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A Merry Life

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Friday Thoughts and Links

April 30, 2010 by Mary

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for details.

The morning is already over! How does that happen? Time flies when you are having fun, right? Or working. That one too. Because my morning has been all work. Oh, the wonderful life of a struggling writer seeking more jobs. Fun times, fun times! Can’t a cushy paid blogging job just show up in my email one day? No? Okay then.

Other than that things are going well!

Exercise is good. I’m not killing myself to get strict sessions in but I’m still doing more cardio daily just through my natural activities. I want to start walking outside more so I’m going to try and talk my mom into after work walks like we were doing previously and stopped for some reason.  Strength training is going well, and is easily my favorite part of working out – especially for lower body. I just miss classes. I can’t wait until I eventually take some fun classes like Zumba and kickboxing again!

I’m eating well and staying around 2000 calories a day. I’ve never counted calories before so this is an interesting experiment for me. I’ve been doing it a couple weeks now and while I don’t hate it, I don’t love it either. It’s still a new thing for me. I know I can’t imagine doing it forever. At least I’m not going to get obsessed with it. I can barely muster up enough care to do it each day. Tracking like that has never been something I’ve enjoyed doing. Blogging my food has worked really well and I have a feeling it will continue long after the calorie counting fades away.

I’m feeling beautiful again. I mentioned that feeling down on myself and my body isn’t something that always happens to me. I had a brief period there where my mind was attacking itself and I just couldn’t see it, but I’m feeling a lot better, and yes, even beautiful. I think it has a lot to do with taking care of myself. When I’m not taking care of myself, I start to feel bad and doubt myself. When I do things to take care of myself I feel better and believe that I’m worth it and beautiful.

FRIDAY FIVE: MY FAV LINKS THIS WEEK

Sugar is even worse than we thought from Shape Magazine… aka another reason why I need to stop eating sugar. I’m considering it. But then, I love baking now. Ah, me vs. sugar, the never ending epic battle.

Yeah, I’m going to link to my food blog now, because my new plates are awesome. I love all things mismatched and plates are no exception. And I finally bought a square plate. My new mission is to find more.

Jack Sh*t wrote a great post about creating a better blog. Let’s call it a much shorter generalized version of the advice I give in my ebook about creating a better health blog. But he knows what he is talking about, especially regarding building a brand. His particular brand is funny as shit weight loss blogger. Also? Mom hater. ;)

Bobbie wrote a great post about seeking perfection or seeking a lifetime of health. I know personally I’m aiming for the lifetime of health. So far it’s going pretty well. Like I said before, a few years down and a lifetime to go.

An awesome reader Tracey contacted me because she is training to walk/run a marathon in June to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She has never done a marathon of a half before – so that’s pretty badass. Here’s what she had to say:

I chose to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society because it is something that is close to my heart.  A boy I used to babysit for has Leukemia and he is at St. Jude in Memphis.  He is 14 years old now and it came back after being in remission.  He literally has to fight every day to live.  He is my inspiration to get out there and train each day.

Since St. Jude is in my hometown I’m well aware of how awesome the little fighters are that are there for treatment, no matter what their illness. Help Tracey raise the money by donating here.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!  DO SOMETHING ACTIVE!

Filed Under: Blogging Life, Thoughts Tagged With: link love & giveaways


« How Much Cardio Do You Do?
Kirsty’s Life Transformation »

Comments

  1. Yum Yucky says

    April 30, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    Sugar worse than thought? I am NOT supposed to read that kinda news before a cake-eating stunt. Damn you, woman!
    .-= Yum Yucky´s last blog ..Text Message Calorie Burners =-.

    • Mary says

      April 30, 2010 at 1:13 pm

      Hahahaha! Mmmmm, cake.

      Sugar might not be so good for you, but it’s so good!

  2. Tracey says

    April 30, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    Mary-

    Thanks for adding my link to your twitter and blog. The kids at St. Jude’s are amazing and such fighters. I figure if they can fight each day just to live then I can get out and train for this marathon in order to raise money for them. I am getting closer to my goal each day and getting excited about completing this Marathon in June. :)

    Tracey

    • Mary says

      April 30, 2010 at 1:47 pm

      No problem. I hope you raise a lot of money! I’m proud of you for committing to and training for the marathon.

  3. Janece Suarez says

    April 30, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    We bake on a regular basis at our house. You can buy stevia now in the grocery store and substitute at least half (we have done more, too) instead of sugar successfully. It’s made from a plant (Yes, really, I have even grown my own!) so in theory shouldn’t be mainly chemicals, etc.

    Maybe it will help?

    Keep up the great work!

    Janece
    (Gourmetmama)
    .-= Janece Suarez´s last blog ..Sunday, Sunday =-.

