Ohh potatoes!

Why oh why must the people who bag potatoes ALWAYS put at least 1 potato in there that's older than the rest and goes rotten less then 24 hours after I buy them? I HATE squishy potatoes and having to wash off that whole bag was disgusting.
Today has been a lazy day. I was really slugish and drowsy all day. I did some yoga during Rowyn's morning nap, took a nap during her afternoon nap, and then went to the store to pick up diapers and milk once Brennan got home from work. I also rented this movie from redbox...

I am really hoping it doesn't suck, the previews looked pretty promising.

Happy Monday every one!

Project 31 day 13

Day 13.  Write about something you would like to change about yourself for the better.

 

When I think about all of the things I would like to change about myself, they all boil down to one main thing that would help me achieve all of these things. Will power. I would like to change my lack of will power. Not having enough will power to eat better (which I'm currently working on), to just suck it up and learn to drive, to continue with projects even after that little voice in my head tells me that nothing is going to work and I'm wasting my time is really frustraiting. 

So what I would really like to change about myself for the better is my amount of will power, and I am currently working on it.

Project 31 day 11 pt2: Dinner time

I forgot to take a picture before we ate, so I just photographed my hubby's lunch for tomorrow, which is the left overs from my clean eating chicken fajitas.

They were a hit at my casa.

Yesterday

 Here are some photos from our day yesterday. 

Rowyn and I took a walk down to the village center to pick up some things. On the way there we discovered where the raccoons go during the day.

Rowyn looking pretty in starbucks

Shaken black iced tea

 After we went to starbucks Rowyn and I ventured over to Randall's to do some shopping. She decided that she would rather get out and "help" than be in her stroller.

Then we came home, baked cupcakes and got ready for Brennan's movie night birthday. I didn't get many pictures of that but here are the few I did get before people started showing up. 

Birthday boy!!!

Rowyn is ready to get her snack on.

Pretty girl.

Project 31 days 11 & 12

Day 11.  Post a recipe.  Or if you don't cook, try a new recipe and write about how it turned out (pictures please!).

 Just recently I started cooking more, so I don't have a recipe off hand. I'm going to try and make this for dinner tonight, I'll update you after with photos and how it turned out in "project 31 day 11 cont."

Clean eating fajita's

marinade: 1 T. tabasco sauce 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 T. honey 1 tsp. paprika 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, sliced into strips 1 green bell pepper sliced into strips 1 vidallia onion, sliced into strips 4 whole wheat low carb tortillas 2 tomatoes, diced 4 oz. low fat cheddar cheese, shredded

Mix together all marinade ingredients in a pie plate or bowl. Add chicken strips and turn to coat. Let sit for at least 10 min.

Meanwhile get your pepper and onion washed and sliced into strips. Dice your tomatoes.

Heat olive oil in a large pan or wok. Stir-fry chicken until cooked through. Remove from pan and add pepper strips and onion strips. Stir fry until cooked to your preference. Add chicken back into the veggies and mix.

Serve 1/4 of the mixture rolled in a low carb tortilla with 1/4 of shredded cheese and 1/4 of the diced tomatoes.

Serves 4

250.3 calories
11.6 g fat
25.3 g carbs

Day 12.  Write about what wears you out as a woman.

I think the thing that is the most tiresome is just trying to balance my daughter, my house work, and finding time to be "me". Just finding the time and energy to do something that I like, that is just for me is so hard to do. Especially when the dishes are piling up in the sink, Rowyn has gotten into some thing or another and has mad a huge mess all over the living room, and clothes are going unfolded and my husband is complaining about his lack of socks or underwear. 

This blog is actually the first thing that I've done continually since becoming a wife and a mother that is for me. That makes ME feel good and that I make time for in my day. It makes me motivated to do other things also, like start yoga, eating clean and trying new crafts. I feel hopeful when I blog about these things, and it makes me feel accountable for them. I feel like I NEED to keep going with them because I want to inspire people to make the same sort of effort for themselves. Some days it's hard, and I'm tired and stressed out and I just want to sit on the couch when  get some down time and veg out, but I make myself do these things and it makes me feel so much better after I do, like I've actually accomplished something.

