30 day challenge

7.29.2012



Sorry everyone for dropping off the face of the earth lately! I have been busy finishing up a big order and haven't had a lot of time for blogging. Not that there really has been anything that exciting to share! Although I did make a killer loaf of (ALL) whole wheat bread that is getting eaten much too fast! You really must try it. I love the fact that you don't need white flour and it still looks and tastes amazing!

But anyway, on to the main topic of today's post... I haven't only dropped off the face of the earth, I've also slacked BIG TIME with my work-out routine. I still love Ballet Beautiful, but I think I need to switch things up every month or it gets super monotonous. Variation is the key, I really believe! At least for me! I've noticed a pattern in my life with exercise. I stick with something very diligently for 1 month and then stop. I stopped right before going on vacation with the intention of doing workouts throughout the week, but never did any of them! There are many things I think that are a drawback when we go home for vacation and there never seems to be enough time to set aside some exercise time. I know I need to change that, but I need to figure out a strategy. I'm not sure what that is yet! Anyway, so I had a lot of work to catch up on when coming home from vacation, so I decided to just get straight to work and not worry if I didn't exercise for a few days. Well, a few days turned into a full month of being rather dormant. Really annoying, because that pretty much has erased all the work I did the month before. So I am starting again. I think starting a goal or challenge for one month and sticking through it til the end would work better for me than a never ending stream of one workout video every other day or every day for however long. I still adore the whole Ballet Beautiful series, but I need new and different types of exercises to keep me motivated. 

That brings me to a little challenge that I've decided to do. Don't laugh too hard! I know some of you may scoff at me for doing this, especially since it's so far from the type of workout videos that I like. But it may be the kick in the pants that I need. Plus it's fun to make a challenge and see if I can stick with it until the end. But I'm not going to stop there. I'm going to try and make another challenge for the next month. I'll just pick a new workout DVD to challenge myself with and do the same thing as I'm going to do now. I think I need variety in my life otherwise I get bored and move on. 

So, are you ready for it? Starting tomorrow, I've decided to begin the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michael's. YES, that one! The one that everyone is doing. It's going to be hard, I know it, but that's the only way you build muscle. And strength is my main goal for this. I'm going to take before/after pictures and measurements and we'll see what happens. I'm not expecting a drastic change. I'm guessing I'll either stay the same weight or gain weight, but that's not my concern at all. And although I'm not "overweight" I really need to work my wimpy muscles really hard and I think this workout will be a good challenge for them. Anyone is welcome to join me if they like! I would love to help inspire others to start a workout routine! I know it's really hard for me to stick to things, which is why I decided to write it here. I will try to update now and then to keep accountable. Feel free to comment if you plan to do this with me! I'm planning to start tomorrow instead of the first of August, since I know there will be probably 5 days that I won't be working out (company coming) but hope to make it up by the end of the month. If you are interested, you can start anytime you like, of course! Also, another thing I like about the workout is that it's only 25 min (with 2 min extra for stretching etc - though I'll probably spend more time than that stretching) and that is a lot easier to work into my day. I think most people can spare a half hour of their day, so there shouldn't be any excuses! Plus it's easier to do it when you have an end date and a goal to work towards. What do you think? Am I crazy?


P.S. I talked about how I had a horrible flare of eczema a few posts ago and just recently I think I came across a bit of a "cure." I had been taking a zinc supplement for my acne and ran out while on vacation, so I stopped taking it. Well, my eczema got considerably worse by the end of the trip and was terribly itchy. I didn't think anything of it, but I ordered another bottle because my acne was getting worse too. I didn't put two and two together until researching it and someone said to take zinc. So I started taking a little more and what do you know? It's actually clearing up my terrible horrible eczema! Mine is behind my knees and it was awful. Itched so bad I couldn't bare not itching it. And if you've ever had eczema you know how itching it only makes it itch more and more. Anyway, I was battling this eczema since last winter (it started 2-3 years ago and went away last summer, but came back again in the winter) and in just a week it is healing up and not itchy anymore! So I highly recommend taking zinc supplement if you have bad eczema or acne. It might help! This may seem like a lot, but I take 30mg after every meal (so 90mg total). The kind I have also has copper in it, since zinc can deplete your copper. I plan to keep this up for 2 months and then take less zinc after that. Hopefully the eczema won't flare up again! Anyway, something I thought I would pass on! Sorry this is such a lengthy post! I just had my morning coffee, can you tell? :) 


