Just Kidding Around

In pre-school Little Man is learning about Seasons. Currently, the season that being taught is Winter. Being that we live in San Diego, Winter does not come as the traditional cold, snow and ice, so we were asked to help bring Winter into the classroom.  Little Man's teacher asked all of the children to bring in a piece of ice; large, small, shaped, colored, etc. As the loyal Pintrester I am, I came across this. I had been saving this idea for a time that we could actually put it to good use. It was such a fun activity! Little Man's class ended up making an ice sculpture by using salt (bringing down the freezing temperature) to have the pieces of ice to adhere to one another as they melted.

The good 'ol How To:

Grab a party balloon that is laying around. 
Place some food coloring inside of it and fill the bad boy with water. 
Tie knot at top and freeze. 
Freeze overnight and remove balloon once frozen.

We started with the green marble and as you can see got more and more brave as the activity continued.    With the green balloon, we did not shake it to mix up the colors, so the bottom section was a lot darker than the rest of the marble unlike with the blue and yellow; those were given a good shake once the knot was tied up top. I really wanted to bring the circular marble into effect but knew that I was going to limited to some tupperware and a freezer to make this happen. I decided that flour would be the best representation of snow, so that was added to the tupperware before adding the balloon to avoid a flat bottom.

These were a hit at school, and such a fun activity for Little Man and me to do together. This will definitely be a repeat activity!!

No to the Whites!

This past Monday marked the start of the third week that I have been white flour and white sugar free. I decided to cut it out of my diet for the next long while. My goal is to continue this, as long as my body continues to feel healthy.  And WOW do I ever. It is absolutely amazing how my body feels without the processed junk in it. I feel less bloated and with more energy. I have held strong for with only one slip day. This past Sunday when we were celebrating my mom's birthday, I had every intention to no have sugar, but the pressure started when we went out for brunch. I had a drink (an amazing pomegranate mojito) and some bread with brunch. Then a sliver of cake for dessert. I know, I know I messed up, but the best part is I did not go crazy, and come Monday I was right back up on the band wagon. I will tell you though, Monday was HARD; really, really hard. My body was not thanking me in the slightest.

When I originally did this last year it was for a weight-loss challenge, I participated in (and WON!) with some friends. Last year I did this to keep myself on track and know what not to eat. This time around,  I decided to do some research to see how it effected other people and ways that it will help me. I found this article, this article, and this article. These articles really inspired me,  and I decided that it was indeed something that works for me. The original reason why I decided to cut out white sugar was to cut the junk that I eat out of my diet. I then started thinking, and realized that with my personality I really needed to cut out the white flour as well because if I can't have white sugar, I knew I would me magnetized to white flour. So my thought? Cut them both out.

  Last year, I lost a good amount of weight (32 pounds to be exact), with cutting out white sugar and flour and adding exercise. It was such a great feeling, and my energy level was through the roof. I ended up getting a common cold, and stopped exercising while the junk was in my throat and nose, and never got back on the band wagon. Then came Little Man's birthday, then the holidays, and the next thing I know I am trying to loose the majority of the same pounds that I just lost months before. So.damn.frustrating. So here I go again, and this time I am really working on changing my thought process, and change my eating habits once and for all. I am starting slow. The first week was not too bad, but days seven, eight, and nine just about killed me.

I am past the cravings and I am now starting to work in some exercise. Baby steps.

*Photo courtesy of blogenium.com

Never-ever #1

This Never-ever could be considered a cheat by some, because I have previously sailed, but so many aspects of this trip were new I thought it was enough to qualify. On Sunday, my family (minus one sister who lives in NC) and I were able to celebrate my mom's birthday on the bay. The sky looked painted and the day only got prettier and prettier by the moment.  My brother-in-love is a certified sailor and my sister, is a great first mate to him. We sailed from Point Loma to one of my personal favorite restaurants in San Diego; Peohe's docked the boat at their private dock, had lunch and sailed back. It was a nice reminder of how much I don't care for listing in a sail boat, and learning to hold myself together, so Little Man didn't freak out! It was a perfect way to spend a beautiful Sunday celebrating a lady we love.

My mom (Busha) and Little Man, talking about the excitement of the trip.

The fabulous crew! 

One of the four seals we saw... Little Man was very excited!

Docking the boat, this was a first!

Celebrating Mom!

Bubbles, the bay, and the famous Coronado bridge

Little Man steering the boat, he did great!

A horse blowing bubble on a sail boat? This was a definite first! (... and bubbles were one of the best ideas I had for this little trip)

Busha found a  mini horse

Cheese!

My whole World

Little Man's first time sailing, enjoying the moment with Tia Jess (check out that hair!)

Little Man's face is probably how you are feeling about the amount of photos...

This sums up our time, random, peaceful, a little scary, and nothing but horsing around!

19 Never-evers

This year would not be the same without a challenge.  I have many little challenges in my head that I want to take on (one lasting all year, more to come on that later!) so I will start with this one. I am going to complete 19 things that I have never ever done. Some of these never-evers will be adventures with Little Man, and some will be things that I will do sola. Here is to 19 Never-evers!

Cheers!

