Project Runway Soiree

We've been so excited about Project Runway Season 9, that a couple friends and I had to have an impromptu first episode viewing party about it!

Besides popcorn we munched on...

oreo mini cheesecakes,

chocolate chippers with oreos inside (They are as good as they sound!),

and cake pops shaped like spools of thread (my friend, Jessie, was responsible for these, as well as most of the party's aweseomeness).

We drank soda in glass bottles (always tastes better--seriously though)

with stripey straws.

For decor Jessie whipped up those cute embroidery hoops (see top photo) and had this banner made--so classic PR.

Of course we loved every minute of celebrating the return of Heidi, Tim, Michael, and Nina; wowwing over some of the ingenious designs and rolling our eyes about the hideous ones. So fun!

What about you?
Are you a fan?
Did you watch?
Who do you like so far?
Do you think that girl from Trinidad really just learned to sew? (We think she might be fibbing a little...)

Happy weekend!
xoxo
anne

choices: now and later

me, mom, kate (little sister)

My alarm's set. Stretchy pants laid out. Runners ready to lace up. I'm hiking with my mom in the morning. We've been doing it pretty regularly; about once a week for a month or so. It's heavenly for many reasons - brisk air, quiet city, happy birds. Plus, we talk all the way to the peak, which is interesting and therapeutic for my compressed soul.

Last week at the summit, I looked at her and told her how much I was loving that moment together and thanked her for taking such good care of herself. This is why I want to honor my body with whole foods and exercise and rest, I reminded myself. I want to stand on top of a mountain with Lily in 25 years and snap goofy pictures on our iPhones - or whatever space-age gadgets we have by then. (I'm not showing you the goofy pictures we snapped last week because i look like Mr. Ed on sedatives ... not cute)

All the choices my mom made when she was twenty, thirty, forty five - they're all trickling down, mattering to me, now. Her energy and vigor make my life richer and brighter. Her strength makes my burdens lighter. It is joyful to stand on top of a mountain with her, knowing it was our own legs and lungs that carried us to the top. She matches me step for step. We even ran a (tiny) bit of the way. She's amazing.

Gotta get to bed. As much as I love our morning hikes, it is always hard for me to pry my heavy eyelids open and drag my lazy bones out of bed.

xo,
em

Nest Building

image

read this poem, will you? and tell me, do you love it as much as i do?

On Nest Building
Carol Lynn Pearson

Mud is not bad for nest building.
Mud and sticks.
And a fallen feather or two will do
And require no reaching.
I could rest there with my tiny ones
Sound for the season, at least.

But
If I may fly a while--
If I may cut through a sunset going out
And a rainbow coming back
Color upon color sealed in my eyes--
If I may have the unboundaried skies
For my study
Clouds, cities, rivers for my rooms--
If I may search the centuries
For melody and meaning--
If I may try for the sun--

I shall come back
Bearing such beauties
Gleaned from God's and the world's very best.
I shall come filled.

And then--
Oh, the nest I can build!


i adore it. i've been thinking about it a lot lately. some of us fight the urge to do too much, be too many places, pursue too many interests. others of us are so very content just to stay put in our nests that we miss chances to enrich and enlarge ourselves; we don't hear the melodies or see the rainbows and the people in our nests miss the trickle down of that beauty. i identify more with the latter. the flying and searching require a lot of effort. (and a babysitter.) so lots of times i just coast, complacent. and quite content. and mostly i think that's just fine, a gift even. but every so often i feel my soul tapping, nudging me to nurture the me that exists outside of my husband and my children. knowing that the more there is of me, the more there is for them.

and i want a nest full of sunlight and melody.

- em

do you feel this?
what do you do for you?

Best of: Beauty Products

I never thought it would happen to me, but lately I've been looking in the mirror and thinking, 'should I be using one of those regenerative eye creams?'

And ever since mineral make up came out I've been curious, but have never tried it.

Mostly I stick to my tried and true products...Clinique moisturizer, savex lip balm, It's a Ten hair serum, and whatever complimentary make up comes in my yearly Clinique bonus!

But lately I've been wondering what better products might be out there that I'm missing out on.

What do you say? What are your MUST HAVE beauty products?

--anne

Mothers' Day Wish

Bloomers,

We weren't going to start talking Mothers' Day quite yet, but we are really excited about this and wanted to share...

Have you heard about the Mother and Child Series by J. Kirk Richards? (I posted one of his images on Monday.)

It is a beautiful, inspiring series and perfectly timed for Mothers' Day. I'm asking for one and probably going to buy one for all of the mothers in my life (sorry Mom, surprise spoiled). You can even get them as greeting cards!

The neat thing is that not only are the prints very, very affordable, but 50% of the proceeds are going to Camp Kesem, benefiting children whose parents have cancer.

