I'm going to try to add on the whole finished gift when it's complete but I wanted to go ahead and get these downloads up for you so you could use them too! You can print them out at home but I plan to have them printed on a thicker paper at FedEx Office. It's a really inexpensive way to get custom prints done fast.
There is nothing like the first Holiday after a big move to make you realize maybe you went a little overboard with the giving things away. I'm really thankful that the ornaments my kids have made and my favorite garland were saved -- but it seems the rest of my Christmas decorations were donated before we moved. I know that's probably still best in the end but it's pretty annoying as I try to throw Christmas Cheer on every surface of our new house. :)
I've rounded up all my favorites from some of the best sales on the web! Almost everything is geared warmer weather and transitioning toward Spring but I did see some great Holiday finds that would be extra nice to pull out next December worry free. Do you like to stock up for next year with the plaids, velvet, and holiday or are you already focused on warmer weather and just want to freshen up your closet now?
Y'all ready to get healthy? Swimsuit season here at the beach starts a whole heck of a lot earlier than it did in Virginia so I've already got food and fitness on my brain. I've never really talked about health or fitness on the blog before but after some encouragement from y'all over on instagram I decided to share with you. Specifically, what I did to loose baby weight, what I eat, how I workout, and overall how I try to stay healthy and fit as I head into my late thirties. I realize that every body is different and what works for me may not work for you, but, I just turned 37 and I'm in the best shape of my life so I must be doing something right.
I'll also share what has and hasn't worked - on both ends of the extreme and finding balance in the middle - and why I truly believe that having a healthy relationship with food is the first step in maintaining a healthy body weight. I want to give you an overview on some of my practices without overwhelming you with words so I created some bullet points that I'll dig into deeper in future posts.
Food is not the enemy but it's also not your best friend. It can never truly make you feel better but it also shouldn't make you feel bad about yourself.
Food should not be a reward or a punishment. "I was so 'bad' yesterday and ate all the cookies so today I'm going to eat nothing but salad." "Work/my kids sucked the life out of me today - I'm going to curl up on the couch and eat the whole tub of ben & jerry's." Eat the salad because you feel amazing and full of energy afterwards or have the ice cream because it's delicious. But just know that neither one will ever fix what needs fixing.
We cannot nourish our bodies if we aren't also nourishing our souls.
You are not good or bad based on what you eat. Nothing makes me sadder than hearing women say, "I was so bad over the holidays -I ate all the things" or "I'm going to be bad and get dessert!" Despite what you hear - you are NOT what you eat. What is true? What you put in your body directly affects how your body functions but you have full control over that operating system.
Every bite you take is a chance to supply your body with what it needs and a fresh start to make a decision for yourself. Don't wait until Monday or the first of the month. Start at 2:00 on a Tuesday by drinking a glass of water instead of a diet coke.
You do not need to clean your plate or eat a meal because it's "time." Learn your bodies cues for hunger.
Learn the difference between being truly hungry and being not full. It's okay to feel a little hungry.
If it's not amazing -skip it. Ask yourself if it's amazing for your body (like kale or celery juice) or amazing for your tongue (like warm chocolate chip cookies or a badass charcuterie tray) and if the answer is no-don't eat it.
Put half of all your meals in a to-go box before you eat (either at a restaurant or at home). If you're still hungry after eating, get out the second half and eat it. Remember it's just food -you're not "good" for saving it or "bad" for eating it right away.
Plan ahead. Bring snacks with you. I can't tell you how many times I'm snacking on carrots and hummus or peppers in the carline. I just take the whole bag of carrots and the big old tub of hummus with me and eat what I eat and bring it back inside when I get home. If I have to prep it first and put in a a little snack sized container that I'll then have to wash when I get home I won't do it. I make it easy on myself.
Park at the back of the parking lot and walk the extra steps.
Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
Stand up at the playground instead of sitting down (you can play on your phone and ignore the kids just as easily standing up.
Add something healthy in rather than taking something you love away. Try adding in a green drink and then still eat your lunch; drink 120 ounces of water but still have your sparkling water or diet coke or whatever you can't live without at 3pm. In a few days I bet you'll be feeling less hungry at lunch or dinner and drinking less of those cans without even trying to cut back. Your body begins to crave the unprocessed foods more and more.
Pay attention to how your body reacts to certain foods both mentally as well as physically. One of my all-time favorite foods is pasta with shredded cheddar cheese on top but after my son was born I began to notice that I felt really down and/or more anxious almost as soon as I finished my bowl and I was really sluggish about 30 minutes later. Is a plate full of noodles and processed cheese worth feeling tired and unmotivated the rest of the afternoon? Nope. The trade-off just isn't there for me.