And I thought I was dying...

Sorry for my lack of posting yesterday, the first part of the day I was spending with my boo because it was his birthday and we were prepping for his party. The second part was me dying of back and stomach cramps that felt equivalent to the beginning of my labor pains. I have some laundry to catch up on and then I'll be back with my project 31 for today and yesterday and my photo with 365.
Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

I've been a baaad baad girl

Tomorrow is Brennan's birthday, so I made him this cake today.

Then my mom came over and brought Brennan some pies from this little pie shop that he loves and some Papa Johns pizza and pasta..and I partook in the eating of said pizza, pasta, and a small slice of cake.
I PARTOOK IN IT! Please just stone me to death now.

I kid I kid, I planned ahead for this and am planning on kicking my butt tomorrow working out. I have to make special exceptions when it's a special occasion. :]
But now I feel a little bit sick from all that pizza and pasta. 
Bleech...oh well. Off to bed, I have to wake up early tomorrow to prepare Brennan's special birthday breakfast! (He's turning 20 ya know.)

Get Fit Fridays

This Friday I'm going to be talking about clean eating snacks. I am a snacking kind of girl so trying to find a clean snack that will satisfy my salty, crunchy craving is a big thing for me.
So far my snacks are Apples, carrots, and grapes. But those don't really take the place of that familiar crunch of a potato chip or the savory flavor.
Lately I've been eating the crap out of Banana chips.

They're just a little bit sweet, really crunchy and VERY yummy!


Also, I've been eating some lightly salted almonds, which helps with that salty craving.

When I get a chance to get down to the Hong Kong market I plan on picking up some Lotus root and making some of these. Apparently they taste like a cross between a chip and a french fry. Sounds good to me! I miss french fries.

In other news,
I plan on doing the hour of yoga again today at Rowyn's nap time. I'm really excited! I can't wait to see how flexible I get so I can freak out Brennan with my bendy abilities.

Project 31 day 10

Day 10.  What is Jesus teaching you as a wife, mom, or friend? (Or just woman in general?)

Since I've become a mother and a wife Jesus has been teaching me patience. Patience to take care of my daughter with out letting the bad days get to me, to be a better mother and be able to handle "melt down" situations in an appropriate manner, patience with my husband in letting him follow his dream and explore this aspect of this life. I am learning that I do not control other people and how they think and feel, so there's no point in getting upset when they need some time to learn something. I am also learning to forgive. To not harbor ill feelings towards people who've done me wrong. Forgive my father for not being there enough, forgive Brennan for any fight we may have, forgive myself for things I am not proud of. Jesus is teaching me a lot of things, and I am more than willing to accept what ever he has to offer because I know what he needs to teach me, is what I need to be a better and happier person.

Home made vegetable soup

Today I made Rowyn and I vegetable soup from scratch and it actually turned out REALLY good.
I'm so proud of my non-cooking self:]

I pretty much just threw 8 cups of water, 1 1/2 tomatoes, celery, carrots, corn, green bell pepper, green beans and a diced onion in a pot with some beef stew seasoning and let it simmer for an hour.

Rowyn seemed to like it too!

Things I'm lovin'

Bah da bap bap bahhh!
These are some things that I am loving today...

Yoga!

 

 

 

I did my first FULL hour of yoga this morning during Rowyn's nap (I've never gone longer than 15 minutes because I usually just give up around the time they start introducing poses that make me fall.) I loved it. After I was finished I felt so relaxed and ready for the day. 10 minutes in my old thought process of "ughh when is this going to be done already, I've been saying hello to the sun for like an hour now!" crept back in but I just pushed it to the wayside and I kept on trucking. After a while I didn't even notice any time had gone by, or that my incense had already burnt out, or that the hour for Rowyn's nap had already gone by (She was very angry with me for this.) I'm going to try to make this an every day thing.

