My DIY Shabby Chic Mirror Project

Yes, you read that title correct. I, Brittney, started and finished a DIY project. Not only that, but it is a project that upon completion wasn't instantly thrown in the trash. I often joke that I am incapable of DIY projects, but the fact is that I try them. I try many! They either don't get finished or they are awful. I rank myself below an amateur DIYer, although I think this project has just upgraded me to amateur status!

I am giddy.

So here's the story.

A couple of months ago I went downtown in my little hometown and did some shopping at The Prairie Chick Market. I was admiring everything she has in her store, somehow trying to figure out how to fit an entire gorgeous taupe hutch with white milk glass into my car. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw a mirror. It was ornate and gold and instantly an idea was sparked. For some time I have been wanting to find a pair of mirrors that were ornate and fabulous.  The odds of finding such a pair without spending an arm and leg has been the main reason why I had not pursued it further.

This shopping trip changed my whim of an idea into a reality.

I commented to Shelly (owner) that I had plans for finding a pair of mirrors when she told me she had another mirror just like the one I was looking at. It was a different shade of gold, but the frame was the same.

EXCITEMENT.

I went home that day with a bounce in my step because I had found my mirrors. The task of figuring out how in the world I was going to make them fabulous was about to embark.

Here they are. As you can see, they were mismatched color but identical frames. Allow me to bring you through my process visually to the end result:

I have a sophisticated craft room in my house. Oh, wait.  Nope. I painted them out in our storage shed on a cardboard box and piece of wood. Classy.

RESULT:

Words cannot contain the amount of joy I feel. Joy over two mirrors? Heck yes. For a very long time I have wanted to have amazing mirrors on either side of our headboard in our master bedroom and now that dream is a reality.

I'm guessing that after posting this I'm going to head on over to Pinterest to peruse for more ideas for DIY projects. The creativity gates have been opened!

Come pin with me: http://www.pinterest.com/eyeenjoy/

Recipe: Brittney's Chicken Stir-Fry

Brittney's Chicken Stir-Fry
(Adapted from Spicy Chicken Stir Fry recipe from Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook, by Dr Mark Hyman M.D., Pg 137.)

This is a tasty gluten-free version of a classic chicken stir-fry. I toned down the spice, but if you're looking for more heat add another teaspoon of the red chili garlic sauce. My son was licking his plate when he was finished tonight. Literally.

I also doubled the recipe (as shown below) so I'd have leftovers, which can be stored in a sealed container for up to 4 days.

CHICKEN:
4 Tblsp  low-sodium, gluten-free tamari
4 Tblsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
4 tsp arrowroot
4-6 small skinless chicken breasts, sliced thin

SAUCE:
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 Tblsp reduced-sodium, gluten-free tamari
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
1.5 tsp chili garlic sauce
2 tsp arrowroot

STIR-FRY:
1 Tblsp sesame oil
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 scallions, thinly sliced
1 (5-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained
1 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped or sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped or sliced
1 head broccoli
4 medium carrots, peels and sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced to desired cut

MAKE THE CHICKEN:
In a medium bowl whisk together the tamari, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and arrowroot. Add the chicken and set aside to marinate for 15-20 minutes.

MAKE THE SAUCE:
In a small bowl whisk together all of the sauce ingredients and set aside.

MAKE THE STIR-FRY:
1. Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add ginger, garlic, and scallions, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes.
2. Drain the excess marinade from the chicken and add the chicken to the wok. Stir-fry the chicken in the aromatics until mostly cooked through, 2-4 minutes. Pour in the reserved sauce and add the water chestnuts. Finish cooking the chicken in the sauce until it glazes nicely, 3-4 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to medium and transfer the chicken to a platter, leaving behind as much sauce as possible in the wok.
4. Add the carrots and celery to wok and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add broccoli and peppers and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.
6. Add chicken back to wok and stir-fry until vegetables are cooked lightly.

Serve stir-fry over rice if desired. I personally ate it alone but my family certainly loved the rice with it.

Serves 4-6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Side note: This recipe was not a part of the 10-Day Detox Diet.

10 Day Detox Diet Conclusion

I've been trying to think of the best way to describe my results from my 10 Day Detox. I have created multiple posts, but they remain sitting as drafts because I haven't been able to pinpoint the most important elements from my experience without writing a novel.

