Easter Funnies and Cuties!

Some Easter humor...
Happy Easter everyone!

I truly hope your day brings you nothing but happiness and good times with those you love the most!










And some for the sheer *Awwwwww* factor!!!

Bruce the Spruce

I got my free tree from Lowe's today!



It's a white spruce that will potentially grow upwards to 45 feet tall!
WoWie!



For now I shall put him in a pot and name him Bruce.
Bruce the Spruce!

Blessed Be...
♥cyn♥

HoLLa: Weight Loss Update

HeLLo aLL!

What a wonderful week I had in regards to my quest to regain and maintain a healthy lifestyle!

First of all – the weigh-in!
I am down another 2lbs. this week!
*w00ts*

That’s 9lbs gone total since joining the gym eight weeks ago. So I am currently averaging slightly over a lb. a week – but I did have two weeks in there that I TOTALLY slacked and regained a few lbs.
Either way…
YaY!

Once again I fully owe the great weigh-in to the gym (I made it five days this week!), tracking my food, and eating strictly vegetarian.
Tomorrow will make a week with NO meat and very limited dairy.
I feel amazing.
Maybe it’s all in my head?
But I swear not eating meat and limiting my dairy even for just six days has made an immense difference in how I feel overall.

I cannot say I miss the meat – at least not at this juncture. I may feel differently in a week, month, year – hopefully never!

I will say this much. I thought I would be really tested when going out to lunch this week, but it was easier than I imagined to make educated vegetarian choices. I ordered food that I would have most likely NEVER choosen and what an eye opener to know that all these years I have shorted myself on such amazingly delicious HEALTHY food!

One interesting thing is the reaction I have gotten about making the 30 Day Vegetarian Pledge.
Most is supportive; but I have had a few “I could NEVER give up meat” responses as well. And hey, I get that. It’s not a choice for everyone. But it is my choice and something I am becoming increasingly passionate about.

I am not trying to change the eating habits of the world (yet) – but I would like to prove the benefits and importance by showing it CAN be done. Even by an ex-smoking, fast food eating, rum drinking, non-exercising, *I will live forever no matter what I do to my body attitude* type like myself!

My longtime friend Angela even made a comment that all my *clean living* was pretty shocking.
Agreed!
Who would have ever thunk it?
But it’s time to grow up and become accountable!

If my life had a theme song it would be James Brown’s “I Feel Good”!

Other Updates:

Virtual Trans American Trail: 73.3 mi done -- 7.71 mi to Mechanicsville, VA.
Yep… still in VA!

Wedding: As I previously reported, we set the date for September 9th and despite the grandest of intentions – I have yet to pay the deposit on a venue. THIS WEEK FOR SURE!

Birthday: The 20th Anniversary of my 21st Birthday is this coming Thursday (the 28th) and I am taking some MUCH needed time out of work to just BE and celebrate being a year older and wiser! I will be spending the day with my family having a lovely picnic at one of my MOST favorite places (weather willing!!!) and having a lavish vegetarian dinner out with my hunny at a WONDERFUL Japanese restaurant! Some other fun stuff planned as well! And I have a day of beauty (boy do I need it) coming my way next Saturday as my birthday gift from Brian. Absolutely CANNOT wait for that!!!

Work: Meh… and let’s just leave it at that.

Life is good!

And there ya have it…
Happy Earth Day Ya’LL!

♥cyn♥

Happy Earth Day -- Free Tree Giveaway!

Don't forget to get your FREE tree from Lowe's!!!

The Best Day

I have been SUPER busy this week (month, year, lifetime)-- per usual.
(Will peak season at work EVER end?!?!?!)
But I did get to have TWO glorious, entire days (Monday & Tuesday) off to spend with my kiddos (Hunter and Peyton are on Spring Break this week).
I work every single weekend so I can't even think of the last time I got to spend any significant time with ALL of my babies.
Probably since before I went back to work in November.

They needed it...
I MOST definitely needed it!
And we did nothing super special.
*sigh*
It was the best day I have had in awhile...

I ♥ my family!

♥cyn♥

I'm a Weiner!

So this lovely package arrived yesterday…



It is the prize I won from the awesome giveaway courtesy of Aimee at Girl Talk.




