Motivational Monday - Back to Work

It's Monday everyone and I need some hardcore motivation.  After being off for the past week and a half I am dreading going in to work.  It's rather depressing.  Knowing there are a TON of files waiting for me to review, hundreds of emails to read and reply to isn't fun.

{SCHURRRRRRRTTTT}

Okay that's enough of the complaining. Today is Motivational Monday and I need to be motivating myself and whoever else needs the motivation to push on this week.

The day before I left for vacation I received this:

If you missed this picture it was from my H54F post.

This large piece of paper reminds me of how motivated and dedicated I am to myself and my family.  So to motivate everyone this week I will offer a little peek into my personal life and how I ended up with my Master's degree.

For my entire undergraduate degree and part of my graduate degree I was a single parent AND without the help of my parents (and sometimes boyfriend...[who is now my husband]) I would not have been able to complete both of these.  I sacrificed a lot to get where I am now and believe me it WAS NOT easy.  I not only was a single parent, but I worked full time and was considered a full time student [i.e. 12-15 semester hours each semester for my undergrad and 6 semester hours per semester of my graduate degrees].  Yes, those both say full time in bold and italic b/c I want to stress how big of a deal that is! Vacations always included me staying back to get my homework and studying in, missing family dinners, and postponing certain events in my life.  IT SUCKED!

I had to make the decision to do this and if I was going to do it I had to do it all the way.  After splitting from my first husband, which was an abusive and difficult relationship (still is difficult), I had no insurance and was barely making $10/hour for about 20 hours per week. I had to make a change. I refused to let my daughter grow up a difficult life. AND GUESS WHAT?!?!

I did it. I am proud. I am PHENOMENAL!

So, my motivation this week is to remind everyone that you can do it, you will be proud, and most of all, you are already PHENOMENAL!

Motivational Monday - Succeeding to Fail

This past week I tweeted about having the opportunity to FINALLY use my master's degree; possibly anyway.  In other words, I had a job interview. It was a promotion within my organization and I was extremely stoked to get it.  The whole reason why I went to school was to continue to progress in my organization, make more money, and finally live comfortably...right?

Once I interviewed, I second guessed my wants.  Sometimes more money, location, and better hours aren't always worth it.  This job would mean no more vacations to Disney World in the fall, no long weekends traveling to and from the dance competitions for Bird, pretty much no leave except during the summer months.  C'est la vie.

My priority is my family. Bottom line. End of story. Period.  I don't want to ever regret missing those dance competitions, screams & thrills from the latest attraction at the theme park, or anything else that allows me to cherish the little time I have with my young family.  They mean way too much to me.

This week let's motivate ourselves to remember what our priorities because success in not measured in the amount of money we make or the jobs we attain.

This Monday I leave you with a quote from Harry Lloyd:

Motivational Monday - Accomplish Something

It's Motivational Monday - and boy do I need that motivation.  I am proud to announce that I did finally accomplish something VERY BIG in my life over the past couple of months.  

I finished my Master's Degree!  [applauding myself]  Well, I technically finished in April but the University didn't confer my degree until May 31st.  I ACCOMPLISHED my goal of finishing graduate school!  HOORAY for ME!  And among everything else that was going on during that time couldn't have been more happier!  I am proud of myself and my accomplishment.  I did it all by myself and no one can ever take that away from me!

Next up - setting more goals that I can accomplish.  For me I have a few:

1. blogging more (given, I know!)
2. removing my deck and putting up a patio & fence
3. learning a foreign language 
4. working out at least five times per week....this has been difficult since I was so sick for so long

Henry Ford once said "There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something."  Although, I believe that happiness is not just accomplishing something, [it can be so much more than just that] I believe that he makes a valid point.  Accomplishing something brings you joy and a sense of relief.  So this week let's "Accomplish Something!"

Let me know what you are going to accomplish this week!

Missing Blogger --FOUND!

Okay so I went MIA for a week...Sorry about that! Between everything going on with the car, work, and school, I just kind of lost track.  Plus, it was Bird's birthday and I needed to plan that also (post soon to come about the theme and stuff...[super excited!]  But, I am back and ready to get moving on this.  I have a whole lot of posts coming soon including: an update on Weight Not, b/c people still ask me about it, and update on my Jillian Michael's 30 day shred, an awesome society I am a part of, new themes for more days of the week, and much, much more! I have so many ideas I just need to sit down and organize....maybe I will do a post on organizations as well!

Fashion Friday is today& I will have a post up & ready for ya!

Overwhelmed & Motivated to move on!

Nicole

A new year, A new me!

So, I basically when MIA for the past year. There has been quite a bit that has gone on that I really haven't been able to keep up with everything.  For starters, as many of you were aware, I am in graduate school and I am happy to report that I have officially started my 12 week count down.  In 12 weeks I can officially say I am done with school and I will hold a Master's of Management.  Yay me!! It has been so hard to keep up with a family, work, grad school, and everything else in between let alone a blog and YT channel!

