Not-So-Attacking Lower Ab

 

Continuing in  my quest to actually do some of my workout pins, the next pin on me list was this Lower Ab Attack.

Needless to say, it wasn't so much of an attack, but that could have been because I don't know what a roll-up, flutter kick, or lunge twist is. I took the terms and made my own version. It was semi-tough, but it didn't get me sweaty or out of breath, which is how I judge my workouts.

 

I began with a typical warm-up then started the workout. About halfway through, I decided to give my abs a break and did some leg/arm exercises.

When I completed the plan, I felt like I had just started warming up (I'd like to say it's because I am in such good shape, but that would be a lie), but like I said before, if I'm not sweaty and out of breath I don't count it.

 

My point may be: this is a great, quiet, easy exercise.

I approve.

 

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Loves--M

Clean, Healty, Happy, Simple Living

I've compiled a huge list of some of my favorite tips and bits of advice (mostly from the Young House Love blog). I made this list partly because I can't wait to start doing some of these and because I love this kind of thing! So without further-ado:

1-When giving a gift, give something homemade. It is so much more personal and it is much nicer on your wallet. (Plus, you don't have to fight crowds or decide what to buy under budget)
2-Plant a garden. Simple.
3-Save the seeds from your garden to plant next year. (will save you $$$)
4-Start canning. What an easy way to be green, organic, healthy, and natural!
5-Give haircuts at home!
6-Don't get expensive nail and hair appointments. Relax, save money, and do it all at home. Make it a night for yourself. Try a bubble bath, natural homemade body scrub/mask etc, nails, hair, whatever! Treat yourself at home and save money!
7-Don't give in to the trendy new nail polishes. Keep only a few colors that are always in style, you can even get them in a brand that is Eco-friendly!
8-Don't do cable, do Netflix.
9-Share natural or organic shampoos and soaps! (If you share, you won't end up with a bathroom piled with unused products that are expensive!)
10-Cut back on cologne/perfume use. It can contribute to air pollution in your home.
11-Use homemade laundry detergent. Skip softener and dryer sheets, they are really unnecessary and they are very expensive. Some homemade soaps will be gentle enough to leave out the others anyways!
12-Air dry your clothes whenever possible. This will save your dryer and electricity!
13-Shop at Goodwill. Have you seen the great finds that people get?! Try it!
14-Pack your lunch.
15-Do devotions (both of you). Time given to God is not time wasted.
16-Use coupons, but make sure to only buy what you need. A good deal is not a good deal if you will never use it.
17-Learn to drink your coffee black. This will cut back on sugar that you take in and will save money at the grocery store.
18-Pay your bills online. Saves you stamps and paper.
19-Don't have credit cards.
20-Don't pay full price on decorations! Make some, find some, trade some.
21-Take your own bags to the grocery store. Some stores will pay you to bring your own bag(!)
22-Buy in bulk. But only if you will use it all.
23-Have garage/yard sales.
24-Keep your thermostat at a reasonable temperature.
25-Use your fireplace or wood stove.
26-Don't subscribe to a lot of magazines, especially if you don't read them.
27-Limit your memberships.
28-Don't use medicine for every ache and pain. Use natural pain reliever: heat, food, water, exercise, etc.
29-Eat simple. Spaghetti, rice, veggies.
30-DIY your heart out. If you can make it, you can save money.
31-Get books from the library, don't pay full price on a book that you might read once and throw in a corner!
32-Don't use a car wash. Get out in the sunshine and clean your car!
33-Instead of going to an amusement park or bowling, go on a hike or bike ride. It is free, and it gives you more one-on-one time with your best friend.
34-Go to garage sales instead of the mall.
35-Spend the night in the guest room.
36-Don't have a land line unless you have to.
37-Don't worry about getting the newest phone out there. Just use something simple.
38-Compost!
39-Recycle.
40-Ask for practical gifts. Take the opportunity to get that rug that you have been looking at!
41-Only buy groceries for what you know that you are planning to make.
42-Have and use a rain barrel.
43-Buy local.
44-Return things unwanted or unused.
45-Take advantage of hand-me-downs.
46-Shop on craigslist.
47-Go to hole-in-the-wall places for small trinkets.
48-Don't spend money on an expensive splurge, or weird paint color that you might not like.
49-Avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor.
50-Stay organized! Keep track of your bills, expenses, receipts, etc.
51-Use glass containers for food storage. Plastic is really bad for you.
52-"Mop" with a steam cleaner. Don't use the chemical cleaners.
53-Take old clothes to a shop that will pay you for them!
54-Re-make your clothes or save the fabric for something else.
55-Wash your clothes in cold water.

