Lifestyle Change!

I'm really excited to share on how much my life has changed recently!

Several months ago, now, I started my journey on the 21 day fix from Beachbody.


I was so tired of hating how I looked, how I felt, and how tired I was. I needed a change. My friend/coach started the journey last year and I did a week trial, but my heart wasn't in it and I didn't want it bad enough. After seeing her transformation...I was jealous. I ended up trying those wrap things in hopes that would help me, but so I didn't have to change my habits. Well that was stupid. I know that company does say that results are much better with diet and exercise, but it comes across that they are an easy fix. I just swallowed that up and wasted money on it...all because I didn't want to do the hard work and put money into another program. It made no sense. However, after watching my friend, I finally wanted to do something and decided to put my all into changing my self. So it began...

Now around 3 months later I've lost like 7 lbs and around 10-15 inches... but it looks like so much more. I feel better. My energy is better... I'm still tired, but I'm also a mom of 3, so that's to be expected some. I'm still working on motivation in other areas, but slowly but surely I'm changing my self into what I want to be.

You'll see my pictures below and that's not even recent, but the difference says a lot. I'm so much happier too. I look at these pictures right now and its a great reminder of how far I've come and that I can keep going. I'm determined to get rid of my gut! The joy of non-scale victories is amazing! I mean when you can finally touch your toes... that's a great feeling or when you go down a pants size or shirt size... that's an awesome feeling! When you get heavier weights.... I mean its so great to conquer yourself. 

I love how this program has changed me and I absolutely just love this program! Autumn designed a perfect program and I'm so glad I started this journey. I even signed on as a coach. My mindset has changed completely. I want to be more active and I actually enjoy working out, not always, but I love what it does for me and how each day I can tell a difference in myself when I workout. I can reach further... I can run longer... Its exciting!

I also love how much healthier I want to eat... sure at times I crave bad things and may even eat it, but I'm not stuffing my face full of bad things for my body. I've become more healthy conscious. When I get food... I think how much sodium is in this? How much sugar? How many ingredients I can't pronounce? Does it have added sugar or salt?

I actually care now and that says a lot. Fries don't taste the same any more and healthier food options taste great! My taste buds have adjusted so much. I don't even drink cow's milk anymore! and I don't even eat sour cream anymore!! I mean that really says a lot!

It has also affected my family because I cook healthier most of the time for them. They don't eat exactly the way I do, but each time we're getting closer and closer and I'm learning more and more.

My life has changed drastically and I love it! I'm losing weight and inches and feeling better and better about my self.

I also drink Beachbody's Shakeology and love it... the difference in what it has done for my hair is amazing! After 3 kids and breastfeeding them, my hair was seriously wasted.... I mean I felt like I was going bald. It was depressing and I just hated everything about my self. Shakeology has helped cravings, but it gives lot of nutrients and those really helped thicken my hair back and made it much healthier. I actually like my hair again. Just yesterday... I was looking in the mirror and thought how much I liked my hair right now. I mean that hasn't happened in a long time!

Along with this program I started working out. Now lets be honest, I've never worked out. The last time I did any sort of activity was when I did cheerleading in 10th grade, so its been a while. :) I certainly never went to a gym to workout or did anything at home to workout, so that was a really big step for me! I was definitely scared of it, but I was also very determined.... for one thing to not give up, to lose weight, but to not WASTE my money! haha...

The workouts are tough, but anyone can do them! I'm currently still doing these workout... although right now I'm on the 3 day refresh, so I'll just be doing yoga for right now. I've also upped my weights after 2 months, so I'm quite excited about that. Its all about pushing yourself harder to lose weight, but to get fit! This has caused me to want to push to new workouts that are probably harder, but I want to keep going.

Honestly I can't believe how much this program has changed my thinking. They weren't kidding when they said its a lifestyle change. Literally a month ago I was thinking that I'll just stick to this program... I don't need or want to try harder ones, because I know I can do this, but now I want to try other ones and I want to conquer them! I mean... WOW! It has changed me so much! :)

What I've gotten most from this program is how much I honestly want to share this with others and help you become healthier and happier. I want to change your life!  Feel free to ask me about it, but I just really want to help you get healthier with food and fitness. I'm also looking at doing an event where you can try the program for your self. I think I'll also put together a free challenge group as well. So let me know if you're interested.

