I'm Sailing Away...

In the morn' I leave for a trip out to sea.
We're leaving the kids...hip hooray and whoopee!
Some sleep I must get. 'Bout a year's worth I'd say.
I'll come back refreshed, and ready to play.
Time away from the kids should help me love more.
I'll be ready to read, and to sing, and adore.
I know they'll be fine, but I can't help but worry.
But no time for that...I'm in a big hurry!
Bags to pack, plane to catch...I've just a few hours!
When it comes time to travel, I need Super Powers!
Packing...not a fan. I dread getting ready.
Workout? No need! Packing leaves me sweaty!
I'm hoping I don't come home with disease.
Swine flu pandemic? Why now? Oh puh-lease!
Our itinerary...all new from the one that we booked.
Our excursions? We cancelled. Swine flu's the new crook.
To Mexico, go we not. Virgin Islands instead!
No more Belize, just Bahamas, they said.
I'm sure we'll be fine. A Cruise is a Cruise.
A week with no kids...how could we possibly lose?
As for you, fit me readers, be sure to check in.
I've not left you blog-less, much to your chagrin?
Blog posts galore are coming your way.
Check in all week to read what's to say.
Leave a comment or two, help me adjust back to life.
As a mother of two, and a homemaker wife.
Not quite as charming as life on a boat.
But I'm sure I will miss you as we stay afloat!
Keep on working out, and eating good stuff.
I'm gonna need motivation to work off new fluff.
A eating I'll do...pretty much guaranteed.
And working out to lose it is just what I'll need.
But until then, my friends. Come back, pretty please!
Sayonara! Until then! Wish me luck! Smell the breeze!

10 Essential Nutrients For Your Skin...and the 20 Foods They're In!

Yesterday, I let you in on a little secret....I'm not looking my best these days. I'm beyond tired. Sleep is usually at the bottom of my list of priorities, but in a few days, it's moving to the top! Even if all we can do is get on a boat without stopping at any ports, I'm still going!

When I get home, I'm hoping to be rejuvenated. But the sleep deprivation cycle will surely resume as scheduled! I definitely need to work on that...cuz mama's not the only one who suffers when mama's tired!

Besides my poor children and husband, my face also suffers when I'm tired. I look tired. My face is tired. My eyes are tired. So if I want to look my best, I need more sleep. Don't we all? But another way to look better--besides getting the ever-needed zzzz's--is by focusing on something else...feeding your face. That's right. We don't just need to eat more fruits and veggies for healthy bodies. We need them for healthy skin! Here are a few of the best skin-beautifying-nutrients, and the foods they're found in:

1. Selenium: This vital nutrient helps preserve elastin, a skin-smoothing and tightening protein. The antioxidant may also protect against the sun (by stopping free radicals created by UV exposure from damaging skin cells). Face Foods: Canned Tuna, Brazil Nuts, Cottage Cheese
2. Niacin (Vitamin B3): An anti-inflammatory that soothes red, blotchy, dry skin. Face Food: Avocados (Great to eat AND to use as a face mask for dry skin).
3. Vitamin E: An amazing sunscreen booster that helps protect skin cells from UV light, or other cell-damaging free radicals in the environment. This powerful antioxidant also helps prevent dry skin! Face Food: Almonds (I'm going to pack some along for the trip...I can always use some extra sunscreen!)
4. Vitamin A: Helps clear up breakouts by repairing skin cells. This important nutrient also reduces the development of skin cancer cells! Face Foods: Carrots, Mangoes
5. Vitamin C: Smooths out wrinkles by aiding in the production of collagen--the skin's structural protein. Face Foods: Sweet Potatoes, oranges, acerola cherries, red peppers
6. Omega 3 Fatty Acids: The skin plumping, wrinkle reducing miracle workers! (Not to mention skin hydrators...) Face Foods: Flaxseeds (sprinkle on oatmeal or veggies), flaxseed oil (add to your smoothies), salmon, walnuts.
7. Folate: Helps reduce the chance of cancer-cell growth. Also reduces wrinkles by plumping up skin as water penetrates cell membranes. Face Foods: Spinach, collard greens
8. Zinc: A pimple-fighting mineral! Zinc also helps boost elastin production, and sebum production. Face Food: Oysters! (any oyster fans out there?)
9. Riboflavin (Vitamin B2): Helps aid in tissue maintenance and repair, and also improves blemishes caused by rosacea. Post-surgery, or injury, the body uses large amounts of this vitamin to heal! Face Food: Mushrooms
10. Flavonols: This antioxidant helps smooth the skin, and protects against sun damage. Face Food: Dark Chocolate (My favorite! This one should be a staple in your diet...just make sure it's the DARK variety! Yum!)