It's not all or nothing. Allow yourself some things you truly love that have a good trade-off value. I'm never going to give up wine no matter how much weight I could lose or how much better I'd feel without it. But, I did give up all other drinks with sugar/sweetener and now only drink unsweet tea, black coffee, water, sparkling water, and wine. I quit coke, sweet tea, vanilla creamer, sugar in my coffee, pineapple juice, lemonade, gatorade, etc. because drinking sugar gives me headaches and makes me tired. Neither of which I can afford when I'm busying Moming. I still drink a specialty starbucks latte every so often but I don't let those 2-3 hours of drinking sugar derail me from sticking to my plan the rest of the 730-ish hours in the month.
Make working out a priority. You don't need to join a gym or go to barre or start a couch to 5k program to exercise your body. Start by taking a walk. No matter how hard I've tried over the years- I'm not a runner or a gym rat. But I figured out that I can maintain a healthy weight and toned body by walking my butt off. Don't give it all up just because you can't do barre or orange theory or whatever class you'd love to do on the regular. Those things cost time and money you may not have. But how about once a month? That's 12 times you'll get your body professionally toned this year which is better than zero, right?
You can't do all the things. Repeat, You can't do all the things. You need to figure out what your actual goal is for health and wellness. Do you want to look better in your clothes, feel better in your clothes, lose weight, tone up, gain more energy, sleep better, maintain weight, gain muscle, run faster, achieve a fitness goal, or maybe just feel ownership over your body again? Probably all of them right? Prioritize what is really the most important to you and go from there. For me it was being able to physically make it through the day with two babies and not pass out from exhaustion or be too jacked up on caffeine to rest when I could. The side result? Dropping below my pre-baby weight within six months post-partem and going down two sizes. I want to keep up with my kids, not run a marathon.
Eat as minimally processed as possible. Fat-free, low-fat, sweeteners, etc. have more chemicals than the real deal and your body doesn't know what to do with them.
Thank you!!! I got such good response from y'all on my last post! I love that this is something we can all really help each other with. I get stuck in a rut and it's nice to read what other normal people are doing.
Intermittent Fasting While chatting with a friend at a Christmas party last month, I realized I practice Intermittent Fasting. I didn't realize it was a thing or had a name - I just thought I went to bed early and didn't like breakfast. The basic premise it that you only eat during an 8 hour window and fast during the remaining 16 hours of a 24-hour day.
It might sound pretty awful at first, but, think about your own schedule and eating habits and it may not be as hard to do as you think. I only eat during the hours of 11am-7pm. For instance, I sip on coffee all morning until I actually feel hungry and then I eat whenever I'm hungry for the next 8 hours but the only thing I have after dinner is water. If you're a breakfast lover break your fast first thing in the morning and eat bottom heavy-meaning eat the majority of your food on the bottom half of your day so you're left with an early light dinner. Switch it around if a big ol' dinner is your thing and eat super clean/light during the day. Personally, I spread my eating out so I'm never really consuming a big meal at once.
Also, this isn't law so if you need to wing it some in the beginning while you're learning your body that's okay! The whole purpose is to change up how you think about food and meal times and let your body be your guide.
Grazing Personally, I can't follow a meal plan with strict guidelines. That lack of ability to follow directions has been trailing me since elementary school. If you tell me I have to eat a hand-full of almonds at 3pm I can assure you I will grow a sudden aversion to almonds and only want to eat a yogurt or maybe just eat the whole bag. The first step in progress of any kind is to know your strengths and weaknesses and play off that. Maybe it's my creative side but I prefer to work within a circle of possibilities and guidelines instead so I just stock up on foods I know are good for me so I can grab when I feel the need.
Stock the Pantry & Fridge Playing off my statement above I have to say that I have the willpower of a threenager who wants to tie his own shoes when I'm grocery shopping. All bets are off once it's in my house so I have to make strong choices at the store. First, I go straight for the produce section to stock up on apples and carrots because they are super filling. Then I shop the store perimeter -meaning produce, meat, and dairy/dairy alternatives. Lastly, I hit the middle section to pick out things that will keep my children from hating me like pasta and jar sauce, goldfish, pretzels, chips, pop-tarts, etc. But I have a very specific mindset when I'm in that danger zone. School snacks and school lunch items only. That's not my food, it's theirs. Each child has their own basket in the pantry and their items are divvied up accordingly. This makes it way easier to get out the door in the mornings but it also works as a good stoping strategy for me. It's a lot harder to eat a whole bag of chips when you're stealing them from your son's lunch box section.
What I Eat Okay so this is a hard one and I'm going to need to journal for about a week or so to really get a good handle on "what I eat" in a particular day. I tend to rotate in a lot of the same foods but I don't necessarily have all of this on hand at a given time. I drink a lot of green drinks and eat a lot of salads and grilled chicken with vegetables so I went ahead and included those on my list.
