Attitude is everything.
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. You achieve happiness by doing for others. ~my father.Twisting that twitter term to try to talk you into traipsing over to my new blog….here: www.cadenceoflife.com
(And how’s that for some heavy alliteration? LOL)
If you’re linking to me on your website or blog, please update your links to my new site. Also, if you subscribe to my blog in your feeds or a reader, this is the new link to use: Cadence of Life RSS Feed
I do hope you’ll follow me over to see what’s going on – and there’s a lot going on. Changes in my life, some sewing on the horizon, lots of healthy recipes being tested out, and more. Would love to have your company over there.
Ta ta for now!
I did! I’m over here… www.cadenceoflife.com You’ll find me there, safe and sound, blogging about life. I’ll be keeping this blog to update my sewing – possibly – but for now, I’m 100% over on Cadence of Life.
Please updates your RSS feeds, blog readers, subscriptions to follow me there.
Over at my new web site, Cadence of Life. I kinda like hanging out over there these days, so come join me. Pretty please?
Here’s a sneak peek…
My new website.. www.cadenceoflife.com
I’m messing with the layout and format, so bear with me!
This blog started out as a place to showcase my sewing. I still love to sew. The only problem is that my life has changed so dramatically in the last 18 months that I rarely sew anymore. I feel like the name of my blog is a misnomer. It’s also a pun and I know at least one person caught that when they first saw my blog title. 
I’ve found that more and more I want to write and share about things other than sewing. (I know, you’re like, duh!) I want to talk about weight loss, running, walking, bicycling, decorating, style, philosophy, and life events. I feel like the format I’ve created on Little Miss Sew N Sew doesn’t work for that, even though I’ve been doing writing about all those things here. I have this weird guilt feeling every time I post about something that’s not sewing. Silly, I know. I guess that’s just the web designer in me – I feel like my website needs to reflect who I am and correspond with the purpose of the site. Also, there are a huge number of really good sewing blogs out there, and those whose skills are far better than mine, that I don’t feel a need to compete or create a sewing blog that gets thousands of visitors and comments.
Consequently, I’ve started a completely new website, with my own domain. Ta da!
My new website still needs some work and tweaking on the visual format, and for now, I’m double posting here and there. Some of my favorite posts from this blog and other blogs I’ve started (and let lapse) will be moved over to the new site and my goal is that my new site will be the sole place where I post and provide a more comprehensive journal and resource for anything related to living my life. I don’t want to feel limited by guilt that I’m not posting about just sewing.
What will happen to this blog? I’ll keep it as a place to document any sewing I do. Maybe over time, I’ll blog about sewing on my new site and let this one go completely. I haven’t decided yet.
I believe that everything in life changes and grows, or else it withers and dies. The same goes with blogs. I’m changing and growing too, and I want to reflect that properly in my new website.
I hope you’ll follow me over there too. I appreciate all my bloggy friends and readers – even those who lurk and don’t comment. I hope that you continue to find something useful (here or at www.cadenceoflife.com) that you can use and take with you.
Some of my family and friends have started their own weight loss journey, and I’ve offered my support, of course, and encouragement. There are three things I recommend doing at the very beginning of this process that I didn’t do myself, and I regret not doing them right away. These things are well worth the effort in the long run.
Start a weight loss notebook. I used a three ring binder and in this I put my Weight Watchers materials, favorite recipes I’ve printed from online, notes, goals, inspiring pictures from magazines, and such. I prefer a binder with page protectors, but you could also use a computerized notebook, such as Microsoft One Note, or any other software.
Take your picture. Take a full length picture and a side view picture, perhaps even a back view. This will be your “before” picture. It won’t be your most flattering picture. The point is to take an honest assessment of your starting point.
Take your measurements. This will be, if you are like I was, very painful to do. To really know what those hip, thigh, or waist measurements are when you start isn’t going to be pleasant, but trust me, down the line you’ll wish you had done this. And don’t go squeezing the tape measure to get the smallest number, either. (Been there, done that.) You want an honest measurement, remember?
I recommend taking the following measurements:
- Neck
- Under arms (just above bust)
- Full bust
- Under bust
- Waist
- Hips – 4” from waist (this is called the high hip)
- Hips – 7” from waist – or the fullest part of your hips
- Thighs (fullest part)
- Above knee
- Calf (fullest part)
- Ankle
Retake your picture and measurements every four to six weeks. Why? At some point in your weight loss journey, you *will* hit a plateau. It happens to everyone. Your weight loss will stall at the scale. You won’t be seeing any forward (downward) progress and you’ll wonder what is wrong. (Usually, you’ll need to recheck what you’re eating or increase your activity – that worked for me.)
When this time hits, you will be able to go back and see the progress in real numbers and pictures, not just in the fact that your clothes are looser or smaller. For me, this has been a huge incentive at those times to keep on going. When you can go back and see three or four inches lost from your hips you feel energized to keep doing what you’re doing.
Keeping a record of your entire journey this way really helps you to see how far you’ve come and, for me, is inspiration to not slide backward along the way. When I hit my goal, this will also serve as a record of just what I’ve accomplished.
Hope this helps!
