Happy Friday, everyone!
Here are just a few things that delighted me throughout my week:
1. Our garden and our front flower bed:
My first Dahlia to bloom this summer!
I have more pictures of our actual raised bed garden that we built earlier this summer, but alas, our computer is slowly dying and doesn't have the space to upload pictures, let alone perform any other important function. I'll get you before and after pics of the garden soon enough, though, which leads me to my second delight of the week...
2. Joey and I's anniversary gift to one another:
(photo via divergentadeluxe.wordpress.com)
A NEW COMPUTER!!!
Yes indeed, folks, it's about that time and this wonderful old friend of mine has been requesting retirement in some not-so-very-subtle ways. This kind of erratic technological behavior has definitely not been good for business...
For example; whilst recently working on my sister-in-law, Dani's, invitations, I went through a comical (in hindsight) fiasco of completing the final product of invitation, RSVP, and registry info on a crippled computer. This forced me into using better computers (thank you, Joey) that were not mine and did not use the same version of Photoshop (mine needs updating). This unhappy circumstance was, at this point, unavoidable. Therefore, once having completed the project and having it ready to print, Kinko's and I soon found them NOT to be compatible with their version of Photoshop resulting in me having one meltdown over the phone with Joey and then, after pulling myself together, having to completely redo the final product THREE different times before Kinko's could actually print them. The employee at Kinko's who helped me was a Saint and I told her after all of her patience with the whole ordeal that I could kiss her... however, she just told me that she didn't drink, but to go have a couple for her anyway... I obliged.
Invitations, thank you cards, note cards, etc. are projects that I really enjoy doing for the creative process and the ability to give someone something original for their special occasion. So when the process is THAT difficult due to something minor, it becomes very frustrating. My ideal career would be to work, on my own, on my creative abilities. With an old, worn out computer standing in my way, though, the challenges for making that happen only get worse and more chaotic. Joey, as well, uses this computer for creative purposes when writing and researching, but we've also discussed buying some film editing software for future film projects, which would be amazing. Therefore, Joey and I are buying one another a computer to share and to love and to work on... and that makes me SO unbelievably excited and happy! Hopefully our new addition to the family will be bought and ready to be introduced to the world within a week!
3. Our anniversary:
A BIG "Thank You" to Joey's cousin's Chris, Rachel, and Amanda, who each, unknowingly, gave us gift certificates to the same awesome restaurant, Alchemy, for Christmas!!! Naturally we sat on these gift certificates for 6 months and used them to have a KICKass anniversary dinner! We felt very fancy having no inhibitions about what to order. Joey got a fancy steak dealy and duck spring rolls with deliciously hoppy, yet smooth beer and I ordered a duo of dips (hummus and black bean dip) and wild mushroom pancakes with sauteed spinach on top as well as TWO fancy martinis... hell, we even ordered dessert (a trio of cheesecake samples)! ALL of it was delicious and we enjoyed our dinner immensely!
Afterwards, Joey surprised me with tickets to the Dave Chapelle stand up show at the Orpheum (WhAt!), which was SUCH a cool and unexpected gift! It was awesome to see Dave again and the show was really funny, however, there was a pretty insane amount of drunken hecklers who consistently interrupted the show with their irrelevant and ignorant banter. Oh well, what are you going to do... Mr. Chapelle, I apologize for the city of Memphis and the few unfortunate fools who were sloppy at your show and don't know how to handle themselves... please don't rule out Memphis if you decide to tour in the future!
Bad camera photo (another casualty of having a slow computer) of Joey and I before the show. Even still, he's so handsome.
So those are my happy's for the week! What are/were yours? Anything exciting happen or about to happen? Hmmmmmm...
Goodbye for now and love to all!
Aloha, aloha, I'm crawling out of hibernation, folks, and there's a LOT to catch up on.
For starters, before I began writing this post, I scrolled through the last handful of posts to see where I had left off and it dawned on me that I had never really discussed the fact that Joey and I moved to Mississippi!?!... (insert slap to the forehead). Yeah, we've lived in Mississippi for a year now. How I missed that little tidbit of our lives, I'm not sure, but I will indeed shed some light on it because it plays a pretty major role in our everyday lives, as well as our future adventures.
So, around this time last year, we were living in an AWESOME duplex in midtown Memphis that we LOVED...
However, Joey's job situation was looking kind of bleak and there was the possibility that the bookstore would be sold to liquidators resulting in the loss of over 50 employee jobs, including Joey's. There was also a little seed, an idea and an anticipation, of moving to a brand new city that had begun to grow in Joey and I's minds and we began to budget and make plans for a new leap in our lives together. So, with these two challenges ahead of us, we weighed the pros and cons of having a cheaper rent to be able to save more money, and we decided to move... to Olive Branch, Mississippi.
This is the house of my grandparents, Annie and BB. It has played an enormous role in my childhood and is very near and dear to my heart. Last year, my family and I lost both Annie (to Alzheimer's) and BB (to pneumonia), leaving an enormous hole in our hearts, but also leaving us with the magnificent gifts of their spirits and the memories of their love.