Thanks for taking the time to read my journey. I've changed so much and just realize that its a journey! It doesn't happen over night, but its a process of changing your self. You won't regret it!

Tiffany Girl

Finally... I have finished my book!

I pushed off my cleaning of the house, which is badly needed, and let the kids run wild, so that I could finish my delightful story. Boy, am I glad I did that.

Now I am hear to share this beautiful story with you.

I received the book, Tiffany Girl, by Deeanne Gist in the mail a week or so ago as a gift for a launch party to read and review. I was so very, VERY excited about this, because I fell in love with Deeanne's books many years ago. You see, I always look to see when her next book is coming out. I was quite excited to sign up for this opportunity and even more so to get to be a part of it. I read the book in 3 days, but if I had no distractions it would have been done in 1 day. Deeanne's books never disappoint and this one was filled with even more details and story!

Below is the summary of the book listed by Deeanne Gist:

As preparations for the 1893 World’s Fair set Chicago and the nation on fire, Louis Tiffany—heir to the exclusive Fifth Avenue jewelry empire—seizes the opportunity to unveil his state-of-the-art, stained glass, mosaic chapel, the likes of which the world has never seen.
But when Louis’s dream is threatened by a glassworkers’ strike months before the Fair opens, he turns to an unforeseen source for help: the female students at the Art Students League of New York. Eager for adventure, the young women pick up their skirts, move to boarding houses, take up steel cutters, and assume new identities as the “Tiffany Girls.”
Tiffany Girl is the heartwarming story of the impetuous Flossie Jayne, a beautiful, budding artist who is handpicked by Louis to help complete the Tiffany chapel. Though excited to live in a boarding house when most women stayed home, she quickly finds the world is less welcoming than anticipated. From a Casanova male, to an unconventional married couple, and a condescending singing master, she takes on a colorful cast of characters to transform the boarding house into a home while racing to complete the Tiffany chapel and make a name for herself in the art world.
As challenges mount, her ambitions become threatened from an unexpected quarter: her own heart. Who will claim victory? Her dreams or the captivating boarder next door?


I'm not one for giving spoilers, so I will be simple in my description. 

I fell in love slowly with Flossie and Reeve. I quite enjoyed the changes that they went through in the story and the things that they learned. I could quite relate to Flossie, being that I was so naive when I was in high school. I'm not entirely like Flossie, but I could relate to how she was thinking. Reeve's struggles were interesting to read about and at times pulled at my heartstrings. I could see why Flossie wanted to help him so badly. There were times when I wanted to yell at Flossie about something stupid she did or Reeve over some mistake he made. I adored Reeve's journey and progression and would love to have a Reeve all to myself, but I enjoyed the fact that Deeanne showed this journey for this man. Sometimes girls fall in love with a man and marry them and later on might not like them much, but its all about the journey. We change over time for good or for bad, but its the matter of realizing that change happens and asking yourself what you're going to do about it. It gives hope that people can change in their time for the better and to just show them love. There was another scene that about broke my heart and others that caused the hair on my arms to stand, but in a good way. ;) I quite enjoyed the love that came from this book. I hope that many girls will enjoy this beautiful romance. Many smiles formed on my lips as I continued the story and how I wish that I could continue on with it, but alas all stories (at least in book form) must come to an end. 

I loved learning about this history during that time period and try to imagine myself in that life. Trying to gain independence for women had to have been such a tough journey for many and I applaud those women for their efforts and success! Even though, I live the life of a stay at home mom, those women helped shape the future ideas of many men to where its common for women to work. Women are capable of doing many things these days and reading Tiffany Girl causes you to realize how fortunate women of today are.  

I also quite enjoyed learning about Tiffany glass and how it was made. I have to say that after being a part of this launch and reading this book I now want something that looks like Tiffany glass and I would love to visit somewhere that has the true Tiffany glass. Also I thought if you might like to look into Tiffany glass and Tiffany himself, then visit this link: Louis Comfort Tiffany

On another side note this book also caused me to want to paint and write again. So hopefully I can pursue those loves once again.

Along with that I really felt Flossie's struggles when it came to how she felt about herself and her talents. I know I struggle a lot with this feeling of that I'm not amazing or my talents aren't good enough to be published or loved by others. It was good to read about how Flossie dealt with it and it helped me realize that its okay to not be the best, but to just enjoy. 