Tazo Awake tea

I've replaced my morning gallon of coffee with this stuff. It tastes amazing and wakes me up, plus, even when it gets cold it still tastes good.

Urban Outfitters head wrap $16.00

I love this so much, though I would love it even more if it had feathers on it. (I'm slightly obsessed with feathers.)

Charlotte Russe $32.99

 Oh, the cute things I will wear when I'm skinny.

gojane.com $30.00

One day I will make a list of my obsessions. Boots are right up there with feathers and baby names.

Name of the week

Atticus

Pronounced: AT-a-kuss

Atticus is primarily a male name of Latin origin that means "from Attica". Attica is the region of Greece which contains Athens, the capital city.

Famous figures with this name include...

The character Atticus Finch in Harper Lee's novel 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Daniel Baldwin and Isabella Hoffmann named their son Atticus (now 13).

 Atticus was also the name of a number of ancient Greek philosophers and writers; it was also the name of an early Archbishop of Constantinople.

Project 31 day 9

Day 9.  What virtues do you value in yourself?

 

I've never thought about this question before, so it has me a bit stumped...I've never had to put it into words before. 

I value the fact that I believe I am a good mother. I am proud that I'm not like the stereotype that people have made for teen mother, that my life isn't "interesting" enough to be on a reality show. When people meet me I hope that they take away that not ALL teen moms are like the ones you see on MTV. My husband and I work hard to make my daughter as happy as humanly possible and I am very proud of that. 

Another value I have, that I wish to share with my daughter is that I believe that everyone should be loved and no one should ever feel hated for who they are. Everyone is the same regardless of what they look like, what color their skin is, or how confused they seem to be.

I'm sorry if this blog is boring and awkwardly laid out, it's very hard to concentrate on this subject while being pelted with cereal by my restless one year old. 

I will probably come back later to revise and make this better, but for now this is what you get.

So you want to be a yogi....

I've been thinking a lot lately about taking up yoga. It's relaxing, doesn't make my asthma act up, and a nice work out.
While looking up the lowest prices for yoga mat's I stumbled upon this book under the shopping section of google search.

"Meet your new best yoga—and healthy eating—friend in this smart, accessible, heartfelt, and funny diet memoir. For years, Jessica Berger Gross struggled with fluctuating weight and bouts of unhappiness. Like many of us, she found comfort in food and craved cigarettes and self-confidence. Then one day, she took a yoga class. It changed her life.
In enLIGHTened, she shares the core principles of yoga philosophy drawn from a 2000-year-old text called the Yoga Sutras. The practice of yoga offers answers to eating smartly, living right, and losing weight.
Go beyond trendy diets, unsustainable exercise routines, and the quest for the perfect figure. With a spiritual philosophy and inspiring personal stories, enLIGHTened will set you on a journey to self-acceptance, peace, and long-term health."

I read the first 27 sample pages on Google Reader and I have got to say, I totally have to buy this book now. I can relate to her in so many ways and just the first couple of chapters of this book are so inspiring. It's so refreshing to hear that I'm not the only one who feels like the chubby girl when she walks into a yoga (or any type of fitness class for that matter.) for the first time. I'm planning on buying the book and starting practicing yoga more, I'm really hoping to stick with it this time around.

I believe that this is the author's webite, I would totally go check it out and read the sample here if I were you.



As for my project 365 photo for today...I didn't get around to taking many photos of today's activities (because nothing really happened) so I will leave you with this photo of Rowyn with blueberry all over her face from snack time today.