The family wasn't quite ready to sell the house and there was also the amount of work needed to clean, organize, and get the house ready to sell or rent to tackle. So, Joey and I decided to move in, allowing more time to work on fixing the house up, and stalling a decision as to what to do with the house (rent or sell). And with that, we trimmed our rent, allowing for a cushion in the event that the bookstore went under, and helping us to save for our nomadic dreams as well. As it turns out, in a dramatic turn of events, the bookstore was bought back from the liquidators from it's former owner and the bookstore has had a happy journey ever since (Hooray!). Joey kept his job and with the security of two incomes, we've aimed to live somewhat frugally so as to reach our traveling goals/dreams.
It's been an interesting year living next door to TN and it has presented it's own set of challenges and obstacles, as well as plenty of opportunities for growth. However, I will write more on that later and I will also give you a tour (before and afters) of the house because it's always fun to take a peek inside of every house's nooks and crannies!
To stay on the task of catching up, though, allow me to let you in on our moving plan....... Brooklyn, NY. Let me say that again, and with a little more enthusiasm .... BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, wHaT, WHAT!!!
We are REALLY excited about this plan, but there's a LOT that's going into preparing for moving to the Big Apple before we can make it official. So, keep your fingers and your toes crossed for our success in this journey! This is a *whole* other animal that I'm going to catch you up on. There are lots of ins and outs of our intricate plans to construct this dream into a reality and I'll definitely let you in on our journey and I would love to receive feedback from you along the way! I'm excited and eager to get back on track with the blog and to begin sharing our goals and holding ourselves accountable for them with you!
For starters, before I began writing this post, I scrolled through the last handful of posts to see where I had left off and it dawned on me that I had never really discussed the fact that Joey and I moved to Mississippi!?!... (insert slap to the forehead). Yeah, we've lived in Mississippi for a year now. How I missed that little tidbit of our lives, I'm not sure, but I will indeed shed some light on it because it plays a pretty major role in our everyday lives, as well as our future adventures.
So, around this time last year, we were living in an AWESOME duplex in midtown Memphis that we LOVED...
However, Joey's job situation was looking kind of bleak and there was the possibility that the bookstore would be sold to liquidators resulting in the loss of over 50 employee jobs, including Joey's. There was also a little seed, an idea and an anticipation, of moving to a brand new city that had begun to grow in Joey and I's minds and we began to budget and make plans for a new leap in our lives together. So, with these two challenges ahead of us, we weighed the pros and cons of having a cheaper rent to be able to save more money, and we decided to move... to Olive Branch, Mississippi.
The family wasn't quite ready to sell the house and there was also the amount of work needed to clean, organize, and get the house ready to sell or rent to tackle. So, Joey and I decided to move in, allowing more time to work on fixing the house up, and stalling a decision as to what to do with the house (rent or sell). And with that, we trimmed our rent, allowing for a cushion in the event that the bookstore went under, and helping us to save for our nomadic dreams as well. As it turns out, in a dramatic turn of events, the bookstore was bought back from the liquidators from it's former owner and the bookstore has had a happy journey ever since (Hooray!). Joey kept his job and with the security of two incomes, we've aimed to live somewhat frugally so as to reach our traveling goals/dreams.
It's been an interesting year living next door to TN and it has presented it's own set of challenges and obstacles, as well as plenty of opportunities for growth. However, I will write more on that later and I will also give you a tour (before and afters) of the house because it's always fun to take a peek inside of every house's nooks and crannies!
To stay on the task of catching up, though, allow me to let you in on our moving plan....... Brooklyn, NY. Let me say that again, and with a little more enthusiasm .... BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, wHaT, WHAT!!!
The walk across the Brooklyn Bridge... probably my most anticipated part of our trip, and it TOTALLY lived up to my expectations!
So, now that you're all caught up on which way we're swimming in this river of life, allow me to let you in on some other exciting news...
Tomorrow, Joey and I will celebrate 2 years of being totally stoked about being one another's "official" best friend. I love that man, and I love that he enables me and encourages me to think big (while keeping me grounded) and has never faltered (NOT ONCE!) in pushing me to pursue my dreams and believing in my ability to do so 100%. Distraction and pure laziness are influential adversaries that I'm apt to entertain when left to my own devices. However, with Joey there to constantly remind me that to participate in distractions and laziness is to sell myself short, I begin to feel and realize the truth in what he's been preaching to me. These are truths that we are all aware of, but often, we just need someone to help wake us up to. Obviously, these obstacles will never truly be overcome, but they are challenges that we are both willing to face in order to live to reach our full potential. It feels like a very rare gift to have a supporter, a cheerleader, who has no doubt that, if you put your mind to it, you can and will succeed. It is my desire, my goal, and my deepest hope that I am able to return that kind of unconditional love and support for him as well.
I love you, Joey; you're a wonderful, talented, and beautiful man, inside and out, and you make me an extremely happy lady, not to mention, a wonderfully lucky one!
Tomorrow, Joey and I will celebrate 2 years of being totally stoked about being one another's "official" best friend. I love that man, and I love that he enables me and encourages me to think big (while keeping me grounded) and has never faltered (NOT ONCE!) in pushing me to pursue my dreams and believing in my ability to do so 100%. Distraction and pure laziness are influential adversaries that I'm apt to entertain when left to my own devices. However, with Joey there to constantly remind me that to participate in distractions and laziness is to sell myself short, I begin to feel and realize the truth in what he's been preaching to me. These are truths that we are all aware of, but often, we just need someone to help wake us up to. Obviously, these obstacles will never truly be overcome, but they are challenges that we are both willing to face in order to live to reach our full potential. It feels like a very rare gift to have a supporter, a cheerleader, who has no doubt that, if you put your mind to it, you can and will succeed. It is my desire, my goal, and my deepest hope that I am able to return that kind of unconditional love and support for him as well.
