Easter Egg Inspired Stamped Nail Art

Hello lovelies!  I love Easter, as a kid it was close to my favorite holiday of all time.  (Of course, Halloween, has always been my number one favorite holiday.)  So, I squeezed in a super quick simple Easter egg style nail art design.

I started of with three thin easy coats of Different Dimensions "They Should Make Pills for This."  I had to use this perfect pastel pink crelly with hot pink glitter, 1) because it was in my untried stash (a gift from my Trick or Treat Swap Girl back in October), and 2) it reminds me of those speckled
Easter egg candies.

I then used Mundo de Unas, Aqua and Pastel Blue stamping polish along with stamping plate JQ-L17 from Lady Queen, to stamp wavy lines.  Don't forget you can use code QJXS15 for 15% off at ladyqueen.com.

I did use a clear jelly stamper (also from my Trick or Treat Swap Girl) to stamp, first the aqua...

...then the pastel blue.  With the pastel blue wavy lines I aimed to line them up in between the aqua lines.  The alignment wasn't perfect, but considering this is the first time I've done this kind of double stamping, it's not half bad.

 I performed my usual cleanup with gentle acetone and a brush.  Then I applied my favorite glossy quick drying topcoat from Glisten and Glow "HK Girl."

Sadly, I was unable to get more pictures of this manicure.  I intended to take a few more pics after taking my hubby flying, but unfortunately, I jumped off the side of the plane wrong while doing the preflight and sprained my ankle, as well as breaking the nail on my midfinger and chipping the polish on several others.

Even though this won't be my actual Easter nails, I think they're perfect for Easter.  I may even consider redoing this design if I have time.  Thank you all for stopping by,  I hope you all have a Happy Easter!

Just Me,

   

Results from 21 Day Fix

Hello all!  I did it again! I pushed myself harder than I have in forever, and I completed a round of 21 Day Fix!  It wasn't as fun or as easy as Country Heat, and I did have some minor hiccups here and there but I pushed play everyday.  I never skipped a workout and I couldn't be prouder of myself for it.

Just like my previous results post, I am going to recap last week's goals, discuss my accomplishments and challenges, give my thoughts on the 21 Day Fix program, and than give you the results.  So, if you are impatient and just want to see how I did, go ahead and skip down the page.  I'll also let you know what program I started today.  That's right I jumped right into the next program this morning!  Seriously, why wait?!

Goal #1 - Double workouts!!!!

I crushed this!  I wanted to follow the week 3 option for double workouts all throughout the week (except the weekend, because I went to Super Saturday!) and I did it!  Everyday!  I really surprised myself, I had moments when I wanted to skip one workout or just skip a day all together because my muscles were so sore, but I pushed through and I hit play twice each day.

Goal #2 - Try a new recipe or type of food

Nutrition is always a struggle when it doesn't entertain my taste buds, so I wanted to push myself and try things I never have.  I love to eat but I really dislike cooking, but I tried some new things and to say the least, I have some new favorite recipes.  I made a crustless quiche that was the bomb!  I tried turkey sausage stuff zucchini boats, that the kids loved too (win, win)!  I even tried out some coconut baked shrimp, that weren't half bad.  All in all, I don't think trying new recipes will be such a challenge in the future.

Goal #3 - Better sleep schedule

I am not a morning person, so I struggled with this a great deal and didn't make too much of an improvement.  I did wake up early and get my workout out of the way first thing a couple of mornings but I didn't do it consistently.  This is something that I'll have to continue to work on.

This round's challenges were more mental than physical.  Being healthy doesn't just mean being strong, having a trim waist, or being able to run a mile in under 10 minutes (though I hope to be able to accomplish that one day).  It also means thinking healthy, and I don't just mean making healthy food choices or deciding to workout.  I have several mental stigmas that have hindered me in the past, that I have been fighting to overcome these past few weeks.

