Guest Post: Jami @ Somewhat Domesticated

I've posted my weight loss journey and I am so glad someone else is sharing theirs. You all know that Jami and I are friends IRL and when she told me about this post, I had trouble holding back my excitement! When i found out she wanted to use it as her guest post, I was even more excited! With all that excitement and the excitement of my trip... its amazing I have not wet myself! 

Have you ever wanted to ask your friend how they do it? How do they keep it off and look so good? Well, today my friend  has answered my questions about how she keeps it off and how she still looks awesome! She has also made me feel like I am not alone.... I will let you read for yourself .... 

Hello Busy as a Honey Bee readers, Jami from Somewhat Domesticated here! Simone has been so great in sharing with us her weight loss journey, I thought while she's cruising around Alaska I could share with you mine. This is how I lost over 35lbs 4 years ago, and how I've kept it off.

I'm going to start by stating the obvious, I am not a physician or dietitian. I'm just an average girl who woke up one day and decided to make a change.

On Losing 35lbs:

I can tell you it wasn't one thing in particular that motivated me to lose weight. I was 26 years old, it was just after Christmas of 2007; I was looking through photos on my computer from the last couple of years and I noticed I was looking increasingly 'puffy'. Sitting there staring at those photos, it dawned on me - I was buying size 13/14 jeans and no longer the 11/12 I used to, and I was now a solid large size shirt. That realization coupled with the reality of not wanting to spend the rest of my twenties dreading being in a bathing suit motivated me to start losing weight. At 5'5" and dangerously close to 180lbs, it was time to make a change.

At 179lbs:

My goal was simple, to be in the 'normal' BMI range. In the beginning I followed these rules: count ALL calories, NO fast food, NO carbs after 2pm, NO candy/sweets, NO drinking. I also started to be more active; I started taking kickboxing at the gym behind my house with my roommate & went on small hikes or walks on the weekends. Even adopting little habits like using the stairs instead of the elevator & doing lunges around my house from room to room instead of walking. After the initial 4 weeks I would allow myself a drink here or a sweet there - after all this was a lifestyle change, not a band-aid. By March I had lost 36lbs and was down to a size 8/9.

At 143lbs, feeling like I had conquered the world:

On Maintaining:

In the 4 years since I've lost the weight I have stayed within the 142-147lbs range. I do my best to eat as healthy as I can during the week and tend to ease up on the weekends.

Diet:

I've found that a diet that's high in protein, fiber, and healthy fats (http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_diet_fats.htm) works best for me. I try to eat 5 times a day (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner), but sometimes I snack only once if I still feel full from breakfast or had a bigger lunch. I also try to eliminate carbs after lunch if I can help it, but if I want carbs I'll eat carbs.

Here are the types of things I like to eat:

Breakfast:

• Smoothie: Spinach Shake or Banana Oatmeal Smoothie
• Plain non-fat Greek yogurt w/ homemade granola
• Breakfast Sandwich w/ egg whites on a whole grain English muffin w/ a Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge
• Oatmeal w/ slivered almonds & a sprinkle of brown sugar
• 1 Serving of Special K w/ Unsweetened Almond Breeze Almond Milk

Snacks:

• Baby carrots w/ hummus
• Reduced fat string cheese
• Handful of unsalted almonds or pistachios
• Apple or orange

Lunch:

• Turkey sandwich on a whole grain sandwich thin - replace mayo w/ a Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge (so good!)
• Salad: veggies, turkey or chicken breast & reduced fat balsamic vinaigrette

Dinner:
Here's some of my favorite, easy recipes:

• Cilantro Lime Talapia Tacos
• Buffalo Wing Turkey Lettuce Wraps
• Mexican Chicken Lime Soup
• Roasted Cabbage - side

Drink:

I keep a 32oz tumbler at my desk at work and I drink 2 1/2-3 of those a day. Plus, more water when I get home, I only drink water at home. I also drink my coffee black, with the exception of a trip to Starbucks 1 or 2 times a week where I get an iced Caffè Americano (only 15 cal for 16oz!) w/ a splash of skim milk and 1 Splenda. As far as alcohol goes, I only drink on the weekends and try my best to stick with a couple glasses of red wine or vodka & soda water w/ a lime. But if you know me you know I love beer, so staying away from beer is a hard one for me!

