run forrest run!

Okay folks so today I have to chat about the past 30 days of my life...well technically 31. 

January 1st, I began part one of my fifty-billion part new years resolution saga. 

Get my lazy butt in shape!

Well let me rephrase that; I've never really been lazy until after I got married, moved to Alaska and began hibernation (Aka. going on lots of dates with my husband, lounging around a lot, and eating horribly). 

Until that point I have always been a very, active person. I could tell you the whole story but its easier for you just to read about it here. 

So the great news I have to share is today marks 31 days of consistently hitting the gym 3 days a week, dancing in the studio 2 days a week, and home workouts! I am feeling great! I can honestly say this is by far the most active I have been in my whole life and probably the healthiest I have ever felt! 

So I want to share with you some of my secretes for staying motivated the past month. 

• Take before pictures and record your measurements: yep, my before pictures gave me a clear example of what I wanted to work on and my measurements have given me goals to work on. 

• Give yourself a reasonable timeline: lets be honest, most of us would love to drop 10 pounds, but there is a healthy way to do it and an unhealthy way. My personal timeline to reach my goals is 4 months. Be realistic with yourself and the current condition your body is in. 

• Give yourself some Pinspiration : haha yep, honestly I have found some of my best workout tools and inspiration through pinterest; and I am ALWAYS pinning new things. Feel free to follow my fitness board. 

• Don't give into gimmicks: I'm just keeping it real folks. My rule of thumb is... if it guarantees to do something for you or your body in X amount of days.. its a gimmick. Now note* that I do use many portions of plenty of home workout DVDs (P90X, Insanity, FlirtyGirl Fitness). If you are going to change your LIFEstyle... you change it for LIFE, not just for 30,60 or 90 days. 

• Run: I used to despise running. Back when I was a high school cheerleader, running was a punishment for us. Therefore I associated running with bad, bad things! But in the past 31 days I have learned to love to run! I feel happy once I get done with a good run, and stress free. Oh and I discovered the awesome program called Couch-to-5K. You can download it on your iPhone and it trains you for a 5K. Genius, simply genius. 

and Last but not least...

• My fitness pal! If you haven't heard of this app then look it up here.  It's a free calorie counter, diet & exercise journal. Log all your food, exercise, and track your progress in the palm of your hands. Any of you have My Fitness Pal? Add me as a friend: Leighanne53

So now you know my tips and tricks for the past 31 days! Can't wait to update you all on what the month of February brings me! If any of you are working toward a healthier lifestyle and would like to share your story with me... I'd love to hear (: 

Pringles? ...NOPE, Kale Chips!

So on my quest to eating healthier and eliminating (most) processed foods out of my diet, I have been having a few withdrawals of foods I really shouldn't be eating. 

This past weeks craving has been chips. 

Chips of all shapes and sizes: Pringles, Lays, Tortilla, Cheetos (is that a chip?)

Anyways, you get the idea. 

So a few weeks back my awesome sister in law introduced me to Kale Chips.

That's her ... we love each other I promise (; 

I was hesitant on the concept of Kale in the form of a crispy chip... but I tried it and Hey, it wasn't that bad at all! Actually it was just the saltiness and crispiness that I needed to suppress my chip craving. Now I'm not going to lie to you and say "These are JUST as good as eating Cool Ranch Doritos" .. because they aren't... nothing is actually. BUT they defiantly do the trick if you are trying to eat healthy and maintain a healthy lifestyle like me (: 

So here I share with you... Kale Chips. 

Ingredients:

1 bunch Kale

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Makes 6 servings     58 Calories Per Serving

Directions: 

1. Heat Oven to 350 Degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. DO not grease. 
3. Using a knife, remove the stems from the Kale and tare into bite size pieces
4. Rinse and dry the pieces of Kale .
5. Using a pastry brush, lightly cover each piece of Kale with Olive Oil.
6. Lay out kale on the cookie sheet and sprinkle with olive oil and salt. 
7. Place in oven for 10-15 minutes until the edges are brown .

$2.55 for this bundle-o-kale !

4 ingredients ... does it get any easier than that ?

Kale washed and removed of stems.

Arranged on the cookie sheet, covered with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic powder and salt.

Viola! Kale Chips (: 

Interested in the health benefits of Kale? Well here are a few I'll leave you with: 

• Kale is very rich in vitamin A. Just 100 g leaves provide 512% of RDA. Foods rich in this vitamin offer protection against lung and oral cavity cancers.

Kale is an excellent source of calcium, iron, vitamins A and C, and chlorophyll

• Kale eases lung congestion and is beneficial to the stomach, liver and immune system

• Kale will help lower LDL cholesterols (the bad cholesterol). Kale can even hold its own right along side some prescription cholesterol lowering medications.

Life Changing ...

Fist of all I have to say I need to get on a better schedule with my blogging. I end up staying up until all hours of the evening due to this new hobby! I love it so much, but I'm becoming a tad bit sleep deprived (: 

Anyways today after going on a crepe breakfast date with some of my best friends I swung by a store that I spend too much money in every time I can: Bare Escentules. 

