My Life Is... Blessed

For as much as I complain (which is a bad habit of mine), my life is amazingly blessed. I am so thankful for all I have been given. A quick rundown of some of the things I am thankful for right now...

- My husband
- My house
- My dogs
- My job
- My weight loss
- My friends
- Health Insurance
- Clean drinking water
- GODS UNCONDITIONAL AND UNFAILING LOVE

Its amazing how when you stop and really reflect on your life, you can realize that there are SO many things to be thankful for.

My Life is... Germ filled.

I am sick. Coughing, runny nose, can't breathe, want to sleep but can't, SICK. This is honestly the worst cold I have had in a few years - its kicking my butt! I am home sick again, for the 3rd day in a row. Nothing is touching the symptoms - not dayquil, not nyquil, and not chloroseptic lozenges. And to top it off, my nose is shredded from using so many tissues. Normally, I buy Kleenex with Lotion (aahhhh) as they are the only tissues I can use on a daily basis without my nose turning as red as a radish. BUT, a month or so ago, I found out that Kleenex, and its parent company Kimberly Clark, is not a "green" corporation, so I stopped supporting them.

Not only are they not "green," they actually are harming the Earth at an alarming rate. Did you know that it takes 90 years to grow enough tree-pulp for a single box of Kleenex? Amazing. Kimberly Clark refuses to use recycled material, and they use approximately 3 1/2 MILLION TONS of virgin tree fiber each year. They clearcut forests, some of which are extremely old ("ancient" according to Greenpeace), and don't replace the trees for reforestation either. Crazy, isn't it?

So long story short, I am grumpy too :0)

Oh, and check out this link to NRDC. Its a wallet-sized guide to paper products to avoid and to buy when shopping. Good info.

My Life Is... cutting out the fat!

2 Weeks of our South Beach Diet down and the results are pretty amazing. Ivan has lost 9.5 pounds, and I have lost 12.5 pounds. WOW. I am about 7 pounds away from my first of many small goals. Its pretty exciting. A few of our friends are doing the South Beach Diet as well and they are also having great results. My grandma was even asking about it too!

This week we started "Phase 2" of the diet, where you start reintroducing "good carbs." Today for breakfast we got to have a piece of toast (gasp!). It tasted soooo good. We bought a brand from Trader Joe's called Ezekiel 4:9 (www.foodforlife.com). The company named itself after the bible verse which reads "Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself." The company uses those ingredients to make a flourless, and therefore low-glycemic, bread. Pretty cool! I guess if Jesus would ever endorse a brand of bread, this might be it... lol.

My next goal is to begin jogging. I hate running, but only because it is so difficult for me since I am out of shape. It has always been a goal of mine to be able to run for lengths at a time. Dropping a few pounds should definitely help with my endurance. I am looking forward to seeing how far I can push myself!

My Life is... better with teamwork

At my heaviest, a few years ago, I weighed about 50 pounds more than I do now. I have always struggled with my weight. I was doing really well on the weight loss bandwagon, but still had some more weight to lose before I hit my goal. Then I took a diet "break" and went to Vegas (drinking & buffets!) and on a cruise (more drinking & buffets!). I quickly put on 12 of the pounds I had lost. YIKES. Ivan and I have decided to get back on track and get serious about our health again. We promised that we would become a team, and support each other in our desires to be healthier.

This past week and a half, Ivan & I have been following our own version of the South Beach Diet... low carb, no fruit (for now), lots of veggies & lean meats. I used to be a vegetarian so I absolutely love the food. Ivan, on the other hand, has been having a harder time adjusting to it. He is not a salad fan and is leery of most health food and certain veggies (hello eggplant!). But we have been supporting eachother through the good (grilled asparagus at dinner) and the not so good (V8 juice at breakfast). I am really proud of him for sticking with this when it goes against every grain of his burger-and-fries-with-a-shake being.

I am really looking forward to weighing in after the first 2 weeks of our diet are up. Ivan has lost a few pounds and so have I. Stay tuned for our continuing updates! GO TEAM JOHNSON! :)

My life is.... a Journey

Journey (n) : an act or instance of traveling from one place to another.

I love the word "Journey." By its very definition, you can't be on a journey unless you are actively moving. It is something you DO, not something that happens to you. It is a promise that you are on your way to something new, and hopefully better.

I have been reflecting on my life a lot lately and have come to the conclusion that for a while now, I have been getting lazy. By that, I mean that I have developed a bad habit of letting life happen to me, without giving myself much of a say in it. That is so far from "traveling from one place to another." I think the excuse I have been using was that "if God wants it to happen, it will happen." I still agree with this wholeheartedly! But I also believe that we can get in God's way of trying to fulfill His divine will in our lives. That's what makes my journey so tricky…

There are many aspects of my life right now that are "traveling from one place to another." I am starting to get more clarity on where I need to move on certain sticky subjects that I have been avoiding. For a long time, whenever I prayed about them, the answer I got was "wait." Not getting pregnant? "Wait." Don’t like your job? "Wait." Can’t get motivated to get in shape? "Wait." So I stopped everything, sat down, and waited. And waited. And waited. And nothing happened. Well, it was obvious I missed the mark. So I prayed about it again and I got some serious clarity. God was telling me to wait, not to stop. When He said "wait," He wanted me to be patient because good things were coming, not that I wouldn't have to work for them.

Now, I am realizing that I can shape my journey and still be "right with God's Will." Yes, God carved the path of my life's journeys, but I will never get to the end of them if I sit still and wait for the finish line to come to me.