70 Days Committment: Watch out World

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For the past 30 days I have been trying to stay COMMITTed to my desire to lose weight and get back in shape. I started fresh each week only to fail miserably by the end of the week....
or so I thought.

Maybe I wasn't failing after all.
Maybe it just took me this long to
DECIDE how much
I TRULY want this.
That I am sick of feeling this way.

For those of you following along on my 70 Day COMMITment you may recall my words from last week...Here's to a VERY GOOD week and a VERY GOOD report this Monday!!
When I wrote that I didn't know how good my report would be Monday (or in this case Wednesday)...but I was sure hoping that my COMMITment to a program would FINALLY take hold of me and I would have some success.

I can report that I have had a good week:)
I lost two pounds at my weigh-in Tuesday.
Total weight loss this spring as been 5 pounds.

I think what has finally got me to say...

I CAN do this is Valerie Bertinelli's book.

I know how that must sound..."Really a book written by movie star Valerie Bertinelli?! That's kind of shallow isn't it??"

It's not that I want to look like her (although she looks pretty fantastic!) 

or be a star like her

or rich and famous like her...

No.

It's several other things...

in the book she is MY age...48.

To see someone that's my exact age 

lose weight and get in shape...really helped.

We also share the exact same relationship with food.

And hearing how she handled emotional 

issues with her teen son, Wolfie

WITHOUT eating REALLY helped me.

And the last really big idea that hit me like a ton of bricks was when 

she shares how her LIFE CHANGED. How doors began to open...

how she used to sit at home and eat and watch TV and feel sorry 

for herself BEFORE the weight loss...

but AFTER the weight loss her whole person changed.

She was confident in her own skin,

she smiled more...

walked tall and proud...

and doors began to open.

That's what REALLY got to me.

And so 

I lost 2 pounds this week.

I am going to walk 8,000 steps each day.

Go to Curves 3 times this week.

And plan my meals.

What does YOUR plan look like?

What's on my Work Desk?

"You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you."  -James Allen


It's been a few years since I participated in WOYWW...and boy have I missed it!! It's so fun seeing what all of you are doing and having a record of what I am working on:). So TODAY I start sharing again...thanks for looking!!


I just got back from being in Arizona and FINALLY got to go to Scraps of Love in Peoria. What a WONDERFUL, treasured filled store!! And my favorite part was all the Dina Wakley products they had:)

I ended up buying quite a few items including her latest stamps...are these not AMAZING??!!

This particular page was inspired by the Art to the 5th gals and their year long Documented Life Project. The theme was Water Under the Bridge...my take on this was I am saying GOODBYE to old habits and HELLO to new ones:)

Thanks for looking!! I will be by your Work Desk soon:)

My 70 Day Journey-Day One (again)

"Whatever you do...do with all your heart."  -Me


I spent a total of 45 hours in the car in the past 6 days. We made a road trip to Mesa, Arizona (our 4th in the past few months) and by now I know to take LOTS of reading material! Usually I pack art books and magazines but this trip I was inspired to pack just these...

Remember I am on this 70 Day journey...? And so far I have done a whole lot of nothing. Well, maybe lots of thinking and planning but nothing has really stuck. I am still finding myself stuck in old, bad habits and feeling yucky. While I was deciding which art magazines to bring I came across Fit to Live and Finding It. Two books I have intended to read...but had been putting off.

Well, let me tell you...I know now why I haven't read them before...I wasn't ready...or maybe it's because I am NOW ready! Whatever it is/was...these two books are now my bibles and I plan on re-reading them as often as needed!!

I read Fit to Live on the way to Mesa and just kept nodding my head up and down...this book is all about Toxic Belly Fat caused by STRESS!!!! THAT IS SO ME!!! EVERYTHING the author Pamela Peeke was sharing was ME to a TEE!! WOW!

Then Valerie Bertinelli's book Finding It was such a fun and fast read. I found myself relating to her and her weight issues page after page. She reminded me that with taking control of your life...whether it's weight or something else...doors begin to open and you begin LIVING once again. THAT IS WHAT I WANT...to begin LIVING my life!!

So today I am back at Day One. And that's ok. I feel like I have my head AND my heart working together now and the tools I need to stay on track.

Here's to a VERY GOOD week and a VERY GOOD report this Monday!!

