Friday, July 29, 2011
I'm sure I'm not the only one to describe myself as 'above average', but then that presents the question of what is 'average'?
I've seriously been contemplating this insanely complicated question for so long that I'm beginning to go nuts...
I'll be 24 this year and while the fact that I've gained another year makes me somewhat excited, I can't help but feel completely out of place in this small town in which I've spent my entire life.
I'm not the average 23 year old.
I didn't graduate college and I'll be honest, I have no plan to return.
I haven't lived with my parents or relied on them for financial help in 6 years.
I have a 3 year old daughter and I'm not married.
I don't regularly attend church, but I have a strong faith in God.
I start almost every day between the hours of 4 and 5 am.
I haven't lived with my parents or relied on them for financial help in 6 years.
I have a 3 year old daughter and I'm not married.
I don't regularly attend church, but I have a strong faith in God.
I start almost every day between the hours of 4 and 5 am.
I am not average.
Weird maybe and definitely a little quirky, but not average.
I recently attended a birthday party for a kid about the same age as Kami and while it was fun, I felt so out of place. Everyone was years older than me and I stood out like a sore thumb. Not that I mind standing out, but when you're attending a birthday party and you interact with more children than adults you begin to feel a little off.
Don't get me wrong, I did make conversation with a few adults at the party and enjoyed the conversations I had, but I didn't feel like I was speaking to friends.
Don't get me wrong, I did make conversation with a few adults at the party and enjoyed the conversations I had, but I didn't feel like I was speaking to friends.
I think that's what I'm having such an issue with lately... Friendships.
I don't have a lot of friends. I know, shocking right? (Just kidding...)
Most of the people who I consider friends don't live near me anymore. They have been pulled away from this little town and I find myself feeling alone more often than not.
I'm guessing I have these feelings because I spend most of my time with children or dogs. The most adult interaction I have is at yoga 2 mornings a week...
I'm guessing I have these feelings because I spend most of my time with children or dogs. The most adult interaction I have is at yoga 2 mornings a week...
I find myself longing for something new, for more opportunity, for a chance to find a friend...
Like I said, I'm not the average 23 year old.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
You may or may not have noticed... But I've been off for a few weeks.
I seem to do that every now and then... I get really busy to the point that I'm not even sure what year I'm in, then my busy-ness dies down and so does my enthusiasm for anything more than my daily duties. I suppose a little break here and there is fine, but my break is lasting a little too long for my liking. It began right around Easter...
We recently opened our home and boarded dogs for a few of Kevin's clients, 2 dogs for 4-5 days, then after those 2 left, 2 more were dropped off to us for 2 weeks (We still have the second set). Boarding dogs seems to really be a good avenue for Kevin to capitalize on while he begin's his business as a dog behavior expert because it gives him the opportunity to create and work with a balanced pack. He's gaining more and more dog knowledge by the minute and I'm learning that in order for me to continue helping with any pack of dogs I'm going to have to step up my game.
My wonderful man has been walking/exercising all dogs, (4 for now but had 6 last week) a minimum of 3 times a day, by himself. He had to take over morning walks because I'm just not quite ready to take on walking 4 dogs (2 balanced, 2 in the process of rehabilitation) by myself. He says I can do it, but until I believe in myself that I can, I won't. (There's my problem huh? Easy to spot out once it's laying there in front of me...)
I used my morning walks as my personal time with my God, a time to reflect on daily life and without them these last 2 weeks I feel like I'm living in a hole and I feel like I haven't helped Kevin with anything. (I have been on treadmill duty, which means I put each dog on the treadmill just before turning in for the night... Exercise for the dogs bodies - 1, exercise for Meg's body - 0) I've also been eating like crap lately, so that hasn't helped either. So how can I change these feelings? How can I get out of this hole?
Easy, climb out.
Put down the chocolate.
(Damn you Easter bunny for FILLING my house with candy!).
Start walking.
Stop eating shitty food.
Keep breathing.
Continue to believe in myself and in God. For He knows me best and He will guide me in the right direction.
So tomorrow I'll begin the day as if it is my first day of life...
Here's to a new start, a new direction, a new me.
My sweet lady K reminded me to 'keep my mind wide open' this morning with a beautiful rendition of her favorite song, "Keep You're Mind Wide Open":
"You've got to keep your mind wide open, all the possibilities... You've got to live with your eyes open, believe in what you see..."
Peace and love,
M
Monday, April 18, 2011
Anyone else ever hear this statement?
(Probably at least 5 times a day, if you really are a mommy!)
I received a request the other day from a friend asking me to blog about, yes you guessed it, food. She was interested to learn what each member in our family eats throughout the day. (My friend has a super cute blog herself, so go check her out and order some wall letters!)