You can learn more about the project here and visit the shop here.

xoxo
anne

***all images by J. Kirk Richards***

Easy French Pedi with Bloom Guest Sally

Yay! Sally is back with another great DIY (remember her great tutorial on cutting bangs?)! This is making us so excited for spring!

Sandal season is just around the corner, and even though I would love nothing more than to go sit in a comfy chair and let someone else pamper my toes, money and time usually demand that instead I sit on my hard kitchen floor and give myself a pedicure while trying to keep my 3 year old from painting her hands, feet, and the kitchen table with bright pink polish.


It may not be nearly as relaxing to do a self pedicure, but that doesn't mean my toes have to look like a DIY polish job. And today I'm going to show all of you how to do a super easy french pedicure that will look awesome!

Before we get to the part about making your toes pretty though I have to put in a plug for your feet. Don't forget that they need some love too! A little exfoliating and some lotion will make a big difference. I keep a small jar of this sugar scrub in the shower for daily maintenance. If your heels are super bad after a long winter though, my sister swears by this little tool.

OK, here is everything you will need: White fingernail polish, acetone, a small glass dish, a nail brush or old makeup brush (a regular paint brush will also work just not as well) and a clear top coat. (oops, I forgot that for the picture)

It's best to have an old towel under your feet while you work not only to protect the floor, but you will also need to wipe off the brush occasionally.

Start by pouring a very small amount of acetone into your glass dish. Don't use plastic!

Next brush some white polish on the tip of your nail. Don't worry about being neat or clean.

If the polish is a little streaky like mine is, go ahead and put on a second thin layer.

Next, dab your brush into the acetone and then wipe it along the edge of the dish to get rid of any excess.

After that, wipe the brush along the bottom of the polish making a smooth line. Wipe off the excess polish onto the towel and make sure to clean off the brush with acetone when your done so the polish doesn't dry on there. Now would also be the time to clean off any polish that got on your skin.

It should end up looking something like this, although the line can be as thick or thin as you want. That part is personal preference.

Once you have your white line on all ten toes, simply put on a layer of shiny clear polish and you are sandal ready!



One last note about acetone. If you have some left over in your dish when your done, don't dump it down the drain. Instead, put the dish out of reach of children and let it all evaporate. And since someone is probably going to ask, I'm assuming you could use non acetone polish remover as well if that is what you have already. I've just never tried.

Thanks to Sally for Blooming with us today. Check out more of her greatness HERE.

The Help

I was raised in a household where self-sufficiency was prized, and help rarely hired. My father (a surgeon) seemed to know how to do everything, and would take apart a broken toilet, pour concrete, or tune up a small tractor without missing a beat. He is 70, and still mows his own lawn.

My mother cleaned her own house no matter how busy she got. I always had the feeling that this was a morally superior thing to do.

Here in Chile, having help is morally superior. People need the work, and though the economy here is stong, it ultimately rests on these menial, service jobs. I wish there weren't so many people in the world working for such low wages, but by hiring someone legally and treating them fairly and kindly, I can at least make a difference for the one.

Having a maid here is very affordable. I can have a maid (we call them nanas here -- doesn't that sound nicer?) come for a whole day, cook, clean, tend kids, and help with anything I can figure out how to ask her for in Spanish, for the price of about two hours of cleaning in the U.S.

Of course, I could choose to be the only person in my neighborhood with no nana (many households have two), but it would mean hours of cleaning every week -- more than in the U.S. because almost every room in a Chilean house has a hard floor, which takes longer to clean than wall-to-wall carpeting, and we have no window screens which means more bugs and more dust. Also, because everyone has a nana, there isn't a lot of sharing of childcare. (I could ask a neighbor to watch one of my kids while I get a haircut, but she wouldn't be likely to ask me to do the same, because she has a nana.) And if I turn up at school for a program with a toddler (which sometimes still happens, since I don't have a nana every day) I am often the only one, which frankly is a little embarrassing, especially if the child is disruptive.

Besides, having a nana is helping all of us learn Spanish (she speaks NO English). We get to experience her delicious Peruvian food. She irons beautifully (I almost never iron, but now I'm going to have to start because I love having crisp clothes to wear). When I go to the grocery store, I can leave kids home with her and when I get home, she brings everything in from the car for me -- I've never asked her to do this, it's just the way things are done here. The whole thing is kind of dreamy, all in all.

