Motivation for Mamas-to-be

Happy Monday, Friends! Hope you had a fantabulous weekend. Mine, as usual, was packed with family parties and FOOD! It's always the best of times and the worst of times because I end up eating myself into a tizzy and feeling uber-guilty afterwards.

This pregnancy is really making my battle with food difficult. I want to be healthy but I'm craving all kinds of crap as I sit my butt on the couch day after day. In result, I have gained between 25-30 lbs and I'm only 26 weeks along. This might not seem like a big deal to some, but to me, I feel like a failure and a whale....a whaliure.

One of my biggest gripes at the moment is people discounting my feelings because I'm "thin" and blah blah "You're pregnant. Eat what you want." First off, I feel like shit! I'm swollen and I can't walk at night because it's so painful. Secondly, sure, I'll drop some of the weight when I have the baby, but will my thighs and new layer of butt fat be on board with dropping the extra poundage? No woman likes to feel heavier and I am positive that no one likes the feeling of their pants not being able to go over their thighs.
Story of my summer.

I might be a little hormonal right now. Apologies.

So this ugly cycle continues. Eat, guilt, workout, eat, guilt, workout. Hopefully I can stop it.

I shall dub this post:

 Motivation Monday for Mamas-to-be. Anyone else need the motivation to be healthy, feel good and STRONG? (Thank God we don't need to work our Abs this summer!)

Here are some great workout plans I found that Baby and I will be doing this week.

1. Easy enough for a lazy bum like me to do. Here's the link.

2. Best $14.99 I've spent at Target! This all comes in a set.

3. Yoga for my tight muscles. I miss you, Downward Dog. This is on Netflix right now!

Here's to a week of healthy habits. Wish me luck and may the force be with you, too!

Teacher Talk Tuesday: Yoga is Necessary for Survival

Teaching is a stressful job. I would go out on a limb and say it's the most stressful job in the world. However, I've never been, say, a doctor, or a nurse, or a stripper, so I guess you can call me a little biased. I'm sure sliding down a pole and whipping your hair to and fro can be hard on the spinal cord.

Let me just give you a taste of some of the most stressful times that has happened during my 7 year teaching career...that qualifies as a legit time frame, by the way.

1. Once while I was teaching first grade, a student broke his fall by hitting his desk.....with his mouth. Imagine if you will, a 6 year old with blood gushing out of his mouth because his teeth were rammed into his gums. Too graphic for ya? Yeah, me too. Did I mention that was during my first year of teaching?

2. First grader throws up all over the carpet. That's not the start of a joke. This happens at least once a year and if you're lucky five times!

3. High Schoolers...'nuff said.

4. Learning the hard truth about your students. I had a student who was neglected at home, one who was slapped and beaten, one who was left to their own devices, one who was arrested for drug possession and grand theft auto, and one who slept on the floor of a garage with their brothers and sisters. I take these stories home with me and worry myself to sleep.

5. Oh, and I have to create and teach lessons, prepare students for state tests, get all my students proficient in all subjects, deal with backlash from parents, administrators, and the public, and make sure no child is left behind.

Holy. Crap.

Can you see why I need Yoga in my life? More importantly, I think the KIDS really need yoga. They go through some SHIZ!

Here are some of my favorite stress relieving poses:
1. Child's pose- Once that forehead hits the mat, shit gets real. Real good.


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2. Happy Baby pose- This one makes me feel all kinds of open and vulnerable. I feel unsexy in this pose because I'm pretty much spread eagle. But I feel happy, and that's all that matters.

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3. Pigeon pose- My yoga instructor says you hold all of your stress in your hips. This pose will rip that right out of you. Hips, don't, lie. Right Shakira?

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4. Airplane pose- Nothing clears your mind like thinking you're going to face plant. You're so busy concentrating on not falling, that the stresses of your life takes a back seat.

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5. Savasana- They should just call this pose "Go to sleep now." It's minutes of just lying there, clearing your mind, and relaxing every particle of your being. If memory serves me right, I'm pretty sure that's called sleeping, but TomAto, Tomato.

