Hi Friends!

What a wonderful weekend I had!!! This week is going to be the best week ever, I can feel it in my bones. I will admit I'm a little exhausted. Instead of relaxing and taking it easy I took on some serious DIY projects, creating a space just for me, organizing the kitchen, throwing away a lot of things we didn’t need, and cleaning the house from top to bottom. I'm happy with the outcome it wasn't easy getting everything done. I didn’t get to sit down at all on Friday or Saturday, not until it was time to go to bed. I did get to watch Annie, it was super cute but nothing beats the original version. It's crazy how many songs I remembered from that movie. I probably saw the original Annie over 100 times.

I have a few great DIY tutorials to share this week, but I figured I should get the important stuff out of the way first. This weeks Nutrition Challenge is to eat more seeds so I created a cheat sheet on the benefits of eating seeds. I love these fact sheets, I use them as a quick references to make sure I'm filling my body with all the right stuff.

The rest of the week will be all DIY all the time!!!

XOXO

MARY

FITNESS CHALLENGE

I CHALLENGE YOU TO COMPLETE MY INTERVAL ROUTINE EVERYDAY THIS WEEK

WHY WHY WHY

Because it works!!
This routine gets your heart pumping while working up a serious sweat in only 20 minutes
Short, super intense bursts of cardio with periods of rest can enhance your speed and ability
Intense intervals boosts aerobic power and train your body to recruit more muscle

MATERIAL

Timer

DIRECTIONS

60 seconds of each exercise 3x

*if needed march in place for 15 seconds between each exercise

Jumping Jacks

Speed Skaters

Side Jumps

Burpees

Pendulum

High Knees

MY TAKE

I used to do this interval routine everyday but good habits die hard. I’m in the process of getting my summer body back and this routine, 7 days a week, on top of my regular workout should do the trick.

NUTRITION CHALLENGE

I challenge you to incorporate seeds into your diet everyday this week

WHY WHY WHY

Here are some benefits of incorporating more seeds into your diet on a daily bases
Lower blood sugar
Lower Cholesterol
Lower blood pressure
Improve brain health
Improve immune health
Promote bone health
Reduces menstrual cramps
Enhance mental health
Improve endurance
Aids in weight loss
Promote healthy hair and nails
Improve sleep
Reduce fatigue and stress

MATERIALS

Seeds seeds and more seeds
Start with:
Sesame seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Hemp seeds
Flaxseeds
Chia seeds
Wheat germ

DIRECTIONS

Eat your favorite seeds everyday this week

*avoid salted seeds, roasted or raw is always best
Add them to salads, shakes, oatmeal, or eat them straight

MY TAKE

I enjoyed the nut challenge and since I'm starting school next week I wanted something I can snack on. Seeds are awesome, convenient, tasty and fulling. I'm sure it will help with my weight loss.

SELF IMPROVEMENT CHALLENGE

I challenge you to spend the next week creating a space that’s just for you

WHY WHY WHY

Creating a space of your own where you can sleep, eat, put on make up, read, surf the web or just sit in silence is like winning the lottery
Allowing yourself to be selfish and fulfill your own desires will increase self-esteem, self-worth, and make you a happier person

MATERIALS

Depends on what kind of space you are creating

DIRECTIONS

Take the time to think about what kind of space you want to create and what kind of space you're working with
Example: lets say you want a reading space but you live in a studio. Find big pillows and a special lamp that you can break down easily
Find room inspiration on Pinterest

MY TAKE

My boyfriend went home for Easter and I was left alone to do nothing but relax. Surprisingly I didn’t the opposite of that, I creating my very own space, I finally put together a vanity. I’ve never wore make-up so this vanity is a large jewelry holder with is exactly what I needed, a place where I can sit down, stare out at the bay and bejewel myself. I went DIY crazy making jewelry holders and even made a chair! I love this new space, I spent hours sitting at my new vanity and smiling ear to ear. I hope this weeks challenge inspires all of you to create a unique space where you can spread out and be yourself.

XOXO

Mary

Hi Friends,

I had a wonderful week, I hope all of you did too. I spent the day shopping for the house. The Boyfriend left for the weekend and I’m in complete despair. I was looking forward to spending some time alone but as soon as I dropped him off it felt as if my world was crumbling. I know it’s only for a few days but who’s going to make me laugh and get my dark chocolate in the middle of the night. Oh well, I’ll power through. I’m sure I will have a great weekend, I have no plans, no Easter Egg hunts or Church services for me. I’m hoping to squeeze in a massage tomorrow then head home to work, relax, and take down a few gin martinis. I’m going to let it all hang out.

