DAY EIGHTEEN - What Makes You Beautiful

 Alternate Title: Happy Birthday Ava

Today was not just about 28 to Great. Today my oldest daughter Ava turned twelve. I seriously cannot believe I have a twelve year old and that I like her so much.

On my twelfth Birthday, my wonderful mother took me on a day of beauty. We went to a half day seminar with Estee Lauder that included a "luncheon". I learned all about skin care and make-up application and felt very grown up and important. In retrospect I realize that my tricky mother was ensuring that I learned how not to cake on the make-up and look like a teenage hussy. It worked too. I felt like quite the expert and wanted to emulate Paulina Porizkova, who only looked fresh and pretty. 

In case you think my mother was shallow or vain, you should know that she spent the first 11 ¾ years of my life- and all of the years since, pouring into my character, and my soul. But that birthday sure was fun. 

So, in an attempt to recapture the magic of this experience, I took Ava out of school today because I’d decided we’d have a girly day. We went to Sephora and tried on all kinds of make-up. In the end she chose a light pink sparkly eyeshadow and some pretty lip gloss (whew).
 
 Next we went out to lunch and while we ate she asked me about this “diet” I’m on. I thought it was a good opportunity for a conversation - and I also kind of figured Sadie would be proud of me for reeling in another convert. ;)
 
I told her, that as much as I joke about my skinny jeans, that what I really care about is taking care of my body. In my mom’s words, "being a good steward of this gift God has given me". Ava has had type 1 diabetes since she was five, so she already has a pretty good grasp on how what you eat affects your body. So I told her that the the challenge was about eating food that would make you feel good and help make you strong, to fight anything else that might come. And about figuring out how to make meals delicious and celebratory and also really, really good for you. Its about doing exercises that keep you strong and tall for your whole life. 

We also talked about how being beautiful doesn’t start with sparkly eyeshadow or a skinny body. I love how Audrey Hepburn puts it.
 
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.

oxoxoxox

Missy

DAY SEVENTEEN - Know Your Audience

 Alternate Title- Please Don't Make Me Sneeze

I woke today fairly ready to meet the day. I mean, no matter what happens I’m probably never going to be a morning person, but I have been finding myself more and more determined to do - if nothing else - a little bit better than the day before.

Today I had Violet’s two friends Otto and Chloe over to play. They are hilarious together and if you haven’t seen their first tap dancing class from Day Twelve, I highly recommend it. Tip: it seems to only work if you’re watching it on a computer

It gave me an idea. I would try to teach them a barre3 class.  Yeah, brilliant, right?

Wrongo.

At first they were very game. I showed them how to begin in primary posture and it was at this moment I should have known that this was not going to be a good idea.  To say things went downhill from there would be putting it kindly.

Chloe: Auntie LOOK. I'm standing up TALL.

Otto: No! Me!! I'm STANDING UP UP UP. 

They begin bumping into each other, both trying to stand up the tallest. Otto trips over Violet who is ignoring me and looking at something very fascinating between her toes. Next thing you know they are a wriggling heap of giggles and pokes and...

Have you ever heard the expression “it was like herding cats?” Well that would have been easy compared to this. Eventually I just gave up and turned on Disney’s Dance Central and laughed as they boogied their little booties off. If you’re wondering why I don’t have pictures of this, then you have never watched three crazy three year olds by yourself.

During nap time I was able to complete my “Burner with Sadie”.  It is aptly named. In fact, I don’t think it would be inappropriate for sweet Sadie to have horns and a pitchfork for this class (ironically, there’s serious burning going on as well).  But again, I do notice, myself doing much better at this class than the first time I did it two weeks ago.

As far as the meals, I had been finding myself skipping lunch because I would run out of time. Christy gave me a great idea to fix this:

Drink the usual coffee when I get up. Then around 10 am, I eat eggs on a bunch of vegetables. Right before I head out the door to pick up the kids at 3:30, I quickly down the yogurt berry almond bowl. I tried this out today and it seemed to work very well. For dinner I made a coconut milk lemongrass chicken, with a Thai sauce I found at Whole Foods. I also braised some bok choy and gave my family some rice to go with it.

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering if three separate ten minute workouts in one day can be effective, well, let me just put it this way. I sneezed this morning and almost burst into tears. Yeah, that’s how sore my abs are from yesterday.  Do any of you have a favorite online workout I should know about?

oxoxoxox
Missy

DAY SIXTEEN - Never, Ever, Ever Ever, Give Up. -WC

Alternate title: And I Quote

I’m not going to lie to you. When I hit “publish” on yesterday’s blog. I was nervous. Not just butterflies in the stomach kind of nervous, like, freaking out, because I was expecting some backlash from admitting to my shenanigans. That everyone would be disappointed. But your comments were so encouraging. We are in this together and we are going to finish STRONG.