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This is exactly what I look like, tongue out and all. 
In all seriousness, school is a stressful environment for all parties involved. Yoga is just something to ease the blow of all the craziness that ensues. Yoga keeps me sane for a few hours a week. Take a chance and try it out. Namaste, my friends.

My New Year's Resolutions

Well hello there 2012! You look rather chipper and ready to go. Well, I'm ready to go, too so LET'S DOOOO THIS!

I would be lying if I said I am "looking forward to this year," because really, I don't have much planned for 2012, YET. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that it's a new year because to me and everyone else on the planet, it means new beginnings and new possibilities. Yeah, it's hard not to sound cliche when you're saying all that junk, but that's the way it goes in Blogtown, USA.

Also around Blogville are New Year's resolutions and anti-resolutions propaganda. Here on my bloggity blog, I am very much FOR resolutions and vote yes on Prop NYR. I have always been a strong advocate of making goals. Some say that resolutions should be made on any day, not just New Years, but I say to each his own. Some people, like myself, feel the newness of the year on January 1st. I also feel it in the beginning of the school year, every Monday, ever first of the month, and after every bowl movement. Fresh starts, right?

Here are my Resolutions from last year 11 in 2011. I think I did A-OK.

So, without further ado, here are my Resolutions for this brand spankin' new year.

Goals for 2012

Intellectual and Spiritual Me

1. Educate myself.

I am the type of person who rarely reads things thoroughly. Hell, I never EVER proofread any of my college papers before submitting them. It's a wonder how I even got by. I don't even proofread my blog most of the time, hence the spelling and grammar mistakes. I never read directions or instructions either, unless it's for IKEA furniture of some super cool Lego model. As a result, I don't feel like I am truly knowledgeable in anything other than the In-n-Out Menu. I feel like I need to slow down and read things more thoroughly and really become knowledgeable enough with various topics and things to be able to articulate myself.

 2. Read, Read, Read

This year I read more than I've ever read before. I read more books than magazines which makes me smarter than ever before, no? I'm not an avid reader but the feeling of getting lost in a book is very addicting and something that I really enjoyed this year.

My goal is to read at least one book for fun and one book for self-improvement a month. I also want to start reading some of the classics.

3. Pray and meditate daily

I've been really into yoga lately and our meditation portion of the class is crucial for my well-being. In other words, it helps me not to be Mrs. Angry Incredible Hulk when I'm at home or at work. My mind is constantly running a million miles a minute and when I meditate and pray, it is the only time I feel in control and calm. Why not set aside 10 or so minutes a day for that? Ok. Done and Done.

Strong and Healthy Me:

4. Strengthen my mind and body via yoga

You don't know how happy I am to be able to touch my toes. This is history in the making, folks. I love the challenge of yoga and the benefits are incredible. I feel like my muscles are getting stronger! I definitely want to keep this up. And by the end of the year, I want to be able to do these poses.


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 And if I could do both of these on the beautiful sandy beaches of Hawaii, 2012 will be the best year ever!

5. Run a 10K

I am a little hesitant to put this on here because right now I don't know if I am capable of such a task, but I'm aiming high and hoping for the best. Last year my goal was to run two 5Ks without stopping and I did it. I'm hoping that by the end of this year, I can say that I did this one, too.... duh... that's what resolutions are for right?

6. Eat more Veggies

This one is going to be tough. I HATE vegetables. I want to have a good relationship with veggies because I know they are good for me. Veggies, let's make a deal, you taste good and I'll eat you, yes?

Hmmm, I Googled "I hate Veggies"  and only pictures of kids hating them came up. Interesting.

The Hopeful Chef Me:

7. Get back to Project Wifey Wife

Since my camera broke, I haven't been blogging much about my cooking. I miss posting my two new recipes a week. My goal is to really try to commit to this again. 

8. Create my own

Now that I have a few recipes under my ever expanding belt, I want to dive into creating my own. I am used to putting my spin on things but to create something that is truly my own would be the bomb dot com backslash bangarang.