Exercise:

I'll be honest, I absolutely hate working out. For me if I do cardio 2-4 times a week and eat like I'm supposed to, I'm good. Every once in a while I like to mix it up and do a Zumba or Turbo Kickboxing class, but it's all the same to me and I do it because I need to.

This is me now:

A lesson I learned from this: not everything you put in your mouth has to be delicious and rich. Sometimes you have to eat things you don't necessarily care for, but they're good for you. I remind myself of this every day. Also, if you fall, get back up, every day is a clean slate.

Could I stand to lose a few more pounds now? Sure. I've always thought 135 would be my magic number, but you know what, I'm healthy, I'm happy, and my husband loves me just the way I am.

Wow! I learned a lot from this wonderful lady! She knows how to stay healthy and truly knows how to have fun while doing it! I am definitely not alone and I know i need to come to grips with not being able to just stuff food in my mouth whenever i want! She also reiterated the fact that diet is a huge part of being healthy, but you can still have some fun! Thanks Jami for the AWESOME guest post! (Not bad for your first one!) 

Don't forget to stop over at Somewhat Domesticated and follow her!

Guest -a- Buzzing!

Today is all about the bees! It is totally fitting then that Chrissy over at Buzzing with Ms. B would be guest posting for me today! So while i fly away, here she is! 

(Have i mentioned, that she cruised too.... here posts about her sun-filled vacay are funny and definitely filled with realistic life situations! I love her blog! Just see for yourself!

This is Chrissy from Buzzing with Ms. B and I'm very excited to be gust blogging for Simone.
I spent several days toying with different ideas to blog about for my guest post. It's summer, you know, and most of my thought topics during this time are not really of a guest post quality. These include things like cleaning out my garage, painting my nails a new color, and seeing Magic Mike. 
Not really guest postable. 
But then we hosted our summer reading camp at my school. Now this is something I can write about. Today was all about bees.

First, we read the Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco (one of my favorite authors). We used some pages from my Fiction Graphic Organizers Pack to respond to the story elements and the theme. The kids illustrated important events from the story and wrote about them as well.

 They really loved the book - it's such a charming story and they thought the names of the characters were hilarious. They're not hilarious, really - they're just Polish. But to our babies here in West Texas, they were so funny.

After we completed the story elements and retellings, we did a little word work: we sorted words into short and long syllables, and sorted other words by endings. Endings found in this book included 

-tion, -ed, -ing, -s/es, and -ture.

Then, we read this nonfiction article about a decline in the bee population from Scholastic News. This is resulting in less pollination of flowers and fruit, and so end result is that it's harder for ice cream companies to find their ingredients. The kids were horrified. We worked on some basic vocabulary and cause-effect relationships from the article.

Then we did fun stuff. We made these cute bees. They're based on a product from A Cupcake from the Teacher.

Aren't they funny? The kids got such a kick out of them. Anything with google eyes and pipe cleaners is worthy of participation. 

After we finished our bees, we used the comic strip format (scroll down to grab it for free) I made to write little comic strip adventures for their bees. I broke down the process into six steps so the kids could write a cute, concise comic:

1. introduce your character

2. introduce a problem

3. attempt to solve the problem

4. attempt to solve the problem

5. solve the problem

6. happy ending :)

This made it simple for students to create a short storyline around their bee character!

This was the one I made while modeling. Not exactly my best writing, but you know. Live show and all.

These are the comic strips the kids wrote. Considering they are our most struggling readers, we were happy they were so excited to write.

It may be hard to read, but this one is about a bee who is desperate for a guitar. Yes, a guitar. What? He already has a drum set!

My favorite line in this one is when the bee says, "Gotta find friends!" LOL

Other great uses for this (that occurred to me while we were writing them!) were...

