air dry supafly

i've been keeping up the wash and go hairstyle for about 2 solid weeks now. i must say that i really like it. i took multiple pictures on a few different days and the results are positive. i still have to blow dry the crown for a quick minute or the wet hair will plaster itself to my forehead like a greasy car salesman but other than that it's delightfully minimal. 

 i wash like normal and then when i get out of the shower i immediately scrunch and spray my hair thoroughly. i never comb it out. sometimes after it's fully dry, i respray some parts just to perk it up.

these are my products of choice. not first choice, because i only spent about 4 minutes purchasing them on separate occasions. i was actually looking for the got2b beach trippin' salt fusion waving spray, which came highly recommened, but is apparently only available at walmart in my area or by ordering it online. my walmart stocks it's shelves once every other halley's comet appearance. it's the worst walmart on the planet. i think satan must be it's general manager and he is definitely reaching his goal of getting me to swear in my head. FRANKLIN DELANO! so i settled for this not your mother's beach babe texturizing sea salt spray simply because it was on the shelf and the kids were about to explode. it's adequate. i'd still like to try something different for a little more lift and texture, but, the not your mother's spray is very light and smells pretty good. i added the abba root lifter to compensate for how heavy my hair is. i actually found the abba root lifter at tjmaxx. so, that was a stroke of luck. 

so, in all. i'm pleased. 

I love sweat

I know what you're thinking. Why are you showing me pictures of you flexing and the muscle definition isn't that great? I'm no Arnold Schwarzenegger, but that's not my goal. Here's the thing, I think it's great and I'm really excited about it and that's what makes it so great. I love that fitness and health are so much more than being thin. I've seen so much improvement and I absolutely miss the gym when I'm not there. I'm a big believer in the class. I can create a pretty good workout routine on my own in the weight room. But being challenged by an instructor is fantastic.  I feel I've made such great strides because I attend specific classes because I know the instructor will push me. Her name is Lisa. I have a big time girl crush on her. I haven't started following tailing her home after class but I am one step away from prank calling her and breathing heavy into the phone. 

I eat a lot of this stuff. Lots of protein. Very little bread. I definitely miss bread, but I don't miss bloating. I have 3 eggs for breakfast everyday. Post workout I have a muscle milk shake or banana.  Lunch is almost always bistro sensations mozzarella and artichoke chicken sausage. I love it.  I normally have at least a cup or more of broccoli with lunch and dinner. For dinner I try to make a regular meal and choose healthy portions. (I like cheese.) Yes, i am hungry sometimes. I think the first two weeks of a healthy diet plan you're going to be hungry. We live in a culture where we over consume everything. I have 25 skirts in my closet. Nobody needs that many and nobody needs to feel full all the time. I can never be one of those people who never splurge. I like junk food. I'm not going to lie. I'm not very good at just having a little bit but I'm way better at just a little than never at all. If I completely deprive myself, I will crack and consume 45,000 calories in a 36 hour period. That's not good either. Frankly, i don't want to eat a handful of flax seed or get excited about half a sweet potato. That is why myfitnesspal works so well for me. I put in what I'm eating and it calculates how many calories I've got for the rest if the day. It only guilts you if you get too few calories for the day. And too few calories is easily remedied with a scoop or five of Nutella. With an apple of course. 

I'm not a perfect eater by far. I make fantastic chocolate chip cookies. I make great homemade pizza. My mexi-shells are amazing. Don't get me started on my red velvet brownie cake with cream cheese frosting. Eating right is the absolute hardest part of fitness for me. But, I've spent too much of my life thinking I'm overweight, when *newsflash* I've never been overweight. I've been ridiculously unhealthy. I've had a terrible body image perception, but never been overweight. Food is our friend. It's a blessing. And I must teach my children healthy food and fitness decisions through my example. 

<steps off soapbox> 

So, this is my weekly work out plan. Unfortunately, I don't space my upper and lower body workouts out that well and give myself adequate recovery, but what can you do? You can just work hard. 

Monday- body combat for 60 minutes. It's like dancing but without dancing. Lots of punching and kicking, balance and non stop cardio. 

Tuesday- body sculpt. I wish i could fit this class in everyday day. Weightlifting and strength training. I feel best after this class. 

Wednesday- intense fit. It's a variety of weight training, conditioning and running sprints(and vomiting). Lots of lunging with weights. We once did 100 burpees in an hour. It was delightfully horrible.

Thursday- I try to get up early and run at least 4 miles and then spend some time on abs and core. 

Friday- either spinning or interval. Interval is similar to intense fit but with no sprinting. Non- stop action with around 10 seconds between activities. 

Saturday I normally don't workout because I do so much yard work and housework and family stuff. I prefer the family stuff. My goal for the summer is to start getting up earlier and run, but I never see my husband because he gets home so late so I have a really hard time going to bed early. Saturday morning exercise gets sacrificed. And its not like I'm sleeping in anyway. 7am feels like a treat after Monday through Friday. But I miss regular long Saturday runs. They were my fave. 