9. Host more dinner gatherings

I want to invite more people over for dinner parties. I'm a grown-up now and I think that's what grown-ups do. I need to get over the stress of it all, hire a maid to clean my house, and I'm good to go. Who wants to come over for dinner?

10. Stop trying to be perfect

The last one is a little more personal and I will spare you the gritty little details. In a nutshell, I tend to internalize everything which turns into obsessing over everything, which turns into over thinking everything, which turns into being hard on myself, which turns into depression. See what I did there, I thought about this one simple thing way too much. I want to stop that. I want to learn to relax.

So there you have it, my New Year's Resolutions. Striving to be a better person is never a bad thing so I definitely encourage you to make a few. You can do it, friend!

• What are some of your resolutions?

Wandom Wednesday: Namaste New Moon

1. New Moon- If some tween googled New Moon, I wonder if my blogpost would pop up. I hope not because there would be a boatload of disappointed Twi-hards and Twi-cougars. I was referring to the REAL new moon, the O.G! Do you see it in the sky? It looks like it's about to explode with love and energy....sorry, I just got back from yoga, more on that in a bit.

My kooky happy yoga instructor said that the New Moon marks a New Beginning. I love that idea. I'm all about new beginnings because it allows you to purge theraggity old  crap and start anew. That's sooooo yoga, isn't it?

Speaking of new moon, this new season has also got me reinventing myself. (I'm like 2 weeks too late on mentioning fall but, what the hey!)

I decorated with little pumpkins everywhere and ummm, can I just mention how AMAZING fall candles are? The smell of pumpkin spice is nose-gasmic.

This week will also mark a new year for my hubby and I. We will be celebrating our first anniversary. I'm unbelievably excited for our little getaway we have planned.

2. My Hubby- He's amazing. I'm a lucky girl because we started this super fun tradition on Wednesdays. It's called, I go to yoga and hubby makes dinner. I LOVE IT! Right now he's working so hard on dinner while I'm blogging, smelling the aromas of dinner wafting through the house....and I don't have to lift a finger!! WHOA BABY!

And look at him being all organized. He knows that his wife will freak the hell out if there's mess in her our kitchen. He learned well. He learned well.

3.Yoga time! I used to do yoga when I was in college. I loved it because it was something I chose to do alone. I didn't ask for a friend to accompany me, nor did I look for friends at the studio, this was something only for lil' ol' me! 7 years later, I am going again and my body feels challenged and my mind feels clear and enlightened. I feel new! New and improved, with better staying power. Give me a couple of weeks and I'll be doing this....

Except I will be wearing more than a diaper thong. But first I need to learn to touch my toes, which will also help with the toenail painting (man, I have to do all kinds of weird poses for that one!) and I need to learn how to balance. I can barely balance on two feet, let alone my big toe.

4. This is totally random, but a life changer for me. I found THE best shampoo and conditioner in all the land. My hair is medium thickness, semi-smooth, and what people like to call "Asian Straight." I was it about every other day or every two days, depending on how lazy I am that week. I recently started switching up my shampoos every wash so it can't get used to one product. I like to confuse the follicles. We play this game and I know they like it.



I have to admit that I'm a sucker for packaging. The fact that the bottle has the same colors as my wedding was a big selling point. This coincidence I now know to be FATE. My hair has never felt so soft. I fell like I have a new head of hair.

5. Best Damn Tacos- My hubby found his new favorite dish that I make. I can thank my awesome co-worker Kimberly for the insane recipe that had my husband going loco.



Here is the recipe. Carne Asada Tacos. I really wanted to make a whole blog post about it but I didn't really change anything. But, I assure you that these are the best Tacos I've ever made. Hubby said they were pretty amazing. He's Mexican, so he knows his tacos. (Is that stereotyping?) Slap together some salsa, squeeze some lime, and sprinkle some Mexican cheese and by golly, you have yourself the best damn tacos around!

• Tell me something Wandom