My daughter has been asked to join a dance team! Yay her! Which has also taken up some of our time. Pictures soon to come! And I have a ongoing bout with pneumonia that has continued to kick my ass!  I am convinced my constant illness has something to do with the new building my company has recently moved us into!  They used to dissect and study dead bodies in here! Gross right?!?!

Oh yeah! I am back to my natural hair color...Dark Brown...and I am growing it out! Hooray for it being to my shoulders.  Ok, Ok, I couldn't just do the completely dark brown look right off the bat. I put some "peek-a-boo" highlights underneath to soften to look considering I have been practically blonde for years!  Next appointment though, I am ditchin' the blonde and opting for red (I think)!

Anyway, I wanted to post because I am ready to get moving on this blog again. I really did enjoy this and my YT channel.  It was my gateway from reality and escaping my life for an hour or two a day!

So here is the plan, I will continue to revolutionize the way I run my life just as I did for the past two years (P.S. I am out of debt...with the exception of school, so yes I did what I needed to do for last years revolution...can I get another YAY ME!).  This blog will still focus on health, weight loss, fashion, beauty, and all the other girly stuff.  But it will also include my new revolution for the year!  That post is to be coming soon!  I am truly excited about it.

YouTube will still remain on hiatus. I really dislike all the haters out there and I hate having to monitor all the stinkin' comments they make.  So, blog readers encourage your friends to come here. If you are here from my YT channel, stick around, there will be more tutorials and fun videos on here than on YT.

I have lots of ideas...I just need to put them into action! Let me know what else you want to read about too!

Missing blogging & to future blogdeavers!

Nicole

Followers???

...well apparently I have more than I know.  Yesterday I recieved a message from Christy asking how I was doing since I haven't posted in a while.  I was surprised! I didn't know I had more followers than what is shown on blogger.com!  It was nice to hear that someone was actually interested in how I am doing on the WeightNot program.  So here a shout out to Christy and her Co-Worker who have been checking in to see how I am doing.  Thank you guys (and everyone else that I do and don't know are following) for supporting me through this program it is much appreciated!

So what have I been doing & how have I been....Well beside case analysis' for grad school, dance practice, softball practice, dinners and work, I have been rather busy but doing excellent.  I ran in to a road block, where I wasn't loosing as much as before (and I wasn't cheating) but now we are going strong.  For the past 3 days I have been loosing a pound a day.  So here is the total weight loss thus far....

19.4 lbs!

I feel good! I will be hitting the 20+ lbs mark probably tomorrow.  I am excited to see the results and everyone is now noticing the difference.  I can happily say I am in a size 8 pant and those are becoming loose on me.  Lately, I have been a bit more hungry than normal, and I don't know what that's all about, but I am not deviating.  I have 2 more weeks and I am going to finish the hard part of the diet with a bang!  I am hoping that I see, 5-10 more lbs lost.  Can I get a Woo Hoo! I have 14 days left.  So to recap I am at day 33 and it is 19.6 lbs lost.  The diet says that you can loose up to 30 lbs, so far I seem to be on the right track.  Now, everyone's body is different. But, I know that for me loosing weight is difficult and if I can do it I know others can too.

As long as I know there are followers, I will keep posting.  After the 14 days are up, I have a 3 week transition period.  At that time, I hope I continue to loose the remaining weight (only 17 lbs to go) and I can start exercising.  After that, my next project will be Celtrixa.  So stay tuned to see me reach my goal and see if Celtrixa really works. 

Thanks to all the visual and not-so-visual supporters!

Where have I been?!?!?

Week three is now down for the count and I can't believe I haven't been on here since last Wednesday!  I have been so busy with grad school projects, dance, softball, and just life.  But  I have been going strong on this diet!  This week I was a little bit more hungry than usual and I cheated on Saturday night by having a sliver of ice cream cake and OH BOY did that treat me badly!  I was in the bathroom for an hour that night! Never again will I cheat!  I don't know why my body reacted that way but it did and it wasn't pleasant.  The good news was I still lost .2 the next weigh in, still I do not reccommend cheating! It kicks your butt! Literally! LOL!

Here is the total weight loss so far!

13.4 lbs!

Much better loss this week than last! This week, I was also WAY more comfortable and I am starting to visually see my results all over rather than just on the scale!  I am loving it.  Anyway, off to do more grad school work!!! AHHHH

Slow down, Grad School, & Not Enough Time in the Day!

Ok I think the slow down of the weight loss is coming.  They warned me that there may be a period where the weight flucuates and some days I will loose a couple pounds and other days a couple ounces.  So that can be a little discouraging but I am still willing to continue to work at it.

So today will be a short post, because I am in Grad school and I have been working away on this conference topic which is really a opinion topic but we have to find scholarly references.  UGGHH! So I must carry on with that! Which means, that since I work full time, the only time I have is when I get home, and I must get dinner going for the rest of the fam and then make mine, plus do homework, housework, baths, etc....therefore, there is not enough time in the day for me to do all this.  P.S. I am EXHUSTED!!!

So the detox phase is over, but I am starting to really like the tea.  I have to save it for the transition phase though, so I am looking for some tea to supplement the coffee I am missing in the morning. 

Anyway, got to go finish up my homework!