your metabolism.

Sleep, what you eat, and how you exercise totally affect your metabolism...which helps you to burn fat and calories.  I think a combination of these things are what have helped me to lose weight this time around. (I'm officially in the 130s this week!  yay!)

Did you know that not getting enough sleep lowers your metabolism?

Not eating breakfast will slow your metabolism down?

And doing the same exercise over and over again with no changes doesn't get your metabolism going like spiking your exercise?

Eating:

I just read an article in "Healthy Style" that talks about all of these points.  Eating sugar doesn't make your body work very hard.  It breaks down sugar quickly and immediately stores it as fat.  Fiber takes longer to break down and slows sugar from entering the bloodstream.  That's why it's so important to increase your fiber (and I thought it was just a natural laxative). 

Also, eating breakfast is super important to the way you eat the rest of the day.  Skipping breakfast is just like getting up on the wrong side of the bed.  It takes a long time to get over it, if you ever do, through out the day.  Consider having some protein at breakfast to help last you longer in the morning...your body takes a lot longer to digest it so it gives you energy longer.  And get this!  You "increase post-meal calorie burn by as much as 35%"!  Burning calories sounds good to me...

Sleeping:

I also read that when your body is sleep-deprived your body produces huge quanities of a hunger hormone and makes you crave MORE sugar and carbohydrates!!  Hello!  I've gotten to bed late all weekend.  Not one early night to bed!  I've been craving chocolate and sugar like I never have in the last few months of trying to maintain a healthier life.  No sleep totally explains it...and I must say, I gave into that chocolate craving on Friday night and had some chocolate icecream.  It was soooo good...now I know why I wanted it so badly.

Exercise:

This is another reason I think that my weight loss is working this time.  I go to a track on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I do a very brisk walk the first 5 times around.  On the 6th time I sprint around the first end of the track then do a speed walk to the next bend in the track.  At the next bend I sprint around the curve.  I do this for four laps around the track.  I then do a very brisk walk for 2-3 laps and then do a cool down lap around the track.

On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday I take a brisk walk around my neighborhood for 20 minutes.  I come back to my house and do weight training for about 40 minutes.  I do 12 reps on each of my arm exercises then I go straight to my legs and do 20 reps on each of my leg exercises.  As soon as I'm done with my legs I start all over again.  I do a total of 3 run throughs of training my whole body.  I then do 15 army pushups and try to increase by at least one pushup each week.  I do situps 30 to the middle and 30 to each side.  I repeat that three times.  I end by doing the cool down that I mentioned on my blog post here to reduce stress). 

When I read in Healthy Style I was excited to find out that I was doing the best type of exercise I could do for my metabolism: Interval Training.  On MWF I do sprints that spike my heart rate and so that increases my metabolisms power to burn.  "When you exercise this way, your mitochondria, the little engines in your cells that burn calories, run hotter all day."

So...I think I've found some of the keys that make my body burn calories and fat.  I definitely need to get to bed earlier tonight!

healthy. LIFE.

206 pieces of candy.

I'm a little behind on the fun stuff we've been doing here in South Carolina...I can't wait to blog about so much once I get back from Love Affair!

So...we did actually go out trick-or-treating.  I know that my kids thought is was up for debate whether, if ever, we would really go pound the pavement and get a boatload of candy.  We did...206 pieces of candy for each person to be exact.

Every year my kids decide what they want to be and then put together their costumes with stuff around the house.  I think it's really fun to see what they come up with.  This year Emmett decided to be a mad scientist and his costume was hilarious.  He made his hair pretty wild with gel and made his face look like an experiment had blown up in his face.  My very favorite part of his costume has to be the swimming goggles, though.  They totally make the costume!

For the first time...I think, in their entire lives, Miriam and Emma wore the same thing.  I was totally surprised when they said they both wanted to be witches.  Even though they are both witches, it's hard to see, but their costumes are different from each other.  This was also the first year we went out and found costumes at the store for the two of them...not sure we'll be doing that again next year.  Their creative take on costumes from things around the house are way too fun.

Gracie was a princess and she talked Miriam into letting her use the princess costume she got for Christmas.  Gracie made it extra fancy with her jeans that have pink flowers on them, a long sleeved pink shirt, her pink tennis shoes, and a gorgeous crown, necklace, and ring. 

The second the girls arrived home from school they put their costumes on.  By the time Emmett stepped off the bus 20 minutes later they were ready to go around the neighborhood yelling trick-or-treat.  The wait just about killed them, thankfully they made it through the torturous experience.