-Math: adventures of shapes, coins, or ruler.

-Reading: what other possible adventures could your main character have? What reasonable actions could occur next in the story?

-Science: adventures of a water droplet, tectonic plate, or an animal from any habitat.

-Social Studies: writing historical fiction. What would Harriet Tubman be like?

This could be a super fun way to integrate creativity and a simple, fun writing activity into all of your content areas!

Grab it free at TPT!

Hope this helps out in your classroom, and come by and visit me at Buzzing with Ms. B!

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See, isn't she funny!? I love the bees! And i especially love the work samples she shared from the kiddos! The comics are just great! I love it when kids draw! Their imaginations are so full and to see it on paper is just phenomenal! Thanks Chrissy for sharing and also for giving a freebie! 

PS Happy Birthday to the teacher who teaches next door from me! She's 21 again! 

(You know who you are!)

Guest Post with a Cherry on Top!

By now I am headed out of here! Just in time for me to introduce you to the lovely Elyse! She is awesome! Love her blog and definitely think you sould follow! She is a great gal who, deserves a teaching job. She is so dedicated and definitely has good taste! I mean c'mon Buffalo Wild Wings ---- hello! Yum! 


Hi I'm Elyse!  I blog over at My Life With a Cherry on Top. 

I'm a 20 something teacher hopeful who loves to cook, craft, and shop.  Stop by and pay me a visit! I started blogging about 4 months ago, and  I'm so glad Simone has so graciously allowed me to guest blog for her while she's in Alaska, Seattle, and Canada (a vaca to a slightly cooler destination sounds like a great idea in this crazy heat!)

So while she's out exploring the north (or narth if you will), hiking on the snow-topped mountains (is there snow on the mountains in the summertime?), sailing on clear blue waters, observing all the amazing wildlife, and eating pancakes with REAL maple syrup from Canada, I'm going to talk about traditions.

And not some sappy, "I make blackberry cobbler every 4th of July because my great-great-great grandmother made this for my great-great-great grandfather when he came home from the civil war" kind of tradition (those are great don't get me wrong, but that's not what I'm talking about here).

I'm talking about something fun or silly that you do with your husband, boyfriend, friends, or family every week, or even once a month. 

For me it's Buffalo Wild Wings.  On Thursdays only.

Source

This tradition started for me during my sophomore year in college.

A big group of friends (about 15 or so) would get together and go to Bdubs on Thursday for .50 cent boneless wing night. 

This is where I met my best friend and boyfriend Kelly. 

This is him.

Not at Buffalo Wild Wings.  He didn't want to take a picture when we were there.  I don't blame him. Ha

AND it's where we went on our first date!

Anyways...People started graduating and moving, and the Bdubs group went from 15 to 8 to 4 to 2.  Me and Kelly.  Kelly and I.  Every once in a while we will meet some friends there, but usually its just us.

But we still go EVERY week!  Unless we are out of town, in which case we usually hit up another place with good wings. 

It's my one indulgence of the week.  And I never get tired of it (I just switch up the sauces).  My favorite sauces are Mango Habanero, Asian Zing, and Honey BBQ.  Always with ranch and wedges with cheese!  Like I said, its my one indulgence of the week!

And just to make this clear I am not some boring old person who only orders the same thing at every restaurant we go to.   I LOVE trying new and different foods (I actually would LOVE to be a foodie), but not here!  This doesn't count!

And the waitresses know us (I actually notice when they get haircuts, so pathetic I know).  They bring us our drinks when we walk in the door. 

Diet Coke for me, Bud Light for Kelly. 

Without fail every time. 

Our favorite waitress actually moved to Indy, so we were really sad.  We had a few different waitresses while she was gone, and it just wasn't the same!  Then she moved back like 2 months later, and we were SO abnormally excited!

She told us last week that we should get married there, which is what gave me the idea to blog about it. 

I don't know about getting married there, but I definitely thinking about some catering options!

So what are your fun traditions?!?

Leave a comment below and don't forget to visit/follow me at My Life With a Cherry on Top!