Irrational fears of driving

I am 18 1/2 years old and I have yet to learn how to drive. I've gotten my learners permit, about 20 different people have taken me at least once, and as soon as I start to warm up to the idea of going faster than 30 mph and I don't have a panic attack when some one else is driving on the same road as me I don't go driving again for another 4..5..6 months and then have to start all over.
My mom never taught me how to because I wouldn't let her. (seriously, I love my mom to death but she's the kind of mother who when I tried to learn to ride a bike, she pushed me down a hill and yelled "JUST GO!"...not to mention she makes this brutal angry face that I would never wish on anyone else.)
My husband isn't allowed to teach me because 1. He's too busy and 2. he's freaking crazy and tries to teach me at night when I can't see anything.
So, here I am a stay at home mother with no way of going anywhere during the day because I can not drive.
I find myself day dreaming of the things Rowyn and I would do if I could drive. Oh, the interesting and exciting life we would have that doesn't consist of sitting in an apartment all day or going to the complex's park with only one swing, a slide, and some weird digging things that make large holes that my poor baby is constantly falling in.
We would start some kind of business, either as some sort of consultant or one where I made an Etsy shop to sell furniture I've re-finished(you have to leave the house to find cool crap at Goodwill you know.) We would go thrifting and antiquing, to mommy and me music classes, we'd venture to Harwin in Houston to do some shopping, go to Traders Village, have numerous play dates, go to the Zoo, visit my friends in my home town, and maybe get some grocery shopping done without my husband calling me every 5 minutes asking me if I'm done yet.
It's very frustrating thinking of all these fun and interesting things we could do if I had a car while I sit in my home, fighting off the boredom. It's even more frustrating knowing that even on the weekend when my husband IS home we are only able to go do things that are only located 10 minutes away because he is busy working on start ups and isn't able to come with us (not like he'd want to do any of the stuff on that list anyway.) and if I want to go any further I have to hear the same old long speech about how "It's 20 minutes there, 20 minutes back to the house then 20 minutes back there to get you and 20 minutes to bring us back the house house again..THAT'S OVER AN HOUR OF DRIVING!"
I really don't know what it is with him and his obsession with not spending more than 40 minutes a day driving. I don't think he likes it very much.

Have any of you had these same problems as me? Have you concurred a fear of driving? How did you learn to drive without anyone to help you and are you still afraid when you get out there on the road?
Any and all advice is welcome.

p.s. check out my nifty new music player on the left right above my archive. It's playing the songs I'm currently obsessed with. :]

Project 31 day 8

Day 8.  Have a beauty secret (e.g. hair tip, make up tip)?  Share, please!

Exfoliating and moisturizing, I can not stress this enough. It not only keeps your skin soft, smooth, clear and fresh looking but prevents wrinkling and age lines. 

I exfoliate every other day, gently using a loofah  to scrub my face in tiny circles. 

I also recommend using a moisturizing that is meant for age rewinding, early prevention is the best. Apply to your face, neck, and chest every day after you get out of the shower. You'll notice almost immediately how much smoother, brighter and softer your skin is. 

Also, for stretch marks (and I had those huge ugly purple ones after I had Rowyn) I use a mixture of vitamin E oil, almond oil and cocoa butter on them every day (also out of the shower) and they have dramatically lightened. I honestly can't see most of them anymore and the ones I can see are a light pink color. 

Hope this helps!

Sincerely, 

Lea

poop.

Dear World,
I am hungry and I have no idea how to cook anything from scratch. This will not stop me from my clean eating diet (though it almost did when I spotted my husband's left over spaghetti and meat sauce from last night.) I have decided to experiment with stuffed bell peppers. I couldn't find a recipe that contained ingredients I kept in my kitchen so I had to make up my own (Boy am I scared).

