Category Archives: Health

Sleepin’ in & Feelin’ Groovy!!

Good morning!!

Today is the start of day 7 of my vacation, and I was FINALLY able to SLEEP IN TODAY!!! YEAH!!! I can’t believe it -I woke up at 9:30 today!!! WHOO! HOO!! I am up showered, dressed, ready to get my day started!!!

Ok, just so I don’t lose my momentum, I do have a small to-do list for today that I will get to that in a minute…but right now, there is a lesson that I have recently learned that I want to put into practice for today! I have been reading a book called, “Live for a Thousand Years”, it is by Giovanni Livera. One of the lessons that it teaches is that you have to make time for playing.

WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT!!!

This is one of my MOST DIFFICULT things to remember! I am such a to-do list girl, that spontaneity seems to be really difficult for me – always has been!! Today, seeing that it is the 7th day of our vacation – and my husband and I are starting to go a little stir-crazy, me trying to be PROACTIVE 24/7, and him having to live with me while I am on COMBAT MISSION mode!!! 😉

So, I have decided today, besides the few things that I MUST get done, my Sweetie & I are going to head out and go have some spontaneous fun!!! I am not sure what that is going to look like yet, but I will give you an update this evening!!!

As for my to-do list?? Well, I am going to try to keep this short and sweet:

  • Blog
  • Track food – I can do this on the go, on my Blackberry
  • Drink at least 2 liters of water
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour
  • Sort bills
  • Dinner & Swimming with Alex & the kiddos!!!
  • and last, but not least, GO HAVE SOME FUN!!!!

With that…

Have a FABULOUS day!!!

Started Out Strong & Peter’ed Out!!!

When I woke up this morning, I had every intention of doing EVERY SINGLE THING ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY!!! I started out strong, motivated, driven, and I even did the scariest things from my to-do list first!!!

After I had accomplished about 4 or 5 things, my energy level absolutely plummeted!!! What’s up with that??? Plus, during my walk today, within the last block of the 3-miles, in the freezing rain, I turned my ankle!

“OUCH, it’s ok, it’s ok, I am just going to walk it off!”

Well, after about two hours after getting home and doing some more chores, I realized that not only did I hurt my ankle, I tweaked by lower back and pulled a muscle in my leg! Doesn’t that just figure???? LOL! It’s all good! as of tonight, only my leg is a little ach-ey, so I am sure by morning I will be back to 100%

Jason and I starting to struggle a little bit right now on vacation! We are starting to get a little antsy and bored! I can hear my mom saying,

“Get outside, and go find out something to do!!”

So, starting tomorrow, we are going to have to get creative in what our activity options for the rest of this week are!!! I need to pretend we are hanging out of the beach house (oh, how we miss thee!), and do the same kind of things that we would do if we were there!!

An update on my To-Do List from today is:

  • Blog – Done
  • Walking plan – 3 miles – DONE!!! YEAH!!!
  • Track Food – Done
  • Drink 2 Liters of water – Working on it!
  • File my stack of creative paperwork – Started
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour – Done
  • Write letter to my sponsor child – Done
  • Mail it – No
  • Organize bills – Started
  • Update electronic monthly bill tracker – Started
  • Finish Laundry – Done (Thank you, Honey!!!)
  • Eyebrow wax appointment – Rescheduled to next week
  • Bathe Faye – Done
  • Bathe Sophie – Done
  • Sort all magazines (HUGE project!!) – Started
  • Create a journal bookmark for my planner – No
  • Go swimming with Jason – make time for play!!! – No
  • Go to bed by 11 – That is still the goal!

I am getting ready to go upstairs and get some more filing done!!

In the meantime…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Good Morning!

I am up! I am dressed! and I am raring to go!!!

I have a lot of actions that I need to take if I am going to accomplish my 60 Day Life Makeover goals:

  1. Lose 20 pounds
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings
  3. Find a church home
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom
  5. Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love

My To-Do List for today is:

  • Blog
  • Walking plan – 3 miles
  • Track Food
  • Drink 2 Liters of water
  • File my stack of creative paperwork
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour
  • Write letter to my sponsor child
  • Mail it
  • Organize bills
  • Update electronic monthly bill tracker
  • Finish Laundry
  • Eyebrow wax appointment
  • Bathe Faye
  • Bathe Sophie
  • Sort all magazines (HUGE project!!)
  • Create a journal bookmark for my planner
  • Go swimming with Jason – make time for play!!!
  • Go to bed by 11

Whew!! Let’s see how much of that I can get done today!!! I have already gotten dressed and ready for my 3-mile walk!!! WHOO-HOO!!! My goal today is to find the fun in any task or situation, and to honor the child inside of me by consciously making time to play as I get these actions done!