After going through almost 2/3 of the neighborhood the girls decided to call it quits.  I think the newest thing about this year was that Emmett went trick-or-treating with his friends.  Is he really that old?  Am I really ready for this?  We missed him but I was so glad to have him back with us at the end of the night when all of the kids sat around counting their candy and then dividing it into organized piles of candy by varieties, and then finding new ways to divide their spoils. 

It's amazing that such a simple night can be a favorite of the year.  Just dress up, go from house to house, get candy, come home count it and divide it, and then collapse from exhaustion on the couch.  There's not much more a kid can ask for when they dream of the perfect night.

I'm glad I got to be here for it.

dream. LIFE.

**and yes, that blue color is one of the walls of my new studio...

so quickly.

He came out of the house and hesitantly and with great effort walked down the steps.  As soon as he hit the pavement we was off and running.

I met sweet Jacob about 6 weeks after he was born.  We had fun getting some pictures of him trying to lift his head and seeing how adoring his parents were of him.  Around the time he was 6 months I got to see him exploring his little world and trying to stand up, banging on things, eating in his high chair, and loving the sound of his  own voice.

When I saw him at this session I was so surprised at how big he is!  He's really about 15 months now but I'm always surprised when I get to the last session of our "Baby's First Year" package.  It's crazy how quickly a newborn grows into a little explorer and then into an adventurer.

Jacob didn't have time to hold still...not for a second.  He was very busy...too busy for sitting still, hugs, looking at anything for longer than a milisecond, or anything that wasn't his idea.  He had a plan...a plan to see and do as much as possible in every minute. 

For the first little while I was there he was loving the rocks in his new front yard.  He carried one or two around for a long time.  He would pretend to hand them to you and then decide they were too precious to give away to anyone.  You could look, just don't touch, and definitely don't take it away.  He didn't abandon his rock until long after we had gone inside the house.

He showed my his dogs, his motor car, his books (which he did sit still for but it had to be HIS choice of book), his big chair, and how cool his parents were. 

He loves being outside, playing in leaves, seeing how fast he can run away from his parents and then be caught by them.  By the time we did everything he loves he was pretty tired.

I've had so much fun watching Jacob grow.  His big efforts at independence and being grown up are so much a part of being one and I love seeing him trying everything he can to taste that new flavor of fun.  His world is so wonderful and full of experiences, color, new things, and excitement.  He's not going to miss any of it.

What a fun day!

great. LIFE.

junk drawer no more.

In the past, when I've need to find an important paper for the kids or the menu for lunches or some other vital piece of information I've had to rummage through my junk drawer.  It was always stacked high with papers that had no order whatsoever.  I always had pens in there somewhere and could never find one that worked when I would be frantically searching for something to write with while I was on the phone.  Instead I would be quite the sight scurrying around the house on a quest for some scrap of paper to jot a note or phone number on. 

No more.

Thanks to the book Simplfy Your Time I no longer have a messy junk drawer.  I HAVE read this this book before!  But for some weird reason it never occured to me that this system could work for my junk drawer.  I love it!

I've been knowing that I needed a solution for this ridiculous drawer for ages.  It may seem silly but this drawer has caused me plenty of stress.  I'll realize that I've stuck something important in the drawer...a piece of paper that need to be filled out and returned to school, a piece of mail...and I'll desperately be looking for it while the kids tap their toe anxious over making it to the bus.  Not to mention that every time I open the darn drawer I think to myself, "I so need to do something about that mess!"  I'm excited to say the stress and frustration is no longer.

Over the weekend I bought some little metal rectangle shaped bins precisely for my out-of-control drawer...not completely sure what I was going to do with them but knew that I need to corral all of the pens and pencils. 

I read about the amazing filing system and knew that I had everything I needed to be forever rid of my pile of junk drawer. 

Here are the quick and easy steps:

BUY:

1. Containers that will make you smile when you open your drawer but that will be the right size for whatever you want to contain.  (I bought mine in the Wal-Mart -I would have bought them at Target also but they were closed by the time Mike and I were heading home from our date- kitchen aisle next to all of the silverware organizers.).

2. A label maker.  If you don't have one of these yet, you totally need to get one.  I'm in love with mine!!!  They make any organizing that you want to do look fabulous.  I have the DYMO letra tag.

HOW TO:

1. Take EVERYTHING out of your junk drawer.

2.  Now be ruthless.  Throw away everything that you don't need any more, any thing that's too old, pictures your kids' have drawn for you and now you don't know who did it or when because you didn't write it on the back (you are not a bad parent if you throw some art work away...), and any thing that doesn't appear important.

