Hello beautiful people of the interwebs! Its a rainy and chilly day here in East Texas. Normally these kind of days make me want to curl up and stay in bed and finish season 5 of The Walking Dead. But instead, I put on my brightest mustard yellow sweater, because I always gravitate towards yellow when its a rainy day. Life has been INSANE! So I've been slacking on the Fit & Happy posts, and most posts in general. Today I can finally breathe a bit so I wanted to recap how things have been lately. I'm focusing mostly on mental health and happiness today so get ready for some heavy stuff. In case you've missed it, each (most) Tuesday I'm writing my goals and recapping the previous week's goals in my journey towards mental and physical health/happiness. You can find the previous posts here.

Fit & Happy where have you been? I've been slacking lately! Truth be told I've been insanely busy with school starting back up and launching the new Gypsy Beard web site! Also, I been getting swarmed with questions and new design clients, which is so so exciting! This is my busiest season to date and it's only January! Anyways, in case you've missed it, each Tuesday I'm writing my goals and recapping the previous week's goals in my journey towards mental and physical health/happiness. You can find the previous posts here.

So here's a recap on my recent goals and how well I followed through.

- Incorporate Goals Into A Daily To Do list. I cannot tell you how much this helped! For the most part, every goal I make that doesn't get accomplished is because I forget to pursue it! I set an alarm on my phone for several important tasks such as the days I want to work out, plan meals, set aside time for painting or music etc.


-Studio / Shop Room I made small progress here. But there's still a lot to be done. Ideally, I'll have a full functioning photography studio that I can break down and reassemble quickly.

-Continue To Make Healthy Food Choices I caved again and have eaten fast food a few times since I quit. :-( I regretted it as soon as I ate it too! I felt so horrible! I felt like my body hated me for it. I felt tired and gross and heavy. It's important to listen to what your body says, and mine was definitely telling me "Screw you for eating that cheeseburger! What are you doing to me?"

-Get out! Sadly our trip got pushed back due to our schedule. Oddly enough though, I have one class that I have to drive an hour away for that has really done wonders for me mentally. When you have a job with very little physical human interaction, go to school online and most of your friends live across the country it can be lonely! Getting out and interacting with likeminded people has been healthy for me.

-Organize The Adult Things I've made big steps here recently with taking care of business. I've got a long ways to go though.

-Spend An Hour A Day Playing Piano / Painting / Drawing I've overcompensated here haha. I've been painting and drawing like crazy! I started an art challenge where you draw or create something everyday. I've been sharing on Instagram with the hashtag #2015yearofart. There are a few other people I know who are participating and are doing a much better job at keeping up than I *cough cough* but its still fun. 

Also, I bought a UKULELE! I'm so excited about this haha. I've been wanting one for awhile and when Santa disappointed, I took it upon myself to get one. I can play a few chords so far but I'm learning! I'm having trouble with tuning it just right but hopefully I will get the hang of it. Maybe I'll be brave enough to share me playing one day. 



I feel pretty good with where this year is going so far. I need to exercise more as always but I'm doing better than I was. Here's are my next goals.


- Learn To Tune & Play A Song On My Ukulele!  This is self explanatory but hopefully I'll have time to really work at this week.


-Just Get Stuff Done & Don't Lose My Mind If I make it through the next few months without a breakdown, that will be a huge accomplishment. With how crazy I expect this semester to be with school and freelance work, I've got to just focus on getting stuff done. I'm not going to stress about much else other than spending time with family. I just want to make it through the semester in one piece haha.

-Continue To Make Healthy Food Choices I'm doing well apart from the random fast food nightmares. Ugh. I want to drink even more water and eat even more fruits and vegetables and plan out our dinners a little better. 

-Get out! After missing our trip to San Antonio & Austin, I've got a serious travel itch! I've been dreaming of Colorado or the desert. Maybe I'll be able to get away for a day or two in between the work/school madness. I'm sure I'm going to need it. Spring break anybody?

-Get Lots Of Sleep This goes without saying... I'm going to need it. No more late night Netflix binges and getting up early for work. 

