Twitter Updates for 2011-10-01

Twitter Updates for 2011-09-30

Twitter Updates for 2011-09-29

  • So, I just figured out that I can use @gotomeeting "add to Outlook" button to add webinar times to my iCal. Pretty cool!! #
  • Demi Boots Cheater Ashton – NYPOST.com http://t.co/n6i8hCDB via @newyorkpost – got caught sleeping around on his 6th Anniversary! #
  • RT @k__vin: Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable & remove yourself from the unacceptable. #
  • Kindle books outsell paperback/hardback books? Amazon sells 105 ebooks to every 100 books. How do you read your Kindle books? Kindle or App? #
  • RT @magolnick: Some days I ask, "What would Chewbacca do?" And the answer is always, "Make that gargly roaring sound." So that's what I do. #
  • RT @AskAaronLee: Facebook app for iPad to make debut at iPhone event http://t.co/mkNRP5SU –>Oh good!! More techy yumminess for my iPad!! :) #
  • RT @lornali: Win Friends and Influence People – Advice to Grow Your Blog Business w/ Twitter http://t.co/o3mVgEvt via @kikolani – great tip! #
  • RT @buzzblogger: YouTube Optimization – 6 Easy Steps to Optimizing YouTube Videos http://t.co/EDr8wCzr via @justinbrooke – Check it out #seo #
  • RT @barefoot_exec: timer on. social media off –> Uh oh – productivity hour has started – don't interrupt!!! #
  • RT @DebraMorrison: Twitter Guide: How to, tips, tricks and more… http://t.co/AXYR1CQx -If only I knew someone on Twitter… :D Enjoy tweeps! #
  • RT @susanjarema: | Burglars’ Favorite Tools: Google, Facebook, Foursquare http://t.co/QmnH0reD –> I bet they are!! #
  • If you were only allowed to complain about 10 things a year – would Facebook changes be something you'd choose to spend a complaint on? #
  • Is the Ashton/Demi split up a marketing ploy to drive interest in 2 and 1/2 men now that they don't have Charlie Sheen to drive a scandal? #
  • 6 Ways to Become Likeable With Social Media » Social Media Examiner http://t.co/ecA7QKMK via @smexaminer #
  • I gave @seogeeker +K about SEO on @klout http://t.co/7Fpwf0tG #
  • I gave @michellem +K about Internet Marketing on @klout http://t.co/CwXpIViX #

Twitter Updates for 2011-09-28

  • 6 Tips to Survive First 3 Months of Pro Blogging http://t.co/MM43wosZ GREAT POST- Love the reminder to balance freedom with solid schedule! #
  • Anyone using "Google Website Optimizer"? Wondering what people think of it?? #seo #internetmarketing #
  • Seth's Blog: Talker's block http://t.co/4duLsg38 – WOW!! This article has so motivated me to blog more, write more, create more!! MUST READ! #
  • 21 Steps to 1,000 Visitors Per Day http://t.co/tFqbStvs via @buzzblogger. GREAT CHECKLIST. I see a few things I need to implement! #
  • #TWITTERTUESDAY !!! Put your twitter link below and I will follow you! Please follow anyone else who signs up… http://t.co/QtFeaZ1t #
  • Reading Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk. Well, actually, listening to the audiobook. GREAT BOOK!! I feel motivated! Highly recommend! #
  • I gave @TraciGregory +K about Social Media on @klout http://t.co/2fCCbD9b #
  • #TwitterTuesday – share your twitter link at http://t.co/RU196rsJ :) #

Juicefast – Day 2

Today was harder than yesterday. Hungry? You bet. Wanting FOOD? YUP. Wanting to chew on something? Absolutely.

Luckily, my juiced carrots are still quite pulpy and they give me a chance to kind of (and I do mean VERY kind of – sort of) chew.

I am also growing concerned that I am going to be turning orange soon from eating so many carrots. I have a huge bag of carrots from Costco and thus will be using carrots in quite a few of my juices!

Breakfast: Honeydew, Kiwi, Lime, Apple
Snack: Carrots
Lunch: Carrots, Tomato, Romaine, Grapes
Dinner: Broccoli Stalks, Carrots, Cucumber, Grape

I went for a walk with HUSBAND and drank some water today as well. I had hoped to start my “couch to 5K” program today but I lost my iphone on Saturday night and still haven’t found it. The C25K program I have is on my phone. I will have to start it tomorrow.