Whew! We made it. 55 things that will simplify your life.
Enjoy!
xoxo- M

The 100 Workout

I see little workout plans all the time on Pinterest, but do I ever actually do them? Of course not.

 

I love exercising. Like love-love. I played volleyball and soccer in high school, but since then it has been a whole lot of nothing. I finally convinced myself to start doing something-anything. I had the Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 DVD already, so I decided to start with that. I am very proud to say that I have completed the entire 4-week program! Yay me! But now, it has been a week and I have not exercised even a tiny bit, and I am eating a whole lot of junk.

Perfect answer? Take a look at all the fitness pins that I have and actually do some.

So here is the first:

 

 

I started with a warm up, bits and pieces of random warm up moves that I have learned to warm my major muscles before I started the workout.

When I began the actual workout, it dawned on me that there was absolutely no way that I could do 90 crunches in a row....I'm not Iron-woman. I divided the entire workout.

Here is what I actually did:

3-5 minute warm-up

50 jumping jacks, 45 crunches

50 jumping jacks, 45 crunches

40 squats, 35 leg lifts

40 squats, 35 leg lifts

30 jumping jacks, 25 crunches

30 jumping jacks, 25 crunches

20 squats, 15 leg lifts

20 squats, 15 leg lifts

20 jumping jacks

10 minutes of running

2 minutes cool-down walk

3-5 minute stretch

 

Notice that I still did the right number of everything, just divided up a little better.

I noticed while I was doing the workout, my arms weren't getting much exercise. I think that adding a weight during the squats and pressing them above your head while doing squats would fix that problem

 

In the end, I thought this was a totally cool workout!

Good job Pinterest, I am satisfied.



Chicken-An Apron-Peace

These are all pretty intense subjects!

Okay, maybe not the first two(:

Food

I was home, bored, and hungry. I didn’t want the same old stuff that I eat every day though, I wanted to try something new, but I wanted to guarantee that it was easy and would taste good. My answer? Pinterest!!!!!

I knew that we had frozen chicken, so I looked for something that I had already pinned. This is what I saw:

Chicken Gyros

(actually pronounced yee-rohs!)

 

 

Yummy right?? Yes! It was sooo yummy. I am skeptical about trying new things, especially if they aren’t southern. I am slightly biased when it comes to good food. I don’t like to try much that isn’t like your typical southern food: corn, potatoes, chicken…but I thought I would give it a shot. And I loved it.

I needed pita bread to do the real thing, so I followed the link on the site to make my own bread, and it was a lot of fun!

Yes, it took several hours to finish dinner, but it was really worth it. It filled me up but wasn’t too heavy.  And the ingredients that are used really surprised me, but it all pulled together and was so good! Have I said that it was yummy yet??

So my opinion on chicken gyros = give it a shot! Super easy, and cheap!

 

CRAAAAFTTS!

I won’t talk too much on this topic, I just wanted to share something else that I accomplished(:

Also from pinterest….of course.

Ruffle Apron!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was super simple, and if I could do it, anyone could! It didn’t take too much fabric…just patience.

So on to my last subject of today..

PEACE

I felt some reason to share this with anyone reading my blog(:

I am really terrible about keeping up with devotions….I mean REALLY terrible. But this morning I managed to do one before I did anything else……actually I still haven’t done anything else, I went from devotion to blogging(:

Enough rambling! Here it is:

Lately, I have been stressed, frustrated, worried, and confused. Not confused in a looney type of way, just confused in where my life is headed. I am a planner. PLANNER. I absolutely have to know what is happening. Ive been that way since I was a baby and it is just how I am…no growing out of it. I don’t mind it really, I like to know what is going on! It makes me feel more in control and I guess that is part of my problem.. I have trust issues. I know that I can handle a lot…but I need to let it go sometimes.

