While today didn't start off the best (something showed up that I was hoping not to see), I quickly turned it around and decided to make it more positive. There was no point in being down about it because I trust God's timing and hate wasting energy on negativity. I've done that too much before. One thing I've thought about recently is how, after competing in early November, negative thinking was the name of my game. I went through about a month of constantly feeling down on myself because of the weight I had to put back on after the show.  Hello?! It was for my health because you are not at a healthy weight/bodyfat with competing in figure. Yet I still had problems with it. I was always down on myself, told myself I felt gross, moody, and just a true Debbie Downer. And for what? It only made things worse. And I had absolutely no reason to be so negative about myself and my body. Since then, I take pride in all that is me and my body. So I figured I would share a few things I love about me and my body 🙂 In a non-conceited way, of course 😉

1. The most important thing I appreciate about my body, is that when it is at a healthy weight it will bear beautiful children for me. It has already carried one precious gem for me and I have no doubt it will carry another. 🙂
2. It can move. I am blessed with the ability to walk, run, lift weights, participate in fitness classes, spin around with my daughter, jump on a playground with her, among many many other things that I would be otherwise unable to do without a physically capable body.
3. It is pretty strong. I enjoy lifting weights and watching my strength increase. Even though I haven't been focusing on pushing myself too much right now, I know my body is capable of tossing around pretty decent weight in the gym. It amazes me to see that progress and how my body adapts.
4. It houses my mind. I love to read (as you well know) and I love to learn and grow, particularly in things related to my faith but in general too. I think I'm a pretty sharp lady, despite my many blonde moments, and I am proud of my intellect.
5. I have a big heart. I love to love. No matter how many times I've been burned, I will still care for a person. And nothing compares to the unconditional love I can share for close friends and my beloved family.
6. I think I have nice boobs. 🙂 C'mon. I had to have a fun one in there! Haha!
7. I love that I can see the good where others would often only see the bad.
8. I love how I am so in tune with my body and what it needs and recognizing how to accommodate it.
9. I love that I am not afraid of carbs! I used to be way back when and how ridiculous was that?!

Those are just some things that came to me while writing this post. What do you love about yourself and your body?

Now for a book review! 🙂

Deep End of the Ocean by Jaquelyn Mitchard

Many of you will think this sounds familiar because of this...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWa7nDm9Wdg]

I saw the movie so long ago that it fortunately didn't affect my reading of the book. I remembered bits and pieces from the movie as I read, but not enough to where I already knew what was going to happen. That's important to me. I hate knowing the outcome of a book before I read it. But ironically enough, I despise more when movies change the books. Like this one did....

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP4NxUFgFrs]

I was SO disappointed with that movie! They absolutely ruined the book!! But back to my current book review...

The Deep End of the Ocean is about a family with a three year old boy who goes missing from a crowded hotel lobby. He is never found, dead or alive....until almost ten years later when he unexpectedly and accidentally reenters their lives. It was really enjoyable. Maybe being a mother I could really relate to the main character, Beth, and all her neuroticness after her son's disappearance. The story was really strong and just gripping. The decision of what is right versus what is wrong when her son returns is so disheartening. It kind of reminded me of Jodi Picoult's books where an issue that you would think has answers that are black and white and clear as day really don't. It's interesting to ponder the many intricacies that go into what is right for a family and how decisions have strong repercussions for everyone involved. And how it is sometimes impossible to fix or stop or change. I would recommend it. 🙂

Once again, time for me to get going to tutoring! Fun fun fun. At least it's easy money. And I already had my fun today with a Group Kick class followed by coloring Dora with the M girl. 🙂

Well, first off I want to give a shout out to my girls Krys, Mandy, and Stacia!! These are three close girlfriends of mine from my old online home (a fitness site) and I am so happy that they have found their way to my blog. Don't worry - none of them are the watermelon dress friend 😉 And I honestly don't diss on her color choice and do think it can be pretty with her wedding plan...I just don't think it will be a friendly color to a watermelon belly. But, then again, NO bridesmaid dress is going to be! 😉

But moving on. Today I am actually going to post about FOOD! Now, you may notice that I do not post my meals every day and sometimes not even a single mention of a meal for a week. The reason why I don't do this is because feeling the need to document everything I eat with a photo is unnecessary and detrimental to me. Some people enjoy it, but I can get way too caught up in it too fast. I prefer to eat what I enjoy as long as it is all part of a healthy, balanced, moderate diet. I have spent way too much time analyzing everything I eat and allowing it to put me back into a bad relationship with food, so documenting it all is not good for me. I'm at a good place with my lifestyle and plan to stay that way. Plus, I prefer my blog to reflect the many aspects of who I am, not simply what I do in the kitchen. And I only get about 10 minutes to eat at any given time with a one year old at my feet, checking me out like this:

peekaboo!