The 10 Day Detox for me, has shifted my perspective about food immensely. To my own fault, I often times found myself driven to eat foods not because I was hungry, but because I was addicted to it. I wanted to eat food not because it was nourishing to my body, but because I was rewarding myself with that cupcake. Or three. Or, it was a really tough day! I just wanted to sit down and snack on some chips. It's sounds terrible to put that out in the open for anyone to read, but quite frankly I was addicted to food! Driven by food. If I exercise really hard this week, that will cancel out the bad food I ate, right? Wrong.

Becoming healthy again has never been a matter of "if," but "when." When am I going to stop buying macaroni & cheese for the kids? When am I going to stop buying Schwan's frozen foods because they are convenient? When am I going to stop buying Diet Coke? When am I going to start cooking again? WHEN?

I completely by accident stumbled upon this Detox, and it has answered every one of my questions. It is time to get healthy again, now.

The 10 Day Detox Diet by Dr. Mark Hyman is a book. I bought it off Amazon after accidentally finding it on Pinterest a couple weeks ago and it has addressed many of the reasons why it was so difficult for me to find a path back to a healthy lifestyle. The name of the book itself? Yuck, I don't like the title, to be brutally honest. It sounds like a fad diet. It should be titled, "The Road Back To Health." Yet, I am clearly not an author so my idea doesn't even count! lol

Also, what in the world sounds appealing about the word detox? Not a dang thing.

I have done detoxes before. I absolutely do not like the nagging feeling of being hungry all the time. The appeal of chewing off my arm does not necessarily motivate someone to say, "yes, let's go ahead and starve ourselves for a month and see how well we do."

No.

But this detox? This detox was the first time I stepped away from addictive foods that had somehow crept into our lives and made themselves at home. And these addictive foods weren't cookies and brownies. They were bread, granola bars, cheese, chips, crackers, noodles!!

Of course I still crave things, of course I would love to snack on chips or something sweet. Yet, I've learned that my brain is no longer hardwired to demand those foods because I literally detoxed my body from them. I can actually use willpower to make decisions that my brain was hardly giving me the chance of doing prior to this experience.

Detox. This literally was a detox. I experienced headaches and fatigue the first couple of days. My body ached, I felt edgy and moody. My body was recognizing that the addictive foods were no longer being presented. It's shocking to read through my journal entries in the first couple of days, because there was a degree of discomfort. Not hunger. Not starvation. Physical discomfort from not eating addictive foods. Then, like a cliche romance novel, after two or three days into it a cloud was lifted from my head and it all felt immensely clear.

Willpower works for me now, because I no longer "need," the foods that were preventing me from being healthy. The book helped me to let go of the guilt and punishment I was giving myself for not being strong enough to just stop eating bad food. The book helps you every day through the detox, and provides recipes, resources and ideas for doing more than just adjusting your food intake.

There are supplements that Dr Hyman sells through his website, but he also outlines what each supplement is suggested, so you can find your own if you so choose. There are also daily baths each night during the detox using Epsom salts, baking soda and Lavender essential oils. The first few baths I sat there, putting in my time, trying to figure out what in the world these were for. Fast forward: Now I look forward to my bath. It's a form of meditation, healing, relaxation. Something that I wasn't allowing myself to do in our fast-paced lives. This book is so much more than just food.

The food itself? What does the detox involve? I have eliminated the following from my diet entirely: gluten, dairy, sugar, artificial sweeteners, fruit, sodas and juice. If you are asking yourself, "what's left to eat?" after reading my list, you are not alone. I was TERRIFIED to try this detox. (previous blog post: I Am Terrified To Try This Detox) So many things were flying through my head. How will I be able to feed my family? How am I going to stay full from eating vegetables all day? What in the world am I getting myself into?

I say with 100% confidence that it is worth every moment. I am now eating some of the healthiest and delicious foods I have ever eaten - mostly because my tastebuds now taste a smoothie with blueberries and strawberries and recognize it as the sweetest and delicious thing possible. Instead of eating a blueberry before this detox thinking it was a little sweet, bland or bitter in comparison. Well no kidding. A blueberry in comparison to pure chocolate? Or to the sweetest of sweet artificial sweeteners? Poor blueberries don't stand a chance. Not unless you reprogram your tastebuds. Healthy food simply tastes better after this detox. I lost 8.5 pounds during the ten days. That floored me. I wasn't expecting it.

This detox also made the connection for me - one I've heard a million times. We are what we eat. I truly believe that. My mood, my energy, my outlook, my attitude, my physical existence are all exponentially better because of the foods that are nourishing my body, instead of foods that were draining the life out of me.

