Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 29

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 29

by | Sep 7, 2017 | Trust Your Gut

 

Trust Your Gut is a series of stories about real people with weight issues, and complications arising from those issues.  It will explain what the person is facing, what their options are, what they have decided to do to take action, and why they chose the path they are on.  Each person’s story will be based on truth, so it won’t all be happy, but it will be real.  The goal of this series is to get people talking about options that are available for people who have weight issues, on either end of the scale.  If you would like to contribute to this series, there is a contact form linked on my Home page for this blog.  I know there are people out there that want to help people like them; as I do.

 

The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name.  If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story.  The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors.  I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.

This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.

Here is  Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 29

I have not done what I set out to do in September.  I have not followed the plan, I have not kept detailed records, and I have not put any effort into what I needed to do this week at all.

The Monster is winning this week.  It is crushing the soul of my inner beauty. What am I going to do about it?

I have to refocus.  I have to make the efforts I need to make to have results.  I am not perfect, and although I was going to try my best, I fell short.  Like not even falling off the wagon, because I never climbed on it in the first place.

What am I NOT going to do about it?  Make excuses.

I am better than that.  I am better than the monster inside that convinced me it was a great idea to eat chips and Fudgsicles this week.  I am better than the monster that is telling me it is OK to eat whatever I want to because I am really hungry and don’t have time to wait for a healthier option to be ready to eat.  I am worth the effort of drowning out the monster with my inner beauty.  I need to let it shine, and help me find the way to becoming a healthier version of myself.

I need to have a plan, not just the THM plan, although that is a part of what I need to do, it needs to be a complete plan that encompasses everything I am working on and makes me want to work at this.  On me.  It is bigger than me just writing about it.  I need to DO it.  So this weekend, I am going to set aside a few hours to get this set up.

Part of the reason is that I am very skilled at making excuses.  I need to stop it.  Right now.  I am on such a roll with my writing that I do not want to stop.  I want to keep moving forward in all aspects of my life and live it to the fullest.  I will also avoid things and just do what I want to do instead of what I need to do if it is easier.  This is not a good way to do what I want to do, which is to lead by example.  I am not feeling the leader vibe this week.  I need to change things and make this happen.

Now. OK, on the weekend, as I am a tad bit busy with the writing and the entrepreneurial dreams and projects I am working on to change my whole life for the better.  The problem with letting the monster win is that I am leaving out a very important aspect of this dream, and that is me.  I need to rank myself higher on the list of things to be taken care of, so the inner beauty has the chance to glow and outshine the monster forever.

I am making a commitment here to have this ready to go for Monday.  I am going to hold myself accountable for taking the steps to make things happen.  Only I can make the necessary plans and changes to have this work.  It is time to take action and stop listening to the monster that keeps me from being the healthiest version of myself.  It is time to open the cage that traps my inner beauty so far inside me that I cannot find it anymore.  I need to let it out and nurture it until it is as bright as the sun.  I need to keep telling myself that I am worth it until I believe it.  Louder than the monster.  Brighter than the stars in the sky.  Over and over again, until I really get it.  And then you will see that I am doing this in front of all who witness it, and I will be accomplishing the dream of leading by example, by working hard to achieve my personal and professional goals.  Other things are starting to fall into place.  This is just the next thing I am on the verge of succeeding at.  Time to shine.

If you are following this series, and like what you read, thank you.  If you have your own story to share, please contact me.  I have accepted other people’s stories in this category and would love to have more stories than my own to share here.  I don’t want to bore everyone with my stories EVERY week, so if this is something YOU want to do, reach out to me.  There is a contact page for that very reason.  I am also willing to work with people to write a story based on an informal interview or having some discussions about their issues, to help other people deal with their own issues, and helping people understand what it is really like to have issues on EITHER END of the scale.  I would be happy to share your experiences, issues, successes, and tips here in the future.  Stop thinking about it.  Stop making excuses.  Let’s work together to change ourselves and the lives we live.  Our inner beauties deserve to be free and thriving.  We are worth every bit of the effort.  Let’s drop-kick those monsters to the curb. Together.  If I can do this, so can you.

#TrustYourGut.

 

Weekend Warrior #28

Weekend Warrior #28

by | Sep 3, 2017 | Weekend Warrior

Long weekend!  Yes!  I had planned to take Friday off as a vacation day.  I am working on the Holiday.  I earn holiday pay, it is a Stat.  So I am OK with that, as I enjoyed having yesterday off.

