A REALLY bad idea

So, in my last post I talked about my eating habits and changes I am making. Well, one of the biggest changes I have made is drinking a smoothie daily. But, while these may look just like any kind of smoothie, don't be fooled---they are MUCH different!

Anyway, my friend Kalli and I decided that we wanted to try another "flavor"---so last Saturday we spent a good part of the day, shopping at different stores throughout the valley to get all of the ingredients.

Sunday morning I woke up, so excited to try it. After quite the process of making it, it was finally finished and looked so tasty. It smelled good too!

Well, after taking this picture, I could hardly wait any longer and decided to take a big gulp. To my surprise it tasted AWFUL and made me want to throw up instantly! I finally convinced Ian to try it and he wanted to throw up too. I told him he needed to be supportive and cheer me on( I wanted to drink it because of its nutritional value & was feeling a little guilty about the money I spent on the dang thing!) Ian did a great job cheering me on---"Drink, Drink, Drink" but that didn't help at all! I forced myself to drink about a third of it, but could NOT do anymore. The rest of the day I got sick to my stomach when I thought about it, and still, a week later, shudder just thinking about that thing!

It was NOOOOOO good! I think I will stick to this one:
This picture makes it look much more appetizing then it looks in real life. Weird.

It's sooooo yummy! And soooooo good for you!

A change, change will do ME good....

No...I am not a big fan of Sheryl Crow, but this song has been in my head a lot lately.....and this is why:

Over the past couple of months, I have been thinking about my diet and the foods I eat. Up until now, I haven't ever cared all that much about the things I eat. I eat what I like, whether it has nutritional value or not. I eat whatever sounds good. I eat what's convenient. I'll even admit this one...I eat what's cheap. :)

For the past, let's see here...coming up on 5 years...my diet has been terrible! Ever since I got home from Russia (and actually while I was there! ) I have just eaten whatever---and whenever. I eat always--when I am hungry, when I am not hungry, when I am stressed, when I am bored, when something looks too good to resist, just because, when I crave something, when I am mad, when I am happy, when I am annoyed, when I am sad....you get the point. (And I understand and know this is normal for a lot of people and I believe it is part of being human---it's what we do.)

MOST of my days in these past years have gone something like this:
*Wake up, skip breakfast
*Get to work, and shortly thereafter find candy to eat for "morning snack"
*Eat lunch (sometimes somewhat nutritional, other times not one bit) with a can of Dr. Pepper or sprite
*Eat a sugary treat with or immediately after lunch
*Find more more candy or treats to eat for "afternoon snack"
*Come home and eat something quick and easy for dinner (usually something already made that you dump from a can or box) because its easy and I DON'T like cooking!
*Sit on couch or bed while eating desserts (yes, plural) until up to 11:00 at night
*Go to bed
*Repeat next day

My attitudes have reminded me of these quotes I found:

"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand"

"I KEEP TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT BUT IT KEEPS FINDING ME."

"I GAVE UP DESSERTS...It was the worst twenty minutes of my life."

"I ONLY EAT IN THREE PLACES: HERE. THERE. AND EVERYWHERE."

After MUCH consideration, research, reading, studying, telling myself I can do it, and now finally having a sincere desire to do it (oh yeah, and singing this line of Sheryl Crow's song in my head to myself), I have decided that starting today, May 1st, my eating habits are going to change significantly.

It's taken me YEARS to get to this point. The two main reasons that have kept me from doing it are 1-because I didn't care and 2-I was NOT ready to do it. I didn't want it to be something that just lasted for a short amount of time, because for me it needs to be a lifestyle change.

But now I feel ready to care. I feel ready to want to eat healthier. I feel ready to accept that it is going to be a lifestyle change. I feel ready to get over my sugar addictions! I feel ready to not only do what's convenient.

I know its going to be HARD---but I also know it will be beneficial in the short run and the long run, and that is what's motivating to me.