I do hope you will check out Tiffany Girl. It is available to buy today, so I will post an Amazon link for you to go to. Amazon-Tiffany Girl 

You can also visit Deeanne's website. I'll link it to her book page. Check out her other books and the other fun features on her site. She also has a blog where you can learn more about her, her books, and her research. Please share her books with others and make sure you #TiffanyGirl Deeanne Gist website 

Thank you so much for joining me in this review and please go dive into the story yourself. It won't disappoint!


Now I guess I better go clean my house... I really deserve a wage for this.... :) 

Opportunity

I signed up to be a part of a book launch and figured that I missed out. A couple of nights ago I was checking my email and I saw that I got into the launch group. This means that I'll receive the book earlier than anyone else to read and review it! I'm so excited!

First of all, I absolutely love this author, Deeanne Gist, so I'm super excited to get to read her book.
Second of all, I get to read a book early!
Lastly, I'll be reviewing it on here and sharing it like crazy.

If you look to the right side of my blog you'll see a picture that says "Deeanne Gist Launch Team", click that picture and it will take you to her website to check out the book!

I will obviously post a review of the book, but I wanted to start out by saying how much I love this author. I began reading her books many years ago. I always look to see if a new one is coming out soon and make sure I put it on hold at the library. She's amazing and I highly recommend checking out her other books as well. I now own several of her books and can't wait to share them with my daughters one day. :)

So keep a look out for my review, but in the meantime check her out for yourself. Deeanne Gist

The Fears of Parents...

It has finally come...the day one of my daughters need to have a surgery. Part of me hoped I would never have to deal with it, but the other part of me never really thought about that day coming and so soon.

I had a slight scare when Kaelyn broke her arm... in that she could possibly get a surgery to fix it depending if pushing it back in place didn't work. Thank God it worked. Which brings up another scare of when your child breaks a bone. So I guess I have 2 scares on my list that I've now already encountered. Whew... this kid is working me.

I'll start with the arm. Kaelyn was playing on the couch and ended up falling on the tile floor. She told us she was being Superman, although I secretly knew she was being Spiderman, but kept getting it wrong. (They had just gotten some Spiderman toys from McD's, so I knew.) Anyways, she ended up breaking her arm in 2 different spots. The doctor (a phenomenal one at that) had to push it back in place. Now by this point Kaelyn was acting completely fine. She had broken it the night before and hadn't cried that much. She listened to everything the doctor said and then he just pushed it back in. Now I almost lost it then. I was fine and concerned about it all, but when I saw her face change after he pushed it... whew... that was hard. I had to hold it together for her sake, but I just can't imagine. I've never broken a bone. She was one tough cookie and wanted to play later that day... and the next.

Now onto the surgery.

Kaelyn goes to her 5 year check up and her awesome doctor, Dr. Kate, immediately notices her GIANT tonsils and realizes all these patterns Kaelyn have been portraying for some time, and it all makes sense now. I had no clue that tonsils could cause so many problems, so I never noticed.

We then visit the ENT doctor and immediately he says that she needs surgery, by just listening to her breathe. I'm perfectly fine at that point and in also knowing that this could honestly help her in many ways.

After it starts sinking in... I realize how much harder it is to watch your children have surgery and hearing that they need it.

In case you didn't know... I was born with a cleft lip and palate and I've had plenty of surgeries... I don't know the exact count, but I believe its around 12... I'm really not sure anymore. In any case, its a lot. My first surgery was at 3 months. I understand surgeries very well and I've always just dealt with them with an attitude that I would be fine and conquer them.

Yet now that I know my daughter needs a surgery... that's a whole lot scarier. I'm now getting a taste of how my mom felt.

I must say that I have so much respect for my mom and what she had to go through. She's an amazing mom and woman. She has always been my rock, my best friend, and the person to show me the right way. I can't imagine how she watched her child have surgeries... I know that she must have reassured herself that it would help me, but watching your baby cry because of surgery is heartbreaking. A tiny baby can't understand why they can't eat due to surgery or why they hurt due to surgery. I agonize over such a thought and I haven't even gone through that. So to all you moms and dads who must watch your children go through countless surgeries, my heart goes out to you, because I do understand to some level what you're going through.