This weeks Nutrition Challenge was to consume healthy oils everyday this week, but because it’s the week before Easter I’ve featured lots of Easter themed crafts and egg decorations. I created this fact sheet, sorry it’s so late but better late then never!

I hope everybody has a Happy Easter!

XOXO,

Mary

Hi Friends,

I'm keeping today short and sweet. Here's what's in Season this month.

I have some pretty awesome recipes to share over the next few weeks, from homemade dumplings to a Killer Salmon Nicoise Salad, get ready to eat with your eyes!

XOXO,

MARY

Hi Friends,

I’m getting of to a late start this morning but sometimes that happens. All is well in my hood, I’m pretty excited to share these creative egg decorating tutorials with all of you, I really don’t have much else to say so lets jump in.

EGG FACE

What you need:

Pictures
Tissue paper
Printer paper
Scissors
Tape
Clear drying glue
Paint brush

Pick out your picture

This was pretty easy for me, I wanted a fun head shot of myself making my signature silly faces

Cut tissue paper into 4s

Try cutting along the creases to make printing easier

Table tissue paper to center of printer paper, make it as tight as possible

Feed tissue paper-printer paper into printer and print picture

Do a few test runs to so what size you need to shrink your photo, I scaled mine down to 20% in my printer options and that worked for me.

Everything depends on the size of your eggs, sadly I had smaller eggs so I didn’t have much space to work with

This was the hardest part for me, my black ink bled on most of my pictures but a few came out great

Pour glue into a paper cup or bowl

Carefully remove tissue from printer paper, CAREFULLY!!!

Remove any extra layers of tissue if needed

You should have a very thin picture

Cut tissue picture close to picture but not too close

Using your paint brush, brush a thin layer of glue on egg

Carefully place you picture

Seal edges of picture with glue and paint-brush

Allow to set for 10-15 minutes

Step 11

Enjoy!!!

SILK TIE DYED EGGS

What you need:

Silk ties - make sure that they are 100% silk

White fabric - pillow case, old t-shirt etc

vinegar

twist ties or rubber bands

The eggs will not be perfect and it looks pretty cool

I purchased a few silk ties from the thrift store, they were only $1.50 and some of the ugliest ties I’ve ever seen!

Flip ties over and cut down center to open them up

Remove/cut out the lining of tie

Place 1-1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup vinegar in deep pot and bring it to a boil

Place raw egg on the wide part of your tie, you don’t need the entire tie so you can cut it just make sure to leave enough to fully wrap the egg

Lay egg on the color side so colors will easily transfer to egg

Wrap egg tight and secure it with rubber band or twist ties

*Make sure tie fabric comes in contact with entire egg

Wrap them in white fabric and secure again with rubber band or twist ties

Carefully place eggs in boiling water and boil for 10 minutes

Once done boiling allow eggs to cool,

Then unwrap and see whats inside!

That’s all today folks!

XOXO

MARY

Hi Friends

Last week didn't turn out as expected on the exercise front. I wasn't inspired to push myself and ended up taking 2 days off and only 1 day of cardio. As much as I want to beat myself up I know that's not going to solve anything. This week I'm hitting it hard, no excuses, just hard work. The Boyfriend was sick all last week so that could have been what affected my workout plan, whatever it was I'm over it and ready to kick this weeks booty.

I'm being sneaky this week, I have a lot of things planed but I can't share them with Tony so I'll share everything with you guys. I'm going to organize our kitchen, purchase and set up a vanity, and give the house a much-needed cleaning. When we moved into our beautiful home we were balling on a budget, I never purchased the things we actually needed. We don't have matching sets of pots and pans, our drawers are random and unorganized and I can't even talk about our pantry, it's pretty pathetic. Tony takes off on Friday and the fub begins. I'm hoping to have most of the big items like my new vanity and a nice set of pots and pans already purchased and hiding in our storage closet. I'm sooo excited. I can't get these things done when Tony's around he moves to slow for me and is a serious procrastinator. I'm pretty bad ass when I do everything myself.

I'll keep you guys up to date on my plans, if you know me you know I'm going to throw a few DIY projects in there. I just can't wait.