I've learned something about my happiness lately. Doing the work I love, staying busy painting & drawing and making progress whether in school or work has really contributed to my mental happiness. A huge source of my unhappiness has been being stuck at a day job that doesn't feed my creative soul. I'm still working there during the day, but I don't dwell so much on it now that I have other outlets that are keeping me so busy. Have you noticed something in particular that adds to your mental happiness? Or do you do anything that really relieves stress for you?

 I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues


 

So technically we are in week 7? I decided to take off from this post during the holidays because I really wanted to allow myself to be carefree. Besides, what's more depressing than dwelling on every cookie or tamale you ate? (Yes, we make tamales at Christmas!) Truth be told, I didn't worry about much at all apart from organizing my life. In case you've missed it, each Tuesday I'm writing my goals and recapping the previous week's goals in my journey towards mental and physical health/happiness. You can find the previous posts here.

So here's how the past few weeks have been with goals and what not.

- Actually Create a REAL fitness routine. So totally didn't stick with my routine at all. I sporadically lifted weights and spent a lot of time walking the dog & playing soccer but not in any organized sort of way. The organized bit aside, I've felt great with my level activity.

-(Begin To) Create A Work Space Where I Can Thrive I really, really nailed this one! I deep cleaned the heck out of my office and organized every file, folder and pen! Oh man, I had stuff from markets and photo shoots laying around, tripods that I tripped over almost daily, and so. much. dust. It was so liberating and refreshing. Every time I walk by and catch a glimpse of my office I immediately want to go sit down at my desk and make magic happen! It's so relieving to not have to avoid that room for the feeling of dread I felt. I had gotten to a point where I would just avoid it. I was fooling no one. haha! I'll be sharing an office tour with you very soon!

-Incorporate More Fruit I'm pretty sure the only fruit I ate over the break was avocados. Obviously that's not even cutting it, no matter how yummy and healthy avocados can be.

-Walk The Dog & Look at Christmas Lights We walked, we saw, we conquered.

-Try Another Cleanse I did not do this at all. Unless you count fasting for a day and only drinking water. But I think that's just called fasting?

-Spend An Hour A Day Playing Piano / Painting / Drawing I spent a lot of time doodling and playing with watercolor. Conrad got a guitar from us for Christmas so I actually taught myself a few chords! I played the few songs I could remember on the keyboard before giving up and moving on. Once again, there was no organized allotted time for any of this so it's hard to say I accomplished it, but I'm happy that I at least did it. 

Overall I feel really great about how the holidays went. I didn't exercise a ton but I feel like it was very productive and I was full of energy. I decluttered and deep cleaned nearly the whole house! Does a clean house make you as happy as it does me? I caught up on a LOT OF over due beauty sleep and feel that has made a huge difference in my mindset. I knocked out several seasons of some really great shows, which so may say isn't a win, but TV is a true joy for me, not because I want to be lazy, but because I truly love getting absorbed in a story. Don't judge. I feel more clear minded. There's also something about spending time with family and friends that just makes your heart smile. I discovered my love for wine which was not a win hahaha!



It's a new year and I'm not going to bore you with the whole "new year, new me" shpill. I'm just getting stuff done.

- Incorporate Goals Into A Daily To Do list. So it's a very silly thing to make writing a "to do list" as a goal, but I've realized over this "experiment" that I literally forget everything I plan to do almost as soon as I hit PUBLISH. I have my main big goals in mind but not the small ones. I'm going to work on finding a process for execution! Doesn't that sound like a metal song? PROCESS FOR EXECUTION!


-Studio / Shop Room When my office was cleaned and decluttered, I made it a point to get as many things from my vintage shop out and into one of our spare bedrooms. The plan was to turn the room into a makeshift photography studio / shop storage. Currently, it is nothing but a dump for things from the last market I went to. Rubbermaid tubs, clothes racks, hangers and vintage clothes everywhere! I'm going to start to tackle this room over the next few weeks.

