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	<title>A Merry Life &#124; Weight Loss Blog - Healthy Living - Fitness - Food &#187; Link Love &amp; Giveaways</title>
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		<title>Wedding Recaps &amp; More Links</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/02/wedding-recaps-more-links/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/02/wedding-recaps-more-links/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:24:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Link Love & Giveaways]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wedding]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=7360</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No exercise today. Just work and lots of it. But lucky for me&#8230; it&#8217;s FRIDAY! :) That means the weekends starts&#8230;. tonight! We are headed to the Auckland Lantern Festival tonight with a couple friends (remember last year&#8217;s festival?). I&#8217;m super excited because all the fun outdoor festivals during the summer here are one of <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/02/wedding-recaps-more-links/#more-7360'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/02/wedding-recaps-more-links/">Wedding Recaps &#038; More Links</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>No exercise today. Just work and lots of it. But lucky for me&#8230; it&#8217;s FRIDAY! :)</p>
<p>That means the weekends starts&#8230;. tonight! We are headed to the Auckland Lantern Festival tonight with a couple friends (<a href="http://amerrylife.com/2011/02/21/auckland-lantern-festival/">remember last year&#8217;s festival?</a>). I&#8217;m super excited because all the fun outdoor festivals during the summer here are one of my favorite things about living in Auckland.  It should be a fun start to a great weekend.</p>
<p>In blogging news, this week I finally started writing my wedding recaps! It&#8217;s taken forever to get started but I&#8217;m finally putting them up over on my wedding blog in case you are interesting to read them.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://amerrywife.com/wedding-recap-engagement-photo-session/">Wedding Recap: Engagement Photo Session</a></strong></p>
<p><img title="mary_kepa_promised-261.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mary_kepa_promised-261.jpg" border="0" alt="Mary kepa promised 261" width="500" height="333" /></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://amerrywife.com/wedding-recap-getting-ready/">Wedding Recap: Getting Ready</a></strong></p>
<p><img title="mary_kepa_joined-140.jpg" src="http://amerrylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mary_kepa_joined-1401.jpg" border="0" alt="Mary kepa joined 140" width="500" height="333" /></p>
<p>Eventually I&#8217;ll work my way through the whole wedding! :)</p>
<p><strong>Other thoughts and links:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>I&#8217;m <a href="https://secure.ppaction.org/site/Donation2?df_id=3772&amp;3772.donation=form1&amp;s_src=SGKFundraising_0112_c3_tw&amp;JServSessionIdr004=q6w9maa0ob.app214a">supporting Planned Parenthood</a> who recently lost their funding from Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation. I&#8217;m not overly political but I think it&#8217;s sad that the Komen Foundation did this and essentially stopped supported women seeking care at Planned Parenthood health centers. Cancer prevention and detection saves lives and for some people PP provides that. I know personally I looked into Planned Parenthood services when I didn&#8217;t have healthcare and hardly had an income. I know a lot of people get stuck on the issue of abortions but they do more than that related to health.</li>
<li>Another project worth supporting: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://bit.ly/yGVnXi" target="_blank">&#8216;Support All Kids Billboard Project by Support All Kids Bilboard Project&#8217;</a> They are collecting money to help counteract a negative billboard campaign in Georgia from <span>Strong4Life, a campaign by Children&#8217;s Healthcare of Atlanta, which is shaming and humiliating fat kids under the guise of making them healthier. Being called fat as a child doesn&#8217;t magically make you healthier&#8230; it just makes you feel bad about yourself. Been there done that don&#8217;t want to see kids being shamed into feeling bad about themselves.</span></li>
