To Shower or Not to Shower

Planning on losing weight during the holidays is like an oxymoron.  I see treats everywhere and I think, "get in my belly!" So maybe my diet is not perfect yet... By not perfect I mean, I've already gained back the initial five pounds I lost the week before Christmas.  I did manage to work out this holiday season, however.  I did it all with an audience too...now that they're home for Christmas break,  my twelve year old niece and five year old son have had the privilege of watching me attempt this living room madness.  Who doesn't want to be watched doing a ti-bo electric slide move by extended family??? This girl! Let's just say I confiscated all video/ still cameras and electronics prior to them entering the facility. One day my five year old said, "mommy, you are really good at this!" and POOF! Cookies the Christmas elf managed to appear back on the shelf. It was crazy. He was all the way in the North Pole telling Santa abo...

Since I've only been writing this blog for a couple of months, I have not exactly been taking notes on awkward moments, but I thought I'd jot down this year's top twenty that I can remember off hand. Look out 2015...I'm taking notes this time! 2014- A Year of Awkward Moments The moment when your four year old sees someone with a facial deformity at Wal-Mart literally the day after watching “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” and yells, “Look mommy! Quasimodo!” I could not push the cart away fast enough. Awful…just awful. The moment when you are 8 months pregnant and attempt to put a huge bag of dog food on the bottom of the cart at Costco and the cart goes flying and you land on your butt in the middle of the aisle.  The moment your husband realizes it's not you groping him from behind, but it's actually a drunk lady he trains in the gym.  The moment you try to introduce your children to your boss and they immediately st...

When I first met my husband I was in a long distance relationship with someone else. I was unhappy with this guy, he was apathetic to my concerns and somehow thought I would stick around despite my feelings of being unappreciated. I recall the moment my husband and I met eyes for the first time and my mother said to me, "did you see how he looked at you? You're going to marry him." I laughed. Not only was I not on the market, but he was nothing like my "type." I say "type" because in my early twenties my "type" was  recluse, elitist, philosophers with lofty aspirations of being musicians. Eventually, their affinity for recreational drug use was always the downfall for the relationship. By my mid-twenties I started dating more of the traditionally masculine, athletic "type." I was heavily into yoga at the time and my philosophy/ whole foods/ artsy fartsy/ passionate background was dramatically neglected by this "type. "...

    I used to think I could only gain by taking yoga classes from teachers who were better than me. Just in that sentence alone, I make myself cringe. "Better than me" at what? At yoga? What part of yoga exactly?? Yoga is not going to a room with a bunch of other people and doing some postures and going home. It's not all about the asana. It's not about how high you can lift your leg, how bendy your body is, how long you can hold a pose and how cute of an outfit you can wear while doing it. Yoga is a lifestyle...a way of living. A belief that all things are connected; that all things are one. It's a discussion between ones body and mind. It's the choice to live by Pantajali's eight limbs. A choice to walk the middle path, relinquishing all extremes. Asana is only one facet of a much larger organism. After having two children, my body and mind have both been overhauled. My priorities changed, and whether or not it's right, my y...

Some of my blog readers have made a request that I write "another funny one." I must admit I don't really have an ON and OFF funny button. It just kind of happens...or doesn't. My funny is particularly bewildering when it turns on in inappropriate situations such as funerals...No one should laugh at death, but leave it to me and I'll have some smart ass remark. Or when one of my children runs face first into a wall. My husband will be running to their aid staring at me with judgmental eyes as I lay on the floor peeing myself with laughter. This makes taking them to indoor soccer an issue as there is always some kid who doesn't notice the clear wall surrounding the field and attempts to run full force through it. It's one thing for me to laugh at my own child's expense, but laughing at other people's children is not socially acceptable to say the least. It's almost like a tick. In those moments, I swear my brain puts me on autopil...

Yesterday was a particularly tough day in the Martin household so I decided to enlighten you on one of my tricks at parenting. Reggae music. So picture this: There was a point yesterday where I contemplated eating lunch while taking a shower...this being an outrageous and highly impractical idea, I realized that I needed to take a breather. Liam was on a rampage: whining, demanding, hitting, pulling hair etc. Rory was incredibly fussy, very rarely allowing me to put him down. By the time I was able to finish my workout and prep dinner, nap time was coming to a close and I had to chose between nourishment and hygiene. Hence the lunch shower.  I ended up taking a shower without washing my hair and eating a veggie patty while in the parent pick up line for Jacson. So I get Jacson from school and he was in a funk.  Wondering why I hadn't brought him a drink?  Me- we live five minutes from your school we can get one at home.  Asking if he could ...

I was looking at some photos from after I had my first child. I gained 65lbs with him and by this time postpartum I had already lost the majority of the weight. I took a photo of myself and said, "12 lbs left to go!"  I only gained 45 lbs with the second and I still have 23lbs to go (I actually had 20, but gained another 3 at Thanksgiving.) Surprisingly, this is not something I am obsessing about, but now is the time to take control over the situation before it gets out of hand and I wouldn't mind feeling somewhat sexy on New Years as we actually have a baby sitter this year!  Studies have proven that the longer you keep the weight, the harder it is to get rid of because the body gets comfortable and unless we practice good habits, laziness is an easy habit that's VERY difficult to break. The main reasons this pregnancy weight has been more difficult to remove is because I now also have a two year old who has become quite the dictator as of late and I am subje...