Looks like i need to start some sort of weekly tradition like Elyse's. My hubs and i have our own... and before I spoil it, I think i will just add that to my list of "future posts."  Of course I will have to return from vacation to be able to do that... Now why would anyone want to do that? 


Loving my vacay already, 

PS. Thanks Elyse for sharing! Your rock! 

Guest Post: the Mrs. from the {mr} nd the {mrs.}

Today i am privileged to introduce you to Sarah of the {mr} and the {mrs}! I have followed her for a while now and really love her blog! I could tell you more but I think she can tell you more about herself then I can! So, I'm gonna let her do the talking! Especially since i need to do TONS of packing!

Hey ya'll! I'm Sarah Averett from the {mr.} and the {mrs.} and I'm so excited to be guest posting today. Especially on Simone's blog! I've been keeping up with it for a while and I just love her! Anyway, i'm here to tell you a little bit about mysef and what makes up the {mr.} and the {mrs.}.

My husband, Zachary, and I were married on December 28, 2011. For those of you that are thinking about a wedding between Christmas and New Years, DON'T DO IT! We've only had one anniversary, yes, but for just that one, we spent almost as much as we did on our entire wedding. I kid, I kid, but really - everything is crazy expensive that time of year and it makes it difficult to be able to do much. We didn't really have a choice as to when we were going to get hitched though. You see, Zachary happens to be an officer in the United States Air Force. We were planning on getting married in January or February until orders came that he had to report in on January 4th. We found this out about a month before. SO after a lot of scrambling and running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we made our wedding happen. And boy, was it a dang good one. If I could relive that day, I would in a heart beat.

That first move was to Alabama. In the year and a half that followed, we then moved to Texas, California, and now good ol' Wyoming. Despite us being in quite the little town, we love it here. After all, I did grow up in Ephraim, UT, population: 6,000 {on a good day}, so I really can't complain much.

We recently just welcomed a new addition to our family! Everyone, meet Copper:

He is a trouble making hound dog, but has already proven to be the best companion that a person could ask for!

Some fun facts about me: I am a lover of all things sparkly. I love being spontaneous and flying by the seat of my pants. I believe in saying, "hello", "goodbye" and "I love you", no matter how angry or frustrated I am. I am a Grey's Anatomy addict. It is my dream to drink hot chocolate and eat pastries in Paris. I hate english and love math. I'm a Mormon. I need junk food to survive. And I love to crochet.

I hope to see you sometime around the {mr.} and the {mrs.} and if so, feel free to say hi!

Isn't she just great! I love that pup too! He is so cute! And who can go wrong with naming  beagle after Disney movie!?!?! Oh, and her wedding photos are gorgeous! Thanks Sarah for sharing with us today! Don't forget to head on over and follow Sarah too! You won't regret it! 

Here and Over There too!

Today, I am in two places at once! 

Head on over to Buzzing with Ms. B! 

She's on vacation .. and i am headed on a vacation! (like you forgot!)

Maybe you are gettin ready to pack up... maybe not! 

Either way check out what I use to help me pack up and head out! 

Also, while I'm here, here's how the Fourth of July went for hubs and I! 

*Warning: It was a super low-key day! Love it!

A little Looney Tunes to begin the day! Then it was on to the BBQ programming.... check out that guys stache!!!!  I laughed.out.loud!!!!

Finished up my Fourth wreath, hung it up then it was off to lunch! Yep, Mexican food on the fourth! Then headed to the jewelers... new rhodium plating means no rings til the 17th! Sad face! (We only went in to get my rings cleaned!) 

After a bit of shopping.... we headed to get our America on! Tried out The Counter and LOVED it!!!! Here's my order form, to-go order, and my burger salad! Love that you can order with no bun and they give you salad greens instead! Totally diet friendly! 

After Act of Valor, it was time to watch the fireworks! All in all a pretty great day! Love to relax  instead of stress on a holiday! 

Don't forget to check out my guest post over at Buzzin with Ms. B!!!