I LOVE FALL

I LOVE FALL

I know it’s not quite fall yet, but I received my September issue of Vogue, the Fashion Bible as I like to call it.  It puts me into the mood for fall; I can hardly wait to wear my fall clothes. Although, here in Colorado it is still quite warm for the heavy layers of cotton, wool and tweed associated with fall.  But I can start organizing my fall wardrobe, and there is not a need to update everything, items that were in last year are still going strong this year, menswear, equestrian look (think Ralph Lauren)and reptile. It is going to be a fun fall.  The other mood enhancer for fall is education. Whether it’s your children going back to school and giving you some much needed break time or at least a little bit before all the fall sports kick into overdrive.  One thing to remember is to take care of you.  And part of it is to feed your brain. Enroll in a college course or two, something that interests you and not necessarily to enhance your job.  There have been endless studies that support if you continually work your mind you postpone dementia or even Alzheimer’s.  I am enrolling in a couple of 1 day workshops for fun and a 7 week course to learn another aspect of my business.  After my father retired, he took up some volunteer jobs, he also worked part time.  When I asked him why he doesn’t take it easy, he replied: “Daughter, I can either keep on working or just wait to die.”  He was of sound mind until the day he died. Everything we do, or do not do will affect the way we are able to live as we age.  When thinking of our health we tend to ignore our brain. Our brain is who we are; we need to take care of it as good, if not better than the rest of our body.  I have added to the loss log, added is the key term; both Walt and my weight are up.  I could blame it on the salty dinner we had the night before we weighed, but that’s just an excuse.  The fact of the matter is that we got a little lazy and a bit busy and we were eating out more than we should. So time to ignore my lazy bone and just get back into the kitchen and make a conscious effort of what goes into my body. I have also added to the fashion, recipe and beauty page. I hope you enjoy or learn something new.

As always, Breathe Chic

Case of the Blah's

Typically, I lead a crazy, hectic life.  For example, I hosted 26 High School Students at my home.  They are part of the Rocky Mountain District Key Club, their board to be specific.  They are a wonderful group of high school students whom I love working with.  They ate and slept at my home.  They bring their sleeping bags and most camp out on the floor.  The Governor gets the guest bedroom….perks of being “King”.  Usually every weekend I have something going, so when I come to a weekend like this past one and I didn’t have anything crammed packed into it, I felt off. I felt like I was missing out…..on something….anything.  Although the whole weekend wasn’t all relaxing I do have to help an adult child move on Sunday/Monday. I did get to enjoy my husband and my home and watch the hummingbirds for once.  It was a real treat, but it felt wrong and I feel that is wrong to feel wrong.  I have to learn to relax and smell the flowers; I suppose. However, I guess I just wasn’t wired to relax.  So next weekend I will have about a dozen High School students from our local Key Club Board stay the weekend and plan their year.  I love being involved with youth.

Speaking of moving a child, that leads my brain to decorating.  I like to freshen up the look of my home and typically on a whim and usually late in the day when stores are closed.  So to give a different look to an area, say a mantle or a shelf, gather different objects of the same color and display them.  For instance I noticed I had different candles, vases, a wine glass that were all purple and all within a shade or two of each other. I arranged them all on a fireplace mantle. It gave it a nice decorator touch and I spent zero dollars doing this.  The best part is all the compliments I get from people saying how beautiful, clever, ingenious and/or classy it looks.   You can change depending on the seasons or your mood. Just have fun with it and if you don’t care for it you can always change it back.

I added to the recipe and the beauty page and the loss log. I am still at a plateau but I must admit I have been horrible on the water intake, I also started beefing up my exercise routine and my muscles were pretty sore, which means water retention too. We shall see if it starts going down this next week. If not I will continue working at it.

As always,

Breathe Chic

Plateaus, purses and pimples; the bane of my existence

I guess my blog is going to be a whine fest, I would have preferred a wine fest, but since I am at a plateau with my weight I should not be having alcohol.  I know it’s a normal phenomenon to plateau after losing a good deal of weight.  And I have lost about 20 pounds (I only started recording when deciding to do this blog so it isn’t from the “true” beginning of my weight loss.) So now I am doing the up and down of quarter pounds.  I have to admit it ALMOST makes me feel like throwing in the towel, but since I am extremely stubborn I won’t. Instead I am going to intake more water.  Although I try; I do not do a very good job at keeping hydrated and I am going to try to up my exercise. That shouldn’t be hard since it is almost nonexistent. Next on my whine list is purses. I LOVE purses. The problem truly isn’t with the purse itself.  My problem is I have to make sure I have the right purse with my outfit, which means I am changing purses nearly every day. That is my whine.  I sometimes forget to move things over, like my epi-pen.  Hopefully, I will never need it. I am highly allergic to tree nuts and this pen (injection) will allow me enough time to get to a hospital in case I ingest nuts and go into anaphylactic shock.  I even did an impulse buy. The Kangaroo keeper.  I am sure you have seen it on TV.  I saw it at Target. I bought it. I took it home opened it up and it will be going back.  The large size was larger than most of my purses. Granted I do have a few satchels.  I had a phobia of large purses. I believe it started with going to the store with my mother who would carry quite fashionable suitcases err I mean purses. In my memory they were humongous. And EVERYTHING was in there, kind of like Mary Poppin's carpetbag.  I still remember the embarrassment of when My mother would go to pay for groceries, clothing, the hairdresser and literally almost without fail end up emptying out her purse on the cashiers stand to find her wallet…even at seven I was mortified I vowed I would never carry such a large bag that I cannot find things.  Well that worked up until about a year or so ago. A couple of things happened, a) I carry too much stuff for ordinary everyday life, like my Smartphone, my epi pen, my wallet which has to be medium to large size because of all the cards you have to carry and I am not talking credit cards, but all the preferred member cards, the Costco and Sam’s club the Expresso drive thru coffee punch card and the list goes on, sometimes my kindle if I have a doctors appt. or any appointment I know that I will end up having to wait, my lipstick, a pen, oh and let’s not forget the epipen and then ) fashion has evolved to where the purse is the most coveted of  accessories, and they don’t do them small. And finally the last thing to get off my chest is pimples.  I am 46 years old why must I still get this monthly annoyance. Yes that’s right I get 1 sometimes 2 a month and right on my chin. I know I know it could be worse, it’s not but I do not like them. I have tried everything to get rid of it. Nothing works.  I suppose I am doomed I just need to learn to accept it be thankful that all I have ever gotten my entire life is this 1…or sometimes 2 pimples once a month on my chin. Wow, it’s amazing I feel better already! Now as my husband would say I will take a little cheese to go with all that whine!
There is something new in the recipes, fashion and loss log tab.
As always,
Breathe Chic