-Continue To Make Healthy Food Choices I could tell a huge difference in the way I was eating before the holidays. I felt different and everyone else was noticing too. I was losing weight & had more energy. If I continue, hopefully things will only get better.

-Get out! I have a mini getaway planned for this weekend so I'm excited! I'm road tripping down through Austin and staying with my aunt in San Antonio. Eeeeek! New surroundings, food and people are a great way to reset your brain. Taking in a new adventure is very stimulating for my creativity and spiritual happiness. I'm also excited to be doing some thrifting / vintage hunting in a new place!

-Organize The Adult Things Being unprepared stresses me out. Worrying about money haunts me in my sleep and completely screws up my whole mentality. It's time to get all of my finances more organized and ready for tax season. It's time to tie up any lose ends, pay off the late things and brace myself for 2016.

-Spend An Hour A Day Playing Piano / Painting / Drawing I'm keep this one! And I'm going to add it to the daily to do list. haha. 

Hopefully you'll see a little bit of me from my adventures this weekend. If not, I'm having too much fun. What are your goals for the new year?  I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues


 

We are in week 4! This week is titled baby steps because I feel like that's what all major changes and goals are composed of. Lots and lots of baby steps. In case you've missed it, each Tuesday I'm writing my goals and recapping the previous week's goals in my journey towards mental and physical health/happiness. You can find the previous posts here.

So here's how it went this past week with my week two goals.

- Create a fitness routine. Routine? No. I did buy some weights that I used a couple of times, but sadly that's all I can say about that. I'm going to aim for using weights at least 3 days a week.

-Write In My Journal This was something I enjoyed. I wrote and doodled twice and I always feel so fresh and free afterwards.

-Cut Back On Carbs & Portions So far I'm doing great in the food department. I'm trying to watch portions and trying not to eat that much bread or pasta. I allowed myself to cheat a bit when I took my mom out to eat for her birthday this weekend but other than that I was good. There is a Christmas candy issue going on but I will allow myself some wiggle room there haha. Also, I've hardly even missed soda! I've been drinking water like a nobody's business. I crave water now as soon as I wake up and all day long actually.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active I definitely missed a few days. But we've done a lot of walking and soccer this passed week! 

-Decorate For Christmas We got more done! I love the way the tree looks lit up in a dark house at night. It's so whimsical.

-Try Something New I can't say that I picked up a new hobby but I did start a new book. And starting a new book feeds my soul.

-Spend an hour drawing / painting I doodled, I painted, I conquered. Maybe I'll get brave enough to share some soon.

This past week was eh... apart from buying weights I don't feel like I accomplished too much. BUT I did receive comments from several family members that I looked like I had lost weight! That's always super encouraging to hear. It makes you want to get outside and run a marathon to keep it up. (well not QUITE but ya know). So I feel very motivated to keep it up.




- Actually Create a REAL fitness routine. Okay I'm establishing now
Monday: Weights, abs, legs
Tuesday: Walk the dog
Thursday: Weights, abs, legs
Saturday: Weights, abs, legs

Before you think this may be too much or little, I'm going at my own pace and will be pushing myself further each week with this. All those years of school athletics taught me a lot about working out thankfully so I know a lot of great exercises and routines.

-(Begin To) Create A Work Space Where I Can Thrive Don't ask how, but my awesome office somehow became cluttered with shop inventory and future garage sale piles. My computer made its way to the dining room table and I just pretend my office isn't there so I don't have to deal with it. A completed, functioning work space is something I've always wanted.  It'll definitely be a work in progress but I can't wait to start.

-Incorporate More Fruit Maybe I'm weird but I really don't like fruit. I'd rather eat green beans and carrots than fruit. I'll eat bananas and cantaloupe occasionally but that's it. It's mostly the texture I don't like. Maybe I'll try to get more smoothies or force myself to try more.

-Walk The Dog & Look at Christmas Lights Walking the dog is something that I need to do for both her sake and mine. Luckily we live right off of one of the most beautiful streets in my city. It's nothing but old Victorian & early 1900's houses and they go all out at Christmas. So instead of just driving to see the lights this year, we'll walk!