I love you, Joey; you're a wonderful, talented, and beautiful man, inside and out, and you make me an extremely happy lady, not to mention, a wonderfully lucky one!
Goodbye for now and love to all!
Saw this, thought of you... or for any parent for that matter.
:)
Ahhhh, yeay, it's the weekend! Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays simply taste so delicious once they arrive! This morning, while letting the ladies out to do their business, I noticed that the air had that broken fever feel to it, that lets you know that fall is slowly arriving. Not necessarily a cool feeling, but not a sweltering one, either. Even the oak leaves are becoming too heavy from the summer's intensity, dying, and falling to the ground, creating a crunchy "ball pit" of sorts for Noodle and Darla to play in. It felt amazing outside and was a quick reminder to the fact that a hammock hanging in the trees by the lake, with a book and a blanket would be PERFECTION!
This weekend, I want to clean the house...I mean really tackle it and set Joey and I up for an easy cleaning/staying organized and relaxed and productive routine. I know I've made this statement a trillion times, but perhaps if I keep working towards it and keep failing, eventually I will reach success. Our place today, as compared to my bachelorette abode's is already a good assessment of how I have improved over the years, believe it or not.
Also, I'm working on at least 3 projects; 2 art, and 1 knitting, and I have several ideas for Christmas that I need to jump on, and ideas for other creative endeavors, like taking a stab at writing/illustrating children's books and collaborating on writing/film projects with Joey (I absolutely love that he includes me and invites me into his passions... I'm extremely lucky). I need to get organized first, though... for my own sanity, but the excitement of so many ideas keeps me constantly motivated. So, here we go, Fall, get ready for some serious business!
Anybody want to check out some fun links...
A really fun housewarming party idea!
How big of a backyard do you need to live off the grid? You'd be surprised!
Ok, I'm a little bit obsessed with Lush. They cater to my eco-friendly desires, create amazing products, as well as motivate me to care a little bit more about my beauty routine... which, in the past, is not something I've invested much time into. So, when I recently ran out of my facial moisturizer, I decided to go to Lush to try out one of theirs. I chose Imperialis and I LOVE it! It makes my face feel amazing, and it smells warm and earthy, which I love. Also, I'm eyeballing this little package of joy as well!
Have I talked about how great Jim Henson is lately? Let me fix that...
(Thanks for thinking of sending me the link, Blake!)
Pointless street Flyers... Hilarious!
Oooo, pretty, I might add this to my "To-Do's" for the weekend!
And, last, but not least, once I grow my hair back out again, I want to find the right person to help me to pull this off! So pretty!
Have a beautiful weekend!
Chillin'
Here's McReady. He's the most fun little man on four legs with whiskers since my little buddy Merlin (my old cat) who he both resembles and whose spirit he seems to embody with a little quirky twist that's all his own. If you're aware of or if you knew my buddy Merlin, then you know just how cool a cat McReady must be because Merlin was also his own man and an excellent cat :) However, we have absolutely no need for four pets. So, when we found out that our good friends Garre and Greg were thinking about bringing a kitten into their little family (they also have an awesome 3-legged lab mix named Steeler, who is also his own man), we were ecstatic. Steeler and McReady have become fast friends! Not only had we found an awesome home for McReady, but we can visit him now and even pet-sit when they go out of town! Our furry ladies are always a little more lively when he comes to play and they're always up to some kind of mischief... it's pretty entertaining.
Tsukiko, a beautiful life-size tigress, is my fibreglass tiger that I painted for the UofM Centinial celebration. 100 tigers have been painted or aesthetically manipulated in celebration of UofM's "Tiger's Around Town" and I was fortunate enough, thanks to the heads up from my friend, Heather, to be a part of it. She sat in our carport for about two weeks, one of which I was out of town for, and then, after a long, hot, and sweaty week, she blossomed into the beautiful and exotic lady that I knew she could be.
Because she's awesome, Garre helped me put the finishing touches on my lovely lady (note the knees behind Tsukiko's back legs). I love my Gare Bear!
Night painting is probably not the best exercise in endurance for your vehicle.
If you want to find out more about the "Tiger's Around Town", click here. There's going to be an "Unveiling" on Sept. 10 between 11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. when all the tigers will be exhibited. I can't wait to see all of the different tigers, I know they'll be amazing! Also, I know a few of the other artists that worked on tigers, and I can vouch for their awesomeness as well, so you should definitely come check it out if you can!
I hope your Monday was a good one! Today was the first day of school and I must say that it was wonderful to see so many of my kids again and to receive so many hugs. I love my job!
P.S. - the photos of McReady are pictures that I lovingly stole from my good buddy, J.B. I hope you don't mind! They were just so good :) So good, that I'll include a stolen Darla and Noodle picture as well...
I love my ladies! Nugget too, but she was hiding, so we didn't get a portrait of her. Oh well, you snooze you lose.
P.P.S - Greg and Garre renamed McReady Bruce Lee, however, as long as they don't mind, he'll remain McReady over here at the Carr Farm.
Start weight: 132.6 lbs
End weight: 126 lbs
According to what I have read, my weight loss was less than what most women experience, however, I think that's due to the fact that I fumbled my laxative routine during the night before Day 1, Day 1, and Day 2.
