Build a BADASS Booty

Okay so I realize that it's kind of weird. I have been practically an absentee blogger yet here I am posting not one, but THREE different posts in one week!? Okay I repeat, where is Harmony and what did you do with the body??

I know guys, BUT it's like I said in my last post, sometimes I get like a fear or anxiety about blogging when I haven't blogged in awhile. Like the pressure is REALLY REAL YA'LL.

But fear is dumb and I'm SO not about that life! Anyway that is so not the point of this blog post! I'm here to talk about booties ya'll! Okay I'm here to talk about more than just booties but I mean not all of us were born with an internet busting Kim Kardashian Booty:

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Also, yes. You're not imagining it. That totally just happened here on my holistic blog!

I've always been more of a booty girl than a boobies girl. That's just my life, I'm pretty flat chested and I'm honestly totally okay with that now. PCOS made my boobs even smaller (thanks testosterone) which made me realize that it's okay. But for about 99% of my life I just wanted bigger boobs or even implants with smaller legs/hips/butt area! But alas THAT AIN'T ME! And I'm good with that now! Now just because a bottom half is "bigger" doesn't always mean that it's NICE. If you want a nice booty that takes work. PERIOD. Ballet works the booty like crazy ya'll. No joke. So I lucked out there in my earlier years I suppose. But then sitting on my ass day in and day out for years "helped" by booty grow in the not to nice kinda way. It was the 'none of my pants fit' kind of way. No one likes that way.

I think it really goes without saying at this point that I have had more than my fair share of body image issues. What can I say, being a girl growing up in the ballet world does wonders for body image issues and the psyche (please do note the sarcasm). I actually had this epiphany about 3 years ago when I realized that I would never actually be satisfied with my body. I knew I would never been thin enough for myself. I would never be fit enough for myself. I would always want more and always want to change things.

It was in that moment that I decided to just ACCEPT MYSELF THE WAY I AM.

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What an insane concept right!? No one actually does that! UHM yeah actually, they do. It's called making a decision and sticking to it. What's really amazing though is what happens once you make a decision like that. Because once I decided to accept me for me (SHE LIKES ME FOR MEEEEEE - name that tune!) I actually started seeing the biggest changes in my body! Or maybe it was all in my head all along, who knows! But suddenly I knew I was alright! In fact I was better than alright, I was AWESOME.

It has been a lot of hard work learning to love myself regardless of how I look and it's still something that comes up within me especially with the whole PCOS acne thing! I'm far from perfect but I try to accept myself the best that I can! SO I decided to put this whole I love myself - self love & acceptance thing to the ultimate test in the form of registering for my first (and probably last) BIKINI COMPETITION.

The Beachbody Classic. *insert I just shat myself face emoji*

Yep, I'm gonna be one of those crazy ass looking women with a dark ass tan and muscles strutting their stuff in a super skimpy bikini on stage in front of thousands of people.

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Okay so full disclosure and a few things I want to mention about this before you get all crazy and judgy on me:

1. I am not going to over train OR starve myself - my plan is very simple and healthy.
2. I may or may not get a spray tan. I honestly haven't decided yet. Regardless it will NOT be some crazy shade of orangy spray and I'd have to find one with ingredients that don't make me hurl.
3. I'm not trying to win anything or prove a point. I just want to challenge myself.
4. I'm doing all my training with AT HOME WORKOUTS. YEP! Details on this below.
5. I do NOT plan on bulking like crazy either. True Story.
6. I still have a lot of research to do! I know a lot but I'm not an expert on this yet! There's so much more to learn!
7. I DO have a super awesome plan in place with help from some of my fav celebrity trainers (Autumn Calabrese, Sagi Kalev, Chalene Johnson, & Leandro Carvalho) that makes me really excited!

After reading all that you might be asking yourself "why does she want to do this!? I don't get it!" The answer? I want to push myself towards a goal that scares the shit out of me. That's right. Doing this really freaks me out. The thought of walking on stage and posing for 15 seconds while flexing my muscles in a bikini is just like OMFG ABORT ABORT! Dancing in a tutu is one thing. This is another thing entirely and it scares me! This tells me that I need to do it.

It also has motivated me like crazy in my workouts! I'm already pushing so much harder and seeing results a lot faster because of it and I'm still a good 17 weeks out or so! I'm honestly so excited because I have come up with a killer plan and I want to share that with you and let you in on it! Well at least part of it. I can't reveal ALL my secrets right off the bat!

