NEW BLOG

My creative energy has been redirected to my new blog, "Lunges & Lashes."

www.lungesandlashes.blogspot.com

Or you can just click here.

It's fun, promise! Make sure to "Follow Me" on the google tab on the right of the new blog!

Thanks!

Check it!

Our event is featured on cjane's guide to Provo today.

Check it!

Show will be awesome, you should come. :)

kid history

what did i do today?

-made pancakes
-forgot church was combined this week and showed up an hour late. opps!
-made yummy pomegranate wild rice salad for lunch
-watched a random foreign film
-fell asleep in a pile on blankets
-slept way to long
-made home made chex mix
-ate WAY to much chex mix, felt a little sick. but hey, i got that craving out of my system.
-wrote some emails
-read some blogs
-straightened up our bedroom
-cleaned up my workout clothes mess/mountain in the extra bedroom (we have visitors coming soon)
-did a quick clean on the bathroom
-crossed several things off my to do list
-visited with the fam
-watched the documentary "What Would Jesus Buy" if you have netflix, check it out. it's pretty entertaining.
-took a pictures of our cute little tree so i could post it just for you :)


don't judge my cleaning on the sabbath. i know. i'm horrible. i missed sacrament meeting AND cleaned on sunday. my nap was totally long and i had to do something with all my extra energy! i stopped myself from doing yoga, so hey, give me a break. i would totally head out for a run if i could.

what did you do today?

have a very veggie christmas

i love crossing days off the calendar at work. anything to get me through till friday. SOMEDAY, and we are hoping someday soon, i won't be sitting in this office crossing days off my calendar looking forward to that imaginary day on the calendar when i no longer work here. sigh. someday i will have something exciting to cross days off for like maybe having a baby. but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

but alas, it is christmas time and i just realized something. NEXT week, i can say that NEXT week is christmas! not to mention my birthday, so how great is that! 1 more week to make it through till a lovely holiday break. seriously people, i know the rain and this warm(ish) weather is messing with our minds (though i DO NOT mind not having snow in the least)but the holidays are so close.

it has taken me some time for it to remotely feel like christmas this year. on monday we got a tree, and really it's just the cutest little tree, and decorated for christmas. i have been trying to listen to christmas music more and watch christmas movies so it will actually feel like it is. we went and saw "white christmas" up in slc, my talented brother was performing in the orchestra, as well. so it is finally starting to kick in. the baking urges have started and thank you to veronica for her perfect christmas playlist. that has definetly helped.

oh, and p.s. i am experimenting with veganism. don't freak out on my k? i am not saying i am a committed vegan at this point, but let's just say i am trying it for an undecided amount of time. i know what you are thinking. "what the heck holley? aren't you crazy enough about your diet and what you eat? and why are you starting this in the midst of the holiday season?!!" yeah, yeah. i know. but really, with my prior post about being lactose intolerant, and recently cutting all soy out of my diet, really that already cuts out any real holiday treats that i would care about, so really no further christmas joy missed. and p.s., let me tell you soy and soy products are in EVERYTHING! it's nuts. read some of your food lables, you will be suprised what it is in. oh, and msg (monosodium glutamate, which also goes under a variety of other names) is in tons of products you wouldn't think either.

now i should just tell you that no i am not an animal activist, though they have their points. i am doing it for health reasons. i recently watched an interesting documentary called "Beautiful Truth." really interesting. if you have netflix, you can get it on there. if you are interested in my motives you should check that out. i have other reasons too, but you get the idea, i will leave it at that.

why am i telling you this? i don't know, maybe it might spare me having to go through the reaction in person with people about 50 times. i am sure it will still happen, have you met my family?

last night after enjoying a delicious vegan dinner, and let me tell you it was, i made some black bean brownies. i had never tried these before, but people had told me they were pretty darn good. ben was watching the "horror" unfold. he knew when i said i was going to make brownies that it was too good to be true. his exact words were, "brownies! you are making brownies! you NEVER make those, yeah!" poor guy, so dissapointed. don't worry i did bring him home some BYU ice cream to make up for it. he got over it pretty quick. the way to that boys heart is ice cream. i digress. anyways, so he says to me while i bake, "do you think if you saw yourself doing this (by "this" he means trying veganism) 4 years ago that you would think you were crazy?" to which i quickly replied, "no, not at all."

but i just wanted to say, after further contemplation, i lied. yeah, i would have thought i was a wacky. but here i am a wacky. what a difference 4 years can make. so basically if you think i am nuts too, it's okay. we are all in the same boat.

Project Runway Finale

This is really the best show and this finale was not a dissapointment. Andy was not even in the running for this as far as I am concerned, he really lost all his personality. And don't get me started on those headpieces of "tears." eek!

I was happy either way with Mondo or Gretchen winning. I loved both of their collections. They were both so different, it really was hard to pick! I was onboard with Gretchen from the beginning, but then Mondo won me over throughout the season. I love his take on things.

Little bit of Mondo...


Little bit of Gretchen...


So good. I want to buy things from both their lines. They really should put these up online after the show, I would totally buy their pieces.

Family Photos

Our family might still be just us two, but after 3 1/2 years, I felt it was time to get some photos done. So our kids can see what mom and dad looked like in their pre-child years.

We got these done back in like... um... end of June? Beginning of July? It's been a while, but here are some of my favs.
















Didn't get your fill? Want to see more? You can go here and also see our lovely photographer's blog if you are interested. Heather, I still am loving them. Thanks!

LIVE THE LIFE

So since I posted all this stuff about this contest, I have been getting lots of questions about the program. Here is my info copied over from the blog contest and then here are some links you can go to if you are interested in finding out more! Let me know if you have any specific questions, I love talking about this kind of stuff. :)

Click here to learn what is Live the Life.

