I am not vegetarian anymore but I know that many of my readers are so I wanted to share this great deal. I went paleo well over a year ago now, but I used to read and LOVE this magazine in my veggie days. It always has lots of great recipes to keep things fresh and it also has great advice and tips on health and diet in general. I loved the frequency of conversion recipes that make old favorites vegetarian friendly.

If you read this magazine save some dough by using code 7695 which makes a one year subscription only $5.50 (55% 0ff).

TODAY ONLY!! - Order Here

Also today only subscribe to Yoga Journal Magazine for just $4.99 for the year. Use Promo Code: 4489 -  Order Here

I must confess that I have a bit of a magazine obsession. I LOVE magazines and last year I went kinda nuts with deals on subscriptions. I ended up with way too many magazines arriving in my mailbox but it was a valuable lesson for me on what I actually read and what I don’t. Parenting magazines, no. Better Homes, no. Ladies Home Journal, no. Why did I even order those???

Mags like Oxygen, Health, Country Living, Mother Earth News, Mary Jane’s Farm, and Hobby Farms…yes, yes, yes. I keep them and re-read annually just to keep enjoying them. They are great insulators if you stack them against an outside wall. Though I am converting some to digital subscriptions so I can read them on my tablet from the comfort of my bed. The others I give away on Freecycle or I sell them at my mom’s annual garage sale for .10 cents a piece. They always sell so I guess lots of people like magazines as much as I do.

Well, another of my faves is on sale. I just HAD TO. Today only you can get a one year subscription to Urban Farm magazine for the amazing price of only $4.50 (normally $15.00+).

Just add the coupon code 2479 and it will reduce the price in your cart. Can’t beat that!

 In early November if you recall there was a Healthy Living eBook bundle being promoted here and all over the web for a bundle of ebooks written by some of the top healthy living bloggers. It offered 34 books valued at over $300 for only $29. I know that many, many folks took advantage of this great offer. I am a proud owner of this set myself and it is an amazing collection for those who want to live and eat more consciously. I have all the books on my tablet and plan to do lots of reading over the holidays.

Well Fed will give me some paleo inspiration and motivation if I fall off the paleo wagon during the season. Simple Scrubs has great ideas for homemade gifts as does My Buttered Life. Apartment Gardening will provide some motivation to start planning our garden for 2013 (we rent a small space). It’s a wonderful collection of knowledge.

That sale might be over but happily you get a do-over if you missed out the first time. Nourishing Days will be offering this bundle for sale once again on November 26th for 48 hours only. If you want to be notified of the sale you can sign up on the site and you will get an email when the sale goes live. The video below highlights everything you get in the bundle:

In honor of this second chancel sale I am giving away two (yes 2!) ebook bundles to my readers (thanks to Nourishing Days). That is $600 worth of goodies for two readers. The winners will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter (below) on November 26th…the day the sale starts. If you don’t happen to win this giveaway you will at least have one more chance to get the bundle set for a rock bottom price.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Vibram Five Fingers are one of my fave shoes brands. They are minimalist shoes that are oh so so comfy and good for the health of your feet. I credit them with helping me regain balance and strength in my toes and feet like I had in my younger years when I would go barefoot all the time. I wear toe shoes literally every single week day…to the gym where I run in them, jump in them, and lift heavy weights in them. My husband also wears them and he has the men’s version of the ones seen above.

Our only issue is that these shoes are notoriously expensive so we only buy during Cyber Monday sales which usually mean a 40-50% discount. For the next few days though you can get them for 50% off at Zulily. Just wanted to let other barefoot shoes fans out there know!

On June 18th, along with 20+ other green bloggers I am kicking off a Go Green, Get Fit Challenge. The idea behind it is to join together and support each other in making a commitment to fitness and since we also happen to care about sustainability issues we will be considering the impact of this process too. We moms spend so much take taking care of our families and our household responsibilities that sometimes self care gets lost in the mix. As I have discovered over the past year or so though, this is a huge mistake. My health and well being needs to be the foundation upon which all the rest is carefully laid or I am doing myself and my health a great disservice. I am also not in a position to be the best mom and wife I can be when I am unhealthy, unfocused, and unhappy.

