Happy Halloween!!

I love Valentine's Day. 
I look forward to Thanksgiving Dinner every year. 
I anticipate Christmas as much as a child.

But I've never been a huge fan of Halloween.


Until I became a mom.

I LOVE dressing my children up in costumes. It's always a contest to find an even better disguise then the year before. I will forever remember the Prince as a 2 year old dressed up as a Deer. I also LOVE seeing my children's excited little faces run house to house and fill those bags up with goodies, as we make our way down the tree-lined streets of our neighborhood. 


We have a few traditions that I am proud we do every year.
* I love to watch the movie Hocus Pocus. This year I was surprised to realize how many other people love that movie too!

 
* We like to paint our pumpkins, rather than carve them. I don't know how the heck my friend did this to some pumpkins, but she is a much better "knife artist" than I will ever be!

I would have just tried the traditional jack-o-lantern face, but my results would not have been the same. I can't cut on a pumpkin to save my life.

So instead, the kids and I have been painting pumpkins the last couple of years. They went from "How much paint can we use up?" to  stripes of colors to actual scenes painted on. This year the Princess has little pumpkins sitting on green grass, under a dark blue sky, with yellow stars, and flying black bats. So fun to watch their paintings mature as they do each year.

 

* Side note, another of my sweet friends made this just days before her little pumpkin's arrival! Isn't it adorable?!
    



Another tradition we have is visiting our special people. We don't spend too much time out in the neighborhood, so that we still have plenty of time to visit the people we love. 




As an elementary school teacher, I also try to make the day as fun and memorable as my teachers always did. This may or may not include some spooky music, Halloween dance moves, and a little light flickering! I want them to remember all these reading and math skills we work on, but I also want them to look back on these years and remember how much fun it was being a kid excited on Halloween!

It blows my mind to think about how many people spend money on candy (even the "cheap" candy costs a ton!) for people they do not even know. It is the most gracious, and yet often unappreciated thing, I see. 
 
So as you trick or treat tomorrow night, be sure and thank the men and women helping to make your Halloween so memorable. And if you're one of those sweet people I'm talking about, enjoy the darling little trick-or-treaters that come see you. You are making a positive difference in their lives, even if it is just for one night.

 

   

This is My Kind of Day!

I love this time of year!! 

Enjoy this beautiful Sunday- cook up a pot of potato soup, wrap up in a blanket, watch a scary movie, and snack on some candy corn (with peanuts of course!).

Take a second or two and investigate my Nerium page if you're interested in changing your skin!  

When I Grow Up...

 Age 7:
I wanted to be a teacher.

Age 10:
I wanted to be a marine biologist.

Age 18:
I wanted to be a high school English teacher.


But in all those years of growing up, I never once thought about wrinkles.

Now that I am grown up, wrinkled should not define me.

So I use Nerium every day. To prevent anything bad from happening to me when I grow up!!

That's why this woman used Nerium too:

 this is her when she "grew up"

and this is her when she...ummmm....grew down??!

 Nobody wants to be a grown up right?!


Here's a few more funnies I found about getting older! Enjoy youngens!

Let me help you stay young forever! Sign up here to get your first month for only $80!

Plus, take advantage of the October special, and earn your Nerium Day Cream FREE for LIFE!!!

Superheroes All Around Us!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of my small town's Fall Festival. It, like in many other small towns, is something that E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E looks forward to all year long. The carnival rides are being set up as I speak, the medallion has been hidden, and the children are all very well aware of the upcoming fun.

Each year, the festival has a theme, and this year's is probably one of my favorites. It is the 82nd annual festival- and the theme is:

My household is very interested in superheroes of every kind, and recently The Prince has become quite busy with Comic Books. I love the idea of the "episode" number, and think that's a very clever add in!

Anyway, the point of all this is to remind us that heroes are seen every day.This comes from the festival's site:

"Every day we encounter people in our life who serve as heroes in one capacity or another. From the soldiers and members of our armed forces, to the local Police and Fire Departments, to the everyday friends and family who make an impact on our lives…we say thank you!"   

What a thoughtful way to incorporate the fun theme and a reminder that we are so blessed to live in this small town, who helps each other, encourages each other, and watches families grow together. 

I do think that it was no accident that I stumbled across this image for Nerium a few weeks ago, and I am so thankful I saved it!!

I swear, some things are just meant to be, aren't they?!

