Mission: I can do everything

I'm challenging myself for the next 30 days (and beyond) to get more out of each day.  First, part of this mission is about sticking to the mantra: more with less, this blog will be more like a to do/checklist with more substance and less sentence structure.  Plus, I love lists!!!  Since I have no, well maybe a very few readers, it will be very candid.  I need to get what I want into the universe so it can become reality. Think of it as a not so private diary.  So, here goes:

1. I want weigh less.  I am not so unhappy with my body, but now that I'm done breastfeeding, the pounds don't stay off as easy.  I want the scale to say "170" whatever that means I look like. It's just a better number than 178,9,80. This means commit to exercise and ease up sweets by cutting back to every other day (this is a challenge all by itself. Focus!)

2. I want to be able to find stuff in my house.  That means put stuff away immediately and keep out of toddler reach.  In the midst of hiring a prof organizer to give me some tips, but there are things I can do without a prof opinion. Do them now!

3. I need a daily theme song.  Making this work will require I feel like the queen of the universe.  Today it's Christmas music, specifically Sleigh Ride.  So what it's mid August?

4. In an effort to make use of the upcoming holiday weekend, I am going to find a paint project we can do as a family.  I need a reason to use my michael's coupons :-D

5. I am going to make lists daily for what needs to get done the next day.  Maybe some of the tasks carry over to the next day, sometimes they won't, but again, get them out of my head and into the universe.

6. I'm going to spend an hour at least three days a week to focus on my future career goals. Yesterday I decided to look into becoming an editor at some point (don't hold this blog against me).  I don't know what exactly that entails, or how to become truly qualified, but I know I love to read and revise stuff. 

Ok, that's a lot already. September 9, here I come.

Guiltless Chocolate - Wha?

So I'm one of those people who struggles with how much I lu-u-uve food but want to be thin enough to not totally offend people in a bikini.  I like to eat healthy, but I'm down to eat a whole pint of Ben and Jerry's on occasion. It's been a little over a year since I had my first child, and luckily I've lost the 65 pregnancy pounds I gained before little man's first birthday, I'm sure in part due to breastfeeding. As most of us know, harder than losing weight is keeping it off.  So after a long, relaxing vacation, where I ate whatever and gained 5 lbs in a week, I've recommitted to eating healthier for a while, during the work week at least. And I've found even when you eat more food, if it's healthy food, I can still maintain my weight pretty well.

Let me tell you about my current healthy food obsessions:

Chicken caesar wrap. Ingredients: 6 inch whole wheat low carb tortilla, weight watchers brand shredded cheddar cheese, craisins, tomatoes, spinach, low fat caesar dressing.  Realizing that healthy can go out the window if there's too much of some of these ingredients, but keeping it small, it is a delicious lunch. Everything is fresh, natural, easy to transport from home to work and easy to assemble at my desk. Yum!

Unsweetened Almond Milk with Chia Seeds.  I got this recipe from the Dr. Oz Show. It is delicious and a great quick drink for when I am running out the door in the morning.  Sweetened with a packet of stevia and a little vanilla extract, it's like a breakfast milkshake with more Omega 3 and other good stuff than you could ask for.

Dark chocolate with cayenne and hot peppers. Another idea supplied by the Dr. Oz Show. I have a major sweet tooth and often crave chocolate. This satisfies the craving, and because it leaves a savory, spicy tingle on your tongue, that cuts that feeling that you have to have more. A perfect little sweet treat that I don't have to feel guilty about. Guiltless chocolate - I've died and gone to heaven!

And she's back!

Well the last 6 months have been pure chaos. I just haven't felt like I can keep my head above water.  Full-time job, husband, baby, household, dance class (..I have to try to do something for only me).  We just got back from a fantastic west coast/Hawaii vacation, and I feel refreshed, renewed and ready to refocus on what's important.  A significant thing I found over the last few months is http://www.themiddlefingerproject.org/ and her Ebook The Definitive Guide to Getting Off Your Butt, Finding Some Focus, + Jump Starting Your Biz. Yes, I have a million ideas for things I want to do, business and otherwise, but this seriously was just a good manual for living life for me. I read it over and over, and while I am not putting it to actual use as quickly as I would like, I'm close. Three main points I took away from her book are 1. So what if you don't have a chunk of time to dedicate to the things that are most important/interesting to you? Do one small thing, for 5 minutes if that's all you've got, then do it again the next day, and the next, and and the next, and if you don't get to it one day, don't beat yourself up, get to it the next day. After a week, a month, 3 months, I'll have way more to show for myself than if I just keep telling myself I don't have time. 2. There is ALWAYS time for the things that are important to you.  I make time to read baby boy a story every night, and cut his grapes in half (very important), I make time to exercise at least once a week (good, but not as important) I make time to update my facebook status (totally unimportant), why can't I find an hour a week to further my business goals, get certain work tasks done, etc? 3. Wake up 2 hours earlier...I'm working on it.

Another resource I was introduced to was Michael Thomas Sunnarborg's 21 Days to Better Balance. Day 1: I am able to choose my thoughts and focus only on those thoughts that serve me. Boom Boom Pow! Could I be the one my own way? I read that back in February, wrote it on a post-it on my desk as a reminder, but I also haven't incorporated this in my life as much as I'd hoped. But I'm not beating myself up, today I am starting over. Again. Here we go. Back on a focused quest for more.

Liberation day! I have deactivated my Facebook account. There is nothing wrong with Facebook, I love Facebook, but it wastes entirely too much of the finite amount of time that I have in this life.  I had to ask myself, do I really care about what my hundreds of friends are doing at any given moment?  The answer was a hesitant, but resounding "no".  I do enjoy the funny videos and insightful articles that grace my news feed from time to time, but with the time I gain by not scrolling through the feed 15 times a day, I can find my own darn videos! I only deactivated it, I didn't delete it, so I can still pop on every now and then to look up an old friend, but other than that, I no longer exist and I am ok with that.  My husband and I recently had a conversation about what Barack Obama and Congress need to do to fix this pesky debt problem.  We asked ourselves, what would we do if we had too much debt and not enough money to pay it: find more income and cut expenditures.  I am going to apply this theory to my time as well, to start to relieve myself of that constant feeling that I am in the negative - more things to do than time to do it in.  I need to make find more time by more efficiently doing the things I have to do and eliminate the unnecessary that I can really live without.  There it is, more with less!

Introducing Maura Formey

Here I am, but here isn't good enough.  So I've decided that it's time to do more.  As Cyber Monday wraps, an event I have been looking forward to entirely too much, and tidying the house before bed, I'm listening to Brian Williams in the background chronicling out of work Americans and their struggle to make it until 12am on the first of the month so they can cash in food stamps.  I have been blessed beyond belief, financially and otherwise, and I often feel like I should have more to show for myself.  There are so many things I want to do in my life, and to achieve them I am going to have to do more, whatever that means, because I am not getting there fast enough in my current space.  So, in the face of Brian Williams's provocative journalism, yesterday's church sermon challenging me to "cross over" and do things in my life that promote peace of mind, and the constant reminder every time my 4 month old smiles that it is up to me to expose him to the most wonderful things life has to offer, it is time to do more. My first step is to do more, get more, have more with less - less money, less time, less effort.  And my journey begins...