This detox has made quite the impression on me, clearly. I can't seem to stop talking about it! Yet, another gigantic change has not only been for me. But for my family. To smile when my son asks me each morning if he can try my shake or smoothie I'm making that day. To watch my kids gobble up green salads and chopped peppers on their plates before even touching those remaining baked french fries that will never be purchased again. To have my husband tell me that he looks forward to every meal now, and that he feels great. To see him stop drinking Diet Coke - HUGE. HUGE HUGE HUGE.

Life is feeling very good. :)

The detox doesn't end here, either. The book suggest three options for a 6-week transition phases back into the real world. 1) You can keep going with the same detox diet. 2). You can do the same detox diet but re-introduce legumes. 3). You can do the detox diets with re-introducing non-starchy fruits and legumes back into your life. Then, after those six weeks, you can start to slowly re-introduce gluten, dairy and other foods back into your life, if you so choose. This book doesn't leave you hanging. It is truly designed to help.

I think that about wraps it up! My conclusion feels like I am only touching the tip of the ice berg. There is so much more I could talk about it in detail, but I think this post is starting to turn novel-worthy.

Please come and check back to this blog soon. I am so very excited to share photos and recipes of some of the foods I've been eating and making. I hope that I might somehow help or inspire someone else out in this big world to simply think, or try something different that could potentially change something big in their lives.

Recipe Photo Previews:

 

 

 

I'm Terrified to Try This Detox

Tomorrow I am starting something new.  As I was falling down the rabbit hole, I refer to as Pinterest, I discovered a book that intrigued me.

I have been feeling in a slump.  Since last October I have been making it a point in my life to become more active, fit, stronger and healthier as an overall goal in life.  In doing so, I have tried as little as simply walking without changing eating habits, to the extremes of Advocare 24-day Challenges.  I have survived the spectrum of changes and have taken small pieces of knowledge from each experience.

Yet, I don't feel good right now.  I'm ready to shift my goals.  Of course I want to continue to be active, fit, strong and healthy.  It's time for a new combination.  A shifted approach and mindset.  Up to this point I have wanted to lose weight.  I've made a "number of pounds" to lose goal.  I've made goals of being active "X" number of days per week.  They don't have solidity for me.  It's good motivation, but there's also the aspect of aftermath.  And as ridiculous as this sounds, I find myself in one of two situations.

A). I don't quite reach the goal.  I put my heart into it and try so hard to make it, but I fall short.  I have a sense of accomplishment for doing what I can, but deep down I have to silence the little voice inside of me that feels like I didn't do good enough.

B). I succeed. In fact, I EXCEED my expectations and find myself on cloud nine. Then I fall from my cloud.  I don't know how to keep going after a 24-day program.  Sure there are ideas, logic, and many other reasons why I should be able to continue with my success, but nothing as regimented as the program itself that I succeeded doing.  In the back of my mind I hear a small voice saying, "YOU DID IT, and now you are in charge of keeping it going.....but why not reward yourself just this once..."  but it never is just once.  Before I know it I'm eating pizza and a bag of chips again.

This sounds utterly depressing and frustrating, but I'm coming to find the courage to actually put it into words.  Living in the denial of my food habits only causes me to stay stuck in this place where I find myself. It's ultra frustrating because I truly enjoy healthy foods already.  I love healthy foods - I regularly make wholesome and satisfying foods - when I have the time and motivation.  When it's convenient to make a frozen pizza?  I've done that a time or two.

This desire and need for a change is more than simply losing weight.  I am looking for holistic and preventative measures to help my body from the inside out.  Specifically for my digestive tract.  I don't have a set goal of how many pounds I want to lose - I really don't.  I can choose a number, but I want to be healthy first.  Becoming toned and thin SHOULD come along with that hand in hand, naturally. This means, FOOD, is quickly becoming the most important element.  In addition to exercise, sleep, less stress, being HEALTHY.

During my pregnancy with my daughter and for about a year after I found myself with a feisty gallbladder that has brought about an awareness of the importance of these organs that I so easily take for granted.  I don't think about them when I scarf down a cupcake or bag of chips and how the foods have been created to make my brain as happy as a clam with their sweet and yummy flavors.  (purposely created by food companies to get you to love their food). I still retain my gallbladder, although multiple doctors have advised me to remove it.  That's another story for another day.