These past few months have been a roller coaster ride. Not so much emotionally, but I just honestly don’t know where my life is headed. Because I graduated high school last year, I had to choose a college. I had been in love with a college that is about an hour from where I live but knew that I couldn’t go there because of how expensive it was. At the end of my senior year, I received a letter from the college that told me how much they were willing to give as a scholarship. It was A LOTTTT. I would only have to pay about ¼ of what it originally cost…..it was a hard choice, but I decided to do it. This entire past summer I prepared to move to college. I had my classes, books, a dorm and roommate, and everything that I needed for college life. I had even made the deposit to the school….which was about everything that I had saved from the past few months. Everything was great until two weeks until moving date. The college sent another letter and some of the money wasn’t going to be given. It wasn’t a big difference….but after 4 years, it would add up. And that was only if I could keep the whole scholarship the entire time. After praying with my family, I decided that it wasn’t going to be worth it. I knew that in my heart I wanted to be a mom more than anything else, and I knew that it wasn’t possible when I had so much college debt to pay off….the decision that I had to make in a matter of days literally changed my life. I have no idea where I would have ended up if I had decided to go away to college. All I know is that I am much happier with this choice, even though it was an awful decision to make.  I was really upset about all of the money that I had wasted on that college….I had books for classes that I wasn’t taking, dorm supplies that I didn’t need, and a huge deposit that I would never get back. It really sucked.

In some ways, I cant believe that it has been three months. But in others, it seems like a lifetime since I made that choice.

In three months time, I have “started” my own business….really it's just something to keep me busy. I do hope that it will turn into something, it would be a miracle to work for myself.

I have been taught patience. I have to trust in God for everything now. I don’t have another job because gas is too expensive. It would cost me more to get to work than I would make. That is actually the reason I quit my job from this past summer even though I really enjoyed it at times.

So, back to my devotion this morning. I was searching for something to give me peace, I guess. I just needed reassurance that the Lord is in control and that I shouldn’t worry. I found Genesis 28:15. It talks about how Jacob was using a rock at a pillow yet he still trusted God. I thought then, I have a warm bed, a roof over my head, food guaranteed and a family that loves me. That is all I need. I don’t need all of the extra stuff…He has promised to take care of me right now, and I don’t need to worry about tomorrow or next month or next year, He has it taken care of.

The next passage that I found was Isaiah 26:3. When I put ALL (all means all and that’s all that all means) of my trust in God, I will find peace. Because…………..(see last paragraphJ) I have to remember that He is the same God who parted the seas. HE is the SAME. I think that it is awesome that I can talk to the same exact God who did that. It’s amazing.

After reading those two verses, I felt so relieved. I turned back to Ephesians…I don’t know why, but I absolutely love that book in the Bible. I turned a few pages and saw something that I had put a star beside. It was Philippians 4:6-7, all this talks about is peace! “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard our hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

I am reminded that I need to be in a constant state of prayer. I understand how hard it is. I realise when days have gone by and I haven't prayed. It is the worst feeling. This may sound like a strange answer, but I have found that reading christian novels helps me to pray more. In the ones that I have read recently, they characters pray all the time. When I read this, it puts something in my head that reminds me to pray. I don't mean that I stop whatever I am doing and get on my knees and pray (although that is the case at times), but I can just sit there, and talk to God. I can ask anything, or tell Him anything. It is so simple, and relaxing. It is so amazing that we can do that at believers.

After reading that little bit, I flipped a few more pages and saw the first part of Colossians…at the end of verse 2: “May God our Father give you grace and peace.”

How wonderful it is to know that I will always find what I need when I give it all to Him.

 

Thanks for reading(:

LOve(and peace)

M

Forget it and Live

 

In my latest blog, I decided to try a body cleanse. My goal was to live 21 days without caffeine, sugar, gluten, or animal products. So what does that mean? Well, I had to be a vegan. Yummy right?

I began on day 1 ready to go. I had a shopping list of everything I wanted to buy and I had several new recipes that I wanted to try. As I started my day, I looked for something to eat for breakfast. As you may suspect, I found nothing, not-a-thing. I decided that 'ohwell, I'm heading to the grocery store anyways, I'll live without breakfast.' I was fine without food, but my morning coffee that I had to miss irritated me a little (no caffeine remember?).

By the time that I made it to the grocery store, I was about to starve. I realised that I couldn't even look in most aisles because of my strict rules. I bought a few frozen bags of veggies and a few fresh veggies, but other than that, not too much. When I made it home, I noticed my head was starting to hurt from not having coffee and I could not go another minute without eating. I had a plain veggie burger and a baked potato with veggie butter and veggie cheese on it. It didn't taste too bad because I was so hungry, but it didn't fill me up either.

The image of a cheeseburger wouldn't leave me.

I had convinced myself that I would never be able to eat yummy food never ever again. I was mad and hungry. Not a good combination.

I made it to about 8:00 that night.

I went into the kitchen when I couldn't stand it anymore. I acted all sneaky about it when I grabbed something and ate it. It was delicious. Then I asked myself, 'why in the world did you decide to do this?' Honestly, not for a good enough reason. I knew that I was going to be in a terrible mood for 3 weeks, starve, and not be able to enjoy going out because I had such a strict diet. "But the results are worth it." Okay, fair enough. But how long do you think it would take me to get back the same point that I was at when I started? Not long.