-Try Another Cleanse I really think that the last one I did some good resetting of my body.

-Spend An Hour A Day Playing Piano / Painting / Drawing As silly as it may seem to force yourself to set aside time for a hobby, the struggle is real! I always forget! 

I think this weeks goals are much more simple and specific than the past few weeks. I left myself too much wiggle room with my previous goals. What are your goals? Is there a hobby or routine you use that feeds YOUR soul? Let me know in the comments! I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues


 

It's week 3! Thanksgiving wasn't as overindulgent as it could have been so I'm giving myself big brownie points there. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Sadly, mine was quite lonely. Normally I spend the day with my family but this year my son was with his Dad's side of the family and we didn't do our usual family get together. I had Thanksgiving with my parents the day before but I missed seeing my cousins and grandparents. I spent most of the day watching Game of Thrones and drinking wine. :-\ So while it wasn't a complete failure, it was lonely. This weekend though we did have our annual Friendsgiving and it was great. I love my circle of friends. They feed my soul.

So here's how it went this past week with my week two goals.

- Enjoy Thanksgiving. Even though Thanksgiving day wasn't the best, Friendsgiving more than made up for it!

-Focus On Feeding My Heart & Soul I think friend time and time with Conrad really helped me get through this past week.  It was miserable weather all week long and the cuddling and movie marathons really helped.  We put up our Christmas tree, which always adds a little bit of magic to my day and each time I look at the sparkling lights. Anxiety and depression have been creeping up on my lately so this past week has been really uplifting.

-Cutback On Meat Unconsciously I did really well here. Apart from Turkey I did pretty good.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active This is something I keep forgetting to do daily. Though we did A LOT OF walking, I need to push myself in this department.

 -Cut Out Fast Food I made it through the whole week without fast food! That's quite a victory honestly.

-Get Rid Of The Things We Don't Need I cleaned a lot but didn't declutter or get rid of things like I had hoped. I blame it on the weather.

-Go Somewhere New Again the weather kept us inside most of the time but I did adventure out a little bit on Wednesday to some random thrift stores and pawn shops.

-Spend an hour drawing / painting I doodled quite a bit this past week! I didn't get to paint, but there's something so lovely and raw about black ink of paper to me. I love it.

So I did OK this past week. I definitely need to focus more on working out now that I'm somewhat got my eating habits in check. I cave once or twice a week and have a soda but definitely not daily like I used to. I've also been drinking tons of water like a crazy water person. I feel like I can never get enough! I think that blogging each week what I'm struggling with has helped me a lot in feeling accomplished. I'm also continuing to feel more and more confident in myself which is amazing.




- Create a fitness routine. This was something I was hoping I'd be able to avoid, but if I don't, it won't get done. So I'm going to start out with a basic list and see what happens. I want to tone my arms and legs and of course my stomach so maybe I'll pick up some light weights.

-Write In My Journal I've been having a lot of anxiety and depression these past few weeks. It's weird because I haven't had any of these issues since high school but they've been creeping up on me. I'm hoping that putting my thoughts down and doodling in my journal will help.

-Cut Back On Carbs & Portions This week I'm going to focus on cleaning the carbs out of my life and shrinking my food portions.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active I'm going to set an alarm to remind me to do this every evening. Whether its just playing soccer or zumba on the Wii, I have to do something!

-Decorate For Christmas There's something magical about decorating that really lifts the spirits. We put up our tree over the weekend, but I want to decorate the rest of the house.

-Try Something New I want to try out a new hobby or past time this week. Not sure yet what, but I'll find something! Picking up piano again is something I've been wanting to do so maybe I'll do that.

-Spend an hour drawing / painting I want to keep this up so I'll leave it here again this week. 

Okay there are week three's goals! I really hope I can accomplish most of these. What struggles have you faced in getting healthy and happy? If you want to join in on this with me or blog along let me know in the comments! I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues


 

Last week I decided to start a new featured called Fit & Happy Tuesday geared towards motivating myself to get healthy mentally and physically and for tracking my progress and goals. Last month I laid out my long term goals as well as goals for this past week. It's helped having these goals in the back of my mind as I go throughout my day to day life.