We started the day off at a local restaurant for Brunch.  It was my second time at Claudine’s Eatery on Main Street, in Fredericton.  It was my husband’s first time there.  When I spoke to the owner about writing about our experience, she was concerned that we took pictures of our meals.  There was a new cook, and apparently, they are not trained on presentation, yet.  I told her not to worry, as long as I had permission to use some pictures from her online pages.  She said that would be fine.

Claudine's Eatery

I didn’t know if I should go for something fancy or not, but when I saw a number of choices on the breakfast menu that included lobster…I decided to take the plunge in for some seafood.  I ordered the lobster omelet with a side salad instead of homefries, and also no toast.

My husband got “The Maritimer” a traditional bacon eggs sausage toast and added ham.  The new cook forgot to put the pancakes on his plate.  They brought them out on a separate plate.  He liked his breakfast.  I enjoyed mine, immensely.  There were large pieces of lobster in the omelet,  and the side salad was fresh.  I would recommend it to anyone, it was wonderful.  The pic below has toast, mine did not.

Lobster omelet at Claudine's Eatery

Other than specializing in many types of Eggs Benny, they also have french onion soup listed as one of their favourites.  While I was searching through their pictures, I spied what I will try the next time I go for lunch.

Lobster grilled cheese with gouda and a small crock pot lobster poutine at Claudine's Eatery 2

Lobster grilled cheese with gouda and a small crock pot lobster poutine at Claudine’s Eatery.

My husband is not a fan of seafood.  Lobster ranks higher than chocolate or pizza on my list.  I will be going to try this, and maybe to talk about my favourite way to eat lobster. Always Thinking…

I then made my way out to King Woolens and Yarns after I brought my husband home.  I was planning to visit my friend, the owner, and check out what she set up for the new display for my Tish’s Treasures in her store.  I forgot to bring my new blue flower earrings. 🙁

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Blue Flower Earrings

She had found a picture of a display online that she asked my opinion on.  I liked it and told her so.  She didn’t need help assembling it, but I went out to look for ideas for the base with her.  She had the new display assembled and ready.  It makes you want to walk around it to see what else is there.  She did a great job on it.  I happened to bring out a few new jewellery displays I had found yard sale shopping earlier in the summer, and we made a few changes.  We worked on it together, and it looks great now!

 

Saturday was a day for Blogging, errands and social media work.  It was busy in its own way.  I have been fighting a sinus headache.  I think I am winning, and I finished my day with making a pot of chili.  Not a lot of prep cooking today, but we have leftover chili to eat when we are hungry.

Sunday is here.  I am Bouncing the House, still with plans to go to Church this evening.  I then have a skype date with my cousin.  Until then I busied myself with the Master Bedroom cleaning, and shopping at the local Northside Market.  When things slow down and I have access to a better camera, I will be writing about the different markets in the city, and maybe guest blogging about them.  If that plan works out, I will be sure to share the links.

I bought a large fresh cabbage, and some ground pork while I was at the Market.  I plan on making egg roll in a bowl late tonight so I can have it for lunch at work tomorrow.
I bought meat, eggs, and vegetables for groceries, and splurged on some His & Hers Samosas (we each like different kinds) and a bag of apple muffins for a treat.

It was a busy long weekend.  What are your plans?  What did you do this weekend?

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 29

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 28

by | Sep 1, 2017 | Trust Your Gut

 

Trust Your Gut is a series of stories about real people with weight issues, and complications arising from those issues.  It will explain what the person is facing, what their options are, what they have decided to do to take action, and why they chose the path they are on.  Each person’s story will be based on truth, so it won’t all be happy, but it will be real.  The goal of this series is to get people talking about options that are available for people who have weight issues, on either end of the scale.  If you would like to contribute to this series, there is a contact form linked on my Homepage for this blog.  I know there are people out there that want to help people like them; as I do.

 

The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name.  If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story.  The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors.  I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.

This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.

Here is  Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 28

Somebody asked me a question the day that made me stop and think.  The question was, “Where do you get your energy?”  My quick response was, “Coffee and kickass multivitamins.”  But I thought about it some more and felt that the person that asked me the question deserved a better answer.  I met up with him a few minutes later, and I explained that it is from following my passion.  When I am being creative, it makes me push my limits and myself.  I am inspired all the time, even in my sleep.  If I let myself go when it comes to being creative, whether or not it is writing, there are no boundaries.  I can be struck by an idea for the blog by having a conversation with my husband or a friend.  It can even happen when I am working.  I can wake up in the middle of the night with an idea, and when that happens, I make myself go write it down.