Fill your grocery cart with these foods to cleanse your body from the inside out. What are your best beauty tips?

Under-eye Baggage!

Why I'm walking around with huge bags under my eyes:

• Birds have made a home in our dryer vent. I can hear them flapping around through the walls. Gross! Our house is full of hanging wet everythings...from towels to underwear.
• I had a pregnancy scare a few weeks ago that sent me on an emotional rollercoaster. Test: Positive. Emotion: Cried all day. Three days later: I guess a third child isn't the end of the world. Later that day: Bleeding. Blood Test: Pregnancy hormones still high. A week later: Pregnancy test negative. Definite miscarriage. Emotion: Relieved and sad at the same time. Is that possible?
• We've had one house guest after another. Love the company. Hate the recovery.
• I'm turning into monster mom. I must be tired! Me without sleep=tantrum throwing 28-year old!

Why the under-eye baggage will soon go away:

• I've been madly getting ready for a glorious 7-day, child-free cruise! We leave on Friday! See? You can stop feeling sorry for me now...

Why the bags might return:

• Two words: Swine Flu.

Edited to say: Two of the ports have been cancelled (the Mexican ones), so hopefully we still get to go! New schedule announced tomorrow! Please let it be a good one...I'm ready for a break!

Have you any beauty tips for me to get rid of the baggage besides a vacation?

Walking...Great Exercise! Just Not In Front Of A Crowd.

I have a small confession. People sort of scare me. I guess I don't mind singing, speaking, or teaching in front of people--I actually like it. I also really love running races--the spectators are my favorite part. But I HATE walking alone in front of people. I don't like feeling all eyes on me as I walk to the front of a room. I've never been graceful. (I broke my leg on my first real date!) I dropped a food tray in the dorm cafeteria once, and wanted to hide in a corner as everyone cheered. This and other walking moments have scarred me for life.

If I have to, I'll do it. But I'll be thinking and concentrating so hard on every step--trying to appear graceful--that I'll probably trip. I've gotten a little better. Like if I'm carrying a screaming child out of a quiet Church meeting, I'm probably not really thinking about how I'm walking. But if I'm in a movie theater needing to pee, you can be pretty sure I'm going to hold it until the end. I don't like walking in front of people.

Tonight, I was at the airport waiting for my brother and his fiancee in the Park-N-Wait lot. When they were ready and waiting at the curb, I turned the car on to go get them, but suddenly got nervous. I was in a parking lot with a bunch of sitting and waiting cars that I had to drive in front of. Silly, I know. Like they were even watching me. But I felt totally self-conscious as I drove in front of them. Weird.

I have a tiny disclaimer. I got pulled over at the airport last week for going 14 mph in a 10 mph zone. So airports have me a bit jittery. But this doesn't change the fact that I get totally self-conscious walking in front of people. I don't have a solution. I'll just have to keep walking and blushing. But I don't have to like it!

Do you have any weird insecurities? How do you get over them?

6 Health Benefits of Dog Ownership

After writing about fitness in the great outdoors, I've had an itching to get outside. I brushed the dust off the old jogging stroller yesterday, and took the kids for what turned into a 3-hour outing to the park. I ran, we fed the ducks, we went to the park, my 2-year-old insisted on pushing the stroller (and yelling at me for helping him as I steered it back onto the trail every 5 seconds). When you're pushing a massive stroller with 2 kids inside, you get a lot of attention. "Oh wow. You've got quite a load there." "You can do it! You're almost to the end." "Oh look at them in there, Harry." "Moooooom! Go faster!" I'm sure I look a bit ridiculous. You can't exactly sprint while pushing 90 lbs. of stroller and babies. The only people who probably get more attention than me are the ones pushing a stroller AND holding onto a dog leash.

We saw so many people out walking dogs yesterday. And I remembered something. I want one. My kids want one. My husband even wants one. Every well-adjusted family should have a dog. But I'm not sure I can deal with dog poop right now. I'm barely handling the human variety. So in a near-future season of life, we will be proud dog owners. Proud dog owners of the Golden Retriever variety.

I grew up with a Golden Retriever named Duchess. We got her for Christmas when I was 10. I found out she'd been put to sleep in a letter when I was 22 and in Finland. I was devastated. I cried for days. She was a part of the family. And she was good for us, too.

Last month, a study came out showing that cat owners have a lower risk of heart attack and stroke (nearly 1/3 less!) I will never own a cat. Sorry, cat lovers. I'm allergic and terrified. But if you like 'em, get one! (Just don't make me touch it!) They're good for you, apparently.

