Tuesday Shoesday: It's Pedi Time.... :)

By: Danie

You may have already jumped the gun and sported some sandals, depending on your location. I know I have totally taken the leap and rocked some cute flat sandals, sans the much needed pedicure. Hopefully no one was really checking out my feet...

Here are some really cute flats from Wet Seal! These are on my to purchase list for my trip to Jamaica later in the spring. Wet Seal has great flats all under $20. It was so hard to chose a pair of sandals but I wanted something nautical and affordable! Check out ASOS, Forever21 and UrbanOG for some cute and mostly affordable flats.

Jamaica 2012... by datelesstoido featuring striped tops

Couldn't choose a tank... I want them both :)

Fitness Friday: Detoxing 101

By: Danie

A lot of diets and work out plans start with a detox. Detoxing is meant to jump start your system and give you a clean start! Some effects are below......

There are many different programs out there, if you go to your local GNC or Vitamin World you will see different powders, pills and kits for detoxing. Personally I don't have any experience with those, so I don't know how effective they are (if you do feel free to comment).

There are easy ways to detox at home with natural ingredients and practices. A common detox is the juicing.... literally you drink liquid for three days straight. Remember that you are cleaning your system so no alcohol, cigarettes or coffee!

On your juicing detox diet you will need to constantly drink fluids. To supplement your juice try drinking coconut water (it is soooo good for you! Mix it in with your juice if you want to experiment with taste), oolong/green tea (decaf) and of course water (drink water with a little lemon it helps in the detox process). You can spice it up by making any of these juices a smoothie, feel free to add a little honey or flax seed. Try to use organic veggies and fruit when possible or make sure you wash your veggies very well because you are juicing everything with the skin/rind. I constantly refer back to this, here is my when to buy organic info!

Another interesting way to help expel toxins is dry brush your body. You can use body brushes, exfoliating gloves or mix up your own exfoliating rub.

During detox you can still work out but you will want to take it easy. When you are done with your detox slowly ease back into solid foods especially refined sugars, saturated fats and complex carbs. You don't have to juice detox, there are plenty of detox programs that include solid foods. Reasons for juicing versus other detox programs are juice packs lots of nutrients/antioxidants in a smaller dose, it is easily digestible and gives your organs a hypothetical break from processing normal fare.

HAPPY JUICING!

:)

Project Gutenberg

By: Danie

It seems like everyone has some sort of e-reader or tablet these days, myself and Ashley included. We actually use ours for reading purposes, however it is nice to have the option to watch movies and play games .When I first got my Nook I was buying books left and right, just loading it up... not thinking of the fact that it will probably take me FOREVER to read all of them. Oh, the details!

One of my goals was to re-read classics that I didn't fully appreciate when I was in high school and college. Well it turns out that the copyright on most of these books has expired and free digital copies are available from Project Gutenberg. There are over 38,000 epub files, kindle files and even audio book files. No fee or registration is required but they do ask that you donate to keep the cause going or donate your time by recording audio books, reporting errors and digitizing more books. Your donation is tax deductible.

How amazing is that, to use your e-readers and tablets to access free books?! I think it would be cool to start a book club and utilize the Project Gutenberg database...free and fun. Well free-ish and fun :) You can also borrow digital books from your local library and with some tablets you are able to share books.

HAPPY READING :)

Ash Wednesday

by: Ashley

Howdy y'all! Anyone go all out last night? I enjoyed a couple pounds of crawfish and then... a nice big Juicy Lucy :)

"What's a Juicy Lucy" you say? Well it is an AMAZING creation where you put the cheese inside of the burger!!! Here's a picture (not my burger but close enough).  I actually found this picture over at A Good Appetite blog. 

So I know I totally pigged out last night (crawfish and burger) but I realized that I wasn't going to have one last chance to eat a burger before I give it up for 40-something days.

