Niantic, CT Christmas Light Parade

As I told you all in a past post, I am going to start living my life and sharing a lot more of my experiences with all of you!

Last night Jamie & I attended the Niantic, CT light parade with my Grampa & JoAnn, My sister Bretta & her fiancé Adam, as well as JoAnn's daughter Colleen and her awesome 8 year old daughter Morgan!  This night was such a true reminder of what the holidays are all about...and what life is all about!  It was also my sisters 24th birthday..Happy Birthday Bretta!

We started off the event by heading an hour and a half south to Niantic, CT...which for those of you who don't know is right on the ocean coast in CT and its a very beautiful, peaceful community, a place I have always enjoyed!  We enjoyed watching some ice sculpture art before heading back to my Grampa's house, which is just a short walk away from the downtown setting!  We enjoyed some hot cocoa and great conversation before walking back downtown to find a spot where we could nestle in to watch the light parade!

I enjoyed the walk back with my new friend, Morgan, who might I add is such a wise little 8 year old goal..we spoke about her goals, of becoming a surfer, and how much we loved milkshakes and dancing and music.  She told me about her school field trip to see an orchestra and about how much she enjoys dancing and singing in her school's chorus.  She told me, "If we don't have goals, how will we know what we are working towards?".  I could have sat and spoken with Morgan for hours and hours, her little mind full of some very wise thoughts.  We spoke about how you keep the good people in your life (the nice friends) and how you stay away from the bad ones, she even sang me a song about finding good friends.  I learned a lot from this 8 year old little girl last night, and realized that, this is how I want to raise my children to be, one day.  It was like talking to a fellow like minded adult.  It brings me almost to tears to think about how a little girl can tell me something like this, but I know adults who can not even fathom what it is like to be truly happy!!

Once we got back to downtown, we found a great, central spot where we could watch the parade and the fireworks.

The light parade was spectacular, this community really went above and beyond for this event!  Floats that sang, moved, even some that were over 15 feet tall!  One of my favorite parts was watching all of the children in the dance troupes and sports teams come by.  I had been in parades as a child and it was always a very exciting time when the community comes together to celebrate you and the holiday season!

 

After the parade ended, we walked back to my Grampa's house and sat and enjoyed each others company for a bit to warm up before we headed back home.  We laughed about the thick RI accents that Jamie and My Grampa share and joked about memories from the past.

I had a really wonderful time last night with my family and plan to make this an annual tradition with my family and the family I plan to start soon.  I will be bringing my children to this parade for many many years to come!

Thanks for reading loves!

XOXOX,

Distilled Water & Why My Tastebuds Want To Cry..

Today marks Day 1 of my ultimate reset journey..I woke up, feeling exhausted from lack of sleep last night, but packed away my meals for the day all perfectly portioned out into containers, packed my Oxygenize, Alkalinize, & Soothe, grabbed my GALLON of water..and out the door I went!  

As I poured my first glass of distilled water, I was excited to try this amazing and pure water that I had heard about and before I knew it, i took a sip and cringed..how could water taste this awful?

So I did some research online to see if I was just abnormal or if this water truly did not taste right and I found this...

Myth: Distilled water taste "funny" or "flat taste"

"There are many reasons why people think that distilled water tastes "funny" or "flat". The main reason is that distilled water is very different than what they have been used to drinking. When people are used to drinking water with fluoride, chlorine, or iron, their sense of taste gets used to this type of water. When drinking distilled water for this first time, with nothing in the water to masked the true taste, it takes the taste buds time to get used to the new clean taste.

Another reason for the "funny" taste is from store bought water in plastic bottles. In order to keep costs down, bottled water suppliers use cheap plastic materials to store the water. It has been found that some of these plastics have been known to leach methyl chloride into the water which gives off a "plastic" taste.

Also a possible factor is the distillation process itself. In simple distillation, volatile organic compounds and some gases may be carried over into the distilled water which causes a "funny" taste. These distillation systems use carbon filters or other processes to reduce VOCs and gases, but such elimination is seldom complete (see next myth). 

Once used in cooking and drinking water, most people find distilled water tastes delicious and improves the taste of food."

So I guess it is just me..haha I decided to drink it with tea and add a little lemon and that helped!  I am thinking that over the next week my tastebuds should stop crying and start adapting to what water should really taste like.

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

XOXO,

What an eye opener!! Time to get back on track!

Time for a bit of a wake up call...During my egg donation, yes I gained weight, yes some of the weight I gained was from hormone injections and from my moderate OHSS that I got post donation and there was truly nothing I could do to keep that from happening.  However,  the rest of the weight was my fault.  I used my donation as an excuse to not work out (I could have walked up until a few days before my retrieval) and I used my donation as an excuse to not follow my clean eating, I had cravings, but I could have just said NO!  So here I am, about a month post retrieval and I have lost some of the weight that I gained, but I am still about 10 pounds heavier than I was before my retrieval.  I worked out 4-5 days a week for the past 2 weeks, before deciding that my body needs a RESET!  So here I am on Monday, preparing myself to start My Ultimate Reset Journey tomorrow.  I am both very nervous & very excited and plan to post daily to keep you all in the loop of what this is going to do for my health both mentally and physically.

This morning I took my pre reset measurements, which was a huge eye opener for me, since I gained inches from my last set of measurements on almost every part of my body.  So here they are:

Pre Reset Measurements:

Weight: 152
Waist: 38
Hips: 40
Chest: 39
Right Arm: 12
Left Arm: 12
Right Thigh: 25
Left Thigh: 24

I also have a very high body fat percentage.  To give you an idea of my body type-since people generally ask me for height, age, etc.  I am 22 years old, I am 5'1" and I have a very large chest (36DD that I am hoping to lose a lot of inches in as well).

My goals are not necessarily based on the number on the scale, although a large drop in that number would be great!  I am going on the Beachbody Success Club Cruise on March 24th and I would really love to be able to wear a bikini confidently, so that I do not feel self conscious on the trip that I earned for my boyfriend and I.  I would love to be able to buy a bikini top that fits, those of you who also have large busts know that this is one of the most frustrating things to buy, along with bras.  I am hoping to feel rejuvenated and rested, since lately I wake up still feeling exhausted...

Prior to my start date for the reset tomorrow I did have to do some planning, which I will tell you a bit more about in case you too, are planning on starting the reset soon!

I had to go grocery shopping, at multiple stores, to find all of the fabulous nutritionally dense foods that I will be eating on the reset, yes i said it, EATING!  You eat...ALOT on the reset!  This is not one of those starvation cleanses, because lets be real...I LOVE TO EAT!  So I am all stocked up on things like 1 gallon of distilled water for every day of the reset, coconut oil, and among other things lots of fresh produce that I buy at my local farmers market every week!  I highly recommend buying produce at your local farms or farmers market's as well, not just for the reset, but all of the time, I love supporting local businesses.

I will be posting before/after pictures on Day 21, which will be December 24th so keep your eyes posted, and please subscribe to my blog and follow me on my social media sites so that you can learn all about my ultimate reset journey!

Here is a great video that explains what the reset is all about:
http://www.beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/ckimmel?bctid=1534876093001

If you would like to purchase an ultimate reset kit, you can do so here: www.myultimatereset.com/ckimmel





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XOXO,