Lee DeWyze - Beautiful Like You

I don't know how many American Idols are out there but I was watching when last years winner Lee DeWyze performed his new single 'Beautiful Like You'. I totally fell in love with it. (Click on the title if you want to hear it for yourself)

I absolutely believe that this is a prophetic song and when I first heard it, it seemed as if it were God singing to me. That may sounds strange to some of you but... that's how I felt. Now I've listened to it several times and I intentionally listen AS IF God IS singing it to me.

I believe it's something he'd say to me, in my life, right now... maybe it's something he'd say to you as well.
I took a little liberty with the lyrics to help illustrate my point. [ie.] But here they are.
Thought I'd share:

Everybody wants to look into the mirror
and feel a little better now
And everybody wants to know there’s someone out there
Waiting for you to come around

And I wish that you could feel it [my love]
But you don’t choose to believe it
Cause I know that you can’t see it [my] way,
That way

If you could only just stop, stop, stop running
If you could only take a second to breath it [my love] in
Everything that you know would be beautiful
Like you

You know they’re never gonna stop, stop, stop [my] love
Let’s pretend that the world is waking up
Everything that we see is beautiful
Like you

Everybody wants to, tell someone their secrets
Why don’t you tell me now?
[if you would]
Well, maybe I can fix this
cause I don’t want, you to miss this [life]
and the sun is rainin down, yeah

If you could only just stop, stop, stop running
If you could only take a second to breathe it [my love] in
Everything that you know would be beautiful
Like you

You know they’re never gonna stop, stop, stop [my] love
Let’s pretend that the world is waking up
Everything that we see is beautiful
Like you

Sometimes it’s hard to be… yourself in this crazy world.
Sometimes it’s hard to breathe… yeah

Everybody wants to know there’s someone out there
Waiting for you to come around

[I am... so] Come around!

If you could only just stop, stop, stop running
If you could only take a second to breathe it [my love] in
Everything that you know would be beautiful
Like you

You know they’re never gonna stop, stop, stop [my] love
Let’s pretend that the world is waking up
Everything that we see can be beautiful
Like you

Can be beautiful
Like you
Can be beautiful
Like you….
Beautiful!

Half Way Over

Can you believe it's already the middle of the month? For me this month is FLYING by! Who am I kidding? The last couple of years have flown by for me. People always told me that time passes even quicker once you have kids. I thought they were crazy or just exaggerating but I'm here to tell you, IT'S TRUE!

So, some of you may know that I jumped on the Lent band wagon and decided to see if I have the discipline enough to let something go for 40 days. Well, it turns out (so far at least) I do! :0) I was originally considering giving up sugar or bread or something like that but after reading a few post on FB about the meaning of lent I didn't think that would be enough or more accurately: the right thing for me to give up.

I am not Catholic and don't really know much about Lent if I'm honest with myself. I know only that you are to give up something for 40 days and something about not eating meat at certain times. LOL For those of you reading this that are Catholic I'm sure you're rolling your eyes at me right now. ;0) To the point: I decided to give something up and after reading some stuff about Lent and looking to Jesus while doing it I figure it's something like a 40 day fast with maybe a few extra rules. With that in mind I dug into my heart to try to find something I could give up that would truly be difficult for me to do. When I did that I realized it was more like Starbucks that was a sacrifice but going even deeper... DRIVE-THRUS!

I know what you're thinking, "drive-thrus?!?!?!?!?!" I've had several people question me about that but here's the thing. By nature, well at least lately it seems, I'm a relatively "lazy" person. Why walk inside when I can just drive up to the window. I wasn't really like that before but with the addition of my little one and my crazy busy schedule I find myself at the drive-thru a lot. Do you know how much effort and energy goes into unloading the baby and walking into Starbucks? Keeping a hold of her while I order, pay, wait for my drink and then pick it up? Then to get her wiggling body and my coffee loaded back into the car without dropping one or the other? It may seem silly but IT AINT EASY! LOL At least not when you can just zip up to the window, order, pay and receive your drink all while the baby is happily playing in her car seat.

Additionally, by making it Drive-thrus rather than just Starbucks it means I'm not hitting up any restaurants for that fast food quick fix. No gas stations for that quick soda or sweat treat. No run to the local establishment for an ice cream sundae. By eliminating drive-thrus I eliminate the ease and convince of lazy behavior.

