Part of my life

For anyone interested (and it's OK if you're not), my husband recently started a blog about his journey to find recovery from his addiction to pornography.  My own story (what its's like to be married to an addict) is also on that blog.  

Feel free to read it and share it with anyone you know who may benefit from knowing they're not at all alone in this fight.  


The URL is:  sharingmyrecovery.com

100% Juicy-Juice

This post will be about juice.  Wonderful, healthy, delicious, juice.  And what this wonderful juice has done for me.

Some may know, others may not, but the last 3 years have proven to be rather challenging for me.  Don't worry, I won't go in to all of that too much.  Suffice it to say it's been difficult.  Like molasses up-hill in January, difficult.  

But one of the many, MANY things I learned this year was the importance of taking care of my body.  I learned I am a steward of this body.  A loving Heavenly Father gave it to me, and I need to take care of it and respect it.  However, doing this has not always been easy for me. I have always struggled with exercising regularly (as in, I never did it).  And over the last few years I have developed quite a taste for uh....how you say....unhealthy food (a.k.a. Mexican food).  And as a result of these things (in connection with my uncooperative hormones post-pardum), I have been struggling to lose the 60+ pounds I gained during the last trimester of my pregnancy.  I never expected it would take this long to ditch those pounds that have gone waaaaay past pesky.  

I had heard from my brother about juicing and have tried it on and off, but last weekend I realized that if I was going to break my unhealthy eating habits I needed to "reset" my system.  I finally watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" and got the motivation I had previously lacked.  I was going to do a 2-week-long juice fast.  Tonight ends day 5 and here's how it has gone so far:

Day 1:  HOW CAN A PERSON BE THIS HUNGRY AND NOT BE STARVING TO DEATH????!?!?!?!?!?!  I NEED SOMETHING TO CHEW!!!!!!!!
Day 2:  Holy.  Fuh-reak.  Tired, tired, NEED something to chew, tired.  Head feels like it's stuffed with cotton balls.
Day 3:  Okay.  Seriously.  Thank goodness for this gum.  Ahhh.  Chewing.  Also, tired.  Feel like I'm not quite awake yet.  Realized I was still craving enchiladas.  Said a prayer and asked that my desire for unhealthy food would diminish as I did this.  
Day 4:  Prayers answered.  More energy.  Hardly any headache at all.  When was the last time that was the case??!  Probably High School.  
Day 5:  LOTS more energy.   My mind feels clearer than it has in years.  I went to sleep so quickly last night and slept better than I have in years.  I don't think I've slept this deeply since the mission.  I also woke up more quickly than I think I EVER have.  My head barely hurts at all, I feel happier, and more optimistic than I have in a loooong time.  


I have been praying for a long time to be able to love who I am, and how I look.  I have been wanting to be healthier for a long time and the time was finally right for me to do this.  The Lord has been THE essential part of this process and I would have never made it past the first day without His support and blessing.  


Here are the ingredients to my 2 favorite juices so far:

Green Goodness (I have this one 2-3 times a day)
3 cups spinach leaves 
3 cups kale  
2 carrots
1 apple (I prefer Granny Smith)
1/2 of a lemon (including the peel)
1/2 of an average sized cucumber

Orange Berry Deliciousness (I like this for breakfast)
2 oranges
2 cups mixed berries  (I have blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries)

Funny times with my toddler

Sunday morning before church:
I showed Isla the dress she would wear for church.
"Oh, my GOSH.  It's so PRETTY!"  (She sorta yelled it at me)

Sunday evening after dinner:
Michael and I are talking and Isla is attempting to climb on to a chair, over the arm rest.  She gets half-way over and says, "I too stuck!  I too stuck!"  
Michael asks if she needs help.  
She pauses and then says, "DO SOMETHING!"

Later:
Michael was attempting to get Isla to say, "shucky ducky."
Isla:  "Shucky Sharky.  Nooooo.  Not Shucky Sharky.  There's a REASON."

All Growed Up

I feel like such a grown-up.  I just signed up for Rapid Rewards points for an airline.  It even required a call to a 1-800 number and everything.  

Also, 2 blog posts in  as many days.  This is a big deal.   

P.S. after 9 years away from math, turning that part of my brain back on to learn physics is not easy.  

AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

School

So, I just started a physics class.


AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dream on

Found this quote the other day and it really resonated with me :

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it.  The time will pass anyway."

I needed to see this right now.  I needed to be reminded that the things I want for myself are still valid and it won't matter if it takes 2 years of 20 years.  I can either spend that time working toward something that will be good for me and that I want to do/be, or I can spend that time wishing these goals would take less time :-)

I have started on one of my goals as of a few weeks ago:  to lose the rest of the baby weight.  Now that my hormones have righted themselves (it only took about 2 years) and I am feeling like myself again, it's time to kick my butt into gear.  Which is why a few weeks ago I joined a gym!  I have been going at least 3 times a week (for me that's a miracle) and I am really loving it.  It also doesn't hurt that one of my best friends is going with me :-)

Point is, I'm happy.  And it feels good.

Please respond

I'm typically decisive when it comes to my appearance, but I have a dilemma and I need other opinions.  Here's my question:

Should I get bangs again or continue growing them out???

These bangs would be of the side-swept variety, not blunt.