I fed the family some roasted broccoli as the main dish tonight. It wasn’t a HUGE hit but DAUGHTER really liked it. HUSBAND said it went wilty after roasting. SON didn’t say. Dinner for the family: Roasted Broccoli, Scalloped Potatoes, and Corn.

The Roasted Broccoli was a recipe I found on Pinterest. Here is the link: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/11/the_best_brocco.html

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Juicefast – Day 1

Today is the day. I have told my husband and kids. I have told my parents and siblings. I have a friend who is my accountability coach.

No excuses. No food. Just juice.

Today was hard and easy at the same time. When food isn’t an option, it isn’t an option. I wanted it, sure. I really wanted it!! But, it wasn’t an option so I just stuck to my guns and made juice.

Breakfast: Honeydew, Grapes, Apples
Lunch: Carrots, Apples
Dinner: Carrots, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Lime, Grapes

Did they taste great? Breakfast and Lunch were great. Dinner, not so much. But I wasn’t following any recipes. I was just juicing the produce I had. Dinner was okay. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either.

The big thing is though – I MADE IT THROUGH THE DAY!!!!

Getting Ready for a Juicefast

Juice fast. Wow. This is a big challenge. I have never done anything like this before. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I have done some hard diets. 6 Week Body Makeover – did it. All 6 weeks. Twice. HARD!! HCG diet (500 calories a day). Did that one too. Three times.

So, I can do hard things. But I have never done anything like this. No food??? Just fruit and vegetable juicing? Hardest challenge yet!!

So, why am I doing it?

Actually, the road to this point has been a work in progress for a while.

First of all, about a year and a half ago, my mom gave our family a bit of a health scare. She had something called “jawbone death”. We thought it was connected to her Fosamax usage. Anyway, we began to look at some possible solutions for her health.

One of the solutions I wanted her to pursue was to follow an eating program I found called “Eat For Health” by Dr. Furhman. I bought her a copy of the books, myself a copy of the books, and audio books to put on our ipods.

We didn’t actually do the program. We were doing an HCG diet the time and were afraid to switch from something that was working. Well, working-ish. (We both have since gained back all the weight we lost on it.)

About a month ago, I felt ready to EAT BETTER. I was very confused by all the information out there. I read Gary Taubes “Why We Get Fat” and was convinced that high protein, low carb was the way to go. But then I thought about the religious counsel I have received about health and eating and high protein, low carb just didn’t seem to mesh with the words of wisdom I had been raised on. I kept looking.

I read 6 more books. Finally, one morning, I decided to fast and pray to know which eating style I should follow to get my health under control. That day, after church, I remembered the books by Dr. Fuhrman that I had downstairs. I fished them out and reread them.

I felt like this was the healthiest way of eating I could enjoy. Focusing on fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and beans. I got the family on board and we decided to try it for a few weeks. All in all, it went well. SON didn’t know quite what to make of it. He isn’t a huge fan of fruit. Or vegetables. Or beans. But he was with us in spirit and tried to like everything I made so I am proud of him.

I had a girlfriend, Juliette, invite me over to her home for some juiced fruit and veggies for lunch and to watch a movie. She showed me “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead”. It was an extreme version of how to kick off eating according to nutritarian principles. I was inspired as I watched it and I wanted to do it. I was inspired by Joe as he went through his journey. I was AWESTRUCK by Phil Staples. Seriously.

When Joe met Phil, I thought, “Oh, poor guy. He needs this so badly but he won’t do anything about it. He won’t be able to give up his cheeseburgers and comfort foods.” I was stunned, nay, FLABBERGASTED as I watched Phil do the 60 day juicefast. Watching him go for his first run, I was glued to the screen. Could PHIL do it??? As I watched, I felt pricked in my heart. “If Phil can do this, I can do this!!”

I wanted to kickstart my health in this awesome way. And so, here I am.

I have a juicer. I have a few days worth of fruit and vegetables. (I learned during my previous attempt at Eat for Health. I bought WAY too many fruits and vegetables at one time and some of them went bad.) I am ready to start. I START MY JUICEFAST TOMORROW! Wish me luck!

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150 Days until I am 41

Birthday Countdown 150 days

Wow – there are 150 days until I am 41 years old. Nearly older than dirt, disco, and dinosaurs. Geez louise!

