Advocare 10 day cleanse

So last year, while scrolling on instagram, I discovered a product called Advocare. It was the summer and I was determined to loose weight, so I quickly jumped the gun and bought the 10 day cleanse........ for it to only sit in my cabinet for 6+ months.

Fast forward to January 2014. I signed up for my second half-marathon, the "Rock 'N Roll half-marathon" and decided like every other person to make a resolution to workout more and lose weight. I've been told that for every pound you lose, you knock 10 seconds off your running time. I decided that now would be a great time to try this cleanse that had been sitting in my cabinet for all these months because I knew I had to change my diet in order to lose weight. I read up on the cleanse and tried to grasp that while on the cleanse, you are supposed to "eat clean" (Disclaimer: When I originally bought it, for some reason, I thought you could just "eat healthier" and watch your calories, I didn't realize that there were strict rules to follow). If you are like me, "clean eating" is a very broad, generic phrase.....What exactly does it mean and what does it entail? So I read a few blogs and gathered that, pretty much, you are supposed to eat foods that are close to their natural state, such as fruits, veggies, meats (lean of course), etc. I soon realized that it eliminated pretty much everything that my current diet consisted of. I put my game face on and decided that I could do it for 10 days....... because anybody can do anything for 10 days right?
Also, while on Advocare, not only are you supposed to "eat clean" but you are to eliminate dairy products (milk and CHEESE),  sodas/coffee/anything with caffeine or aspartame (of course), fried foods,butter/margarine, etc. So I really read and researched, found some recipes that I could live with, made a grocery list and went shopping. I have NEVER bought so much fresh produce in my entire life. I came home and meal prepped for the entire first week.

For breakfast, I eat eggs, either scrambled or these Mexican egg muffins (a weight watcher recipe that I tweaked- just left off cheese).

For lunch, I eat a salad with grilled chicken and fat free Italian dressing or chili (lentils, which are approved, and ground turkey, which is also approved).

For dinner, I ate sweet potatoes, green beans, and chicken for the first several days. Super easy recipe - just cut your sweet potatoes up, get some boneless chicken tenderloins, and a can of green beans (Advocare frowns upon canned veggies, they are to be used as a last resort. Fresh or frozen are recommended, but oh well.). Add some fat free Italian dressing to the dish for flavor, cover with aluminum foil and cook at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. It was pretty delish.

For dinner, I have also made a stir fry with whatever veggies I have on hand and just add whole grain rice.

For snacks, I eat FRUIT, almonds or hard boiled eggs. I also have made smoothies (spinach, banana, frozen strawberries and frozen blueberries). Some days, I drink one in the morning on the way to work in place of my coffee. 

 

When I have wanted to eat out, my go-to has been Moe's. I read on a blog that their tortillas are whole grain, therefore, they are cleansed approved. It was depressing to eat a Joey Jr. without cheese or sour cream but I preserved. I have also gotten grilled nuggets from Chick-fil-a once.

To drink, I drink water, water and more water. Some days, I have been slack and have not consumed as much water as I needed to.

Now don't get my wrong, I have also had a few cheats here and there. But if I cheat, the next meal or snack, I just try to get back on track. I am proud to say the "cheats" have been minimal and for the most part, I have really stuck to this.
And also, a big disclaimer here, I know that Advocare wants you to eat every 3 hours and I have not always followed that rule. I know that my meals are also not as hard core as some others. But, I just did me and tried to incorporate as many fruits, veggies, and lean proteins as I possibly could.

Tomorrow, is my last day of the cleanse, so I plan to blog my results on Thursday!
Stay warm - Jen

Catching up.... BJ's graduation

So it's been a while since I've posted. I just returned from a lovely week at the beach (more on that later). I 'm here to share the pictures from BJ's, my cousin, graduation and party.

 

These were the DIY projects (I posted the details of the cupcake stand in my previous post). For the paint on the cupcake stand, I had to end up using the same paint I used for my porch. Spray paint and regular acrylic paint just wasn't cutting it.

For the frame, I used acrylic paint and then sandpaper to distress it.

 

 

These are the only pictures I have from the décor but you can see the cupcake stand worked perfectly.

 

 

These pictures were taken after his graduation.

 

 BJ and our grandparents

 

This picture was taken at the end of the night.

 

It was a great day and I was proud to see this fella graduate!

 

 



DIY Cupcake Stand

I have been wanting a nice cupcake stand for some time and because everyone should have a good cupcake stand on hand right!?! BUT I could never find one that was priced reasonably or one that I loved or one that held more than 12 cupcakes or, well you get the point right? I read a couple a blogs and saw different ways to "diy." So, I combined all the things/tips I read, browsed around Hobby Lobby and came up with this.

 

Supplies:

- 3 wooden circles (I used a 14" and 10" which were both from Hobby Lobby and the smallest one,  6.75" from Wal-Mart only because I could not find a smaller wooden circle at Hobby Lobby)

- 2 different sizes of wooden candle sticks (Again, I bought these in a bag from Hobby Lobby. Each bag had 6 candlesticks. I used all 6 of the rounder, fatter ones and just 2 of the skinnier, taller ones)

- Gorilla glue (or a wood glue that you prefer)

- Paint color of your choice

 

 

Instructions:

 

1. Glue the 4 rounder/fatter candlesticks on the bottom of your 14" circle. (I just kind of eyeballed it and used a ruler to make sure they lined up).