Right now this month (April 2016) I'm working on PiYo - mostly my live rounds and some of the at home program as well. I also have my last performance of the season this month so I don't want to overdo it! Then I'm moving onto Hammer & Chisel again but with a twist! I'm doing a hybrid by also adding in Brazilian Butt Lift which is a super fun dance based program!!! I'm going to continue with Paleo but also incorporating a twist when I get closer to competition time! Aaaaaaand I'm not just going to dish my whole plan to you since it's top secret, so that's all I'm going to share about it for now!! The rest of it is reserved for a select few to know! HINT: you could be one of the few!!! Keep reading! 

HERE'S WHERE THINGS GET EXCITING FOR YOU!

Okay so obvi I don't expect you to want to get as shredded as you need to for a bikini competition however, I do want you to challenge yourself. Summer and bikini season IS right around the corner and I totally want to help you feel confident in that swimsuit. It's not just about losing weight, I want you to FEEL confident as hell in your own skin! SO with that being said, I' decided to turn my master bikini plan into an online group for you to participate in with me each month until competition time. And this first month is going to be called BUILD A BADASS BOOTY starting on May 1st!

"But it's the beginning of April Harmony so why are you talking about this NOW!?" WELL I want to give you the chance to get the promotional price for these programs (you can get Brazilian Butt Lift fo freee yo! I'll tell you how) AND by registering for the group as an early bird (before April 15th) you're going to get SPECIAL and exclusive content from me plus extra gifts! I mean who doesn't like free stuff? I know I do! Plus guys I already have some spots filled. This groups capacity is going to max out fast and I want you to get your spot before they're all gone! I can only take on so many people! But YOU should be one of them!

I want to back up a second though. When it comes down to it, I don't think it matters even a little bit how you look in a bikini. What I DO KNOW that matters is how you FEEEEEEL on the inside and the outside about yourself. Making these good decisions for yourself, deciding to eat right and nourish yourself with nutrients along with exercising changes you not only physically, but mentally as well. Literally your body chemistry CHANGES. More than anything guys this is really a great opportunity for you to start getting healthy from the inside out and learn to treat yourself right.

I know everyone is in a different place. If you've already been healthy but just need an extra push then this group is for you. If you've hit a plateau in your journey then this is for you. If you want to really see results & you're ready to commit to YOU then this is for you. If you're ready to love yourself then this is for you. If you want to change how you feel in your body then this is for you. If you want to change your freaking life then this IS FOR YOU!!!! This group is for everyone from all walks of life! I so want to help you achieve your goals but there's only so much I can do without your participation! So let's do this thing together!

Did you know that over 70% of people who start a workout program never even finish it? Did you know that this percentage significantly DECREASES when you work with a coach? The real beauty of it is, I essentially work for free guys. You don't pay anything extra for my services as your coach. So why do it on your own when I can help you FO FREE!? Literally all you pay for are the products and I can guarantee you, they're worth every life changing cent. They actually come with a 30 day money back guarantee also. SO there' that. But seriously though. They're AMAZING and I don't see why you would even consider using that guarantee. I'll go a little more into the nitty gritty details below.

I'm going to be sharing all of my workout tips, tricks for success, exclusive Paleo quick start meal plans, my own tried and true methods, recipes, and seriously just SO MUCH MORE to get you feeling healthy! This is going to take place in this new free app for challenge groups! Cool right!? Enrollment just requires the purchase of a challenge pack through me! Like I mentioned H&C is on sale ya'll!! If there was ever a time to purchase it, now would be that time! I made this little video about what comes in a H&C challenge pack. It's short and here for your viewing pleasure! Remember that a challenge pack ALSO comes with 30 crazy nutrient dense SUPERFOOD MEALS in the form of Shakeology! 

Hammer & Chisel on it's own is a seriously amazing program but when you combine it with my favorite superfood dense nutritional shake Vegan Shakeololgy plus portion control containers and everything else I mentioned above, the possibilities are endless! Here's a quick video about it in case you're still on the fence! This video was a turn off for me personally. I honestly find them to be cheesy but I mean... It gives you a good idea of what the program is all about! I swear these workouts are flipping amazing!

I hope you enjoyed that video, and if not then that's fine too. Listen I don't want to make this post too long and you guys know me, I'm not into sales gimmicks or any BS like that. I do however, think this is a great opportunity for you to try some AMAZING products with my support and killer plan! Don't let fear or hesitation, or BS EXCUSES hold you back. You CAN do this! You are worth making the effort for! There's really no downside to joining us besides the fact that there will be some hard work involved. But nothing worth having comes easy! That's just life! Trust me you wouldn't want it if it was just handed to you!

SO on that note I'm going to sign off. I'm pooped. It's 1:53 AM but I was too damn excited about this group to go to bed without blogging about it FIRST! If you have any questions you know where to find me! You can always just comment below, you can email me (thepaleoballerina@gmail.com) OR you can find me on facebook, or Instagram (both are linked on this page).