In an attempt to make this blog not so nuts and all over the place, I think I will (basically) type out my grocery list... In a somewhat organized manner, of course.
So we'll begin with the first meal of the day...
The sometimes dreaded and often forgotten meal:
BREAKFAST
Here's where things get tricky for lots of people. Most humans don't enjoy eating breakfast, so you'll find that more often than not many people SKIP breakfast entirely... Which is a big no-no if you ask me!
My day begins (usually) around 5am (sometimes 6am) and at this dark hour I absolutely cannot fathom eating a full meal.
So I generally choose one of the following:
- a hard-boiled egg
-a few (plain) almonds
- a slice of rye bread with natural peanut butter
I am currently using Isagenix products, so I drink an ionix cleanse first thing, every morning.
(For more information on Isagenix products, contact Beaufort's local Isagenix trainer, Jered Kraszewski owner of Get Fit.)
***I will be blogging about my use of Isagenix for you all soon!***
***I will be blogging about my use of Isagenix for you all soon!***
After that I'm on my way out the door for some form of exercise...
My current exercise regimen:
Tuesday: Walk dogs (4:45-5:30am), (if I'm feeling up for it) Fit Circuit (6-6:30am) at Get Fit, and Shake Fit (5:30-6pm) also at Get Fit.
Wednesday: Yoga (6-7:30am) at Dancing Dogs Yoga, walk dogs (8-9am), and Lyrical at LCSOPA (6:15pm-8:30pm).
Thursday: Walk dogs (4:45-5:30am), then Kick Fit (6-6:30am) at Get Fit. Kick Fit again (5:30-6pm), followed by Jazz at LCSOPA (6-9pm).
Friday: Walk dogs (6:30-7:30am) and family dog walk (4:30-6:30pm).
Saturday: Walk dogs (6-7:30am), dance class (9-10:30am), dance rehearsal (11-3pm), and family dog walk some time in the afternoon.
Sunday: Walk dogs (6-7:30am) and family dog walk some time in the afternoon.
Friday: Walk dogs (6:30-7:30am) and family dog walk (4:30-6:30pm).
Saturday: Walk dogs (6-7:30am), dance class (9-10:30am), dance rehearsal (11-3pm), and family dog walk some time in the afternoon.
Sunday: Walk dogs (6-7:30am) and family dog walk some time in the afternoon.
Once my exercise routine of the morning is complete and I have downed at least 1 liter of water, then I eat a 'real' breakfast.
Such as:
- Poached egg on a slice of rye.
- Oatmeal
- Slice of rye topped with natural peanut butter and/or Polaner's all fruit spread.
I usually pair breakfast with coffee, a lot of coffee! Depending on how long I've been up, I'll sometimes also have a glass of skim milk, almond milk, or light vanilla soy milk (YUM!).
***I do make sure to drink at least 1 liter of water before I go for that first cup of joe. That is a personal choice I make because if I go straight for the coffee, my entire day of water drinking pretty much goes down the drain.***
The Other 2:
Kevin usually enjoys peanut butter and jelly on rye with a glass of skim milk.
While Kami prefers oatmeal, eggs, pancakes, cereal, a waffle, or the occasional pop-tart. (Yes, I know pop-tarts aren't great or even good for you... But she enjoys them and once every 2 weeks is alright with me! At least it's not a donut.)
(Skipping snacks and going straight to lunch... I'll catch up on snacks after dinner!)
LUNCH
My lunches these days aren't terribly exciting... However, they are delicious and quick. I mentioned before that I'm using Isagenix products and one of the products I use is an 'IsaLean Shake', a delicious, natural creamy chocolate meal replacement. I choose to have my shake for lunch during the week, because eating lunch while 3 toddlers eat lunch means you never sit down. It is much easier to toss 2 scoops of shake powder and a little ice into a blender, than to prepare something only to find your food cold when you do finally sit down to eat. I love Isagenix shakes as a lunch option!
When I'm not on Isagenix, I enjoy one of the following for lunch:
- Tuna mixed with balsamic vinegar, a bit of yellow mustard, salt, and pepper (served over greens or with bread, most times without)
- Salads (Romaine with a protein: chicken or fish, fruit, cheese, and light dressing)
- Turkey sandwich on rye served with raw sugar snap peas
- Tomato soup with 1/2 cheese sandwich
The Other 2:
Kevin's lunches are eaten on the go, so he usually goes for dinner leftovers, tuna w/ bread, corn dogs, or some type of sandwich on rye.