Some have argued that it's quite stupid because if I really want then all I have to do is get out of my car and walk inside. SO TRUE! But guess what!... I haven't had any of those things. No Starbucks (or any other coffee shop), No fast food, No soda, No ice cream sundaes!

It hasn't been easy. Almost daily I'd say I'm thinking about one of those things and weighing my options. But by simply taking the convenience out of the choice it requires me to ACTUALLY think about what I'm doing. It gives me that extra minute to determine if this is something I really want to take the time, effort and energy to do AND more importantly; it gives me the time to figure out if it's something I really want to consume.

I'm not a fan of denying yourself every one of life's pleasures in an effort to lose weight. But I am a big proponent of at least affording yourself the courtesy of making an informed decision. (ie. looking at the Girl Scout Cookie box, counting the calories and then deciding if you'll eat the whole thing.) Buying on impulse, in the spur of the emotional moment so to speak, hardly ever works out in your favor.

We'll see how this 40 days goes but I'm seriously considering the possibility of giving up Drive-thrus for good. The way I see it so far, only good can come from it.

Would it help you? How often do you find yourself driving-thru for a quick fix? How much money would you save? How often would you talk yourself out of that guilty pleasure?

Just something to think about!
Be blessed!

One Week In

Well here we are nearly 1 week into this months competition and i'm having mixed results. I planned to get right on track and kick some serious trash but then what happened...?....? GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!!!!

DARN THOSE LITTLE GIRL SCOUTS!
It's totally a trick. Like a month ago I ordered those darn things not thinking much about it. TEN boxes to be exact and what do you know... they arrive right when i'm ready to kick this thing into high gear. What happened after that? I had a crappy day and ate the WHOLE BOX! Yep that's right all 940 calories of freaking amazing Girl Scout Cookie Wonder.
You're probably wondering if i looked after the fact in some rash moment of feeling guilty. NOPE I looked before i popped that first cookie in my mouth. I did the math figured out the total damage shrugged my shoulders and said WHAT THE HECK! LOL And i loved ever crumb! Well needless to say after a bit of a stomach ache i pondered what'd i'd just done.

It was one of those moments where i could do one of two things... hate myself for it OR get over it. So i shrugged, put on my walking shoes and went for a walk. :0) I figured, it was not the best move i could have made but rather than dwell on it or think, "well i already ate one why not go for two?" I did what i could to counter balance the event.

I have to say I'm not feeling guilty at all.

When i give my daughter a cookie she gets SO excited. She says yum, yum, yum the whole time she's eating it. It's such a pleasure to watch her because it's obvious she's enjoying it SO much. She oo's and ah's the whole time and when she's finished she says, "Ma ma. Cookie Yummy!" and then "mo mo's?" which is what ti sounds like when she says "more?" Sometimes i'll give her another just so i can watch her eat it. Every time i do it think to myself. I can't remember what that's like. Feeling that shear pleasure that comes from eating something wonderful. That uncensored joy at the flavor. The excitement of the special treat. She doesn't know what it is to count calories or feel guilty about eating food. She just does it. But you know what else she does? When she's full, when she's satisfied, she stops eating. Doesn't matter if there are 7 cookies sitting there un-eaten. When she's at her limit she stops.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could hold on to that? Not get food all mixed up with emotions and restrictions. Not be constantly analysing what we're eating and how it's going to effect us. more importantly. Wouldn't it be nice if when we had reached our limit we could stop?

I've decided i want to try to get back to that. I realize that i've got 31 years of mixed up emotions attached to food so it's not going to be easy but, i'm going to give it my best shot. I wan to eat food that i enjoy and not worry about the guilt. with that i'm going to stop eating when i feel satisfied. I want to re-learn how i "feel" about food.

I believe it's possible.

On a positive note. I had a belly dance performance today and at the beginning of this week i was COMPLETELY unprepared! Because of that i spent every night this week for HOURS dancing my little butt off! My calorie burn is back up! My metabolism is back up! I'm geared back up about exercise and that makes me VERY happy. I can't wait to see what next week brings.

Hope you're all doing well!!!