TGIF! I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!

I updated facebook fans recently about my progress with magnesium supplementation. This update came roughly one month after I wrote the original post about my deficiency. I woke up one morning to find that my monthly visitor had arrived with nary a symptom. No PMS at all. No backaches, minimal bloating, no fatigue whatsoever, and no chocolate cravings. My skin also gets a bit oily and I may get a tiny pimple or two this time of month. I had none of that this time. In fact last month I told the kids I was sick and spent two days in bed, dog tired. This month I could literally do cartwheels in the backyard. I am totally sold on magnesium at this point.

What did I do exactly? I started taking a 500mg pill every single day and eating more magnesium rich foods. I sprayed myself with magensium oil almost daily about 20 minutes before my shower because it is more easily absorbed via the skin. After strenuous CrossFit workouts I would soak in magnesium flakes and also drink dark chocolate coconut water or Natural Vitality energy drink products. It was pretty effortless to make these small changes but the benefit has been amazing!

Also, since I mentioned CrossFit I have to share how amazing that as been lately too. In the past few weeks I have gotten bloody knuckles flipping 200 pound tractor tires, I have done handstands like when I was a kid, and just yesterday I did my personal best for pushups… 46! Every day that I go, I learn something new about what my body can do and the experience has just been out of this world. I actually feel a little bit like and athlete and I haven’t felt that way since my school days. It reminds me of this movie quote too:

Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands. - Legally Blonde

Not that my husband has anything to be afraid of but exercise really, really, really does make you happy. It is unfortunate I spent most of my adult life not understanding that fact.

Books I am Reading: 

Small Space Gardening – We definitely have a small space to work with at our house. Really it is just one raised bed and whatever can go in pots on our deck. This book though is full of ideas on where you can plant, in what, and how you can get the most bang for your buck (or space rather). I like all the advice and tips for vertical gardening, because that is really the direction many people have to go, up rather than out.

Seed Saving & Starting – Another timely book as we are pretty much exclusively using heirloom seeds and I want to harvest from what we grow rather than keep buying seeds each year. It also has ideas on cross-breeding and making hybrids but that really doesn’t interest me as much as savings our seeds each year. The info on transplanting, thinning, and hardening off though is very helpful.

Other Links: 

I wrote an article on another blog that I barely ever write on anymore about how to make a decent living as a blogger if that is something interests you.

I like this article from The Greatist about 45 Healthy Foods to Make and Never Buy Again. Very interesting to see the price breakdowns like that.

This article on Get Rich Slowly about Budget Travel In Your Own Town is wonderful. Not only can you save money by being a tourist in your own place of residence it is also really green too!

I am not a big tea drinker and only ever drink hot tea but if you like all kinds of tea you may appreciate Anna’s article about Honest Tea and why they are an ethical choice for tea drinkers.

Also helpful is Deanna’s article about how to keep your Diva Cup looking clean and sparkly. Truthfully mine is looking pretty dang dingy so I need to try some of these tips!

This morning I got a great reminder from a green blogger I admire, and that I got to meet in person a couple months ago. The lovely Shane at Environmental Booty is asking others to share what they do to to find fulfillment and make the most of each day. It is so important to be able to find your happiness and joy in little things, each and every day and yet it is so hard to do for many of us. This is an important topic for me because I tend to be one of those “someday” people. I have big dreams. I have concrete ideas of what I want my life to be and what I want to do with it. There is nothing wrong with dreaming big of course but folks like me forget to live in the moment and seek out happiness right this very second. If I am not careful I find myself drifting aimlessly and starting to get depressed that someday is still so far off.

Last year though I made a resolution to spend greater time on self care and finding happiness NOW. It worked so well that my resolution this year was to have more fun. I would like to think I am getting pretty good at making the most of every day now. It is not uncommon to find myself thinking that if this, right now, was all my life would ever come to be, then I am pretty darn lucky. When you seek joy every day, you don’t have to worry so much about someday anymore.

So what do I do to find my happiness? These days I make time for myself and I seek happiness by going to the gym several times a week. It gets the day started right and I feel good when I do. I make time to visit the library usually once a week and just meander up and down the isles looking at books. Books=happiness. I take a class or go to a workshop on the weekend, for fun and to better myself. I visit thrift stores to find good deals. I go the movies by myself. I saw John Carter yesterday and fell in love.

Sometimes I tell my husband that we simply MUST go out for ice cream (while the kids are in school) and we go to Jeni’s ice Cream together. We did this just last week in fact. It is artisan ice cream with unique and amazing flavors. They also use local grass fed cream! Does this not scream happiness?!?!