Click here to learn about the program specific to women, and here for men.

There is also a 7 day challenge you can do for FREE to try it all out. Go here for that!

___________________________________________________________
Growing up I always struggled with my weight. I didn't get into fitness until I got married. I loved living a more active lifestyle. I worked out more and more and enjoyed how good I felt and the results I was seeing. It started to get out of hand as I began to devote all of my time to it though.
My days started to revolved around my workouts as I became a cardio junkie and would spend anywhere from 2-3 hours at the gym everyday. I would put my workout schedule above spending time with my husband or other leisurely/fun activities. Due to my crazy workouts I was starving and so I would eat more than I needed to thus negating all the hard work I had done that morning. I felt like I was working hard, so I could eat whatever I wanted. I didn’t understand the relationship between nutrition and working out. On the outside I looked pretty good, but on the inside I felt like a wreck. Around that time I completed my first marathon which was huge for me, but I was tired, worn out mentally and physically and my life was going at a pace that with everything, I knew I couldn’t keep up.

I had tried out other fitness programs before because I thought it would be easier and simplify things for me if I just followed a plan and didn't have to think about it so much. But with any other program it was so complicated and actually ADDED more stress to my life! My friend Marnae Carter, who entered last month’s contest (and looks so amazing!) told me about this program and I was interested. I have known her for years and knew she had tried several things and never had success until I saw her doing this program. She changed so much! I saw this as an opportunity to get more toned and have the body I never thought I could! I wanted to push myself and see how far I could go!

So I started the program and LOVED the meal prep. I absolutely love cooking once and then forgetting about it all the rest of the week. THAT simplifies my life. I work a full time job and also work part-time as a hairstylist from my in home salon as well as do consulting work on the side too. I am a busy lady! So having my meals ready and not constantly having to make decisions about what to eat and what not to made all the difference. I already decided at the beginning of the week, not in a moment of temptation. I look forward to working out on this program whereas before it was easy to get in modes where you are unmotivated and have to drag yourself out of bed in the morning. I walk in the gym knowing exactly what I am going to do that day and when I am done feel good about myself, not kicking myself that I didn’t do 10 more minutes of cardio or run 2 more miles.

Right before starting Kristi Approved, I completed my 2nd marathon in June, and then I finished my 3rd marathon just last month in September and in that 3 month period, I cut 30 minutes off my marathon time from June to September (and 1 whole HOUR off my time from the previous year at my first marathon!). I was amazed! I know that this program helped me achieve those results.


For me this program wasn't about losing a ton of weight. It was about finding balance in my life, and pushing myself the last little bit to see how much I could achieve. I have lost weight though and I am definitely more toned and in better shape than I have ever been before in my life and that is so exciting to me.


I am happier, I am less stressed and I have found balance in my life. I didn’t think I should have to sacrifice taking care of myself and what I enjoy because life is busy and now I have found a way I don’t have to. Feeling wonderful, having more energy and just being happier has enriched all aspects of my life. I am in the best shape of my life and it has never been so easy. I have Kristi Approved to thank for that so that I can go and live the rest of my life!


AFTER INFO
Waist - 25.5
Hips - 34
Weight - 115 pounds
Body Fat - 11.9%

I NEED YOUR HELP!

That may have been a little dramatic, but really... I NEED you!

So I have become a fitness/nutrition fanatic of sorts, and I recently did this program called Kristi Approved/Live the Life. I really loved it. It's great. (If you want to know more about this, I would love to tell you) I know you are wondering where you come in to this.

Well I entered a competition they have once you finish the program that you can enter, and the winner wins $1000! Seriously, $1000 people! They have cut it down to the top people and then it is all based on votes now. So please visit this link here to view all the contestants including myself. (www.livethelifecontest.blogspot.com) You can see BEFORE and AFTER pictures and even a lovely video of my face talking to you.

You cast your vote over on the right hand side column of the link. If you are confused, please let me know, cause I need your vote. Pretty please? :) And voting ends this Sunday, so just click on over to that link real quicky like.

And really, if you could have your husbands/kids/dogs/neighbors/friends vote for me too I would so appriciate it, I can't do it without you!

And ps. I am sorry for the shameless plea here, I never do stuff like this. I seriously would make a horrible salesperson, but I have to try!

Thanks!

xoxo

zoe + coco

i wasn't aware that "the rachel zoe project" had a season 3 up and going, but what a lovely suprise. ben can't really handle this show, it is too hard for him to watch but it's a little secret joy for me.

i know the woman is drama-rama, but i get to live out my fantasy job this way. don't worry that i am totally with rachel when she is freaking out that it's raining at the golden globes and totally with her with her when roger doesn't understand how stressful it would be to have 3 clients unconfirmed in what they are wearing the day before the awards. and when she was interviewing for a new assistant, don't worry that i was secretly wishing that was me getting the job. oh and naomi campbell, it is totally your fault that your haiti show didn't have enough designers donate clothes to it. leave poor brad alone. sometimes ben will ask what is going on or something and when i have to explain it to him i feel like rachel trying to explain to roger. i mean really, shouldn't ben and roger know better?

let's just say it was wonderful coming home after work and not having any other work scheduled and cuddling up drinking some hot coco, listening to the thunderstorm and watching a few episodes of the Zoe. i even got to get out an old knitting project from last winter and pulled it apart and started over, commiting to finish this time. it was a nice evening, don't judge - i am just easy to please.

if you don't watch this show, sorry i had to induldge. i just have her theme song stuck in my head this morning. and i totally have the urge to shop.