And now a good quote to begin this week:

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”  - Ralph Waldo Emerson
(you will notice, this is exactly what I did this morning... I rose up after yesterday’s mini-fail!)

Ok and another...

“The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.”  - Henry Ward Beecher
(See? So I was thinking we’ll use perseverance for the barre3 classes and obstinacy for not eating forsaken foods.)

And finally:

“When you’re going through hell. Keep going.” - Winston Churchill
(HAHAHAHA!! Just kidding Sadie!!! We are not going through hell. This is FUN - right people?)

Ok. Wow. I really need to focus. So anyway, today I woke up raring to go. Thankful for the weekend to be over and routines to kick in. It was a little tricky getting us out the door,  Violet actually just pulled some rain boots over her jammies and called it good.

I met Christy for our walk and lo and behold Chloe was wearing a ballgown and a fur coat. This is what’s fun about having three year olds- they really make each walk a new adventure. 

The Princess and The Homeless Person

It felt great to walk. Christy and I talked about our missteps over the weekend, she was at a family event with nothing but pizza and donuts as far as the eye could see, but we encouraged each other that it was all downhill from here and that even more good things were coming. We also agreed NOT to weigh ourselves until Day 28. See that Christy- now we’re both accountable!

I went home and had the yogurt berry almond breakfast. Then I realized that I only had about 20-minutes for my workout. I remembered that Christy told me about one that’s 10-minutes, called NYC workout. So I did it. Twice. And I loved it. It was sooo cool how she shot it at the Baryshnikov Art Center. And I felt cool doing it too. It made me want to pirouette my way through the rest of the day, but Ava has forbidden me from doing such things in public anymore. So I only did it until I picked her up.:)

This day was one of those crazy busy/where did the time go/I still have so much left to do!!!, kind of days. You’ve had ‘em, so I won’t bore you with the details. But on my way out the door to take a bunch of Jr. High girls to a soccer game, I tossed some chicken breasts in the crockpot with some organic low sugar teriyaki sauce. So when we all got home, exhausted and starving, I just made a little brown rice and did Sadie’s magic stir fry, which seriously, is amazing. Tonight for veggies, I used kale, purple cabbage, red bell pepper and some snow peas. 

It was so good that I skipped the rice and just let my kids have it. Whaaaaaaat? Who am I?? I love rice. By the way, I did take a picture of the chicken, but when I tried to get it off of my iphone, it had mysteriously vanished. If you want to see some really beautiful pictures and yummy recipes and just all around inspiration go to A Farmer in the Dell . My brother is always saying things like. "Why aren't your pictures as gorgeous as hers? Why don't your recipes look like hers?" Well, its because she is a REAL blogger. AND a farmer. AND adorable. 

Anyway, while the rice was cooking I did Sadie’s 10 minute Core Strength. So yep. 30 minutes all together. I bet you couldn’t do that with a gym membership or a trainer.

So that was Tuesday. Wednesday? Bring it.

DAY FIFTEEN - I Have A Dream

Alt Title: Monday Funday!

Day Fifteen. Woooo Hoooo! The halfway point is now officially in our rearview mirror.

Am I excited?  Yes.

Are we winning? YES.

Do my evil jeans fit yet? NO!  $%^&*!!!

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, my husband had the day off yesterday.  It wouldn’t be hard for me to write a blog (or several for that matter) about what an amazing man MLK was, but you’re not here for that. You’re here for the documentation of my barre3, 28 to Great, journey.  You’re also here because much like MLK, you believe in change.  Yeah, I went there. 

So the Warden wanted to go out for brunch (just kidding baby!). At first I was nervous about this, because for me, brunch usually means mimosas and pancakes and syrup and hopefully some hash browns with a few sides of bacon. This could be debaucherous like Temptation Island, but with food... and besides, it just didn’t seem right to make everyone stay home because I was doing 28 to Great.

Scotty’s is a great hole-in-the-wall kind of place, with a killer, front row view of the ocean.  Good Sadie did not disappoint either... she was right there on my shoulder pointing out the really good options on the menu. I ended up ordering a chorizo omelet with fruit on the side and a huge glass of water with lots of lemon. And even though I took HUGE, intoxicating whiffs of the girl’s pancakes, I remained strong and didn’t sneak and bites.  I felt happy with my choices and proud to pass another milestone. I also proved to myself that the things I’m learning can go way past day 28.  This pleases me.

When we returned home, I did the 40-minute ballet sculpt with Candace. It was a good one. A real heart pumper, if you will (and, I know you will).  I’m finding it to be really amazing that even after just two weeks, I really am getting better at making it through the workout and my confidence keeps growing!