Yeah okay my energy is officially gone, night night time!!!! Love you guys!

xoxo - Harmony 

The Opposite of a Blank Space

This may be the first time that I've come to this blog without anything specific to say. It's in times like these that I am reminded of those awkward social situations where you're forced to make small talk with people that, well let's be honest here, you'd rather not talk to. You want to be friendly, and people can be great but this whole process just makes you uncomfortable as hell. For me personally, once I'm comfortable with someone I can be very talkative and I have a lot to say. But I swear it can take me forever to get to that point with people. At one time in my life when I was a youth leader I had sort of "trained" myself to be more outgoing and make better small talk. In a setting like that there's no room to worry about what people think of you and worry about how uncomfortable or awkward you feel because you're instead in a position to SERVE others and therefore your main concern becomes them. You find yourself wondering: Are these kids comfortable and having a good time? I hope I'm helping them feel included and not awkward and uncomfortable". It's too bad though that in this life unused skills tend to dwindle or disappear. Like that saying about dull knives needing to be sharpened regularly in order to be useful or something. I know I butchered that saying but I think you get the idea. Well now I seem to have lost the "small talk" skill. I'm no longer a youth leader, I don't do customer service anymore, and I no longer work in a setting that I have to talk to anyone at all really. All of these facts together make for my dull butter knife social skills. Maybe I'll get them back one day but I'd rather keep my mouth shut and express myself with dance anyway... Okay that was a big ol paragraph about well... Nothing really.

Let's start over... I still have 3 different posts that I've "promised" to you, my imaginary readers. At least as far as I can tally it's 1. The year 2014 in review. 2. Different supplements I take and why. 3. Recipes. Now really I'd like to hear from you on which one you're most interested in but I'm trying to be realistic here, I know I don't really have that kind of following. On another note the thought of typing up recipes doesn't sound very fun to me. I'm the type of cook that either strictly follow a recipe, or I wing it in the kitchen and more often than not things turn out delicious. If you follow my Instagram (which you should @thepaleoballerina) I try to post a lot of my meals there. Again, not recipes but it can give you an idea of how I eat and maybe inspire you to eat healthier (if you don't already, or if the idea seems impossible or daunting). Switching gears again (I swear this is how thoughts flow in my brain... Seemingly random but totally connected in my mind)... I'm anxiously awaiting my follow up appointment with the functional medicine doctor in February to have the results of those blood tests that made me so sick. I'm beyond ready to figure some stuff out and start down a new path of healing.

I was just thinking this morning about FODMAPS. Accoding to Google FODMAPS are: "Fermentable, Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides and PolyolS. They comprise fructose, lactose, fructo- and galacto-oligosaccharides (fructans and galactans), and polyols (such as sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol and maltitol) that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine." Essentially FODMAP intolerance means that your body is incapable of digesting or absorbing certain fructose that is present in many fruits and veggies including but not limited to: avocado, cabbage, garlic, onions- and the list goes on and on. Anyway the reason I bring this up is because I was saying to myself while driving to work "Self, you could not handle giving up garlic-which is probably my favorite seasoning ever- or most FODMAPS. You already have a super restricted diet and most of the FODMAP items are foods you eat all the time. You're not even using black pepper right now... You love black pepper!". Then I realized that I also at one point in time thought that I could "never give up sugar" or "never go paleo" or "never do AIP" or never not eat pasta or cheese or BREAD again. But I did it. And I continue to do so every damn day. I have accomplished all of these tasks DESPITE my negative self talk at one point in time saying that I couldn't.

Then it hit me: I can do and survive anything. Now I don't mean that in a crazy I could jump off a bridge and be just fine kind of way but I mean that any obstacle I come across I sure as hell am always going to do my best to fight and over come it. Does that mean that this road to health and recovery has been easy? HELL NO. Does it mean that I haven't strayed from my healthy ways here and there? HELL NO. Does the fact that I'm not perfect and this shit is really hard and frustrating SOMETIMES mean that I'm going to give up? NEVER. Honestly this lifestyle IS sustainable. It takes time to get used to and it's an investment in yourself but once you're on the straight and narrow for awhile, the thought of tarnishing all your hard work just isn't that appealing. Yes my health isn't perfect and I'm working hard to fix my crazy endocrine (hormonal) system I still see the results. One day when I gather the courage I'll do a post about my skin and how I've worked through all of the trouble and torment it's caused me... It's tough for me to show some of the pictures and make myself so vulnerable but if it will help someone then I'm willing to do it. (Lookie here I'm promising another future post... I'll get to em eventually). No matter how clear my skin is I don't think I'll ever consider myself as someone without acne. More like I'm someone who's skin is under control at the moment. And I'm not going to lie, right now I'm in a pretty good place with my skin but it is SUCH a delicate balance and I have by no means mastered it yet because it's a never ending process! Just like the road to health. It's not a destination but rather a journey and a process to stay in balance.