Kami eats lunch with the twins, so she enjoys whatever they eat... I serve them some type of meat (chicken, beef, turkey, corn dog) or dinner leftovers with fruit, yogurt, crackers, or cheese.
DINNER
We eat together as a family... Most nights.
Simple as this:
Protein, carb, and a veggie.
Protein: chicken, lean ground beef, fish, pork... We aren't picky.
Carb: sweet potatoes, Steamfresh pasta, baked beans, corn bread... Anything low on the glycemic index.
Veggie: broccoli, green beans, collard greens, Steamfresh veggie medleys... My freezer is stocked with Steamfresh vegetables.
SNACKS
For the most part, we all eat the same snacks. I'll put a '*' next to those that apply only to Kami.
- hard boiled eggs
- almonds (plain or dry roasted)
- KIND bars
- yogurt
- cheese sticks
- beef jerky sticks
- apples
- grapes
- pretzels *
- fruit snacks *
- peanuts
- Miso soup
- dried fruit
- peanut butter (alone or with an apple)
-peanuts (plain or dry roasted)
Desserts
We LOVE ice cream.
Kevin can eat a bowl of ice cream every single night and not have a worry in the world. The amount of ice cream I can eat every night and not worry about is 1 tablespoon. Oh to be a man.
- Kid's Cliff bars (Chocolate brownie)
- No sugar added sherbet or ice cream.
- Sugar free Popsicles.
- a few chocolate morsels (We often keep a bag of dark or white chocolate morsels in the fridge.)
- Frozen banana puree, topped with cinnamon, peanut butter, or cocoa
- Smoothies
Obviously we do splurge every now and then, but we try not to go over board... For example: We had cheesecake from Common Ground over the weekend. We bought 1 piece and all 3 shared it, so we didn't OD.
We aren't perfect and, in my opinion, we aren't complete health nuts. We do sometimes enjoy chips, cookies, regular ice cream, regular bread, yummy dips, rice, french fries, potatoes, donuts, etc. but only in moderation. : )
Do you enjoy some of the same foods as our family?
Can you add to our list?
I sincerely hope this post finds you well fed, exercised, and at peace.
Until next time...
Peace always,
Meg
Such as:
- Poached egg on a slice of rye.
- Oatmeal
- Slice of rye topped with natural peanut butter and/or Polaner's all fruit spread.
I usually pair breakfast with coffee, a lot of coffee! Depending on how long I've been up, I'll sometimes also have a glass of skim milk, almond milk, or light vanilla soy milk (YUM!).
***I do make sure to drink at least 1 liter of water before I go for that first cup of joe. That is a personal choice I make because if I go straight for the coffee, my entire day of water drinking pretty much goes down the drain.***
The Other 2:
Kevin usually enjoys peanut butter and jelly on rye with a glass of skim milk.
While Kami prefers oatmeal, eggs, pancakes, cereal, a waffle, or the occasional pop-tart. (Yes, I know pop-tarts aren't great or even good for you... But she enjoys them and once every 2 weeks is alright with me! At least it's not a donut.)
(Skipping snacks and going straight to lunch... I'll catch up on snacks after dinner!)
LUNCH
My lunches these days aren't terribly exciting... However, they are delicious and quick. I mentioned before that I'm using Isagenix products and one of the products I use is an 'IsaLean Shake', a delicious, natural creamy chocolate meal replacement. I choose to have my shake for lunch during the week, because eating lunch while 3 toddlers eat lunch means you never sit down. It is much easier to toss 2 scoops of shake powder and a little ice into a blender, than to prepare something only to find your food cold when you do finally sit down to eat. I love Isagenix shakes as a lunch option!
When I'm not on Isagenix, I enjoy one of the following for lunch:
- Tuna mixed with balsamic vinegar, a bit of yellow mustard, salt, and pepper (served over greens or with bread, most times without)
- Salads (Romaine with a protein: chicken or fish, fruit, cheese, and light dressing)
- Turkey sandwich on rye served with raw sugar snap peas
- Tomato soup with 1/2 cheese sandwich
The Other 2:
Kevin's lunches are eaten on the go, so he usually goes for dinner leftovers, tuna w/ bread, corn dogs, or some type of sandwich on rye.
Kami eats lunch with the twins, so she enjoys whatever they eat... I serve them some type of meat (chicken, beef, turkey, corn dog) or dinner leftovers with fruit, yogurt, crackers, or cheese.
DINNER
We eat together as a family... Most nights.
Simple as this:
Protein, carb, and a veggie.
Protein: chicken, lean ground beef, fish, pork... We aren't picky.
Carb: sweet potatoes, Steamfresh pasta, baked beans, corn bread... Anything low on the glycemic index.
