Posts Tagged ‘Family’
Choose YOU. Get Healthy!
March 19, 2011
Day 33 on Four Hour Body. I feel sick since it’s my Cheat Day and my body can’t deal with junk food.
I’m that type of person who’s all or nothing. Until about 33 days ago, I approached diet and exercise just leisurely. In the rest of my life, however, I was intense. If I was going to be a kickboxing instructor, I had to be the best ever — motivating, creative, dynamic, fresh, new, challenging. If I was a dancer or cheerleader (hs and college), you better bet I was front and center and earned my spot there. When I started writing, I had no idea. So, I volunteered for things, took harsh criticism and made my best effort to just keep learning and growing with it. I wrote freelance stuff — sometimes for free — so I could get as much experience as possible. People took me under their wing and I’m happily still working in marketing communications for a hospital.
Learning more about myself and using it to my advantage
Now, I’m all about diet and exercise. I’m reading as much as I can. Talking to people, learning about their experiences and what works. In that, I’ve figured out what works for me. I’ve let go of the mindless, emotional or inconsistent eating. I’ve tried to eliminate foods that aren’t nutritious, and I love it! People say I’m really disciplined and determined, but it’s just my personality. I’m all in. 100 percent.
Determining a goal
My initial goal wasn’t to lose weight. It was just to change my lifestyle. I still don’t know what my goal weight is. All I know is that life was stressful, and I was overcommitted to things — as so many of us are. And, the things I talked about above, being the best EVERYTHING — wife, daughter, cousin, friend, sister, aunt, teacher, writer, blogger — is a lot. I think I was trying so hard to be good for everyone else — to be thoughtful, motivational, someone people count depend on — and it was too much, especially since there were many real-life stresses going on.
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Create a “Facebook” Journal
January 26, 2011
I am so grateful for little moments and memories. Yesterday, I taught a kickboxing class at my brother’s karate studio and got there a bit early. I got to spend some time with my nieces and pinned their hair back all cute with a twisty bubble.
After class, I saw a little boy. His shirt said “New York” with a small logo and I thought it was a Giants shirt — hub’s team. It was actually a Rangers shirt, and I asked him if he was a fan. He was like — I don’t know, my dad just picked this shirt up somewhere. (Haha, how cute!)
So my niece, stops doing about 10 cartwheels and says, “I’m a Phillies fan.” She unzips her sweatshirt and low and behold, a Halladay/Phillies shirt. YOU GO GIRL!!!
Record these memories
Don’t let go of all the moments that make you happy. Why not buy a notebook and write one or two sentences to sum up the day or something cool that happened.
For example: “I’m a Phillies fan.” Low and behold, a Halladay/Phillies shirt.
Think of it like a Facebook update or something you’d write to your bff. Short, sweet and simple. Kinda like the messages my college roommate and I exchanged this week:
“Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey.”
“NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.”
Hope you like this idea!
Gabby was so excited when I told her I wanted to take her picture. She posed so patiently in her Phillies shirt!
Holiday How To: Baked Christmas Ornaments
December 27, 2010
This Christmas, my goal was to make homemade ornaments — for myself and for friends and family. The main reason was that this was our first married Christmas, and I wanted to do it up and have “stuff” to remember it years from now. That, and I wanted to give thoughtful, economically-friendly gifts that people could use.
Here’s the recipe for salt/dough baked ornaments. It’s a fun thing to do by yourself and with kids. You’ll need:
• 1 cup salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Rolling pin
• Cookie sheets
• Toothpick
• Acrylic paint – I used the $1 sets that have about five little multi-colored mini pots
• Paint brushes
• Puffy paint
• Glitter glue
• Ribbon or string
• Jewels, sequins
• Craft glue
• Triple shine spray
Place flour and salt in a bowl, add the water and oil, then stir until blended. Once the dough
holds together, make it into a ball and knead it with your hands to make a smooth texture.
Sprinkle some flour on the countertop and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Cut out
the ornaments with cookie cutters, design your own using a blunt knife, or shape dough with
your fingers. Use a toothpick to carve a hole into the top of the ornament to thread a string through to hang the decoration.
Bake at 250 degrees until hard — one to two hours.
Once cooled, paint and decorate. Thread a string or ribbon through the hole and hang the decoration on the tree or elsewhere in your home. Spray with triple shine spray, and you’re done!
These ornaments can be reused year after year. They are great for all holidays, just use different colors, shapes and designs.
AllThingsGwen.com is my unofficial guide to health and happiness. It's a chronical of me finding my way.
I encourage you to think about “AllThings[YOUR NAME HERE]” and what’s really, truly important to you. Hope you enjoy my recipes, fitness tips, motivational posts and aha moments.
- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Got my lucky Giants sweatshirt on. Bill's wearing his lucky Alfred Hitchcock tee, brown zip up and Merrell sweatband.
- Whenever I'm super sore, I make my husband undress me. It's not sexy by any means.
- Enjoying Dim Sum with my husband. Giants SuperBowl tradition!
- Enjoyed my Crossfit workout with friends! Totally shin planted on box jumps and may have punctured an ovary, but it's all good! :)
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