Time for Change

On Wednesday March 7th, we had a health screening at work.  I was very excited and only a little nervous about what my "numbers" would be.  I mean I knew that my BMI and body fat were not going to be pretty.  I mean hello I'm not THAT blind.  So the morning came, we all did the screening, I went to have my coaching session after my results came back and I almost had a heart attack....well more like apparently I WAS a walking heart attack.  Bad, really, really bad.  I'm going to be 100% honest here for the integrity of....well being honest.  At 36, I have a cholesterol of 268, a BMI of 28 and body fat of 33.9%.  How stellar are those numbers!?  Yeah so talk about a wake up call.  I realized in an instant that all the things I had "talked about" doing need to actually really happen.  I immediately changed my diet and began working out a minimum of 4 days a week.  I needed to lose some serious weight....like 40 pounds of it.  And I didn't want to find it again. 

  
In an effort to keep my overly large bum in check and on track, I'm going to tell you where I am, how I'm doing and all the ins and outs between.  I'm going to talk about recipes I make, workouts I do.
My hope is that by sharing the sometimes not so pretty details, that I will be forced to be honest with myself and work hard.

Thank for reading.

Lydia

A song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu5uiFQKqTA

This song right now imbues all I feel

For the love of journaling. . .

I have written in a journal for a very long time.  I believe I started when I was in my early teens, as many of us do.  I have also had a vey linear view of journaling...thinking about nothing but writing my thoughts and feelings about life, love, etc.  And then. . . . . . . . . . . .one day I came across a blog (which I now cannot find) that showed me how very wrong I could be.

Sure you can use a journal as I mentioned above and if you are someone who does and it works for you then that is fantastic.  For me however, I am a pretty artsy/crafy kind of girl.  I love making things and the whole DIY business.  So this website showed me the way.  The women uses her journal for EVERYTHING.  To do lists, thoughts, quotes, you name it, she puts it in there.  And I thought "wow, I really, really love how her journal looks, heck maybe I'll give it a try.  I mean I don't like it I go back to the way I've always done it".  So try I did.  Man alive did I open a can of worms.  I LOVE it, further more, it apparently is catching on with many others as well because I cam across yet another website that was so stunningly awesome that I'm taking my journaling even further.  I love the tags, and she mentions using decorative tape, which OH my GoSh....so pretty. 

Now, mine looks nothing like the Hope's but I'm getting there and I think in time it will develop into something that makes me as giddy as a school girl.  =)

New Journal!!!

Different pockets found at Hobby Lobby.

I write everything on my journal pages now.  Things I've done, people I've had lunch with, movies/TV shows I've watched, things people tell me that are of interest.  Also my to do list and lately what I intend to do that day and not do that day.

Each page is a work in progress...for example the pages with the envelopes I will fill in with more color and drawings, perhaps clips from magazines too. 

I hope this inspires someone as the ladies I've learned about have inspired me. 

Happy Journaling.....and reading.  =)

Lydia

My Sweet, Sweet Love

I'm not sure what is happening, but I can't sit and read any more...I try but alas I'm always doing something that keeps me busy.  I wonder if perhaps it is because I quit smoking.  Since I quit I find it really, really hard to sit for more than five minutes, led alone with nothing else to do but read a book.  I'm frightened...reading and books have always been my love, they still are, and nothing brings me more peace than the sight of a book or someone curled up with a book but alas I'm finding it hard for me to be that person.  I feel lost not being a reader and I'm scared I won't find my way back.  I used to sit for hours upon hours upon hours reading....getting so involved with the characters and the plot, but now I feel it's so hard to even pick the book up.  I'm truly hoping this is merely a phase and that soon...very, very soon I will find my way back to my sweet, sweet love.

Crayon Art

About a month ago a girlfriend of mine introduced me to Pinterest.com...Oh lordy.  I'm addicted is an understatement but it's a good thing because I've come across some really great ideas and have created a seperate journal just for those items (more on journaling in a future post...stay tuned).  I will I'm sure in the coming days, weeks, and months be doing A LOT of blogging about my new Pinterest activities. 

So one of the ideas that I came across was crayon art. When I first saw it I thought "Wow, that is really cool, I might try that sometime" and then I realized it would make a really great Christmas gift for someone.

I purchased a pack of two canvases at Walwart for around $6.00, crayons (I had to use 1 1/2 packs of 24 crayons) $1.44, Tacky glue $2.00 and the blow dryer at home....

I also purchased a book of quotes ($5.99 at Hobby Lobby) to add a little something to the piece of art...

I layed out the crayons the way that I wanted them, in this case I used the primary color index but the possibilites are endless.

I also put on the sticker quote that I liked the best.  After all the crayons were glued I let it sit for about 45 minutes to ensure they were on there securely.  I've seen some versions with the wrapper off but I felt that the wrapper made it more playful.

Once I was sure the crayons were set I began the melting process.  Now let me just say at this point, I was having doubts.  Doubts that it work, doubts that if it worked that it would look good, but they were quickly put to rest.  The great thing about this is that it really doesn't matter what the end result is.  I tried varied heat settings, if I felt like it was melting too quickly or moving down the canvas I either put the hair dyrer on a cool setting or changed the angle of the canvas, also tilting it different ways to have the crayon colors blend and what do you know....it worked!!!!

Tada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Cheap instant artwork.

I saw one version of this in which someone had used only browns and greens and then after it had dried they put stickable flowers at the top.  In yet another version somonee used pieces of crayon instead of the whole thing.  I also think that a larger canvas would have looked even cooler as the crayons would have really melted, not only at the top but all the way down.  The possiblities are endless and you can make this a really personal gift for someone: use their favorite color in the shape of their inital for a birthday present use only reds and pinks in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day.  A word of advice.  In this particular case they are lined up so the direction in which you held it really didn't matter, however if you are doing something as mention directly above, rotating the canvas would be recommended or it will run onto itself....then again maybe that would look really cool.  I'm sure I will be trying many of these versions in the coming weeks.  I'll share when I do.  =)





Ahhh...the library

There are certain places that we can go that become a sort of heaven or haven for us.  Perhaps it is a church, a coffee shop, a bubble bath.  It is a place that we feel most at peace, most ourselves, and the most happy.  We can spend hours in this place and feel like everything is right in the world.  For me, that place is the library.  When I go there, I don't worry about my love life, my grades, my job, my finances, my living situation.  All I think about is the wonderful books I can explore and find.  Anything I would ever want to learn about can be found within a book here.  Not only am I surrounded by one of the things I love the most, but it is peaceful and calm.  I have come to escape, to be happy.

31 Days of Thankful

During November many of my friends posted on Facebook, daily things that they were thankful for.  I unfortunately didn't see this until too late into the month to join them.  However, that doesn't mean that I can't do it in December, or any other month for that matter.  So starting today on Facebook I will post daily something that I'm thankful for.  Benefit of doing it in December...I get an extra day.  =)

Lots of Love and Thankfulness,
Lydia