Back to where I was originally going with the whole functional medicine doctor thing... Depending on what my blood tests say -even if the news is the opposite of what I want to hear- it'll be okay. I'LL BE OKAY. So believe me when I say that we are all so much stronger than we give ourselves credit for, and if you want to achieve something then by all means try your best to make it happen, I know that I'll continue to do so. And who knows you just might succeed, so don't give up!

One final thought to leave you with... I've been dreaming a lot more recently. Maybe it's part of this AIP Whole 30 thing (today is day 18 btw *happy dance*) but I had a dream last night that I ate a Big Mac. Let me take a second to mention that in my former unhealthy life I never really liked Big Macs. I was always more of a dollar menu girl, or better yet a Burger King Whopper kinda girl. Also yesterday while scrolling someone's "paleo" Instagram I saw a picture of a McDonald's breakfast sandwich that someone ate (YUCK). I don't know if any of that is relevant to this dream but I thought you should be fully informed. Okay back to the dream. After eating a few bites of the Big Mac I then proceeded to FREAK OUT because I had eaten gluten. Like I went into straight panic mode as if I was going to die or something. That was the rest of the dream. Me freaking out from gluten exposure and being in disbelief that I had eaten something so evil as a Big Mac. HAHAHA even thinking about it now makes me legit smile, my brain is so silly sometimes. I have no clue what it meant or if it had any meaning at all but dreams fascinate me in more ways than one. In my conscious dreams I  dream of one day not working a desk job and being able to follow my passion full time. OH and more tangibly I dream of gaining the courage to do some ballet auditions. Makes me super nervous just thinking about it but I know I have to overcome that if I want my dreams to become a reality. So please keep dreaming my friends and never stop.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.... Man I wish it was Friday instead of Thursday and I wasn't sitting here at work... Shhh I didn't say that... Yay Thursday!

xoxo - Harmony

Autumn Nights

"I heard the wind rustling the leaves on the trees outside, making their newly crunchy brown existence fall to the ground. I felt the cool autumn breeze come through the window lightly brushing my curtains forward into the room revealing the crimson autumn sunset outside. For a moment my warm indoor sanctuary became one with the cool autumn evening outside. I intuitively cuddled closer to him, his body both comforting and warming. I closed my eyes and inhaled the scent: fresh apple cider along with a light smell of nature mixed with his natural scent. It's in these moments that I appreciate having all of my senses. In this very moment I am enjoying smell, hearing, vision and physical feeling. All I was missing right now was a sense of taste. I quickly kissed him than took a sip of my warm apple cider. I felt entirely content in this space of time. This moment right here, right now. I may not feel content forever, but right now I'm choosing to fully experience this moment with every one of my senses. This is the essence of bliss." I hope you enjoyed that very tiny short scene above I wrote for you. I am so excited about this recipe that I wanted to post it to my blog right away! But I first wanted to paint a picture for you with my words. It's amazing how using a small amount of creativity can morph into mountains of creativity that you forgot even existed within you. Anyway, onto the important stuff - Spiked (or not spiked) Homemade Apple Cider! I was inspired to make apple cider at home and then spike it with the delightfully cinnamon-y whiskey: Fireball. I surely hope you enjoy this! Also if you want to mix it up you could make the apple cider along with pumpkin puree and have a delicious pumpkin version of the same drink! Recipe is below! I apologize for my terrible photography skills...

-Homemade Spiked Apple Cider-

Ingredients:

5 Cups Fresh Apple Juice

1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Ground Cloves

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon (or more to taste)

3 Allspice Berries

9 tbs Fireball Whiskey (optional)

Add all ingredients into a pot and heat till boiling, stirring occasionally. Once juice is simmering set timer for 10 minutes and continue to stir on occasion keeping a close eye on it. If you are omitting the fireball whiskey I recommend adding at least twice as much cinnamon while this simmers.

Once the 10 minutes are up, strain the cider through a cheese cloth. In each mug add 3 tbs of fireball whiskey (add less or more if you'd like - 2 tbs is equal to one shot - we found this to be a good taste ratio). If you want to serve cold then serve over ice. We enjoy this warm on a cool autumn evening.

Again I'm no professional recipe developer, but I was inspired and this turned out great! Have a cup of this cider with some Cinnamon Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread from The Paleo Kitchen. (Both the recipe and the book are linked BTW) Enjoy!