I LOVE IT and cannot wait to give it a whirl when we go out for my Birthday next week!

Thanks again Aimee!

♥cyn♥

Committment

I am making a concious effort to write more in my blog…

I refuse to let *life* get in the way anymore.

No really – I MEAN IT THIS TIME!!!

So I made a commitment today. Something I have been considering for sometime now. I have decided to go vegetarian for 30 days – made the official pledge and everything! Found it via my research on PETA’s website – which is just amazing and full of great information on going vegan/vegetarian! (They have a facebook page too – OF COURSE!)

Of course my intent is to continue with this choice – but the 30 Day Pledge is a step in the right direction. And ultimately I hope to be 100% vegan! (BTW I am actually on Day 3 and going STRONG!!!!)

This is a choice I have been weighing for some time now, especially since becoming more spiritually aware on my path. I won’t get all ethical – I think more people than not are aware of what REALLY goes on in our meat industry and how HORRID animals are treated and abused. But I will say that being more informed has helped me in making this decision.

I am also choosing this lifestyle for health reasons. I want a quality life where I can enjoy my family and the things I love most in the world for as long as possible. The health benefits of a vegan lifestyle are staggering!

And I admit it… I am vain. I want a healthier AND thinner body that works at peak performance! Something I think I can attain by making this healthier choice. I want to ROCK my wedding dress and be better looking into my 40s than I was in my 30s. I mean duh… who doesn’t want to look better? Or at least be the best version of themselves that they can be?

Now I am not unrealistic. I do not think choosing to be vegan is the *golden ticket* to being thinner. But I do believe it makes it harder to be overweight and makes you VERY conscious of every morsel that enters your body.

I feel very content about my decision. I am not saying I won’t be tempted – hamburgers are generally a comfort food I rely on regularly. And I will most definitely miss sushi more than words can describe. But I think the pros of giving up such things FAR outweigh the cons!

Maybe I am crazy… But I swear just three days in and already I feel different – in a good/better way!

I shall update on my progress.

Wish me luck and ANY advice (tips, websites, recipes, blogs) from anyone is GREATLY appreciated!

Blessed Be…

♥cyn♥

Motivational Monday...

WoWie does this hit a chord with me lately...

Hippity-BLoG-HoPs

Spreading the love...

HoLLa: Weight Loss Update

Holla! So the last time I made a “HoLLa” post was March 27th (wowie, really?) and I was up 2 lbs (after being at a standstill for a couple of weeks with no loss/no gain) and slacking at the gym. Well, I continued to slack at the gym (a flu/sinus/cold thing that I allowed to manifest into exhaustion combined with SUPER DUPER long hours at work) up until four days ago. I am proud to say that I am working hard on balancing all the chaos and putting myself and my health in the front instead of squeezing it in when I can. I have been faithfully weighing in every Friday and last week I was down a ½ a lb. (YaY!) Today was another weigh-in and I am overjoyed to report that I lost 2.5 lbs. – so I am back to being ahead of the game with a total of 7 lbs. lost! *w00ts* I totally attribute it to the gym and tracking my food! Funny how that whole tracking your food and being accountable really DOES work! OTHER UPDATES: The Virtual Trans American Trail -- I have walked 54.7 mi and am 5.87 mi from Glendale, VA. Once again I ask – will I ever make it outta VA?!?! MY WEDDING: We set a date – September 9th! Yes, a Friday night, but I am diggin’ that fact. I have a locale and will be forking over the deposit one night this week. Impressive aye? WORK: Still crazy with this weekend being the cusp of our cutoff date to have portraits by Easter and next week being Spring Break. A week from now I will be toasting to another peak season survived!!! (Assuming I make it to then… *heh*) OTHER STUFF: I had an appointment with Dr. W (my ob/gyn) today to discuss birth control. I went in there with every intention of making arrangements to have my tubes tied. But hearing her discuss the details just made me feel weird and I began to seriously second guess my decision. To make a long story short – I am opting for an IUD. While I am 99.9999999999% sure that our family is complete – there is a HUGE difference in choosing to not have a baby and being unable to have a baby. And thus is my life… ♥cyn♥