Our crazy "diet" journey!

So pretty much since I got married and have been cooking for 3 people every evening, the attention I pay to what we eat has greatly increased. Before we got married and moved in together, I was living with my old roommate Victoria, and working nearly 40 hours a week. My diet pretty much consisted of whatever I could afford, what was low in calorie, and quick/easy. Sure, my figure slimmed down, but my overall health was compromised, and I felt gross 90% of the time.

The first couple months after I got married, I just wanted things to taste good (to impress Joe :), and I still wasn't necessarily paying attention to WHAT I was cooking (the hidden ingredients). I started freaking out when I started puffing out a bit more than I'm comfortable with! So I went into crack down mode and started trying a new diet every week. No sugar. No dairy. No meat. No carbs. I combined and flip flopped different diets around and nothing every worked for me.

Now, I don't want to get too mushy, but I have to brag about Joe for a minute. He has been super supportive in every way on my health food journey. I know he truly just wants me to find that place of contentment with myself, rather than what I look like. Coincidentally, when I was visiting in Georgia, Joe's Mom pulled out Joe's allergy records for me to take home, and I was reminded that Joe has an allergy to wheat (among a lot of other stuff- poor guy). Joe has been struggling with some allergy problems for a while, and especially around this time of year, it gets hard for him. On his allergy records, his doctor wrote a note suggesting to take wheat out of Joe's diet for about 6 months. I knew that it was something we needed to try in order to help Joe feel better, and also a good way to just remove another processed thing from our diet (considering 99% of bread is very processed). While taking wheat out was a good idea, it seemed for a while that our pantry just got full of even MORE processed gluten-free foods. Cereals, brown rice breads, etc.

One day Joe and I were discussing the topic of cancer, and I told him that if I ever got diagnosed with cancer, I would go on a complete whole foods diet to attempt to purge all of the"junk" (I'm not the scientist of the family) from my system. Then Joe asked "Well, why would you wait until you HAVE cancer to do that?" Great question. A couple of days later I saw my friend Caitlyn post about a blog called 100 days of real food. I checked it out and it really resonated with my "health food journey", and I figured... why not give it a try? I've tried everything else! But this time, Joe was on board!! Being a skinny mini, Joe has never needed to diet, and while he's always supported me with mine, he's never wanted to participate. Thankfully, he is also very interested in going "non-processed", so that's where we are right now! No wheat, no processed. You'll need to check out the website for all of the in depth info, but basically we're only eating fruits, veggies, nuts, dairy, meat. Anything that has more than 3 ingredients we can't buy. So I have been having a BLAST making all these foods from scratch that I never knew I could make. Like... spaghetti sauce!! I was extra proud of that one.

We're still easing into it. We still have some foods that are not "legal", but at this point, I've gone grocery shopping 3 times and only bought things we're allowed to have. I'm not going to say it's been easy. I caught Joe fishing through our coin jar the other day when he was about to leave for school, and I asked what he was doing. He said he was getting money to get M & M's at school, and I had to gently break it to him that it wasn't allowed (he took it well). He had to do the same with me when I had a craving for rice krispie treats (I didn't take it as well.) I guess all in all, it's GREAT that we have each other to lean on. He's helped keep me in check, and vice versa. I made a comment the other day about something not tasting very good, and Joe made a point that really stuck with me. He said, "It is a gift that we have food readily available at all times, and the fact that 99% of it tastes great, is an incredible LUXURY." And he's right. We are so blessed, and we owe it to ourselves to be responsible with our food and to treat our bodies well! I'm very enthusiastic about what we're doing, and have ambition for great success with it.

It's such a perfect day.

Strawberry Swing

Click the link above to watch Strawberry Swing- by Coldplay.
The music video alone is an amazing, stop-motion, chalk drawing.

My wonderful friend Emily got married on Saturday, and it made me super nostalgic about my own wedding. (Congrats again, Emily!!I love you!!)

Strawberry Swing is the song I walked down the aisle to, and every lyric in the song portrays exactly how I feel about life, Joe, and Saylor.

