Paleo Fail-EO

Well, needless to say I FAILED my 30 day Paleo challenge! I did give it a horrible decent effort. I guess paleo is much harder than even the research made it seem. I have, however, been able to eat much more healthy the last month or so. I've been trying to just be overall healthier.

On to BIGGER and BETTER news!!!

1. Ryan and I have officially been approved for our home loan. We have the documents all in and we are pre-approved to start escrow IMMEDIATELY... the BAD news is too many investors are swooping up houses from normal people like us the inventory in Riverside seems to be down 60% since last year this time AND there's more people with too much cash swooping up our houses buyers. NOT that I'm bitter at any investors or anything (Dad!!)

2. I've officially been accepted back into school. I am going back to get both my Bachelor's in Communicative Disorders and then my Masters in Speech Pathology. Why another bachelors?? Well it seems to get into any decent and accredited school you need at least 13 pre-req courses. The entire bachelor's degree at CBU is only 17 classes, so it just makes sense.

3. I've started a new business venture to match going back to school hours. I'm now proudly selling Origami Owl and can say that in my first month I've already seen the buzz with this business. I am SO excited to see where this takes me over the next few months, because I have a feeling it's going to be BIG.

Seems like 2013 is trending to be a BIG year for Ryan and I. I have been feeling extremely blessed the last 3 months and really excited about the path we have been going down. I am still failing at posting on my blog, but I promise to post more!! I'll be posting some family pictures tomorrow, so stay tuned....

SLACKER 101

Goodness I am SLACKING!!!! I am proud to report that I have kept up on one of my very favorite resolutions of seeing my gf Andrea at least once a month. The last two weekend have been so busy. January 25th was our good friend Adam’s 30th. Ryan and I headed to San Diego to spend the weekend with Adam and Andrea. We had a blast and definitely brought Adam into his 30’s the right way.

A Favorite from the night!!

Happy Dirty 30 Adam!!!

This past weekend we spent it up in Arrowhead with one of Ryan’s co-workers and his parents cabin. We had a BLAST!! Jeff (Ryan’s co-worker) Ryan and myself went up on Friday night. Saturday night, my friend Brooke, Jeff’s sister Andrea (not MY Andrea haha) and her boyfriend Orlando came up and joined us for a night of making fun of Jeff, UFC fights, pool and a lot of laughs.

Here’s where we stayed!

Anyways, this past month has been a GREAT start to 2013. We are already getting trips planned, wedding invites, baby announcements and many, many more excellent things to celebrate this year.



PaleO-M-G!!!!!

Paleo = Paleolithic




This "diet" has been a trend floating around my social network for some time now. I have several friends who have been eating "paleo" for months and they have had outstanding results physically, but more importantly, they all claim to feel better internally. While this could be a result from weight loss, there is significant amount of research I’ve read about the benefits to joint/arthritis pain. Many of you know that I have had several knee surgeries. A little over a month ago, I re-dislocated my knee and an X-Ray and MRI showed a severe amount of arthritis and meniscus tearing. My doctor said the “permanent” solution to my pain is a complete knee replacement. I’m only 28yrs old and seem to have the knee of a 70yr old. Along with my knee, I was diagnosed back in October with moderate-severe scoliosis. I have a double curve in my back with two separate problems forming from that. After over a year of bi-weekly chiropractor appointments, countless doctors’ appointments for back/shoulder pain, finally someone thought to X-Ray my back and discovered this. Apparently my years of sports built up muscles in my back/shoulders that provided support to my spine all this time. While this was in fact a good thing for me, it has created years of masked pain and potentially put off having the back surgery I most likely need to have also.

Here’s a good shot of my spine… The left picture is what a spine is supposed to look like, the right is mine… AWESOME!!

Now, all this being said, yes I am a HOT MESS!!! But, I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on natural ways to help both my back and knee. It’s no surprise to anyone, that losing weight helps joints, specifically knees. I definitely have quite a bit of weight to lose. Anyways, my research from several books, websites, doctors and even friends/family’s advice has come to the conclusion that cutting out gluten and dairy from my diet might actually help my joint pain/arthritis. During this research I have found several websites about the paleo diet. It is both gluten and dairy free, however the main “hunter-gatherer” idea seems logical to my analytical self. I’m still learning a lot about paleo, and I’m trying to grasp all the “do’s and don’ts” of it. I am making a commitment to try paleo for 30 days because of Steve’s blog. I am hoping that 30 days from now I can give some advice to others that have been research, or even thinking about trying it. Wish me luck ALL!!!

2013, Let's DO This!!!

A Year of Completion. 2013.

It seems I tend to fall into the trap every year of making the same New Year’s resolution as most of America. Lose weight. Get organized. Travel more. Read more books. Although, I’m not backing away from my “resolution list” quite yet, I decided to start blogging this year. I’ve thought about it for years and love reading blogs. It’s a great way to look back at growth, memories and life lessons learned and I envy those who have had the ability to blog so well. So, here goes nothing. Cheers to a year of completion. It’s not just about starting all these resolutions, but actually completing them.

So, here’s my list of New Year’s Resolutions Goals for 2013.

• Go back to school- Inspired by my Dad and friend Ashley to start my Master’s in Speech Language Pathology

                                                  

• Blog weekly (Inspired by a few of my friends AMAZING blogs... check them out! Ambyr's Blog; Andrea and Natalie's blogs have links below; Summer's Blog and last but not least I love catching up on my nieces and newphews on my Sister in Law, Julie's Blog
• Get Healthy (Not just lose weight, but cut out things in my diet directly related to my knee pain/arthritis and scoliosis)
• Take more pictures (My 2012 album is WAY to bare)
• Wear all my shoes/clothes in my closet (Inspired by Natalie's Shoe Challenge)
• Learn to Crochet

                                                      
                                         Would love to make something like this!!

• Have a “girl’s night” once a month with my friend Andrea in San Diego (this was OBVIOUSLY a joint resolution with one of my favorite bloggers, Andrea)
• Taking my dogs to the dog beach (I know it sounds lame, however it’s something I want to accomplish this year)
• Try yoga
• Go on vacation (New York, Boston, Vegas and San Fran are all on the “to do” this year)
• Cook and bake more
• Buy a house

Hopefully, by December 31st, 2013, I can cross every item of this list and have a year of blogging to show the pictures and stories of each one. I'll be posting my "2012 in Review" soon, so keep you eyes out for that.  Happy New Year everyone!!