<li>Michelle Obama and Ellen Degeneres having a pushup contest.<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/89ww9aXrq90?rel=0" width="500" height="284" frameborder="0"></iframe><br />Yay strong role models! Yay pushups! </li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Have a great Friday &amp; weekend! :)</strong></p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2012/02/02/wedding-recaps-more-links/">Wedding Recaps &#038; More Links</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
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		<title>Favorite Food ABCs</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/10/favorite-food-abcs/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/10/favorite-food-abcs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Sep 2010 12:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Link Love & Giveaways]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Merriness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=4362</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been having a rough week this week, so instead of dwelling on it I&#8217;m going to post something fun today. I saw this on Janetha&#8217;s blog and immediately want to do it because it&#8217;s FUN. So behold, my Favorite Food ABCs. Favorite food ABCs! Basically it&#8217;s a list of my favorite foods that start <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/10/favorite-food-abcs/#more-4362'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/10/favorite-food-abcs/">Favorite Food ABCs</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>I&#8217;ve been having a <strong>rough</strong> week this week, so instead of dwelling on it I&#8217;m going to post something fun today.</p>
<p>I saw this on Janetha&#8217;s blog and immediately want to do it because it&#8217;s <strong>FUN</strong>. So behold, my <strong>Favorite Food ABCs</strong>.</p>
<h2><strong>Favorite food ABCs!</strong></h2>
<p>Basically it&#8217;s a list of my favorite foods that start with each letter.</p>
<p><strong>A:  Avocado</strong>. Yummmmm. I love avocados and use them as often as I can buy them in Mexican food, on sandwiches and burgers, in tuna and <a href="http://amerrylife.com/food/green-chicken-salad-and-green-beans/">chicken salads</a>&#8230; you get the idea. Love them.</p>
<p><strong>B:</strong> <strong>Bread</strong>. Breads of all kinds. Bread is just such a comforting food that it&#8217;s hard not to love it and consider it a favorite. Bananas were a close second for me because I eat them all the time.</p>
<p><strong>C: Cereal</strong>. If you read my food blog you know I have an undying passion for cereal. I can eat a whole box by myself in a day or two if I let myself. I could eat it for every meal. I try to eat healthy high fiber cereals now but my favorite cereals are the sugary ones like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Frosted Shredded Wheat and Raisin Bran (I still eat this one often).</p>
<p><strong>D:</strong> <strong> Doner kebab. </strong>They are technically doner kebabs, but usually we just called them kebabs. When I lived in Europe I ate these ALL THE TIME because they are more popular than hamburgers in Austria. They are a Middle Eastern/Turkish dish which is basically a pita filled with meat (usually lamb but I always got chicken) cooked on a vertical turning spit and sliced off when you order and then filled in with lettuce, tomato, and a yogurt sauce/tzatziki often served with fries. They are probably one of my favorite foods EVER and I&#8217;m so sad they aren&#8217;t popular in the US.</p>
<p><strong>E:</strong> <strong>Eggs.</strong> I eat scrambled eggs all the time when someone else will cook them for me and I love omelets with a passion even though <a href="http://amerrylife.com/food/failed-omelets-and-veggie-risotto/">I can&#8217;t make them well</a>.</p>
<p><strong>F:  French toast.</strong> There was a time in my life when I didn&#8217;t eat french toast. I&#8217;m so glad that time ended and I started eating it because it&#8217;s so good, even if I rarely eat it anymore!</p>
<p><strong>G: Green grapes. </strong>Any time I can I buy green grapes. Other grapes are okay, but green seedless grapes are one of my absolute favorite fruits. I like to eat them as snacks and put them in salads and other foods.</p>
<p><strong>H: Hummus.</strong> I love Sabra&#8217;s hummus and I looooove trying hummus at restaurants. I&#8217;ve had really delicious brands all over the country and I wish I had been a hummus lover when I was in Greece &#8211; that was a total missed opportunity.</p>
<p><strong>I: Ice cream. </strong>Is there really any other option for I? Ice cream is the best. My favorite flavor is chocolate chip cookie dough.</p>
<p><strong>J:</strong> <strong>Jalapeno. </strong>I&#8217;m a spicy food lover and I&#8217;m almost to the point where jalapenos are sweeter than they are spicy, but I still love them. I&#8217;ll put them on anything possible even breakfast foods.</p>
