Gains

Email me with your questions!

On December 1st, I started a business.

I have worked as a consultant before, but my clients were PTA leaders, drug policy experts and public health advocates.

I have worked in retail before, but I sold Euro-comfort footwear, natural fiber clothing and jewelry.

I have dreamt of being a yoga teacher, floral designer or peddler of antiques. I have even wondered what it would be like to open an indoor play facility for young children or to own a shop dedicated to fiber arts. Maybe even a realtor but never, ever did I imagine I would get into the cosmetic business. And direct sales? Ah, I was repulsed at the mere thought of it.

Why?
I barely wear lip gloss let alone anything that looks "made-up." I haven't had a skincare routine since my children were born. I love high quality products. I hate to pay full price. I love going to the spa. I have no time to go to the spa. I care about the environment. I reduce, reuse and recycle. For a time, I even composted. I have spent good money to ensure that products I use on my children non-toxic. Even nail polish. I care about ethics of the companies I buy from and how they use my money.

Check out my website!

What changed?

Now I have a skincare routine.

Now I can enjoy spa pampering at home long after all the spas have shut down for the day.

Now I have started sharing pieces of this business with you in person and, perhaps, on Facebook. 

Really, not much has changed. My former coworkers know me to be passionate about shoes, social issues and students. My former students know me to be passionate about The Alchemist! To Kill a Mockingbird! Freedom Writers! 

Now I'm passionate about these amazing, award-winning products from a company with an excellent ethics. They care about animals. They care about the environment. They care about safe cosmetics. They care about people helping people. And I care about you. Nothing is more important to me than my relationships with family and friends.

How?

I wanted to support my neighbor. She sent out an invite about her new business. I was free on the appointed date, and I knew nothing about the company before I went.

Unscrewing the cap of a bottle, I smelled a spa retreat. I smelled relaxation. I smelled health, wellness and quality. It took me two weeks to deliberate on whether or not I wanted to start a business and share these products with my friends and family. In the end, I made the decision to pursue the opportunity because I wanted to start incorporating these products into my daily routine, and I wanted to be able to share them with my girls. 

We all have had -- at some point or another -- issues with our skin, face, hair, hands, feet. One of my favorite get to know you activities for the first day of school was asking students to share a "hair" or "scar" biography. In doing this, we heard stories that make us laugh, cry and we found ways to empathize with one another. I look forward to hearing your stories.

Traveling with Infants & Toddlers: Airports and Airplanes

[Written Sept 2013 after a friend asked for advice on traveling with young kids. Found in my unfinished drafts but still useful. Had intended this to be the first of a series of posts on traveling with kids.]

The best advice I have for traveling with the little ones is to plan ahead and try to anticipate the needs of your child/ren. Any semblance of a schedule will be thrown off, so try to do what you can to make the little ones feel warm, comfortable, fed and entertained.

The car seat and restraining the child
The good news is that car seats and strollers generally don't count against your baggage allowance! Always important to verify with the individual carrier to understand their particular rules regarding 

Before you marry yourself to the idea of bringing the car seat and installing it in the plane, think about the weight and size. I have seen parents do it successfully, but I didn't want the hassle. Forget the fact that my Chicco infant seat and base and Britax convertible seats seemed too bulky to carry on. Navigating through the narrow aisles without the baby getting thumped by a purse, wayward elbow or flight attendant moving against the stream of passengers is more than difficult. We preferred to save money by putting the baby on our laps and checking the car seat.

If you're concerned by rough handling while being loaded on and off the plane, think about how you pack the car seat. The first time, we used the plastic bag method. The gives the handlers almost exactly one place to grab the seat -- by the top where it's tied together -- and gives them leverage to swing and launch it up on top of the luggage stack. Instead, be thoughtful and pick up this car seat backpack. With straps and loops to hold onto, I'm convinced the seat will be better off. At the very least, when you're picking up your suitcase, in addition to the kids and carry-ons, you'll be able to use the seat to steady yourself. The Amazon reviews don't lie:

J. L. Childress Ultimate Car Seat Travel Bag
http://www.amazon.com/Childress-Ultimate-Seat-Travel-Black/dp/B0009RNXNA

If you decide to buy a seat to secure the toddler, I have had several friends recommend:

the CARES Child restraint system.
http://www.amazon.com/Child-Airplane-Travel-Harness-Restraint/dp/B0012E4FV8

Ultimately, we chose not to get spend the money on the extra seat or the restraint as we only fly once or twice a year at the most. For our friends who travel more frequently, this works well!

The Stroller
In deciding whether or not to bring the stroller, consider your trip. Will you be going to places where you will be doing lots of walking or will you install the car seats in a car rental and drive wherever you need to go. How many people will be with you to assist in baby handling? Do you have a long layover? Even with a short layover, keep in mind that your gate checked stroller will be handy to zoom from one side of the airport to another. For us, gate checking the stroller was awesome. We buckled the babies into our double stroller and didn't have to worry about them getting lost in the crowd. If there are flight delays, you have a place for the baby to recline. Be prepared to fold up the stroller and run it through the x-ray machine at security.

For our last trip, I thought about getting a cheap umbrella stroller for the airport. I have seen people hook two umbrella strollers together and that seems to work well for them! DADable and I are tall people, and I couldn't find an inexpensive stroller that fit our frames. So after we ascertained that our car rental could hold our heavy, huge double stroller, we brought it along. I have since parted with that old clunker for the lightweight Joovy stroller, which has all the features we love and would be much better for traveling.