Mysterious Ways

The line currently playing through my head over and over is from the new Ed Sheeran song Thinking Out Loud that says "I'm thinkin bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways, maybe with just the touch of a hand. Well me, I fall in love with you every single day...". There are so many lines in that song that I just LOVE. Plus his gorgeous voice and the melody. I've been listening to it nonstop. You should really go listen to it and watch the video because there are some seriously killer dance moves up in thurr as well. That's where today's title is from. And that's where I am today. It's kinda gloomy and rainy outside, I'm at work, and just loving this song. I really just LOVE it. #swoon When I listen to it I gets chills, and think about how lucky I am to have an amazing man in my life. We're coming up on our 5 YEAR marriage anniversary which is on Tuesday October 14th. Originally we wanted to take a trip at the end of October to celebrate but we put in our passport applications a bit too late so it looks like we'll be going early next year, maybe in January or February, we'll see! Regardless we have a long weekend coming up for Columbus Day and I'm excited to spend it with him doing something or other! I also might go to a winery with some of my work friends. Also it looks like I might be baby sitting my bestie's son. He's so cute, he makes me want a baby of my own. Like now. OH and I'm lucky enough to have been selected as a bridesmaid in my friend Lauren's wedding which is next weekend. So there's a lot of busyness coming up very soon. We are meeting this weekend to hash out some of those final details. I can be so mushy sometimes it blows my mind. Literally while driving in the car yesterday I was thinking about Lauren and David getting married, and just how happy I am for them and started crying a little. Not bad crying by any means. But just little happy tears. I really only get like this when I'm alone. I have trouble showing my softy touchy side when I'm around other people. Dunno why. Maybe a defense mechanism or something, who knows! But hot damn talk about silly girly crying. But I really am so happy for them. For realz.

Moving on...

Right now is that awkward 'in between' season where not ALL of your normal TV shows are back on but they're gradually making their way back into the screen through cable, hulu, netflix and otherwise. I watch a lot of shows so it's pretty exciting to see them all come back and actually have new episodes sitting in my hulu queue. Also over the past month or so I've watched an entire season of Supernatural, Psych, and almost the entire SERIES (season 1-7) of Californication. I'm not quite done with that one yet though, but still... Pretty impressive no? That's what I've been doing instead of blogging and cleaning...

Also  football is in full swing and we've been going out to enjoy happy hour and watching the games a lot. OH and amazing cider discoveries at Total Wine- The Fall Harvest Woodchuck tastes just like Apple Pie! Yay for apple and squash season!

     

The seasons are a changing! The color of the leaves are starting to change, kids are back in school, the future looks bright and gosh I have to wear a jacket outside! I LOVE autumn. I used to hate it... Like really I hated it because it meant that the weather was gonna start getting cold which is just yuck right? But what a pessimistic way of looking at a season. While I must admit that I still loathe the winter time and all the cold sadness it brings, I've learned to love and enjoy the in between time. I now appreciate so much about autumn. Cute autumn decor for my house, nice burgundy and rich orange colors, leather jackets, regular jackets and blazers, cute boots and scarfs… Gosh I mean the weather is beautiful! Lightly chilly but not freezing. We're not at winter hats and mittens yet (THANK GOD). This season reminds me of new beginnings. New and exciting things are to come. Time for change and forward progression. Life goes on. Summer ALWAYS ends and autumn always comes (at least if you live in this area).

Speaking of new beginnings a few personal notes on this topic:

1) I am back on track with my eating! YAY! I'm finally getting back to SUPER clean eating after a small break of not AS clean eating. Woop! I am back on the wagon ladies and gents.

2) I've been thinking a lot about my future... Doing research and contacting people in hopes of taking ballet classes again. I want to perform. I need to perform. In theory I'd like to join a small ballet company but first and foremost I need to get back into the studio for plain ol' class. It's been WAY TOO LONG and I miss it. I'm trying to make this happen but gosh it's so much harder than it sounds. Plus the thought of taking class literally gives me anxiety. I care WAY too much about what other people think.

3) I've been THINKING about partaking in a bikram yoga competition in January... The studio I attend Pure Om Fairfax is starting competition training... And gosh I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to give it a try. I din't expect to place, I know I'm not the best, but I still think it would be a fun and awesome challenge. But I worry SO much about people judging me. I worry about telling the instructors that I'm interested and maybe they will think I'm crazy for wanting to try. Maybe they'll call me out for not attending class often enough or not having a practice that's "regular" enough. I don't know... But it's swirling in my head!

