This is my first meme tag!  Jojo tagged me last week.  I’m not sure what meme actually means so maybe someone could enlighten me?  Anyhoo, here are my answers!   

Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Manager at Dairy Queen (accounts for at least 10% of the weight I need to lose!)
2. Camp Counselor
3. IT Assistant for a Law Firm in CA
4. Order Processor for a Photography Studio

What are four ways you know you are living your life’s purpose?
1. One of my life’s purposes is to be an awesome wife and mom and to strive to build a strong family.
2. To continually work on strengthening my relationship with God.  That’s where all my guidance and direction comes from.
3. To learn how to live a healthy life (mental, spiritual, physical, and emotional) and to give my daughter every opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle herself.
4. Learning how to just be.

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Do you have a hard time getting in your suggested water intake each day? 

I know that a lot of people do but for some reason, I was blessed with a love of the stuff.  I’m a drinker.  As in, I must have at all times something to drink.  For many many years it was iced white mochas (and I’m talking 32 oz. white mochas, yep they actually make ‘em!).  But ever since I first got pregnant, I have been drinking water on a very regular basis. 

I thought I would give you a run-down of how I manage to drink approximately 96 ounces of the good stuff a day.  Besides the obvious, chug-a-lug all day long, I start out with a water bottle and a goal.  My water bottle is in the picture there (and yes there is more than one… it’s not the same one every day!).  It’s a 32 oz. water bottle.  And my goal?  Drink at least three full bottles a day.

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Welcome to this week’s installment of the Useful Website of the Week!  This week I submit to you a fun little website that is devoted to giving us tips to improve our lives with a common sense approach.  The website, Dumb Little Man, states that they are here to provide tips that will save us money, increase our productivity, or simply keep us sane.

I have found many posts on Dumb Little Man to be very practical and useful.  Here are some of my favorites that make me laugh and yet still provide some real insight. 

I often refer to the post, 10 Commandments for Dropping 10 Pounds & 10 Years, for a much needed reminder on how simple it actually is to be healthy.  I tend to complicate health and weight loss, so it’s nice to have a post like this to get a reality check.

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How do your vacations usually effect your weight loss?  Is it hard for you to stay on track?  Do you take a diet break?  Does going out of town throw your routine out of whack?  I’ve grappled with these questions before and gone into some trips very unprepared for what temptations are out there.  In the past, I have completely stopped my diet and ate whatever my heart desired.  I’ve had other times where I’ve done ok being out of my routine and managed to eat healthy and get some exercise. 

Fighting temptation while on vacation can be a tricky thing.  We are going to Disneyworld in a few weeks and how I will handle myself while there is definitely something I am considering.  I decided to do some research and find some tips from the experts to help me have a plan and a better idea of how to be successful on vacation.  (You mean I can’t eat a churro!?) 

This article from Diet & Body has tips for the different types of vacations people take.  Road trips, staying with friends or family, airport tips, and advice on returning to your routine when you get back home. 

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Can a salad really be this easy to make?  Really?

That’s what I was asking myself as I compiled the ingredients for my lunch salad today.  I’ve always imagined making a salad as being a very time consuming, arduous tasks.  At least that’s how it looked from my view on the couch.  But today, I made the simplest yet, yummiest salad I could have asked for!  And it was SO easy!

Here’s what I did.  And I’m warning you, this is the EASY way to make salad, not the cheapest (although it’s not like I broke the bank). 

Lettuce:     I bought some pre-washed romaine lettuce leaves.  Everyone has their own favorite lettuce, right?  So pick your favorite type of lettuce and buy the pre-washed version.  (Check out the photo to see the brand I got.)  Grab the cutting board and chop up the lettuce.  Romaine is so easy to chop (chop it length-wise for perfect bite-sized pieces of lettuce).  I love it.

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I’m taking the plunge into uncharted territory!  Something I never dreamed of doing in a million years, something so far beyond what I ever imagined for myself, yet something so very representative of my new way of life.  I’m signing up for my first 5k run!  Holy moly!  I know!  (If you are fan of the show Friends, just imagine Monica screaming, I know! and you’ll understand how I’m saying it!) 

So my race (because now that I’m joining, it is, of course, my race) is on July 26th in Asheville, NC at what is known as Bele Chere.  It’s a fun street festival that we’ve been to before, and yet somehow I never knew about the race.  (Too busy stuffing my face with funnel cake?  Perhaps.)  The last time we attended Bele Chere, it was a very hot day.  Luckily the smart people that set these things up have the run scheduled for 8:00 am.  Here is some basic info on the run.

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There is, my friends, an absolute blogging paradise out there.  After spending some quality time with my laptop the last couple of days, I have been amazed at the number of blogs out there that are well-written and easy to relate to.  I thought I would share some of the ones that peaked my interest.  A nice leisurely blog post for a nice leisurely weekend.  (Oh and one side note:  Happy Birthday Grandma!!!!  You are rockin’ the 80’s like nobodies business and I love you very much!!)

First awesome blog I found:  The Mom Crowd

This is my new favorite blog! There is so much that I enjoy about this blog including their very cute and easy on the eyes format, the idea of a collaboration of four mothers writing a blog together that aims to help other moms, and their topics. I found this blog very easy to relate to and especially enjoyed the posts about Amanda’s Picky Eater, the competitive parenting that exist between moms, and a simple straw sippy cup review.

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Goals can be a very empowering and motivating tool to use in life.  Have you ever set a difficult goal for yourself and achieved it?  And how did you feel after?  Yeah, now there’s something money can’t buy.  I read something the other day that said we should set small goals for ourselves to achieve, even if it’s several small goals that add up to one huge one.  The reason being that our brains do not know the difference between almost achieving a goal versus giving up and the feelings associated with that.  Our brains only register success and failure.  So to feel productive and successful at whatever it is you are trying to accomplish, small goals are worth trying. 

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The website I have chosen as the Useful Website of the Week is one that I have found to be incredibly informative and, well, useful!  The website for iVillage’s Healthy Living Program is what I am referring to.  This program is the most comprehensive online weight loss program I have found and the part that surprised me the most is that it’s FREE. 

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One of the thing that really helped kick my weight loss into high gear this time around has been smoothies.  Everyday for lunch I now have a protein/fruit packed smoothie and that has seemed to make a very big difference overall.  My favorite smoothie is here.    The only change that I made was to use a whole banana instead of just a half.  And I must say, this is a delicious way to have a 350 calorie lunch!  I have a major sweet tooth and I used to crave something sweet everyday after lunch (probably because for years I had a Starbucks white mocha everyday after lunch!).  This smoothie has enough sweetness to wipe out any desire for something more after. 

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