Constant Beginnings

My word for 2014 is "intention." So much of life is spent on "autopilot," simply going through the motions of routines and activities. It is my focus to act with intention. To move with  purpose, to focus on maximizing my happiness, to do with meaning. 1. Organization--I am happier and more sane when my life is organized. My focus is a meal plan, maintaining a weekly calendar of chores/homework schedule, etc. Chris and I have revised our budget to reflect our family financial goals. This ties in directly with financial organization and spending with intention or purpose. 2. Health--Once our little guy is born, health will become my obsession. Clean eating and working out. Lots of sweat, sweat, sweat. This is our last little one that I will carry, so no more excuses to carry this extra weight. I am focusing on pre-baby Kara, which will involve losing about 40 pounds. 3. Family time--Working full time and being a mom and wife is a juggling act. I am vowing to no...

Every parent has hopes and dreams for their child. Writing down and keeping track of every positive sign that their child is destined to be something big---learned their letters and sounds at 2, potty trained at 2, spoke in sentences at 1, fixed the tv, discovered a cure for cancer...you know. I've been just as guilty. It is really hard not to be crazy. Really. Hard. Anyway, after ferocious smells were escaping our temporarily broken dish washer for 2 weeks, Chris took action. He called the rental office (odd, they act like far more than rental agents, but are not managers; however, they schedule all repairs, etc.) and out the little dude came. It was then that we got a glimpse into Mya's future. Can you guess? The guy was here for an hour or so and Mya never left his side. She watched intently his every move. Oh, I would be so proud if I had a child I could call on to fix all the broken appliances in my house. I can't tell you how irritating it is when...

Confession time. Have I lived up to Casey's "Movin in March" guidelines? I'm afraid not, but I didn't really plan on following them exactly. 1. We did eat out. 2. I did exercise 3 times last week!! 3. I didn't eat any candy! The bag of cadbury minieggs is still locked up tightly in my cupboard. 4. I did lose 1.4 pounds. Although my week didn't go exactly according to plan, I am okay with it. I am pleased that I actually made it to the gym. I am even happier that I ran 3/4 of a mile without throwing up! Perhaps that isn't really a possibility--I probably should have written "without having an exercise induced asthma attack." Chris can speak to this condition. I really do have EIA--or so I tell him. On the food front, we are ordering Chinese food for dinner tonight. Yummy. Not eating out really isn't a realistic guideline for me, so I have to tweak the plan a bit. Here it is for this week: 1. Exercise 4 times. We will be break...

So, we were four weeks into P90X when our lives were flipped upside down by the house sale and move. It has been a crazy few weeks and although I am not wanting to get back on the wagon, I hear my body screaming at me--telling me to get off my big tooshy. I have my "skinny jeans" hanging on the door (a helpful tip from my pal Ali) and I'm ready to go. Tomorrow will be day 1 of my 53 day plan to eat healthfully and exercise. Yippee!! Jessica and Nate's wedding is just around the corner, so it seemed like a good marking point. I can hold off on eating the bag of mini cadbury eggs sitting in my cupboard until the April 26th at which point I will most likely eat the whole bag (Chris leaves for his year long deployment and I will be off on my 365 day journey of single parenthood with no family supports nearby--thank God for friends and family that will fly here at the ring of a phone!). Anyway, I've spent some time thinking about this tour at Hanscom and things I'd...

is a food scale. such a scary idea, but the food scale is a great little tool. i have "dieted" in the past, but followed the rules of thumb, such as 3 oz of meat being approximately the size of the palm of your hand. this method was far from exact, which is probably why my results on those diets were a bit slower to see. anyway, part of the diet portion of our plan specifies exact portion sizes. needless to say, we've been becoming slaves of the scale--food scale that is. it has been slightly eye-opening just how few cashews you get in 1 oz. or just how much 1/2 cup of rice actually is. we've been doing really well. weighing our food is pretty impressive in my opinion, but i am even more amazed at our willpower. we've held strong to our diet and workouts (although I'd rather not talk about the yoga--i think i only made it 20 minutes.) i don't think we've actually gone without eating take out food for two weeks since we've been married and i am pr...

We are four days into our new exercise/eating plan and this is what we feel like: We are TIRED! I have never done so many different types of push-ups or squats in my life. I am being thrown back to the hell of my preseason basketball days. Definitely a pain I've never wanted to relive. My muscles are screaming. Despite our physical pain, the eating part is rather easy. We've eaten fish, chicken, turkey, egg whites galore, low fat cheeses and lots of fruits and vegetables. Things are looking good. I've even made Claire ice cream with chocolate (MY FAV!!) and opened a lunchable for her only to find a delectable Hershey's Peanut Butter cup inside (mmm...mouth watering at the thought :) without having a bit!!. That is monumental. I am holding strong! Yahoo! Can't say I've noticed a difference on the scale yet, but realistically, I probably won't. I think I'll have to focus more on how my clothes are fitting as I will be turning this fat into muscle. I wi...