So we're living this fun, vacation-y life and not cleaning our own house. Am I just here to gloat about it? No, I'd never gloat! And it does have a few downsides. There are days when I just don't feel like having someone in my house -- it's always a huge relief when she's finished for the day and it's just us again. Having a maid is making me and my kids a tiny bit lazy about cleaning up for ourselves, which I think in the long term would not be good -- we try to still be responsible for putting our own things away, but teaching my kids to clean toilets and mop floors will probably wait until we're back home in a couple of years. Further, it can be difficult to find a good maid, and I can tell you from the horror stories I've heard that, kind of like with husbands, a bad one is much worse than none at all.

But we're lucky and have one of the good ones. Let me tell you what I love about it. I almost never apologize to someone who comes to my door about the state of my house (which I did regularly before). Likewise, I can have someone over without much notice, because my house is pretty clean almost all the time.

I have more time, and (this is the really important part) can focus on things that matter. I'm more present with my kids, I get the basics (exercise, scripture reading, etc.) done way more often, and I can sit and visit with a friend or write on my blog without feeling guilty about the housework that is waiting for me.

My (American) neighbor friend says simply, "I'm a lot calmer." For a mother of young children, could there be anything better than that?

So here's what I'm wondering. Could you use a little help? Few people in the U.S. can afford the kind of help I have here, and I know for many people having any help at all isn't financially realistic, but give it some thought -- it might be worth saving up a few dollars each week by cutting back in another area.

There are people in the U.S. who are desperate for work, too. Do you know a teenager whose family is going to struggle to send them to college? My sister-in-law Jill likes to pick one out, train them in the ways of her household, then use them regularly for both childcare and cleaning. She pays well enough that the job is in demand, but not as much as you'd have to pay an adult or a cleaning service. It's always a sad day when the favorite goes off to college and she has to find a new one.

There might be a girl as young as 12 in your neighborhood who would love a regularly scheduled job that might incorporate both childcare and light cleaning.

You can hire a service, or a private individual, to clean once or twice a month for around $20 an hour in many areas. I know that sounds like tons of money, but having someone come "catch you up" once in awhile feels amazing -- it's better than a pedicure, and costs only a little more!

I've learned a lesson -- lots of lessons actually -- from having sweet Carmen in my home, and the biggest one is this: I don't have to do everything myself. It is ok to have help. In fact, in some ways, having help has made me a better mother, and a better person. Don't be afraid to give it a try.

I'm sure some of you already have this figured out. Please feel free to share your experience -- how have you made having a little help affordable? What does your help help with? Any suggestions for finding good help?

(PS On a marginally-related note, have you read the book The Help? Highly recommend. Imagine the irony of reading it, as I did, while your maid is cleaning your house.)

Anne's 6 Tips to Maternity Wear

At the end of my third pregnancy, I feel like I finally know what to wear during gestation that helps me feel cute and doesn't break the bank. So I thought it would be fun to share some of my tips for maternity wear.

Tip #1: It's all about the cardigan

If you have some long, stretchy tees and lots of cardigans in your closet, you can outfit yourself nearly every day without ever stepping foot into a maternity store. I love these 'boyfriend' cardigans for winter, and 3/4 sleeve cardis are great even in warm weather.

Tip #2: Channel you inner Johnny Cash

In other words, black is the best! It's slimming, it hides all those layers of camis, etc., and it looks great on everyone.When I need to dress up for an event I wear my black cardi and black maternity slacks and then finish off the outfit with red shoes and big earrings. Makes me feel like a million bucks.

Tip #3: Take advantage of great maternity lines

In the last few years, lots of major retailers have introduced maternity lines. I like what Target has to offer, and it's usually inexpensive enough that you don't mind if it only lasts one pregnancy. Old Navy and Forever 21 both have maternity lines as well. My personal favorite is Gap Maternity. I snagged these 2 gray tops on clearance a few months ago and have been thrilled with them. Gap Maternity seems to have nailed the tailoring for pregnant bods.


Tip #4: Invest in one good pair of maternity jeans

This is the one I'm most passionate about. I bought these maternity pencil jeans at Gap and I absolutely love them. I literally wear them EVERY SINGLE DAY (I have to wear sweats on laundry day!) and they are worth every penny spent.

Tip #5: Accessorize, accessorize

No matter how enchanting pregnant bellies can be, sometimes we just want to draw people's attention somewhere else! Be bold--shake up a simple outfit with bright shoes, a big scarf, or some snazzy jewelry. (clockwise from top: Allora Handmade necklace, GAP scarf, J. Crew flats (bought for a song at DownEast), Tribal Jewelry earrings, Darlybird earrings)

Tip #6: Share the love
The way I see it, my maternity clothes don't belong in a box or a closet--just waiting for my next pregnancy. A whole wardrobe of maternity wear ought to circulate through a family of sisters or group of friends. This pregnancy I was gifted a huge box by my friend, Debbie, and it has totally saved me (and my pregnant s-i-l, Melissa)! And last summer I sent my cousin, Joan, home to AZ with my maternity jeans, which she mailed back to me when her baby was born. Now I'm ready to pass them off to the next in line. It's brilliant. It's like the sisterhood of the traveling panel pants.

