Drum Roll Please...

     This is about ten minutes after all of us crossed the finish line!!  I know its not the most flattering picture... but I just don't care, I'm so proud of all of us!  From left, Me, Sparkles, Momma, and Jimmy.  Yea, they are all nicknames, but you get the idea of who I will be talking about.  I received the 3rd place medal in my run for my age group and Sparkles got 4th place.  Momma received the 2nd place medal for her age group as well.  My time was 37 minutes, Sparkles was 38, Mommas wasn't far behind, and Jimmy was in the walking group.

    Not only did we all finished but we all exceedded our goals and expectations, as a matter of fact we have already found another race in July.  Do you see what having a goal and reaching it can do for you?  I not only have surpassed all my resolutions, but I have made more and plan on flying right above those as well.  I have lost 3 more pounds putting me at 127 pounds and I'm loving every minute of it.  Its a lifelong battle that I am willing to win.

     Next up for me is incorporating P90X back into my routine and staying on track with my healthy new choices.  Wish me luck!  Not that luck will have anything to do with it, because I ROCK!

5k...

    Note to self:  Do not watch professional women runners running an 800 meter race before you run your first 5k.  Self, you have really messed up your Self confidence!  Oh yes... and Self, that cookie you ate to make your SELF feel better didn't work either.

     So yesterday morning I was so excited that I wanted to watch and take notes.  These powerful beautiful women were running half a mile in under 2 minutes.  Their legs were like cement slabs, the song "Brick House," kept ringing in my ears.  I thought my 5 minute half mile was pretty good.  Turns out I truly am just a beginner, and I think i might have made peace with that after that chocolate chip cookie, or four.

     I have to get up at 6:15 am, and I might not sleep because of my nerves.  I keep telling myself it is just for fun, and its only my first time, but I have worked so hard to get here that I am determined to run the whole thing.

   I tried to eat my oatmeal today and couldn't.  I hope that this in not a sign.  Sparkles found two four leaf clovers yesterday so I am hoping that one of those was meant for me; smile.  Although, Sparkles isn't feeling herself today either, so maybe this is the storm... before the kick butt!
     Wish me luck!  Ill let you know tomorrow evening how it goes, hopefully I can run this thing in 35 minutes, here's hoping.

Even SuperMoms Have Their Days

     You have all met Gage?  He is my four year old, and he can be a handful!  I have been working on my consistency skills with Gage, meaning when I say NO I mean NO.  Well today I had said no quite a lot, and I had to do time outs almost all morning and afternoon long and I was at my wits end.  I don't like spanking.  I am not against a swat on the bum, but I prefer to use time outs because spanking does not work for my children. 

     You see Gage wanted a glass of water after he chugged the glass of juice I handed him.  I said "No, you just had some juice, now wait a bit and Ill get you a glass of water."  He preceded to try to take the glass of water I was drinking out of my hand saying, "Give me your water, NOW!"  What I did next was emotional, it wasn't exactly right, but I had a good giggle and I think he learnt his lesson.

     I took that glass of water in my hand and splashed the water right in his direction, soaking him in the water he screamingly demanded that I give him.

     So I gave it to him all right!

    No, this is not a tip of the day.  I just felt like baring my faults at the moment, so that you can see that we are all human, and sometimes our emotions get the better of us.  I think next time Ill take a deep breath and ignore the nasty screaming, but today I had my moment.  I'm ready to move on.

     On a brighter note, I've just started trying out all the new Greek Yogurts available and my consensus is... they are all disgusting!  So in order to get past the taste and receive the benefits I have been making smoothies with vanilla Greek yogurt.  I add Naked juice and whole fruits to the yogurt and put it all in a blender, SOOO good and always fat free!  Not to mention my favorite Naked brand juice is Blue Machine and it has 7 grams of fiber per serving and great benefits like 100% of the daily value of B vitamins.  Yes, and by the way, always buy the vanilla flavored Greek yogurt or its like putting thick sour cream in your smoothie... eeewww!  The calories in Dannons Greek Yogurt is 110 and no fat.  Let me know if you try it, I always down one after my morning or afternoon workouts.

