#GetFitAndFab

Going along with my post from last week., I’ve been trying really hard to take care of myself and my body.

So far, this week has gone really well.  I made it to the gym 3x.  I planned to go everyday, except Sunday, but my kids got sick and I didn’t want to infect the entire daycare.  When I go to the gym, I’ve been trying to get my cardio in, which includes my C25k that I’ve started to prepare for my 1/2 marathon. I’ve also been doing some of the workouts from Tone It Up.  This week, I also plan on starting up some Barre workouts online from Barre3.

I’ve been doing much better on nutrition too! We’ve been juicing and I made up some quick and easy Burrito bowl lunches for us to just grab and go.

The juice I made had apples, pears, kiwi, celery, carrots and a couple of strawberries.  It was delicious.

I also took some time to myself.  I did an at home micro dermabrasion kit and put on one of my favorite Lush face masks (Mask of Magnaminty) while I took a long bubble bath.

This coming week, I plan on taking  new yoga class, working on my cardio and getting 100+ ounces of water daily. If I complete all my goals this week, I’m going to treat myself to a new piece of workout clothes.

I’m linking up with Brittany from Happy is A Choice and Sam from Life Style Love.

DIY: Kids Room Art

While my husband was off on a ski weekend, I got a little crafty.  I made a few picture ledges (all by myself) and I cannot wait to show you those once I get them hung on the wall.  I also did a quick (cheap) canvas craft for the kids room.

It was so simple.

I just used some paper punches (which I got 50% off at Hobby Lobby), some scrapbook paper, a canvas and Mod Podge.  I think the whole craft (including the punches) cost me $10.

All I did was use the punches to cut hearts and some starbursts out of the scrapbook paper. 
Then I put some Mod Podge (I use the Matte kind) on the canvas with a brush and just placed on the hearts and starburst randomly.

Once it dried, I covered the whole thing in a layer of Mod Podge.

This is how it looked when it was all dry.

Easy Peasy! I plan on putting it in with the kids gallery wall along with  few other DIY canvas projects I have up my sleeve.

Have you ever used Mod Podge before?  I think I’m a little obsessed with it right now!

Guilty.

Before kids, 9 times out of 10, your #1 focus is on yourself.  You make time to stay in shape.  You make time to get massages or facials.  You put yourself first.

Then it happens, you give birth and see your child for the first time, that you love more than anything. Something changes, instead of focusing on yourself, your entire life begins to revolve around that little human being.  You stay up late with diaper changes and feedings, you’re typically covered in spit-up, you can’t remember the last time you showered or brushed your teeth. The next thing you know, you’re looking at yourself in a mirror and you don’t recognize yourself. It wasn’t as bad after baby #1, but once Olivia came around, I was 100% guilty of this.  I still am and Olivia is 18 months old.  

I was reading reading one of my favorite blogs, The Naptime Diaries, and came across a blog post that she wrote titled 5 reasons mamas don't take care of themselves. Something clicked in me after reading that post, that in order to take care of my family, my friends and others around me, I need to take  care of myself first.  Self care is much more important that you realize.  One of my goals for this year was to start taking care of myself.  When  you take care of yourself, you are more confident and happier. I want to be happier, I want to take care of myself and to be a good role model for my daughter as she grows up. 

For the rest of January, I am going to really focus on getting in some me time.  I want to start going to bed at a reasonable time, so I can start waking up early. I want to be able to have some un-interrupted time to be able to have some time with God, to focus on my bible studies.  I want to go to the gym and eat to fuel my body. Not necessarily with the goal of losing weight (but that would be a great bonus!), but to become healthier and to help relieve some of my most recent symptoms (I’m allergic to something and have “attacks” weekly. but we can’t pinpoint what it is).   I want my children to have a role model in being healthy and in being in touch with their faith.  

This is my year.

5 on Friday

Finally it’s Friday! I’m looking forward to doing a whole lot of nothing tomorrow!
I’m linking up with Darci, Christina, April & Natasha for best link-up of the week....

-ONE-
One of my 2014 Goals (which even though it will be up very late, I’ll have a post on next week), was to start becoming more active in my church and in my faith. I’ve been reading the Confident Woman by Joyce Meyers and have been reading the 365 Devotional that goes along with it every morning.  I’m really loving it!  I’m also starting an online bible study with Brittany from Happy is A Choice.  We’re following the book A Modern Girl's Guide to Bible Study by Jen Hatmaker.  I can’t wait.  I think there may still be time to join in if you’d like!

-TWO-
Finally getting to see Wicked! I’ve always been a huge Wizard of Oz fan, my grandmother and I used to watch it all the time when I was younger. She died when I was 5 and every time I watch it, it makes me think of her.  I’ve always been into musicals and was in select choirs and such throughout high school.  I fell in love with it about 10 years ago, when it came out.  I’ve been dying to go see it and for Christmas, my husband bought me tickets to see it when it came here to Buffalo.  We saw it Wednesday night and it was AH-MAZING!  Plus, it was nice to be able to have some alone time with my husband. 