Veggie: broccoli, green beans, collard greens, Steamfresh veggie medleys... My freezer is stocked with Steamfresh vegetables.
SNACKS
For the most part, we all eat the same snacks. I'll put a '*' next to those that apply only to Kami.
- hard boiled eggs
- almonds (plain or dry roasted)
- KIND bars
- yogurt
- cheese sticks
- beef jerky sticks
- apples
- grapes
- pretzels *
- fruit snacks *
- peanuts
- Miso soup
- dried fruit
- peanut butter (alone or with an apple)
-peanuts (plain or dry roasted)
Desserts
We LOVE ice cream.
Kevin can eat a bowl of ice cream every single night and not have a worry in the world. The amount of ice cream I can eat every night and not worry about is 1 tablespoon. Oh to be a man.
- Kid's Cliff bars (Chocolate brownie)
- No sugar added sherbet or ice cream.
- Sugar free Popsicles.
- a few chocolate morsels (We often keep a bag of dark or white chocolate morsels in the fridge.)
- Frozen banana puree, topped with cinnamon, peanut butter, or cocoa
- Smoothies
Obviously we do splurge every now and then, but we try not to go over board... For example: We had cheesecake from Common Ground over the weekend. We bought 1 piece and all 3 shared it, so we didn't OD.
We aren't perfect and, in my opinion, we aren't complete health nuts. We do sometimes enjoy chips, cookies, regular ice cream, regular bread, yummy dips, rice, french fries, potatoes, donuts, etc. but only in moderation. : )
Do you enjoy some of the same foods as our family?
Can you add to our list?
I sincerely hope this post finds you well fed, exercised, and at peace.
Until next time...
Peace always,
Meg
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Ahem, ahem.
I have an important announcement to make.
I have an important announcement to make.
Drum roll please...
I have finally admitted to myself that I have become...
an ADULT.
(Please tell me you or someone you know has had to do this too...)
I'm 23 and I am an adult. Holy shit.
How did that happen?
Obviously, I know I've been old enough to be considered an adult for a few years now, but that definitely doesn't mean I was one.
I have done some serious growing in the last few years and guess what?
I'm proud of myself.
I'm proud of the choices I've made that have brought me where I am today.
I'm proud of the woman I have become.
I'm proud to say I have not done it alone.
I'm proud to say a man has been and is currently by my side helping me to grow into a more beautiful person every single day.
And while that officially makes me an adult now, I'm okay with it because it means he is one too.
And I'm very thankful...
I'm thankful for the man who made it possible for me to grow, who believed in me, and who reciprocates the immense love I have for him.
(I suppose I should say 'men', for God is up there on my list of important men as well, but I'm not talking about him right now...)
I'm thankful for his encouragement, his honesty, his tenderness, his kind words, and his support...
In every single thing I do or simply desire to do; he is with me.
The man who has been by my side through good times and bad.
The man whose smile can brighten even the darkest day.
The man who is wise beyond his years and is so selfless to share his wisdom with me and others around him.
The man who drives me insane and makes me wild.
The man who brings out the best in me and in our family.
My Kevin.
I love you so very much and couldn't be more proud of the adults we have become together.
I look forward to continuing our journey through life together and can't wait to see what God has in store for us.
You are the love of my life.
I'll love you forever and for always.
- Meg
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Oh how I have missed you!
I do hope you were able to get out and enjoy the sunshine over the weekend... I know we did! Along with the beautiful weather, we also enjoyed some delicious food that was deliciously easy to make!
I told you about this blog, Hungry Meets Healthy, that I found a few weeks ago and have been addicted to ever since. I've already tried (and shared) a few of the recipes she has listed on her site and seriously everything has been delicious and easy! I'm not kidding and I promise to attempt to not use the words 'delicious' and 'easy' for the remainder of this post. : )
On her blog, Christina lists a recipe that she named 'Christina Orzo Shrimp Feta Bake' (you can find her recipe there). To be honest, the only reason I even chose to save this recipe was because I have an abundance of orzo pasta in my cabinets and wasn't really sure what else to make...
Friday morning I pulled out chicken to make for dinner and for some reason never ended up cooking it, thinking back on it I'm not even sure if we ate dinner on Friday... Oh where does my brain go sometimes...
Anyway... I found myself childless at Publix on Saturday afternoon and remembered this little ol' recipe I had written down in my planner. Quickly skimming over the ingredients, I realized I only needed a few items to make this meal and decided to use the poor forgotten chicken from Friday instead of shrimp.
Saturday evening I poured myself a glass or two of Cabernet and went to work!
Like I said previously, I decided to use chicken instead of shrimp because I had it on-hand. So I pulled out my fancy George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine and tossed the chicken breasts on there to, well, grill.