So here's how it went this past week with my week one goals.

- Limit TV/Computer time to only 1 hour a night. I definitely cut back on TV a LOT this past week. I don't know if it was exactly an hour but it was definitely a lot less time. Baby steps! haha

-Begin Yoga This did not happen. I thought about it but I let procrastination and laziness get in the way. It was a busy week but that's no excuse. There's a new yoga place in town that I think might actually want to join but we'll see....

 -Cut Out Fast Food I caved twice. I'm going to have to plan meals better and grocery shop more strategically, otherwise fast food is going to be a huge problem for me. On the plus side though I didn't get fast food several days for lunch at work like I usually do.

-Spend At Least 30 Minutes A Day Doing Something Cardiofied This past week I was definitely more active. I didn't get in any jogging or soccer, but we did take a few walks and did a lot of shopping. Walking around a mall for 3 hours surely has to count as exercise because I'm always exhausted after that. I had a market last weekend so spent a lot of time heavy lifting and on my feet standing for several hours at a time. We also went indoor skydiving and I was brutally sore in my arms the next few days after that.

-Begin Cutting Out As Much Sugar & Caffein As Possible I did great knocking out energy drinks and Dr.Pepper this past week. Coffee will always be my friend though I think. Again, baby steps! 

-Clean Out The Pantry & Fridge Luckily all of the sweets were gone before I wrote last weeks post. We aren't big chip eaters either so that helps. Aside from Christmas cookies I don't think we'll keep anything sweet around for quite awhile. 

-Begin A Cleanse I made it three days haha. Better than nothing though!

-Declutter Mentally & Physically I can already say that once I set my mind on being more positive and happy that I've noticed a difference in my attitude. I'm feeling more confident in myself and realizing my self worth. I'm standing up for myself and loving others more. Decluttering the house will have to wait for this week haha.

-Trying Something & Go Somewhere New We went indoor sky diving and it was awesome! We went to iFly Dallas in Frisco and it was a blast. My parents paid for it as my birthday present this year. It was definitely the most daring thing I've ever done. I can't wait to do it again or to try something else new. Our instructor was an awesome dude and really made the experience memorable. He even let my son walk out and check the "tunnel out and explained it all to him even though he didn't participate.






- Enjoy Thanksgiving. So it's really hard thinking about being healthy and all that Thanksgiving week. Regardless, I think its important to not over do it. I plan on enjoying Thanksgiving. I probably won't eat a piece of every pie though.

-Feed On Feeding My Heart & Soul I plan to focus on spending time with family and friends this week and really soaking in their love and company. I'll be attending a Friendsgiving this weekend too and I cannot wait. Great food and great people is what its all about.

-Cutback On Meat So I don't think I'll ever be able to be a vegetarian, but I really like the idea of cutting back how much meat we consume. My son could live off fruit and vegetables but not me. I think we could do 3 days a week without meat.

-Spend 30 Minutes Every Day Being Active I think I'll keep this goal permanently. Now if I could just get my treadmill fixed.....

 -Cut Out Fast Food I'm going to keep at this one too.

-Get Rid Of The Things We Don't Need I've got a 5 day weekend! This week I'm going to focus on creating a peaceful home. (As peaceful as a place can be that in inhabited by a boston terrier and a 7 year old boy). I plan to clean out closets and get rid of unneeded things. This is the perfect time to donate old clothes and toys. This will also get rid of the stress I experience with clutter and looking for things last minute!

-Go Somewhere New This week I think I'll focus on going somewhere new. Surely my 5 day weekend will allow for exploring somewhere new. New places always inspire me and get my brain turning. 

-Spend an hour drawing / painting There is something so relaxing and therapeutic about getting into my artistic zone. It's been too long.

That is it for week two. What struggles have you faced in getting healthy and happy? If you want to join in on this with me or blog along let me know in the comments! I'll be tracking my journey on Instagram & Twitter with hashtag #fitandhappytues