I don’t think anyone ever sets out to be sedentary and unhealthy, they just allow other things to take priority and the cumulative effect of this over a period of years is what horrifies us when we look in the mirror or realize we can’t demonstrate a simple cartwheel for our children. I am going to be painstakingly honest about what woke me up in this regard. It wasn’t that I hated what I saw when I looked in the mirror, though I certainly had issues with that. It wasn’t that I couldn’t keep up with my kids, though I certainly could not. It was the fact that one morning I woke up to find out my marriage was likely over (and not by my choice). The idea that I might have to start over in my mid thirties motivated me into changing things up. I was faced with looking at how I wanted my life to look if I was starting an entirely new life. I wasn’t scared at all, in fact I was excited. It felt like an opportunity to put myself first after 12+ years of being dead last on my own priorities list. My husband was doing the same for himself. After a few weeks we quickly realized that there was no reason we couldn’t do this together and that it would be even easier with a loving partner. Once we started putting our own needs and that of each other at the top of the totem pole everything else just fell into place.

Our lives look sooooo very different now.

This morning I woke up at 6:00 am, showered, and hustled over to a CrossFit class. It was a morning full of pushups, situps, planks, squats, wall couch, pigeon, sprints, supermen, knee tucks on the bar, deadlifts, Kettlebell swings, Kettlebell high pulls, Kettlebell presses, and an obscene amount of Turkish get ups with a Kettlbell. My husband woke up slightly later to start taking care of the kiddies. When I got home I made breakfast and my husband readied himself for the same exact class I just took but at 10:30. While he is working out I log some work time on the computer and prepare lunch and dinner, especially if both require long cook times. Today the menu was lamb chops for breakfast, baked chicken and fresh fruit for lunch, and pork with sauerkraut is working away in the crock pot for dinner. When my husband gets home he eats lunch with us and we just hang out until he leaves for work at 2:00 pm. Often times though one of us will use this time to get out of the house to run errands or do something recreational like hit some balls at the golf range (him) or get a pedicure (me). Sometimes we nap.

After he leaves for work I keep plugging away at my desk, working but often taking breaks to do this or that with the kids. Sometimes I just have to get up and walk which means we all walk a few blocks away to a small gas station store that sells ice cream. Sometimes we go to the library for awhile. In the early evening I read usually, either inside or out depending on where the kids are playing. Later on my kiddos are required to be in their rooms and quiet by 8 PM (doing whatever they want) then I have an hour or so to watch DVR shows or read some more. In the morning we will rinse and repeat but always with fitness and health being tops on the priority list.

So why do this challenge if fitness is already a priority? Well, I thank my lucky stars I discovered CrossFit.

Previously I was swimming, running on the treadmill, and doing circuit weight machines. I felt like I was fit or on my way there and was pretty content. Then CrossFit took me to new places. Sometimes those places made me so sore I could barely get on and off the toilet without assistance and other times they made me realize the words “puke spot” painted on the sidewalk in back of the gym was no joke. I couldn’t even do one single pushup when I started, a full pushup – not the girl ones on your knees. No pushups after more than a year of exercising at the gym for 3-4 days a week.  Last week I did 110 in one workout or WOD (workout of the day). It has made me feel like an athlete and I have actual training goals now. I want more! If I can do 110+ pushups what else can I do???? I look forward to finding out.

I think it is also important to consider the impact of fitness too because it has made me a bigger consumer for sure. I try to find workout clothing at second hand stores and only rarely do I actually find some that isn’t in sizes XXS or XXL. Workout clothing gets pretty worn out, pretty fast so I am guessing that the ladies who actually wear the clothing to workout in don’t have much left to donate later. I know my workout tees get turned into rags or reusable bags when I am done with them cause they are ratty! Shoes also get worn out fast and you NEED good shoes for CrossFit. Sport bras are another thing you need to buy regularly as are workout clothes that fit with the seasons. I also admit that I am falling victim to wanting stuff I don’t actually need too, to show off my enthusiasm for the sport. Like this Kettlebell necklace. I have two of them now and they have many more colors available.  Can I resist???? I am always wearing them and I don’t even like jewelry!

During the challenge I plan to start attending Olympic Weight Lifting classes at my local CrossFit box and increase my morning workouts from 3 times weekly to 4-5 with swimming or running thrown in on the weekends. I am going to have to increase my calories to maintain muscle gain and energy levels so I will have to play around with the nutrition aspect as well. I also have goals to do kipping pull ups, hands stand pushups, toes to bar, and more consistent double unders. Once I begin Olympic Lifting I will also have weight goals too. I am ready to see just how far I can push myself and what I can accomplish during this challenge? Will you join us?

Follow the Go Green, Get Fit Challenge on  Facebook, Pinterest, Healthy Home Magazine, and Twitter.

Here are some intro posts from some other challenge particpants:

Amanda of Eco Friendly Family: My Body is a Traitor & I Am Fighting Back!
Laura of Pug in the Kitchen: Getting It Together
Paige at Spit That Out The Book: Cross Fit Update: Finished First Competition and Starting Go Green Get Fit Challenge