<p><strong>K: Ketchup</strong>. Okay, so it&#8217;s not a food but it&#8217;s my favorite condiment and I love ketchup with a passion. Hot sauce runs a close second but ketchup will be my favorite forever with all it&#8217;s sugary goodness.</p>
<p><strong>L:  Linguine. </strong>Mmmm, pasta.</p>
<p><strong>M:</strong> <strong>Mexican food.</strong> I love all Mexican food. Every style, every flavor. I love Mexican cuisine so much.</p>
<p><strong>N: Nut butters. </strong>Specifically almond butter. I didn&#8217;t want to give A to apple so I&#8217;m following Janetha&#8217;s lead (on a few things actually because she likes yummy food) and saying nut butters for N. I love peanut butter smooth and crunchy and I love almond butter. Almond butter and a banana is one of my favorite snacks of all time.</p>
<p><strong>O: Onion.</strong> Onions are amazing and completely spice up any meal.</p>
<p><strong>P: Potato. </strong>Potatoes rock because they can be cooked so many ways&#8230; baked, fried, french fries, potato chips.</p>
<p><strong>Q: Quesadilla. </strong>Not sure if that&#8217;s cheating or not, because it&#8217;s a Mexican food, but quesadillas are awesome.</p>
<p><strong>R: Ribs.</strong> I&#8217;m from Memphis and I love good BBQ ribs. What can I say?</p>
<p><strong>S: Smoothies. </strong>Green smoothies, fruit smoothies, protein smoothies.. they are all good.</p>
<p><strong>T: Triscuits.</strong> Specifically cracked pepper triscuits. YUM.<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>U:  Upside down cake. </strong>C&#8217;mon it&#8217;s cake! Pineapple upside down cake is my favorite flavor.</p>
<p><strong>V: Vegetables!</strong> I like veggies even love them now. Glad I&#8217;m <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/07/27/reforming-my-picky-eater-past-by-trying-new-things/">not a picky eater</a> anymore.</p>
<p><strong>W: Wontons.</strong> One of my favorite things from Chinese restaurants. I really love cream cheese wontons, but those seem to be a thing specific to a certain area (and it isn&#8217;t China).</p>
<p><strong>X: </strong> &#8230;. yeah this is the only thing I couldn&#8217;t think of anything for. Oh well!</p>
<p><strong>Y: Yogurt. </strong>I&#8217;ve discovered I love Greek yogurt because I can use it in so many things and it&#8217;s a nice boost of protein.</p>
<p><strong>Z: Zuchinni.</strong> It&#8217;s a very versatile vegetable and I love to eat it a few ways, plus my favorite dessert at Green Mountain when I was working there was a zuchinni chocolate cake thing that was awesome.</p>
<p>That was fun! Some were kind of hard to think of though!</p>
<h2><strong>Merry Go Round</strong></h2>
<p><strong>News:</strong> Last week I was considering going to Fitbloggin11 to speak at the Blogging 101 session. I&#8217;ve decided that ultimately it&#8217;s just not the right thing for me to do considering being in New Zealand and saving for the wedding and honeymoon. So I won&#8217;t be there but I know everyone going will have a great time!</p>
<p><strong>Blogging Tip: </strong><em> </em>Blog consistently. Whether it&#8217;s once a week, 3 times a week, every day, or three times a day, make your posting schedule consistent. Try to post on a consistent basis whatever that is for you especially if you are trying to build an audience. And if you are just blogging for you and don&#8217;t care about the audience then feel free to blog whenever you like. Just know that consistency is one of the keys to blogging success.  <em>For more blogging tips, check out my <a href="../health-blog-guide">health blogging e-book</a>!</em></p>
<p><strong>Favorite Product: </strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1583333398?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ameli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1583333398">New Rules of Lifting for Women</a>. Working my way through this book finally after starting it on the plane ride over to NZ.  My gym is closed this weekend for renovations so I&#8217;m planning out my workouts for next week. :)</p>
<p><strong>Favorite Link: </strong>Didn&#8217;t get around to much blog surfing this week unfortunately. Share some good links with me in the comments!</p>
<p><strong>Recipes on the food blog</strong>:  We tried <a href="http://amerrylife.com/food/quick-bulgur-chili-via-green-lite-bites/">Roni&#8217;s bulgur chili</a> and I made a <a href="http://amerrylife.com/food/yogurt-mess-and-lots-of-exercise/">yogurt mess</a> that I loved. I also made <a href="http://amerrylife.com/food/parsnip-fries-and-turkey-burgers/">nut butter parsnip fries</a> from <a href="http://ohsheglows.com/2010/04/16/these-fries-will-change-your-life/">Angela&#8217;s recipe</a> and they rocked.</p>