Here are the lyrics:

They were sitting, they were sitting in the strawberry swingAnd every moment was so preciousThey were sitting, they were talking in the strawberry swingAnd everybody was for fighting, wouldn't wanna waste a thing
Cold, cold water bring me 'roundNow my feet won't touch the groundCold, cold water what you say?It's such, it's such a perfect day, it's such a perfect day
I remember we were walking up to strawberry swingI can't wait 'til the morning, wouldn't wanna change a thingPeople moving all the time inside a perfectly straight lineDon't you wanna just curve away?It's such it's such a perfect day, it's such a perfect day
Ah, now the sky could be blue, I don't mindWithout you it's a waste of timeCould be blue, I don't mindWithout you it's a waste of time
The sky could be blue, could be grayWithout you I just slide awayThe sky could be blue, I don't mindWithout you it's a waste of time

Garden #2

So I have been keeping a compost in the back yard since the day we moved into our house. This means every day, for one year, we have not thrown away ANY egg shells, coffee grounds/filters, veggies or fruit that have gone bad, or any leftover veggies/fruit. It's become such a habit, Joe and I no longer think about it. When our Tupperware of scraps gets full, we take it out to the composter. Then yesterday Joe asks me, "So, when are you going to do something with that compost?" It had completely slipped my mind to actually USE the dirt we were making. So this morning, I grabbed some of our scrap wood, a shovel, and got to work! The first 2 photos above are of the new garden bed. I planted the extra seeds I had; some sweet corn, giant pumpkins, and zucchini. I keep thinking I SHOULD plant flowers, but I think vegetables are just as pretty, and they provide you with food... so they win. I'm so interested/nervous to see if it will work, considering under the compost and bark is that black, plastic spread to keep weeds from growing. If the veggies don't work I will just resort to planting flowers (since their root systems are usually more shallow). Or strawberries! 

In other news, things are fine and dandy. Luna is DYING to go on an adventure but she still has to be kept up for another week. Poor baby. We are finally getting some real summer weather! It's been in the mid 80's. Saylor keeps busy playing in the duck pond, making "soup", which is just dirt, water, grass clippings, and whatever toys she can find. 

Our crater lake trip didn't happen, unfortunately. With Luna's spay surgery, our twice annual car insurance payment, and the pet deposit, our bank account needs some recoup time. :) But we have been more than happy just sitting in the back yard, soaking up the sun, throwing the ball for Luna, and watching Saylor run around. 

Even though I may not be missing the 100 degree Georgia days, I am missing the folks that live there! Every day, I am shocked at how blessed our little family is, and thankful for our loving families on the other side of the country. They are awesome, and are on my mind a lot more than they probably realize! 

More next week... 

LOVE!!! 

Saylor Picassa

We had a fun little painting session today! Joe cut up one of his old shirts and we used them as canvases. Saylor quickly lost interest in painting the shirt when she discovered that she could paint herself instead. We're going to an early 4th of July party in a few hours, and Joe joked that he wanted to take her as she appears in the pictures above. 

I love Saturday's, because Joe is (usually) home all day long! He's such a hard worker, and that's a quality that made me fall in love with him, unfortunately it means he's in the lab 6-7 days a week. However, I feel fortunate that we are good at getting the most out of our family time. 

In other news, I woke up this morning, did my usual morning routine, which includes letting the ducks out of their coop. When I went to collect the (1) egg (because only 1 out of 2 ducks have started laying) I found NINE!!! I thought I must be still asleep! But lo and behold, I was not. The only conclusion that Joe and I have come to, is that Brown (the duck who had not yet started laying eggs) had been holding off starting to lay, due to the fact we have gotten a new dog, and she was too stressed to lay. I have no idea if that is even possible, but it's the only thing we can come up with. Crazy. 

Luna goes in on Monday to get her spay surgery :( She has really grown in our hearts the past 2 weeks. She's been the perfect addition to our little family. 

More to come next week! Love you guys <3 

Luna!

My, Joe's, and Luna's evenings have recently consisted of putting Saylor to bed, putting the ducks in the coop, and coming to our back yard to kick the soccer ball around. The sun is setting and provides an amazing light to our back yard fun. I've been slacking on picture taking recently and decided that last night warranted busting out the camera. 

Luna is almost 8 months old (her birthday is October 27th), she is a black lab, Australian Shepherd mix with a pinch of coon hound. She was originally named Yanna, but it wasn't rolling off the tongue very well, so we changed it to Luna. Naturally, she's already developing variations to her name, however... Such as, Loony, Loon Loon, and Mrs. Loon. She has a VERY friendly disposition, and has that fantastic 'dog smile'. She can also melt your heart with those sad coon hound eyes. 

She is doing a great job integrating into our little family. I can't lie, though. The first few days were VERY stressful. I feel fairly confident in my dog training abilities, however, and am already seeing a tremendous improvement in her listening to our commands. I imagine it will take a few months to get used to our new routine, and for her to really soak in all of the rules and boundaries of our family. 

She has been a great reason to get out and about. If I'm able to tack off all of my 'to-do's, there's never the excuse to sit down and relax! Haha. I'm off to the dog park. I would say the biggest challenge I'm facing thus far is actually with Saylor. At this point, I think she views Luna as a threat. Saylor now has to share attention (and sometimes toys, if Joe and I don't catch Luna chewing on it). But all in all, Joe and I both agree that it's a very beneficial thing for Saylor to learn that she has to share attention, especially since little brother's and sister's are in her semi distant future. 