As far as weening off the diet goes, here is how that played out in a short summary...
Suggested Routine:
- Day 11 - An orange juice diet, to allow your stomach and body to once again become used to a different type of nutrient source, and, because it's liquid, it won't be as much of a shock to your system.
- Day 12 - Orange juice in the morning, some fruit for lunch, and a vegetable soup with some 1/2 rye crackers for din din.
- Day 13 - Orange juice and/or fruit in the morning, small salad for lunch, and a vegetarian (mostly Raw) meal for dinner.
Once Joey and I got started on our road trip to St. Louis, I immediately kicked off my slow transition back into solid foods. I remained faithful to the first day's rules of drinking nothing but Orange Juice and water. However, I failed somewhat on the second day and ate a salad for dinner instead of the vegetable soup because the restaurant in which we ate at (that was playing the Grizzlies Game the NBA Finals), didn't have vegetable soup. So, for the next day, I ate lightly with mostly fruit, a small salad with some hummus and fresh vegetable deliciousness, and a delicious vegetarian meal at a South American restaurant called Mango. It was quite delicious! So overall, I didn't carry out the suggested routine, however, I'm still here and I still felt extremely healthy coming off the diet, so I'll give myself a break there.
The downside to not following the weening process carefully is that your body can become constipated pretty easily, being re-introduced so quickly to solid foods. I can attest to this. However, it doesn't take long for your body/digestive system to "clock in" and back into a healthy and consistent routine.
How I felt after the cleanse... was it worth it?
I have to say that after the cleanse, I felt like GOLD! Physically, I felt fresh and energized and was much more aware of what I was putting into my body and how that food will ultimately affect my body. Once my body eased back into solid foods, I was able to digest foods MUCH more easily (something I have struggled with all of my life), and mentally I felt Ah-mAzing! I had just proved to myself that I could handle this challenge, still be productive during my everyday routine, and learn from the experience, making changes to better my everyday diet and outlook. I was very proud of myself after I finished the cleanse which was, in my opinion, the best benefit of all :)
Having said that, I do want to include that I did decide to change my diet completely after I finished the cleanse, which very well could have contributed to certain aspects of my experience afterwards. I decided to change my daily menu into a pescetarian one, with the plan to eventually ease into a vegetarian diet. This really wasn't a difficult transition for me as I have never truly craved meat, nor felt a real desire to add it into my diet, but it was simply always served to me, so I ate it. This is not to say that I don't enjoy eating meat... I DO; a delicious Slaw-Dog grilled to perfection makes my mouth water simply thinking about it, however, it's not a hard decision to find an alternative to any of my favorite carnivorous recipes. Also, I have always felt the burden of hypocrisy as I chewed my meat knowing that if the animal I was eating were in front of me, would I slaughter it in order to enjoy it's addition to my meal... No, but why would I let someone else do my dirty work for me and simply put that animal's life out of sight out of mind? I just can't do that anymore.
So, to get back on topic, I had a great experience doing the cleanse, and I even plan on doing it again at the start of next summer. Most likely I will be continuing the trend every summer, as a way to detox and begin again a new adventure of healthy eating. It was definitely not as difficult as I imagined it would be, thought it was a challenge, and it was a great personal goal to achieve.
Was it worth it? In my opinion, YES! Do I think I could do the cleanse while working? Yes, totally. My energy was a little less than normal, however, it was a very slight difference, and if you're consistent with your drinks, you will be fine.
The Complete Master Cleanse, by Tom Woloshyn
Ok, so let me break this review down into three parts...
- Was it a helpful guide to the process?
- Was it informative?
Also, the diet was a creation of Stanley Burroughs, who Woloshyn gives credit to, but, in my opinion, not enough. It seems as though the emphasis of the book is on Woloshyn's work and his personal opinions and less about the actual process of the cleanse. Woloshyn focuses a lot on other alternative medicinal practices, such as Vita-Flex massage and Color Therapy (his areas of concentrations) and spends a good deal of time and devotion to them.
Once finished with the book, I had only marked a couple of chapters in which I returned to quite frequently. This is also because it does not take a 200 page book to explain the process and benefits of The Master Cleanse... only a chapter. In comparison, Burroughs book, The Master Cleanse (which I have not read, but would like to in order to compare and contrast the content), is only 50 pages, and most of what you really need to know can be found via the internet. I will say, though, that for those chapters that I frequented, I was not unhappy with the plethora of information given, ranging from basic steps to what to expect from the process... really intimate information about the physical effects to expect from your cleansing "adventure" which I found to be a very comforting as a guide.
- Would you recommend this book?
I would have to say that if you're wanting a truly in-depth account of the cleanse with all of the details of every bodily function you may encounter, then I would recommend this book, along with an extra 100 pages that you may or may not find relevant and an author who tends to be a little self-serving. However, if you're interested in knowing the basics and focusing JUST on the cleanse, then I would recommend Burrough's book (I've read good reviews), or simply exploring the Internet and it's discussions on the cleanse. The Cleanse = Awesome, Woloshyn's book = Mediocre.
I think that about covers it...
However, like I said in a previous post, if I left anything out, or if you have any questions that I didn't quite answer, then just leave me a comment below, and I'll answer it to the best of my ability!