Special thanks to my friend, Stacey, for photographing me and my swollen self. If you are in the Southern Oregon area and looking for a photog, drop her a line. She is wonderful to work with. Also, thanks to Jessie, the baby wrangler!

Food Rules

Might I recommend a book for your consideration in this season of diet-starting and food-related resolution making?

Michael Pollan's Food Rules.

Says Pollan, "After spending several years trying to answer the supposedly incredibly complicated question of how we should eat in order to be maximally healthy, I discovered the answer was shockingly simple: eat real food, not too much of it, and more plants than meat. Or, put another way, get off the modern western diet, with its abundance of processed food, refined grains and sugars, and its sore lack of vegetables, whole grains and fruit."

Pollan's rules, which cover everything from quantity of food (not so much) to types of food (things that will rot, mostly plants, especially leaves) to when you should eat (when you're hungry, not when you're bored), are all rooted in common sense. Many of them feel like heirloom wisdom from your great grandmother. But they also seem sort of revelatory and fresh.
Pollan's simplicity and wit give the rules a catchy-ness that sticks. Rule 19, for example, has been in my mind since I read it: "If it came from a plant eat it. If it was made in a plant, do not."

Here's a little sampler to whet your appetite:

Rule 24 - Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms and plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows and pigs).

Rule 14 - Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.

Rule 46 - Eat 'til your hunger is gone, not 'til you're full.

Food Rules. Good stuff. I think you'll love it.

Leaving Less to Default

For reasons I'm still unsure of, January tumbled in with gusto this year. No doldrums here. On January one I sat up late in bed, my mind astir with possibility and desire to act more like the boss over my life, to leave less to default.

I read from a beloved little book of inspiration:

"and the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
- anais nin

I'd like to blossom, I thought. I scribbled a few thoughts in the notebook beside my bed.

*record ideas and inspiration
*write more. read less.
*learn about things that matter and people who inspire. (Totally smitten with this series of interviews, for starters)
*don't ignore your creativity
*your time is precious. don't waste it

I don't know what's going to sprout, but when it's ready to push up and poke out, I don't want a gaggle of excuses and mental clutter in the way. I guess you'd call these my New Year's resolutions. In some ways I think these are just preliminary things that I need to work on to let bigger, more important things happen. If that makes sense? For now, these feel like good priorities. I'm still working out some smaller, more measureable sub goals to track progress and help me stay the course.

It's so inspiring to hear about other peoples' goals and plans; I'd love to know what you're thinking about and working towards. Are you a Jan 1st resolution maker? What are your goals this year? How do you plan to break them down into achievable bits and avoid February abandonment? Where do your desires for change stem from? Make no mistake about it, we're not just posing these questions rhetorically, we really want to know what's on your mind for 2011.

************** YNAB giveaway open thru the weekend! Enter below. *****************

Repost: G is for Gumption

Hi Friends! We hope your Holidays were lovely and that you've got swingin' plans for New Years as well. We're only sort of half-way back from our blogging vacation; for the next few days we'll be reposting some treasures from the archives that will be new to some of you and reruns for others, but hopefully they'll bring new insight and inspiration regardless. First up, Danielle's clever spin on New Year's resolutions...

Last January Danielle took a different approach to resolution-making. We loved it so much that we asked her to share some thoughts about it at Bloom as resolution-making season is upon us. As always, it was a treat to get a little taste of what's rolling around in that exceptionally creative mind of hers...

Resolution

To say that I am not a list maker would be incorrect.

I make lots of lists…mostly as a way to quiet my buzzing, helter-skelter, mind.

My lists rarely get check-marked. I am a goal finisher, but not a list finisher. And, when it comes to self-improvement, I tend to think and work in ebbing and flowing ideals rather than easily checkable lists.

So at New Year’s resolution time, rather than making big lists of things like: “Run a marathon”, or “Lose 10 pounds”, I focus instead on a single word that represents the ideal I’d like to be the overall theme for my year.

I got this idea from my clever mother in law.

It works well for me.

Mindful. Last January I’d had my first baby. I was trying to soak up every ounce of her baby-ness that I could. I wanted to just be with her, with my husband, in my home. I wanted quiet, and my own thoughts. I wanted to be un-swayed, unaffected by the outside world. I just wanted to focus on things that mattered for us. I wanted less mindless busyness, and more purposeful living.

And so the word I chose for my theme was, “mindful”.

