I sweat because I care

Today was my first day of exercise. It was awesome!! It was so invigorating. I knew it would be, I am not a total stranger to exercise. But it was wonderful. This morning, I didn't want to get out of bed. I was feeling a serious case of the lazies, but I got up and did it. I'm so proud of myself!

I went to my closet and dug around in the back until I found my forgotten yoga mat. I took it in the living room and stood in front of my television. I worked out while I watched my DVR recorded episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. It made it all go by easily. Here are the exercises I did today:
Bow Extensions- Stand with feet slightly farther than shoulder width apart. With a 5 lb. weight (I used a gallon jug full of water) raise your arms above your head on your left side. Bring the weight down towards your right knee while lifting right knee towards the weight. Do 3 sets of 15 reps, then switch to the other side and repeat with the same 3 sets of 15 reps, taking 30-60 second breaks between each set.

Leg Lifts- Lie on your back with your palms flat on the floor next to your hips. With your feet together, lift both legs so they are perpendicular to the floor, then ease them back down. Don't touch your heels back to the floor, but instead stop about an inch above the floor. Do 3 sets of 15 reps. If you can't do the 15 repetitions, that's a good thing. You want your muscles to max out. I did my first two sets of 15, but my lower abs and upper thighs were burning by my third set, I could only do ten. You should work your muscles til you can't move, then take 30-60 seconds and complete the set.

Jumping Jacks-These go to exercises for junior high gym classes are great cardio for burning calories and lots of fat. I did 3 sets of 20 reps. Then I cooled down by walking in place. When my heart rate returned to normal, I felt so good! This afternoon I went for a walk with the boys. I carried Andrew in the Maya Wrap and pushed John in the stroller. It is such a beautiful day outside, hot and sunny. I worked up a great sweat and surely burned lots of calories!

Enjoy your day!

Trying something new

I have been debating something all day long, and I've finally come to a decision. I've got some news that is hard for me to share. I'm trying to lose weight. While this may not seem like a big deal to some people, it's very difficult for me to talk about it publicly. I didn't know whether to blog about it or not to, because if I talk about it and fail miserably I'll hate myself, I'll be disappointed, and I probably won't be able to show my face again. But I thought that if I did talk about it, it would be the accountability that I needed to keep me on track. While I have a friend who I am sharing this journey with, I still felt I needed something extra to kick me in the ass and keep me moving.

Many things have sparked this desire to get healthy, number one being my children. They deserve a mother who will be able to play tag with them and walk all over the zoo with them, not me who gets out of breath walking to the bathroom. I've been telling myself that I'm fine the way I am, that I don't need to be thin to be happy, but it's not about being thin. At least not totally. It's about being healthy and feeling like I actually did something good for myself for once.
Then there was the fact that none of my clothes fit anymore. That can make any one's self-esteem plummet. And, more recently, the lady in WalMart letting me know I was too overweight for regular bread...
And there's the wedding. I'm going to be the maid-of-honor at one of my best friends' wedding. I'm so happy for her, but I'm absolutely dreading showing my fat arms and spare tire in the fitted dress. So I made a decision the other day. I realized that I'm not going to lose any weight just talking about it, that I needed to just get up and do it. So I did.

I am only human, so I will most definitely disappoint myself and everyone around me at least once. But I do promise to give this my very best. I will be posting about my progress, my feelings, and my daily life on a more regular basis. I really hope that I can find the strength in myself to do this, and I appreciate any love and support from anyone who might be reading this.

Lots of kisses and slimming waistlines
Cassi

I'm fat, thanks

So I went to WalMart to get some bread tonight. I was picking up a loaf of pretty decent wheat bread when an older lady approached me and offered me some advice. "You should pay the extra and get the whole wheat. Always get whole wheat. You're a little overweight, but you're young, so you can still fight it."

Hello. Really? I'm a size 16. While I'm not thin, I'm also not fat. I'm short at 5' 1", and it makes me look really curvy, but when did that become a bad thing? P.S. Lady, I have two kids under the age of 3, I get PLENTY of exercise! Why don't you worry about the box of Twinkies in your cart and let me worry about me wheat bread?!?

That just really gets to me. I'm fixating on this, I think, because I've put on a few pounds since I moved in with Quin, and I've been feeling a little self conscious. So her comments may have come at a bad time. But I don't think I'm overweight. Well, at least, I didn't. Until tonight. Thank you, lady! Now I'm going to go develop my weight complex...