"Given that people do gain healthwise from having a strong social network, it makes sense that having an animal companion would also do some good," says Alan Beck, a professor and director of the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine. "Do animals cure everything? Of course not," Beck says. But people relate to animals by nurturing, caring for, and talking to them—much as they do with other humans, so "it's not surprising that people who have relationships with animals actually report benefits."

I know that having a dog was good for our family. Here are 6 reasons every family should have one:

• A dog teaches children responsibility. They need to be fed, washed, walked, and loved. Studies have also linked pet ownership with high self-esteem in young children, and greater cognitive development. Children with pets also score significantly higher on empathy and pro-social scales! Forget pre-school, I just need to get me a dog!
• Dogs enhance family life! Dogs reduce tension, increase compassion, and make family walks more fun!
• Dogs are a great anti-depressant. Feeling blue? Cuddle with your dog for a while. Seriously...dogs increase the release of endorphins, and other pleasure-related hormones.
• Dog owners have a higher survival rate after a serious illness! Having regular PET visits in the hospital has shown to be even more effective than regular SPOUSE visits. Interesting.
• Pet owners have lower blood cholesterol levels and blood pressure. (Not to mention fewer doctor visits!) If you've never taken the opportunity to sit and stroke a dog, you're missing out. I need one to pet to lower my mommy-blood-pressure.
• People who walk their dogs are seen as friendly and approachable! (Pushing kids in the jogging stroller has ALMOST the same effect...EVERYONE wants to talk to me!)

Are you convinced? I'm not sure I can wait 10 more years to get a cute little make-me-vaccuum-a-LOT-more-often pup. How about you? Are you a dog lover? Or do you prefer heart-attack-risk-reducing cats? How has pet ownership improved your quality of life?

Fitness In The Great Outdoors

I'm going to sneak out on a limb here and say that Spring just might possibly FINALLY be here. After a crazy snow storm last week, the temperatures look like they might actually be on the rise...for good. Well, at least for a few months. HALLELUJAH! I, for one, need the mental pick-me-up that warm temperatures bring.

While living in the-land-of-serious-dark-all-day-long-winters-Finland for a year and a half, I realized how much I really really love the sun. Winters were SERIOUSLY depressing. I remember looking at my watch at 2:00 in the afternoon while walking around in the pitch dark, thinking, "how am I going to survive the day in the dark for 7 more hours before we go home?" Summers in Finland, however, were heaven. The sun never slept!

In my life, I've discovered two things that really do keep me going. SUN. and EXERCISE. I've been missing the sun in a bad way!

I came across one study that shows the great benefits for children of combining the outdoors AND exercise. This particular study shows how a walk in the park improves attention in children with ADHD. I don't have ADHD, but I have plenty of moments (more than I'd like to admit), where I am mentally fatigued, easily distracted, and NEED TO GET OUT OF MY DANG HOUSE! A brisk walk outside ALWAYS makes me feel better. And running around in the park changes the temperament of my 2-year-old (in a good way) even more than a good nap...which is saying A LOT. This outside-induced-happiness has an even greater effect on my mood. Monster-Mom becomes Fun-Happy-Relaxed-Mom.

Besides being a better parent, here are a few more benefits of exercising outdoors:

• Running outside instead of on a treadmill increases the caloric burn by about 5 percent (due to wind and changing terrain).
• Changing temperatures increase calorie burn by about 7 percent because your body has to work to keep the internal temp at 98.6 degrees!
• SUN + EXERCISE = MOTHER NATURE'S ZOLOFT! This study, conducted in 2007 by researchers in England, found that outdoor workouts (i.e. A walk in the woods, a brief retreat, and even gardening) are ALL Better than anti-depressants alone! When they compared the mental benefits of a 30-minute walk outside with an indoor stroll, 71 percent who walked outside felt less tense after. 72 percent of the indoor walkers felt even more stressed.

The treadmill is one of my fondest old friends. I love that I can look down at any given second, and know EXACTLY how LONG I've been running, how FAR I've been running, how FAST I'm running, how much LONGER I'll be running, etc. I'm a numbers-kind-of-girl. But lately with my training, I've been running outside a lot more. And I have to say, I think I'm officially converted.

I honestly used to prefer the treadmill. Not anymore. When I'm outside, I don't feel like I'm running because I have to. I'm not yelling at kids to stay away from the treadmill, to share toys, to stop hitting each other. I don't increase my speed to hurry and get the run over with. I enjoy it. If the kids are with me in the jogging stroller, they enjoy it. I feel much more rejuvenated at the end. 10 miles outside feels like 4 miles on a treadmill (time-wise). Don't get me wrong. The treadmill has, and will always be my fall-back workout. But this summer, I'm going to take advantage of mother nature. I need it.