<p><strong>Have a great weekend everyone!</strong></p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/10/favorite-food-abcs/">Favorite Food ABCs</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<slash:comments>29</slash:comments>
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		<title>Hurray, Hurray, It’s The Weekend!</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/03/4324/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/03/4324/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:00:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Link Love & Giveaways]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Merry Go Round]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=4324</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Thanks so much for the love and encouragment on my post yesterday about being a crybaby not an emotional eater. There is always an adjustment period when you move to a new place and for me last week was a rough week. I&#8217;ve lived in enough places &#8211; 4 different states and now 3 different <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/03/4324/#more-4324'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/03/4324/">Hurray, Hurray, It’s The Weekend!</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Thanks so much for the love and encouragment on my post yesterday about <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/02/im-a-crybaby-not-an-eater/">being a crybaby not an emotional eater</a>. There is always an adjustment period when you move to a new place and for me last week was a rough week. I&#8217;ve lived in enough places &#8211; 4 different states and now 3 different countries &#8211; that I&#8217;m used to it. But that doesn&#8217;t mean I&#8217;m not going to get frustrated or miss things and people from home. Because I&#8217;ve been so many places and loved so many people I&#8217;m <em>always</em> missing someone or another. Luckily new people always manage to enter my life and create new friendships to fill my heart up. And over time the new frustrating things become routine and comfortable. Time heals everything, even if it solves nothing.</p>
<h2>Merry Go Round</h2>
<p><strong>News:</strong> I&#8217;m now considering going to Fitbloggin11. I&#8217;d have to do some serious work and saving, but it would be a great business trip/fun blogger reunion/family stopover visit. And I would get to teach people (newbies even!) about blogging.  I love, love, love teaching people about blogging and one of goals is to speak at a blogging conference, which means I&#8217;m really considering it now. I&#8217;m just a bit hesitant since I&#8217;m based in the land of the kiwis now. Will you be there?</p>
<p><strong>Blogging Tip: </strong>Link internally! Link to your old blog posts and pages as much as you can when you are posting new stuff. This gives you an SEO boost and it gives readers relevant content to read if they want. Be sure to use  (This tip is as much a reminder for me as it is a tip&#8230;I don&#8217;t do it nearly as much as I should!) <em>For more blogging tips, check out my <a href="http://amerrylife.com/health-blog-guide">health blogging e-book</a>!</em></p>
<p><strong>Favorite Product: </strong><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=128177&amp;c=ib&amp;aff=112643">Nerd Fitness&#8217; Rebel Fitness Guide</a>. I was hoping to be able to do a review by today but there is just soo much good information packed into this thing I still haven&#8217;t finished reading it. I&#8217;m completely awed by how much value Steve managed to pack into this thing. I know how much work it takes to write and produce an e-book so it&#8217;s quite impressive. I&#8217;m loving reading it and promise I&#8217;ll finish this weekend and do a full review next week.</p>
<p><strong>Favorite Link: </strong>Rachel Wilkerson&#8217;s <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rachelwilkerson.com/2010/08/18/how-to-stop-feeling-guilty/">post about owning everything you do</a>. She kick-started a ton of healthy living bloggers to follow her lead and tell the world &#8220;Sorry, I&#8217;m not sorry&#8221; for their actions. I love the empowerment. We should own our actions and stop being sorry for them. Thanks for the reminder Rachel!</p>
<p><strong>Recipes on the food blog</strong>: Mmm, yummy week this week. Best things: <a href="http://amerrylife.com/food/roasted-balsamic-brussel-sprouts-and-thai-green-curry-chicken/">Roasted balsamic brussel sprouts and thai green curry chicken</a>;  <a title="Permanent link to Mini Oreo Cheesecakes" rel="bookmark" href="http://amerrylife.com/food/mini-oreo-cheesecakes/">Mini Oreo Cheesecakes</a> (these were a big hit with everyone)</p>