So, I'd like to encourage everyone to be somebody's Hero this week. Do something that would make me proud to have you follow my blog. Nerium sets up opportunities for Brand Partners to volunteer all the time, and that is one of the many reasons I LOVE THIS COMPANY!! 

  

But- to all my AC friends, Happy Arkalalah to you! May you be blessed with memories, full tummies, and a little cash leftover by Sunday! 

   

A Few of My Favorite Things

I've got new favorite foods.

Before my favs included:

mint chocolate chip ice cream. rolls. tortillas. chips and salsa. chicken alfredo. tacos. bbq pizza from caseys. 

Now- I am honest to goodness in love with sweet potatoes. Sprinkled with a little (ok more like a ton!) of brown sugar. I have at least one every day.


Another of my "new" favorite things to eat are eggs and avocados. I've always liked both, but now I have them all the time!

I am recognizing quickly what foods contain lots of calories (anything with lots of carbs will have lots of calories), and what I can substitute for myself so my family isn't affected by my new lifestyle choices.

Whole foods

I've noticed I am eating more things that are made naturally- not processed, not packaged. Every one of my new favorites come fresh, as I love that I know what I am putting into my body.

I used to have a negative attitude about whole foods- they were more expensive, gross, or just too sophisticated for me! I didn't want to be one of those "organic-only-over-the-top-health-food-nut job" (no offense, if that describes you). I wanted to eat regular people food!

I've got a whole new outlook on food.

I NEVER thought I'd have such an attitude change about food. But I have. And I love it.

I eat to fuel my body, and that's it.


PS- I do not want this blog to become a weight loss blog.
But I do want to inspire people to be the best they can be-

* weight loss

* skin care

*attitude

* family life

And if I can make even one person a little more happy and a little less stressed, then I've done my job for the day. =)

AND- I'd love to inspire you to take better care of your skin! Check out my Nerium Site here, and sign up today to become a Preferred Customer!! 

Blessings at the Right Time

Isn't it funny how some things come to you just when you need them? Just at the right time? And sometimes it comes without any warning, any conversation, or any idea that you need it.


Here's what I was blessed was this week. 

* Unexpected "help" from my sweet mama (she knows what I'm talking about!)

* This email from my dear friend, encouraging me, just as I needed, but without me asking for:

Psalm 119:50 "My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life."

2 Corinthians 4:16 "Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."

Psalm 145:14 "The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down."

I pray these words bless you today. I hope they come just at the right time, just when you think you can't do it anymore. Whatever it is you may be struggling with, I don't need to know- I just need to know that these words helped you, like they did me.

Aren't we so lucky to be here with people who love us? I just can't imagine doing anything without all these people who love me!     

Consciously Aware

Not going to bore you with details, but to say it simply, I'm now a "calorie counter."

I haven't been writing anything down. I just keep a mental list in my head of what I've eaten throughout the day. 

And every little calorie counts. 

So I'm careful not to drink my calories- talk about a waste! And I've consciously not snacked throughout the day. I eat 100 calories for breakfast, so I can save more for lunch and dinner. And those are the only times I eat.

 
And I'm getting frustrated.



I have been counting for 11 days now, and I have lost 0 pounds, but have lost many chances to eat delicious food. =(



I have been tempted to cheat.
Very tempted.
 
1. Stopped at McD's for pancakes for the sweet kiddos on their day off school on Friday. I did NOT order a single thing. Even the "Egg White McMuffin" (which still had 250 calories!)

 

2. I did NOT eat any chips and salsa while out to eat with friends last Friday night at my favorite Mexican restaurant. I did however order a shrimp salad. Which tasted fine. Not great. But good enough.

3. I was home alone after dropping off the Princess at a sleepover. Stopped at Sonic on the way home, and somehow, someway resisted the urge to order a sweet Vanilla Java Chiller. No one would have known. It could have been a secret. But instead, I order a peach water. (0 calories by the way!).

But it's really not easy to do this while seeing 0 results. And yes I know, these things take time. 

But the only time I see are the seconds between a good decision and a bad decision.



And I pray that I make more good ones than bad ones. 

A good support system helps. I've got great friends and family who at least act like they don't mind hearing how many calories something has in it. 

A good support system can be life changing- just like the support I have with my Nerium family! I am consciously aware of the decisions I make to promote my business, and the times I make a good decision, and the times I miss an opportunity. Just being aware of all that I do, and how anything I say (or don't say) could be the difference between one new Preferred Customer and a lost chance.

Keep supporting each other, and keep being on the look out for good decisions that you make EACH DAY!!