Wonderful Whirlwind of a Week!

The past week/weekend has flown by with such gusto that I only managed to document very small segments. But I wanted to share what I did capture.

My life is so full and I am so blessed. I really, truly am. Although I’ve been struggling with some issues lately (see latest blog posts) I am still constantly overwhelmed with how awesome life is. And how beautiful it is!

Last Sunday, I enjoyed a fun, relaxing, and easy day with my bestie, Lydia. We wandered around Lemuria for hours and enjoyed lunch at Broad Street. Isn’t she just lovely?

Wednesday of last week my sweet mother came up to spend some quality time with me and help me get my home ready for an Aloette Party! My dear friend, Leslie, is selling Aloette and I promised her when I moved I would host a party so she could come and tell us all about her wonderful product!

My mom and I attempted to hang pictures in my house, but the walls MUST be made of concrete. We couldn’t get a nail to stay in the wall to save our lives! We even bought nails that were supposed to go through concrete, but that didn’t even work. We only managed to get these two Klimt pieces up framing the door-way to my kitchen….and the rest we will leave up to a drill and my dad!

mom, hard at work!

We made a stop at Everyday Gardener in Fondren and bought some lovely flowers to adorn the house. Most all the time I have fresh flowers in my presence. I believe I can never have too many. I’ve been buying flowers for myself since I was about 16. Fresh flowers are the way to this girls heart!

We also stopped at Campbell’s Bakery and although there were only 4 Cannoli’s left, we managed to find other pastries that were equally as yummy!

The party went on without a hitch and I enjoyed visiting with friends. I also got a whole new line of skin-care products of which I am about to try! And since I am a product junkie, I am very excited!

Friday began our full weekend of the Yoga Workshop with Desiree Rumbaugh. I literally cannot say enough about how amazing it was to study with Desiree. I learned new things, discovered muscles I had never used, laughed, almost cried, and just was overjoyed all at the same time. Our Kulu here in Jackson is amazing and I am just thrilled to be a part of it. None of this would be possible without our local yoga teachers!!! Scotta and Tara prepared us well. I think I’ll dedicate an entire post on Desiree and what I learned from the workshop, but I snapped only a few pictures that I’ll share from this bountiful weekend.

Friday night after our yoga session, a few of us ladies went for dinner at Local 463. Appropriate since Tara’s husband (Dave) owns it. Dinner was divine (as always) and our bellies were so happy when we left!

During lunch on Saturday, a group of us dined at Alladin and enjoyed sitting outside in the sun. It was a much needed break from backbends and foreword folds!

Saturday night after yoga, I managed to run home in time to shower before heading to a dinner party with my co-workers! I don’t know if you remember my post back in December, but we had a similar dinner party. The company was lovely and the food was to die for. Literally, Vasch’s sister, Yas, is the most amazing chef possibly EVER. She wined and dined us until I was falling asleep on her couch!

Sunday we wrapped up our final yoga session with Des. When I went to hug her good-bye, there were tears in my eyes. Nothing but warmth, love, and wisdom flow from her. Her parting remarks to me were, “keep on making those green smoothies, Jen!”.

“yes mam” I replied. Yes mam, indeed.

Who would have thought 2 years ago that I would have a consistent yoga practice, love green smoothies, and be in grad school??

Not me!

For those of you who made my week/weekend so marvelous, Thank You! I hope my gratitude for you shows in my actions but also, incase it doesn’t, I wanted to verbally acknowledge how amazing the people in my life are.

I'm winding down from this long whirlwind of a week by laying on my couch and watching Ratatouille and thinking about my long upcoming week.

May we all go forth into this next week with ease and grace and so much love!


As always,
yours,
Jen

struggle

I have to be honest with you guys—I have been struggling BIG TIME with something small, that has turned into something LARGE, since I’ve been sober—and that something is FOOD. Sugar in particular.

I know I posted this long post around the first of January about revamping my life and cutting out sugar—I even did the Master Cleanse for 14 days! And that was a good start. I dropped a few Christmas pounds, and felt a lot better. But the battle of the bulge (that extra 10 pounds that WILL not go away) is on and it seemingly has gotten so much worse just this year.

Don’t get me wrong, I know by no means that I am fat. I’m not. I’m a comfortable size 8 at the moment. But I have always been between sizes 4-6 all of my 20’s. and now, at the ripe age of 29, I just can’t seem to get back down to my ideal weight and size.

And I have to be honest—it’s killing me! It’s something that is pervading most all of my thoughts. It’s something I am constantly obsessing about.

I have ALWAYS been a relatively thin but healthy girl. Probably because I have always been active. ALWAYS. I ran my first marathon at age 18 and even in the past few months, I've run 5-6 miles daily AND I get in about 3-4 hour long yoga sessions a week. And most of the time I do eat really healthy and good. But I binge. I’ll eat healthy for 4-5 days and then eat junk food for the next 3. and then I wonder why my pants don’t fit. Hmmmm…….

It’s not just that my pants don’t fit, (although they don’t)  I’m having a hard time being kind to myself while my pants aren’t fitting. I’m basically basing my whole self worth on if my pants fit or not. And that is absurd. It’s insane. I’m telling myself horribly ugly things because of these extra 10 pounds.

I hate that I’m such an addict. I have this all or nothing mentality that is absolutely driving me crazy right now. Either I’m 100% healthy or I’m 100% unhealthy. No in-between. And since I cut out alcohol and tobacco, I’ve turned to food without even realizing it.

Now, don’t get me wrong---I LOVE food. I love to eat. I have always been a good eater. I remember people constantly remarking, “my, that girl can eat”. And it’s true—I can. And I love to eat. But lately it’s not just that I love to eat that’s getting me in trouble, it’s that I’m eating when I’m not hungry. I’m eating my emotions. I’m eating my feelings. and I’m completely addicted to sugar. It also doesn’t help that I know that my metabolism has slowed down due to my age.

I don’t know what to do. I feel like no matter how healthy I eat or how many miles I run that my pants are never going to fit again.

And that’s a lie, because eventually, they always do.

I know the answer to this is to stay consistent.

I’m talking to my friend about doing a food log and calling her at the end of everyday with what I’ve eaten—good ole accountability never hurt this gal;)

I need to practice affirmations and meditate more. My self worth is NOT based on how much I weigh. It’s based on who I am on the inside. And if I get my inside okay, my outside will be okay. I’m convinced of this.

I just thought I should be honest and let you know about this struggle. It’s frustrating. It’s difficult. It’s Life. And it’s not nearly the worst thing to be struggling with. Thank goodness this is my only problem today, right?!

I’m going to try and love myself exactly as I am. Because today may be all I have.

But boy oh boy—I can’t wait until those damn pants fit again.

One thing that may get me back on track with fitness and health is the weekend worship with Desiree Rumbaugh!! I am SO excited about getting to work with her this weekend. She is an international outstanding yoga instructor and we are HONORED that she is going to be in Jackson, MS this weekend!

So, if you don't have anything going on, hop over and join us! I'm hoping to have a lot of "ah ha" moments and get my head straight so I can get to work on resolving these body/mind issues that are going on.

If anyone has any encouragement or can relate, I'd love to hear about it!

Happy Weekend, Friends!

I hope that whatever you are struggling with, that you will know you are not alone.  Being human is hard. 

But even in great difficulty lies beauty. I'm just straining to see it;)

I hope that I always remember, no matter what I weigh.......that I AM good enough. and so are you!