<p>Have a great weekend everyone! :)</p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/09/03/4324/">Hurray, Hurray, It’s The Weekend!</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<slash:comments>23</slash:comments>
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		<title>August Sponsor Shout-outs!</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/28/august-sponsor-shoutouts/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/28/august-sponsor-shoutouts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:00:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Link Love & Giveaways]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sponsors]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=4268</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I want to make sure to do a monthly shout-out post to all my sponsors, so I&#8217;ve picked the last Saturday of each month for that post. (Hopefully I remember.) So welcome to the first sponsor shout-out post! This month I have two new sponsors: Foodie McBody is AML&#8217;s newest sponsor!  Susan, aka Foodie McBody, <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/28/august-sponsor-shoutouts/#more-4268'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/28/august-sponsor-shoutouts/">August Sponsor Shout-outs!</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>I want to make sure to do a monthly shout-out post to all my sponsors, so I&#8217;ve picked the last Saturday of each month for that post. (Hopefully I remember.) So welcome to the first sponsor shout-out post!</p>
<p>This month I have two new sponsors:</p>
<p><a href="http://foodfoodbodybody.wordpress.com/"><strong>Foodie McBody</strong></a> is AML&#8217;s newest sponsor!  Susan, aka <a href="http://foodfoodbodybody.wordpress.com/">Foodie McBody</a>, is a weight watchers leader who <a href="http://foodfoodbodybody.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/wake-up-call/">experienced a wake-up call</a> and then lost over 30 pounds, ran a 5k, and turned 50 the healthiest she had ever been. She writes an amazing blog about her experiences as well as documents her food through a <a href="http://foodiesfood.wordpress.com/">food photo blog</a>.</p>
<p><em>We (pretty much all Kepa really) had the honor of creating Foodie&#8217;s new logo and advertisement. This is something <a href="http://amerrylife.com/blog-love">we will be offering</a> for anyone as a way for you to get a new logo/ad and for us to earn money for the wedding. Win/win!</em></p>
<p><a href="http://skinnyemmie.com"><strong>Skinny Emmie</strong></a> already got a shout-out earlier in the month, but she is cool enough to deserve another. Emmie <a href="http://skinnyemmie.com/2010/08/weigh-in-8-16-10/">is now 70 lbs</a> into her 255 lb weight loss journey. This month she started sharing <a href="http://skinnyemmie.com/weight-loss-progress/">her progress pictures</a> and I think she is doing a great job. Definitely <a href="http://skinnyemmie.com">visit her blog</a> and cheer her on!<strong><br />
</strong></p>
<p><strong>Thanks again to my wonderful sponsors! :) </strong></p>
<p>I&#8217;m trying to be a lot pickier with how I monetize my site(s), because while I need the money I also want to keep some integrity with my overall message. I&#8217;m looking to ditch Google ads soon, so I&#8217;m also looking now for companies to work with. If you represent a company interested in advertising on this weight loss blog, please <a href="http://amerrylife.com/contact">contact me</a>.</p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/28/august-sponsor-shoutouts/">August Sponsor Shout-outs!</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<title>Blah Week and the Merry Go Round</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/27/blah-week-and-the-merry-go-round/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/27/blah-week-and-the-merry-go-round/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Link Love & Giveaways]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thoughts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=4283</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Happy Friday everyone! :) This week has a been a bit of a mess for me. I&#8217;ve been sick and stressed out and that&#8217;s turned my eating habits into crap. I&#8217;ve eaten too much salt and too much sugar and it&#8217;s just led me to feel even worse. So I&#8217;m stopping that immediately and eating <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/27/blah-week-and-the-merry-go-round/#more-4283'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/27/blah-week-and-the-merry-go-round/">Blah Week and the Merry Go Round</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Happy Friday everyone! :)</p>