    • Mary says

      April 30, 2010 at 1:46 pm

      That’s a good idea. I need to read up on Stevia.

      I’m funny in that I just ate doritos, string cheese, and jello for lunch, but honestly am trying to get rid of so many chemicals/processed food in my diet. It’s a struggle for me. Your comment totally spurred on some major thinking on my part. Thanks!

  4. Jack Sh*t says

    April 30, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    I don’t hate MY mom. Well, come to think of it… she CAN be pretty irritating at times. And she got all pissed off when I forgot about her birthday. Okay… let’s go with “Mom-hater”…
    .-= Jack Sh*t´s last blog ..Running Buddy =-.

  5. Jody - Fit at 52 says

    April 30, 2010 at 2:32 pm

    Sounds like you are on track Mary!!! And yes for strength training! Of course I would say that!!! :-)

    Calorie counting can be a pain but it often shows people what they either don’t know OR what they DO know & don’t want to accept…. not saying that is you BUT I do know some like that! I don’t do it anymore BUT after years of this, I have a good idea of what I am putting in my bod so with time, you may be able to get that “feel”. Whenever things go off track for me, if they do, that calorie checking is one way to bring it all in perspective.

    Loved your link love too! THX!
    .-= Jody – Fit at 52´s last blog ..Reader Questions; Laughter for Health; A Fun Picture! =-.

  6. iwishiwas says

    April 30, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    Mary have you tried sparkpeople.com for tracking your calories? It’s a great site, loads of resources.

    • Mary says

      April 30, 2010 at 8:07 pm

      I’m on sparkpeople. I use the message boards but don’t like the calorie tracking. I use thedailyplate/livestrong for that and really like it. I just don’t like the process of tracking calories, it’s not really the platform. Hehe. But I do love sparkpeople.

  7. Slave Driver says

    April 30, 2010 at 4:53 pm

    Let me know if that Blog Job shows up in your mailbox, because I want one too…
    .-= Slave Driver´s last blog ..We Do Have A One-Way Ride… =-.

    • Mary says

      April 30, 2010 at 8:07 pm

      Don’t we all? I’ve had blog writing jobs before and loved them. Waiting for the next one to come around. ;)

  8. Alexia says

    April 30, 2010 at 6:31 pm

    Funny you mention the sugar thing…today I posted about what I believe to be my severe allergic reaction to aspartame. Good grief…I thought I was going blind.
    .-= Alexia´s last blog ..The nastiness that is aspartame. =-.

    • Mary says

      April 30, 2010 at 8:23 pm

      OMG, really?!?!

      That’s not good at all! I don’t use or consume aspartame since I don’t drink diet drinks and that crap. If I’m going to eat something sweet it better have real sugar in it. I just need to eat less sugar.

  9. merri says

    April 30, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    Everything is always worse than we thought. Theres a scare all the time. Im gonna do the skipping HFCS thing and for the rest, whatever. I don’t have to be perfectly healthy, or id be super bored. Yay sugar!
    Im so glad youre feeling better, and beautiful! :)
    I don’t have time to read the rest of your links but I will. I like this new link blog thing youre doing.
    Thanks you have a great weekend too. I plan on going out dancing for a few hrs tomorrow nite. Yay.
    @janece I tried stevia at my friends house. It tasted gross. I know it doesn’t to everyone, or they wouldn’t be using it, but I think its an acquired taste, for sure.
    .-= merri´s last blog ..Book to Read: Fat Land, & How it inspired me to become even healthier =-.

    • Mary says

      April 30, 2010 at 8:29 pm

      True that. Something is always the one thing going to kill us. Everything is going to. You can’t avoid everything. I actually like sugar. I just like it a little too much. Hehe.

      Thanks! I’m glad someone likes the links. I’ll try to make sure they are interesting. :)

      Have fun dancing!

  10. Shona and Lisa says

    May 1, 2010 at 12:39 am

    Just surfing around and found your blog. Love it! We just started our first blog today and we’re very excited about the possibilities. One of our biggest goals is also to get a healthier lifestyle. Think it’s great that you’re helping Tracey out.

  11. The Merry says

    May 1, 2010 at 11:20 am

    I’m trying to wean myself off the sweet stuff now too.
    Hadn’t realized how addicted I was until I tried to quit. You hear a lot of about the evils of smoking or drinking; I’m glad people are starting to talk about the evils of sugaring.

    And sugar is in EVERYthing these days! I looked at the label of a bottle of tonic water — carbonated water with quinine in it — it now also has sugar. Bread even has sugar in it. Aaaaaaaargh!

    Okay, got that out of my system. Thanks for letting me vent!
    .-= The Merry´s last blog ..I want YOU to exercise =-.

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