Photo Slacker

When Isabella was a tiny little baby, I'd snap a bazillion pictures of her.  Every outfit needed to be documented.  I'd pose her with props.  We'd have photo sessions all day long.  But as she's gotten older, I've really started slacking with the pictures and with the keeping up with her baby book.

Poor kid is gonna wonder why when she turned two and half the pictures suddenly ceased and desisted.  I need to start taking more pictures and remembering to take my camera with me.  The last 2 birthday parties and 2 day trips I've forgotten my camera.  And you just can't trust people to tag you in pictures or to take good pictures of you kid, kwim?

So here are the most recent pics I have of us on a day trip to the Aquarium.

Making our alligator face

Petting the sting ray

Little surfer girl

Peace and Happiness and the Children

In January for my Happiness Project I'm focusing on Eternity, trying to hone in what I believe in and practice more of my beliefs.  I'm not a believer of true organized religion, while my beliefs are rooted in Catholicism, I'm becoming OK with the fact that I'm separating a bit from the beliefs of my childhood and focusing on more the spiritual side of religion.

However, the one practice that I've been really focusing on this month is praying.  It's amazing how peaceful praying can be.  In the morning, when I'm in the car and driving I pray.  I can instantly feel a sense of peace spread over me.  It's a wonderful feeling knowing that there is something out there bigger than I am.  It feels good to be grateful and it's comforting to ask for help in times of trouble, regardless of whether the prayer is answered or not.  I did hear a great quote once, "All prayers are answered, but sometimes the answer is 'no'."  This ritual has started my day on a happy and positive note and it really sets the tone to my day.

But now I'm thinking of bigger concerns.  I want Isabella to have something to believe in.  I want her to know about God and Jesus.  I want her to understand the concept of being a good person, not because some old man in the sky will sentence you to burn in a fiery inferno, but because that putting good out there attracts more good to you.  How do I provide that balance to her?  I don't really feel comfortable sending her to Catholic school or religious education because I don't agree with all of those teachings.  So how do I provide that sense of belonging and of being part of something bigger than her while still staying true to my own beliefs?  How do you handle the religious education of your kids, regardless of your beliefs?

Delta Labs Vitamin Review

I recently had the opportunity to review a Hair, Skin, and Nails supplement from Delta Labs.  Let me tell you a little bit about the product.  The vitamin that I took is a mix of silica, biotin, and rutin (blah blah blah science words) that helps to promote collagen and elasticity in skin, smoother, shinier hair, nail strength, and improved circulation for the quicker repair of skin cells.

Delta Labs is a company that was started by a mother of three who was unsatisfied with the quality of vitamins and supplements available for her and her family, so she created Delta Labs where busy moms could take some time to focus on their health and well being by taking natural, herbal vitamins and supplements.  How cool is that?

The verdict:  I've been using the vitamis for a little over a week now and I have to say that I definitely see a difference.  Most especially in my nails, they are much stronger, seem to be growing faster, and have more of a natural sheen.  The horsetail extract that is in the supplements is something that you'll find in a lot of shampoos that promote hair growth and strength, and I can see that my hair seems fuller.  It's weird because I was blowing out my hair the other day and I'm all like, "Wow my hair looks different" the only thing I've changed is the addition of the vitamin.

My theory is that we spend so much time working on our hair, skin, and nails by applying products to the outside: creams, polishes, goops, goo, shampoos, masks etc.  Why not offer a little inside assistance to help move things along?  Plus if you're not satisfied Delta Labs offers a 30-day money back guarantee.

You can shop the many vitamins at Delta Labs (they have a ton: detoxing ones, pre and post natal vitamins, weight loss, and more) by visiting www.shopdeltalabs.com

**I was given a free sample of the vitamin in order to provide a review of the product.  The opinions expressed in this post are my own**

The Hunger Games

If you want to know why there was no Happiness Project  post this week it's because I've been too busy wrapped up in the fate of Katniss and Panem to even have the time to focus on happiness.  I am obsessed with this trilogy.  Such a great read.  I'm really jazzed up to see the movie too and I'm really hoping they don't butcher it ::cough:: Twilight :: cough::.

I love books that absorb me in another world.  I love characters that are multi-dimensional, that I can relate to, that speak to me, that move me, that inspire me.  I love plots that are thick with twists and turns, that keep me up until 1 in the morning until my eyes are burning and aching for sleep.  Harry Potter did it.  Twilight did it.  A Song of Ice and Fire really really did it.  And The Hunger Games did it.

