Dutch Dare Challenge and Exercise

Happy Sunday, Friends! Hey, thank you for your nice comments regarding my past two posts regarding going back in time. Well, thank you for all the comments, period. I always appreciate any comment. I've been a bad at commenting my blog friends lately. ..I'm really sorry about that. I'll tell you the reason why but let me tell you about my card first. Do you like to participate in challenges. . .I do but I always forget about all the challenges out there when I'm in the process of making a card. Well, I remembered this time around. This card was created for the Dutch Dare Challenges.

The challenge is to create a card with:

2 different colours of cardstock
2 different pieces of Patterned Paper
2 flowers
2 brads
2 gemstones/buttons

I colored my image with my Copic Markers. The image was sent to me by Diane of "ddnjoys2stamp". She is such a darling to send me a bunch of cute images (I posted them a few months ago).

Stop by Dutch Dare Challenges and check out the cute cards created by the DT and the prize to be given out!!

Card Details:

Stamps: Oops, Diane sent me a list of the companies but don't know where I put the paper
Paper: DCWV DP, SU Real Red, So Saffron
Ink: Copic Markers
Accessories: Prima, Fiskar Border Punch, Nestabilities JoAnn Brads, Darice Rhinestones




Okay. . .now to the reason why I haven't been commenting your blogs as often as I used to. It's not that I don't want to but the past 2 months I started on a fitness journey. . .basically, I've been exercising and eating and cooking healthy food. Initially, my goal was to lose weight but it changed with time to focus more on becoming a fit and healthier person.

If you've been visiting my blog for a while now, you'll notice a surge of card/project posts on my blog for the past month and a half. Well, about a year ago up until a month or so ago. . .I've been feeling extremely TIRED. I lacked so much energy that even crafting was exhausting. I was beginning to feel my mojo for crafting was disappearing but that wasn't the case. I was still wanting to craft but I was so tired all the time.

One of the problems I was also beginning to experience was back pains from sitting down in front of my computer, blogging, commenting, blurfing, etc. Even standing in one place when I'm crafting (I stand when I craft) was killing me. I was 35 lbs overweight and slowly climbing. For a short person like me (5 ft). . .trust me that's like 50 lbs to a taller person.

Well, I started exercising . . .first, walking for 15 to 20 min 3x a week then increasing my speed to a brisk walk. I then added aerobic workouts like Zumba Fitness and Hip Hop Abs to 3x to 4x a week. About 3 weeks into my regimen, I added dumbbell and resistance training. I also began preparing and cooking my own meals and reduced eating out to once or twice a week. I prepared "clean meals" meaning food high in protein, low in calories and fat, snacked on fruits, added more veggies to my meals and paid attention to nutrition labels. I also began drinking 8 glasses of water a day.

I always read about experts saying that exercising gives you more energy but I never really believed it. I've exercised in the past but after the first few weeks, I would slow down because initially, it would exhaust me. My body was just not accustomed to it and I would give up before I could reach a point when I could actually feel energized from it. Well this time around, I stuck it out and made a true commitment to becoming healthier. In a month and 1 week, I lost 10 lbs and I'm excited to continue on in the process.

I feel sooooooooooooo much more energized. . .I now run up my steps to my craft room upstairs rather than walk slowly, I can catch up to my husband whenever we walk somewhere (he walks fast), and I feel happier because I have more energy. It also has contributed to my increased desire to want to be more creative as well!

Okay. . .now, to my excuse for not commenting. . .honestly, I don't like to sit down in front of my computer for too long because it still causes me back ache. Sitting here typing this post is too long already. Also, the time I spend exercising and preparing and cooking my meals has cut down on my time to do the sedentary stuff I used to do. Once I can become more efficient in that area, I think I'll be able to squeeze in more time to blurf and comment as well. Right now, it's all sort of new and I haven't really had a good schedule to fit in everything that I want to do. So, please be patient with me.

Anyway. . .sorry. . this post is long again. I started a FB Fan Page called Fitness Towards Healthiness (located on my left side bar) and is planning to add a blog that supports that site but I haven't had a chance to start it up yet. I really want to keep this up because it has brought me a sense of wellness that I haven't felt in a long time.

That's it.

I hope y'all have a beautiful Sunday!!