<p>This week has a been a bit of a mess for me. I&#8217;ve been sick and stressed out and that&#8217;s turned my eating habits into crap. I&#8217;ve eaten too much salt and too much sugar and it&#8217;s just led me to feel even worse. So I&#8217;m stopping that immediately and eating to feel good again (aka &#8211; low salt and just natural sugars). I feel good already after just deciding that. I guess I gave myself a &#8220;free pass&#8221; for the week but it just ended up backfiring on me. Funny how that works, isn&#8217;t it?</p>
<p>Because I was sick and it was cold/rainy here the last few days I wasn&#8217;t able to get to the gym. Hopefully we will get a chance to visit this weekend, but regardless I&#8217;m joining <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/24/gym-search-narrowed-to-two/">gym #2</a> on Monday. I&#8217;m really excited about that because it will add a new thing to my routine each day! Plus it will get me out of the house, in better shape, and further my goals. Hurray!</p>
<p>Other than that I&#8217;ve just spent the week searching the internet for 1) a wedding venue in Memphis and 2) a job here in New Zealand. Both searches have been very frustrating which is where the stress I mentioned earlier comes in. But I&#8217;m trying to stay positive about both because I know I will find the right opportunities eventually for both things. So it&#8217;s stressful, but I&#8217;m still optimistic. :)</p>
<p>And now it&#8217;s time for&#8230;</p>
<h2>Merry Go Round!</h2>
<p>I seriously think this is my favorite part of the week because I can be random and give lots of good information at once. :)</p>
<p><strong>Product News: </strong>I&#8217;m working on some cool stuff that will hopefully launch next month. These things have actually been in my head for quite a while and I just haven&#8217;t had a chance to sit down and design them but they are on my to-do list now. Stay tuned for more details. Hurray projects!</p>
<p><strong>Blogging Tip: </strong>Subscribe to your blog. Subscribe to your own blog via e-mail and Google reader (the two most popular subscription options) so that you know what your blog looks like to your readers. If any problems come up you will be able to see them yourself first instead of relying on secondhand information.</p>
<p><strong>Favorite Product: </strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00294JQZA?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ameli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00294JQZA">Vibram Five Fingers</a>. Okay, this is sort of a cheat because I don&#8217;t actually own these. But I&#8217;m slightly obsessed with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00294JQZA?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ameli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00294JQZA">these shoes </a>and following blogs of runners who use them (ah thanks <a href="http://twitter.com/halfofjess">Jess</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/tidbitsoftara">Tara</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/mizfitonline">Carla</a>). I desperately want my own pair to wear just for fun, not even for running (well, maybe one day).  They are up there on my to buy list thanks to all the awesome things I&#8217;ve heard about them.</p>
<p><strong>Favorite Link: </strong><a href="http://fiverr.com">Fiverr.com</a>! This site is a listing of all the random things people will do for $5. I stumbled upon it again this week and decided <a href="http://amerrywife.com/using-fiverr-to-pay-for-the-wedding/">to use fiverr to earn money for our wedding</a>. You can check out my profile page and help me out or suggest in the comments (reasonable)things you would like me to do for $5. And definitely check out the site&#8230; if you are design challenged you can find people there to design logos and blog headers and such for just $5. It&#8217;s a steal!</p>
<p><strong>Recipes on the food blog</strong>: <a href="http://amerrylife.com/food/kepas-potato-wedge-and-spice-mix-recipe/">Kepa&#8217;s Potato Wedges</a> and <a href="http://amerrylife.com/food/spicy-ground-turkey-skillet/">Spicy Ground Turkey Skillet Recipe</a> and <a href="http://amerrylife.com/food/tuna-corn-sweet-potato-frittatas/">Tuna, Corn, and Sweet Potato Frittatas</a></p>