I will say that May 1st came up way too fast...we still have too much junk food around the house. But Ian will take care of that and enjoy it for both of us! :)

And with that---here's to a change that will do me good! Thank you all for reading...

Yum!

Last night we had a good experience.

Ian and I decided to take advantage of a special Baskin Robbin's had last night.....31 cent scoop night! Apparently this only happens once a year. Thanks to FOX13 news morning show, Ian found out about it and we got in on the great deal!

We arrived right before closing time. The line went out the door but we decided to wait (in the FREEZING weather) and boy was it worth it! I loved every bit of it--- except for the limit they had to 3 scoops per person....but I guess maybe that was a good thing! Especially with my upcoming changes----stay tuned for future post and details! :)

YUCK!

I had a bad experience last night.

Last night, when Ian and I were finally done with everything for the day/night, we both decided we were hungry and wanted to eat. (Imagine that!) He went to the fridge and decided to eat some salad with ranch. I decided I wanted to eat something somewhat healthy too because of the time of night. I decided that since he already had the ranch out, I would eat some raw broccoli with ranch.

Ian started eating, and I stole the ranch from him, so I could smother each piece of broccoli in it before consuming it. I ate my first, second, third, and fourth piece, and with each one I thought---something doesn't taste quite right, but continued eating more and more. I figured it was probably just my taste buds being crazy. Maybe I was just imaging weird tastes? Ian hadn't said anything, so surely it was just me.

Well, Ian finished his salad and said, " That ranch tasted weird." At that point I knew exactly what happened! And I immediately wanted to throw up.
I opened the fridge to confirm what had happened and sure enough found the NEW bottle of ranch, still sitting in it's spot I had put it the day before. Ian got the ranch from the door----oh no! I had been meaning to throw out for a LONG time, but never got myself to do it because it was a brand new bottle, used once, and the frugal side of me wouldn't allow for me to waste yet another expensive item. Somehow it got moved from our apartment to the house, and made it into our fridge now.

I knew it was old (since it'd been brought with us from our apartment) but I decided to check the expiration date in hopes that it wasn't AS bad I thought----and it wasn't.....no, it was worse. MUCH WORSE!!!

The expiration date read 01/08/2008!

And because of this experience.....I am banning ranch dressing for a good amount of time. Also, I immediately went to the fridge and got rid of everything that I hadn't bought in the past week. Lesson learned: it's good to be frugal, but if something is OLD, go ahead and THROW IT AWAY! It will be OKAY! It's better to waste a few dollars, then to eat ranch dressing over two years old!

Weekend Getaway

A few months ago my oldest sister BethAnn invited me to a scrapbooking retreat. I thought it sounded fun (even though I don't REALLY scrapbook) and committed to go.

Little did I know (at that time) that going with her was EXACTLY what I would need after the past couple of weeks!

Work has been nothing less than totally CRAZY the past month and a half or so. A few factors for the craziness include; a hiring/firing (which is another story for another time), the results of our distributorship growing substantially in the past few months, making up for others mistakes, leaving/coming home from vacation, etc. I hope I don't sound like a complainer---I do enjoy MY job and am very grateful for a stable job and good bosses!

But between work, school, and everything else life has been offering, things were getting STRESSFUL and a little OVERWHELMING!

So---last Friday I took a half day off work, and we (BethAnn, Amy (friend) and I ) headed up to Francis, UT to stay the weekend in a nice cabin, with a big group of scrapbooking ladies. We were the first of the group to arrive, other than Melissa (the amazing lady that put the whole thing together) quickly settled in, set up the tables, and got busy. We ate some yummy pizza for dinner, and soon found ourselves up at 3 a.m. , still going at it.

Saturday started early, and flew by fast. The whole day was so fun, but my most favorite part was going outside to enjoy a nice LONG walk in the WARM weather, with some fresh mountain air. It was SOOOO beautiful!

We ate homemade Cafe Rio that night and continued our projects late into the morning AGAIN!