What do you do? Who inspires you? My beastie Bratalie inspires me. She's also on myfitnesspal and she encourages and motivates. Plus, she glows. 

Laid back

The laziest blogger who ever was. I finally washed my mirror, but with mouthwash. 

The calculated half tuck. Yay or nay? 

There's something decidedly un-laid back about planning your laid back half tuck. 

And in an ongoing effort to reduce the time I spend on my appearance, I'm trying to just air dry my hair, but using product to make it look somewhat piecy and defined. As I write that I feel like that means I'm giving up. Air hair don't care, not too much that is. but, streamlining my life is my goal. 

Summer goals for a streamlined life:

1. Air dried hair. Find a good product to help me out with this. 

2. Summer reading program for adults at the library

3. Specific home organization goals- organize silverware drawer. Weekly goodwill drop off. Furniture refinishing. 

My first refinishing project: 

Also on the docket is new fabric on my dining room chairs. 

4. Fitness fitness fitness. And food. I'm at a really good place exercise wise lately. I've had great muscular development in the past two months. If could just try and eat better, I'd so ripped. I start out each day great. I log into myfitnesspal and rock it for most of the day. But, I'm a baker. And self control goes out the window. 

5. Develop more spiritual opportunities with my children. Children who are taught religion and spirituality are ultimately better decision makers because they have been presented with topics they either accept or reject from an early age. Plus, more chances to talk with my kids on a myriad of topics and show them how spirituality is a part of everything in our world. 

So. Those are my top 5 for a laid back summer. 

What I've been reduced to

Last week I got the bright idea to create a post on my clothing uniform. I wear nearly the same outfit everyday. It works for me. What I lack in creativity, I make up for in happiness. As I was creating the post, I had Scarlett take a few picture for me. I figured that she's old enough to take over as staff photographer. As she's snapping away, little Blythe crawls over to her grabs her legs. Scarlett is startled by the hubbub and drops the camera. On the baby's face. This is all happening in slow motion. My camera is far from fawncy, but she does the job. Chaos ensues and everyone is crying. I'm crying the most, I've got the most practice at it. Camera is broken forever. Scarlett is bereft. Blythe is bruised. At that moment a dear friend walks in my house and the illusion of my perfect life is shattered 

forever. (Hahahaha. Now that's comedy if you believe that.) This is what I'm reduced to:

Dirty mirror self pictures in the hallway on my phone. My uniform: cropped pants, blousy top, gladiator sandals, air dried hair in a braid. It screams, "MOM ON A MISSION!" 

Shirt- anthropologie

Pants- gap

We just got an anthropologie in town. It's pretty exciting for us(well, just me really. Thomas mostly gets excited over sports and politics). We have been suffering from a dearth in shopping variety around these parts. I've never been a big anthropologie fan, mostly because its quite cost prohibitive, but I think I'm going to turn into one of those people who foam at the mouth when given the prospect of venturing there for a looky loo. They just have fun stuff. And Thomas's new office is going to be in the building above it. This may prove to be a problem. 

Boom

back by unpopular demand

hi. are we still friends?

 i know, i know. i claimed i was "back". but i wasn't. really, it's not you. it's me. and i'm not going to go all rick astley on you and claim i'm not going to give you up, let you down, or desert you. 

i'm not promising anything. but you don't come here for empty promises, do you? 

so, i dislike when really great things hit overkill level. supersaturation, if you will. 

take these fake jcrew bubble necklaces:

they are so fun! i loveLOVElove mine! but i love it less all the time because they are everywhere! i don't want to sound like some weirdo who canNOT be associated with anything mainstream (cough, cough hipsters everywhere), but it makes me sad that one day my daughters are going to laugh and ask to borrow it on dress like it's 2012 day. fun necklaces shouldn't turn into the butt of a joke!

 i can admit that i like kelly clarkson. i think chevron is fun. there is no shame in eating at olive garden because you like the food. some things are popular because they are GREAT! but, when the market becomes so saturated with an item, i find that it really dates it quickly. 

par exemple:

what year do you think of when you see these?

1999 right? but i don't want to party like it's 1999 when i see these. i think, "ew gross why would anyone over 10 want to wear these?"

but GROWN WOMEN sported these. we sold them at my college job for 15 cents apiece to.... grown women. 

sure, the faux jcrew bubble necklace is a far cry from a butterfly clip, but nothing fantastic should become a cliche.

how bout a year for this one:

1994! love it or hate it now, you had it. and then you hated it because everyone had it. personally, i loved it because it looked good on me. layered haircuts are my friend, my friends. i felt this haircut was a coming of age moment for me. i shed my decade of perms or grown out perms for this cut and i felt like things were finally looking up. because after a perm, things can only look up. BUT, because of the haircut overkill, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. 

SAVE THE FAUX J CREW BUBBLE NECKLACE! 

and here's my cute baby:

the end!