In other news, Rowyn and I are having a very difficult day. Rowyn's decided that she would like to make my life harder by fighting me on everything. I had planned on us taking a walk and going down to Starbucks so I packed up the diaper bag, got Rowyn dressed, go out the stroller, grabbed my camera and headed down the THREE flights of stairs to the outside world. Once I got down those three flights of stairs carrying my diaper bag, camera, stroller and 22 lb toddler I realized that I had forgotten my Starbucks cards in my bedroom. It wasn't worth it to me to climb back up the stairs and down again to retrieve them so I decided to just taken Rowyn to the park. After an ample amount of play time I decided we should venture back up to the apartment. Rowyn did not like this idea, she would not let me carry her or hold her hand and was hell bent on running in the opposite direction.
After many wiggles, squiggles, angry grunts and fussy cries (and aren't those just the WORST sound in the world?) we finally made it to the staircase and up, up, up we go again, only this time instead of my normal 22 lb toddler I now have a 22 lb sack of potatoes because some one decided she was just going to be dead weight since we had to go upstairs. We finally make it to the top and I put Rowyn down to let her walk to the front door, simple enough, but instead she decides to once again run in the opposite direction and start pounding on the neighbors door. By this time I just want to put down all the crap I'm carrying and get in the freaking house because I am hot, sweaty and tired. So I have to go drop everything by my front door and grab my child from in front of the neighbor's door, who has now come out to see wtf is up and is looking at me like I'm crazy.
Cut to a few hours later.
My daughter HATES getting her diaper changed. It is a battle every. single. time. So I go to change her pants, get her diaper off and while I'm reaching for another one she bolts to the living room, stops, and poops ALL OVER THE FLOOR! (TMI? Sorry.)
*sigh* Ohhhh a day in the life of a mommy.

What's good? I finally got Rowyn to eat all of her breakfast and lunch...though she will only eat fruit and potatoes...I'll call it a small win.

Sincerely,

Lea

snack time!

Dear World,
If you know me, you would know that I love to snack. Now that I'm trying to eat clean I can't have my usual goldfish crackers or ruffles potato chips with french onion dip, so when I saw this recipe for collard green chips that are considered "clean" I just HAD to try them. I baked them myself (yeah, I'm proud) and they turned out pretty yummy. They give me that familiar crunchy salty taste that I love but are also healthy! I went a little heavy on the Cayenne so I can't give Rowyn any to try, but next time I plan on making a batch that she can enjoy also. 

Prepped and ready to bake

After baking. It looks a little bit like these seaweed chips my grandma use to get at the hong kong market.

You can find the recipe here on Jess's blog IROCKSOWHAT.

Sincerely, 

Lea

Project 31 day 7

Day 7.  Write a blog to encourage another beautiful woman.

It is my opinion that every single woman is beautiful in her own way, so I chose to address all of them. 

To ALL woman,

You are amazing, you can do what ever you want to do and you can do it damn well. All you have to do is believe in yourself. 

Never let anyone else feel any less than perfect, because you are. God created you to be perfectly you. You are smart and funny and interesting. 

If you ever want to change something about yourself do it for YOU to make you feel good about yourself. Never change just for someone else, never do something you don't feel comfortable with. Anyone who asks you to change yourself in any way isn't a real friend. Real friends accept you for who you are, love you, and encourage you in what ever you want to do.

You are beautiful.

Never let anyone make you feel differently. 

Eating Clean

Dear World,
I am now fully stocked on everything I need to eat clean.
I bought bell peppers, cucumbers, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, celery, carrots, bananas, apples, boneless skinless chicken breast, salmon, raspberry herbal tea, avocado, mango, grapes and an assortment of frozen berries.

Rowyn being all cute in the shopping cart:]

yeah...you can't really tell what anything is besides my husband's crap. lol

And for your viewing pleasure...

Rowyn with daddy's sock on her head. She looks like a little bull fighter.

Project 31 day 6

Day 6.  Jaded beauty.  Has the world's definition of beauty ever jaded you?

When I read this question my first instinct was to put no, that I have never been jaded by the world's definition of beauty but I don't think that would be true. I think that the world has so much of an influence on what "beautiful" is that the lines between what the world thinks and what I think are blurred. When it comes to things like clothing, paint colors, furniture and other home decor the world's opinion doesn't really matter much to me anymore. When I was 13 the world's opinion on the amount of my personal style didn't mean much to me. The world's opinion on my blue hair didn't mean diddly squat to me.