I'm going to be using a lot of upcoming posts to catch up on things around here, so be prepared to back-track and hang around the thick of the summer for a bit longer... nothing wrong with that, right? I left my camera in Lindsey and Blake's car, so it's up in St. Louis with a lot of awesome summer pictures as well, so hopefully I'll get my sweet friend back soon and I can share those memories with you!
Have a beautiful weekend!
The best non-existant accessory for this summer = shoes.
I'm obviously a neglectful blogger. Not that it's a bad thing to step away from the computer or anything, but you know, a heads up would have been cool too (Sorry about that!). I didn't realize that I would be taking/needing such a break until I realized that I was on it and didn't feel the motivation or desire to search for precious time to devote to posting. That sounds awful, but I was so busy with projects and making the most of my summer that the blog simply got pushed aside. Now, at the start of school, things are going to get busier than ever, but I have resurfaced to find myself motivated and eager to tend to the blog once again and hope to become a more attentive and interesting blogger in the process.
I promise, though, that I will make it a point to give that heads up for whenever I do take a hiatus from the blog. Because it's simply the polite thing to do :)
On my last post, I was going to review the book that I read in preparation for The Master Cleanse and give an overall response to the experience. So, I will indeed create that review, and then catch you up with my summertime adventures and projects and plans yet to be hatched! I hope your summer has been splendid and that you'll forgive me for the long absence.
Talk to you again soon!
Day 9
So, Day 9 was a lot like Day 4 for me. It was indeed a problem day. I think the bad day was due to a number of emotions that hit me at once towards the middle of the day. I was excited about ending this whole process, but I felt like the day... was.... dragging... on! On top of that my taste buds, who enjoyed the lemonade drink in the beginning decided to go on strike. I just didn't want to drink that same flavor again, so I think I took too long procrastinating in between drinks and crashed, physically and emotionally. I had a whole plan of attack for what to accomplish with the house, and, instead, finished only one room in that task. I got overwhelmed, and, then I took it out on Joey, whether he knew it or not, which wasn't at all fair. The bad Megan's were winning on Day 9. However, the day finally finished (still no headaches!) and I happily dreamt of Day 10 and St. Louis :)
Day 10
Ahhhh.... I MADE IT!!! Day 10 was a piece of cake, once more. The lemonade drink wasn't so bad, anymore, and I spent the day getting ready for Joey and I's little second honeymoon in St. Louis. It was a fabulous day, I felt great, and had a good amount of energy. I had to drop my furry ladies off at the vet to get boarded, which was very, very sad. I hate doing this and afterwards, I constantly worry about them, however, we waited too long to line up a dog-sitter, and the house is no where near ready for a house/pet-sitter, so the vets it is. The house feels SO EMPTY right now, and I can't imagine how dull life would be without them. I miss my little Darla and my Noodle-Doodle already (Nugget the cat will be holding the fort down for us). After the traumatic experience of dropping my lovelies at the vets for a little more than a weekend, I swung by Fresh Market to gather my resources for the next 3 days. You see, I'm not done yet... The next 3 days (including today which is Day 11) have their own set of rules to follow for coming off of the cleanse. It's very similar as when you're training yourself to go on the cleanse, but in reverse. Here's how it goes:
So, Day 9 was a lot like Day 4 for me. It was indeed a problem day. I think the bad day was due to a number of emotions that hit me at once towards the middle of the day. I was excited about ending this whole process, but I felt like the day... was.... dragging... on! On top of that my taste buds, who enjoyed the lemonade drink in the beginning decided to go on strike. I just didn't want to drink that same flavor again, so I think I took too long procrastinating in between drinks and crashed, physically and emotionally. I had a whole plan of attack for what to accomplish with the house, and, instead, finished only one room in that task. I got overwhelmed, and, then I took it out on Joey, whether he knew it or not, which wasn't at all fair. The bad Megan's were winning on Day 9. However, the day finally finished (still no headaches!) and I happily dreamt of Day 10 and St. Louis :)
Day 10
My happy-dancey song... to celebrate :) ...
I'll be dancing to this in my head all weekend :) BOOM-da-da-da-da-du--da--BOOM
Ahhhh.... I MADE IT!!! Day 10 was a piece of cake, once more. The lemonade drink wasn't so bad, anymore, and I spent the day getting ready for Joey and I's little second honeymoon in St. Louis. It was a fabulous day, I felt great, and had a good amount of energy. I had to drop my furry ladies off at the vet to get boarded, which was very, very sad. I hate doing this and afterwards, I constantly worry about them, however, we waited too long to line up a dog-sitter, and the house is no where near ready for a house/pet-sitter, so the vets it is. The house feels SO EMPTY right now, and I can't imagine how dull life would be without them. I miss my little Darla and my Noodle-Doodle already (Nugget the cat will be holding the fort down for us). After the traumatic experience of dropping my lovelies at the vets for a little more than a weekend, I swung by Fresh Market to gather my resources for the next 3 days. You see, I'm not done yet... The next 3 days (including today which is Day 11) have their own set of rules to follow for coming off of the cleanse. It's very similar as when you're training yourself to go on the cleanse, but in reverse. Here's how it goes:
- Day 11 - An orange juice diet, to allow your stomach and body to once again become used to a different type of nutrient source, and, because it's liquid, it won't be as much of a shock to your system.
- Day 12 - Orange juice in the morning, some fruit for lunch, and a vegetable soup with some 1/2 rye crackers for din din.
- Day 13 - Orange juice and/or fruit in the morning, small salad for lunch, and a vegetarian (mostly Raw) meal for dinner.