I wish I could harness this energy, and direct some of it towards my metabolic rate.  The feelings of utter joy I have when I am making progress on one of my projects is unmatched anywhere else in my life.  It is all me, from my very core, and it radiates out.  It is contagious.  It is visible.  People can see the change in me when I am working on something that makes my heart sing!

Note: I realized after this was published, that I forgot a very important part of my answer to this question.  YOU!  Every time someone reads, likes, shares or comments on this blog, it adds fuel to my train of momentum.  So thank you, each and every one of you for taking the time out of your busy lives to include reading my words.  It means more than I can write here, in just one paragraph, and even if there was a longer place for this note, I don’t know if words can describe the feelings I have inside about every bit of growth it has from your continued support.  You all amaze me.

I am starting to prepare for my challenge. It starts tomorrow.  I have a long weekend.  With the work I have done in the last month with the other challenges, I want to keep the momentum going.  I am going to focus on making healthier choices.  I am going to use the same fire and determination in my journey to be a healthier version of myself.  Tonight, I am getting it out of my system.  This weekend, I am going to be setting up my new routine.  I will need to get organized and to do that I will need a plan.  That means food, specifically meals, and snacks, drinks, testing my sugars frequently, recording all of this and how much insulin I am taking.  If I am serious about this, I know I will see results.  I wrote in my challenges about why I want to be an entrepreneur.  Part of the answer was because I want to lead by example.  I am working hard on my dreams, and one of them is becoming a healthier version of myself.  I am going to start with planning the next week while I start this weekend.

I will be researching new recipes in my Trim Healthy Mama book.  There are other recipes online, and there are my favourites I can mix into the meal plan.  I have not made a lot of desserts because I was not certain of the sweetener ratio.  I am using swerve in the powdered and granular form.  THM uses their own sweeteners, and there are conversions for their blends of sweeteners.  I have the chart on the inside of a cabinet door in the kitchen.  I have most of the ingredients I need for making THM recipes, so I am going to expand my horizons with testing some new recipes and adding the ones I like to my rotation.  I think that might be why I have not been as inspired to stay on plan.  I know I need to do this.

#TrustYourGut

Weekend Warrior #28

Weekend Warrior #27

by | Aug 27, 2017 | Weekend Warrior

Happy Weekend to you!  I am here on Sunday morning, using my AGENDA to figure out this busy day.  Friday I started a new challenge.  It is another five-day,  free,  online challenge, and since I had such a successful run at the last one I did, I signed up for the next one.  The first one taught me about how to Brand myself, as an Artist and an Author. The current Challenge is about Tribe Building, and that is a logical thing for me to learn tips and tricks for, also.  Both of these subjects need to be worked on, constantly, because the audience of today may be a different audience a month from now, six months from now, and onward.  Not that the core audience should be changing itself, but the needs of the audience will change and refocus over time, and I need to stay relevant if I am going to level up as an artist and author.

The homework for today, Day 3 is making me hesitant to answer. It looks easy, because of launching the contest, I think I am already figuring out the next step for me.  I am actually going to delay answering today until after the video for the challenge is posted.  I want to be sure that my answers are well thought out because I am Always Thinking…and I need to get the most out of this challenge that I can, which means sometimes I have to think about the answer, not just slam it out onto the keyboard.

I am really inspired from taking these challenges.  I ran a contest for people to check out different online projects I have on the go, and I picked a winner.  Today I need to create the prize, after having a consultation with the winner, yesterday.  I will be delivering the prize tomorrow, as she is someone that I work with.

Yesterday should have been an easy win for the cleaning and prep cooking.  It wasn’t.  I actually spent the whole day writing on the blog and working on my social media presence, as well as completing day 2 of the GYT Challenge.  I made the video, and I wrote two stories for the blog, one has been published, and the other one has been written in draft format.  It is waiting for approval on some links before I publish, as I want to be sure that I have gotten permission from the sources before sharing the links.  (I did get permission already for the one shared here.)

You may think that it is not hard to spend the day in front of the computer.  In one sense, you would be correct with that assumption.  On the other hand, I am working on many things at the same time, most of the time with writing as the main event, either here, on the blog, or writing my book, elsewhere.  I enjoy the social networking, and I have friends that I interact with online.  I also try to share only the best, most clever tweets.  I have not branched out far in the Twitterverse, but I do check in daily.  It is something I am getting the hang of how to use.

