Back to School & a Twitter Challenge

My week of trying to eat healthy had it's good days and it's bad. But since I had mostly good days of avoiding soda & sugar, I am feeling rather positive about my week. I have done some research about replacement meal shakes and I have ordered a shake to try. I have The Virgin Diet shake mix but I am so hungry after a couple of hours despite adding fruits, coconut milk, & flax seed meal.....so I think the idea is good but it doesn't fill me up. My friend recommended Shakeology, so I will give that a try.

The stupidest thing I am doing lately is a Twitter Challenge that I made up for myself. I follow all these celebrities and I notice some of them respond to their fans. So I wondered if any would respond to me. Then I thought about it. Doesn't the law of averages say that if I send out enough tweets to celebrities then at least one would respond back? Now, I know that these celebrities must get thousands of tweets and they'd pretty much have to be on Twitter the same time I am to see my tweet. But I figure it's like hunting with shotgun pellets, if you shoot enough times, you are bound to hit something. So, the question then becomes: Who is going to be My Celebrity Tweet? Because it will happen. May the odds be ever in my favor. 

Thus far I have tweeted 15 celebrities, all well known in different genres and no responses. One of my tweets was favorited and I have several new followers thanks to my reaching out. I am not discouraged. This is gonna be awesome!

Here are the celebrities I have tweeted (just something nice & how much I appreciate what they do.):

George Takei
Dolph Ziggler
Derek Hough
Alan Tudyk
Kevin McKidd (hollywood crush)
William Shatner
Blake Shelton
Danny DeVito
The Rock
Neil Gaiman
Nathan Fillion
Levar Burton
Jimmy Fallon
John Stamos
Brent Spiner

Please note that I hold nothing against these guys (wow, no ladies ~ I will have to fix that) because I know what I am doing is stupid and they are busy.

And lastly, this week saw the start of my 9th year teaching. I am teaching Kindergarten. My students are so stinking cute and very sweet, when they aren't screaming for their mothers. But there's only a couple of them who are doing that and I think/hope/pray to god they will stop that soon.

Camping among the Giant Redwoods

My summer was a good one. I read lots of books, I took my lil teardrop trailer camping, and I went to a couple of conferences.

At National Conference

My first conference was to the Thirty-One National Conference in Denver, Colorado. I had never been to Denver before and honestly, after growing up visiting San Francisco, I am a bit spoiled. Denver really did nothing for me. 

Downtown Denver

The Conference however was so much fun! I became an Independent Consultant for Thirty-One Gifts back in March but I had never met my team before. They are from North Dakota/Minnesota and that was our first time meeting.

National Conference

It was truly amazing to be in the presence of such positive women. There is no competition, only support. The women were fun & friendly and if you saw a lady wearing anything Thirty-One, you'd act like you were seeing a friend. Smiles, waves, and even a few cheers were to be had on the streets of Downtown Denver.

Hard Rock Cafe, Denver

Once, my team went to the Hard Rock Cafe. There were lots of other consultants & leaders there and some other patrons as well. One of the servers went up and said to another server, "Hey! Yell 31!" He did and the place erupted in cheers. The other patrons looked around like we were crazy....cause we were!

I started selling Thirty-One because I loved the products and I needed something to bring me out of my house. Of course, life doesn't always work the way you think it will because my business is mostly online but whatever, I just made over $150 from the last couple of weeks and I have so much free product that I think I am going to have an awesome Christmas Cash & Carry Sale to get rid of my extra stuff. 

But the conference was fun and I roomed with women I had never met (totally out of my comfort zone) but I had a blast & had no regrets. Plus, the speakers were really amazing.

I made a friend! Thirty-One supports Ronald McDonald House.

At UCLA

Santa Monica Pier

My next conference took me to UCLA. That campus is gorgeous. That was a teacher conference. I learned a lot and I got to go to the Santa Monica Pier for the first time. It was a fun week, but the drive was 7+ hours to get home. I could have done without the drive. But I was listening to a great book on tape, so my body was tired but time seemed to fly by.


There was an earthquake that rocked me out of bed last night. There's not much for me to tell. The screen door was banging & it sounded like someone was pounding on it, which got Dakota barking up a storm. I knew it was a large earthquake but my power stayed on and nothing even fell off my shelf. I was safe & sound in my little house with my furbabies. They were shaken up, but I was fine. I jumped on Facebook and found most of my friends were on there. That was a comfort. :)

Until next time friends! 

Had me a blast!

Poised for a Comeback....

I know, I never write anymore. I don't know why that is but I am hoping to change that.

Basically, where I am today, right at this moment, is ready for a comeback.

But not just with writing. My 30 Day Challenge fizzled......and I got some news from my doctor that I am prediabetic. 

So here I sit, closer to 300 pounds than I ever thought possible and heading for a disease that I pretty much gave myself. My self-esteem is at an all time low.....is this my rock bottom?

The positive spin on all this is that I have the power to change. I haven't had the will power yet but I noticed a difference in my thinking today that wasn't there before.

In the past, when I have decided to eat healthier, it's really boiled down to looks. I wanted to look better. Sure, more energy would be great but I don't think being skinnier is really going to change who I am on the inside. It's really all about vanity. And I could always start that journey tomorrow.

Until I found out that my inside does need changing. I don't want diabetes. I don't want something I did to myself like that. 

And for the first time ever, today when I wanted a soda or a sweet (and trust me, I always want a soda and/or a sweet.) My brain said, "DIABETES!". And I held off. 

Some very supportive friends have asked me, "Well, how do you know you have prediabetes? Did you get this test ______? Some tests are better than the basic glucose one."

But you know what, I'd rather not test out of a healthy range on any test. I am not healthy. I don't need medication, my levels are low enough to be in the very early stages and that is good enough for me. 

It's no longer a vanity issue. It's no longer something I can start tomorrow or at the start of the week, or the month.....I don't want diabetes. 

So, I started a new adventure today. Just focusing on sugar....that's my start. I am hoping down the road I will have made a full switch to a clean eating lifestyle...but a journey starts with a single step, right?

The exercising will need to start again as well. But I want to focus on getting my classroom ready for Back to School next week. But I look at my Mighty Dakota and he sure would love to get out of the house more....so many starting with an extra walk would be a good place to start.

Cheers!