moving moving moving

trying my hand at wordpress it seems to be cleaner.. Come see me at http://optimisticjessica.wordpress.co...

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Super duper pre-work out smoothie

Holy smokes, 2 posts in 1 day? Yup I am on vacation. Cheers.  I really needed to get back into the workout frame of mind, I always feel so much more balanced and happy. So here goes. Here is a Super Duper Pre-Workout Smoothie (Think Mint Chocolate milk) I completed 45 minutes of Fitness Blender Workout #40. And the post work out, munched on some green tea jello. Oh vacation, how I love thee.  If you like what you see, subscribe, like, comment. If I make it to 10 followers, I will post a giveaway....

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Green tea/Lime Jello

While this is true.. I am so grateful for the real thing Life is good. Today I start my vacation for two weeks. No homework, no practicum. Ah Bliss. My house can finally get the deep clean it deserves. I wanted to share with you a tasty tasty recipe I came up with this morning. Enjoy. I am a huge green tea drinker. So this recipe was perfectly refreshing and energizing. You get your shot of Vit. C and protein. Lastly, Jakers has started soccer again (4th year!) and I am so amazed at how he rocks it! Go Team Shockwave! Jake...

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Water Kefir and Vacation

So. Boy. I wasn't sure what to write today but I should post about my water kefir experiment. I bought my water kefir grains here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051WV5K6/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 And I followed the recipe minus the  spring water, I used tap. I fervently hope I did not damage the grains but I was too lazy to go to the store. So what do I think? Well.... I haven't ever tried water kefir before, I've had kombucha and KeVita probiotic drink so I have no basis for comparison. This recipe...

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Ginger Apple Cinnamon Detox Drink/Zombies/Cheesecake Factory/Water Kefir

That was quite the long title. Let's start with the drink recipe: Did you know the apple belongs to the Rose family of plants? Interesting. Here is a link to a great article about the health benefits of apples http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=15&tname=foodspice Here is some info about Cinammon: from http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-supplements/lifestyle-guide-11/supplement-guide-cinnamon Cinammon may reduce inflammation, have antioxidant effects, and fight bacteria and it is super yummy.  Ginger- great for...

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An ER visit and nerves

Last night we ended up in Everett because Hanna fell out of a fig tree. Oh that girl. Interestingly enough she commented that "an inside of a fig, looks like the inside of my thigh" because she punctured her inner thigh on a metal pole. Yup. 30 stitches inside and out. My poor girl. When I got the call from her mom's bf that was prefaced with "Don't freak out," I instantly wished that teleportation was a real thing. Its really difficult to live over an hour away from your kiddos. She was such a trooper, so calm and my heart just felt...

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Over indulgence and gelatin

Yesterday was busy. It was a loooong day at practicum 7:45-5. I found out I will be presenting in court on Thursday after I have a school evaluation. SWEET. (imagine a snarky tone there) Had class 6:30-8:45 but the bright side was ending my night having dinner with my friends Liz, Maylin, and Jeanette at Red Robin. Ohhhhhh the carbs I ingested.. Half a BLTA (avocado) croissant and french fries, 2 vodka tonics with lemon and lime... and then came dessert.. some huge mud pie concoction with an oreo crust. And the best part about...

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Super beauty tonic...

I went grocery shopping this morning and noticed there was a bunch of products on sale, and I'm a sucker for sales and saw this product: From their website: NeoCell states: "Collagen is essential for the structure and function of many connective tissues which glue other tissues and organs together. As aging is closely associated with the loss of collagen and the deterioration of the connective tissue, supplementation of bioavailable hydrolyzed collagen helps to counteract the negative consequences." SO I decided to play around...

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Another pound bites the dust and my Egg smoothie

No makeup, no photo touch ups  I'm for sure on a smoothie kick. I'm not even sure how many days I've been Paleo now I'm thinking about 10-12 minus the 2 "bad" days I had. But I'm down to 126#. And feeling super fantastic. I don't think my skin has ever looked this good. Seriously, this has been a life-long struggle for me. Even when I went vegan, giving up dairy HELPED tremendously but I still suffered here and there. I'm not eating copious amounts of meat, maybe 1 meal a day and the rest consists of vegetables, a little fruit,...