If I am writing, and that is working, then yes, there is a fun factor there for me too.  I really enjoy writing, and I do want to work hard at launching my trilogy to be a success.  I am trying to learn as I go, and do as much of this as I can by myself.  I know my limits, though, and will be in need of an editor when I have the manuscript and my initial editing completed.  I will need help in different areas, but I just took a Facebook quiz, and it said that I will be a millionaire in 2019.  If that is correct, I am going to be a successful published author by then.  I don’t really believe that it will happen because Facebook said so, but it is something that could happen if I work hard to make it so.

Today I went to a movie with my husband.  We went to see The Nut Job 2, and it was cute and funny.  Full of puns!  Not a lot, alright, but there were a few.  Then I rushed home to put a roast in the oven for supper.  Then I ran out again to help a friend buy what she needed for her store to create a new display.  We were both a little off, maybe tired from being busy, so we decided to go get some iced coffee.  We both had the sugar free vanilla.  I really enjoyed it, and it was just what I needed to pick me up.  We also sat down for a bit to have a chat.  Sometimes it is good to make time to just catch up.  The down side of this is that I had to turn down a visit with another friend today because I had already committed to the first friend yesterday.  The timing just wasn’t working out to do everything, and I still have homework and earrings to make.

When I publish this I am going to finish making supper, watch the video for my challenge, do the homework, make the earrings, and empty the dishwasher so I can fill it up again.  If I get REAL ambitious I’ll throw a chicken in the crockpot for tomorrow’s prep cooking adventures.  I LOVE Roast beef sandwiches, so lunch tomorrow will be a treat!  Tuesday I will need something prepared, and I am going to make Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole.  Hence the need to cook the chicken, tonight or tomorrow.  It is a simple recipe so it can be done in the morning.  Then all I will need to do is steam the broccoli, grate some cheese, and mix the recipe together and pop it into the oven.  If I get that far.  Right now, I could seriously go for a nap.  What does that mean?  I win this weekend! I even conquered a hard avocado last night when I was making nachos for supper. It never stood a chance. What did you do this weekend?

 

 

Putting on my GAME FACE!

Putting on my GAME FACE!

by | Aug 27, 2017 | Events

Before Starting. The "Blank Canvas"

Tish before Makeup or hair styling was done.

A few months ago, I shared a story about makeup.  Makeup: A Purge and Purchase Story was fun to experience, and fun to write about.  I was surprised by the comment thread my makeup questions spurred on my Facebook page.  Quite a few people had opinions, and some joined me on my shopping trip.

This morning I woke up and decided I would do my hair and makeup for my Facebook Live video.  I was announcing the winner of the Scavenger Hunt Contest I had going on all week.  I didn’t just want a “like and share” contest.  I wanted people to follow links to my different areas of expertise, one page for my jewellery making business, Tish’s Treasures, another my Facebook Author page, Tish MacWebber’s Author Facebook Page, and here, on my blog.

People showed interest, but not everyone participated.  Some tried to do all of the steps, and others liked the pages.  I made my first Facebook live videos this week.  I found that the one I made from my personal Facebook page was the one that had the most interaction, so I am learning as I am trying new things.  I have watched them after recording, just to hear what I sounded like, and to learn.  I will keep working on them, as they are another way to reach out to people that might not want to spend their time hunting for different pages.

That being said, at some point in the future, I am going to make the leap from this Blog page to my own website.  That will be a new step for me, outside of my comfort zone.  I want to combine the Bling, Blog, and Books I am creating on to a website.  I will be looking for help to do this, and I know that people in the communities I am involved with in my social media circles will point me in the right direction so I can figure it all out.  I am doing all of the work myself, since this page launched for the second time.  I had help at the start and took over when I was ready to take the reins.  It has been a bumpy ride at times, but so much fun.

Now for the makeup.  I am going to share a series of selfies I took this morning while getting ready for my video shoot.  That sounds bigger than it was.  It was less than five minutes long.  I am still not used to how things are flipped on the laptop.  It is another thing to work at until I am great at it.

 

 

Close up! Lips have been found!

Close up! Lips have been found! I hardly recognize myself!

Ready to shoot my video!

Ready to shoot my video!

This happens to be the second tube of mascara I have tried.  I miss my wonder-curl mascara, they don’t make it anymore.  I will give them each another try before blogging my thoughts.  I also tried a new eye makeup remover.  I have not found one that completely cleans mascara from my lashes, ever.  Any tips will be appreciated with this in mind.  I asked about this today on my personal Facebook page, and it became quite a thread.  I am always happy to see another person’s point of view.  😉