One of the things that I am terrible about is holding myself to unrealistically high standards.  I'm good in the sense that I don't compare myself to others, but holding myself to standards that I'm not able to (or at least not yet) meet, is not fair to myself.  Usually, when I don't meet these unattainable standards I become disappointed and discouraged and fall into old bad habits.

I have made it my mantra these last few weeks to celebrate all the victories, no matter how small and not dwell on the minor hiccups.  We all get hiccups, it's part of human nature.  Shifting my mindset, and trying to keep this positive outlook is helping me push forward, and I couldn't be happier with myself and life in general.

I also pushed myself to get outside my comfort zone and try to do the things I would consider hard.  Like, attempting to get up early and try strange recipes.  I even joined my sister, Michelle (aka my BeachBody coach) at Super Saturday.  I participated in a live workout with hundreds of other people, something I haven't been comfortable with in many years.  I had a blast, and was so inspired by the people I met there.  It was a fantastic experience!

From left to right: My cousin, Debbie (also a BeachBody Coach, myself, and my sister, Michelle.

   

All right, I'll be perfectly honest here, 21 Day Fix is not fun, but it is a real workout.  There wasn't a single workout that I didn't end up have muscle aches when it was done.  This made it a bit challenging to hit play, but the more I was feeling the burn, the more I was craving it.  Hence, the reason I decided to do double during the last week.

I would recommend this program for almost anybody.  If you've ever taken a PE class or gone to a gym workout, you can do these moves.  There is not a move breakdown like there is with Country Heat, but none of the moves are all that difficult.  Plus, each move is shown to you before you actually start your reps.  Each workout consists of a series of rounds, each round has 2-4 moves, the moves are typically repeated twice.  I highly recommend you concentrate on proper form, and following the modifier when necessary.  During the beginning I did almost all the moves modified and by the end I was only doing a small portion of them modified.

I also highly recommend following the suggested 21 Day Fix calendar because it is designed so that you don't burn out any particular muscle group.  There are also active recovery days to help you stretch out and get ready to move on, such as the Pilates Fix and Yoga Fix.  I hate yoga but by the end of the first week I realized I NEEDED it.  So, don't skip something just because you don't like it.

Though this was a really great workout, I'm not sure that I'll be revisiting it anytime soon.  There are so many other programs that I want to try, and I found out at Super Saturday a couple of new programs are coming out soon.  I love having the All-Access pass on Beachbody On Demand, so many programs to choose from.

  

Its that time!  I'm going to start off by saying I didn't feel like I had much physical progress this round.  However, after seeing some of my stats and my side by side pictures, I decided I was wrong.  Besides, it's all about the journey and celebrating all the victories no matter how small, right?!

I started 21 Day Fix on March 20th weighing in just under 140 lbs (139.9 lbs per my scale), this morning I weighed in at 138 lbs.  That is a 1.9 (almost 2 lbs) lost.  Initially, I was disappointed by this but than I decided to look at the bigger picture and the rest of the results.

I started tracking my body fat percent this round (thanks to my new scale).  I started off with a body fat % of 32.5% and I ended with a body fat % of 31.8%.  That for me is a massive improvement!  My BMI is still in the overweight range but I'm getting closer to my ideal BMI range and I'm so proud of myself.

Though the scale didn't seem like it showed much improvement, I feel my pictures and to some degree my measurements show the real progress.

Starting measurements on 3/20/2017

Right Arm 10 3/4"
Left Arm 10 7/8"
Chest 35 3/4"
Waist 34 3/4"
Hips 41 5/8"
Right Thigh 24 1/8"
Left Thigh 24 1/4"

Total 182 1/8"

Ending measurements on 4/10/2017

Right Arm 10 3/4
Left Arm 10 3/4"

Chest 34 1/4"

Waist 33 7/8"

Hips 41 1/2"

Right Thigh 23 3/4"

Left Thigh 23 7/8"

Total 178 3/4"

That's right!  I lost a total of 3 3/8"!  I haven't felt this good in a long time, I've accomplished so much so far and my hard work is really starting to pay off.  This is so encouraging that it makes me want to push harder, take myself to my limits, venture outside of my comfort zone and crush every goal in my path.  That is exactly what I plan on doing too! 

