{ you go girl }

{ pull your weeds, plant good seeds }

Love this new print from Ink+Wit. In fact I have a spot ready for it when it arrives - where I can look it on a daily basis and make sure I am tending to the important things and weeding out the not good stuff. As Tara said, "What you have around you becomes you. What is in your kitchen cabinets, closet, body, and mind can really lift you up or bring you down. The doubts, fears, ego, and chaos that can become us if we are not careful to fill ourselves up with compassion, love, and peace." Get yours here.

{ fit ME }

you. will. feel. this. burn.

First, schedule in your workout in your weekly planner.
When the time arrives, warm up with this lil dance cardio routine. (It takes a bit of practice).
Next have fun toning up your arms and making them teeny tiny with this arm webisode.
Of course you need to firm the butt and thighs, and this routine (that Gwenyth Paltrow did training for Iron Man!) will do the trick. ouch.
Finish up with a little abs, and you're on your way!
Be sure to jot down your workout on your Fit ME notepad.

{If you bookmark each of those video links, you will be able to get to them easily every day for a full workout! Or you can buy Tracy Anderson's Mat Workout which is my most favorite one by far!}

{ ME }

What have I been up to, you ask?

1. More de-junking and purging of the house. Purged the heck out of my closet. Trying to keep things that I love and get rid of all of the things that I don't really like or don't fit me great. I want to own about 10 outfits that I love and get rid of the rest. Some things listed on ebay.
2. Devoured this book. Tons of great nuggets of wisdom.
3. Chopped off my hair which totally resulted in ME getting my mojo back.
4. Worked out a bunch- rocked out to some new tunes to Tracy Anderson's workouts and ran, ran, ran (without tunes, just enjoying the sun + listening to my own huffing & puffing).
5. Got the salad + smoothie garden started. That's pretty much what I grow - things for green smoothies + salads (spinach, kale, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.)
6. Spring cleaned the entire downstairs of our house. Still have the upstairs to go.
7. Took an impromptu road trip to one of our favorite places on earth and had a blast hiking with the kids & relaxing by the pool.
8. Made May Day baskets for neighbors & teachers. A fun, new tradition.
9. Did this fun photo project for mother's day (for grandmothers & birthmothers)
10. Been eating mostly vegan + raw (think tons of green juices, smoothies, salads) and feel a.m.a.z.i.n.g.
11. Finally got Sam signed up for her summer activities. I think that horseback riding lessons might be more expensive than buying a yacht. Just saying.
12. Kindergarten graduation & celebration. So proud of the sweet girl she is.
13. Tons of fresh flowers from the farmers market around the house.
14. My dad's successful surgery.
15. Deleted all the blogs that make me feel like a loser from my daily reads. Ah, much better now.
16. Can't wait for this.
17. An afternoon at the spa. Heaven on earth.
18. Tons of doctors appointments wrapped up. check, check, check.
19. Date night with Will. Sushi + Photobooth + Iron Man 2.
20. Blueprint cleanse. Yum.

So here is to new beginnings, and getting back on track, and remembering who you are, and working on better balance, and all that good stuff... What have you all been up to?

{ for you my friends }

15 % off all LobotoME orders until 7. 15.2010. Enjoy!

use coupon code: eclipse

{ chill + stay sane }

Work. Family. Getting in shape for summer. Summer camp. Family drama. Squeezing in time for friends.

Does juggling it all make you want to scream, "Make it stop!"? Check out our weekly planners with space for everything from to do's to errands, to special events, to meal planning & more!

ps - Still playing catch up my friends, but I'll be back soon!

{ taking care of ME }

So pretty much the entire past 2 months I've been taking care of people....my kiddos who were sick in March, my grandfather who was in the hospital at the beginning of April back east, my dad who had surgery at the end of April, my mom who has been going crazy due to her father & husband's recent hospital stays, racers, elderly neighbors, etc.

On Mother's Day I was whooped. And fried. {Nothing like traveling home w/ two grouchy& stomach bug sick kids in the car, from putting on a 24 hour adventure race on Mother's Day to cheer ya up! ;) } But the race was over. Gramp is back home getting better, my dad is healing and getting stronger everyday and got great pathology results back last week, my kids are on the mend....but I'm not. I have an eye infection (that I neglected for almost a month and now need steroids to treat); I have a rash on my back from lord knows what (stress?!?!) that I need to see the doctor about; I've been overdue for my cancer checkup/bloodwork with the oncologist for months now; I hadn't had a pedicure since I went to Mexico in November; I need to get a funny mole checked out by my dermatologist; I need a massage to ease my achy body; I need to lose the 5lbs I gained from "stress" eating in the past month and I needed to start working out on a regular basis again.

I basically decided I needed to press "restart." Unfortunately I can't jet away to here for a week, but I could fit all of the above needed things in at home. So, I decided that the next 2 weeks are going to be dedicated to self-care. One thing a day written into my momME planner. I scheduled a follow up eye appointment and checkups with my other doctors. I scheduled a colon cleanse. I am going to buy myself some of flowers at the farmers market this week. I scheduled in workouts and bought Tracy Anderson's new DVD that I vow to do every day with a vengence. I ordered up the BluePrint 3 day Juice Cleanse that I am going to do next week. I planned out all healthy meals and no eating out. I'm scheduled for a pedicure (purple toes in case you are wondering). I am going to drink a billion gallons of water and detox off the diet coke that I have been consuming far too frequently lately. I'm going to go to hot yoga class and sweat out all of the toxins. And I'm going to write daily in my new gratitude journal that I won on Leslie's darling blog. I am going to splurge on a massage for myself. I am going to take of ME.

That's my plan and I'm sticking to it.

print above available at etsy.

{ on my mind }

What do I want for Mother's Day?

World peace? (yes, but that's not what I'm asking for).

Flowers + a clean house? (yes + yes, but that's not what I'm asking for).

note: It isn’t that I can't buy myself flowers or our house is a total disaster, it is just one of the things I’ve given up spending money on as our family tries to find a good balance in a down economy. I used to buy pretty flowers every week and with relief welcomed a house cleaner in to our home once a week.

A day at the spa (heck yeah, but that's not what I'm asking for).

I'll tell you what I want for Mother's Day...is for my kids to know that they are loved. I recently read an article about Michelle Obama and she summed up my feelings perfectly when she said, "I pray that my children are happy with themselves so they are confident and secure in who they are. That's the basis of everything - that they feel loved, and they have an internal peace. Then everything else will fall into place."

Happy Mother's Day mamas!

{ ps - the photo pictured is our Mother's Day gift to all of the mamas, grandmama's and birth mama's in our lives...a great idea discovered via here. I had them printed (8x10) and framed them. super cute, easy and inexpensive. I'm posting this in advance in case any of you are still looking for ideas! }

{ ps - I have an interview up today on mothers of invention. check it out here. }

{ ps - and in case you want to be truly inspired about motherhood, watch this. }