3. Divide every piece of paper into a category.  You only need to touch this paper once.  Don't divide all the trash from the stuff you're going to keep and then go through it all again and decide which category it should go into.  Decide both at the same time.  These are the categories that you can use:

Calendar: (school lunches calendar, family calendar, football calendar, etc.)

To do:  This is your list of things that you need to do or permission slips that need to be signed, pictures that need to be paid for, etc.

Our interests:  Coupons for a great place to eat, date ideas, the picture and info of the couch you want to buy, nature center classes, etc.

Information:  School rules and guidelines (we have A LOT of these here!), neigborhood news, etc., restaurant menus

To Decide:  Scholastic book orders, fence company information, projects that you're working on making decisions for

*Homework Projects:  Information for homework projects that are coming up.  I love having them all in one place.

*Menus:  Family weekly dinners menus, list of favorite dinners, grocery lists

*Mike:  Paperwork, school work, and things that Mike needs to look at asap

*Davina:  Paperwork, school work, and things that Davina needs to look at asap

*Job chart:  List of weekly jobs for the kids to do on Saturdays

*Folders that I've added to the mix to help me be more organized.

4. Label each of your folders (add some categories to customize your system for you if you need to) with your handy dandy label maker.

5. Put all of the piles of paper (which should be pretty small piles!) into the folder category they belong in.

6. Place pens in one container, post-its in another container, etc.

A couple of notes:

I also keep a tape measure in my drawer in one of my little square blue bins because I'm always needing one around the house and I don't want to go off searching for one all of the time.  I have a container for the little keys that go to the locks around the house.  It seems like someone is always locking the bathroom door behind them...when they come OUT of the bathroom.  I have a pencil bin so that there are always homework pencils handy when the kids sit at the counter working after they get home from school.  I also made room for our phone chargers in a container in my junk drawer so that we're not doing a desperate search for one when our phones are doing the dying beep at us.

You would not believe how much this little system will help your life feel more organized and less stressed.  It seems so little and so inconsequential but it little things can make a BIG difference.  I love that I can open the drawer and find anything I need in a second.  I also love opening it just to look at it and admire the fabulous job Mike and I did on it the other night together.  I walk by it and open it and gaze at it just to see how perfect and wonderful it looks.  That makes me happy.

blissful. LIFE.

thirteen. pounds.

I've passed the 10 pound mark and I'm so excited that I'm about to get back into the 130s!  I honestly thought that I would see a much bigger, more dramatic difference having lost 13 pounds...that I would magically be in a smaller size, that my current clothes would be falling off of me, and that I would see a major difference in the mirror. 

It could be that I live with myself all of the time and so it's harder for me to see the progress.  Even though I'm not in jeans a size skinnier, I do think my face may be looking a little less pudgy and I think my back fat (you know, the stuff that accents that you really are wearing a bra) is melting away.  I think I may also be getting a waist again.  All of this is good news.  I'm very excited that my scale shows progress every week.  I know 13 pounds has to have come from somewhere!

I read that it takes 21 days to break a habit but 15 months to really change your life.  I have no idea where I heard that...I have no proof and no research to back me up but I'll go ahead and give my philosophy on the idea anyway! :) 

Here it is:

In order to really change your life you have to have been through all of the seasons of the year and figured out how you are going to react to the way a year changes you day to day and week to week. 

In order to stick to what you're doing through the cider mill donuts in the fall, the trick-or-treat candy at Halloween, Thanksgiving dinner, the entire month of December with parties and good food at every festivity of the holiday season, the sometimes dreary month of January, candy for breakfast at Valentine's, spring when strawberry shortcake is irresistible, and the summer when there is a whole new schedule for your kids and for you and vacations and ice cream that tastes really good everyday for at least 3 months.

You have to get through all of that and really be on the path to doing it all over again to truly be able to say you've made a change...a life change.

That's my plan.  A life change. 

I'm already thinking ahead.  I've got a great schedule now.  I take it day to day.  I make one healthy decision at a time.  When I don't want to exercise, I go anyway and tell myself I'm ony going for 20 minutes.  Once I get out there I talk myself into doing at the very least what I did the day before.

Then, there's the summer...when I won't be taking Gracie to preschool anymore and that's going to mess up my perfect routine I've got going.  Right now, I'm thinking that I need to start considering what I'll do when I get to that point because it's going to come...that day.  A plan will help me to not miss that day. 

Life is always changing.

If you're not exercising...get out today.  Get up from your computer.  Right now.  Go walk around your house or your office or your studio...up your street and back...down the hallway...up the stairs.  It makes a difference...not just on your body...but on everything.

change. LIFE.