I'll come back on Tuesday to update you on what/how I ate during our trip and how the whole process of coming out of the cleanse went. I can tell you one thing, though, I am looking forward to that Orange Juice!!!
I'll also write some thoughts and tips on the whole experience and, please, if you have any questions that I haven't answered through my "daily" journals, then comment below and I'll answer them in that same post.
Until then, have a wonderful weekend and see you on Tuesday!!!
On my 8th day of this adventure, I had planned to be mightily productive but instead proved simply to be lazy. As far as the cleanse went, it was business as usual. I feel like I should be giving you new insights into the small details of the everyday experience during a Master Cleanse, however, I'm afraid I would just become redundant, if I haven't already.
The day was beautiful, I slept in late for the first time in a long time, and, towards the very end of the day, I did pick back up where I left off on the process of bringing the house together. This is going to be a looooong process. I'm excited for the end product, however, I'm not quite sure that I can see the end yet. Today I walked around the house and took exterior and interior photographs to share with you as well as to use as "Before" and "After's" (I'll get those photographs to you when I find my Memory Card Converter Drive). I'm hoping to have most everything finished up by the end of the summer so that we can begin having guests over to enjoy the house and the lake. Lets keep our fingers crossed!
I hope your week is going well! Tomorrow's Friday, and, guess what? Joey and I's anniversary is this weekend (We've been married for a year now!) and we're headed up to St. Louis to have a mini-vacation to celebrate our forever buddiness and to relax and have fun. I can't WAIT to head up! I've got a looooong list of things we want to do and I'm SO excited to be eating my first solid meal somewhere yummy!
The day was beautiful, I slept in late for the first time in a long time, and, towards the very end of the day, I did pick back up where I left off on the process of bringing the house together. This is going to be a looooong process. I'm excited for the end product, however, I'm not quite sure that I can see the end yet. Today I walked around the house and took exterior and interior photographs to share with you as well as to use as "Before" and "After's" (I'll get those photographs to you when I find my Memory Card Converter Drive). I'm hoping to have most everything finished up by the end of the summer so that we can begin having guests over to enjoy the house and the lake. Lets keep our fingers crossed!
I hope your week is going well! Tomorrow's Friday, and, guess what? Joey and I's anniversary is this weekend (We've been married for a year now!) and we're headed up to St. Louis to have a mini-vacation to celebrate our forever buddiness and to relax and have fun. I can't WAIT to head up! I've got a looooong list of things we want to do and I'm SO excited to be eating my first solid meal somewhere yummy!
Talk to you tomorrow!
Day 6
Day 6 was a good day. My energy got pretty low at one point, but as soon as I drank some more lemonade, I was good to go. I followed my daily routine successfully, and worked on cleaning/organizing the house and working on creating invitations for my friend, Sara. I've begun to notice that I don't have nearly as many cravings and I'm able to withstand looking at and thinking about food. In fact, I've been going through all of my vegetarian cookbooks and bread-making cookbooks, marking them with post-its, and organizing them so that I will be prepared to be a healthier eater while gaining experience in the kitchen to become a decent cook as well. This didn't make me hungry, however, I'm TOTALLY ready for some flavors in my mouth. Really, going through my cookbooks got me excited about becoming a lot more involved in being more apart of what I eat and being more selective about what I eat. Once I get through this process, I have high expectations for myself!
Day 7
Nothing much has changed in the consistency of this whole process. Day 7 was another good day. In fact... I don't remember getting a headache once that day! I was able to once again go about my day normally, though I had to wake up early in order to complete my Salt Water Flush so that I could get Noodle to the vet at 9:00 without any hiccups. Then, I dropped off invitations for my friend Sara. Her little boy, Isaac, Joey's Godson, turns 1 on June 23 :) Here are the invitations... They're a bit rushed and my tools were limited as many of them were unpacked, unplugged, and unavailable.
After they were printed, I glued little googley eyes onto the cows. The insides of the invitations contained the party info. I'll try to snap a picture of one of the cards with eyes on it. My device which loads pics from my camera is still currently packed.
After dropping off the invitations, Noodle and I went to the dog park where we met up with Emily and her dog Cooper. Afterwards, we came home and began to work on the Lake House.
I haven't written about it yet, but Joey and I recently moved into my grandparents old house. It was vacant and the family didn't want to sell it, it was certainly going to be cheaper rent, and, to top it off, it's a magical place, so we were happy and honored to be able to move in and maintain it. I'll definitely be posting on that soon, along with all of the other catching up. First, I have to conquer this mountain of a quest.
*Warning -- More intimate info. about the cleanse. If you're not interested in the cleanse and are counting down to when I'm finished talking about it, then just skip on past this part. I hope you have a great week :)*
- I think I've been noticing that the SWF is going through me faster these last few days, which may mean that I'm beginning to reach the ending of my NEED to cleanse (some people want to go further in the detox cleanse and will do a much longer cleanse, like 40-60 days or longer). There is still waste coming out, which is pretty amazing since I've not eaten solid foods in 8 days (If you remember, I only ate a liquid diet the day before I started), which, in my opinion, is a testament to why a cleanse is a good thing. We have so much extra "baggage" that we're carrying around and if it's sitting there and it's old, more than likely, when it went in, it wasn't healthy.
