Back to the Gym

I need to be accountable, so I'm going to detail out my days.

Sunday evening I signed myself up for the gym to give me no excuses for not exercising. Monday morning I put on my workout clothes and went to work. At lunch time I took the 2 minute drive to the gym and began my workout. I was impressed with my 2.55 miles I did on the elliptical and that I didn't die doing so. Today I'll do my cardio on the elliptical and lift some weights.

What I ate yesterday...

Breakfast

Bowl of oatmeal with a whole banana cut up and cranberries

Lunch

2 clementines
ham sandwich on delightful bread
veggie chips

Snack
Pita chips

Dinner
green grapes and pineapple
homemade chicken puffs

My Break Up With Facebook

Facebook is a place for me to catch up with friends and see pictures of their growing families. Over the past year, it has turned into a political forum with individual agendas and intolerance. The comments that I started reading this morning, put me over the edge. I have broken up with and deactivated my Facebook account until after the election and removed it from my ipad and iphone.

So, during this time of my break up with Facebook, I hope to blog about what's going on in the Allen household and other fun happenings.

Utah and visit to the Herbalist

Utah was sooo much fun. I was able to see one of my best friend's Jenny and her 3 cute boys. It was nice to catch up with her and to meet her 2 youngest since I hadn't visited Utah for about 3 1/2 years. I loved taking drives in the mountains with Ben and talking about what our future will hold. I wish I would have been able to see more people, but that will have to wait until the next time I'm out there.

This past Thursday, I went to the herbalist. He ran several different tests. I found out that my body does not do well with cow's milk, beef, pork or peanuts. I have officially given up all of these things. He also said that McDonalds and Burger King put MSG in their burgers and fries, which is a kind of sugar and it's addicting and very bad for your body. I will be giving up fast food too. Things that my body likes are wheat, bananas, mushrooms, almonds/almond milk, chicken, fish, and sweet or red potatoes. I'm taking several drops 3x per day plus fish oil and acididopholous. I have really felt a difference in the last few days. I'm enjoying my new lifestyle and eating even healthier. Two weeks from now I'll be sending in a hair sample to be tested to see how I'm doing. The herbalist will evaluate them and call me to let me know how to proceed with taking the drops.

It was a wonderful experience and I'm so glad that I was able to go and learn more about what my body needs and how to help it function to its highest potential.

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime

Ben and I love to travel. We were fortunate to have an extended period of time off for 4th of July, so we hopped in the car and drove up to Chicago to see our families. It has been almost a year since we've both been back together.

We went and visited my parents for a few days and Ben worked his magic organizing, decorating, and moving furniture to make the house feel more comfortable. I wish I would have taken before and after pictures, because the end result was spectacular. My mom raves about it every time we talk to her. We also had the most amazing ribs on the BBQ from my brother. He's definitely the grill master of our family. On a different day we headed out to a little Mexican restaurant and had a delicious meal. Believe it or not, Texas has the worst Mexican. It's mainly Tex-Mex and they use chili as sauce and liquid smoke in their beans. Yuck!

After a couple of days, we headed up to my mother in law's new house. It has beautiful views and an in ground pool. There was of course, pictures to be hung and furniture to be moved into place, so we spent the first afternoon getting the house ready. If you haven't guessed by now, my husband is talented at arranging/decorating homes.

Speaking of homes, we have finally made a decision. We are renting our home in Indiana again and building a house in Highland Village, TX! After our last home building experience, I had vowed never to build again, but this time will be much different. Ben and I live in the same state and we have been able to customize things to be the way we'd like them to be. Yesterday, during lunch we met with Peggy (she is basically the liaison between us and the builder/architect). The architect had finished the elevation (Front of the house design), so we had to go and approve it. It will be a craftsman style home with Brick and lots of stone with a cool feature at the front entry way. The house will also have these beautiful cedar shutters. The plans are almost finished and they're working on getting the permits. Hopefully ground will be broken next month.

Saturday, we're headed out to pick out the interior finishings.  This is the fun part of the building process. The things we'll be picking out are the flooring, countertops, cabinets and paint colors. At a later date, we get to go to a lighting store to pick our our fixtures.

The house will be finished the end of January and we're happy to be embarking on this new adventure.

My Love of Summer

So, it's not the prettiest picture I've ever taken, but I just love the color of these peppers. This is part of our dinner for tonight. I cut these up, add whole mushrooms and marinate them with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, a tiny bit of salt, pepper, whole cloves of garlic. I also marinate chicken in the same sauce, different bag.  Right before I'm going to grill them I place all of the items on skewers. I love kabobs. These are one of Ben's favorites now. (I'll take a finished product picture tonight and post it later)

Ben and I have been through a lot in the past few years, especially dealing with fertility. I know I'm not the only one. This is not a pity party, but more of what I've been through, so one day when we are blessed with children conventional or non-conventional, they can know how much they were wanted before they were even a part of our earthly family. Several doctors and failed pregnancies later, we've decided to go a different route. I will say, this might not be for everyone, but this is something that is right for us.

A couple of weeks ago, I was so fortunate to go to a woman who works through touch to align your body and organs. Having been in a serious accident a little over a year ago, I didn't realize that it had affected my organs and bones as much as it had. Mel, or as I like to call her, "The Miracle Worker" first said to me, "you've had a back injury". She did not know anything about me, so I was surprised as she started to assess the different parts of my body and knew many things that even doctors couldn't see when I would go to them. Before I went to Mel, Ben would have to crack my back every day. Now it feels so much better and my chronic pain has subsided.