For my next program, I've gone ahead and jumped into Core de Force.  This is the program I really signed up for Beachbody on Demand for.  A couple of years ago, I went to the gym regularly just for a kick boxing class.  I LOVE kick boxing!

Image sourec: tbbcoach411.com

Why didn't I make this my first program, if I love kick boxing so much?  I didn't feel like I was physically ready yet.  I didn't want to start with something I loved and ruin it by not being able to complete the workouts.  I felt like if I started here, I probably wouldn't have made it very far and become very discouraged.  I am ready now though and after just one workout, I am so pumped I can't wait for tomorrow's.

There are three calendars to choose from, but I intend to start with the original calendar.  I'm doing this so that I can upgrade to the other calendars at a later time.  Whether or not that will be following this round I haven't decided.

Image soure: Beachbody on Demand

I feel my biggest challenge with this program will be nutrition.  It follows a similar amount of portion fix containers as Country Heat and 21 Day Fix, but on week 2 there is an increase in fruit and on week three an extra fruit and healthy fat.  As you all now fruit is a challenge for me, so I'm going to have to figure something out.  Though I did try a recipe for home made banana, peanut butter, chocolate ice cream that wasn't half bad this past week.

Another massive personal challenge for me is, Easter.  I love chocolate and it is so hard for me not to eat an entire basket all by myself.  I already know that I will be partaking in a Cadbury Cream Egg or two.  I just have to, because they are my all time favorite!  Besides, if you can't indulge once in awhile, what's the point.

I am going to skip my weekly goals this post, because it already is a long post.  Please check back next week to see how my first week of Core de Force went and whether or not I survived Easter.  Thank you so much for supporting me and joining me on this journey.  If you would like to share your weekly goals, accomplishments, and/or transformations with me, please do!  You can share on my Facebook page, a judgement free zone.  I'm already enjoying this next program, I can't wait to see how it ends!

Just Me,

Sweaty selfie, after my first Core de Force workout

Week 7 Recap and Evaluation

Hello all! Week 7 of my fitness journey was Week #2 of 21 Day Fix for me.  I started out the week great!  I did do my workouts everyday, but I had a minor hiccup at the end of the week.  I made the last minute decision to head up North to visit my family for the weekend.  Though this usually isn't a big deal, I changed things up suddenly for myself and I had a day that it seemed the whole world was against me.

Thursday afternoon was when I decided to go away for the weekend, I rushed through the day to try to get as many things done as possible so that I could workout and have a more casual Friday morning before hitting the road.  So, after staying up later than I should have, I woke up extra early on Friday to workout first thing.  Normally, I workout late morning or afternoon time when my kiddos are napping.  Of course, of all mornings, the Beachbody on Demand site was going through some behind the scene changes that was screwing up the whole system.  I spent over an hour, freaking out, texting, and asking for help from customer support as well as a Facebook support group, then it suddenly started working.  Just in time for the baby to wake up and soon after my daughter.  After getting the kids settled with some breakfast, I finally hit play.

I pushed myself 20 minutes into my workout, before I started feeling light headed and nausea.  I ended up stopping the workout all together.  Between being stressed out, under hydrated, and under fueled (I hadn't eaten breakfast), than pushing myself physical, I made myself sick.  This is the first time since I've started this journey that I have given up in the middle of a workout, and the first time I've felt sick like this in a long time.  Overall, I was very disappointed with myself and a little discouraged.  But after taking sometime to think about it, and discuss it with my Beachbody coach (aka my sister, Chelly), I decided not to beat myself up too hard.  Instead, I learned that I need to plan better, and when I'm not able to, I need to focus more on preparing myself and not pushing too hard.  I also need to be okay with something being out of my control and not punishing myself for things that are truly not my fault.  