- I have read several incidences where people speak of mucus showing up around the end of their cleanse. This being in the form of the sinuses or out the back hatch. More often than not, it comes out the latter. I'm beginning to notice this in my own process which is another sign that I'm nearing the end of my adventure :)
- Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but this hasn't been nearly as difficult as I imagined. Yes, there have been trying times, however, it's nothing a little focus, willpower, and self-motivation can't handle. Mind over matter.
Three more days to go!!!
Day 5 was excellent! It was really easy to get through, although there was a moment when I ran out of my lemonade for a little too long and my headache came back, but as soon as I got myself some more juice I was good to go.
It was a lovely Sunday with beautiful weather and my best buddy to share it with. Joey and I lazied about in the morning, and then, later, we went to go see the new X-Men movie, which, if you're interested, was awesome and may have been the best of the series yet.
It was a lovely Sunday with beautiful weather and my best buddy to share it with. Joey and I lazied about in the morning, and then, later, we went to go see the new X-Men movie, which, if you're interested, was awesome and may have been the best of the series yet.
In the evening, we watched, "The Killing", one of AMC's mini-series, which is a great show btw... only a few more episodes left. I think I'm a big fan of the limited episodes format which allows the story to flesh out and have a purposeful ending while also giving time enough to allow the viewer to truly spend time with the characters. In on-going episodic television, the characters are pretty flat simply because they serve a purpose for that one episode, because, who knows when the show will end, there's no real reason to drive that character to really and truly reveal themselves. Their purpose is to move the plot from point A to point B within 30 minutes or so. I'm not saying that all of them are bad, I've just found the shows with a shorter life span to typically resonate within me longer. If you have any, what are your favorite shows?
So, I haven't really understood what it will feel like when you hit your "bad day" or "problem day". I think Day 4 was that day for me, though, so let me describe to you my experience...
I still went about my daily routine: SWF when I wake up, start making my drinks after my first "elimination", after all my lemonade requirements have been met then I have my herbal tea laxative.
*Note: While on the cleanse you are supposed to have about 3-4 BM's a day, which I hadn't been having up until Day 2 when I fixed my laxative form (to the herbal tea) and from then on it's been pretty accurate.
Throughout the entire day, however, I still had an ongoing headache that would resurface anytime I overexerted myself (Joey and I were moving around furniture) and I was pretty damn cranky all day long. I did my best to keep it under wraps, but bad Megan would resurface occasionally and Joey would have to remind nice Megan that the bad Megan's were taking over. He was very sweet to me all day long... I can't stress enough how good it is to have an understanding partner throughout this process. Unless you're single, and then you have the ability to control the amount of food around you. Day 4 was also the first day that I really began to have cravings. Like, I kinda felt like Peter Pan here, except the food never showed up. Maybe by Day 10 I'll be able to hallucinate my food... and maybe, JUST MAYBE, it'll be neon colored!!!
I still went about my daily routine: SWF when I wake up, start making my drinks after my first "elimination", after all my lemonade requirements have been met then I have my herbal tea laxative.
*Note: While on the cleanse you are supposed to have about 3-4 BM's a day, which I hadn't been having up until Day 2 when I fixed my laxative form (to the herbal tea) and from then on it's been pretty accurate.
Throughout the entire day, however, I still had an ongoing headache that would resurface anytime I overexerted myself (Joey and I were moving around furniture) and I was pretty damn cranky all day long. I did my best to keep it under wraps, but bad Megan would resurface occasionally and Joey would have to remind nice Megan that the bad Megan's were taking over. He was very sweet to me all day long... I can't stress enough how good it is to have an understanding partner throughout this process. Unless you're single, and then you have the ability to control the amount of food around you. Day 4 was also the first day that I really began to have cravings. Like, I kinda felt like Peter Pan here, except the food never showed up. Maybe by Day 10 I'll be able to hallucinate my food... and maybe, JUST MAYBE, it'll be neon colored!!!
I had a hard time getting Joey to play along with my pretend bowl of popcorn while we had a movie night, though. Maybe next time.
So, all in all, it wasn't that I really felt bad physically, but more emotionally, which is something that the book says often happens when your detoxing. Also, I still wasn't truly hungry, I just began craving certain foods, which are said to be the foods that your getting out of your system at the moment, so, good-bye pizza, good-bye cheeseburger, good-bye ice-cream... because that was definitely what I was craving last night. Little Italy's pizza, Wendy's cheeseburger's (I RARELY even eat fast-food cheeseburgers, but I was CERTAINLY craving one last night), and a big cup of YoLo goodness!
Tip: I wouldn't recommend being anywhere near food on this day... it just agitates the monster more.
That night, I dreamt of slowly putting together the world's most delicious cheeseburger... geez...
Ultimately, the day wasn't horrible, just a challenge, and I got through it, and for that, I feel pretty proud of myself.
"I love this drink, I love this drink, this drink is SOoo good, I love my drink..."