It set the tone for 2009 beautifully. Focusing on that single word helped me really accomplish my overall goal for that time in my life, which was to simplify and be tuned in to our needs.

And now…despite my best efforts to keep her unchanged, my baby is one year older. She has grown from a tiny helpless being, to the walking, talking toddler who is sitting next to me eating pizza in bed as I type this.

She’s grown and so have I.

And this year will bring new things to our family. I can feel it.

Gumption. When I really consider the women I most admire and want to emulate, it's not their collective creativeness or intelligence or talent that inspires me most. Nope its something else…something more.

It’s their willingness to do hard things, to not complain, to make things happen, to use tools, to not be a victim, to replace the toilet valve without a man, to fear not, to try something new, to fail and try again, to take initiative, and to find a way.

It's their courage. It's their gumption.

So, as I face 2010, it's gumption I need…

Gumption I want.

If 2009 was a year of introspection and quietly residing within myself, then 2010 will be a year of breaking out, trying hard things, letting go of fear, and making things happen.

I can feel it.

2010…I am coming at you…with gumption.

What will the coming year bring for you?

****************************************************

Thanks to those of you who have already submitted photos and
links for our Second Annual Handmade Gift Parade.
There's still time to send us your photos, we'd love to see what you created.
E.mail your submissions to aplacetobloom at gmail dot com. Thanks!

Losing It

We're so happy to have Katie Cowan at Bloom today talking about her journey back to her pre-baby body. Our friendship with Ms. Cowan dates back to our college days - we were roommates for a spell - it's been fun to stay connected in the blogosphere. We felt like we were celebrating her weight loss right along with her even though we're many miles apart. Thanks for being here and sharing your story, Katie...

I've never been a skinny girl. I look back now and want to hit my high school self and tell me that I am beautiful and curvy and that I should love myself because I was actually pretty darn cute. But not skinny. I probably looked my best in college, that magical time of life where you can focus entirely on YOU. Man those were lovely days.

Now I am a mother of 3, living in Los Angeles and finally learning to love my body. I gained close to 40 (OK maybe 50!) pounds with each pregnancy. I never worked very hard at losing too much weight between each baby. One day I realized it had been over a year since my son had been born and I was still wearing the SPANX I bought shortly after his birth. And I can't believe I am admitting this, but I couldn't even fit in the largest size of any designer jeans! To me this was a fate worse than death!

Before (It is no accident I chose such a small picture!)

I decided it was time. Time to work on me. I was 28 years old and I knew it would only get harder the older I got. And it worked! I have had some amazing success and I am here today to share the 3 (actually 4) things that have helped me achieve my goals.

1. Exercise. Let's be honest, you really can't lose weight and keep it off without it. I am pretty much the least athletic person I know. In junior high my friends talked me into joining a basketball league with them and lets just say I was the ONLY girl who never scored in any game. Totally embarrassing. So not only do I not play any sports whatsoever, I hate going to the gym. Too many people staring and just getting there and finding child care, it's just too much work. I would never do it. My sister suggested some work out videos her friends were into. They are only 20 minutes long and they shed fat like you wouldn't believe! If you are interested you can see my fave HERE. I just get up earlier than the kids and then it's over with and my day isn't interrupted. I found that for me as long as exercise isn't a hassle, I can get it done!

2. Eating less. That's all I did. I eat whatever I want, just half of the portion I was eating before. At first this was hard, but after a while my body got used to fewer calories and now that is just how I eat, and I have never felt better! This has been the hardest party of my new lifestyle but it has really been interesting to learn how to listen to my body's cues and to stop eating when I am actually full.

3. Support. It is nearly impossible to change your lifestyle and lose weight without others to join in or encourage you. My husband has been great during all of this. He never in all of our 9 years together made me feel anything less than beautiful but when I decided it was time to lose the weight he has been behind me 100%. He is great at cheering me on and celebrating with me when I reached a new milestone. My friends have also been very supportive, always telling me how great I look and how proud they are of me. They have also been doing the videos and we love to talk about all of the workouts we do!

4. Timing. All of this happened during an incredibly stressful time of my life. I was dealing with some pretty difficult issues and I know that it was partly because of this I succeeded this time around. Stepping on that scale every week was a really high point for me. It gave me a sense of control and satisfaction that I wasn't getting anywhere else. I have come to realize that it really has to be the right time for you mentally and emotionally for this to work.

My total weight loss was 40 pounds. I look and feel better that I have in many years. I am even thinner than I was when I got married!

After

There is simply no way anyone can lose weight exactly the way I did it. You have to find the things that motivate you. You have to look at your schedule and your self control. Maybe the gym or running or swimming is for you. Maybe you need a stricter diet, like Weight Watchers or something. I am just hoping that by sharing my experience you can get some ideas that can help you improve the way you live. Good luck!