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Loving my fats...

HA! The fats I'm consuming, that is. Oh I dream of a beautiful Vitamix or Blendtec but my hard working, but not very effective, Proctor Silex will have to keep chugging on... I have been putting it to use.. several times a day. Loving my fat filled smoothies. I forgot to mention that  I did add about 1 tbsp of coconut oil too. It is an uber filling smoothie, I drank about 3/4.. it made roughly 16 oz and I'm STUFFED. So this was the first one I didn't add greens too, but I was going for a dessert type drink and this really did...

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Goat's milk kefir smoothie

Here's a blurb about Kefir: from RedWood Hill Farms Health Benefits of Goat Milk Kefir Here's to Your Health! A gluten-free and low glycemic food, Kefir contains vitamins, minerals and complete proteins. What Makes Kefir a Healthy Food? An ancient dairy food, Kefir is being embraced for its apparent and potential health benefits: Easily digested, kefir provides beneficial bacteria, balancing the levels of "good" and "bad" bacteria. A balanced and nourishing food containing vitamins, minerals, and complete proteins. Kefir is easily...

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Well I did it.. a ghee smoothie!

I got majorly off track the last few days, I even ate pizza the other night with the boys. My tummy hated me. It was the start to my girly time and yeah yeah yeah, I was crabby and irritable. There were some other things going on, so it was def emotional eating between health concerns for family and the fact that someone TRIED TO SUE ME, I was a bit of a grump. But moving on.. I was out of ghee for a few days and began to dance a jig when I saw the FedEx dude. I'm back on track today, although I did go over  my sugar intake as...

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Sunday morning musings on Paleo eating and Oil pulling

Its been 5 days since I posted the pic of me at 130#. I'm currently 127#. Not bad for 5 days time. And the above picture illustrates my own mirrored inner "YES!!!" I feel incredibly GOOD. I find, so far, what seems to be working for me is the addition of ghee, butter, and eggs. I don't really feel drawn to meat. I'll eat it but I'm more craving the fat. I use ghee the most, and butter (organic) when I run out and I did. In a weeks time I (and the kiddos) toasted through this: Plus, I have always had extra virgin coconut oil but...

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Spinach and the Con Con

My sweet boy eating a dinner last night. He had: -Sweet potato with ghee -Sauteed spinach with coconut oil -He also had a nitrite free/organic turkey snack (but he ate that all up ) -He also had a large black plum that went fast! I actually completed yesterday completely Paleo and I feel really good. I noticed a huge increase in energy today despite feeling knotted up about Court/practicum tomorrow. I started out my morning trying oil pulling with coconut oil. Interesting. I will post more on that soon. Today...

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Paleo food and going to court...

 So I've dabbled in veganism, vegetarianism, raw foodism, lots of isms. Recently I've started to really give Paleo a go and I've enjoyed a number of brilliant blogs but I love reading this one currently: Wellness Mama I'm actually going to give the 30 Day Challenge a shot. I've added Ghee into my diet lately and eggs and some meat and I really feel REALLY good. I've cut out a lot of fruit except for berries and am aiming for a lower carb intake to help shed the last of the unwanted weight. Seems to be working (of course coupled...

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Weekend update... Pizza, movies, and a bonzai tree

Its Sunday, I started off the day by frantically trying to put together a paper and presentation for tomorrow night's class and then I was informed the paper wasn't due just yet.. PHEWWW. More time to procrastinate. I squeezed a work out in, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, took Oliver to work, AND went grocery shopping. This weekend was pretty funtastic, spent most of Saturday with my family. Ollie, Shanelle, Erika, and I went to see RIPD.. we really wanted to see Wolverine but it was sold out. RIPD was ok, I enjoyed it but it...