I preheated the oven to 425°F. Brought a pot of water to a boil and cooked the orzo according to the directions on the box. Drained the orzo and set it aside.
Next, I heated 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, added one chopped white onion and cooked it for about 5 minutes.
I added 4 minced garlic cloves and 1 tsp of red pepper flakes and let that cook for about 30 seconds.
Poured in 1/2 cup of white wine, 2 cups of chopped tomato, and 3-4 tsp fresh oregano (I actually think I added almost 5 tsp of oregano and went a little crazy on the red pepper flakes, while it was still yummy, it was a baby bit spicy for me... I'll use less next time!).
Stirred it all up and brought the mixture to a simmer. I let that cook for five minutes and seasoned it with salt and pepper.
Once the chicken was almost completely cooked, I pulled it off the grill and cut it into small pieces.
In a large baking dish, I combined the cooked orzo, sauce,chicken, and 2-3 tbsp fresh chopped chives.
Sprinkled on 4 oz crumbled feta cheese (which was not enough for me!). Next time I'll double the cheese portion!
Baked it all for about 15 minutes and topped it with freshly squeezed lemon juice.
I served this with a blue cheese salad... Can you tell I LOVE cheese?
And, of course, a little more vino...
This recipe was insanely simple to make and while Kami said "I would like something different...", both Kevin and I LOVED the entire meal! I will definitely make this again very soon and next time I plan on going easy on the red pepper. This meal was super light, fresh, and healthy. Helped me to not feel the least bit sorry for eating some of this on Thursday...
Introducing... The Cookie Pizza!
I made this with the 3 twins on Thursday and it was completely gone by Friday. It was absolutely scrumptious and very simple to make!
We used a reduced sugar cookie mix to make the crust (followed the instructions on the box...), topped it with some cinnamon, baked it, and let it cool.
Once cooled, we topped our 'pizza' with a wonderful blueberry sauce (aka blueberry yogurt), strawberries, crushed pineapple, kiwi, watermelon, cantelope, and a drizzle of honey.
Yum, yum, yum...
Speaking of 'The 3 Twins'...
Don't you wish you could be so lucky as to be entertained with a multi-colored leopard print headband for hours and hours...
I was actually wearing this headband on my arm (Don't ask why, I do not know... Guess it makes me feel cool? Maybe? Maybe not...) and they all thought I had a 'boo boo'. I showed them it was indeed a headband and not a band-aid, and then they all had to try it on.
Needless to say, I got some pretty cute pictures and we had a blast.
Have you taken any cute pictures today???
Peace and love - Meg
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
It's time for a change!
My very sweet, almost 3 year old is moving into a 'Big Girl' room and she couldn't be more excited. She has specifically asked for a blue room.
Tuesday night I frantically went to LOWES and purchased some VERY blue paint. Mom and I finally got around to painting the room on Sunday.
It is not anywhere near complete, but I wanted to at least keep you all up to date with our renovations.
BEFORE
AFTER PRIMER
(Lowes guy tinted the primer blue for me, to 'make the job easier'... It definitely helped out!)
Little miss thang came to sneak a peak and couldn't resist touching the blue!
And finally....
KAMI'S BLUE ROOM
I love, love, love the blue! As does sweet lady K! And, luckily, so does daddy!
Whoo-hoo!
Sadly, my mom will be moving to the Philippines here in a few short weeks. (We are going to miss you and Eric so very much!) But thankfully, Bella (my mom) has agreed to paint Kami's new room before her big move... You can see her art work here.
If you know me in real life (not that blog life is fake life...) you know that I have an insanely wild imagination and you know that I love all colors. When designing Kami's room, I knew I wanted the theme of her room to include 'movies'. Not all movies... I wanted to focus on movies that she loves and those all tend to have vivid colors, imaginative characters, and good messages.
Movie's we chose:
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
From this one we're pulling most of the toys, the street lamp, and the stars. The stars will be carried throughout the top portion of the room (like a border) to connect the different scenes.
Meet the Robinsons
Probably going to use a quote from this one and these frogs...
Because they are awesome.
Harry Potter, of course...
Mom will be painting this image of Hogwarts school (see below) in one corner of the room and Hedwig will be to the right of the castle.
Ramona and Beezus
See the hand-prints on Beezus's shirt? We're going to use our (me, Kev, and Kami) hands (and maybe even our feet!) to connect the scenes alone the bottom of the walls. (Stars on top, hands on bottom!)
So there it is...
My crazy dream room for Kami that only my mom can make come true...
Thanks Bella.
We love you.
A lot.
Peace my lovelies
- Meg
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