I will let you know how it goes this evening!!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

Happy New Year Y’All!!!

Happy New Year!!! I have spent the evening with my sweetie, my sis, Alex, and our niece, V. Alex has never heard of or seen the television series called Ruby, so we have watched 4 or 5 episodes this evening. I LOVE RUBY!!!! She is such an inspiration!!!! It makes me excited to lose my first 20 pounds, but that is NOT why I decided to post one last time in 2010. I wanted to take one last moment to say…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Whatever comes, bring it on 2011 – I am ready!!!!

Love,
Christina 😉

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

60 Day Life Makeover – Part 2

Good morning!

I have been giving a lot of thought to the idea of a 60 day life makeover!

Goals, to be successfully achieved have to be measurable, have a target deadline, and have to be believable!

A timed life makeover challenge could be a GREAT push to get me going in the direction that will get me in to where I want to be, but I also can’t try to shoot for so many thing at once, lest I overwhelm myself and give up!!!

My top 5 60-day goals are:

  1. Lose 20 pounds. This body will only carry me for so long, and being at the weight I am is truly starting to become a hindrance, and an anchor to where and what I want to be doing.
  2. Find a church home. I NEED a church home.
  3. Clean, organize, purge my house from top to bottom, so everything in it has a home.
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture to slowly but surely get my business off the ground.
  5. Put $1000 extra away to help build my wealth.

There, that wasn’t so hard. WHEW!!! 😉

So, I will start on January 1, 2011, and I will have 60 days to accomplish these goals. In a day or so, I will come back with these larger goals broken down into weekly smaller actions that will help me attain these goals – Tony Robbins calls this “chunking”, to make larger goals more manageable by chunking them down into smaller bits!!

I will be back, in the meantime…

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

Good Morning!!

It is Thursday morning, 2 days before Christmas day! It is my day off, but I have still been up since the pre-butt-crack-of-dawn, trying to get some last minute things done before my sweetie and I head out to my families’ place for Christmas!! I am tired, and crabby, and I am really worried about one of my dogs.

Faye is getting old, and has constant skin issues. UGH! She is balding – again – I am telling you, it is not pretty!! our vet says that she just has anxiety, and she chews on herself kind of like a nervous tic, but she does it so much that she just makes her skin super unhealthy. His prescription is to stay home with her for a week or so, to help ease her anxiety. Sad! She really is the saddest little sweet dog you could ever hope for. The day that I have to put her down is going to be a really dark day in our lives!! Anyway, she is bathed, medicated and set up with clean bedding, he little sister is also bathed and prepped with clean bedding too!! So, I think they will be fine while we are gone for the next couple of days – I am just thankful that our sis, Alex, has agreed to come keep them company while we are gone. Whew!!! Thank you, Sissy!! 😉

I do have to say thank you to one of my little sisters, Jennifer! I had so much fun hanging out with her the past couple of days, we went out to dinner, watched a movie and spent a few hours painting some salt-dough ornaments I had made last weekend! She is so funny, and she just has a natural tendency to make everything more fun – like she brings a kind of joy to everything she touches!! It helps that she can see the funny in any situation!!! I really do love that girl!!! She is also very considerate, and took all of our Christmas presents down to her place when she left last night, so we wouldn’t have to pack any of it, isn’t that sweet??? No, wait – I am pretty sure she took all of them just so she could shake each of her presents to see what she might have gotten!!! LOL!! I am just kidding, Jennifer!!! 😉

After my sis and her husband left last night, Jason and I headed out to our other sisters’ places and delivered baked goodies and Christmas gifts, that was fun! I really miss those guys!!! 😉 Only one thing worries me, and that is one of the households had confirmed cases of strep throat, and the other house was full of sickies too, they just hadn’t been tested for strep throat yet, but since they hang out together all of the time – it is probably inevitable! I just DO NOT WANT TO GET SICK!! I have already been sick 2 times this season, which is already a lot for me, let’s not do this again!!! Especially since I get an 11 day vacation starting next Thursday. Vacations are just too sad when you spend any time of them being sick!!! 😉 I love you, I hope feel better soon, family!!