But the world's opinion on a beautiful body..that has ALWAYS jaded me in one way or another. I'm really not upset by that though. I don't hold unreal expectations to look like the stick thin model in my Cosmo magazine..I really don't. I DO want to be thinner than I am now, I want to be healthy. Only because I know that my body now is NOT healthy. It may be beautiful to my husband but it's not beautiful to me. That may be a bad thing, actually I'm pretty sure it is. I just really don't mind much, it is motivation for me to get healthy and be healthy for my daughter. It's an opportunity for me to teach my daughter to live a healthier life and it's an opportunity for me to see my body as beautiful and be happy with it. How can I really be happy with my body if I know that I'm not doing anything to prevent what it is I don't like. If I were trying to be healthy, and my body still looked like this, I'd probably think it was beautiful because that means that obviously this is the way god intended me to be...but I can't think that I'm doing everything in my power to be healthy while eating a large pizza and pretty much living for food.

So I guess, yeah, the world's view of beauty HAS jaded me in some ways...but I may as well use it to my advantage as a way to better my life. 

Sincerely,

Lea 

Ramblings of procrastination.

Dear World,
Do you know what bugs the crap out of me? When people do not understand the concept of homonyms.
It makes my eyes bleed when I see some one write "to" when they mean to write "too" and I am ready to sock some one when they use the word "two" when they are not talking about the number.
Let's go over it, shall we?

To-toward
Too-Also

Poor-Not rich
Pour-To make flow
Pore-on your face

Affect-Change
Effect-result or consequence

Aunt-Your mother or father's sister
Ant-A bug

Bye-Goodbye
Buy-To purchase
By-Beside


Knew-Did know
New-Not old

There-Talking about a place
Their-Talking about some one's belonging
They're- They are

In other news:
I'm starting the Eat Clean diet. I've been inspired by Jess and her amazing weigh loss. (Seriously, she looks freaking HOT! I say that in the least creepy way possible because I do not like girls that way.)
Starting Tomorrow night (because I have to wait for Brennan to come home from work to go shopping so during the day I'll be living off of left of spaghetti and papa johns pizza) I will be eating clean.
I WILL NOT BE A LARD ANY LONGER!

Goodbye, dear old friend. (BTW jalapeno pizza is THE BEST!)

Sincerely,

Lea

Silly Mornings.

After breakfast Rowyn wanted to act like a goof.

She was excited to get her picture taken.

Then, she decided that she would like to take everything out of her diaper bag and get into it.

Sincerely,

Lea

Project 31 day 5

Day 5. Write a blog thanking someone who has made your heart come alive.

I am going to write a letter to my husband. Oh how Cliche' of me.

Dear Brennan,

 The first day I really met you, you were unpredictable, goofy, and kind of a jerk. Standing me up on our first meeting was probably not the best course of action to start a relationship....and neither was making me wait about 2 hours at the park in your neighborhood the next day waiting for you to show up while you didn't answer your phone ( I'm still not sure WHY I even let Molly talk me into calling you and asking you to meet up again.) After you finally showed up though, and we REALLY got to know each other, I knew you were the one for me.
  Every time I feel scared, or sad, or insecure you always, without fail, make everything better. You stood by me when most boys would have run away and left me alone. You've provided for our family so well that I don't really have to worry about much. You are always willing to help anyone who needs it, because your heart is so kind. You are teaching me to be a better person and I don't think I could have made it this far without you. You are always my number one fan in anything that I do and support me 110%. 
 That first day I met you you were unpredictable, goofy, and kind of a jerk. But now...you're my rock to get me through the roughest times, you are the sweetest, kindest man I know..and you're still kind of goofy, but I love that. Thank you so much for being such an amazing father, husband and person. I can not wait to spend the rest of our lives together.

Love,

Lea