Try something new

If you know me, you know that I have had an obsession with Marilyn Monroe pretty much since I was born.I am inspired not only by her, but by the entire time period in which she lived. For the last few years, I've been doing research, studying people who live a vintage lifestyle. I am so fascintaed by the fashion, and the manufactured beauty of the time period.

Bernie Dexter

Some of my modern day muses include Bernie Dexter, Dita Von Teese, and Ashley from the YouTube channel LisaFreemontStreet. Ashley's channel is devoted to teaching viewers how to achieve vintage looks with time-period inspired hair and makeup tutorials. She also does product reviews for everything from makeup to retro style clothing and websites, and family recipe videos where she does a little cooking show.

Dita Von Teese

As someone who is a lover of all things hair and makeup, I'm totally in love with the manufactured beauty of it all. The over done hair, the bright red lips and winged eye liner, the corsets and girdles; it's all so put on and I love that! These women embrace a lifestyle that takes dedication and effort, and that is so admirable.

I've been expiramenting with these looks lately, and I have to say that this is something I could do daily. I love how I feel when I'm all done up, how Quin looks at me when I'm all done up. I think I'm going to do some tutorials as well, taking inspiration from my favorite leading ladies, and perhaps some ideas of my own.

I hope you enjoyed this little glamorous peek into one of my favorite hobbys!

Graduation Series

I'm doing a series of hair and makeup looks for girls who are going to be graduating in the next couple months. Congratulations to the class of 2011, especially my baby sister, who I guess isn't really a baby haha...I'm so proud of you Haley! You got married, had a baby, and still graduated from high school! I'm so proud of you!

Clean house, plenty of time to play!

Today, all the cleaning is done and the boys and I get to sit back and play. My babies are so beautiful, and I'm a lucky mommy! Except that John won't take a picture with me anymore hehehe.
This is Andrew cuddling a warm blankey on the couch.

                         John sharing his pancake with Andrew. He's such a sweet big brother!

            Watching James and the Giant Peach. I think Andrew was reaching for John's sippy cup.

                                             Yep! He was definitely reaching for his cup!

                                                        Look at my beautiful boys!

                                                              Saying, "Cheeeeeeese!"

He tripped over the rug on Saturday and smacked his poor little forehead on the corner. It left a big goose egg and scrape.

        Cuddling with Andrew. He's still a cuddle bug, unlike John, who has grown out of that phase!

                                                          Look at his pretty blue eyes!

Just a look into our day. And, again, ignore my incorrect time stamp. It is never right, no matter how many times I fix it hahaha.

Why I can't be friends with many women

I read a fashion blog. I try to be as stylish, well, as I can with my ponytails, glasses, often no makeup, even more often frumpy outfits-of-the-day. I think as women, we all want to feel pretty, to feel and see the appreciative glances of others from time to time. So for my daily shot of glamour and inspiration, I read a fashion blog.

She does an outfit of the day every few days. She's a fashion student, a new mommy, and soon to be wife. She juggles alot, but, as we all know, you have to find that one thing that's just for you. Especially when you're a new mom. So she writes a fashion blog. It makes her happy.

Tonight, as I was catching up on my reading, I was scrolling through the comments on this woman's blog post. They were all sweet comments, positive, even when the reviews of the outfit of the day weren't so glowing. Then one caught my eye. Something that was rude, shouldn't have been said. I tried to let it go but it sat with me. Here is the comment:

not trying to be rude or anything but is that what you do all day? go shopping, dress up and take pictures? aside from being a new Mommy & loving makeup, do you have a job? And i'm not talking about "being a Mom and a Wife is a job", I'm talking about a CAREER. Tell us more about yourself then clothes, makeup and hair.

Um. Escuse me. Tell me when being a wife and mom stopped being a job. In my opinion, and I feel like I have the right to share it since I've worked some pretty crappy jobs, but in my opinion, mommy and wife are some of the toughest jobs you could ever have. You don't get paid, you don't get vacation, you don't get sick days, and you don't get days off. You do, however, get pooped on, smacked, kicked, spit on, puked on, and spilled on.

Since when did it become a crime to want to be a mom, and only be a mom. It's a tough undertaking. When did we-those of us who have chosen MOTHERHOOD as a careerpath-become in the wrong for wanting to make sure our children were raised by their own parents? When did we become wrong because we didn't choose the path of high powered executive and didn't start bringing home as much money as our husbands? Isn't making sure our children are raised how WE want them to be raised just as important? Women's Liberation did terrible things for women, just as many terrible things as it did good things. Unfortunately, now, if you stay home to raise your children, clean your house, and cook for your husband, you're lazy, airheaded, dumb, and worthless.

That's why I can't be friends with many women.