Salad in a Jar

I could not eat as healthy as I do without this beautiful, wonderful, awesome "invention" called Salad in a Jar. Everyone with a job knows what a pain in the ass it can be to make sure you have health meals while at work especially if you typically end up having to pack both breakfast and lunch or both lunch and dinner. It's rough. One thing that has saved me a tremendous amount of time and a tremendous number of chinese take out orders is the Salad in a Jar. 

Here's what you do: 

Get yourself some big ole mason jars. They have them pretty much everywhere. I got mine on sale at Food Lion, but all of the grocery stores have them. 

The first layer is going to be the dressing. Always put the dressing in first. This way your lettuce doesn't get all soggy. 

Next add your protein. I usually grill up a pallet of chicken on Grocery Shopping day that I store for quick meals like salad in a jar, wraps, and quesadillas, so this is typically my protein. I have also done it with leftover steak, still delicious. 

After that, add your veggies. I do a couple of variations but I ALWAYS have Cherry Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Cucumbers. Sometimes I add red onion and yellow bell pepper to kick it up a notch. 

Last add your lettuce. I hate lettuce so I always use baby spinach. Then you screw on the top and store in the fridge. 

I usually make 4-5 salads at a time so I can just grab them out of the fridge and stick it in my lunch bag. Easy as that! 

So... Blogging?

I've tried blogging on and off for a while now. I have a difficult time committing to be honest with you, but I'm giving it a real college try this time (complete with blog planning, haha). I'd like to share my experiences with the world. I'm a full time mother. I have a full time job. I am trying to get healthy. I love to cook. My hubby and I are working on not being terrible with money and working on buying our own home and raising a two year old. There's so much to share, so why not blog? 

I have read, in other blogs, that the most effective way to start a blog, and then keep with it is to plan it out. Well... I try... but... I seem to have floods of ideas all at once, followed by dry spells. So I write them all down, and I start writing the post immediately. I may not publish it that day, but I've got a pretty good foundation going so that I can write a little more, tweak some formatting, and get that bitch posted. I usually tend to do this on my day off, and a binge write for a couple hours. This is fine by me because it's relaxing and gives me something productive to do all at the same time. Like today, I have started writing 6 posts, and I've got ideas for 3 or 4 more. So instead of planning what I write, I guess this week I will plan what I post. Haha. 

Here's the command center! 

This is where I do my planning, and some of my writing, and mostly just pile crap up until I have a major purge session to clean it all up and get it back to looking like this. Haha. I like to write on the go so the Blogger App on my iPad has been truly awesome. It still allows me to write down my ideas in Blogger, then I just log in on my computer to do the fine tuning and the editing and boom, ready to publish. GREAT idea. 

Also, here's the graphic on my desk, just in case anyone likes it! 

Planning in the Digital Age

When I was in college, my absolute favorite thing was a brand new paper planner. I couldn't wait to fill out, highlight, and mark up this planner. A day where the pages were full was a day where I was a happy girl. Well, bringing a planner around with my day to day has proven to be quite a hassle leading me to fill out a week or so work of stuff, and then just forget it. And then, let's face it, without homework or a booming social life, there's really not much to fill out. 

Que, digital planning. 

I use Planner Plus on my iPad because it automatically syncs up with my iPhone. This means that I have my planner on me (let's be honest) 24/7. I don't have to worry about carrying a purse everywhere I go so that I can have my paper planner. I use the Tasks feature to check off my workouts. I use the events feature to keep track of my work schedule and appointments. 

My personal favorite feature though is the Notes. You can add notes to a specific day which is how I do my meal planning and my blog planning. It also give me the opportunity to write journal entries or grocery lists as well. 

I recommend the application to anyone who is looking for an all in one digital planner solution. This is definitely the best I have found. 

Gettin Healthy

I have not started a diet. I've decided to change my life. This is not a new years resolution. This is a new way of life. I will get healthy and I will love it! 

 In April of 2014 I was the heaviest I had ever been in my life (even while pregnant). I decided that I wasn't ever going to be there again, so I started eating right, and I bought an activity tracker (more on that in future post), and I worked out once a day for 6 months, and I lost 20lbs. Then the dreaded triple infection (ear, sinus, and upper respiratory) hit followed by the holidays and I fell off the wagon a bit. Though I didn't gain any of the weight back, I certainly lost tone and muscle mass. 

Well here we are, back on track and ready to go. Despite the fact that I'm not thrilled with these photos, I'll give in and give you my day one. 

Now I'm not anticipating ever being a size two. It's not realistic and I've always had what they call "birthing hips" haha. I'm okay with that. I just want to be healthy. I want to eat well (aside from the few completely acceptable cheat meals) and I want to exercise. I want to make sure that my son knows what a healthy lifestyle looks like, so he can have one for his entire life. This is not about getting skinny this is about being able to run a mile without wanting to die, being able to climb the stairs 2 at a time without having to catch my breath, and being able to just be comfortable in my own skin.