Brand New Day!

     O what a week.  We all had a little dose of the sickies, but this morning I woke up at 8 a.m., made breakfast, went running, 25 minutes straight and walked 10.  My little Raine's rash went away finally, but their behaviour has been out of control this last week.  I decided that from now on I will keep to the whole foods diet and keep the caffeine and high fructose corn syrup out, and continue to cut way back on the gluten.  It definitely seemed to work, but last week we fell off the wagon due to how cheap and easy the alternative was.
     I spent 80 dollars on an entire 12 meals of healthy whole foods with my savvy self.  I did the math too.  At over 20 dollars a meal eating out, we have saved over 160 dollars in 4 days!  Keep that up and it is over 1200 dollars a month!  I know that I didn't eat out 3 meals a day, but even once a day is too much on any salary.
     The 5k is this Saturday!  All week long I am hydrating and eating all the right foods, like berries, nuts, Greek yogurt, peanut butter, healthy carbs, and lots of water, lean protein, and vegetables.  Sparkles, the nickname of my bestie, is running with me and gave me this great link to take a look at.  It helped me figure out some great meal ideas for this week just for my runs.  http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-300--13352-0,00.html
     One huge tip, it is great to have a partner when you have a fitness goal.  Sparkles and I check in with each other each time we run to see where we are, and its not a competition, but a motivation for us.  I'm not sure how I would get out of bed to run if I didn't have a friend relying on me!  Good luck!

My Miracle Foundation!

    

     This is my miracle worker.  Merle Norman Luxiva Timeless Age Defying  Makeup with SPF.  I have never worn foundation because every single kind that I tried made me look cakey and later after sitting there looked slimy and settled in creases.  I have always had normal skin with a tiny bit of redness around my nose and lips.  I put this on and I look like a porcelain doll.  I love it, but like every foundation you have to know how to blend blend blend.

 

     I use a liquid foundation brush, it looks like a concealer brush only bigger.  If you have ever seen Memoirs of a Geisha, you have seen one of these brushes.  You don't have to use primer with this makeup either, but if you would prefer, the only kind I'll buy is Smashbox!  Its like silk going on your face and makes blending a dream!  To avoid streaks or spots I always put my makeup on in natural light and blend into the hairline and onto my neck and decollete.

     I hope this picture shows you how even my skin tone looks... once I get through all the makeup beauty blogs Ill post a real up close photo so you can see all the products on and the hair done!! Have fun shopping!

    

Rash

      I have taken the last couple days off of my blog because Raine came down with some sort of virus.  He has a rash covering his entire body... even his hands and feet.  Poor little guy!  Ill be back tomorrow for beauty blog II.  Foundation!

Oatmeal Shmoatmeal! Rockstars Shining Moment!

        Someone point me in the right direction!  I have been trying to eat oatmeal for years.  I just bought 100% natural Irish rolled oats and poured the box into an airtight container and added 1 tablespoon of cinnamon to store for each morning.  Yesterday I added 100% pure maple syrup and raisins... I didn't like it!  Today I added a tablespoon of peanut butter and did not like it!  I know that I want to eat this oh so nutritious breakfast, but I just can't get past the 4th spoonful.  I refuse to add sugar, but maybe its the only way?  Is there anyone else who may have this problem?  The thing is, I crave it, but when I make a steaming bowl and try to dig in, I am left gagging.  Oh Oatmeal, perhaps we weren't meant to be.

       Rockstar spends almost all of his time from 2pm to sometimes 2am making music, however, he is always sure to be the best husband and father he can be when he is able to be home with us.  Latest example, and oh what a man he is, our flaming dryer!  My husband never calls a plumber, or any kind of repair man available.  He can fix ANYTHING!  I was going insane thinking of what to do the other morning when my dryer went up in flames.  I laid laundry out all over the house.  My girlfriend, we will call her Vegan Goddess, came over the other day, and bless her heart didn't give notice to the bright orange underwear hanging on the back of the chair her little Aspen was sitting on!