Getting personal today (My 70 Day Commitment)

I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse. –Florence Nightingale

WOW...so this right here just hit me over the head...HARD!

I am FULL of excuses...I am.

And it's sad.

It's why I am not losing weight.

It's why I feel yucky and my clothes keep getting tighter.

If you have read my blog for very long then you already know that I am a HUGE admirer of Brave Girl Melody Ross. No one else like her!! I have been reading her journey to wellness and her last post REALLY got me to thinking about my own life.

It's SO MUCH MORE than the weight people! I just plain don't feel good!!!

I don't.

I have Hashimoto's Disease  and it plain sucks. Yes it does. My body is literally attacking my thyroid so it doesn't function properly. UGH!.

So instead of feeling really good like I do here....

I feel yucky and old. I have terrible hot flashes, I can't sleep, fat clings to my tummy and thighs (but mostly my mid-section) and I have zero energy.

Makes me want to SCREAM!

And honestly I do it all to myself. 

I do.

I do not take care of me.

Or my disease.

So reading Melody's post last week REALLY hit home with me and I realized we had similar issues with our bodies and she had come to the realization that it was ALL UP TO HER. And if she TRULY loved herself enough she would TAKE CARE OF HERSELF.

BAM!

Do I love myself enough?

I thought so.

But then yesterday it was Easter and we had dinner.

Well, I had LOTS of dinner.

SALT and SUGAR. Oh my so much SUGAR.

When you have Hashimoto's sugar is NOT the thing to eat.

Today I woke up at 4:40 AM.  All I could do was thing about how much I HATE my body. How I am NOT comfortable in my own skin. And how this time last year I had lost 15 pounds. I was remembering how AMAZING that felt. How light-hearted I was.

This photo was taken last April/May. I was 15 pounds lighter. I remember this night. It felt SO GOOD to put that outfit on...everything FIT. In fact my pants were so loose I could barely keep them on. I wore those same pants to to my father in laws visitation last week and they were so tight I couldn't button them all the way.

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite thing about this photo though is the FEELING I remember having. COMPLETE peace and acceptance of myself. Oh how I miss that.

But today...

TODAY is a NEW DAY. At leas that's what my dear, sweet husband says. As I got ready for the day I was nearly in tears sharing with him how BAD I feel about myself at this time. He hugged me and reassured me that TODAY is a NEW DAY. TODAY WE will be on this path together.

So I took a deep breath and decided that maybe he was right. Maybe today is a new day. Maybe...just like that Brave Girl saying above IT REALLY IS POSSIBLE.

I weighed myself, took my thyroid medication and promised to love myself today. I also am going to learn more my disease this week (I have had it nearly 8 years and really don't know that much about it!!)

When my daughter and I step on that plane to Paris I want to LOVE myself again. I want to be AT PEACE. 

I hope I can tell you in next week's post about how AWESOME my week was. About how I ate healthy and how after just one week I feel SO GOOD!!

I would LOVE to hear YOUR thoughts on weight loss...living healthy...and if you have a thyroid disease please share what works for you!!!

Rekindle Our Hearts: The Challenge BEGINS!

I have kept my own Gratitude Journal off and on for years...sometimes in an actual journal, other times jotted on a piece of scrap paper. Regardless of where I write down those 5 things...each and every time I do my Heart swells with peace, love and gratefulness for all the ABUNDANCE in my life!

Beginning TODAY April 1st, join me for 30 Days of Gratitude. Each day I will post inspiring quotes, links, images and more in my Facebook group Mind.Body. Soul. Your job is to create 30 mini cards...you can use index cards, Project Life cards (the blank ones), ATC cards...anything small! Each day we will write down at least 5 things we are grateful for on our cards. By the end of April we will have stack of 150 things we are grateful for!! Hellloooo Happiness!!:)

Here are a few little treasures I have gathered for this week's tags. Those Heidi Swapp stamps in the upper right corner are PERFECT for this challenge and costs less than three bucks!! ANYTHING small will do...letter stamps, tiny hearts, scrap paper, buttons, flowers...heck just a pen and a few doodles is all you need:)

If you have an Instagram account use the hashtag #30daysofgratitude to share your work.

Remember....this is ALL about GRATITUDE! It doesn't have to be fancy...let's focus on the GOOD in our lives. Miracles happen when we do that, girls!! I know from experience. Thanks so much for playing along...I am so grateful for all of YOU!!  xoxoxo