I've always joked that I am a "food-addict," because I like food.  I'm grown-up enough to come to terms with the fact that I actually consider myself a food-addict for real.  I eat when I'm not hungry if something sounds good. I over eat, and then feel guilty and horrible about it. I use food to make myself feel better if I'm stressed or down. I have always had a sweet tooth, so of course I will justify a reason to have a tootsie roll (or 3) from this last weekend's parade candy the kids gathered. It's a lot of red flags for me.  Combine bad eating, with not quite having my exercise regimen down to an art, plus going out with friends and having some drinks.  Lather, rinse, repeat and I find myself falling traveling down a dark road that is only going to lead to carrying unnecessary weight, maintaining bad habits, and potentially harming my body and digestive tract for down the road.

When I saw 10-Day Detox Diet book pinned amongst the wellness and health pins I was scrolling through I naturally went right past it.  I've done detoxes before.  I know how hard it is to stop eating certain foods.  I have done more than one detox, and the result is usually the same.  What I always thought of was simply "missing" the bad food I am no longer eating is actually physical signs of withdrawal.  Withdrawal from the sugars, starches and insulin-inducing food that my body is addicted to.  Why would I want to submit myself to another detox that will surely result in me falling off the bandwagon as soon as it's over and back into bad habits.

I bought the book.  Here is it's full name:  The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet: Activate Your Body's Natural Ability to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Fast by Mark Hyman, M.D.

I was not drawn to this book because of the title.  In fact it feels almost gimmicky to me when I read the title, but I bought it, and I've read it, and I'm going to start my 10-day detox tomorrow.  Allow me to share an excerpt of why this book is drawing me in.  Am I falling for a fast one?  I don't know.  But this kind of information hits home to me, and I agree and believe in so many of the core topics he discusses that I feel like a lightbulb is shining bright over my head with excitement.  

"How long can you hold your breath underwater? If I tell you to use your willpowers to hold your breath for fifteen minutes and that I will give you a million dollars if you do, there is still no way you can do this.  We are programmed for certain needs: air, water, food, sleep, and sex.  These things are essential to our survival.  If you are addicted to sugar and I tell you to resist giving in to your cravings by using willpower, I might as well tell you to hold your breath for fifteen minutes.

No one wants to be overweight or suffer the emotional or physical consequences of diabetes or obesity.  But willpower simply isn't enough to overcome the cravings for chips, cookies, soda, and more.  We are up against powerful biochemical mechanisms created by food addiction.  Willpower is useless when industrial junk food and sugar are in charge of your brain chemistry."  

Reference: Hyman, M. (2014). Finding Food Freedom. The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet: Activate Your Body's Natural Ability to Burn Fat and Lose Weight Fast (). : Little, Brown and Company.

This book talks about the way "taste engineers," create foods in our grocery stores that are specifically designed to activate the part of your brain that makes you feel GOOD.  With little to no health benefits. Not beneficial if it makes us fat and sick.

So.  This detox is about not cutting down calories or a strict amount of food to each each day.  In fact there's a page of non-starchy vegetables that says, "eat as many of these as you want."

I will tell you that I'm slightly terrified, simply because it isn't going to be convenient like picking up sandwiches at Subway. It's not going to be difficult either, it's simply going to be different.  Especially for my family, because I will be spending a lot of time chopping vegetables and offering nuts and seeds to the kids for snacks instead of granola bars.  I made my shopping list to cover 10 breakfasts and three days worth of snacks and meals. Forgive my language, but holy shit.  This is taking eating healthy into the real world.  The fact that I'm so startled by it means that even though I have thought I have been feeding my family healthy food, it hasn't been so great.  WAY TOO PROCESSED.  Also, I don't know where i'm going to store my 3 heads of broccoli, 9 cups of arugula and 5 cups of fresh spinach. I'm going to need a second refrigerator for all of these vegetables.  LOOK AT THIS.  Three days.  This is for three full days, and 10 breakfasts.

I'm putting this out there for accountability.  I'm scared of coming back in a couple of days saying, nevermind! I decided not to do this. I want to complete the 10 days and beyond. I'm trying to figure out how I'm not going to spend a million dollars at the same time.  Wish me luck.  I hope to return with exciting progress!

  

 

A Little Laundry Talk

This post is a little bit different than my typical blog posts, but I wanted to document it simply because of how much I am loving it.  How affordably I've adjusted our costs for detergent, and how much I am simply feeling better about going a little green.

Laundry.  Everyone needs it done at some point or another.  Whether you do your own laundry or someone does it for you, keep in mind that there are a million ways to accomplish getting your rags washed.