-Katie

Rachael's Exercise Tip #4: Find A Buddy

Rachael's back with her fourth and final tip for creating and maintaining an exercise habit. We're so thankful she took the time to share these suggestions with us - most helpful! And we'd also like to give Ms. Rachael a virtual high five for completing a half marathon last weekend; well done, girl!

Tip #4: Find a buddy.

In my opinion, this is perhaps the strongest guarantee of success. I like having an exercise
buddy for three reasons:

Companionship. As a mother of young children, it’ s so nice to have the chance to talk
to another woman and compare notes on what we’ re doing with our lives. It’s easy for
me to lose track of friends because I get so sucked into the daily mayhem. Exercising
with a friend ensures that I have time with a friend! And I must tell you, the best part
of training for a half-marathon with my husband was that I had him all to myself for
two hours every Saturday morning when we did our long runs. It was really a bonding
experience for us, not just in achieving a big goal, but in having that much time to simply
talk and enjoy being together. Perhaps the best part about exercising with someone else
is that you often get so caught up in enjoying their company, the time just flies!

Consistency. There’ s something about knowing that someone else is waiting for you to
show up that motivates the most exhausted among us…we just don’ t want to let someone
else down! This is especially effective in the pre-dawn hours of the morning when your
bed looks soooo comfy, but you know your friend is waiting out in the driveway.

Competition. If I am exercising by myself, I’ m tempted to slack off a little when I’ m
tired. But if I’ m with another person or a group, I push myself just that extra little bit so
I’ m not the weakest link, so to speak. And each time I push myself, I get stronger. And
because I’ ve done it once, I know I can do it again.

Remember these tips as you create your exercise habit:

1. Do something you enjoy.
2. Start slow and build up.
3. Find a time that works for you.
4. Find a buddy!

I wish you all the best of luck and many, many endorphins! Thanks, Bloom friends—it’ s
been a treat!

Exercise Tip #3 by Bloom Guest Rachael

Rachael's back sharing the next exercise tip in her series. If you missed the previous ones, you can find them here, here, and here. Great stuff!



Tip #3: Find a time that works for you.

Here’s the deal: you are never going to exercise if you don’t make time for it. Plain
and simple. If you are planning to “fit it in somewhere,” odds are that it will never
happen. Sit down (really, take a minute to focus!), consciously consider your day and the
demands of your daily life, and plan out where you’ll exercise. The general guidelines
are at least 30 minutes of cardio, 3-4 times a week.

Here are the things I know about myself:
1 ) I like to be showered and dressed before the kids are awake.
2 ) Once the children are in bed at night, I like to read.
3 ) If I exercise late at night, I am too energized to sleep.
4 ) I am very grumpy in the morning. I have to be up well before anyone else so that
I have enough time to wake up before I need to change diapers, divvy out sippy
cups, and comb hair.
5 ) I have a treadmill, so I can exercise during the day, but I would rather spend that
time with the children instead of shooing them away from the treadmill belt.
6 ) I can go to free aerobics classes at my church with my children, but they are
during my baby’s naptime.

For me, the best option is to exercise first thing in the morning and be back before anyone
else is up. Ultimately, this is part of why I run—I can do it on my own time frame rather
than needing a team or a class or a teacher.

Look at your options. Consider your schedule and the needs of your family. Make a
reasonable plan that will integrate smoothly with your daily life. Keep in mind that
taking the time to exercise does your entire family a favor—your physical and emotional
health will only benefit them!

Exercise Tip #2 by Bloom guest Rachael

The lovely Rachael Bailey is back today with her second tip on how to make exercise a habit. (If you missed the first installments of this series, make sure to catch up here and here.)

Tip #2: Start slow and build up

Let me share a story with you: when I was in high school, I decided one day to go for a run. It was snowing outside and I hadn’t exercised since the soccer season ended, but I figured I’d be fine.

I’m sure you can imagine the aftermath: I got out of breath quickly and I kept slowing to a walk. My muscles burned. I felt dispirited and miserable. I gave up because I couldn’t achieve my ideal goal the very first time I set out.

After the birth of my second baby, I decided to try running again instead of my normal elliptical-and-weights routine. This time, I started small with a half an hour of repeats: I ran for two minutes, then walked for two minutes. Week by week, I added more running time, until I was running for the entire half hour on the eighth week. When I ran my first half-marathon in April, I used the same principle in my training: start slow and build up. When I went to my very first yoga class, I didn’t expect to be able to pretzel myself up like the instructor. But week after week, I could feel my flexibility and strength improving: I was content with the small successes along the way to my overall goal.