And running isn't all I'm going to do outside! Here are a few more outdoor workout ideas:

• Walking--one of the best lifetime sports!
• Jogging/Running--need I say more?
• Cycling
• Swimming
• Hiking
• Strength Training at the Park! Seriously...parks are FULL of FREE exercise equipment. Maybe I'll do a full post on this one later...I'm envisioning swing lunges using the swing to elevate the back leg, monkey bars for pull-up(s), straddling benches, swing/slide push-ups, stepping up onto benches, running around the playground, etc.
• Beach Yoga (for those vacationing or lucky enough to live in Sunny CA)
• Jumprope!

Are you convinced yet? Are you ready to trade in your gym membership? What gets you moving outside? Or do you still prefer the treadmill?

Hide the Easter Candy!

Well, the sweetest of all holidays is behind us. Sort of. The candy in my kids' baskets is still staring me down, begging me to eat some more. I've never been a fan of people who can take one bite of dessert and feel satisfied. Actually, I totally wish I could be one of them. How do they do it? For me, it's all or nothing. If I never take a bite, I'm fine. But there's no way I'm going to be able to have just one mini Twix bar, and stop there. Nooooo way. I'll have 5 or 6 or 10... And don't think I can take two bites of chocolate cake, and leave the rest. I'll eat mine AND the rest of yours. What about those magazines that say to take two bites, eat them slowly so you can really savor them, and leave the rest. WHATEVER!

Are you all sick of my sugar ramblings, yet? I'm obviously trying to work through some sugar issues. If you know how to have your sugar in moderation, then please skip to the comments to shed some light for the rest of us. How do you do it?

But for the majority of us, why is it so hard to resist sugar? Well, for starters, it obviously tastes better than broccoli. But the truth is, when you consume large amounts of it, your pancreas has to work overtime. It then produces loads of insulin, which causes your body to build up a sort of resistance to sugar. So what happens, then? The more sugar you eat, the more you need to eat to feel satisfied. Ouch.

If you ate bucketfuls of candy this weekend, oh well. Don't beat yourself up. But here are a few numbers for the curious calorie/fat/sugar gram counters in all of us:

Cadbury Cream Eggs – 140 calories

Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs – 180 calories

Jelly Belly Assorted jelly beans (35) – 28 g sugar

(Small) Cadbury Chocolate Eggs (12) – 26 g sugar

Nestle's Crunch Solid Chocolate Easter Bunny – 36.2 g of fat

Reese's Reester Bunny – 42 g of fat

Hershey's Hollow Milk Chocolate Egg – 570 calories in the shell alone. (If you eat the four Hershey’s kisses inside, you’ll consume 660 calories and 41 grams of fat). Yikes!

Hopefully you added some real eggs to the menu. But whatever you ate, hope you enjoyed it. I did! And a sugar overdose always leaves me a little more motivated to avoid it in the near future. We'll see how long the motivation lasts! How was your Easter?

Working Out While Injured

Hi there! You're still checking this abandoned blog? Well, to everyone who's still reading, rather than explain where I've been, let me direct you here. Yes, our house has been full...of kids, vomit, and a poor, crying baby with a broken arm. An amazing baby who can't talk, but knows how to continue living her life to the fullest with a pretty significant injury. Here's what she's taught me:

1. Pain should NOT be ignored! Pain is the indicator of an injury. If you experience pain while working out (or crawling), stop. Cry. Don't use the injured body part until you figure out what is wrong! The old adage "no pain, no gain" does NOT apply. Discomfort while working out is OK, pain is not!
2. Consult a doctor. Just because your parents, gym buddies, friends, etc. think it's probably "just a bruise," doesn't mean that it is. If you're experiencing true pain, get a professional opinion!
3. Modify! If it hurts to crawl on your hand, try the forearm. Don't continue working through the pain...you could make it worse!
4. Avoid overuse injury. Landing too hard in a simple fall can cause a buckle fracture in the arm. Likewise, training errors, such as running too far, too fast, too soon can cause overuse injury in a runner. The feet have to absorb 110 tons of energy with every mile run, so don't do more than your body can handle!
5. Cross-train. If crawling hurts your arm, try taking a few steps with your legs! Walking may seem harder at first, but you may just find that you prefer it! If the doctor tells you to stop running for a while, try swimming or cycling! A new love affair may emerge.
6. Listen to your body. When you're ready and healed, get moving! Your body knows best!