-THREE-
The Tone It Up Love your Body Challenge! Another goal, was to get healthier.  This challenge is really helping with that.  If you’ve never heard of Tone It Up, I’d check them out.  It’s two best friends that want to help empower woman and help them to become healthier.  They even have their own show on Bravo called Toned Up.  Karena and Katrina are so positive and have such an infectious way with people.  I’ve been following them off and on since after I had Jordan.  They also have a really awesome Bikini Series that they start in April!

Karena and Katrina!

-FOUR-
My new Keurig that my dad gave us for Christmas! I know we’re super late to this bandwagon, but we had a Tassimo before and couldn’t justify buying a Keurig while we already had that.  My dad decided to buy one for us and I love it!  I drink a cup a day and so does my husband, so we would waste so much coffee when we would make a regular pot.  I’m loving trying all of the different flavors and I love that I can just make hot water with it for oatmeal, hot cocoa or tea.

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-FIVE-
I’ve been a little Pinterest crazy lately!  I’m on a major home decorating spree and I’ve been pinning up a storm (Follow Me!). I love that you can find just about anything your heart desires on Pinterest.  It even has me wanting to build some of our own furniture because I can’t find things that I love in our budget and these bloggers make it seem like it’s not so intimidating! 

Kids Room: Inspiration and Plans

One of my goals this year is to really focus on our house and making it more of a “home”.  We’ve lived here for almost three and a half years and I don’t think a single room is “finished”. 

One of the first rooms on my list, the bedroom that our kids share.   Yes, we have a three bedroom house. Yes, my kids share one of the smallest rooms in the house.  My daughter is a light sleeper and we wouldn’t be able to be in the living room watching tv (her room shared a wall with it) while she was sleeping.  Since moving them in together, she has slept like a rock. Plus they don’t spend much time in their bedroom. Mostly just for sleeping and reading books.

When we moved Olivia in, we painted the room gray and haven’t really done much since.
Here are some shots of the room as it sits right now!

Here’s some of the inspiration and things that I would love to incorporate into their room. I have no real theme, mostly just an eclectic whimsical mix of things that I think my kids would like.

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12

These are the things I’d love to accomplish in their room over the next few months.

- Re-finish their dresser and put on new knobs
- Finish gallery wall
- DIY art
- Add one more gutter shelf
- New area rug
- Throw Pillows
- Bed Tent/Canopies
- Star Decals on ceiling
- Pom Pom fringe on drop cloth curtains
- DIY Lampshades

I am so excited to have a fun place for our kids to spend some time reading and sleeping. I have a ton of DIY things planned, to keep us on our small budget and I cannot wait to share some of them with you!

What I’m Loving Wednesday.

It’s been a rough couple weeks, so unfortunately I fell off the 30x30 wagon.  We’ve had some big changes in our house that we’re still trying to adjust to, so hopefully the next challenge I’ll be able to complete the whole thing.
Today I thought I’d share some of the things I’m loving this week.

-Having this little guy home with me full time!

As hard of a transition it is from him going to school two full days a week to now being home full time, I’m really excited to try my hand at homeschooling him and spending a little more time with him.

-Watching the kids play together.  The older they get, the more the interact together and I think it’s just too precious.
Here’s a cute video of them splashing together in the tub.



- All Christmas all the time! Christmas is 2nd favorite holiday (Halloween being the 1st) so I’m happy that it’s finally socially acceptable to put up Holiday decorations.  Our tree is up, but not decorated yet and I’m hoping to get it done in the next couple of days.  I really want to decorate the outside with some lights or something, but we have no electrical outlets outside.  I’m hoping we can figure out a solution.

-Last, a (semi)clean playroom! I’ve been trying to get out house in order and in the past month or so this is the best that our playroom has looked! Having such a long playroom (18ish ft) is a major challenge in keeping it clean.

Update & A Giveaway!

 

I feel behind and will have my newest post for the 30x30 challenge up sometime in the next couple of days.

But I wanted to leave you with a little giveaway today from some of us that are participating in the Fall 30x30 challenge. Who doesn’t love a free gift card!

The ladies of the Fall 30x30 challenge wanted to get together and thank you for supporting! Using the Rafflecopter below, enter to win a $50 giftcard to your choice of Target, Old Navy/Gap, Loft, or Forever 21! Dreaming about Someday / justjacq / It’s My Life / you, me & capri / Raising the Rogers / Olive the Things / Fox Tales and Ponytails / Shop School Sleep / Curly Crafty Mom / One Blessed Jess a Rafflecopter giveaway