These are my reasons(:

 

I was at a Bible study last night and we talked about beauty, it really registered with me because of what I had been doing. I had put my image and my body before what was going on inside of me. Beauty comes from within, not from the outside. I am in no way saying that we shouldn't care about our bodies or our appearance. We have been given these bodies and we should care for them, but not become obsessive about it. When I think about my body more than my relationship with the Holy Spirit, I am doing something wrong. I have been given this body, and I have been given a life to live. I don't want to be angry because I can't keep my body in perfect condition. I want to be happy because my body can allow me to be joyful and have fun. Three weeks of anger and hunger seems to me to be the opposite of what I am allowed to do and should do. There is yummy food that I can eat and memories that I can make when I don't obsess with the little things. I'm not saying that I am not going to try to be healthy, of course I will try to be healthy, but I am not going to think about my body more than I do my relationships, that would be a sad waste.
 

 

I guess that this is all that I have for now. Thanks for reading(:

Loves,

M

Day Whatever

Apparently daily blogging is just not my thing. But I still love to do it so the blogging world will have to live with me for awhile longer. (:

This is my newest goal:

http://www.ehow.com/way_5715248_21_day-cleanse-instructions.html

I am slightly frightened.

Okay, I am terrified. I don't know how I am going to live without my coffee. But I am determined!

I have been inspired by the movement of organic, healthy, cleansing lifestyles recently and now I am going to try something big. I have never survived a process like this, but the end results are so beautiful. I leave myself no choice! I will begin on October 16th and end on November 6th. Once again, I will blog for motivation.

A few updates on my previous goals:

College life-

Exactly the same. Hectic. Boring. Blah. I am organized though! I found that an extra large desk calendar helps keep all of my classes organized and keeps me on track. Since all 7 of my classes are online, it can be easy to ignore them or totally forget about them.

Next, my "business"-

Beautiful! I love it. I have so many ideas and such a nice space to work in. This fall I have been experimenting with numerous ideas and I am so excited about them. I haven't been able to make it to any festivals this season, but because I have only just started, I am making major plans for next fall and winter. This is the beginning of my business so I am not expecting a big turnout. And plus, if I were expecting too much, I would be sadly disappointed. I am just going to start slow and do what the Lord has blessed me with. I am so thankful for the opportunity to even do this. I am very lucky.

Luck- when preparation meets opportunity.

I am not quite sure where I herd this definition of luck, but I like it!

That's all for my previous goals!

Now just a little side note to anyone who cares(:

A few days ago, my sweet boyfriend decided to take me on a hike. We had been on this hike last year at this time. Actually, it was exactly a year ago today that we went. But anyways, we took off to Peaks of Otter. It is such a beautiful walk. It is about 3 miles to the top and back. It can be rocky at times, but the view from the top is so worth the walk to it.

 

It was such a beautiful day to walk. It has been rainy and cold in southern VA these past few weeks, so the break in the weather was a blessing.

I would definitely recommend the hike to anyone on the parkway or around Bedford. It is worth it.

 

So that is it for Day Whatever.

Loves,

M



Day 2: Oatmeal

Breakfast needs to be something yummy. It is the first meal of the day so why should we ruin it? Breakfast gets our systems moving and when our systems are functioning, our bodies are happy. A lot of people thing that breakfast is a waste of time, and often substitute it with a multivitamin or one single grape. Nope, that is not breakfast. I am not a breakfast person, so it needs to be interesting if I am going to eat it. I find that it helps, if I have time, I like to be creative with it. If something sounds fun to make, I am more willing to actually eat it. I'm also a really picky person when I get up, I don't want something that is covered in sugar, like cereal or syrup. I want something healthy but very yummy.

This morning, I tried oatmeal. Oatmeal is not my favorite, but I don't think that I have a favorite breakfast food besides bacon and gravy, and both of which are not within my healthy guidelines of the moment.

So, oatmeal. It is plain....and boring. I think that we all agree that it could use a touch of sweetener. So just a little bit of honey will fix that. Now we have a little less boring oatmeal. But still pretty bland. Fruit. Fruit is the perfect breakfast add-in or add-on. Half of a chopped apple on the top adds fruit. Let's add cinnamon for flavor and a tiny tiny slice of butter for creaminess! YUMMY.

Oatmeal=Dominated

Eat healthy!

Loves,

M