I grew up using powdered detergent and a dryer sheet.  That's it.  If I got a stain?  The shirt was done if it was any color other than white, because the only stain-fighter I knew existed was bleach. (before color bleach was readily available)  If something needed to be hand-washed, air dried, dry cleaned, etc, I simply wouldn't buy it.  I would avoid it like the plague!  My husband jokes with me about how I do laundry now versus how I did laundry when we moved in together.

Life changes.  Babies have a way of changing your perspective on everything!  When I was pregnant with Sam I discovered Dreft, and personally did NOT like the way it smelled.  Yet, that's the "baby" detergent.  Well, I wasn't going for it.

The decision was made, that I was going to throw my extensive background in laundering out the window and start over.  Result? I feel like I've tried every single type of detergent and softener and stain remover this world has ever created. Safe for babies, safe for adults, extra strength, ecco-friendly, generic brand, name brand.  All of it.  Simplified version of what I'm trying to say - I've tried a lot of crap.  and there is a lot of crap on the market that is complete and utter rubbish that costs far more than necessary or doesn't work worth a darn.

This is where I want to share with you my favorite laundering products.  There are four.  Total.  The following products are strong enough to fight stains, gentle enough to use on delicate clothing, cheap enough to impress some, and environmentally friendly enough to consider them, "green."  Boom.

1.  Method Detergent
2. Vinegar (instead of fabric softener or dryer sheets)
3. Sol-U-Mel - Lemon scent (stain remover) by Melaluca
4. Fels Naptha bar (stain remover)

Now let me break it down.



Method Detergent is concentrated, which obviously means using less.  This bottle can be found for around $12.99 (using Amazon Prime).  My favorite scent is Fresh Air.  How could I go wrong with Fresh Air?  I typically use 4 pumps per load, and that means I do not frequently refill this bottle!  I believe my bottle states 50 loads.

Method detergent is environmentally friendly and has a plethora of reasons why I like it, but I'll keep it simple and keep going.

Vinegar.  I buy this at my local Hyvee store, but you can literally find vinegar anywhere.  I use white distilled vinegar, approximately 2/3 cup per load.  This COMPLETELY replaces fabric softener.  What does this gallon of vinegar cost?  $2.76?  Somewhere around there?

Vinegar is a natural softener, it is environment-friendly, it's cheap, it brightens clothes naturally, it's unreal.  There is absolutely no vinegar smell, either.  It's BRILLIANT.

Next is Sol-U-Mel.  This is a product sold by Melaluca that is another life-changing product.  It costs a little bit more (around $20 per bottle), but it is concentrated and I use it on more than laundry. Since we are talking about cleaning clothes today I'll simply stick to the basics, but I justify this expense because it is unbelievably amazing for everything in my house!

I first-hand witnessed my sister dab some Sol-U-Mel onto a dried wine stain on some fabric and the stain disappeared.  That alone convinced me that it worked, but I needed to know if would be gentle enough to apply to a variety of clothes.  It does.

Little story, Kate received a lollipop from the grocery store cashier while she was wearing one of our favorite Matilda Jane Platinum ellie tops.  The top is white and light blue.  Imagine the pinkest, stickiest and stainiest sucker a girl could ever eat?  Well the combination left me assuming that I would be watch Kate play in her newly colored pink, white and blue top because there was NO WAY the stains were going to come out.

I applied some Sol-U-Mel directly to the stains.  It didn't do anything.  I panicked, but remembered my sister's wine stain and thought I'd wash it and see what to try next.  I threw the top into the wash with the Sol-U-Mel applied.  Added my method detergent and vinegar and poof.  Came out sparkly clean.  NO STAINS.  In fact, she wore the top yesterday and I laughed as I put it on her because of how brighter it looks now than before the stain incident!

Next in my line-up of products is Fels Naptha.  You know, the bar of soap in the detergent isle that surely only your grandmother would know anything about?  The bar of soap that costs approximately $1.30?  Yep.

Any mother who is reading this might understand diaper rash creme.  Also, how much of a MESS it can make.

Kate got ahold of a Desitin tube last fall and managed to cover herself in Desitin while she was wearing yet another beloved Matilda Jane top.

Insert panic.  I scrubbed.   It soaked.  I washed it.  It came out with white paste smeared all over it.

Then I tried my Fels Naptha bar.  It was like a magic bar of wonder.  I rubbed it directly onto the stains and it looked like I was pulling latex paint off in little pieces.  Her top was saved!  Then I simply ran it through a regular wash load.  Done.