~ Lou

Photos in Order

Remember that list I posted a few weeks back? Well one of my areas that I wanted to concentrate on was my organization. I am happy to say I've STARTed! One of the things that I have been wanting to organize for a long time are my photos. Anyone who know me, knows that I LOVE my photos, and I take a ton of them. I have so many photos (upwards of 7,500) on my computer I really started noticing it lagging in everyday usage. Not to mention the  countless CDs burnt with photos,  I asked for an external hard drive for Christmas (you know you are getting old when you are asking for such items) and my sister Jess and Brother-in-love gave me this amazing external! It has ONE tiara bite of storage, even for a photo enthusiast, that is a lot of room.
My biggest challenge came once I got the hard drive set up, how I was going to organize my photos within the external hard drive. This is what I came up with...
I decided to organize the photos by themes with folders that correspond to; Christmas, Halloween, Birthdays, DIYs, parties, etc. with the main catchall folder being called "Our Life in Photos"
Within the themed folders, I have the folders that correspond with the year in which the photo took place. That applies to all folders with the "Our Life in Photos" getting sub folders within their year sub folders with Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring within each year.
I am going to run with that, and hopefully continue with the momentum that I have been having lately. How do you have your photos organized?

Happy Organizing!

~Lou

I found that this process is extremely easy if you are using iPhoto. If you open iPhoto and click on the "info" icon at the bottom right of the screen, it will give you the date the photo was shot in the top right hand corner, then add to the corresponding folder!

Returning to the swing of things

Lately, I feel like I have been trying to get out of the super-busy-and-not-enough-hours-in-the-day-routine... School for Little Man started up again this week, so things seem to be getting a little more on track. We had a great Winter break from school which consisted of multiple days art the Zoo, Wild Animal Park visits, a snowy getaway, parties of all sorts, family time, and lots and lots of board games. To put the icing on the cake,   I was even able to take a few days off of work!
With the return of school this week, we had to return a pair of little buddies  that Little Man grew to love at home. I signed Little Man up to take care of the class frogs, Hip and Hop, during the break, and it actually was a really fun experience. I think Little Man felt like he went deep into the jungles of the Amazon and caught the frogs to keep as his pets, knowing his dream would be to be Go Diego Go's right hand man.
I learned more about frogs during these past two weeks, than I have in my whole life. I would literally find myself watching the frogs for minutes upon end. My favorite was to watch them hunt down the crickets, they should really be called the Masters of Patience.

Here are a few photos of Hip and Hop...

                                                 

I think he has it backwards, isn't the princess supposed to kiss the frog?

I would encourage all who have the opportunity to bring the class pet home, to experience it... you get to enjoy them for a little, then return them!

I've STARTed!

Rather than go on about the list of things that I want to START had have not yet (clearly the going to bed early is an epic fail, and because of this fail, the early to rise, most likely won't make list list; for tomorrow at least) I am going to share a little about what I have been successful at STARTing.

I STARTed wearing my Bodybugg every day, and I have even tracked my activity. This is a huge start to bettering me!  My favorite movement is the camouflaged activity; our activity of choice was the Zoo this weekend, it amazing to see how many steps you take while truly enjoying great company and lovely animals.
I also STARTed organizing things. I have purged a lot of stuff, and it feels really good. I will be making a trip to Goodwill this week and dropping of a bag of some good ol' stuff.  I think a common theme of this year is going to be less is better.

Just wanted to give you an update. I am hoping to share really soon about my new adventure I am going to be taking myself on for the next few months. More to come on that this week.

Stay tuned!

~Lou

Wonderland

My Little Man and me were lucky enough to spend the New Year with my family up in the mountains in our own little Winter wonderland. The days were spent finding the perfect spot, walking up the run and sledding down (repeating time, after time, after time!) The late afternoons consisted of warming up, College Football Bowl games, and board games (my favorite being "Things") and lots and lot of family time!

Stunning to see fresh snow on the mountain tops

One of my favorite things about the snow!

Sporting his Husker Pride, our Mini horse found himself a cornhead.

It was SO cold this day and Little Man enjoyed every second of it

Izzy practicing for next year's auditions to pull Santa's sleigh 

Can you tell he LOVED the freezing snow in his face? 

Packing his snowball, and finding his next victim 

Collecting memories!

This picture explains our whole long weekend.

Best run of the weekend 

The whole clan 

My Little Man <3



My hope is that this will turn into a family tradition! Best.weekend.EVER

~ Lou

Reflecting on START

  As I reflected today on my one little word (START) that I chose for 2013 to represent my adventure this year takes me on, I wanted to share a few starters of what I truly hope that this little word brings me. 

START...

… sending out more snail mail
… taking a few minutes to pick up the phone and check-in with friends
…being more organized
… working out more
...using my Bodybugg daily and tracking my results
…being more financially responsible
… an Etsy shop
… focusing time and energy on me
… waking up early
… going to bed earlier
… reading more
... shooting more video( I LOVE pictures!)
… being consistent with DIYs
… volunteering more
… doing little acts of kindness

My hope is that this list develops over the next 364 days( yes, I know I am missing a day)  I will continue to use START to keep me focused and motivated, on bettering my life and being the best I can be for me and my Little Man.

Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. -Alan Cohen

~Lou

Just.Start

Start: Verb- Come into being; begin or be reckoned from a particular point in time or space. Noun- The point in time or space at which something has its origin; the beginning of something.

Being the first of the year; I have been asked a lot recently what my resolutions for this coming year will be. I am not really a fan of resolutions; more little adjustments to life that I want to continue as a life change rather than just for this year. After spending the weekend in the mountains and my family and favorite older sister; Jess she asked me what my word for this new year would be. I was challenged with this last year; and I chose the word 'refresh'. To press the refresh button on life; if you will. 

My word this year is START.  I am looking at this year as a blank canvas, and holding true to my word. I have been thinking about wanting to start a blog for a little while now... not knowing if I would have the time, energy, or blog worthy information, I always seemed to find an excuse of why not to start. I have many other endeavors that I hope this year will bring me and with my handy word START in my pocket; here's to believing in yourself, digging within to make changes, and STARTing. 

Cheers!

~Lou

Begin today. Declare out loud to the universe that you are willing to let go of struggle and eager to learn through joy. -Sarah Ban Breathnach