Sunday we finished (or more like came to a stopping point) cleaned things up, and left in time to get back for church.

I left with such positive feelings of rejuvenation, optimism, and happiness. It was so fun to spend time with a good size group of good, neat ladies. It's been a LONG time since I have hung out with JUST girls, but we sure had a fun weekend together.

I did miss Ian---but it was fun to get away and do something different. It was also nice to spend time with my sister without the distractions that are normally present (Ian).

Our California Trip

So, last week we went with our friends, Kalli and Joel, to California to enjoy some time off work and school, to enjoy the warm weather, and of course to have some fun.

We left Tuesday night and drove half way to Mesquite, where we stayed the night at the lovely Virgin River. We woke up early Wednesday morning, drove the second half of the drive, and arrived to our final destination for the day--- Santa Monica beach. There was so much to do--so, we spent the rest of the day wandering the beach, pier, and shops. We saw many entertaining things including dolphins playing in the ocean(right off the end of the pier) a movie (with tons of crazy teenagers running, jumping, and screaming happily down the pier)being filmed, some men in Speedos running down the beach, and much more.

That night, we went to my aunt Pam's house and had a good St. Patrick's day dinner (corned beef, cabbage, and red potatoes---YUM!) with her, my cousin and his wife, as well as their kids. Also, my little sister Andrea came a little bit later. It was fun and good to see her and everybody else! My camera deleted the first few pictures I took there, so I don't have any of those from that day...:(

Thursday we woke up, ate breakfast, then headed off to the "Happiest Place on Earth"----Disneyland! This was Ian's first time, so I was excited for him to experience it (although it is MUCH different as a child than as an adult). The weather was fantastic, the lines (thanks to the Fastpasses and Ridemax-thanks Mom)were amazing, and we all had a good LONG day there! My favorite rides are still Indiana Jones and Space Mountain---so fun! Ian's favorite----take a guess......Buzz Lightyear. Maybe because he kicked my butt when it came to our scores?!?!

We walked over 26,000 steps (equivalent to a little over 15 miles) according to the pedometer on Ian's phone, so you can imagine how tired we were and how bad our feet ached by the end of the night(except for Ian's-he said). All in all, we all had a great time and it was worth the pain! :) I am very grateful that I wore my running shoes even though they weren't the most fashionable shoes.

Had to get the two classic pictures taken! :)

Even after all the walking---Ian still managed to climb this lego in Downtown Disney. Security was NOT very happy about it when they saw him and told him to get down. They didn't need nobody cracking their head open.

It made me laugh that this kid ran under there to get his picture taken and both he and his mother were completely oblivious to Ian up above...

We spent Friday at California Adventure. We had a great time there as well. Ian was more of a fan of that place---I think because its geared towards an older crowd. The weather was nice that day as well, the lines were a little longer, but we still had a great time. Our favorite rides include: California Screamin, Soarin over California, and Tower of Terror, which are probably most people's favorites.Our only picture with characters.

Ian looking haggard (on purpose) on California Screamin.


On Tower of terror---sooo scary! The only pictures we have with Kalli and Joel are the ones on the rides---oops...I guess we forgot to get group pictures!

Saturday came too quickly, and we soon found ourselves on our way home. Ian wanted to stop at this sandstone rock formation he saw on our way down. We stopped here so Ian could climb to the top---or should I say run (cause that's what he did). We did some research when we got home (because we had no idea what this was) and found out the name of this place is the "Mormon Rocks"--because this is where the pioneers would camp after their trips across the Mojave desert. If you look close enough, you may see Ian!

We had a great time in California with Joel and Kalli. It was hard to come back home and get back to our routine, but at least we didn't come home to snow---right?

How Fairy Tales Really End

Last week we went to Disneyland for some fun! I got back to work today and one of my friends had sent me an email with these pictures. I thought it was funny---so I decided to share it. Once I get my pictures uploaded, I will do a real post about our trip!

Hope you enjoy~