Magnolia Mochi, Mango Kiwi, Icelandic Happy Marriage Cake, and Tres Leches w/Here and There Cherries

Mmmm, I think we need to go again this week. ;)

TODAY I have found my happiness in…

Getting up early so I could throw dinner in the slow cooker AND watch a few episodes of Friday Night Lights in peace and quiet.
Cooking yummy Garlic Ginger Chicken for me and two of my men folk, for lunch.
Buying myself some flowers and putting them on my desk to enjoy all day long.

The flowers teased me at the grocery all week long and I resisted their urges until today when I read Shane’s post. Then when I went out to get butter for the aforementioned chicken, I HAD to get them. I am so happy that I did. Someone at the store sprinkled them with glitter and it just gives them a magical feel. Every time I look at them I have to smile in contentment. Finding your happiness doesn’t only have to be about the big moments in life, it can be about all the small ones too.

What do you do to make every moment count and find happiness in the small stuff? Link up below:

I actually bought my ticket for the BlogHer 2012 conference in New York City months ago but I never announced it here. It’s not earth shattering news or anything. Then I figured that maybe I should make a little announcement just in case any readers or other bloggy friends were going so that we could arrange to meet in person. This is all part of my New Year’s Resolution to have more fun. It was a total blast to go visit Detroit earlier this year and meet up with dozens of other bloggers. In New York there will be a pool of thousands of bloggers to meet, chat up, and attend parties with. Plus, it’s the Big Apple. What could be more fun?

Well, actually I am not sure because it will be my first BlogHer but I am pretty sure it will be  blast. I made a deal with myself that I would not do any business trips or blog conferences until my kids were older. That way it wouldn’t be extremely hard on them or anyone that I enlisted to help care for them. It made me sad to pass on opportunities to travel (which I LOVE) and be more sociable with bloggers and brands but the mom part of mom blogger had to come first. Anyway I started blogging when my middle child was a newborn and now my youngest just hit lucky number six last month. It’s time to get out there and have a bit of fun.

If you are going please leave a comment on this post. I would love to know who to look out for! I would also love to hear any tips you have if you have been before.

I am also looking for a sponsor or sponsors… maybe. I say maybe because I am pretty picky about who I work with, what with all the greenwashing that goes on, but I know there has to be a potential fit out there somewhere and I am willing to chat about partnerships.

Hope to see you there!

Happy Valentine’s everyone! I did my Valentine’s date last weekend with my sweetheart and it was spectacular. In fact I had so much fun that I didn’t feel like blogging much this week. Just wanted to sit on the couch with my honey and snuggle. Oh well!

We went out for an early dinner and ate one of our favorites… sushi! We had a sushi place in Phoenix that we considered “our place” and had not had much luck finding a place like that in Columbus but I think we finally did. We got a sushi boat for two, salad, miso soup (which I picked the tofu out of), and mochi ice cream. All was delicious! After dinner we went exploring in Polaris mall and ended up getting a couples massage at an Acupressure place. Then we went to a theater and saw Chronicle. My husband got to pick but luckily we have the same taste in movies. It was really good and action packed. After the movie we both noticed how close we were to Powell and there is a Jeni’s Ice Cream in Powell so well, yeah we had to go out for ice cream… again. It was so nice to spend so much time together, just the two of us!!

This week I got my annual delivery of heritage seeds from Seed Saver’s Exchange. W got a lettuce mixture, Dragon carrots, Tennis Ball lettuce, Scarlet Globe radishes, Five Color Silverbeet swiss chard, Kale, and Red Butterhead Lettuce. This year we plan to grow our own salad bar and not grow any tomatoes, like last year. We had way too many!

I have been pinning up a storm on my Pinterest Gardening Board. I also have some good gardening posts from the past if you are interested: Getting Kids Excited About Gardening, Urban Gardening for City Farmgirls, Garden Tool Sets and Gear for Children. I am excited for spring and for gardening!

Other cool links from the blogosphere:

Think Twice Before You Buy Hershey’s Kisses for Your Valentine by Diane at Big Green Purse. She shows how being selective with what chocolate we buy can help stop forced child labor. Amen!

Since I have been cooking with cast iron so much I needed this article about how to properly season your pots and pans. Great info!

I also liked this article from a fitness blogger who took on the subject of bladder challenges after childbirth. I had my own issues after birthing three, 9-10 pound babies and then I ran across a doctor who told me that Kegels were the worst exercise you could do to tighten this region and that they actually made the issue worse! This article and interview with a biomechanical scientist says the exact same thing. Instead of kegels we should be doing squats and trying to firm up our bums and thereby our pelvic floor. All I have to say is that after almost a year of squats in the gym, I am a big time believer.