I pray that I never find my self in the position of watching one of my children go through an illness or countless surgeries, but I know I have support and I know have God with me to push me on.

Back to Kaelyn... She did absolutely amazing with surgery. I told my husband and my mom that she must have inherited that from me. :) She truly was a trooper.

 I didn't cry at all during it. I think part of that is my instinct to not give in to tears in the midst of a scary situation. Such as... in the midst of surgeries I refused to cry most of the time, because it was pointless... it didn't help me, so I would suck it up and let the doctors do their job. I will say that I did develop a phobia of doctors when I was younger, though. When I had braces or when I go to the doctor and they have to do something that could hurt... I refuse to complain and allow them to do their job. I just breathe through it and trust God that I'm going to be ok.

I could see my self in Kaelyn. She just listened to the doctors and didn't get scared when they rolled her back. I even took a picture! and she was completely fine. When she woke up, she didn't even cry. She fussed for just a bit, but listened to everyone. By the end of the day, she was already talking and moving around a bit. The next day she was bouncing around. My girl is such a trooper and I couldn't be more proud. Thank you, Jesus, for instilling that in her, because if she had freaked out on me and was scared... I would have cried. She was amazing and on the mend.

She's doing great... a little upset that she can't eat certain foods, but she does well excepting the stuff she can eat. She upset that she has to miss school... big time. But overall, she's pretty much normal. Sore throat, but she just deals with it. :) I'm a proud mommy.

Horrible day!

Over the weekend I enjoyed a wonderful day with my girls at a local pumpkin patch! Took a lot of pictures and loved every bit of it with them. This was all on Saturday... and let me just say I had some gorgeous pictures of my girls. So onto Sunday...

I wake up and head to church and we talked about a break in that happened there, and spoke of forgiveness to that person. My mom and I and of course, the girls, go to Zaxby's and it was packed. A bigger booth opened up across from us and we decide to switch to it, in the time we made it over there it turns out someone decided to steal my phone. I realize within minutes that its gone and I start freaking out. Then it hits me that I didn't misplace it and the tears start to come. Now I could care less about my actual phone, but I do care about all those beautiful pictures of my girls that are now completely gone. I didn't have them backed up on anything, so they're just gone. I wish I had understood that better, but unfortunately I didn't.

The weird thing is that my phone was immediately shut off by whoever took it. So I was pretty depressed about it the whole day! I have to keep reminding myself that I have the real deal with me all the time, but who wouldn't be heartbroken over that? I was just so darn excited about those pictures.

So I changed all my passwords that day and then found an app Monday morning that can download if someone turns my phone on. This app can help locate it and do some other things, maybe even help me get my pics off of it. I just wish it would get turned on, so I could find out if it would work.

I know that my phone is most likely long gone, but I can't help but hope that it will come back to me someone. Maybe someone will have a change of heart and try and return it, or maybe this app will work and I can get my pics. I keep praying about it and visited pawn shops today. They said I could fill out a police report, but I'm not sure how much that will help, if most likely they'll find it with all the pics already gone...

I just wish I understood why someone would do this and what all this means. The person immediately shut it off and hasn't used it for anything and it stills goes to my voicemail. hmmmm...

I guess God just had to test me with my forgiveness... :)

I'm still sad and thinking in my head I wish I had done this or I wish I hadn't done that... Honestly I just have to constantly remind myself that its ok, my kids are ok, I'm ok, and life will go on. I do forgive the person and haven't put much thought in how I think about them... I just wish they'd give it back. So interesting weekend... still praying, though.

FROZEN Party!

Now is the time for my FROZEN post about the party! I loved planning and doing this party, so I wanted to share it with others for ideas.

My 2 older girls' birthdays are a little bit less than a month a part, so I have one party for them. I knew I wanted to do a FROZEN party, so as I started thinking on what I wanted to do... I thought watching the movie outside would be awesome!! I began the fun and started searching on what I wanted to get for the party. I will tell you what I did and try to provide a link for all of it. :) I hope you like my ideas and I can help you with your party planning.

First I needed to plan on what I was going to use for the movie. Now first I'll say that the pictures show the big screen, surround system, and a very nice projector for the movie. I didn't plan on having all that, but my step-dad stepped up the game for his granddaughters and borrowed all this stuff to make the movie amazing.

