Currently

Linking up with my girl Kristen for a little check in action. I am tired AF right now. We had some severe storms roll through here last night. Nothing like getting woken up by tornado sirens at 2:30am and being told to take cover in your safe space. Luckily, after looking at the map I realized it was heading right for our old house…and that we were just on the line of it where we are now. The thunder and lightening were insane and it was raining so hard so fast, I know there has to be some flooding in our yard right now. I will know more when the sun comes up. It is hard to go back to sleep after something like that, you know?

Zoe’s daycare is on a 2 hour delay this morning since they follow the school schedule, so I decided it was a great day to work from home! No sense in driving in that crap all the way down to my office when I can do everything right here. In my pajamas. With no shower or makeup. Can I get an amen?!

Reading – I just finished Doctor Dearest from RS Grey last night, it is available to purchase today!!! Such fun banter and a cute story if romantic comedy is your thing. I should also be wrapping up Third Grave Dead Ahead today and starting on Center of Gravity.

Watching – We are catching up with some of our shows since they have started back after the holiday break. We are also still binging New Amsterdam. Do you watch it??? It is so good!!!

Listening – I have been listening to so much good stuff while I work. I have started listening to Women n Wellness podcast, as well as Jillian Michaels podcast.

Did you know that chamomile is part of the ragweed family?????? I had no clue but it explains so much!!! That stuff is in everything from tea to lotions and potions to face products and everything in between. Thanking Jillian for that discovery. I used to use this all natural bath stuff on Zoe that had it in, and I could never figure out what was causing her skin flare ups. Now I know why that product wasn’t working for us.

Eating/Health – Today marks the one month mark of doing Intermittent Fasting and Keto. I have lost 14 pounds and gained perspective on how many carbs I was actually consuming before. Is Keto a sustainable lifestyle? No. It comes with some cons for sure, and I don’t plan to stay low carb forever. I don’t think carbs are the devil. I do think that they can trigger lots of cravings though. Let me tell you, before doing Keto, I had massive cravings. For sweet, snacks, savory things, salty things, all the things. I felt hungry all the time. Now that I have been doing IF and Keto, I realize I can go 16 hours without eating and I am totally fine. That I don’t in fact need a snack or something to eat every couple hours. And that I can survive without candy or crackers and be content.

We have been having a lot of black coffee, taco bowls, chicken, meat and cheese trays, asparagus, zucchini, celery, brussel sprouts, etc. When we go out to eat, we mostly order steak with salad and a steamed veggie. It is nice to still be able to enjoy a meal out on this plan. It is totally doable with some modifications.

The things I don’t like on IF and Keto include it messing up my period, still feeling bloated from time to time, and being limited on what I can eat. I feel like I am not getting a balanced diet, and that if I kept it up long term (which was never my intention) my vitamin deficiencies will come back. Also, my skin is dry AF. I have been taking collagen, but it is still really bad.

Researching – I am looking into carb cycling, counting macros, and focusing on whole foods for the long haul. Not sure which way I am going to swing at the moment. It is one of the reasons I have been listening to a lot of health and wellness podcasts lately. I want to live and enjoy my life, and not be obsessed about food all the time. Pretty much my entire adult life, I have been on one diet or another and always fall off the train and then go to extremes to come back. It is a cycle I want to stop for good. I wanted to drop some weight in the beginning to get my motivated, and then find my long term lifestyle to stick with. At the end of the day, eating less and moving more is the answer. No matter how you want to wrap it up. And I know that. And you know that. We all know that.

Working – Chris and I have been doing a lot of work around the house lately. We have been setting up the theater room, and Chris has added some arcade games to it over the last week!!! Cant wait to play those! I have been working on getting my office together, and organizing little areas. I still need to paint my office, and I would like to paint the dining room. I absolutely hate red walls. It doesn’t flow with the rest of our house either. We have nice calming, soothing colors everywhere but there. It has really started coming together and we have even got to enjoy the outdoors last weekend!

Excited – Zoe has a father/daughter Princess Ball this weekend!!! She doesn’t know about it yet, but I know when she finds out…she is going to be so excited!!! They get to dress up like princesses and have dinner and dancing and come home with a goodie bag. I will be curious to see which princess she chooses to be.

I hope that you all are having a great start to February!