The point is, there is always going to be a difference between your capabilities now and where you’d like them to be. The key to success is creating a realistic plan for getting from Point A to Point B. If you want to be able to play tennis for half an hour without stopping, great! Work up to it so that you can play that half hour one day, and the next day, and the day after that too. Add another lap to your swimming routine, an extra mile on your bike, or another twenty crunches. Then add more the next week, and the week after that, until you’re at your goal**. (Then set a new goal!)

Don’t expend all your energy in one burst—that will simply make you sore and frustrated. The key to creating the habit is this: start slow. Build up.


**One note: if your goal is to lose weight, I would strongly suggest that you consider taking your measurements as well. Since muscle weighs more than fat, it’s likely that you’ll lose inches before pounds.

Exercise Tip #1 by Bloom Guest Rachael

Yay! Rachael is back with her first of four tips to help you make a habit of exercise in your life.

Tip #1: Do something you enjoy—and switch things up.

Every time I talk to my mom about running, she shakes her head and says, “That just doesn’t sound like fun.” I explain that I love it because it’s such a good calorie-burning value for the time, but she’s not convinced. But here’s the thing: my mom goes to yoga every day. She takes long walks and bike rides. Her exercise activities are things that she really loves, not something she does—but dreads--because it’s “such good exercise.”

Don’t feel like you should swim because that’s what your husband does, or you should play tennis because your next-door neighbor loves it. Find what you love. Explore your options. Take a few classes. Keep in mind that you don’t have to do the same thing every time you exercise; cross-training is actually better for your body and helps develop different muscles and prevent injury. As a runner, I need yoga to help counteract the hamstring-shortening effect of my runs. And my legs may be getting a great workout, but an aerobics classes always reminds me that I need to spend extra time on my arms.

I live in a town where the university and the community center both offer fitness classes, in addition to the gyms. There are adult soccer and softball teams, running clubs, biking clubs, triathalon-training groups, yoga classes, and all kinds of dance and martial arts classes for adults. Start looking in your own community—I think you’ll find that the myriad of options is amazing.

Remember, you don’t have to commit to one activity for the rest of your life (or the rest of the week!). Try something new; revisit something you love. Take the chance to make your exercise time something that you really enjoy and look forward to as a respite from the not-so-pleasant bits of your day. As you become more fit, you’ll likely find that your choices broaden even more. Start with a walk around your block, and you may be surprised at where you find yourself in a year!

Creating an Exercise Habit by Bloom Guest Rachael

One of our basic tenets at Bloom is "keeping your sparkle." I don't know about the rest of you, but for me, part of feeling sparkly is feeling healthy, and exercise is a critical part of that. We were thrilled when Rachael Bailey volunteered to share her wisdom about fitting regular exercise into a busy life. This 5 part series will give you some great suggestions for creating and maintaining an exercise habit.

When my husband and I are having a difference of opinion, he frequently suggests that we take a walk together. Inevitably, by the time we get back home I am calmer, more willing to compromise, and generally in love with the world.

The secret? Endorphins.

When I hear the word “exercise,” I think of a bunch of women in leotards and sweatbands, jumping around to ‘80s music in an effort to lose weight. It’s not exactly the most appealing image, and it sounds like something you’re forced to do rather than something you want to do. But I am passionately in love with exercise. Not because I like sweating or I love leotards, but because I love the way exercise affects my mind and body.

I exercise for three reasons:

Sustaining a positive frame of mind. I have found that my moods are drastically affected by endorphins. To put it simply, if I exercise, I am happy. I have tons of energy, I can accomplish all kinds of tasks quickly, and I am more patient with my children (this is a biggie, and it is literally like night and day). Scientifically speaking, exercise is one of the most effective ways to metabolize stress hormones. If I have exercised before the children are up, I can handle pretty much anything the day throws at me. If I’ve slept in, inevitably I have to drag myself out of bed and spend the rest of the day moping around feeling listless and woe-is-me.

Overall health. As a runner, exercising gives me increased lung capacity, more effective cardiovascular functioning, and better joint and muscle health. Yoga gives me increased flexibility. Due to vigorous exercise earlier in the day, I sleep soundly at night and drink lots of water during the day—both things that help me to feel even better the next day. And perhaps best of all, exercise has been shown to slow the deterioration of mental acuity with increasing age—something which I’m sure we’d all like to avoid!

Maintaining a healthy weight. Would I exercise if I didn’t have to? I’d like to think that I would, simply because I feel so great afterwards, but let’s face it, most of us need physical activity in order to offset the extra calories we’re taking in. Personally, I am happy to run a couple of extra miles if it means that I can eat those brownies.

I am so excited to be posting here at Bloom about creating an exercise habit—I’ll be back soon with four tips to make the goal a reality!