Goal #1 - No modifications

I really wanted to push myself this week without overdoing it.  But based on what I experienced through the first week, I knew I wasn't ready for some of the upgraded workouts.  I decided to spend the week working on not modifying the moves in the standard workouts.  Other than my hiccup on Friday, I did better than I expected.  There was still some moves that I had to modify, but not as many as previously.  I also found that by the end of the week I was able to use heavier weights than I did during week 1.

Goal #2 - Eat More Fruit

Again, I did well with this during the beginning of the week.  I did well with my nutrition overall during the first half of the week, but once I headed North I kind of threw it all out the window.  I didn't eat balanced and I ate a few things that I probably shouldn't have.  I did get to try my first Shakeology shake though.  My sister made me a Cookies n' Cream shake, it was delicious and filling.  Though I haven't committed to supplementing my diet with Shakeology I am beginning to consider it...maybe.

Goal #3 - Hydration Still!!!!!

I still haven't figured out why this is a real problem for me, but I spent the week really focusing on hydration and pushing myself to drink even when I didn't want to.  I also had a water buddy, Vicki, help remind me and challenge me to drink more.  This was extremely helpful and I managed to drink more this week than I have in most weeks.  In fact, I drank 90 fl ozs. on Saturday!

Screenshot of FitBit app on my iPhone 7

Even though I experienced a minor set back this week, I'm very proud of myself for evaluating the situation and using it as a learning experience instead of a personal punching bag session.  Many times in my life I have been disappointed with myself or discouraged by a situation and let it get the better of me.  I'm done with making myself feel bad, and using it as an excuse to give up.  In fact, I'm more proud of that than anything else I've done since I've started this process.  I didn't make any weight or fat loss progress this week, most likely due to my poor nutrition over the weekend but I'm not going to let that stop me from being proud of my other positive developments.  I've got one week left and I'm going to push hard!

 

These are the things that I would like to focus on this week.

Goal #1 - Double workouts!!!!

What?!  That's right, I intend to do double workouts per the week 3 21 Day Fix calendar.  I actually already did both my workouts this morning and because they're only 30 minutes each, its not so time consuming.  However, it is physically exhausting.  I'm going to try to do this everyday during the week.  I won't be doing it over the weekend though because on Saturday I will be joining my sister for Super Saturday!  Super Saturday is a Beachbody seminar and live workout.  I am so excited and can't wait to go, I never thought I would be excited about going to a workout.

Calendar from Beachbodyondemand.com

Goal #2 - Try a new recipe or type of food

I would say besides hydration, nutrition is my number one problem.  I like to eat, and I get bored easily.  This week I want to change things up a bit, and try some things I haven't before.  Maybe a smoothie (not Shakeology) for lunch or maybe a quiche.  Beachbody on Demand actually has a cooking channel called Fixate and I think it's time I try it.  Not to mention, Pinterest has a billion ideas too.  Maybe, I can find a more interesting way to incorporate some fruit in my diet.

Screenshot of Fixate taken from my iPhone 7

Goal #3 - Better sleep schedule

All in all, I've been really bad about keeping myself on a reasonable schedule.  This may sound silly but even grown adults need rest too.  Especially, when we workout.  I have been going to bed really late (really for no reason) and than trying to get up early.  My ultimate goal is to try to do my workouts first thing, to help better organize my life and so that I don't have any excuses not to do them.  But first I want to work on going to bed at a reasonable time, and getting up at a consistent time in the morning.

I can't believe I'm already on my last week of 21 Day Fix, it is amazing how quickly three weeks goes by!  I'll be sharing results, and my next program pick with you next week.  I'll be rolling from 21 Day Fix right into my next program.  Come by next week to hear about Super Saturday, my next program, and to see my 21 Day Fix results.   Thank you all for sharing this journey with me, whether you are just cheering me on, or sweating right along side of me, I really appreciate your support.  See you next week.

Just Me,