Granola (Kind Vanilla Blueberry clusters with Flax Seed)
Mandarin Oranges
Dried Mango -no sugar added
Salads
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Spinach
Eggs (hardboiled)
Quinoa
Grilled Chicken
Black Beans -no salt added
Corn - no salt added
Cranberries
Mandarin Oranges
Pear
Green Apple
Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette
Cabbage
Flax Seed
Chia Seed
Baked/Grilled Chicken/Salmon Dishes
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Spinach
Cabbage
Quinoa
Red, yellow, and orange Peppers
Limes
Organic chicken
Atlantic Salmon
Avocados/Guacamole
Black Beans -no salt added
Cilantro
Salsa
Garlic
Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigrette
Corn - no salt added
Blue Cheese or Goat Cheese
Paul Prudhomme Red Fish Magic and Poultry Magic Seasoning
Red Onion
Brussels Sprouts
Broccoli
Basil
Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Red potatoes / new potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Zucchini Noodles
Green Drinks
Green Apples
Mint
Pineapple
Chia Seeds
Flax Seed
Spinach
Kale
Carrots
Cucumber
Oranges
Celery
Limes
Lemons
Parsley
I'm going to get Matthew's help to write down some recipes for you and put together a sample meal plan or daily meal plan to show a sample of what I eat during any given week. Also, my best advice is to start with a cleanse to reset your body. There are so many good ones online you can follow, but, if that's too daunting for you how about just give yourself 1-3 days where you only eat when you're really hungry and then really think about how that food affected you afterwards. That's a start!
Temperatures are in the upper 60's today and all that warm sunshine has me ready for dress season...big time! Y'all know how much I love the ease of a little dress - just add sandals or wedges and you're done! I scoured the internet this past week looking for all the best of the best dresses you'll want to snag right now! I had to include some splurge items because they were too good not to share, but, I also made sure to show you some great bargain finds, and all the pretty in between. I'm having a really hard time not buying all of these!
Some of my favorite J.Crew pieces are currently 40% off with code: COFFEE. Y'all, it's like they were speaking right to us. Staples are 40% off which we all know our shopping brains will round up and stop at a bold lettered half-off practically requiring us to buy more than one thing. I mean, it's like buy one get one free. And then they used the magic word coffee to really seal the deal. Three of our favorite things all in one little package- free, j.crew, and coffee. Well played, marketing team, well played.
This is one of those versatile shirts you'll grab over and over again. All the colors are fantastic but I get the most use out of the navy and the pink. Now that yellow is calling my name!
Blue and White, Stripes, Shirt Dress. Yes, please. This tie waist shirt dress comes in several color combos but the classic stripe is my favorite by far.
The Cameron Slim Crop Pants are another staple item that comes in perfect handy when you want something besides jeans but leggings work. Dress it up with heals or down with mules or sneakers. Subtle Pink and Ivory are my top color choices here.
Lets talk about this Cropped top and pencil skirt in sweet hyacinth - how perfect would this be for Easter? This is definitely a top contender for me because it would blend in so well with this dress or this dress for Wells and this shirt and pants for Tagg. I'm not as into the matchy-matchy sets but you better believe our family will be looking perfectly coordinated. Like dang, maybe they just wake up like that?! Ha!
I've had my eyes on this pleated A-Line dress for months and I'm so excited to finally get it out of my cart and into my closet! The color is gorgeous and those pleats are perfection.
I want this No. 2 Pencil Skirt in all 5 colors. I seriously can't think of any thing more versatile than a pencil skirt. If I were to narrow it down though, I'd go with the pink or the blue and then the yellow, black, and then navy last. But that's only because pink is a neutral in my closet.
I have an older version of the Resume Dress in Navy and loooooove it. I want to order the begonia next. The black is killer if you need a little black dress that's more work or funeral appropriate (sorry to be a downer, but we're at that age where we start seeing more funerals than weddings as our parents age).
Usually when I take a break on social media it's because I've gotten burnt out and need a reprieve; this time it's been the opposite. I've been working behind the scenes non-stop all Spring to prepare the launch my new website merging my real estate career with the life + style blog I've worked so hard on for the last decade.
In the process I've learned a few things:
1. I love blogging and being creative.
2. I need the structure and community of a traditional office setting. I feed off other people's energy and working alone from home just isn't a good fit for me - it drains rather than restores my both my creativity and drive.
3. Office culture can make or break your day and your job. If you have any flexibility in your work environment seek out a place where you feel confidant and welcomed by people you respect and not only have something to teach you but are willing teachers and mentors. We rise by lifting others.
4. Authenticity is at the core of who I am. I struggled with working in real estate the entire time I lived in Virginia because ultimately living in Richmond wasn't my dream and I had a hard time selling it to others. My excitement for living in the Pawleys Island area is genuine and contagious.
5. I'm a perfectionist at heart - not because I need things perfect but rather so I can leave as little for others to judge as possible. This is a trait I work to keep quiet because it's ridiculous and only hinders moving forward. Sometimes you just have to tell that voice in your head to shut the hell up because like me my business will always be adapting and evolving.
Where you can find me:
I am trying to streamline as much as possible but for now here is where you can find me:
JuliaRyan.com is now directed to main website focusing on real estate.
JuliaRyan.com/blog is where I am migrating the old blog so everything is under one roof. To be honest, that's not my top priority now so it may take some time before it's fully integrated. Just be patient with me as I bring over content and optimize mobile view.
