Thursday, October 4, 2018

A Blogger who's a Logger

One of the things that has made me one of the most successful humans on the planet, is that I LOVE logging shit. Water, calories in, calories out, car miles, running miles, shark week, daily "to dos", my mood, or when my knees hurt particularly bad - I log that shit.
Side note: I'm not actually the most successful human on the planet, but please, don't stop reading, I'm still SUPER smart and know SO much about random stuff. Ok Not really.

Logging keeps me accountable.
Loggings gives me something to look forward too. I get to check-off or color in or open up an app that already has it all there in front of me...making it easy PEASY.
The first time I ever started logging my food and calories, I lost 20 pounds. Not overnight, or in a month, it took a LOT of months, but it worked, and I felt like a superhero.
When I stopped logging, I slowly but surely started gaining the weight back. I wasn't tracking it, so that extra 5 pieces of pizza were ok. There wasn't a number in my face showing me what I'd actually eaten that day. When I log, I eat within my calories, and what a normal human should eat. When I don't, I've guesstimated that I probably can eat 4,000 calories a day NO PROBLEM. Cuz why wouldn't I? Food is F-ing fantastic. And then I'll probably Instagram that I #ateallthefood.

When I try to help people get healthy, and tell them to drink their water (1/2 your body weight in ounces every single day), they tell me right away they just can't. But you HAVE too, it's like, one of the most important things to LIVE. But every day, they check-in and WATER is the ONE thing they just didn't get too. Not enough. TRACK IT I scream from my front porch! There are so many amazing apps out there! Tell it your goal, enter your ounces, and magical things happen when you've hit your goal each day. Yes, you are GOING to pee a LOT. But you'll get over it. And your body will adjust, and life will go on.

When I log my water intake, I drink roughly 80-100oz of water a DAY. Way MORE than "the people" say I even need. When I don't...maybe 20 ounces all day...maybe. Yikes.
If you feel like crap most days, keep in mind that WATER is what flushes out all the garbage from your body each day. Without it, that crud just stays all up in there, making you puffy and sore and moody and broken. I'm certainly not saying water will fix it all, but it certainly helps. When I'm not logging water, I tend to drink other things, things I know I shouldn't really be drinking. When I'm logging water, WATER is the #1 thing I drink, and usually the ONLY thing I drink. I'm still alive and thriving, so I promise it won't kill you.

BRB I have to pee....

😜

If you have an apple watch, you can log your water right on your wrist! And you'll get friendly reminders to keep you going. TIME TO DRINK! 
This app is literally called "My Water"



When I did 80 Day Obsession, and there wasn't an app to log ALL the things, I searched Etsy until I found the perfect adorable colorful planner made just for that program and the plan I was on. I logged every single thing I ate for 80+ days. All my workouts, water consumption, supplements, all of it. It was the most successful program I've ever done. I lost 15 pounds and got in the best shape of my life.
just showing you how logging helped me

And then I stopped. Because it was over.
And now here I am. Almost 15 pounds heavier...and back on the logging  truck.
I'm gonna log it ALL.

This new "thing" I'm doing, The Last 90 Days (treating the last 90 days of the year with the same enthusiasm and excitement and love as you would the first 30 days of the year...) we have daily things to accomplish, so you better believe I printed off my logs and picked my favorite colored pencils and away I went.
I'm doing it. And if I don't, it's sitting there staring me in the face.
hey girl


Can logging all your shit make you crazy? Absolutely. It gets exhausting. Were the breaks I took needed? Totally.
BUT... at the end of the day, it's the ONLY way THIS girl gets her shit together.
Check the box, color the box, select the food, track the workout, count, tally, whatever it is, it works for me.

So... if you struggle with anything in your life that could benefit from some sort of log, I'd say log your little heart out! Give it a try! Start small, don't over log yourself all at once of course. See how it goes. Maybe it will help you reach a goal. Maybe it will make you crazy and angry. If you do decide to try it, I challenge you to try it for 30 days. See what happens. Maybe fireworks will go off after those 30 days...nobody knows!