Later in the afternoon we decided to take a drive to the gorgeous cliffs of Palos Verdes. We parked at a golf course and then hiked down to the rocky beach below. I really love the part of the 28toGreat challenge that requires me to exercise outside a few times a week. It really makes a difference on how I feel.  Vivi and I climbed around looking for starfish and hermit crabs as Keith taught Ava how to skip rocks.  

Violet decided to make sand angels:

After the sun set we hiked back up and decided since my husband will be working on Ava’s Birthday, we would celebrate early by taking her to a fancy dinner at a nearby restaurant.

At the very beginning of the challenge, Sadie and Andrea had a Q&A on Facebook. It was funny because EVERYONE asked about wine and Andrea said: “If you do decide to go for a glass, save it for the special occasions and make sure you have some good food in you before you even take a sip. This will help your blood sugar and really, ultimately, get you better results during the challenge!”  

Well, if this wasn’t a special occasion then I don’t know what is!  I glanced over on my shoulder and good Sadie was giving me the thumbs up (or at least I’m hoping it was the thumb).  Here’s the funny thing that really isn’t all that funny... we were having steak so we asked our server to recommend a wine. Keith usually lets me choose for both of us, but when the server brought three different glasses to the table, I tried all of them and I didn’t like ANY of them. What the heck?  Who knew I would lose my taste in two weeks? EEEEEEEEK.

Oh don’t you worry, I still drank it, but it still got me thinking...

I wish I could tell you that wine was my only cheat, but I also had some mozzarella on a caprese salad and of course DESSERT (yeah, uppercase). It was all very good, but it didn’t make me want to give up the challenge. It actually made me really see how much better I feel eating whole foods and drinking more water.

So tomorrow. I am back. Like BACK back. Even though I never left, because I don’t see today as a failure, only a mini-victory, because I’m still going forward!

I’m ready for this week. Bring Tuesday ON!

xoxoxoxoxoxo,

Missy

DAY FOURTEEN - Coming Out Swinging

Alternate Title: Or not...

I woke up on the morning of day fourteen, filled with hope and determination. This would not be like last weekend... I was coming out swinging! I’d probably do at least a sixty-minute online class... maybe even two. I was going to make the “favorite granola” and a new batch of donut holes and plan my meals for the next week.

I was going to be unstoppable.

I felt a little foggy, but I probably just needed coffee. When I got to the kitchen, miracle of miracles, no one else was up! So I took my coffee, and my laptop up to my bedroom and snuggled in. I did the usual, first, get on IM to see if my brother was up so I could harass him. Next, I checked out facebook, and then looked to see if anyone had commented on my blog.  I keep hoping that one day I’ll show up and there will be millions of comments of people talking about how skinny and glowy they are. Nope, not yet.  Probably it will happen around day 20.  Then I checked out People.com to see what the celebrities were up to. Next as a kind of palate cleanser I went to Heidi Unplugged, to see where in the world she was. Heidi is a dear childhood friend, who with her husband, decided to quit her job, sell her gorgeous house and take a year to give her children a bit of a worldview. I highly recommend following her journey. It’s amazing and inspiring Here's the link: Heidi Unplugged

Anyway, the next thing you know, its 11 am and I still haven’t done my workout. So I head downstairs, thinking I’ll have my little yogurt bowl and then get it out of the way. My kids are all up by now and Ava, my oldest is getting the younger two breakfast. Violet says something crazy (this is normal) and as I turn to look at her, I realize my neck hurts, not the back, but the front, right above my collar bone. Fun fact about me: I am a certified cyberchondriac. I invent illnesses and injuries for myself and then find them on the internet so that I can diagnose and treat myself, though most of the time my eyes dart to the worst case scenario and I spend the rest of my day freaked out. It’s a cool hobby but pretty time consuming as you can probably imagine.  In this case I couldn’t decide if I had a pulled muscle, or if it was the beginnings of this new super flu that’s been going around. In the end, I decided that just to be safe, I’d better change my rest day from Sunday to Saturday.

So, on day fourteen. I stayed in my PJ’s. Drank a lot of tea. Watched a lot of Brady Bunch reruns with my girls and had a perfect rest day.

Is anyone doing anything exciting with their “rest days”?  


xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo,

Missy

DAY TWELVE - I'm Still Standin' (yeah! yeah! yeah!)

 Alternate Title: Little Wins

I bet you wondered if there would even be a blog today.  Well that makes two of us.  I am back after a good night’s rest, which means I did not get up at 5am. We’ve all heard it time and time again how the early bird gets the worm but I am not a bird and I have no use for worms, so I feel good about this.

I’ve decided if I am going to make it through this challenge, (and believe you, me, I am), I have to keep “making it my own” as our great leader Sadie keeps telling us.  So that’s exactly what I’m doing... I’m own-ing-it.  The good thing is, “owning it” is getting more and more possible. Even a week ago “making it my own" would have taken me down a slippery slope of danger where likely a tale of gluttony would’ve ensued.  But that was the old me. Now, I am gaining a lot of confidence in my own ability to choose the right things for my body and think it's pretty great.