Along those same lines a good book I have been hearing about is Lose Your Mummy Tummy. It discusses the fact that the abdominal muscles separate to allow for a growing uterus when we get pregnant. For some 98% of women that split never closes up totally and you get a bulging tummy long after you have your baby/babies. The author advises that sit ups and crunches make it worse  and she highlights some exercises that will actually help. After 3 babies and 2 abdominal surgeries (not c-sections) I am wary it could help me but I will give it a shot. ;)

Chobani Champions Yogurt Giveaway!!

Lastly I have a giveaway. Chobani yogurt recently sent me some of their Chobani Champions flavors for kids to try and they were big hit here. I have mentioned before that I am something of a Chobani addict. They are my favorite brand of Greek yogurt, or any yogurt for that matter. I sometimes feel guilty that I don’t buy the organic Greek yogurt that is out there but the flavor is just not as good so I hesitate to spend $2.00 a cup on something I don’t absolutely love. Chobani is pricey enough at $1.29 a cup and often times I am stingy with it for this reason. My kids loved having their own Chobani.

The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that the yogurt they sent is non-fat. I refuse to buy the non-fat Chobani varieties because I don’t believe our food should be non-fat. I refuse to jump on the low-fat bandwagon. If the folks at Chobani read this please provide full fat and organic options in the future please!

So… I have a case of the new flavors (3 packs Orange Vanilla/ 3 packs Vanilla Choc Chunk)  to give away to two readers. To enter just leave a comment and tell me if you eat yogurt in your house and what your favorites are. For an extra entry “Like” the Chobani Champions Facebook page and leave a second comment telling me you did so. Good luck and have an awesome weekend and Valentine’s Day!!

I don’t usually post about all the various pitches and requests I get (via this blog) that are seeking donations to further a cause or a charity. If the cause sounds good I might tweet about it or post on Facebook but I get so many of these requests and I don’t want to inundate everyone with them. But this week one caught and held my attention. It wasn’t about clean water for third world children or feeding the homeless but it is still something that pulled on my heartstrings and made me open my own wallet. I guess maybe that is because the email sent to me had the secret words in it… Appalachian Trail.

I am thinking that perhaps the email was sent to me specifically because I am an Ohio blogger and Emma Gatewood was from Ohio. I don’t know if the sender had any insight into my love affair with the Appalachian Trail or not, either way they had me hook, line, and sinker with any mention of the AT. It has been my dream since my late twenties to thru hike the AT, which is a 2,181 mile long trail that extends from Georgia to Maine. It takes about 6+ months to hike it start to finish and I want to do it so very badly. Every year I dream of the day when my family and I can pack up and hit the mountains together for that once in a lifetime experience. And sometimes I acknowledge that it may have to wait until my kids are grown but either way I don’t think I will ever consider my life complete until I have done it. It’s at the top of my bucket list.

Anyway, Emma Gatewood was the first woman to ever thru hike the trail solo. That is an amazing and courageous accomplishment. I would never consider hiking it alone (to chicken) and I admire any lady that has the stones to do that. BUT there are several other wow factors to share as well. She made this hike in 1955 at the age of 67 and after raising 11 children!! She also ended up becoming a pioneer for ultralight backpacking because she made this trek with only a pair of Keds sneakers, an army blanket, a raincoat, and a plastic shower curtain which she carried in a homemade bag slung over one shoulder. If you are familiar with what long distance hikers are toting around nowadays you will understand how amazing this woman was. But that is not all. She ended up hiking the AT two more times after that initial foray, she hiked The Oregon Trail (2000 miles), and she helped start The Buckeye Trail (1,444 miles) in Ohio.

Eden Valley Enterprises is a not-for-profit corporation that specializes in living history programs and storytelling through theater, usually about historical figures that accomplished amazing things. They recently premiered a storytelling program about Emma to a sold-out house at a community center in Ohio and that spurred them to try and bring Emma’s story to life as a film documentary. It will be produced by Peter Huston of FilmAffects and WGTE (PBS Toledo) has agreed to be a broadcast sponsor and production partner for it.

If this sounds like a worthwhile cause to you, donate via Kickstarter or directly via PayPal or check to Eden Valley.

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Never heard of the Appalachian Trail? Let me suggest some  of my fave books!

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail

Walking Home: A Woman’s Pilgrimage on the Appalachian Trail

Hiking Through: Finding Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail

Photo Credit: The Appalachian Trail Conservancy