Are you a logger?! Let me know! What do you log? How do you log it? How has it helped you? Is there something ELSE I can log? Ooh let me know!

Until then....
I'll be blogging about my logging...


~emilyk8

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

My Decorating Hell

Let's talk about decorating for a minute.
My decorating game has gone DOWN hill fast....and I felt the spiral coming for years.
I'm not talking about how my house will never look like Pottery Barn (that's another demon for another day), I'm talking about Seasonal "Spend All Your Money On All The Glittery Skull Pumpkin Fall Harvesty Hay bale shit followed closely by the Christmas explosion" decorating.

My cute innocent decorations started when I had my cute little apartment and a dollar store budget. I bought all the fabulous dollar store stuff...which back then...was decent, and not overwhelming.
Then my budget turned into the Year End Clearance at Target. I'll go ahead and buy these things on Nov 1st and save SO much money. I win. It doesn't really match my dollar store swag, but it'll be fine. Then the Good Lord introduced me to Hobby Lobby...Home Goods...Marshalls...you get the idea.  And I need to add that over time, the seasonal decorating market has EXPLODED...I'm sure you've noticed this too. I wanted it all. I slowly added to my collection, and my ONE orange bin, appropriate for fall of course, turned into 3 bins. To be fair, they are separated by Halloween, Fall, and then the Harvesty shit for the 5 seconds you "decorate" for Thanksgiving before Christmas consumes your soul. (not saying it's a BAD thing, calm down, I love me some Christmas time...)
I'd love to toss it ALL and start fresh with every single thing from Kirkland's. Like EVERY thing. But until I win the lottery, that's not happening.

Then there's always the "when".
When can/should I decorate for fall? In September? Even tough it's 96 outside? How about October 1st, that sounds pretty good. But wait...should I decorate for Halloween, or just Fall, or both? Cuz they don't really match. My fall Dollar Tree fake leaves and more natural look doesn't really go with the glittery light up pumpkins and skulls....not even a little bit. They just don't mix. But I have TWO bins full of Halloween glitter...ah the struggle!

Let's do a little of both. The mantle will be Fall, while the front hall shelf will be more Hallweeny. That sounds good. But what about the bathrooms? I have the black flowers and dark decor...but those fall fake flowers just seem to look so much nicer paired with that cute little pumpkin for the counter....

This year I've taken a deep breath and decided that I'll go with Fall, and add the glitter Halloween party ON or NEAR Halloween, since we usually have a party every year. As stressful as that is, it just makes the most sense. Ok. I can move forward with my life....for now. For less than 2 months.

Then it starts again. My Christmas decor is not different...Dollar store mixed with clearance, mixed with Garage sale treasures (oh Lord help me at Garage sales not buy ALL the decorations...), and family items passed down by grandmas. Nothing matches. It's a HOT Baby Jesus Mess. And it seriously makes my anxiety go through the roof. Why can't my house look like the Holiday section at Hobby Lobby or TJ Maxx? How much will I have to spend for it to be just right in my eyes?

And WAIT...what do we do with ALL the stuff you have to move to make room for the decorations? All the stuff on my mantel....it has to go SOMEwhere! So I move it all around the house to any available space I can find where it doesn't look too out of place. The basement is a good catch all for off season decorations. It'll be summery down there while we enjoy Fall up here. It's the ever rotating fake plant, candle holder, sign, decor party...

I know...it's dumb and trivial and I should be thankful I have fake spider webs and foam pumpkins, and ALL the seasonal crafts from the kids that find their way out as decorations each year...I know.
Other people seem to decorate so seamlessly, like one day they wake up and just convert their fortress into Bronners with the ease and grace of a butterfly. Ya'll know Bronners right? OMG...walk away.

So for now, I will enjoy my Fall haven, even though it doesn't look like a magazine or Pinterest.
I'll be thankful for what I DO have...the hand me downs and handmade creations. And I'll continue to die a little every time I walk by the immaculate decorations at all my favorite stores.


Please enjoy my masterpiece
don't mind the toys...they never leave