I would have never guessed that with such a small number of products I would be able to combat stains that my family experiences that are AFFORDABLE and environmentally-friendly.

There you go!

Let's add this up.
Method (50 loads): $12.99
Vinegar (1 Gallon): $2.76
Sol-U-Mel: $20.00 for 16 oz that lasts for a year?  It's been 6 months and I have literally used this much so far between multiple applications (photo below)
Fels-Naptha bar: $1.39

Let's say I refill my Method detergent once every 8 weeks?  Vinegar is approximately 2 gallons per 8 weeks.  Sol-U-Mel and Fels Naptha last for ever, it feels like!  So doing a little estimating, I am spending $169.47 per year on laundry and stain-fighting products. Approximately $14 per month.  I am quite happy with that.

Little disclaimer: this collection was not created in the attempts to find the most frugal or affordable combination, but in the hopes of keeping costs in perspective while still trying to find the highest quality of laundering options.

Diamond in the Rough

There are some workouts that feel like you're chewing gravel.  The kind that you just want to put your time in so you can claim to have done it.

Tonight was NOT that night.  Tonight was one of those strangely fulfilling workouts that was more than the motions.  From the moment it started to the moments shortly after, it made me smile.  A real smile that wasn't all teeth or a cute expression you'd make for a picture.  It was a smile that held excitement in the pit of my stomach as I started pedaling with the sun on my face.  To breath in the smell of leaves and grass and flowers.  A smile that felt like breathing in the smell of springtime crabapple blossoms.

On my warm-up ride to the gym to do some weights I came across my favorite crabapple trees of all time.  They are in full bloom and they did not disappoint as I approached them.  It's that blink of a moment in the spring when the flowers are full-bloom and smell so sweet and fresh and deep.  Tomorrow they'll probably start to blow away petal by petal in the wind.  Tonight they held on so beautifully for me to take in.  Thank you, pretty trees.

My 30 minutes of weights felt good.  After a weekend of literally lopping evergreen branches (that was a lot more work than expected) I felt a little sore and my sets of reps were a welcome ache.  After I did some upper body, a few squats, and some inner & outer leg work I hopped on my bike-cycle.

If you know where I live, you might have a deeper understanding of this statement.  My town smelled like flowers tonight.  It doesn't always smell like flowers.  I'm not simply being corny and artistically ridiculous, either.  The town literally smelled like crabapple blossoms and lilacs every turn I took. That is something to behold!!

All in all, I wanted to remember this workout tonight.  To save for a rainy day.  That next time I find myself chewing gravel I can remember how worth it, and rewarding a hard workout is.  So that the next time, I might find myself with a diamond in the rough, like tonight.

This is what it's all about folks.

Oh!  and I biked 11 miles at an average speed of 14.45 mph.  My biking app says i burnt 863 calories not including my weights!  That's kind of neat.

Now it's time to drink my Post Workout Recovery shake and watch the season finale of the Voice.  Woo!

Throw Back Thursday & Woes of Being 30

I just found a picture of myself, skimming through old photos to find a really neat "throw back Thursday," picture to post onto my Facebook wall.  Reading that outloud makes me feel pretty cool.

In doing so, I stumbled upon a gem.  Literally, I am going to toot my own horn and say wow.  Who in the hell is that???  That effortless attempt I made for my senior high school pictures.

When I throw myself back into time and think about the prep work I did for my senior pictures in high school I feel happy.  It was a warm August summer afternoon.  I had a summer of mowing lawns and going to the pool on my skin.  I had morning volleyball practice already checked off my to-do list and I simply showered to get ready before we headed over to Fairmont (a nearby town) where my photographer met us at a park to take outdoor pictures.

If I remember correctly, I scrunched some hair gel into my hair.  Put on some eye make-up and some bronzer.  Picked out a top that I thought was pretty and my favorite necklace at the time. Moments before shooting photos I put on some lip gloss.  Done.

Why is it, that within a range of twelve years that effortless amount of work suddenly turns into weeks of planning.  Right now?  If I were to be in an intentional photoshoot I would immediately start to applying self-tanner.  I would probably try to adjust my facial regimen to include intense acne fighting and anti-aging attempts for any nasty fine lines that might want to pop up from now until photo time.

This is the first instance of turning thirty years old this year, that makes me want to punch a punching bag.  Part of life, part of life.  Yes, I know.  It doesn't make it suck less!

Don't mind me.  If you feel the earth shift tonight because of the amount of nighttime facial cream I have plastered onto my face tonight, just know that I am prepping for a photoshoot this fall.