On a totally different note, did I tell you that Jason got his haircut yesterday??? Oh MAN!! I know that my husband is hot, but he was rocking the hobo-chic look for a while, and it was getting really out of control. Well, we took him to our friend Keven, and Kevin did an AMAZING job on his hair!!! Jason literally looks 10 years younger, thinner, more awake, and the cut really brings the attention off of his once mop-of-a-style back to his AMAZING baby blue eyes!!! WOW!! I wish I could get a haircut to do that for me!!!! 😉 I love you, you hot, sexy, hunk-of-a-man!!! 😉

I have some more packing and chores to do, Jason is getting his last minute baking done, and then we are heading out!! We have to have everything done by 9:30 this morning – let’s see what kind of mad time-management skills we have!!! 😉 Anyway, I had better get on that!!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!

Good Morning!

I have often heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expect to get a different result. Well, being someone who is a creature of habit, I find myself reflecting on this idea a lot. I wonder if I am in a rut, and if so, what needs a good shaking up in my life!!! I think that my natural self is to be very nomadic, moving from one place to another, one activity to another, but that all changed when I lost my mom when I was younger. Now, movement and change is something that I have to purposefully concentrate on, otherwise I find I end up getting stagnant!! EW – that just sounds gross, but I am sure you know what I mean!!

I have 3 main areas of my life that really need my attention right now: my weight, my finances, and my home. So, when I woke up this morning, I asked myself what are some different actions that I can take to help improve these 3 areas in my life? So, I decided to make a list:

  1. Avoid the snooze!! When my alarm goes off in the morning, and I hit snooze, I really am awake, so basically I am just wasting sometimes up to 2 hours wasting time “trying to get a little more sleep”. Not today – up with the morning rooster!!!
  2. Get ready for work before anything else!! That way, when I have extra time left over, I am able to get any other things needing to get done before I head out to the office, and still be on time!
  3. Put me back on my to-do list! Now, I have a tendency to create a mental daily to-do list, and then cut out anything that would be too hard, or any “I don’t wannas” – not today! I am going to GO EAT THOSE FROGS!!!
  4. I am going to take my daily walk this morning, even if that means walking in the rain. I usually “try” to get my walk in at lunch time, and because work is usually so busy, it is super easy to find ANY excuse to not go – so today, there is no hesitation – it gets done first!!
  5. I am going to spend at least an hour, actually focusing on my finances today – they have been neglected far too long. Now, I don’t mean that my bills don’t get paid, but what I mean is that they are usually paid electronically, and I don’t always know how much money I am paying for what, or to what! So, I need to start living my life on purpose, and I know that having financial wealth is the key to true freedom to choose what I want to do, so now is the time to get that in check!!!
  6. and last but not least, I want more than anything to sell our condo and move into my home – wherever that may be. My husband and I daydream about owning a house on a small parcel of land, where we can create, and grow, and thrive, and make memories with our family and friends. I know that is out there somewhere, and I am so anxious to get started on that portion of our lives, but if I don’t start taking some kind of action to move in that direction – it will sadly never happen, and I just cannot sit idly by as we let our dream life is pass us by. So, today I want to do at least one project in the house that will make me feel like I am on my way!!!

Anyway, I am off to go get my morning walk in!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 🙂

Sunday Evening Update!

Today has been a pretty good day! Got up, rallied the troops and then went out and did a little shopping – ok a lot of shopping!!! Went over to my sister-in-law’s and helped decorate a Christmas tree for her and the kiddos. The colors were rich chocolate, medium brown, gold, and burgundy. I was a little worried about the chocolate brown, but it turned out looking GORGEOUS!!!

Anyway, after decorating my sweetie and I headed home, I hopped into my jammies, turned on my Christmas lights and snuggled up on our couch!! I am pretty happy that I at least got out of the house, having been sick for the past 2 days!

Anyway, I have a long week of work ahead of me this week, and a lot of last minute preparations to get ready for our Christmas trip down to Roseburg.

So with that in mind, what are some things that I can do to help me have a Level 10 (as in perfect)???

  1. Take my i-pod to work, fully charged, and rock out to music while I work.
  2. Take time out of my work day to go for an energizing walk.
  3. Have plenty of ice water on hand – maybe even cut orange slices to give my water a little flavor.
  4. Pre-plan my work day the night before. Make sure my to-do lists are already created and ready to go.
  5. Get to bed on time every night this week. Sleep is your friend.
  6. Take a 10 minute meditation break at ;east once a day to help ease stress level.
  7. Make sure to pack healthy breakfast, lunch, and snacks to stave off hunger and to keep blood sugar level.
  8. Keep telling myself, “You are blessed” over and over again.
  9. When all hell breaks loose, PRAY!
  10. Remember that you can’t control everything that happens, you can only control yourself. Decide to have a good day!!! It’s A CHOICE!!!