Ben's aunt and grandparents rely heavily on homeopathic medicine and I have used some in my own life. Aunt Ginger has sent us our drops to begin regulating our bodies in all aspects. Drops are better than pills for the fact that they go into the blood stream and work immediately. Plus, they are natural and work with the body. In a month in a half, Ben and I are taking a trip to Utah and I will be going for a 2 hour exam with a herbalist who has been very successful with fertility. I'm looking forward to having a specific plan for me and not just run of the mill doctors, who have not really looked at me as the patient needing help. Mainly telling me not to worry and it will be alright with no solution or recommendations.  So, before trying hormone treatment or IVF, we're going to see how naturally regulating our bodies works.   

The final Product taken with my phone.

Summer Lunch Idea

Down here in Texas we have a wonderful grocery store called Sprouts. Most of their food is locally grown. Other items, such as cheese, that might come from Wisconsin tells you where it was made. I love all of the fresh fruits and vegetables. The best part about it is that it's cheap!

It's getting hot down here in Texas, which means the last thing that I want to do is turn on the oven. I prefer the grill, crock pot, or food with no cooking necessary.

This lunch idea is something that I absolutely love and have been eating for most of my life. It starts off with a few Romaine lettuce leaves washed, and placed on a plate. Then I cut a tomato into eighths and place on top of the lettuce. For the tuna, I prefer the portion packed Albacore in water. It's easy and you don't have to open a can and drain :) Spread that on top of the tomato. Use a fork to fluff it up. Ground some fresh pepper and squeeze fresh lime juice over the entire plate. (If you don't like lime, lemon is just fine.) I put the other half of the lime that I didn't use into a plastic baggie and put back in the fridge. The other half that I used and have left over, I put in my glass of water.

If you have never tried tuna with no mayo, you are in for a treat. The lime juice perfectly flavors the tuna, and you loose a bit of the fishy smell and taste. If there is one thing that we could all do without in this world, it's mayo. There is really no benefits for using it.

Lifestyle Makeover

Over the past couple of months I have been going to therapy. I have finally confronted my issues head on.   It has helped me so much to deal/cope with things that I just couldn't get over on my own. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to find closure and move on. I'm back to the new and improved old self and graduated from therapy a couple of weeks ago. I highly recommend therapy to anyone, even if your issues aren't that big.

So, the first thing that I have done is put a dent in my weight. I have lost roughly 15 lbs in the last couple of months. I gave up carbonated beverages of any kind. It was very hard in the beginning, due to my addiction to the caffeine. As the weeks have gone on, I haven't even had a craving for that. I have replaced the habit with lots of water and on occasion a little bit of low calorie lemonade. The difference that I have felt is huge. I am not on the caffeine roller coaster anymore.

The next thing that I started doing is making over my breakfast. Working from home can be a challenge, because the kitchen is accessible. So, I have a rule that I only go in the kitchen for breakfast, lunch, dinner or to get a healthy snack, ie...a piece of fruit or vegetables.

Pictured above is what I made this week. It consists of oatmeal, apple, a small handful of dried cranberries and cinnamon. It is quick and easy. Below is the recipe.


Add to the bowl:

1 cup water
1/2 cup oats
1/2 of an Apple

Microwave for 3 minutes

Top with a little bit of cranberries and sprinkle on the cinnamon.

It tastes delicious and very filling.

Enjoy!

Pinterest

What did we do before Pinterest?   For me, I had several notebooks filled with list upon list, magazines with pages torn out, handwritten recipes and printed off internet pages.

Over the past couple of months, I've been able to compile the items for the remodel of our home, gather recipes for fantastic food and get ideas for out of the ordinary gifts. Last Saturday, I made my first purchase of a gift for 2 of my friends. I can't tell you what it is yet, but in a future post, I will have pictures. I'm so excited to give it to them!!! I feel that there is endless creativity being poured into one place that I can organize just how I like it. Pinterest has made my life so much easier.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

This is the only picture that I took while we were on vacation in Orange County. This was taken at Laguna Beach. We had so much fun celebrating our anniversary and Ben starting a new job. I took the entire week off and was able to workout, swim, go to the Irvine Museum, the beach, tour Ben's mission and just relax. It was so enjoyable. I can't wait for our next vacation....As for now, back to reality :(

A New Year, a New Day!

Happy 2012!   Wow 2011 was quite the year for us in the Allen household. As I a reflect on what transpired in 2011, it's quite over whelming and I can see how much we've grown. In March we moved thousands of miles away to the great state of Texas. I arrived on March 30th to a blazing 85 degrees. The next day I totalled my car returning home from the grocery store. What a welcome to Dallas. Ben was transferred here, but things went downhill fast, which left us wondering what we were going to do. We battled through one of the hottest summers on record and survived living in a 2 bedroom apartment for 6 months.

October came and we were wondering where we were going to live. Ben had been interviewing with several different companies around the US, but we felt like we should stay. While I was away on business, Ben found us a home to rent in Richardson, TX. We are thankful for a home with enough space for Ben and I to each have our own office and he doesn't have to use the living room anymore. After 7 interviews with Mimi's Cafe, Ben was offered the job as a Field Marketing Manager. He will be over the central states.  We could not be happier with this new opportunity.

A week from today, Ben and I will celebrate our 2nd Anniversary. On Saturday, we are headed out to L.A. and spending a few days, before Ben starts his training in Irvine, CA. I fortunately, have the entire week off and I'm looking forward to exploring the area while he's working.  I love Ben so much. He is my rock and my best friend. I look forward to many more years with the man I love.

OK, enough with the mushy stuff. I am excited for what 2012 will hold.  Even with all of the trials that have been thrown my way, I feel very blessed and excited for what is to come.