Day 2:
Day 2 really was pretty great. I felt really positive all day long, did a lot of cleaning and organizing around the house, and never felt too hungry. On thursday, I did my SWF, whOOoooosh, and then I had 6 glasses of lemonade throughout the rest of the day. The only problems that I ran into was a slight headache towards the end of the night and I figured out why my laxatives weren't working... because they weren't laxatives. Now, before you go thinking I'm an idiot, and, well, yes I can be, but bear with me. Have you been to a Whole Foods in their laxative section... it's really overwhelming. I should have asked for help, but I thought I was hot shit and didn't need to ask for help finding the tablets that would help my poo move along, so, I found a pack (amongst the laxatives might I add) that was labeled "First Cleanse -- 2 week supply", so I thought "Perfect", "I've found what I needed". Well, apparently they're for a different kind of cleanse and are simply vegetable capsules. I, of course, felt like an dunce when I figured this out. Luckily, though, I caught the mistake on Day 2, and quickly fixed it with Organic Herbal Laxative Tea. That night I began to get a bit of a headache, but it wasn't too bad, so I sipped my tea and Joey and I jumped into bed to read our book together (We've been reading a great book together, which I'll be sure to tell you more about!). By the morning of Day 3, all was moving along as it should!
Day 3:
So, Day 3 is generally accepted as one of the problem days throughout the cleanse. The body's toxins begin to release, the mouth begins to get a "fuzzy" sensation to it, and, sometimes, though Joey swears I don't smell, people begin emitting an odor which is caused by the toxins leaving the body. We either poop, pee, sweat, breath, or snot them out. Lovely, I know. But, hey, you're getting them OUT!!!
My Day 3 really wasn't so bad, even though it's beginning to take a little more will-power to drink the lemonade every day. According to the book your allowed to add some variety with water and organic herbal teas, which I have been and I highly recommend so as to give your taste buds a little treat.
I went through my daily routine, drinking my SWF and then drinking 6 glasses of lemonade throughout the day. I did, however, begin to get that subtle headache about mid-day, which grew a bit into the evening. To counteract it, though, I pampered myself with a lovely hot bath, a Marilyn treatment to my hair (which was LOVELY), and some time spent just chillin' by my parents pool. No stupid headache is going to get me down!
That night, Joey and I drove into midtown to go see our friends Angela and Dani, and our friend Emily's mom in a GLEE-ful Cabaret at TheatreWorks. We were joined by Emily and her boyfriend, Justin. It. Was. So. Much. FUN!!! If it had not been for our friends in the show, I think Joey would have thought the he had been abducted and brought their as torture. Glee + any kind of Musical Performance = Hell for him. Don't get me wrong, he loves theatre, just not musicals, but I think even he enjoyed it. Well done ladies!!!
Last night, after the play, we came home, watched the season finale of Extras, and, after I had my special tea, went to bed. All-in-all, besides the constant, but not terrible headache, it wasn't a bad Day 3 at all.
Goodbye for now and love to all!
My favorite "Glee" song from the show:
I had never heard this song before... This song + the choreography...Tickled my funny bone!
So, if you haven't heard of the Master Cleanse and don't know much about it, then you can find a plethora of information via the Internet, like, here and here, or, you could read a book or two about it. I read Tom Woloshyn's "The Complete Master Cleanse: A step-by-step Guide to Maximizing the Benefits of The Lemonade Diet", which I found to be extremely informative and have been and will be using it as my guide through this whole process.
In order to give you a run-down on why I'm doing this to myself and why many others do as well, I'm going to list the benefits of the cleanse as taken from Woloshyn's book:
In order to give you a run-down on why I'm doing this to myself and why many others do as well, I'm going to list the benefits of the cleanse as taken from Woloshyn's book:
- Better Sleep
- More Energy
- Clarity of mind
- Positive Outlook
- Greater flexibility
- Weight loss -- women often lose 1 pound per day during a cleanse, men up to 2 pounds
- Freedom from addictions -- many smokers have quit after doing a cleanse
- Increased strength
- Swelling and Pain
- Hair loss -- I thought this was confusing until I read the description of the benefit: People report their hair stops falling out (balding) and has more body
- Skin improves
- Allergies reduced
There are many other benefits throughout the entire book, however, these were the main points listed. It's really interesting, and some of the stories are amazing.
Anyway, to quit babbling, let me get on with my experience with Day 1 (I'm writing this while on Day 2). If you have no intention or desire to hear about what all is happening in my gutty-works, then I'll just let you know that you can stop here :).
Start date: 6/1/2011
End date: 6/10/2011
Start Weight: 132.6 lbs
The night before Day 1, I took 1 herbal laxative pill. This didn't do anything, and the book said to take 3-5 for the desired result, but the pill bottle said take 1 and then move up to 2, so I guess I will have to go up to 3-5 for the desired result.
The morning of day 1 I woke up and drank a Salt Water Flush (SWF). It's a mixture of 2 teaspoons of natural sea salt (uniodized) and 32. oz of warm water. If you think about it as if it's a nice broth then it's not so bad. Anyway, the salt, because it's natural uniodized sea salt, passes right through you, unless you need the minerals. The salt water, going through our crazy-straw system of organs, helps to break down and pick up waste that's just sitting around, not going anywhere and making us more unhealthy. Once it passes all the way through the system (about 30 min.)... WHOOoooSH. It's a bit comical. Let me just say... not that I did, but if you were to do this, GOOD googeley moogeley, do NOT fart, you would certainly shame yourself.
Right after the SWF I began my lemonade mixing for the day. I had 7 8oz glasses throughout the day and it really wasn't too bad. I began to feel much less energetic towards the end of the day, but all in all... not bad. At night I tried 2 herbal laxatives instead of one... still nothing. Last night, however, I had some AMAZING sleep!
Is this too gross to talk about? If it is then I'll just write it out in my private journal, but I figured it might be of interest to someone who might want to try it.