<p>And that&#8217;s it for me! I&#8217;m off to enjoy the weekend with Kepa and to meet up with some local healthy living people in the area this weekend. If anyone else out there lives in the Auckland area and wants to meet up at sometime please let me know. I would love to make new friends here! :)</p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/27/blah-week-and-the-merry-go-round/">Blah Week and the Merry Go Round</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<title>Expensive Kiwi Gym Searching</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/20/expensive-kiwi-gym-searching/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/20/expensive-kiwi-gym-searching/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:00:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Body Image & Positivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fitness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Link Love & Giveaways]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=4264</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The last couple of days here in New Zealand haven&#8217;t been terribly fun. It&#8217;s winter here so it&#8217;s cold and rainy. It rained on and off all day long &#8211; and by on and off I mean light and heavy. I won&#8217;t even depress you with photos of the rainy action. Needless to say, I <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/20/expensive-kiwi-gym-searching/#more-4264'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/20/expensive-kiwi-gym-searching/">Expensive Kiwi Gym Searching</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>The last couple of days here in New Zealand haven&#8217;t been terribly fun. It&#8217;s winter here so it&#8217;s cold and rainy. It rained on and off all day long &#8211; and by on and off I mean light and heavy. I won&#8217;t even depress you with photos of the rainy action. Needless to say, I haven&#8217;t been able to get out and explore my immediate surroundings like I hoped I would be able to do.</p>
<p>I did however start looking for a gym to join. I really want to join a gym for a couple reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li>it will get me out of the house which I need because my only current excursions are grocery shopping with Kepa&#8217;s grandma</li>
<li>it will get me into a somewhat social situation. at the very least there will be people present who are not soon to be my relatives.</li>
<li>it will jumpstart my workouts again! between the roadtrip and moving and everything else exercise time was put on the backburner. that makes me sad because I absolutely love working out.</li>
</ol>
<p>So I have a few very good reasons for getting a gym membership here. And only one deterrant: price. It turns out that just like everything else in this country, gym memberships are expensive. The gyms close enough to where I live to walk (about a mile) are $80 and $100 a month in New Zealand dollars. Of course that gives me a little break since I have a favorable currency exchange rate, but that&#8217;s still $70USD for the more expensive gym, which is the one I like better. I never in my wildest dreams would have previously considered $70 a month for a gym membership.</p>
<p>Yet now, even though I&#8217;m completely strapped financially and trying to save to pay for my wedding with Kepa I&#8217;m actually considering it. Those three reasons I listed before are important reasons and joining a gym would vastly improve my experience here. Sure there is a lot to do outside, and I plan on doing it once the weather is nicer, but I still crave the gym experience with the group classes and social interaction. Being alone all the time including workouts is not at all fun. So now I&#8217;m being crazy and really considering the super pricey gym options here. <strong><br />
</strong></p>
<p><strong>What do you look for in a gym? Have any suggestions for me to help me make the decision?</strong></p>
<h2>Merry Go Round</h2>
<p>Decided to try to bring some sort of format to my crazy thoughts and randomness that I want to share all the time. Lemme know if you like it&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>E-book News:</strong> (<em>Because the e-book is my first project and I&#8217;m proud to share news about it!</em>) There was such an awesome response to the e-book sale that I&#8217;ve decided to permanently leave the price at $17. I&#8217;ve never priced or sold anything before so I had no idea, but $17 (or even lower during future sales&#8230;sales are fun!) is a better idea. So <a href="http://amerrylife.com/health-blog-guide">get a copy of e-book and create a better health blog now</a>!</p>