I am not nearly as evolved as I want to be as I am marching towards the big 4-1. I already passed the BIG 4-0 earlier this year and I was bound and determined that this year would be the YEAR that I figured out this crazy thing we call life. That I would get my health, my business, and mostly MYSELF figured out.

Well – if I am going to keep those goals – I only have 150 days left to do it! I better get on it SUPER FAST!!!

Luckily, I have a few plans in the works to make a difference here.

1 – a juice fast to kickstart my health makeover. How long? I suggested 10 days. My girlfriend and healthy eating mentor, Juliette, suggested 60 days. OH BOY!! I looked her dead in the eye and said, “Okay. 60 days.”

2 – getting an outsourcer to help me with my business and getting serious about juggling all the balls I need to as a business owner.

3 – completing a “couch to 5K” program. Time to finally reach my goal of becoming a runner.

4 – getting my house in order. No more puttering around without a plan. Time to FLY!

5 – getting my money in order. Budget can’t be a bad word anymore. We HAVE to get serious about our money.

So, here we go. 150 days until I SHINE!!! Can I do it?? YOU BETCHA!! Just watch.

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100 Day Challenge and FB Games

I am part of a 100 Day Challenge by Gary Ryan Blair. This challenge is a chance to intensely focus on five goals for 100 days and to achieve as much success as possible.

Today is Day 29 of the challenge for me. I have made SOME progress but nowhere near as much as I would like to have by now.

There are some positive things I have achieved though – I have completely changed my relationship with facebook games. I used to be addicted to them. It sounds CRAZY. It should sound crazy because it IS crazy. I was addicted to Mafia Wars, Farmville, and Cityville. Sheesh, just typing it makes me feel so lame.

But as part of the challenge, I gave up the games. I am not going to play ANY FB GAMES at all during the challenge. I am amazed at how much I haven’t missed them. I miss a few friends that I made on the games but the games themselves? Nope – don’t miss them at all.

Another positive thing is that I have started my own business. I used to be very entrepreneurial and had a few online businesses. I got burned out by the constant moving the military requires of our family and the constant upheaval of my life and gave up on my goals.

This challenge has given me the permission to put my goals back in my life and to make them happen.

I will keep you all posted on how I am doing!

Stung by a jellyfish

Randell Stansfield, me, jellyfish, and Mark Twain

In June 2010, my last day in Hawaii before I moved back to Maryland, my dad and I went out for a last chance snorkel session to enjoy the reef there in Kaaawa. We kayaked out to the reef, and then got out of our kayaks and began snorkling in the magnificently blue ocean.

The reef was teeming with fish. It was magnificent. Just as good as snorkling out at Hanauma Bay or Shark’s cove without any travel effort whatsoever. The water was so clear, the fish were so vibrant, the coral was so pretty and the anemone were so magical.

Suddenly, I felt this electric shock zing all the way down my neck and back. It was startling and then instantly it was excruciating. I immediately shot out of the water and went to my dad. The pain just kept increasing and I whipped my head around to figure out where the pain was coming from. As I whipped my head around I felt my hand get stung. I felt my face get stung. I felt my back get stung again and again.

Apparently I had swam under a Portuguese man o’ war and it’s tentacle had gotten caught in my ponytail. Every time I moved my head, I whipped that tentacle around and restung myself. My dad figured out what was happening and he pulled the tentacle out of my hair.

I now had the task of kayaking back to the shore before I could seek relief for my stings. The short trip felt so far and with every dip of my paddle I could feel my back, hand, and face on fire. When I finally made it home and saw my Mom, I could no longer keep a brave face and I burst into tears at the pain.

She rushed me into the tub, swimsuit and all, and ran to get the vinegar. I huddled waiting for the relief of vinegar to take away the pain. The vinegar brought no relief at all. In fact, I swear that the vinegar made it hurt worse than before. I was stunned and completely dismayed. The thing that was supposed to make me feel better wasn’t working. My entire back was bright red and little blisters were starting to form at the heart of the most scarlet sections. I sobbed, afraid that relief would be a long time coming. My family had seen many stings before – my sister and my daughter seem have a magical affinity to jellyfish and have been stung a ridiculous amount of times. But neither had ever been stung like this. We were out of our depth on how to find comfort and were afraid a long, long drive to the emergency room was in order.

