I'm Busy

I love this time of the year.  Not necessarily because of the holiday season, which I overall have mixed feelings about, but because the high school at which I teach is on a trimester schedule, which gives me almost the entire month of December off!  Vacations from work are great!  I think everybody should get them.  They give us the opportunity to relax, spend time with loved ones, but also cross items off of our personal agenda.  I particularly enjoy my December vacation because it gives me time to reflect on the past year.  So what has been going on the past year?  Since I haven't posted since the beginning of this year, I'll fill you in.

So, in my last blog, I mentioned some changes I have been working on with my family, as well as my intention to turn this into a research blog.  Although I had been doing the research on nutrition and color analysis, I have not been blogging about it.  I have a toddler and a full time job.  I'm busy.

Since my last post, I am completely back to my pre-pregnancy weight!   One of the things I love about December (and the other two breaks I get per year) is that I have what seems to be an infinite amount of time to meal plan.  I make my best eating decisions during these months.  Overall, I have made wishy-washy eating decisions, but I am more informed about what I'm putting into my body.  Next year, I hope to reserve Sundays for meal planning so that I can be more consistent about what goes into my body as well as my family's.

I have donated all my big clothes, as well as colors that don't look good on me.  I am not happy with my current wardrobe though.  I haven't had the time and money to spend on buying clothes and accessories that I enjoy wearing, however I do notice a difference in my color choices.  Even though I do not necessarily like my clothes, I do get more compliments than ever.  I do attribute that to the color analysis theory.  Through my wardrobe makeover (or is it a make under, considering I didn't really get new stuff, I just threw away a lot), I have developed an interest in home organization all around.

My newest obsession is purging and organization.  I hate the clutter my family and I have lived in, and I was the main culprit.  My great grandmother was a hoarder, and although I wouldn't necessarily categorize myself as such, I have exhibited tendencies throughout my life.  Do you remember my post, My Life is a Mess?  It was my first blog post.  I have come a long way since then, and it has required a lot of research.  Seriously, I read the blog A Bowl Full of Lemons in its entirety as well as two books by Donna Smallin called Cleaning: Plain and Simple and Organizing:  Plain and Simple.  It really helped me break some of my old habits.  Although my house isn't spotless--it never will be, it has come a long way.

I was inspired to create another blog called {The Intrinsic Value of} Downsizing.    However, I didn't actually add content.  I just set it up.  My intent with that blog, like this one, was to record my progress on a goal that was important to me.  Although I have been meeting these goals, I've been doing an awful job of actually recording its progress.  Again, I'm busy.

Overall, I have been doing well at being busy, however I have neglected one of my original passions:  writing.  I barely wrote this past year.  I always have ideas for essays, novels, songs, and plays, but never do I lift the pen (or laptop, after all, it is 2013!).  Maybe that should be my next area focus.  Let's see when my next post will be!

Long Time, No Blog

It's funny what happens when your baby becomes a toddler.  Life goes by way too quickly.  You don't have time to stop for a breath.  You certainly forget about the research blog you ambitiously took on.  Well, maybe not you.  But this certainly happened to me.  So here's what's going on with life as a working mother.

Although I haven't blogged my progress, my husband and I have made some very healthy lifestyle changes.  He works out 3-5 days a week.  I must admit, I probably work out about 1 day a week.  Does stair climbing with a toddler count?  If so, I'm good!  I have, however, completely made over our diets.  We're not on a diet.  We just do our best to make more nutritional choices to make every calorie count.  Yes, we still have cookies in the house and make dumb choices almost daily, but with those dumb choices come great choices and we have noticed a difference.

From these small changes, I now fit into many of my pre-pregnancy clothes.  Although it was tempting to burn all the over-sized garments I've worn over the past year and a half, I'm in the process of organizing my closet and donating old clothes.

As I have come face to face with my old wardrobe, I realized that even though I fit in some of the clothes, in many ways I've outgrown them.   Now, I have too many clothes, many of which I don't wear.  Historically, I have always been frivolous with fashion.  I loved making bold choices, was never shy about showing skin, and couldn't resist a good deal--even if it looked horrible on me.

Now that I'm a prestigious working mother {intended whimsical tone}, frivolous fashion choices seem a thing of the past.  I began researching what looks good on me.  Though my research, I've discovered the color theory.  The color theory matches women's most prominent features (hair, eye, and skin) to clothing and make up colors that work for and against them.  I'm still new to this area of research, but am in love with it.

That's what reminded me that I have a blog.  I am coming across so many good fashion blogs that help explain the color theory, I thought why not store my research in a blog?  And I saw this blog, which was left unattended many months ago.

So I decided to post.