In the mean time, we'd like to know...
Are you a regular exerciser?
If so, what are your secrets to success?
If not, what are your stumbling blocks?

My favorite new thing

Will you indulge me in a self-compliment if I give you a good tip?

I had a really good hair day yesterday. Smooth, no frizz, hardly needed my flat iron. Now I don't know, maybe it just seemed like a ghd because I've done nothing with my hair all summer (who can stand to blow dry when you know you'll be in the pool half the day anyway?). But nah, it was more than that. Even though I've never been much of a hair product connoisseur, I am obsessed with the products I just bought.

The brand is called It's a 10. I use the miracle (miracle?! wow!) leave-in product first. After I towel dry, I spray it on, and run it through my hair with my fingers. After I blow dry (but before I curl or straighten), I use the miracle styling serum, which is awesome. You hardly need any, and it just gives you the grease you need to calm your frizz down. (This does the job of something like pomade, but does it so much better.) And I am telling you, I felt like a million bucks today. My hair was so much smoother and softer than usual.

So, if you're interested, check these out here:

Like we've said before, we're not bigtime product pushers, but when we really love something and think it makes life better, we gotta pass it on!

Happy Monday!

xo

anne

p.s. My husband just read this over my shoulder and said, "That is such a process. I can't believe you use two hair products." Ridiculous, huh? I've never done it before, but I'm totally convereted! xoxo

Putting Dull on the Shelf

Anne, Bec, Me (Em), Jill, Melissa - waiting for the doors to open at the Eclipse premiere

We talk a lot around here about how to be better parents, more accomplished individuals, more resourceful, less selfish, more organized, more domestic. That's all fine and good, but today I just want to challenge us all to have and be more fun.

I've never been much of a thrill seeker, usually content with small groups and quiet amusement. My predilection for sticking close to home and keeping things low-key intensified with the addition of children. And for the icing on the boring cake, I feel like recent circumstances in our family life have put so much pressure on me that I've started retracting, not in a nervous-breakdown-induced sort of way, just in a very pensive, inward-turning way. I didn't realize how utterly beige my life had become until about two weeks ago.

Exhibit A: We went water skiing with my family last month and I just pretty much talked myself out of getting in the water. Too cold. I'll just take care of the kids. Meh, what's the big deal about a few minutes behind a boat anyway?
Some healthy peer pressure from the fam got me to jump in, get cold, and wake-board. I didn't do a single trick. My board never left the water. I just skimmed in and out of the wake, across the glassy water, but I felt like a rock star. There are certain parts of yourself that only wake up with wind in your hair, sunshine on your cheeks, and muscles at work. I felt strong and vivid. And so, so glad I'd jumped in.

Exhibit B: Anne invited me to the 12:05 a.m. Eclipse premier last Tuesday night and in a fit of indecision met with peer pressure, I said yes. You guys, I am not a Twi-hard; I haven't even read the books. And this has nothing to do with Edward or Jacob. This has everything to do with doing something out of your ordinary. To be quite frank, I thought the movie was silly - don't hate! (I was impressed with Stephanie Meyer's creativity and ok, fine - a little charmed by Edward), but that whole process of setting up our camp chairs in the parking lot of Tinseltown, waiting for three hours in a huge line of silly fans, chatting, sharing pizza and eating treats, beholding the wonder of Jill & Bec (those women are contagiously optimistic and FUN), holding my heavy eyelids open 'til 2:30 in the morning and then coming home wanting to make out with my husband after watching a teenager pledge her heart to a vampire (wha??) -- all that stuff reached down to the "fun girl" inside me and shook her out of a drooling coma. (Thanks for the invite, Anne - and for making me stay when I reeeaaalllly wanted to go home at midnight :)

I am always inclined toward the "quiet night at home" option. Always. I will never be the life of the party. And that's fine. But I need to have more fun (my mother and sisters confirmed this suspicion for me - thanks, guys :).
Life is for living. Hair needs to be let down and windblown. And sometimes Hot Tamales need to be eaten at 1:23 in the morning, sandwiched between your favorite girlfriends at the local Cinemark.

Jump in.
Make memories.
Be fun.

-Em

p.s. I'd love to know what you think about this
and where you find yourself on the fun spectrum.

Friday Forum: Mother's Day Wish List (Day 4)

For me, Mother's Day is all about celebrating womanhood, which makes me want to dress up!

Em already mentioned cotton maxi dresses, which we looove. On my wish list is also a tailored dress. Shabby Apple is a great one to consider when dress shopping. Don't you just love these tailored looks?

If you're more into skirts, I always like what Down East Basics has to offer. My two current favorites:

Of course, the bottom line for me, is that my husband is more of the surprise type, so who knows...

And you--
What are you asking for this Mother's Day??