Googling for a solution, my dad found information stating that HOT WATER would bring help. Really hot water. We filled the tub with the hottest water we could and it was mere seconds before I felt blessed relief. The water was so hot I could barely tolerate it but everywhere that had been stung was soothed and for those parts of my body the water temperature was perfect. If the water cooled, the relief faded or if I came up out of the water, the pain returned. As long as I stayed in the hot, hot water I felt merciful relief.

As I laid in the tub in my bathing suit, with just my face and knees sticking out of the water, my dad pulled out a book he had been reading and read to me to help me pass the time. It was “Life on the Mississippi” by Mark Twain. He read a great section where two men were cussing each other out without using any modern swear words. I enjoyed hearing his voice as he shared the colorful dialog with me. We laughed at the cleverness of these supposedly “unlearned men” who could cuss each other out so descriptively and passionately.

My dad read -

“”Whoo-oop! I’m the old original iron-jawed, brass-mounted, copper-bellied corpse-maker from the wilds of Arkansaw! Look at’me! I’m the man they call Sudden Death and General Desolation! Sired by a hurricane, dam’d by an earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to the small-pox on the mother’s side! Look at me! I take nineteen alligators and a bar’l of whiskey for breakfast when I’m in robust health, and a bushel of rattle-snakes and a dead body when I’m ailing! I split the everlasting rocks with my glance, and I squench the thunder when I speak! Whoo-oop! Stand back and give me room according to my strength! Blood’s my natural drink, and the wails of the dying is music to my ear! Cast your eye on me, gentlemen ! and lay low and hold your breath, for I’m ’bout to turn myself loose!”
All the time he was getting this off, he was shaking his head and looking fierce, and kind of swelling around in a little circle, tucking up his wrist-bands, and now and then straightening up and beating his breast with his fist, saying, ” Look at me, gentlemen!” When he got through, he jumped up and cracked his heels together three times, and let off a roaring ” Whoo-oop! I’m the bloodiest son of a wildcat that lives!”
…
“Whoo-oop! bow your neck and spread, for the kingdom of sorrow’s a-coming! Hold me down to the earth, for I feel my powers a-working! whoo-oop! I’m a child of sin, don’t let me get a start! Smoked glass, here, for all! Don’t attempt to look at me with the naked eye, gentlemen! When I’m playful I use the meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude for a seine, and drag the Atlantic Ocean for whales! I scratch my head with the lightning and purr myself to sleep with the thunder! When I’m cold, I bile the Gulf of Mexico and bathe in it; when I’m hot I fan myself with an equinoctial storm; when I’m thirsty I reach up and suck a cloud dry like a sponge; when I range the earth hungry, famine follows in my tracks! Whoo-oop! Bow your neck and spread! I put my hand on the sun’s face and make it night in the earth; I bite a piece out of the moon and hurry the seasons; I shake myself and crumble the mountains! Contemplate me through leather—don’t use the naked eye! I’m the man with a petrified heart and biler-iron bowels! The massacre of isolated communities is the pastime of my idle moments, the destruction of nationalities the serious business of my life! The boundless rastness of the great American desert is my enclosed property, and I bury my dead on my own premises!” He jumped up and cracked his heels together three times before he lit (they cheered him again), and as he come down he shouted out: “Whoo-oop! bow your neck and spread, for the Pet Child of Calamity’s a-coming!”"

On and on my dad read and I listened spell-bound, relaxing in my hot water, enraptured by the great writing and the animated reading. We chuckled together in awe of what a proper “cussin’ out” could look like and still be amazingly devoid of profanities. It was awesome. It was a moment in time I will always treasure.

Today the memory of that June day came to me in full vision while I was talking on the phone with my dad.

He and my brother had been out in the water of Kaaawa and apparently had another run in with a Portuguese man o’ war. This time it stung my dad. My brother got some pretty bad cuts on the reef trying to avoid the jellyfish. By the time I spoke to them, they were recovering and, like typical men, they were trying to figure out how to make their story more dramatic and interesting so they could show off their war wounds good and proper.

I laughed and said they would have to have REALLY good imaginations to top my REAL story of getting stung. Dad laughed and agreed. I mean really. How good could their story be if it doesn’t involve whipping themselves silly over and over with a jellyfish tentacle or soaking in a tub of practically simmering water while listening to the amazing writing of Samuel Clemens in the animated robust story-telling voice of Randell Stansfield? The answer is not nearly good enough, of that I am sure.

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