4) I got a new piercing! I got my tragus pierced. My beautiful sister in law Johanna has had her's pierced for years. I wanted to get a cool funky piercing and after weighing my options I decided that I wanted to get it pierced too. And I apologized for copying her now years after the fact. The piercing place gave me $10 off my next piercing. I'm thinking of getting my cartilage re-pierced on the opposite ear (I had it done with a piercing gun last time instead of with a needle-TERRIBLE idea... It was infected nonstop) and getting the third hole on my left ear to match my right ear. You wanted all these details right? ANYWAY it's exciting. I haven't gotten anything pierced since my belly button and that was in 2008. So yeah. The day after I got my tragus pierced (which also in case you were wondering did not hurt very badly at all) it bled kind of a lot. But Google tells me that's normal and I'll be alright... Progression of the pics below from left to right... Minutes after getting it done, the day after, then bleeding the day after, and finally, TODAY...

   

I have been cleaning the piercing twice daily, first with a warm epsom salt soak, than I spray with an organic raw apple cider vinegar and water mixture. 1 part ACV to 2 parts H2O should do. I didn't want to use anything unnatural on my ear and I think it's doing quite well!

5) I want to start this one off by saying that my husband Ernest pretty much hates tattoos. However, when our precious puppy Lulu was hit by a car at the young age of 2 and died a few years ago (it'll be 3 years on Jan 26th) he agreed that I could get a small one to commemorate her. There were other conditions to this as well, but I won't go into those! Long story short, I planned out a tiny paw print outline for my wrist but never went through with it. I have recently picked back up with the tattoo planning for my wrist but I'm thinking of going in a different direction. I loved my dog, and I will love the rest of the dogs I own (at least I sure as hell think I will) but I worry that a paw print tattoo- however meaningful- can be cheesy. Now if you have a paw print tattoo, please take no offense, I am just speaking for myself and my body. Because of this I have a lot of pressure to make this one tiny tattoo encompass all the meaning I need it to. Including love for my husband, my pets, my future children, myself, and this life... So I've been doodling and pinning. We'll see where it all goes! New beginnings right!

6) My coworker (and friend) and I were looking into possible career growth plans and we are both sort of interested in contracts. I already do some work with contracts and she and I looked up a certificate program which got us both super excited! However, the excitement quickly dwindled for reasons I can't speak of in a public setting... But why do life and career choices have to be so damn hard sometimes? Blahh

7) Another of my friends and coworker's had pretty major surgery last week on the chest area and I (and many of her other close friends and family) was helping her with the recovery. It's pretty cool to help someone make their life better. Not that I really did ANYTHING but making the tough decision to make a big change to make yourself happier (wow I just said "make" way too many times). Inspiring no? It can be so hard to know what we want and to just get over our fears and go for it. She's super happy now and damn I think she was brave as hell. I hope to have the same bravery in different ways for myself...! Like the whole ballet and bikram thing I mentioned above...

8) My car was rear ended in July (see below) and I've been going to the chiropractor 3 times a week pretty much since then. I am so happy to say that today was my last day of therapy on my neck and shoulders! This feels like an accomplishment at this point. Lame I know, but it's something. Also my car is finally back in tip top shape. YAY! :)

I suppose that's it for now really. I have some recipes to post for you my readers, and at some point and I promise I will get around to doing it.... At least eventually...! OH I should have my first Stitchfix waiting for me when I get home! I post about that more in detail later! If you actually take the time to read my ramblings, just know that I do in fact appreciate it...! I do! So thank you.

MUAH! Until we meet again.... Harmony

Third Time's the Charm

Third times supposed to be the charm right? Well I can’t say that’s true for everything since sometimes the first times perfect and who knows maybe the third is your worst attempt yet! That may indeed be the case with this post as I feel a strong lack of direction already. But hey… Here’s to hoping *raises cup of tea towards screen* Last week must've been a rather eventful week for me because I’ve found myself wanting to write a new blog post daily… But I’m trying to space them out a bit and leave at least a day or two between posts!! No one wants to read this much stuff coming out of my brain and I’m okay with that. I’m not sure if I mentioned in earlier posts but a few weekends ago I was out of town in NC with some of my lady friends and we participated in a fun bachelorette party with sunburns, ocean water, hot tubs, drinking -lots of it- some good ol ‘never have I ever’ and skinny dipping. All in all it was a great weekend despite the fact that I was actually not really looking forward to it beforehand. Sometimes my brain gets in a funk and I just have to deal with it and move on.