I will, however, post reviews of things I tried and enjoyed and recipes I experiment with. Today I decided to go for a yummy sounding recipe that the awesome Danica posted on her blog last week. Kung Pao Chicken. It sounded and looked oh so good. And it uses the appliance for people who don't cook crock pot! Perfecto! Or however you would say that in Chinese. Anyhoo...it went like this...

Cut up 1 lb chicken breasts into chunks and place in slow cooker.

cubed chicken breast

Mix together hoisin sauce, soy sauce, cooking sherry, ketchup, ginger, red pepper flakes, hot sauce.

sauce

Pour over and coat chicken in slow cooker. Cook on low 6 hours. Gotta love being able to go shopping for a few new workout clothes, play, read a book, and go to the gym while dinner is cooking 😉 I hit up TJMaxx and picked up a few workout tops and two sets of capris, all for $60!

new gear

So, I got to look cute while doing the following workout:

• 10 min elliptical warmup = 1.14 miles
• walking lunge + db pullover
• wide stance bb squat + incline bb bench press
• upright bb row + bb bicep curl
• 20 min treadmill = 4.0 speed, 5.0-7.5 incline

Back to the recipe. About 45 mins before serving, chop up your choice veggies.

celery, onion, green pepper, yellow pepper, broccoli

Mix water and cornstarch. Throw in the water/cornstarch mixture and veggies for the final 30 minutes of cook time. Let simmer and get thick and yummy.

served up

The TASTE of this was really good....but I was even able to screw this one up. I cooked it too long and the chicken was too dry. So, if you keep an eye on your cooking times I know it would be awesome! You can find the full recipe HERE.

To make up for the lackluster meal, my sister and I have been getting in some quality goofy time.

me and the baby sis

We decided to sort through some boxes of old books my parents brought over to salvage any that might suit Makenzie. It was very nostalgic. Can you tell I was an 80's baby by my elementary school reading?

Rainbow Brite, Glow Worm, My Little Pony, Bernstein Bears, Dr Suess

And we found this old joke book for children. Holy cow!!! There must have been a lot less of filtering what kids say and protecting kids back in our time. Here are some of the jokes we found while reading and laughing hysterically...

Ouch, Why did you drop that hot towel on my face? -- What? Did you want me to burn my fingers?

What do you get if you cross a pig and a hobo?? -- A filthy beggar!

Your name should be Lawn? -- Why? -- Because I would like to mow you down!

Nice, huh? Quality stuff for us kiddos! Another good one was "You're just like scrambled eggs! -- Why? -- Because you get beaten often!" WOW! At least it provided some good laughs to think that we used to be entertained by this when we were under the age of 10. 🙂

Okay, time to watch The Biggest Loser! Have a great night!

• Anyone else still watching The Biggest Loser out there? I still enjoy the show, but I really wish that the producers would stop trying to get the oldest and biggest contestants. I much preferred when the contestants needed to improve their health and lose weight, but I could SEE the results throughout the show by visible increased fitness and health and better body composition through the show. I understand the larger contestants are in need of the help, but I don't think how strenuous the expectations of the show are is suitable to them. It's not as enjoyable to see contestants who aren't really able to do anything and at the end of the season still have such a long way to go. They either need to extend the length of time contestants are at the ranch, or not have it be the biggest people they can find.
• Do you blog ALL of your meals? Just some of your meals? Or very rarely focus on your meals like I do? If you do blog your meals most of the time, does it ever wear you out or cause any negative thoughts/feelings/stress on your approach to food or what you're eating? Do you ever feel guilty for eating something or not eating something?
• What's a childhood joke you remember? Or what things were you into as a child?