Last year I featured natural egg dye using colorful fruits and vegetables and received great responses, so i figured i would do it again. This time around i wasn't so successful. I used ground espresso, beets, red cabbage, turmeric, curry, raspberries, and tea. The frist time around only 3 eggs absorbed the color. The espresso, cabbage, and curry/turmeric but the others came out as light tints. Then it dawned on me, i had to use vinegar as a base instead of water, so i did it again and am pretty thrilled about the outcome.

Instant espresso

Add 4-5 tbsp of espresso to 2 cups water

Boil egg for 10 minutes and allow to sit until you obtain desired color

Turmeric powder and curry powder - 2-3 tbsp of each

Add turmeric and curry water boil egg and allow to sit until you obtain desired color

Green tea - 5-10 bags of tea opened

Combine tea and 1-2 water and 1/2 cup of vinegar

Boil egg for 10 minutes and allow to sit until you obtain desired color

Small head of purple cabbage

Cut cabbage into chunks, add to 1-2 cups water and 1/2 cup vinegar

Boil egg for 10 minutes and allow to sit until you obtain desired color

Cut beets into chunks, add to 1-2 cups water and 1/2 cup vinegar

Boil egg for 10 minutes and allow to sit until you obtain desired color

XOXO,

MARY

FITNESS CHALLENGE

I CHALLENGE YOU TO COMPLETE MY OBLIQUES ON FIRE EVERYDAY THIS WEEK

WHY WHY WHY

Oblique muscles (side abdominals) allow you to bend and twist torso
Strong obliques support the lower back and can eliminate back pain
Strengthening obliques can improve posture and slim your waist

MATERIALS

Just yourself

DIRECTIONS

OBLIQUE KILLERS

2 rounds - beginner
3 rounds - intermediate
5 rounds - advanced

Squats with leg lifts - 10 reps each leg
Standing side crunches - 10 reps each leg
Twist and reach - 10 reps each leg
Side plank raises - 10 reps each side
Slow crunch circles - 10 reps

MY TAKE

I'm obsessed with keeping my stomach as flat as possible, that means working my entire core, not just my lower or upper abdominals. My obliques develop quick and is one of my favorite muscles to exercise. This routine isn't as taxing as last week but it still gets the job done.

NUTRITION CHALLENGE

WHY WHY WHY

Olive oil and coconut oil are the healthiest vegetable oils
Adding olive, coconut, or sesame seed oil to your beauty regiment can provide positive benefits to your skin, hair, and nails
Olive and Coconut oil can help prevent breast cancer, aid in weight loss, boosts metabolism, aids digestion, can prevent gallstones, reduce heart problems, reduces bad cholesterol levels and much much more

MATERIALS

Purchase extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, flaxseed oil

DIRECTION

Consume 1 to 2 tbsp healthy oils everyday this week
Replace butter intake with healthy vegetable, coconut, and seed oils
Put it on bread, in salad dressing, fish, sauté vegetables, add to pasta
FDA recommends replacing saturated fats, such as butter, with olive oil

MY TAKE

I never indulged in heart healthy oils like olive oil until I met my boyfriend over 5 years ago. Not only is it tasty but healthy oils have numerous benefits from cancer prevention to hydrating skin. I can't wait to put together this weeks handy fact sheet on this subject.

SELF IMPROVEMENT

I CHALLENGE YOU TO

SPEND SOME TIME ALONE EVERYDAY THIS WEEK

CHALLENGE SYNOPSIS

Benefits of being alone
Solitude allows you to unwind and reboot your brain
Improves concentration
Increase productivity
gives you an opportunity to discover yourself and find your own voice
Can enhance the quality of your relationship with others
Allow you to disconnect

MATERIALS

Just yourself

DIRECTIONS

Turn off all electronic devices, phone, iPad, computer, tv... (optional)
Spend 5 minutes ALONE, reading, thinking, meditating, really doing anything you would like

MY TAKE

I've always liked spending time by myself, it's easier than being around people. When I'm by myself I don't have to explain my actions to anyone, I don't have to worry about my appearance or control my bodily functions. I can let one rip and no one is the wiser. Turning off my phone and disconnecting from the world will help me to reconnect with myself. Doing this once a day for just 5 minutes a day everyday this week will be a challenge for me, I can't wait to see what happens.

XOXO,

MARY

Hi Friends,

I want to piggy back on yesterday's post. I mentioned Nattie, a WWE Diva posted a picture of us on her Instagram and twitter account. I was pretty excited about yesterday's event and didn’t think anything could bring me off of cloud 9. Then I started reading some of the comments on the picture, there were over 200 comments and 8,000 likes, when I last checked.