Like many people, I typically give something up during Lent.  However, the last couple years, I’ve also tried to turn things around and do something good instead.  This year I want to focus on these three areas:

- Prayer (justice towards God)

- Fasting (justice towards self)

- Almsgiving (justice towards neighbor)

Prayer: For this area, I will read from the Bible daily.  YouVersion, which I’ve downloaded on my iPhone, has Bible Reading Plans.  I’ve selected one specifically for the season of Lent.   Let me know if you guys are on YouVersion too.  We can be friends on our profiles so that we can help motivate each other to keep up with our promises. 

Fasting: I am giving up red meat (this is a BIG deal for me). So this is why I indulged in a burger last night! So for 40 something days I am sticking with chicken and seafood. No more of my honey's awesome t-bone steaks :( 

Almsgiving: Each week during Lent I will give either time or money to a different charity.  I haven't picked these yet, so if you guys have one dear to your heart please let me know. 

When I was younger, I used to view Lent as just an opportunity to give up something that was bad for me anyway.  But the truth is that I should feel the sacrifice during Lent.  No, we will never truly understand the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us on that cross.  But we can honor it by trying to not live a life of gluttony.  

So what do you guys do to celebrate the season of Lent? 

By the way, if you are going to also pick up the Bible (a real one instead of on a smart phone or eReader) check out these cute paperclip bookmarks you can make:

You can find the tutorial here on How About Orange Blog. 

Tuesday Shoesday - Mardis Gras

by: Ashley

It's FAT TUESDAY! Which means I plan on indulging in some crawfish and hush puppies tonight and perhaps even a glass of Abita :) 

And since it's also Tuesday Shoesday, I figured you guys would love to see some Mardi Gras inspiration!! You can find these here from Ellie Shoes. 

Happy Fat Tuesday y'all!

You Are What You Eat!

By: Danie

I think we all put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get out there and work out, be active etc etc. It seems like the more pressure we put on ourselves to work out the less concerned we are about our diet. So its okay to work out for an hour and a half to two hours and then leave the gym and have fast food for lunch or spend two hours at happy hour. Its no surprise that sometimes working out isn't the only solution.

Eating well is hard...it's time consuming and costly. I don't care what anyone says its much easier and cheaper to drive through somewhere and get a $1 hamburger. Its also much tastier to cook with lots of oil, butter and cheese! So its time to make time to cook healthy and learn about the ingredients we put in our food.

Since we have had the baby its been harder to manage our time but I do always make time to cook! One of my favorite websites is SkinnyTaste, it has points if you are on weight watchers and it has detailed nutritional info.

We really enjoy Gina's Greek Turkey Meatballs with Skinny Tzatziki!

Rolling in at 254.7 calories per serving (4 Meatballs)... these are right on point! Greek night is awesome, we make greek salad, hummus and nibble on a few low cal pita chips. The recipe I use to make low cal hummus is below, just use a little food processor for the best outcome.

Combine 15 oz can of garbonzo beans (Drained- keep liquid on the side to adjust the texture), 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 3 tbl lemon juice, 3 cloves garlic, 1-2 Tbl Seasame Oil, pinch of salt. I serve it with a little paprika and seasame oil on top. I feel like the seasame oil makes up for the lack of tahini.... you can play with the recipe to make it more to your taste (add some more garlic? dried tomatoes? Kalamata Olives?).

Fitness Friday - Need Motivation

by: Ashley

We try to talk about fitness on Fridays to give everyone a little motivation for this weekend.  But to be completely honest with you - I'm the one that needs motivation.

Where do you guys go to find inspiration?

What I'm really dealing with right now is that I'm so tired after work that I find it too easy to just "skip" the gym.  It was easier when my honey and I were going to the gym together, but our schedules don't allow that anymore during the week.  So now there is no one depending on me to go... no one but myself I mean.

I'm not really sure how to get over this apathetic-towards-the-gym attitude that I have going on :(

I'm pretty sure that I need to start going in the morning.  I'm just drained by the end of the work day.  But if I'm going to be getting up an hour and a half earlier to work out, I'd better follow these tips for waking up more refreshed.


- Avoid caffeine after lunch time
- Resolve anything that's going to keep those wheels in my head spinning (meditation could help clear my head)
- Eat dinner early so I have time to digest (3 to 4 hours before I go to bed)

Anyone have good advice for getting up earlier to get your workout in?