Post-Holiday Weekend Exhaustion?

How are you feeling after the holiday weekend? Are you tired and exhausted and worn out from all the holiday excitement? Did you take a nap? Did the stress and chaos give you a headache? Are you rejuvenated and ready to go today?

I used to *need* a strong kick of caffeine just to get through the day - that afternoon slump around 3pm was awful. When I had several busy and/or stressful days in a row, I’d tell myself I earned a nap - and then I would prioritize that nap on weekends. I have never had a lot of luck with sleeping in (so I’m always up around the same time every day), but for a long time (years!) I would wake in the middle of the night, and lay in bed for an hour or more trying to fall back asleep. No matter when I went to bed, I wasn’t getting enough sleep. That constant cycle of being tired, and needing caffeine, and then being even more tired, and then getting a headache from being so tired, was…exhausting. 

I didn’t even know it was possible to break that cycle…but I did! I changed my diet. I prioritized myself. I am sleeping solidly and soundly 8-9 hours a night (yes, for real!) now. I take Natural Vitality Calm, a powdered form of magnesium, at bedtime and I swear it helps with my sleep. I haven’t had a headache in months. 

Look at my eyes in these pictures. There’s no filters on them. Look how tired I am in the photo on the left, with circles under my eyes. I wasn’t healthy! My sleep wasn’t healthy! I was so bloated and inflamed! 

Look at me on the right - awake, alert, and I feel like my eyes are brighter and clearer. It’s not just about surviving each day, it’s about living each day. Join me in living each day, I would love to share this program with you and help you feel amazing and get the good sleep too!

A Tale of Two Dresses

I bought the dress on the right to wear for an event a few years ago. I loved it - the material, the fit, the way the bottom hem looks. When I got home though, it was a little too snug to wear comfortably. I called all over town looking for another store with the same dress in a bigger size - found it - and went and bought it. That's the dress on the left. I don't have many occasions to get dressed up (especially this year), but I last wore the larger size dress to a Roaring 20s party last December, and absolutely loved being dressed up and out with my friends and felt good in what I was wearing (despite hiding behind a shawl). 

I tried on dresses last night so my daughter and I could take silly pictures in front of the tree (you've seen the pics from the 50s and 60s floating around of women decked out posing with their trees, right?) and the larger size dress was falling off me, so I tried on the smaller size, and that's what I'm wearing in the picture. It actually has too much room in it now, but I still love the material and the way the dress flares, and that's the dress my daughter chose for me to wear last night for our silly pictures because she likes the hem too. 

So, I'm officially retiring the dress on the left, and probably need to retire the dress on the right too, and buy myself some new fancy clothes for the off-chance of getting dressed up and going out someday ever again. If you're like me and have a closet full of clothes you hold on to, on the off chance of maybe possibly fitting into them again someday, let me help you get your someday sooner rather than later. It took me 2 years to decide to commit to this program, and choose myself and my health; don't wait as long as I did. Give yourself the gift of health this holiday season. I'd love to celebrate you fitting into your "someday" clothes in a few weeks!