      Any hoot, I thought my not very old dryer was a goner, it didn't even tumble dry more than one towel at a time anymore!  My Rockstar, oh how I love him, had from 7:30 to dark to fix this mess in the garage, he had it taken apart, hoses changed and cleaned out by 9pm and NO JOKE, the thing now dries an entire huge load of towels in one cycle???  I cannot believe how lucky I am... I mean look at him up there, absolutely nothing hotter than a man with a guitar who sings AND is good with his hands.  People, he can even fix computers... this guy is GOOD!

Tip of the Day Sunday... Over Indulgence.

Over Indulging is never a good thing!
I decided to try eating out.  I went to Red Lobster and didn't eat the cheddar bay biscuits, I had a salad without dressing, grilled shrimp, asparagus, baked potato, one drink.  I felt so good!  Rockstar ate my biscuits, such a good Rockstar, taking away the temptation.  Later that evening I caved.  I had too much of not a good thing.  I ate apple pie, and chicken nuggets, why oh why did I do this?  I felt so bad afterward and sick today.  Even though I keep telling myself how not worth getting sick it is, I keep doing this about once a week, I cave!  Moral of the story?  Indulge... go ahead... indulge in love, indulge in friendship... indulge in hobbies and exercise, but when it comes to food, Over indulging will only lead to regret.  Replace that temptation with a new TV series and some natural popcorn!  My husband and I started watching 24 together.  I look forward to this more than ice cream or pastries!  Its our little way of rewarding ourselves after a long day of eating healthy!  I've also been watching Dexter.  Once you realize that you can reward yourself in other ways, you will be golden!

Quinoa Cinnamon Rolls... FAIL

     Boy... those look yummy huh?  NO... they are not, they were like eating rubber with sugar water.  However, the boys love them and ate two.  Obviously I have a very sophisticated palate, and I just couldn't get past the cement like dough.  I made these little gems with Quinoa (pronounced keee-nwa)  flour, my husband doesn't know this because he wouldn't have tried them, but he actually liked them to.  You see I wanted to make a sweet breakfast treat for my little ones that were of course gluten-free and all natural.  Perhaps I need a new hobby?  I should have known when the ingredient list was only 4 ingredients, my baking has seen better days!

     It has been raining in Indiana everyday this week.  Running in the rain on Monday wasn't so bad, but I think Ill pass doing it twice in one week.  I also ran on Wednesday, you know 3.4 miles because I am awesome!  I would say that I'm not slacking, but I could have ran yesterday and did not.  So I definitely may have failed in the 5k training department this week, but man o man do I love supplementing with my re-found love for Denise Austin's Aerobic tapes... Next week I will run all three days MWF and do 3 miles each day... or more?  Who knows?  Hope you are all doing well with your endeavors!

Beauty Blog I: Hair

      This is my hair.  I am not bragging, but I have had a lot of compliments on my hair!  So I am going to share my little secret.  I wash my hair only 3 times a week!  Twice a week I use Head and Shoulders shampoo and conditioner.  It doesn't matter what type either because I learnt the secret to beautiful healthy hair was number one not to strip the oils by washing everyday, and number two, like the commercial, it starts with your scalp.

     Now, once a week I use Organix (which you can find at walmart) Coconut Milk shampoo and conditioner.  I love the smell and the fact that it is organic.  It also has egg whites in it for shine.  Love it!

     After every shampoo I learned that using a hair oil like Moroccanoil doesn't way it down, but actually gives my hair more texture and a healthy shine.  In order to get some volume I use Pureology's root lift.  First off all of Pureology's products are vegan friendly, or organic, and secondly it is safe if you color your hair, which I usually don't, but have recently darkened it a bit.  So, I hope this helps any of you find something that will work for you. :)