With Sadie’s perfect planning, she scheduled a Q&A with she and Andrea today and she also sent out next week’s letter early. I found this to be VERY helpful. It was all about the little wins. I like the sound of that. Little wins. Very attainable. Here is a list of some of the little wins I’ve had this week:

1. I did not drink one drop of wine even though I wanted too. This is actually a BIG win (see what happens when you take the “E” off of wine??)
2. I did not get divorced over this, though there were a few situations where there might have been some name-calling.
3. I almost made it through a whole 40 minute workout without any major dramatics, i.e. falling, strained muscles or cramps.
4. I cleaned out my refrigerator and my pantry. This isn’t related to the challenge, but its still a win for everyone involved.
5. I did not lock my kids away in the closet for several hours at a time as I’d done in the prior week (this is a joke, please do not call CPS).
6. The zipper on my jeans now goes all of three little zipper teeth UP. Only 65 more to go.

My meals today were pretty basic. Coffee first. Then a bite of the barre3 “barre”. I’ll put the recipe in below, but this week I added some vanilla to them and also toasted the coconut before adding it. This was a good call.

Barre3 "Barre"

For lunch I had the Eggs and Avocado. I also really like this one. I added some bell pepper and then ate it with raw spinach. Yum.

Eggs and Avocado

For dinner my husband brought home dinner from our favorite Cuban restaurant Versailles. This made me very very happy. I had garlic chicken and black beans.

Since we're at the end of the week I decided to end with a video of Violet, Christy's daughter Chloe and their BFF Otto at their first dance class this past year. If you watch, when I first started Barre3, I probably looked the most like Otto, who is always inventing his own modifications.  I like to think I'm getting a little closer to being like Chloe, who is the most focused 3 year old I've ever met. But realistically, I'll probably always be the most like my daughter Violet who is very unruly and has been asked to leave the class several times.

Have a great day of rest!! See you Monday.

oxoxo

Missy

DAY ELEVEN - A Weighty Decision

Alternate Title- A Big Fat Tantrum


Well this was fun. We made it eleven days. Big Fat Deal. I don't really even care that my inner voices were right. I'm tired.  I'm grouchy, and I want a pepperoni pizza with EXTRA cheese and a Costco family-sized bottle of wine. Oh, and some peanut butter cups too. It's not like I look that bad, right?

Who cares? 

Life is too short to not eat what I want!!!!

Please tell me you've felt like this at least once since we started?  Yeah, today was my day and it was a butt-kicker. Honestly, if it wasn't for the accountability I feel to you guys I definitely would've fallen right off this crazy wagon we've hitched ourselves to.

Well, guess what voices?  I am not giving up. So there!

Okay, I feel a little better now.  But only a little.

I've had quite a few people ask me if I've lost weight and how much, which, first of all, I find pretty cheeky.  Secondly, I thought I made this clear in the My Favorite Jeans post. I'm not in this for the weight loss. I mean, who cares how much I weigh?  It' s not like anyone's going to carry me around and they certainly aren't going to weigh me at the airport and charge me excess muffin top fees.  Are they?? That would be awkward and more than a little embarrassing... I can picture myself wincing apologetically to the people I'm holding up in line, "I'm sorry. Yeah, I only made it eleven days before I caved in and now you're probably gonna miss your flights because of THIS!" As I menacingly grab the skin hanging over my jeans as a visual exclamation point.

Like I said before, what matters to me the most is how my jeans fit. And how I feel. So no, I will not be weighing myself and nor do I plan to.  Well, maybe when I'm done, but only if I'm feeling really brave.  I think sometimes the numbers on the scale can play head games and besides,  I've seen enough episodes of the biggest loser to know the scale is rarely on anyone's side.  If you're down a few pounds then you're all, "oooh, I think I'll have a bigger portion- I deserve it." And if you're up a few you're like: "Forget this stupid plan, its not working anyways, I'm going to McDonalds so I can super-size myself with purpose!" No. I am in this for 28 days, come hell or high water.

So yeah, for me, its all about the jeans... and getting through this day, which was pretty basic.  Had my cup of coffee, did my work out, had leftover Harvest Lentil Soup for lunch. Had a Sausage Spaghetti Squash bake (from one of my favorite bloggers Juli at PaleOMG.com) and now I'm putting myself to bed. Thank goodness for tomorrows and fresh starts.

xoxoxxoxoxo

P.S. : Here's a link to my dinner:
Sausage Spaghetti Squash Bake

It was really good. And her blog is really funny.

P.P.S. Do you think Sadie EVER feels this way??