Big Girl Panties

I found this post abandoned in my drafts folder from sometime in the Fall of 2013 when we were potty training big sister. I polished it up a little with some addition and subtraction to get it to what you see now. Enjoy!

*

So, big girl panties are a really big deal at my house right now. We have 2T, 3T and 4T. Solid white, pink and plenty of patterns with everything from posies to princesses. We have padded training panties, and we have REAL honest to goodness just-like-mommy-and-daddy-wears BIG girl panties. Yes, even daddy wears big girl panties. She doesn't need to know the term for boxers or briefs just yet. Big girl panties will do. We have bikini panties, and we have granny panties. So many panties for one little girl. In fact, probably more than her mommy and daddy combined.

And, you know, this really great moment has come and gone of her mastering how to pull up her panties like a big girl. She's a pro, and I ought to take lessons from her as I pull up my big girl panties. You see, big girl panties aren't just for toddlers anymore. They are for mommy's everywhere who are "driving and striving as fast as s[he] can" (cue your Cake and eat it, too)!

Each and every day mommy's go The Distance for the daddy's and the baby's. Being mom is the dirtiest job I've ever had the pleasure of accepting. But why do we have this innate drive to IMPOSE our wills onto other, usually younger, mommy's who really just need a friendly ear to survive? Let me be clear: it's time to stop letting those panties drop to your ankles while you assail other mommys. Pull up the Big Girl Panties, smile and support your sister mothers.

Still fit after all these months

In my last post -- from April 2014 (Yikes, where has this year gone?), I detailed my weight loss saga. Today, eight months later, I have maintained my goal weight and kept off the 25 pounds that I started losing in January. Even. After. Monkey. Bread.

As this year comes to a close, I decided it was time to not only renew my commitment to write but to make new goals for the coming year. More on that next week. In the meantime, it feels good to sit and think and write... and change it up. New blog design and new blog name.

Old blog name: teachABLE MOMents

New blog name: HALListic MOMents

When I created the MOMable handle, I didn't realize that there was a website and several others using some aspect of the name. I didn't love that. But you know what's great about Hallistic? Google thinks I meant "holistic moments." And to that I say, ha! That's exactly right, Google: you're sharper than some of the crayons this old teacher used to keep in her toolbox.

So, cheers to you on Christmas 2014, and may the coming year bring forth a more regular flow (ha!) of words, a deeper look into beauty and some pictures of my cuties. 

Nov 2013

Nov 2014

Fit for Life

Seven years ago, I joined Weight Watchers for the first time. I lost 13 lbs. 

Six years ago, I joined Weight Watchers for the second time. I lost 14 lbs. Later that year, I got engaged, bought a wedding dress (on sale!) and moved across the country to start a new job in a new state. 

Five years ago, I moved again from an apartment to the home we purchased, and I got married. I gained 20lbs in just over a year, and I was mortified about having to buy a new wedding dress. I dealt with the stress of moving, planning a wedding and starting another new job with food. I fell in love with kolaches, Blue Bell, Shipley's Donuts and Texas BBQ. 

A little more than three years ago, I had a baby. Fifteen months later, I had a second. 

Eight months ago, I started wearing a FitBit and monitoring the number of steps I took each day. 

Six months ago, I started a 9-week fitness program called Couch-to-5K. I completed the training April 1st. If you're sharp at math, you'll note that it took me a little longer than nine weeks.

Four months ago (January 1), I joined Weight Watchers for the third time. As with the two times previous, I chose the online and less expensive eTools option to track my weight and food. Seven weeks ago, I switched my membership to start going to the weekly meetings. I reached my goal weight by the second meeting and needed to maintain my weight within two pounds for six weeks. 

Today I became a lifetime member of Weight Watchers, and I hope I never have to pay them again. That means going in a minimum of once a month to weigh. I can attend weekly meetings and use the online tools for free as long as I continue to maintain my weight. 

How did I do it? 

I resolved on January 1 to be more active by using my FitBit and the Couch-to-5k apps. I ran three days a week when the weather allowed it. I aimed to walk 5mi (~10-11K steps) each day. I don't go on daily walks, but I have found ways to move that register as steps -- from aiming to move around for 5min every hour and dancing while music is on to bouncing on my stability ball while watching tv. You might call that cheating, but I just lost 25lbs in four months. I'd call that a win. Also, there have been only a handful of sick days in the last 4 months where I haven't met my fitness goals. 

I resolved to drink more water. I no longer buy soda for the house. Occasionally, I'll have a diet lemonade from Costco, but I drink water and tea daily with an occasional cup of coffee a few times a week. I love drinking water out of a wine glass during meals. I aim to drink a half a water bottle before bedtime and a full water bottle when I wake up. When I don't reach my goals for liquid intake, I feel lethargic and hungry. 

I resolved to track my food. Weight Watchers has this new plan where you don't have to track food. It's great! It comes with a two week started plan of super easy meals, snacks and what they call indulgences. I use the shopping list from that plan but still measure and count. I still eat chocolate every day. I kind of build my day around the desserts I'd like to finish with. The difference is that I'm not sneaking chocolate all.day.long. I eat a mango almost every afternoon. I replaced peanut butter with a powdered (just add water!) peanut protein called PB2. It can be mixed with water. I eat fewer processed foods and restaurant meals. 

I plan to keep this weight off and surround myself with supportive, motivated friends who also want to stay Fit for Life. My husband and kids deserve nothing less from me.