If you don't know about Bare Escentules or Bare Minerals products then let me tell you, this stuff will change your life. I spent years tying to find a foundation that adequately does the things I want it to, which are :

1. Lightweight feeling
2. Matte look 
3. Natural looking color that matches my skin tone flawlessly. 

I tried nearly everything and spent way too much money trying all these foundations, until I came across Bare Minerals. I had a hard time coming to terms with spending $25 on loose powder which I wasn't sure would give me the coverage I wanted. But its been a God send. The matte foundation covers like a liquid without the icky feeling. I promise I will never use any other foundation. I should probably become a spokesperson with the amount of love I have for this company and their products. 

But this foundation is not what I wanted to talk about today... It's this: 

bareMinerals Ready SPF 15 Touch Up Veil. 

This stuff is exactly what I have been needing! I apply my foundation at about 5AM when I start my day, and at noon ish i'm starting to get a little oily in my T-Zone and I really dislike reapplying my foundation. A. because I don't like caring around a little dish of loose powder and B. because I don't like feeling like I'm just layering my makeup on throughout the day. 

But the touch up veil is perfect for touching up through out the day. Seriously I can go on and on about this stuff and how much easier it will make my day! It sounds silly but I take skincare pretty seriously and any new product that I can find that actually does what it is supposed to, gets an A+ in my book!

It is sold in translucent and tinted. 

Moral of the story: If you haven't tried bareMinerals-- you should. Don't let the loose powder turn you away, the matte products will cover every and anything. And as for the Touch Up Veil: any and everyone should give this stuff a shot! Uh-mazing. 

High Five for Friday

Woop woop... its my first Friday blog post! 

Linking up with Lauren, From My Grey Desk 

Here are my favorite things from this week -- 

1. Officially released my blog and Etsy site to the public. Pretty freaking excited about that!  

2. Started an awesome daily inner thigh pilates workout. Sike-- its actually the most painful thing I've done in a while, but the end results will be awesome! Originally found it here. 

3.  Hit the slopes for some midnight madness this past weekend. 

4. Developed a new love for all things in the color teal. Swooning over these two items.... 

5. Took this photo -- need I say more?

Hope you are all having a fantastic Friday! I'm off to Zumba class! 

365 Days to long locks-- Hair Arsenal

Truth: I envy each and every one of you with beautiful long locks of hair....

Okay so today I am going to give you all the 4-1-1 on my hair. God blessed me with a head of very, very curly hair, and until I reached junior high that is how I wore my hair. It was easy, I washed it and let it do its thing. But then as as i got older I realized my curly hair was cool-no-more and was more of a pain than anything. You must understand something about my hair.. my hair is not corse, not thick and not textured in any way -- my hair is thin, soft and fine aka white girl curly hair. So when I was around 12 years old I got a relaxer ... ummm bad idea. It fried my virgin hair and it was just a trainwreck. So thats when I discovered the life changing appliance-- the flat iron. Yep, I developed a bad habit of straightening my hair nearly every day, and reaped the consequences of split ends. 

However, about four years back I went to cosmetology school and took on a whole new perspective for my hair care routine and drastically cut my hair into an A symmetrical bob (as well as dying it plenty of fun colors and doing all the things cosmetology students do when they first start school). It was short people.. and has been until about 6 months ago when I decided I want long locks! With long hair I wont have to worry about looking like Shirley Temple when I get out of the pool... with long locks I can put my hair in a fun top knot ... or curl it without looking really awkward. 

So as of January 1st, 2012.. the following is included in my hair Arsenal: 

1. Biotin -- Okay so I don't take the super potency 5,000 mcg, but I do take the 1,00 mcg 4x a day. The biggest change I have noticed is in how much stronger my nails are. It does help hair growth too(:
2. NISIM F.A.S.T -- ever heard of this stuff? I hadn't until a few months ago. F.A.S.T stands for fortified amino scalp therapy. The gist of it, is if you use it every day, it works like vitiamns for your scalp and yields results up to 99% faster than normal hair growth. Is it a gimick ? Maybe.. but hey Im willing to try anything. I've been using it for 27 days now... every day. 
3. Redken -Extreme CAT-- After shampooing, I ring all the excess water out of my hair and spray this on the shaft to the ends of my hair and let it sit for 3-5 min. What does it do ? Well it reconstructs, reconditions, and strengthens your hair! This stuff is fantastic; it defiantly doesn't give you instant gratification but over time I have been noticing stronger locks. 
4. It's A 10 Miracle Leave In Product -- love love love this stuff. Post shower, I spray this all over my towel dried hair. It's called "It's a 10" because it does 10 miracle-like things: 1. Repairs dry damaged hair. 2. Adds shine. 3. Smoothes and controls frizz. 4. Seals and protects hair color. 5. Detangles. 6. Prevents split ends. 7. Stops hair breakage. 8. Creates silkiness. 9. Enhances natural body. 10. Flat iron spray and thermal protector.
5. Nexxus Pro Mend Leave-in Treatment -- Okay so this is pretty amazing. It literally binds your split ends together for beautiful healthy looking hair!
6. Redken Real Control Slim Supreme -- a few pumps of this in damp hair before blow drying make for fantastic results. Reduces excessive volume and adds sleek smoothness with all-day humidity resistance and luscious shine.
7. Chi 44 Iron Guard-- If I can give you one piece of advice it would be to protect, protect, protect. Always use a heat protectant on your hair before styling with heat tools. This is what I use. A few spritzes before I flat iron and I'm good to go !