{image from the movie "the women" via screwball cinema}

shabby apple giveaway! *this has ended*

7.14.2012



The lovely people over at Shabby Apple contacted me a few days ago to see if I would be interested in hosting a giveaway on my blog. Absolutely! I have hosted another giveaway for them in the past and this time they are offering a $50 gift card for anything in their shop. If you would like a chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment here with your email address, and your favorite item from Shabby Apple and you will be entered! Also feel free to check out their facebook page for news and updates. The contest will run through Saturday, July 21st. 


Please note, you must have a USA address to enter this contest. 


Good luck!!

And the winner is... Margo! Congratulations! I'll be emailing you with more information. Thanks again to everyone who entered the contest! 







P.S. For my readers, Shabby Apple has offered a 10% discount! Just use this discount code when ordering: wildflowers-pretty10off

the library

7.10.2012

library visit. library visit. library visit. I just love the library and for some reason we always go back to visit the one we went to when we were kids. Something about older libraries or the ones I grew up with that make me happy. (Actually, the one I went to more often since I was a little girl was ruined by the flood, unfortunately.) So we usually go visit our old hometown library at least once when we go home. Probably sounds corny, but we don't care! There's also a little bookstore in the library with old books. I found some pretty great books the last time we were there. Anyway, it was also nice to take a break from the hot outdoors (it was around 105 degrees fahrenheit!) and the car we were borrowing didn't have any air conditioning! So we took refuge in the library. I sat down in one of the rows of books to rest, looked up and it was the exact section with all of Mary Stewart's books! What a coincidence! I didn't have much time to read on our vacation so I didn't check out any of them. But it all worked out because my parents gave me my birthday gift that afternoon which included two of Mary Stewart's novels! I think between these two books and a few others I've been meaning to read, I think I'm set for the rest of the summer!

I hope you all are enjoying your summer so far. We are back from vacation, but I have several loads of laundry to do and a dirty little apartment to clean. And a whole ton of yards of fabric to cut and sew up! I think I'm set for the rest of the month. It's actually a good feeling to be busy, but I admit it's hard to think of work after coming home from vacation. Hopefully Jed and I will get a chance to run down to the lake a few times before this month has come and gone!

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greenfield, ia.

7.06.2012

greenfield, iowa greenfield, iowa greenfield, iowa greenfield, iowa greenfield, iowa greenfield, iowa greenfield, iowa Today we drove over to the little town of Greenfield to visit my grandma and Jed's grandpa (a town over). It was a lovely day! Grandma showed us the old opera house and all the remodeling they have been doing there. I remember going years ago when they first started and I can tell you it was a mess! So it was fun to see how far they have come. My mom grew up in this town and I have many fond memories of going to visit my grandparent's for a week with my sister and cousin every summer. I love that the movie theater in town only shows one film and I love to imagine when my mom was a girl buying ice cream cones for 5 cents. I've heard so many stories of my mom and her sisters and all the things they did there. It is a pretty quiet town today, but it was a hoppin' little town in those days. Small towns just aren't nearly the same as what they used to be. But it is fun to hold on to the memories.

 P.S. Not many people have seen this film, but Greenfield was the backdrop for the 1971 movie Cold Turkey starring Dick Van Dyke. You can see my mom in the high school marching band in a short clip from the film. And my mom said Dick Van Dyke was really the nicest guy. He sat around singing songs to the kids in the town like "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." My mom even got his autograph. She couldn't say the same nice things about Bob Newhart! Apparently he thought himself too big for a small town like Greenfield.