<p><strong>Blogging Tip:</strong> (<em>Weekly blogging tip is something I would love to start doing because I love talking about blogging.</em>)  This week&#8217;s blogging tip? KEEP GOING! So many people get frustrated and give up blogging before their blog even gets a chance to take off. I venture to say half of the work is just showing up continually and writing. So keep going!</p>
<p><strong>Favorite Product: </strong>(<em>Must start sharing all the awesome things I come across/get sent. Too many cool products out there!</em>) Favorite product this week is a book &#8211; the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592405827?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ameli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1592405827">Operation Beautiful</a> book. Still. Because it&#8217;s awesome. Have you <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592405827?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ameli-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1592405827">bought it yet</a>? Checked out the <a href="http://operationbeautiful.com">Operation Beautiful blog</a>? Spread some positivity this week! :)</p>
<p><strong>Favorite Link: </strong>(<em>Because I spend way too much time finding awesome things online not to share.</em>) <a href="http://healthylivingblogs.com">Healthy Living Blogs</a>. This is a new project from a few healthy living bloggers, under the awesome leadership of <a href="http://twitter.com/soundeats">Lindsey</a>, is awesome. You can list your healthy living/healthy food/weight loss blog there and find others &#8211; even by location! Make sure you <a href="http://healthylivingblogs.com">head over there</a> to check it out and get your blog listed.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s it for this week! Leave me comments to help me sort out this gym situation, and then have a great weekend! :)</p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/20/expensive-kiwi-gym-searching/">Expensive Kiwi Gym Searching</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<title>Giveaway Winners!</title>
		<link>http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/11/giveaway-winners/</link>
		<comments>http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/11/giveaway-winners/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:26:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mary</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Link Love & Giveaways]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://amerrylife.com/?p=4203</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It took me so long to tally up the entries for each thing yesterday that I didn&#8217;t have time to post today! Ooops! I did find it interesting which items had more entries. Fascinating to know what kind of stuff you guys like. I didn&#8217;t advertise the giveaway at all so it was just for <a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/11/giveaway-winners/#more-4203'" class="more-link">more »</a><p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/11/giveaway-winners/">Giveaway Winners!</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>It took me so long to tally up the entries for each thing yesterday that I didn&#8217;t have time to post today! Ooops!</p>
<p>I did find it interesting which items had more entries. Fascinating to know what kind of stuff you guys like. I didn&#8217;t advertise the giveaway at all so it was just for you all and I&#8217;m glad. ;)</p>
<h2>Giveaway Winners:</h2>
<p><strong>the end to overeating (22 entries)</strong></p>
<p>winner:  Lisa!</p>
<p><strong>body for life for women book (5 entries!)</strong></p>
<p>winner: Kimberly!</p>
<p><strong>weight watchers pedometer (13 entries)</strong></p>
<p>winner: Morgan!</p>
<p><strong>billy blanks bootcamp DVD (10 entries)</strong></p>
<p>winner: Marisa!</p>
<p><strong>dance DVD (7 entries)</strong></p>
<p>winner: Life in Liz&#8217;s Shoes!<strong><br />
</strong></p>
<p><strong>biggest loser bootcamp DVD (17 entries)</strong></p>
<p>winner: Nicole!<br />
<strong><br />
biggest loser jump start book (9 entries)</strong></p>
<p>winner: Katie!</p>
<p>YAY! If you won something please send me your address!  My email is amerrylife at gmail dot com.</p>
<p>Hope everyone is having an awesome day! :)</p>
<p><b><a href="http://amerrylife.com/2010/08/11/giveaway-winners/">Giveaway Winners!</a> is a post from: <a href="http://amerrylife.com">A Merry Life</a>! If you aren't reading it via RSS or on <a href="http://amerrylife.com">amerrylife.com</a> it has been stolen!!<b></p>
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		<slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
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