It seems like a lot, but this has been working great for me so far. Along with constantly using the same products daily I have made an effort to only straighten my hair on the weekends and be a curly girl M-F. Yep its been an adjustment, but only using heat on my hair 2 days a week has been a life changer! I'm not sure if my hair will ever be 'long' but for now I'll keep you all updated with my monthly progress! 

Sending my love across the Ocean...

Okay so if you haven't heard, or caught on... my husband is currently deployed to Afghanistan. We are only a couple months into the deployment and I have already went a little "Care Package Crazy." Every single time I step into Target or Walmart my brain starts thinking of creative care package ideas I can send my husband. Of course, the first few packages I sent him were pretty generic: personal hygene, snacks, DVDs... an xbox (eye roll). But anyways, you get the picture. So recently I have taken on a new healthy lifestyle and a love for fitness (you can read more about that here) and sometimes I tend to brag about it to my husband, in a joking manner because we always have had a little friendly competition about who looks better. Is that weird? Anyways... my husband has been having a little difficulty finding motivation to go to the gym and he always says to me "Can you please share with me some of your motivation?" ... 

Well yes, yes I can...

Here I share with you "Motivation in a Box." For any of you wives or family members who have run out of care package idea... feel free to use this as a fun idea, and something out of the norm. 

 So here is the box. Adorned with pictures of a Carnival cruise ship, and Mexican Islands (We are going on our first cruise/belated honeymoon in the fall... thats pretty good motivation, right?)

Also a lovely picture of the affects that drinking pop has on your body... its not pretty people, so cut out the pop. 

Here are the contents, and a lovely note to my husband explaining each and every item... 

1. Mens Health Magazine 
2. 74.4 oz water bottle -- $3 at Walmart and holds exactly the amount of water you should be drinking daily
3. Muscle Milk 
4. Chromium Picolinate-- an essential nutrient that helps metabolize carbohydrates and lipids. Plays a key role in weight loss and cardiovascular health. 
5. Mens Pro Edge One a Day -- because everyone needs to take a daily vitamin 
6. Deodorant-- the note says "Incase you get stinky from all the working out you'll be doing (:" 
7. Stridex Acne Control Pads
8. Cliff Bars-- a healthy option over a candy bar 
9. Sheets Energy Strips-- if you need an extra boost of energy, use this NOT an energy drink
10. Mio drink mix-- perfect to add some flavor to your daily 74.4 oz of water
11. Propel Zero drink mix

This box was created totally out of fun, and as a way to send something different than the typical toiletries. 

I hope this gives you all some motivation to get creative with your care packages!

If anyone is interested in sending cards or care packages to the troops in Afghanistan then go to Operation Gratitude , and go explore all the ways YOU can help out. Many soldiers do not have families who send things regularly, so you could help make their day. Its they least we can do... right?

back in action

Phew! The last month has been a whirlwind of emotions and events...

Where to start? Well first of all I'd like to consider this my very first blog posting! I finally have created my facebook fan page, twitter account, and my ETSY shop is up and running! I have been prolonging really putting my blog 'out there' to the public until it was looking great, and the rest of my social media recourses were up and running! Let me tell you, I am so excited about all this. 

To those of you who are reading my blog for the first time, I'd like to share with you a little bit about myself. 

1. I'm from a small town in mid-west Ohio
2. My name is Leigh Anne, and pronounced 'Lee' 
3. I am married to my best friend 
4. He is currently serving our country in Afghanistan 
5. In August of 2011 my husband and I moved to Alaska
6. I am temporarily back in Ohio with family 
7. My dog Gizmo is so ugly he's cute 
8. I have a passion for crafting and design 
9. I'm a full time student
10. I plan on becoming a certified personal trainer very shortly
11. Coral and Teal are my favorite colors
12. I refere to Pinterest in nearly every other sentence. Example "Omg today on pinterest I ___"  or "Did you see what I pinned on Pinterest today?"
13. I am desperately trying to grow my hair long again... suggestions welcomed. 
14. I recently opened an Etsy shop
15. The Bachelor is my guilty pleasure, along with all other types of trash TV
16. I love skiing, I'm not fantastic at it but I'm getting there 
17. Friends call my car "The Grocery Getter" ... but does your car get 30 MPG on gas? (: 
18. I'm sticking to my new-years resolutions this year
19. I want a tattoo one day
20. And lastly, I center my life and everything I do around the following: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

I am truly excited about my future blogging and I can't wait to see what it has in store for me.