. No, oreo's do not go along with the 17 day diet, but hey- I only had one, when I wanted to inhale them all in 10 seconds flat. So I consider that a success.

I'm going to bed, with a stressful, yet successful day behind me.
That feels good.