But there's often a sadness for me that comes at the end of a really great book, especially a series.  A sadness that that world has ended and can only be revisited in a way that is old and comfortable, not exciting.  I'm always a little bit sad at the end of a series because I become so wrapped up in it, so involved.

If any of my lovely readers know of another series I can get lost in please recommend something!

I checked out the casting of The Hunger Games and I thought some were spot on:  Woody Harelson for Haymitch and Elizabeth Banks for Effie, but there were some I wanted to recast:

For me there's only one true Peeta Mellark and that's Chord Overstreet from Glee.  He's the only one I pictured in my mind while reading.

Michelle Trachtenburg (I'm not even trying to spell that correctly) would have made a great Katniss I think.  The actress playing her now, looks really good too and Michelle might be a bit too on the "pretty" side.  But I think she could have been fantastic!

Taylor Lautner for Gale anyone?

Damned Scale

So I've been using My Fitness Pal as a way to journal what I eat in an attempt to lose the last 10 pounds that I've been gaining and losing for the past, oh I don't know, 2 years.  I like that it's free.  I like that it has a user interface that is similar to facebook.  I like that I can scan the barcode of food that I eat so I don't have to enter it all manually and I like that it lists out not only the calories, but the fat and protein and stuff.  I DO NOT like that I don't get the flexi points that I got when I was on Weight Watchers, but to save myself the $17 a month I'll deal.

Now I've lost about 4lbs so far, saaa-weeet!  But this past week I had a 1lb gain.  Now I know one pound isn't the end of the world, but it shouldn't have happened.  I really stayed within my caloric limit.  I didn't have my period nor was it impending.  I didn't work out as much, only twice instead of 3-4 times.  I don't know what the deal was this week.

I was so super jazzed up to get on the scale on Monday morning and see a loss, a reward for saying, "No beer for me" the night the Giants played or "I'm gonna pass on the chips" at a friends birthday party.  But I wasn't even granted a stagnant number...nope that son-of-a-bitching scale went up.

Was it discouraging?  A bit.  I really worked hard this week.  Will it break me?  Nah.  I don't know what the culprit was this week, but I'll look back over my food journal to see if I can pinpoint something.  And keep on keeping on.

Comments

Comments are like blogger crack.  I mean I'm sure even the big guy bloggers get that little twitch of excitement when they get a notification that someone took the time out of their busy life to respond to your words.  I mean there's no greater rush right?  Conversely, and I can only speak for myself, that when I write a post that I've put a lot of myself into or that asks a question or advice, goes by without a blip it makes me feel bad.

But honestly, you can only get what you put into the world and I've been a big time slacker responding to blog comments and leaving ones of my own.  So I'm making a point to comment more on blogs I love and on new blogs that I'm just discovering.  Also, I'm going to start responding back in the comment section here instead of e-mailing.  I find it to be more fluid.  So if you leave a comment I promise I will respond back in the comment section of this blog.

I've been a bit lazy when it comes to blogging lately.  I haven't participated in any meme's, I've been dormant on twitter, and I haven't been sitting down to really put time into it.  Therefore I have no one to blame but myself for my lowering stats (even though I swore I was going to give up obsessing over stats).  I do get blog envy for some of those big gun bloggers, but I'm trying to learn from them instead of just wishing a computer virus on them.

So now is the time to pipe up and comment, I promise I'll write back.  No more neglectful blogging here.

Toddler OCD

I'm only half kidding when I worry about Isabella having some form of OCD.  I get that toddlers are quirky and borderline psychopaths most of the time, but she's definitely on the extreme end of things.  The number one crazy thing that she does is vie to be first.  It's like if she's not first up the stairs, in the bathroom, in the car she completely flips her shit.  I used to just acquiesce her because it was easier than the resulting 15 minute scream fest that was sure to follow, but once it started oozing it's ugly way into play dates and parties and things I completely put the kaibash on it.  Because who wants to hang out with a screaming 2 year old who has to do everything first?  A few time outs and early departures seems to have helped a bit in this department.

But sadly that's not where the anal retentiveness ends.  She loves red.  It's her favorite color.  Every puzzle we have she will only play with the red pieces.  She has decided that my favorite color is purple and I'm only allowed to play with the purple puzzle pieces.

She has a side of the couch, a certain pillow that's hers, and a lot of rules about what food goes where and what it touches.

I swear I can't keep up with her neurosis!  I get that she's probably just maintaining control over what little she can, but man she sure does read like she has some sort of obsessive disorder.