 



 

 

2. Let that dry. I'm impatient so I just waited like 3-5 minutes until it seemed stable. While waiting for it to dry, I glued a round, fat candlestick and a tall, skinny candlestick together (make 2 of these).

 

 

3. Find the center of the circle and put one of the two candlesticks from Step 2 in the middle (this was not as easy as it seemed - we measured and also eyeballed it).

 

 

4. Let that dry and then add your 10" wooden circle to the top of the candlestick.

 

 

 

 

5. Repeat Step 3 (add the second candlestick to the center)

 

6. Add your last wooden circle, the 6.75" circle,  to the top.

 

 



 Voila! You're done!

This entire project including spray paint was about $20!!!! Make sure you use the 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby for the 14" wooden circle or catch it when the wood products are on sale.

This took us about 20-30 minutes to make and probably would have been shorter but we were deciding on the right "look" for the tiers.

 

I haven't painted this yet because the Gorilla glue instructions said to let the glue dry for 24 hours.

 

Disclaimers:

- Along the way, I removed most of the excess glue; however, according to the instructions, you should be able to remove the excess glue once it has dried BUT I didn't want to chance it.

-I had help! (One person held the candlesticks in place, slightly raising it for the glue, once we decided where the "center" was, while the other placed the glue down. That was our technique).

 

 

I plan to use it Saturday for my cousin's graduation party. So come back for the "finished product" and to see how many cupcakes this stand will hold!

 

-jen

 

 













What I have been up to......

I have some OCD tendencies. I love to buy things to have on hand to craft for gifts and "orders" but sometimes I have "too much" on hand and I get into a purging mood where EVERYTHING MUST GO! Saturday happened to be that day. I had some extra tumblers (like 17) that were taking up space, keychains that I ordered in Febrary but had never really played with and other random items that I bought to vinyl. So here are some pictures of all those things projects I completed. It felt good to get rid of them give them a home.

   I did these onesies a while back.      Monogram wine glass for a friend

      

Keychains

 Monogram t-shirt. I also did a long sleeve gray one with coral print. OMG I loved it!

I made 16 of these. 7 for my cousin to give to her friends and 9 for the seniors at my school.

Bye-bye tumblers!

I also finally found the "anchor monogram" and made myself a cup. Not the best picture, the anchor is pink with a navy blue monogram but I LOVE IT!

That is a picture of most of the things I made. I still have some things left to purge like a random candy jar and some chevron mirrors.

Now, here is a "phone dump" (random daily pictures)

Ginger on a nightly walk

Stalking Ginger to see why she keeps begging to go outside.... Just to sunbathe I guess

Pens and pencils from Target $1 spot make me happy :)

Random trip to Benson to find an ice cream shop with homemade ice cream (over 100 flavors). Ben found this place on some random blog/article. Choices scare me, so I went with chocolate. Yeah I know, I am a loser! Ben got "German Chocolate Cake" which was oh-so delicious and definitely will be my choice next time.

More Ginger pics

Sneak peek of graduation party supplies (are you surprised that it's chevron?!?)

I know this was such an exciting blog post. I promise, summer is coming and maybe I can spice things up a bit.

Good read

With Memorial Day coming up, I think of the beach and laying out by the pool. And it just so happens that yesterday, I picked up the perfect, easy beach or pool read from the library (yes, I still check out books from the library!). So far, it's really good, the chapters are short and it's a breeze to read (I'm a fourth of the way into it). Check it out!

Porch Re-do

One weekend in April, I painted my porch. My house trim is all white but for some reason my porch was  painted a light khaki-ish color. The paint had started chipping so since I needed to repaint it, I decided to paint it white to match everything. My grandmother loves to paint so she graciously volunteered to help and for that I thank her!

Before

Before

During

Cute helper with paint on her nose

After (in the process of cleaning and removing tape)

I was so pleased with how it turned out!
Disclaimer - I will admit, I wanted to be lazy and hire someone to paint  it for me (I had even gotten an estimate for $200) BUT it was super easy and much more rewarding to DIY. I am glad my grandmother talked me out of hiring someone and graciously helping me! However, I do not keep things/messes contained well and the amount of paint I had on myself, clothes and in my hair was ridiculous; my grandma came out without a drop of paint on her?!?!

 Happy Monday!

Thoughts on Thursday

Sorry, the blog has taken a back seat. Just a lot going on right now.

I don't think I have ever really mentioned what I do, but I am a speech therapist or if you wanna get technical, a speech language pathologist. I work at a school full-time and work at 3 nursing homes to fill-in when their SLP's are slammed, need a vacation, etc. And the last 3 weeks has been crazy work-wise! Things are starting to calm down and school is winding down. I can't believe we just have 13 more days left. 

I am also in the middle of planning a small graduation party for my cousin, BJ, who is like my brother and helping plan a baby shower for a friend.

That's all that has really been going on my way. I do have things to share/catch-up on here.

Have a great Thursday!