The comments on the pictures were super toxic. People said that I look like a WWE wrestler, Booker T Washington, ugly, and a man. I’ve read many articles about bullying on social media and witnessed my fair share of Social media fights. I always swore I would never engage in anything as low and classless as that but I can understand how some people get pulled into it. I was so excited to get some exposure but I wasn’t ready for such mean-spirited comments. My feelings were hurt for 2.5 seconds, then I remembered I don’t really care what others think about me, yet it was hurtful to read such awful comments. I can’t believe people would be so cruel and mean-spirited but it is what it is. I can’t please everyone and I don’t want to. I wanted to get all of that off of my chest and move on to the next subject.

Enough with the deep stuff, now to the fun stuff.

Easter is right around the corner so its time to jump into a few DIY Easter crafts.

I’m posting some quick and creative ways to decorate eggs next week. I went back and forth on posting these tutorials this week but decided not to. All tutorials are quick and easy so you can squeeze them in as a weekday craft with the kiddies or some friends.

This is my first video demo. What do you think??? I love it, it was easy to make and captures my personality.

YARN CARROTS

Difficulty level: 2 out of 10, kid friendly

Cost: $5

Time: 30 minutes to make 3 carrots

MATERIALS

Colorful yarn - purchased 3 spools at Michael’s - $0.99 each

Fake Grass or flowers - purchased at Michael’s for $1.99

Brown paper bag

Clear Tape

Scissors

DIRECTIONS

Start with fake grass or flower, bend end making it your desired length

Rip paper bag into big and small pieces

Wrap smaller pieces around top of grass/flower, then wrap larger pieces around until you have a somewhat cone shape

Wrap tape around paper to secure newspaper

Use hands to get desired shape

don’t worry it will be a little weird-looking but that’s ok

Starting towards the tip of your carrot, wrap yarn around and around and around until you cover all paper

It will take a while but be patient

Once happy with your shape cut yarn and tuck to secure

Enjoy as table decorations or use to decorate a wreath

BUNNY GARLAND

Difficulty level: 2 out of 10, kid friendly

Cost: $8

Time: 30 minutes to make 3 carrots

MATERIALS

Spring themed paper - I used scrapbooking paper on sale at Michael’s 120 sheets for $5.99

Scissors

Hole punch - Purchased at dollar store - $0.99

Bunny cut out - download here

Cotton balls - Purchased at Michael's $1.49

Twine - Purchased at dollar store - $0.99

Fine tipped pen or pencil

Glue - Purchased at dollar store - $0.99

Print bunny cut-out

I used a heavier stock paper to make it easier to trace

Cut out bunny carefully

Use this cutout as a guide and make 12-15 bunnies

I cut 2 bunnies at a time to make it go faster

Glue bunny tails to the tail part of your bunny

Allow at least 10 minutes to fully dry

Punch hole in your bunny

Using your twine string up your bunnies

Hang them anywhere

I needed to craft to get rid of all that negative energy

Have a wonderful weekend!

Peace & Love

Mary

FITNESS CHALLENGE

I CHALLENGE YOU TO COMPLETE MY INTERVAL ROUTINE EVERYDAY THIS WEEK

WHY WHY WHY

MATERIAL

DIRECTIONS

MY TAKE

NUTRITION CHALLENGE

WHY WHY WHY

MATERIALS

DIRECTIONS

MY TAKE

SELF IMPROVEMENT CHALLENGE

WHY WHY WHY

MATERIALS

DIRECTIONS

MY TAKE

XOXO,

MARY

EGG FACE

SILK TIE DYED EGGS

XOXO,

MARY

FITNESS CHALLENGE

I CHALLENGE YOU TO COMPLETE MY OBLIQUES ON FIRE EVERYDAY THIS WEEK

WHY WHY WHY

MATERIALS

DIRECTIONS

OBLIQUE KILLERS

MY TAKE

NUTRITION CHALLENGE

WHY WHY WHY

MATERIALS

DIRECTION

MY TAKE

SELF IMPROVEMENT

I CHALLENGE YOU TO

SPEND SOME TIME ALONE EVERYDAY THIS WEEK

CHALLENGE SYNOPSIS

MATERIALS

DIRECTIONS

MY TAKE

XOXO,

MARY

YARN CARROTS

MATERIALS

DIRECTIONS

BUNNY GARLAND

MATERIALS

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