We are planning on leaving for our crater lake trip in a few days, and are bringing Luna with us. I'll make sure to get lots of pictures and post about it. 

The bottom 2 pictures are of most of my garden (there's an artichoke and bell pepper plant to the right that is not in the picture). I have gourds, peas, broccoli, cauliflour, zucchini, giant pumpkins, corn, spinach, eggplant, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, artichoke, bell pepper, and bush beans planted. Some of those were just planted a few days ago and have not come up yet. I'm not sure what it is about gardening, but similar to parenting, it is a great feeling to nurture something and see it grow. 

Things around here are changing, but the changes are welcomed. I'm so thankful for everything we are blessed to have, and humbled by the things we can't! Haha. I just love my little (growing) family so much!!

My mantra...

I had the most wonderful conversation with my best friend, Kinsey, the other day. We talked for 2 hours, so a lot was discussed. She's a very 'with it' girl, so I always thoroughly enjoy hearing what she has to say about... well, anything. We came to the topic of our love lives, and she said something to me that really hit home. She was saying that naturally in relationships we develop expectations, and that seems harmless in most aspects, but it's really not okay. She said, love is just love, it doesn't expect anything, and when you don't get what you expect from your partner, you feel slighted or unfulfilled, but it's really your fault in the first place for having those expectations. And she is absolutely right.

My relationship with Joe is great, but after hearing those words from her, I really started to put them into play, and just over the past week, our connection has really strengthened. I realized I DID have expectations that even I was unaware of, because they had become so engraved and accepted in our relationship, and then when they weren't met, I became authoritative and almost demanding of them to BE met. Now that I'm seeing those expectations for what they are and I'm letting them go. And now that they are going away, I feel more fulfilled than ever! Who wants to do something for someone when they are demanding it? It's easier to deliver when a person has their guard down and doesn't have any strict guidelines to meet. Is this making sense?! Hahaha.

Okay, so this brings me to how I developed my mantra. The day Kinsey and I spoke about this, I became determined to break down my expectations. So, I drove to the OSU campus to pick Joe up and I almost feeling cocky about the information I had obtained. I was so enthusiastic to put it to use. Joe hops in the car, and we say hello to each other. And hilariously enough, one of the first things he says really grinds my gears (it was obviously so insignificant that I can't remember it) and I tried as hard as I could to talk myself out of getting annoyed but my feathers were so ruffled I couldn't comb them back down and THAT is when I realized I was allowing my emotions to control me, and not the other way around.

And so... I got home and wrote it down, the thing that is hanging on the wall in the kitchen where I do all of my "work". It says, "I will control my emotions and not allow them to control me. Acceptance, enthusiasm, or joyfulness are the ONLY three emotions I will strive for."

All these nervous breakdowns are serving their purpose :D I think sometimes we have to get a little torn down to rebuild ourselves to be stronger.

Self Confidence and Self Respect

I've started reading a parenting help book that both my Mom and Wrenn have raved about. It's called Your Child's Self Esteem. And only 40 pages in, I'm already seeing why they're nuts about it. Not only has it began to help me connect with Saylor, but it's helping me connect with myself as well. I think some people, including myself, get confused when it comes to the idea of self esteem or confidence. It really shouldn't be something you even think about. For example, when I know I'm about to meet someone new, I get sick to my stomach nervous. The more important the meeting is, the more gut wrenched I am. When I start feeling this way, I try to catch myself and talk myself into portraying myself as confident and nonchalant, even though inside I'm shriveling from nervousness and wary of anything that could be perceived as "awkward". This is a false confidence, and maybe even conceit. To achieve true confidence we need to feel worthwhile and loved. We can feel this way in an instant, we just have to allow ourselves to know that we are those things. Because you are.

This brings us to self respect. When I start to feel down on myself, and that "mean" Casey that lives in my head starts feeding me lies to warp my view of my true self, I ask myself, "If another person were here with me, saying the negative things to me that I am saying to myself, would I consider them a friend? Would I even ever hang out with them?" No. I wouldn't. Because it's a priority of mine to be around uplifting positive people, and I HAVE to remember... that priority applies to myself, also. Specifically, "mean" Casey.

When you feel worthwhile, you automatically start making better choices, better life decisions. I deserve to feel good in my body, so I'll run that mile I've been putting off today. I am worth it to not be around negativity, I will stand up for myself the next time someone (even if that someone is me) puts me down. We all deserve to be treated with love, respect, and care. Please remember this. Please remind yourself of this daily.