Moving on… Before leaving for the trip I had the bottoms of my hair highlighted a lighter blonde to create an ombre effect. I love how it turned out! This is one of the few ways I still use chemicals… (plus perfume and eye makeup) I get my hair professionally colored. Typically this is all dandy but with being at the beach and having all sorts of sun and waters drying out my hair I wanted to add some moisture back into it. So I put coconut oil in my hair. If you ‘no poo’ let me just say DON’T PUT OILS IN YOUR HAIR. I have yet to have a good experience with putting oils in my hair while no pooing because it doesn’t freaking wash out. You’ll have oily ass hair for days. DAYS I SAY! I promise I have a point behind this… I was walking around with hair that looked almost wet yet dry at the same time and gosh my hair felt gross…. At least to me. I didn’t exactly ask other people to touch it so who knows what they would think. ANYWAY I whipped out my hand dandy laptop and googled some oil free hair masks that are compatible with no pooing. And this blog is what I found: ALMOST EXACTLY.

I decided to go with the one containing ingredients I already had on hand… That’s avocado, ripe banana,  raw honey, and ACV. I drew a bath with Epsom salts (I do this almost every night before bed to get a dose of magnesium and relax) while putting the goop in my hair. It smelled pretty gross and looked quite yucky as well… As you can see below...

But hey I want nice hair so I’m willing to make the sacrifice. Get ready to see a lot of pictures of my face… And hair. Since I documented my step by step process in pictures! Get excited.

I sat in the bath watching The League for about 20mins than proceeded to RINSE the mask out of my hair per the instructions. I repeat: rinse. I rinsed for about 15mins or so just to make sure I got all of the goop out. I towel dried my hair and went to bed. When I woke up I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to wear my hair down until I no pooed again so I just put it in a nifty little fishtail braid. I can post later on how to do these but there are a bunch of great YouTube tutorials like this one you can watch to learn! That’s what I did a few years ago! Regardless, in my opinion I THINK this might have worked better if I had no pooed afterwards which I obviously didn't realize. But my hair could just be defective too. Totally possible.

And finally after doing bikram three times, Rinsing my hair twice and no pooing twice, these are my results… My hair does feel softer which is nice. I just wish the softness had come sooner like right after I performed this (kinda yucky) hair treatment… But hey now I know for the next time!

My coworkers took me out to a late birthday lunch at coastal flats on Tuesday (9/9/14) so it’s too bad my hair didn’t look ballin then. But I’ll survive I think. The food was delicious- I got a goat cheese and pecan salad and added rare tuna steak to it. SO YUM! I didn’t catch a picture because the lighting was terrible, my bad guys. I think there have been enough pictures in this post anyway. Lastly, Addy cakes got a bath:

And guess what? Addy no poo’s ALSO! That’s right… I use baking soda and ACV to clean my dog and her coat is freaking fantastic. Helps with itchiness and is a flea repellant also. That’s a win, win, win, win I think. No chemicals for me, no chemicals for my dog…. At least as much as I can…

Okie too much rambles here, I hope you found this post somewhat entertaining and/or helpful! Now on to greener pastures…. Speaking of green pastures and fermented cod-liver oil (the two things are synonymous in my mind) I think I might write about supplements next…! We’ll see where my brain takes us! But don't hold me to it!

Xo Harmony!

It takes two baybayy

Hello there again! I hope you enjoyed my first post, from here on out I’ll try to mix things up a little bit. I’m going to give you the past few days in review and try not to get too long winded! Who knows I might throw in some more tid bits here and there but I’m still new to this blogging thing and trying to figure out where I fit into this blogosphere and where I want things to go. Okay well I worked from home on Monday and the hubs and I went to Glory Days for a post birthday Happy Hour to watch the Monday night football game. It was Giants Vs Lions (I’m a patriots fan so you can stop reading right now if that offends you). Full disclosure here: I’m in a fantasy football league with my husband and some of our friends. I’m the only female in the league and last year I did HORRIBLY despite honestly having a pretty good lineup. We just finished week one with the games last night in which I had two players (Victor Cruz on the Giants and Larry Fitzgerald on the Cardinals) in play. They’re normally awesome players mind you best yesterday? They each only get me TWO POINTS! Needless to say I lost my game this week. My team is where good player’s careers come to die.

Another important note, while blogging and working from home yesterday (Monday) I had the show “The League” on all day in the background. That show makes me want to be amazing at fantasy football and gosh just makes me want to learn more about all the individual players. Super crude show. Also super funny if you like that sort of thing. But I’ll say it’s not for the sensitive type as it’s a bit… UH let’s say ‘out there’. But I love it! This is what I get for growing up with only brothers… Some guy like tendencies and sense of humor.