How does the saying go? When life hands you lemons…? Well, sometimes I think life throws a fast-pitch or life jerks on, but doesn’t pull out, the rug under your feet so that you can test your balance and reflexes. I don’t believe in the notion that life is full of misery or that life just sucks. Entirely the opposite. However, I do believe that because we are all interconnected, choices other people make in life affect us and force us to check ourselves, our motives, our philosophies, and our faith.
This week has been one of those weeks for me.
At the beginning of the week, my youngest daughter came home with some news that really rocked my world – and I’ll probably share those details later, but not now. I have been processing this internally all week, and how what’s going on with her affects me. I’ve been happy, sad, doubtful, faithful, confused – probably every emotion possible. One thing it did surface for me was an appreciation for my parents and what they must have felt when I was a young adult making choices and decisions that they really had no control over. They loved me and only wanted the best for me and had to let go and have faith that God was looking out for me. I am doing the same for my daughter. She will find her way in the world, and hopefully she will know that all along the way, she has her mother and sister by her side.
In addition to my-world-rocking news, I have had a rough week at work. I’ve had to do my job of editing and managing a small team of writers plus cover for my boss who has been on vacation. I’ve had to manage a phase of our project through to publication not knowing much about the company’s tools or processes, and had to learn on the fly. This, coupled with worrying about my daughter, has stressed me out beyond belief.
How have I managed the stress? I had set a goal at the beginning of the week to do some sort of activity every day this week. Early in the week I walked and ran three miles each day, and then a four mile walk (no run, so it was easier) on Wednesday. Thursday was another walk (easy one) and yesterday was a lot of yard work (mowing, pulling weeds). This all counts for activity.
I have learned that activity and exercise really helps relieve stress. That, coupled with eating right – which I’ve been trying to do also – really reduces the impact stress has on my body. In previous years, this level of stress would have caused a flare up of my fibromyalgia to the point that I would be unable to do anything for a couple days. Not so today. For this, I am extremely grateful.
I also try to focus on the positive. The more I practice focusing on the positive and finding the blessing in things, the easier it becomes to feel it in my bones and to know that no matter what, I’m always going to be okay. I have a deep faith that life is meant to be good and that God never gives me more than I can handle. This doesn’t mean I don’t cry, don’t get hurt, don’t feel angry or frustrated at times. I do, because I’m human. I just don’t let myself get carried away by those emotions. The more I act as if life is always happy and joyous – even if I don’t 100% believe it in the moment – the more it truly turns out that way.
Life isn’t always smooth waters – sometimes you have to jump the wake, or ride it, and in doing so, you feel the blessing of life – living, feeling, experiencing, creating memories.
It’s all good.
It’s been very quiet, I know, on my blog this last week. That’s because all I’ve been doing, pretty much, is working. I had a deadline last week at work and my boss was on vacation so that meant very long days for me. All that work following the prior weekend of running and hiking means I’ve been a tired girl. Plus, I’m fighting either very bad allergies or a low grade cold. I’m hoping its the former and will respond to the allergy meds I just took out a loan to purchase (not really) since I found out I apparently don’t have very good prescription coverage.
I have had a social life, however. I went to a dinner party on Thursday for some friends who were having anniversary celebrations of a sort, one of those being my mother. We do this every month – meet at a favorite restaurant and celebrate life and each other. There are usually anywhere from 10-20 of us, but since my mom was the guest of honor this time, it was even more special.
And, since I’ve lost nearly 75 pounds now, I have no clothes to wear. And yes, I know, I could be sewing up a storm, but I’m not. I’ll talk about that in a minute… Instead, I went on the hunt for a new dress for the dinner party. I wanted something summery and a little on the flirtatious side. I think I found the right dress because I got a lot of compliments on it. That, or my hard work on weight loss and exercise is paying off – or both.
Here is a self portrait I took before I headed out.
Now, about sewing. Yes, I could have sewn up that dress so easily. It’s a knit with a tie back around the empire waist. However, being as busy as I have been with work, Weight Watchers, and summer activities, I just haven’t had time. And this year, we’ve had remarkable warm, sunny summer weather starting in May (unusual around here) and it’s still going strong. There will be plenty of time to sew when the weather turns cold and wet.
In addition, now that I’ve pretty much reinvented myself and my shape, it is much easier to fit into store-bought clothes and when I can find a dress ready made, off the rack, for the same price or less than it would cost me to make it (fabric & pattern, not to mention my time), the choice is easy.
What about activity? Yesterday I did get in a nice four-mile walk with a friend in the heat of the 85 degree afternoon. (Love that hot sun!) Today, I plan to get in another four miles by hooking up my Zune (MP3 player) and doing my running/walking route which I like. I’ve noticed that a whole week without activity and I get a little out of sorts. Chatting with my friend yesterday helped me figure that out, as I couldn’t quite figure out why during the week I was just a tad restless,, irritable, and discontent.
Ok, I’d better get moving…
Have a great day, my bloggy friends.
Here are the pictures my daughter took from my 5K run on Saturday. What a great weekend this has been.
Getting ready to go!
Coming in for the finish. Check out the eagle flying overhead. Do you suppose my father was around in spirit cheering me on? (I’m the pink speck way out there.)
Hot and sweaty, but feeling fantastic.
Now to rest my body, work, and get ready for Weight Watchers tonight.