On that note:

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Happy Thursday!

OK, happy might be a little bit of an overstatement this evening, seeing that I am sick with some kind of a cold. I know, I have been sick more than my fair share of times this season. I think that the amount of stress that I have been dealing with has been beating down my poor immune system – that combined with consistently putting off exercise and not making good food choices – I was bound to be down eventually. So, I am taking it easy hanging out on the couch, with my girls, a bottle of water, and an obnoxiously large roll of toilet paper (who ever thinks to get a box of kleenex???? Not I)!

Anyway, today was super, extremely, oh my goodness, what the heck is going on, crazy, busy!!! I just couldn’t seem to get anything done with all of the interruptions I had to deal with today! Now mind you, interruptions are a very normal part of my daily work life, but USUALLY I can get SOMETHING done during my day!!! It’s all good! I am blessed! I am blessed! (thank you, Sis for that advice!!) I am blessed! I am blessed!! I am blessed!!

Talking about work, I have to tell you that there is a co-worker there who has been my saving grace! If it weren’t for her, letting me vent, going for walks, getting out of the office for lunch,  I would probably just lose it!! Thank you, friend, you know who you are, and if I don’t say it enough, I am saying it again now – I SO APPRECIATE YOU!!!

This is a song that this same friend taught me, and when things are getting rough I think of it, and all I can do is smile. Sometimes when she knows things are getting rough, she will even IM me the lyrics – and I swear I can hear Winnie the Pooh himself singing it!!!

I encourage anyone who happens to be reading this to take a moment to reach out to one of your friends, and just let them know just how special they are to you!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 🙂

I’m Seeeek!!

Good morning!

I have been dealing with some kind of bug all week that has been increasingly causing me to feel really achy, cold, and just REALLY OFF!! I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but what it equates to is that I am just sick (AKA seeeeek)!!! I really HATE being sick, but then again, who likes it??? You see, I am a very needy sickie! My mom spoiled myself and my 4 sisters whenever we would get sick – we would get the princess treatment all day and night until we got better; a special bed made on the couch, we got to hold the remote (something that NEVER happened in my house growing up), we got to eat in the living room, on said couch (which again NEVER EVER happened in the living room), and our mom would basically dote on us and take care of our every need to make sure that we were comfortable enough to recoup!! OH HOW I TOOK THAT FOR GRANTED!!! Nowadays, being a sickie usually means staying home by yourself ALL DAY LONG. No one to tend to your needs, or comforts 24/7. No one to bring you an ice cold glass of 7Up, one of those childhood sickie treats, and no one to make sure that you have warm socks on, or squeeze your toes so you will instantly feel better!! LOL!!! Those were the days!!! AAAAH!! Come to think of it, I am not sure why I wasn’t “Sick” more often as a kid – I could have really lived it up on that scam!! LOL!!!

Anyway, even though I am staying home from work today, I am still going to TRY and get SOMETHING creative done today, ANYTHING! I really don’t want to lose that momentum that I have been working on. I can feel my creativity muscles getting stronger, which has been a nice change! Matter of fact, last night my sis, Alex, and her daughter, V, spent some time in my craft room last night, and we did a couple of projects, which was really quite fun!

It has been kind of rainy/blustery around here, and it has been really getting me longing for a camping trip with my sweetie! Camping is always so good for our marriage, Jason is just one of THE COOLEST people to camp with because he is just so DANG GOOD AT IT!!! Once, early in our marriage, we went camping, and I remember our tent being under this tarp-canopy that Jason had set up for us. It rained SOOOOO HARD ALL WEEKEND!!! The sound was absolutely AMAZING!!! I was so sure that we would somehow wash away, but amazingly we didn’t! I remember being bundled up in comfy sweats, sweater, and Jason’s oversized socks on my feet. It was soooo cold that weekend, that for the most part, I stayed nestled warmly in the tent all weekend, which if you’ve ever camped with Jason and I, know that our tent kind of resembles Jeannie’s bottle, with pillows, and oversized comforters all over the place, on top of an huge air mattress – PURE BLISS!!! I remember that particular weekend hunkering down with a good lust-in-the-dust-book, and both Jason and I either reading, napping, or spending some quality time together just being silly, or talking about our dreams, or simply snuggling to stay warm. Man, I am going to have to get it together and schedule another camping trip for us soon!!! 😉

As for now, I am going to take my sickie self and snuggle back down into bed and see if I can kick this bug’s booty while I sleep!!!

As for the rest of you, have a FABULOUS morning! 😉