                                                                           

Okay enough about that… SO back to Happy Hour… I was not a very good healthy example at Happy Hour! I had two tall Angry Orchards (Gluten Free Apple Cider) on tap (they were only $3.99! Too good to pass up!) and I decided to splurge since it was my birthday and on my birthday the craziest thing I ate was freaking SUSHI. Which yeah, not so crazy besides the rice and sugar they put in the rice mixture. But I digress…. At happy hour we went with some boneless grilled wings (I’m sure the sauce had some sugar and crap in it) off the gluten free menu and I got a USDA Prime Beef and Bacon Burger on a Gluten Free bun with a side of steamed veggies. No condiments and no cheese. Now normally I’m SO good about being grain free. But again back to the whole wanting a birthday splurge thing, so I got a GF bun damn it! Now here’s where it really gets bad… We got a Gluten Free Chocolate Torte for dessert. Yes I know haters gonna hate, but it was quite yummy! You know what the funny thing is though?

               

I had so convinced myself that I was missing out on these things that I wasn’t eating that I thought having moderately SAFER or healthier versions of them would make me happy. In reality while eating them I realized that I would’ve been just as happy if not happier with a damn lettuce wrap. I also would’ve been totally happy not having the dessert. I’m not taking back the drinks though, those I enjoyed the hell out of to the last drop.

But I ended up feeling gross. My body physically felt gross because I ate lord only knows how many shitty things for me in those dishes, but then there came the guilt. The ‘why the hell did I do that to myself?’ I know feeling guilt about food is wrong, but my relationship with food is oh so complicated. I currently have an amazing relationship and control over my healthy food. My paleo/primal/ REAL FOOD lifestyle is awesome. I’m super happy with it honestly, despite the occasional frustrations and the fact that I’m still getting to know my body and working out the kinks it does make me happy living this way.

That being said I’m not over feeling guilt when I “cheat” on my ‘diet’ (I hate calling it a diet). For me “cheating” can even mean having something sweeter than a green apple or a green tipped banana (from 21DSD). I have hormone problems that I THINK are related to insulin, and my thyroid, therefore I try to avoid sugar in every way shape and form. I also take some supplements but I'll go into that another time. I feel good when eat this way. Sometimes I honestly don’t know the difference. But I know when I eat something sugary I feel bad which tells me something.

Then of course there are the breakouts. Possibly for me the MOST frustrating part of my “cheats”. It’s frustrating to see people being extremely unhealthy but having perfect skin. That’s literally 99% of the people I encounter in life. I love those people (at least the ones I know) but man! How annoying is that!? What I wouldn’t give to just have clear skin WHILE being healthy and making good choices. Sometimes the bodies we’re given feel like a freaking curse. But in other ways I know that I’m super blessed with my body. Who knows, if it wasn’t acne than maybe I would struggle with something else? Who’s to say really…?

Regardless this went in a direction I didn’t initially intend! One last note on my complicated relationship with food and why I like to describe it as complicated. If you remember from my previous post, I’m a ballet dancer on the inside. I may not dance regularly currently but there’s no getting that out of your system. I had YEARS of constant dieting in unhealthy ways and still never feeling good enough. I had years that I just knew I was huge (I wasn’t actually) but I couldn’t get over that. I’m glad to be in a better, healthy place now but there’s still a little person inside who’s terrified of getting fat. These things take time to heal and I’ll get there.

Sheesh I wanted a lighthearted post talking about just how much fun I genuinely had with my husband at happy hour (and boy did I have fun) but this took a different turn. Eating what I did was a liberating experience because realized that I’m NOT missing out. I’m making the decisions I want to make and they’re good ones. I’m doing what’s best for me and I don’t need to justify this to people, nor do I need their approval to eat what I know is best for me. I don’t need the crap in general. Period.

So my fictional readers, today appreciate your diet. Whether it be healthy or maybe not so healthy. Embrace the fact that we’re here on this earth and we can CHOOSE what we freaking eat. We are privileged as hell to even have information available to us to make good decisions. Don’t be ignorant, do your research. Care enough to think about what you’re putting into your life machine-your body. And just because you “can’t” eat things that others “can” doesn’t always mean you’re deprived. You may surprise yourself and realize that the things you keep wishing you could go back to eating and fanaticizing about… *Hold on make sure you’re sitting down for this one* aren’t actually as magical as you remember them to be. Sometimes, you might not even like them anymore because you KNOW BETTER, and so do your taste buds. And you like better. Hell, you LOVE better. And honestly that’s all we can ever strive to be: better than we were before. Don’t strive for perfection, perfection is in an opinion. Strive for your personal better, strive for forward progress or upward progress, or sideways progress but strive for progress. Live for your happiness, not a happiness defined by anyone OR anything else. Strive for YOU.

Rant over *drops mic and walks off stage*

Xo! Harmony