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Tattoo tattoo tattoo

As you can see from the title... I got  me a tattoo. That would make #3 for me.. but it has been about 8-9 years since the last one. It hurt.. but it was worth it. I love it, the artist was really awesome. Let's see what else is going on?? - Just doing mom stuff with all the kiddos and trudging along through my practicum and school Oliver, the kiddos, and I recently made a late night trek to see Pacific Rim 3D. I highly recommend it, such a fun movie, no one was disappointed.. and thankfully Connor slept the whole movie...

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Weekend update.. (in mostly pics)

This weekend has been jam-packed with fun. It started with taking Hanna to her first scary movie at the theater. It was Maylin, Hanna and I who went to see The Conjuring. Great movie. She smiled the whole time, my kooky girl. We ate lunch at Barnes and Noble before the movie Then later that day..... Then later I picked up my Jakers from his Dad's at 1am. They had just gotten back from Disneyland!!!!! I feel so complete having all my loved ones under my roof now. Somewhere in there we managed some craft time: Then...

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I split my pants....

Yup. While completing Fitness Blender #27 (kettlebell workout) I totally ripped my shorts.  That was a riot! I've only done that once before, while climbing at Joshua Tree a billion years ago. I'm pretty worn out and my brain is all fuzzy, spent the day running around with the kiddos. Tonight is my debut attempt at voice acting for this series with Oliver:  Check it out!  And finally the offending shorts: And then some of what's going on: Ft. Steilacoom Park I get done with the workout and...

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Grrrr and sigh...BREATHE!

At first when I sat down to right this I felt a bit overwhelmed and frustrated but then I took a deep breath and remembered the things I am grateful for: 1.) CWTAP program (Child Welfare Training and Advancement Program): While it may wreak havoc on my regular financial aid and cause uncertainty and a possible ulcer... without this program getting my MSW would be out of the question. I am grateful for this opportunity. 2.) My wonderful wonderful family... they may make mess after mess and yes I did the dishes before leaving for...

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Summer Fest 2013

Yesterday, the Conman and I went to Summer Fest 2013 with my good friend Maylin. We. had. a. BLAST! Spent countless hours in the Kid Zone area that consisted bouncy houses and a petting Zoo. We ate.. (not so great).. and enjoyed a 1980's style hair band with lots of good music and laughs. Connor kept running up to the stage and eventually the lead singer jumped down to the ground and Connor ran screaming to hide behind my back. Good times. Luckily before we went I did Fitness Blender workout 24 and am about to complete #25. Chugging...

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Switching gears and finding my stride..

First off, still LOVING the Rocking Wellness. I went into Practicum today and a 2 scoop/coconut milk kept me fueled for 5 hours. My last practicum was with Child Protective Services, now I'm learning Children & Family Welfare Services. WOW! Talk about paperwork and feeling chained to a cubicle desk. I have a great mentor though who is going to help me be a great social worker. Now I have to share my new love... Fitness Blender. Its a couple here in Washington who put out free workouts you can find on their site and through YouTube....

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Rocking the Rocking Wellness... and quick pic update

The summer is chugging along, and its a mighty hot one (for the PNW). I recently purchased Rocking Wellness and I'm hooked from the very first sip I took. I have two shakes already today and I feel fabulous. Here's a blurb from their website: RW Info Rockin' Wellness total body nutrition shake is about supporting the body systems as a whole. Ingredients Cacao, Goji, Maca, Hulled Hemp Seed, Chia, Flaxseed, Lecithin, Green Tea, Yerba Mate, Vegan Probiotics with small amounts of Brown Rice Protein, Stevia, Guar Bean, Banana, (less...

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A welcome summer

Happy kiddos All the kids are on Summer break and mine is about to end this Monday. C'est la vi...

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Fresh start

I decided to start a new blog as my focus of my blog has changed. I don't want to just blog about weight loss, but a mix of all the things I am interested in: Health, nutrition, family, exercise, beauty, social work.....oh and greens (smoothies and juices).  So here's to a new fresh start. ...

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