Posts Tagged ‘Friends’
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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Kristin’s Slow-Cooker Chili
February 12, 2011
This is my new favorite chili recipe … and trust me, I’ve been experimenting! I got it from my girl friend Kristin, and I love the sweet (from the baked beans) and hot combo. My next chili recipe to try out will be with steak chunks. Anyone have a good one to share?
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package chili seasoning mix
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans, undrained
• 1 (16 ounce) can basic/classic baked beans
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
• 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
In a large skillet over medium heat, cook beef and onion until beef is brown. Stir in chili seasoning and water. Pour beef mixture into a slow cooker and stir in tomato paste, chili beans, baked beans, tomato soup and diced tomatoes with green chiles. Cook on low 2 hours. (I left it on low all day, it’s fine.)
Kristin serves it on rice and adds tobasco and sriracha. I eat it plain with a side salad (homemade dressing!) and sriracha to taste.
This is an awesome meal to make on a Sunday and bring to work. Kristin says it freezes well!
Photo by timlewisnm.
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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