I bought this projector, Cheap projector, and it worked really well. It would definitely need to be dark to see it well, but the projector worked well enough for what I wanted. It wasn't excellent, but that's what I paid for; I wasn't planning on spending a crazy amount on a projector. I did actually set up the projector and played the movie and my kids would have been perfectly find with that. I used a white shower liner as the screen. I found a little speaker system to try and hook into it, so if you wanted to use this for a party, I would add louder speakers to it.

I wanted to have popcorn, but with an old style popping machine. I believe those are like $100 at Big Lots, but I borrowed mine from someone else. Honestly we didn't eat a lot of popcorn because my husband got pizza, so that would work as well.

For directions I used white Christmas lights. I put some in the trees at the playground, because I knew kids would most likely get up and play. We also had some snowflake lights, so I used those as well.

I went onto Amazon and got a clear snowflake tablecloth to put over a blue one. I bought FROZEN balloons on Amazon, so go and check out the different ones. You can also get balloons at Party City as well as the FROZEN scene to put on the wall.

Now onto the cake! My mom and I decided to make their cake this year because I saw a post on pinterest of a cake that I wanted. I decided that I would tackle this cake!

First with the flavor of the cake. We did chocolate and strawberry cakes. Now with the chocolate... it didn't turn out as well, so you'll have to search out your own recipe for it or use box cake. I found this recipe for the strawberry cake. This cake was amazing and we had no problems making it! I definitely recommend it.



For the icing and fondant recipe, we used this site, which we loved both of the recipes. For the Buttercream recipe, I ended up putting in a whole stick of crisco and it still tasted great, but I wonder if it caused it to be a little more yellow. I'll have to test that in the future. For the fondant recipe, I recommend that you add your gel for the color right after you melt the marshmallows, its much easier! Now fondant is hard work, so be prepared for some pain as you work it in.


I bought the rock candy off Amazon, but I did see some at Party City. For the white trees I got sugar cones and painted melted white chocolate on them. By the way, Delicious! We just used those white chocolate candies on the cake making aisle at Walmart. For the sprinkles, you'll have to check out different stores for what you want. I visited AC Moore, Walmart, and Hobby Lobby. You can get those ball candies at Walmart on the cake making aisle.

I used this winter cake kit, that I got at Walmart in the clearance aisle for $8. Maybe you could find it again. That link shows it at Target. If you go to Walmart to the cake making aisle, you can find other tips for icing. I used metal ones, which are supposed to do better. I'm sure you can find fondant snowflake pushers on Amazon or other stores, like AC Moore. I got the stairs off of Amazon. I bought the figure set on the Disney Store, it goes in and our of stock, but you can find a figure set at other stores or online.


As for food, my husband got pizza, but we also had snacks, such as stuff to 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"

As for the punch we used this punch recipe.

The party looked like this:

As for the invitations , click on that site and I downloaded them by using photobucket. I didn't have a program to edit the pictures, so I opened them in paint and edited them that way.

I think that's all we did and if you have any questions, feel free and ask! I hope you enjoy and get great ideas! Definitely go to pinterest and type in FROZEN to get more ideas!


THANKS!

My Girls absolutely loved the party, so I'm glad I did it! Hope you enjoy!

Another Go!

I've decided to give my blog another go! I just hope people will read it. Since I've started this blog I've reached the 5 year mark of being married to my wonderful husband! He also got a wonderful job that can better take care of our family! We now have 3 beautiful girls, 5, 3 (almost), and 7 months. My last post was about my second daughter being born, but now I have a third. I can't believe I have 3 girls now.
So recently I hosted my daughters birthday party. My oldest was born in September and the second was born in October, so we combined the birthday party! I always go overboard on how much I do and spend, so I might as well combine to cut costs. This year we did a FROZEN party! I plan on posting about my party to give ideas to others for their own. Last year we did My Little Pony, so I might post on that as well.

I want to share my mommy days with you all and share other things that I'm passionate about. I love to read, so I want to get involved in sharing books and hopefully get a blog going especially for that. I've also realized how creative I can be and that's inspired me to do this blog, but to maybe look into a different career for me. My mom and I made the girl's cake for their birthday and its was spectacular. Still have to work on recipes, but it really showed me how I need to find something to bring out my creative side more!

I hope you'll check out my posts in the future!

Bianca